"Does this originate primarily from Mason's mind, communicated thence to his protégé?" He agreed with his assistant's query.
"If so, was it transferred to Mason's mind before that? By the father or mother? The mother was, obviously, his—Mason's—great love. Yet the father was his life friend. Mason's great passion was suppressed. He never told it. It found no outlet."
"Admirable," was the comment spoken below his breath.
"Boy born as result of some 'magical' experiment intensely believed (not stated in detail), during course of which father died suddenly.
"Mason tended mother, then lived alone in remote place where all had occurred.
"Did Mason inherit entire content of parents' beliefs, dramatizing this by force of unexpressed but passionate love?
"Did not Mason's mind, thus charged, communicate whole business to the young mind he has since formed, a plastic mind uninfluenced by normal human surroundings and conditions of ordinary life?
"Transfer of a sex-inspired mania?"
Then followed another note, summarizing evidently Devonham's judgment:
"Not worth F.'s investigation until examined further. N.B.—Look up Mason first opportunity and judge at first hand."