FOUR
A PIECE OF YELLOWED PAPER
I’d tried but found it impossible to break Forbes out of his panic attack, for that constituted my diagnosis of his state of mind.
“Mr. Forbes, William!” I’d implored and beseeched him to snap out of it, tried to reassure him out of his terror of the storm. I switched on all the lights in the room in an effort to calm him, all to no avail. Whatever demons had invaded the man’s mind, they held a far stronger hold over his psychological equilibrium than anything my own feeble entreaties could break through.
I made the decision to try and allow him to break free from his fears in his own time and I simply walked to him and took him by the arm, gently guiding him to the nearest armchair. He allowed me to lead him, still shaking, to the comfort of my own fires
