act that he crossed the river. If
he encountered any one whom he knew--or any one at all--he passed without
noticing. And this realization troubled him. The customs guard, who was an
old acquaintance, must have been in his place on the bridge. He tried to
arouse himself anew. Surely his conduct must seem strange to those who
chanced to observe him.

With an air of briskness he went into the _Internacional_ dining-room. He
had had nothing to eat all day. He would order supper and then he would
feel more like himself. He did not realize what it was that made his
situation seem like a period of suspense, which kept in his mind the
subconscious thought that he would come out of the dark into a clearing if
he persevered.

The fact was that something of what Sylvia had said to him had touched his
conscience, if it had not affected his sense of logic. She really could
not be quite what she seemed to be--that was the unshaped thought in the
back of his brain. There were explanations to make which had not yet been
made. If he told himself that he had solved the problem by leaving the
house, he knew in reality that he had not done so. He was benumbed,
bewildered. He must get back his reasoning faculties, and then he would
see more clearly, both as to what had been done and what he must set about
doing.

He had an idea that he could now understand the sensations of people who
had indulged too freely in some sort of drug. He had temporarily lost the
power to feel. Here was Sylvia, a self-confessed wanton--and yet here was
Sylvia as deeply intrenched in his heart as ever. This was a monstrous
contradiction. One of these things must be a fact, the other a fantastic
hallucination.

The waiter brought food which he looked at with distaste. It was a typical
frontier meal--stereotyped, uninviting. There were meat and eggs and
coffee, and various heavy little dishes containing dabs of things which
were never eaten. He drank the coffee and realized that he had been almost
perishing from thirst. He called for a second cup; and then he tried to
eat the meat and eggs; but they were like dust--it seemed they might choke
him. He tried the grapes which had got hidden under the cruet, and the
acid of these pleased him for an instant, but the pulp was tasteless,
unpalatable.

He finished the second cup of coffee and sat listlessly regarding the
things he had not touched. He had hoped he might prolong the supper hour,
since he could think of