an ten
inches, yet I was unable to prevent his hitting the wheel. I then
did other bizarre things in a world that had died on its feet. I
walked many miles through the city, and then I sat for hours in
the park. I went to the office and let myself in. I accomplished
work that must have taken me twenty hours. I then took a nap at
my desk. When I awoke on the arrival of the others, it was six
minutes to eight in the morning of the same day, today. Not two
hours had passed from my rising, and time was back to normal. But
the things that happened in that time that could never be
compressed into two hours."

"One question first, Vincent. Did you actually accomplish the
work of many hours?"

"I did. It was done, and done in that time. It did not become
undone on the return of time to normal."

"A second question. Had you been worried about your work, about
being behind?"

"Yes. Emphatically."

"Then here is one explanation. You retired last night. But very
shortly afterward you arose in a state of somnambulism. There are
facets of sleepwalking which we do not at all understand. The
time-out-of-focus interludes were parts of a walking dream of
yours. You dressed and went to your office and worked all night.
It is possible to do routine tasks in a somnambulistic state
rapidly and even feverishly, with an intense concentration--to
perform prodigies. You may have fallen into a normal sleep there
when you had finished, or you may have been awakened directly
from your somnambulistic trance on the arrival of your co-workers.
There, that is a plausible and workable explanation. In the case
of an apparently bizarre happening, it is always well to have a
rational explanation to fall back on. They will usually satisfy a
patient and put his mind at rest. But often they do not satisfy
me."

"Your explanation very nearly satisfies me, Dr. Mason, and it
does put my mind considerably at rest. I am sure that in a short
while I will be able to accept it completely. But why does it not
satisfy you?"

"One reason is a man I treated early this morning. He had his
face smashed, and he had seen--or almost seen--a ghost: a ghost of
incredible swiftness that was more sensed than seen. The ghost
opened the door of his car while it was going at full speed,
jerked on the brake, and caused him to crack his head. This man
was dazed and had a slight concussion. I have convinced him that
he did not see any ghost at all, that he must have dozed