Regular Human Blog (18+)

It was only a whisper, yet Stephen heard it most distinctly above the voices and laughter of the Peep-O’Days and other gentlemen. He had the odd idea that, though only a whisper, it could have passed through stone or iron or brass. It could have spoken to you from a thousand feet beneath the earth and you would have still heard it. It could have shattered precious stones and brought on madness.

This was so very extraordinary that for a moment he was roused from his lethargy. A lively curiosity to discover who had spoken took hold of him and he looked around the room but saw no one he did not know. So he stuck his head round the partition and looked into the next box.

It contained one person of very striking appearance. He appeared very much at his ease. His arms were resting on the tops of the partition and his booted feet were resting on the table. He had several remarkable features, but the chief among them was a mass of silvery hair, as bright and soft and shining as thistle-down. He winked at Stephen. Then he rose from his own box and came and sat in Stephen’s.

“But how stupid you look when you stare at me so! I have put myself to any amount of trouble to pay you this visit – and you sit there silent and sullen, with your mouth hanging open! You are surprized to see me, I dare say, but that is no reason to forget all your good manners.

“Of course,” he remarked in the manner of someone making a great concession, “Englishmen are often all amazement in my presence – that is the most natural thing in the world – but you and I are such friends that I think I have deserved a better welcome than this!”

“Have we met before, sir?” asked Stephen in astonishment. “I have certainly dreamt of you. I dreamt that you and I were together in an immense mansion with endless, dusty corridors!”

“‘Have we met before, sir?’” mocked the gentleman with the thistle-down hair. “Why! What nonsense you talk! As if we had not attended the same feasts and balls and parties every night for weeks and weeks!”

“Certainly in my dreams…”