.
With a physical effort he began to speak so as to break the silence.
As he was sitting between me and the open window, some of the things he said were lost in the air.
He spoke of his travels, and, I think, also of his marriage, but I did not hear well.
He became animated, and his voice rose painfully.

He quivered.

A restrained passion enlivened his gestures and glances and warmed his language.

You could tell that he must have been an active brilliant man before his illness.
He turned his head a little and I could hear him better.
He told of the cities and countries that he had visited.

It was like an invocation to sacred names, to far-off different skies, Italy, Egypt, India.