The repeated tremor in the body was the outward sign of a mental
resistance which it would not be easy to overcome. The wisest course was
to go over the ground already gained. This she was determined to do by
means of a sort of catechism.
“Who am I?” she asked.
“Unorna,” answered the powerless man promptly, but with a strange air of
relief.
“Are you asleep?”
“No.”
“Awake?”
“No.”
“In what state are you?”
“I am an image.”
“And where is your body?”
“Seated upon that stone.”
“Can you see your face?”
“I see it distinctly. The eyes in the body are glassy.”
“The body is gone now. You do not see it any more. Is that true?”
“It is true. I do not see it. I see the stone on which it was sitting.”
“You are still in my eyes. Now”--she touched his head again--“now, you
are no longer an image. You are my mind.”
“Yes. I am your mind.”
“You, my Mind, know that I met to-day a man called the Wanderer, whose
body you saw when you were in my eyes. Do you know that or not?”
“I know it. I am your mind.”
“You know, Mind, that the man was mad. He had suffered for many years
from a delusion. In pursuit of the fixed idea he had wandered far
through the world. Do you know whither his travels had led him?”
“I do not know. That is not in your mind. You did not know it when I
became your mind.”
“Good. Tell me, Mind, what was this man’s delusion?”
“He fancied that he loved a woman whom he could not find.”
“The man must be cured. You must know that he was mad and is now sane.
You, my Mind, must see that it was really a delusion. You see it now.”
“Yes. I see it.”
Unorna watched the waking sleeper narrowly. It was now night, but the
sky had cleared and the starlight falling upon the snow in the lonely,
open place, made it possible to see very well. Unorna seemed as
unconscious of the bitter cold as her subject, whose body was in a
state past all outward impressions. So far she had gone through all the
familiar process of question and answer with success, but this was not
all. She knew that if, when he awoke, the name he loved still remained
in his memory, the result would not be accomplished. She must
produce entire forgetfulness, and to do this, she must wipe out every
association, one by one. She gathered her strength during a short pause.
She was greatly encouraged by the fact that the acknowledgment of the
delusion had been followed by no convulsive reaction in the body. She
was on the very verge of a complete triumph, and the concentration of
her will during a few moments longer might win the battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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