Part 14 (1/2)
III
DR PIECRAFT CLEARS HIS MIND
Throughout the whole of this long prelection Dr Phippeny Piecraft had scarcely moved a muscle, listening with ever deeper attention as the story went on. Once only had he interrupted the reader.
”You are coming now,” he had said, ”to the deleted pa.s.sage about Dual Personality. Don't forget to read it.”
”Pardon me,” said the young man, ”I pa.s.sed that point some minutes since. The writer had pencilled against the pa.s.sage, '_Omit, spoils the unity_.' So, from respect to his wishes, I left it out.”
”It was well done,” Piecraft had answered. ”Unity is all-important.
Proceed.”
And now, the reading being over, the two men sat for several minutes facing one another in silence. Presently the reader said:
”Well, have you identified the author?”
”I have,” said Piecraft. ”The tale is a reminiscence of some old speculations of mine. I wrote every word of it myself, and I finished it last night.”
”How came you to think that it was written by somebody else?”
”That is what puzzles me. But I can give a partial explanation.
Last night, after finis.h.i.+ng the tale, I had a dream, which was extremely vivid, though I find it impossible now to recall the details.
I dreamt that I was writing a story under the t.i.tle of _Dual Personality_--something about a gamekeeper and two young lords who interchanged their characters. It was a sort of nightmare, partly accounted for by the fact that my health, until to-day, has been indifferent. When you came in this morning the influence of the dream lingered in sufficient strength to make me think I had actually written the story dreamed about, and not the one you have just read out. It was an illusion.”
”Illusion is an integral part of reality,” said the young man.
”Is that an original remark?” asked Piecraft. ”Somehow I seem to remember having heard it before.”
”It is a quotation,” answered the other. ”I am in the habit of using it for the enlightenment of new-comers.”
”New-comers!” exclaimed Piecraft. ”My dear fellow, do you know that my bra.s.s plate has been on this house for over ten years. It is you who are the new-comer, not I.”
The young man smiled. ”It has been on this house much longer than that, but you are a new-comer all the same,” said he.
”I don't catch your drift,” said Piecraft. ”What do you mean?”
”It takes time to answer that,” said the other. ”Be content to learn gradually.”
”There's something strange about all this,” said Piecraft, ”which I should like to clear up at once. I don't seem to know exactly where I am. Do you mind shaking me? For I'm half inclined to think that I'm fast asleep and dreaming--like Abdulla, in the story.”
”You were never so wide-awake in your life. But if you wish for an immediate enlightenment, I can take you to a house in the next street, when the whole position will be cleared up at once.”
”Come along,” said Piecraft. ”I feel like a man who is in for a big adventure. There's something interesting in this.”