Father John. I have remembered suddenly something that I read when I was in the seminary.
Martin. You seem very tired.
Father John [sitting down]. I had almost got back to my own place when I thought of it. I have run part of the way. It is very important. It is about the trance that you have been in. When one is inspired from above, either in trance or in contemplation, one remembers afterwards all that one has seen and read. I think there must be something about it in St. Thomas. I know that I have read a long passage about it years ago. But, Martin, there is another kind of inspiration, or rather an obsession or possession. A diabolical power comes into one's body or overshadows it. Those whose bodies are taken hold of in this way, jugglers and witches and the like, can often tell what is happening in distant places, or what is going to happen, but when they come out of that state, they remember nothing. I think you said——
Martin. That I could not remember.
Father John You remembered something, but not all. Nature is a great sleep; there are dangerous and evil spirits in her dreams, but God is above Nature. She is a darkness, but He makes everything clear—He is light.
Martin. All is clear now. I remember all, or all that matters to me. A poor man brought me a word, and I know what I have to do.
Father John. Ah, I understand; words were put into his mouth. I have read of such things. God sometimes uses some common man as His messenger.
Martin. You may have passed the man who brought it on the road. He left me but now.
Father John. Very likely, very likely, that is the way it happened. Some plain, unnoticed man has sometimes been sent with a command.
Martin. I saw the unicorns trampling in my dream. They were breaking the world. I am to destroy, that is the word the messenger spoke.