It is not till the past has receded many steps that before the clearest eyes it falls into co-ordinate pictures.

It is not till the I we tell of has ceased to exist that it takes its place among other objective realities, and finds its true niche in the picture.

The present and the near past is a confusion, whose meaning flashes on us as it slinks away into the distance.
The stranger lit one cigar from the end of another, and puffed and listened with half-closed eyes.
"I will remember more to tell you if you like," said the boy.
He spoke with that extreme gravity common to all very young things who feel deeply.

It is not till twenty that we learn to be in deadly earnest and to laugh.

The stranger nodded, while the fellow sought for something more to relate.