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CHAPTER V.
THEY RECOGNIZE, BUT DO NOT KNOW, EACH OTHER.
Gwynplaine was alone--alone, and in the presence of the tepid bath and
the deserted couch. The confusion in his mind had reached its
culminating point. His thoughts no longer resembled thoughts. They
overflowed and ran riot; it was the anguish of a creature wrestling with
perplexity. He felt as if he were awaking from a horrid nightmare. The
entrance into unknown spheres is no simple matter.
From the time he had received the duchess's letter, brought by the
page, a series of surprising adventures had befallen Gwynplaine, each
one less intelligible than the other. Up to this time, though in a
dream, he had seen things clearly. Now he could only grope his way. He
no longer thought, nor even dreamed. He collapsed. He sank down upon the
couch which the duchess had vacated.
Suddenly he heard a sound of footsteps, and those of a man. The noise
came from the opposite side of the gallery to that by which the duchess
had departed. The man approached, and his footsteps, though deadened by
the carpet, were clear and distinct. Gwynplaine, in spite of his
abstraction, listened.
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