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Book, page 171 / 298 was to. . .no, he would <i>not</i> envisage it! With a passionate effort he hypnotised himself to think of nothing at all. His brain, into which, by the power Zeus gave me, I was gazing, became a perfect vacuum, insulated by the will. It was the kind of experiment which scientists call "beau- tiful." And yes, beautiful it was. But not in the eyes of Nature. She abhors a vacuum. Seeing the enormous odds against which the Duke was fighting, she might well have stood aside. But she has no sense of sport whatsoever. She stepped in. At first I did not realise what was happening. I saw the Duke's eyes contract, and the muscles ZULEIKA DOBSON 205 of his mouth drawn down, and, at the same time, a tense upward movement of his whole body. Then, suddenly, the strain undone: a downward dart of the head, a loud percussion. Thrice the Duke sneezed, with a sound that was as the bursting of the dams of body and soul together; then sneezed again. Now was his will broken. He capitulated. In rushed shame and horror and hatred, pell-mell, to ravage him. What care now, what use, for deportment? He walked coweringly round and round his room, with frantic gestures, with head bowed. He shuffled and slunk. His dressing-gown had the look of a gabardine. Shame and horror and hatred went slashing and hewing throughout the fallen citadel. At length, exhausted, he flung himself down on the window-seat and leaned out into the night, pant- ing. The air was full of thunder. He clutched at his throat. From the depths of the black caverns beneath their brows the eyes of the un-
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