correct sight, I stretched my arms and felt about me, walking in
this direction and that, if haply, where I could see nothing, I
might yet come in contact with something; but my search was vain.
Instinctively then, as to the only living thing near me, I turned
to the raven, which stood a little way off, regarding me with an
expression at once respectful and quizzical. Then the absurdity
of seeking counsel from such a one struck me, and I turned again,
overwhelmed with bewilderment, not unmingled with fear. Had I
wandered into a region where both the material and psychical
relations of our world had ceased to hold? Might a man at any
moment step beyond the realm of order, and become the sport of the
lawless? Yet I saw the raven, felt the ground under my feet, and
heard a sound as of wind in the lowly plants around me!

"How DID I get here?" I said--apparently aloud, for the question
was immediately answered.

"You came through the door," replied an odd, rather harsh voice.

I looked behind, then all about me, but saw no human shape. The
terror that madness might be at hand laid hold upon me: must
I henceforth place no confidence either in my senses or my
consciousness? The same instant I knew it was the raven that had
spoken, for he stood looking up at me with an air of waiting. The
sun was not shining, yet the bird seemed to cast a shadow, and
the shadow seemed part of himself.

I beg my reader to aid me in the endeavour to make myself
intelligible--if here understanding be indeed possible between us.
I was in a world, or call it a state of things, an economy of