What troubled him was that, though Dorset's attitude had perceptibly changed, the change was not clearly to be accounted for.

It had certainly not been produced by Selden's arguments, or by the action of his own soberer reason.

Five minutes' talk sufficed to show that some alien influence had been at work, and that it had not so much subdued his resentment as weakened his will, so that he moved under it in a state of apathy, like a dangerous lunatic who has been drugged.

Temporarily, no doubt, however exerted, it worked for the general safety: the question was how long it would last, and by what kind of reaction it was likely to be followed.

On these points Selden could gain no light; for he saw that one effect of the transformation had been to shut him off from free communion with Dorset.