As soon as he had passed from the view of the cabin door Aldous shortened his pace.

He knew that never in his life had he needed to readjust himself more than at the present moment.

A quarter of an hour had seen a complete and miraculous revolution within him.

It was a change so unusual and apparently so impossible that he could not grasp the situation and the fact all at once.

But the truth of it swept over him more and more swiftly as he made his way along the dark, narrow trail that led up to the Miette Plain.
It was something that not only amazed and thrilled him.