“Nona said——” I prompted gently.
“Yes, I recall it now. Nona said I must fight the darkness that was creeping upon me. But I couldn’t. It came—darkness and silence. Slowly. But everything was growing black. And Nona’s voice imploring me not to go, grew dimmer—far away—dimmer and darker—everything dark, and then—I was gone.”
“Dead?” I said softly. What did he mean? What could it all mean, except what the rational officials of the Institution said?
He shook himself slightly. “Did I say dead? I don’t know whether I mean that or not. I don’t know what I mean. Blackness—nothingness—and then I found myself on one of your horrible crowded streets here on Earth. An old man—cheated out of all those years of life—grown old and feeble, when last I had been young and strong. And my Nona and boy gone——”
He was trembling now; and suddenly he turned on me.
“Go away, please. It—it hurts me to think these thoughts. My Nona gone——”
If any of you care to advance your theories, I shall be glad to hear from you.