"I heard you clap them then."
"I have not clapped them at all," Levillier said.
Julian expressed extreme surprise.
"You see how very easy it is for the senses to be deceived," the doctor added. "Once stir the nervous system into an acute state of anticipation, and it will conjure up for you a veritable panorama of sights, sounds, bodily sensations. But throw it into that state once too often, and the panorama, instead of passing and disappearing, may remain fixed for a time, even forever, before your eyes, your ears, your touch. And that means recurrent or permanent madness. Valentine, I desire you most especially to remember that."
He uttered the words weightily, with very definite intention. Valentine, who still seemed to be in an unusually lazy or careless mood, laughed easily.
"I will remember," he said.
He yawned.
"My trance has made me sleepy," he added.
The doctor got up.
"Yes; bed is the best place for you," he said.