When he approached the end he felt comforted; he was glad to have got it over, and it was the only solution, after all. He looked up calmly when he had finished, confident that he had done well.
But Mallinson merely tapped his fingers on the table-top and said, after a long wait: “I really don’t know what to say, Conway… except that you must be completely mad…”
There followed a long silence, during which the two men stared at each other in far different moods – Conway withdrawn and disappointed, Mallinson in hot, fidgeting discomfort. “So you think I’m mad?” said Conway at length.
Mallinson broke into a nervous laugh. “Well, I should damn well say so, after a tale like that. I mean… well, really… such utter nonsense… it seems to me rather beyond arguing about.”
Conway looked and sounded immensely astonished. “You think it’s nonsense?”
“Well… how else can I look at it? I’m sorry, Conway – it’s a pretty strong statement – but I don’t see how any sane person could be in any doubt about it.”
“So you still hold that we were brought here by blind accident – by some lunatic who made careful plans to run off with an aeroplane and fly it a thousand miles just for the fun of the thing?”
Conway offered a cigarette, and the other took it. The pause was one for which they both seemed grateful. Mallinson answered eventually: “Look here, it’s no good arguing the thing point by point. As a matter of fact, your theory that the people here sent someone vaguely into the world to decoy strangers, and that this fellow deliberately learned flying and bided his time until it happened that a suitable machine was due to leave Baskul with four passengers… well, I won’t say that it’s literally impossible, though it does seem to me ridiculously far-fetched. If it stood by itself, it might just be worth considering, but when you tack it on to all sorts of other things that are absolutely impossible – all this about the lamas being hundreds of years old, and having discovered a sort of elixir of youth, or whatever you’d call it… well, it just makes me wonder what kind of microbe has bitten you, that’s all.”
Conway smiled. “Yes, I dare say you find it hard to believe. Perhaps I did myself at first – I scarcely remember. Of course it is an extraordinary story, but I should think your own eyes have had enough evidence that this is an extraordinary place. Think of all that we’ve actually seen, both of us – a lost valley in the midst of unexplored mountains, a monastery with a library of European books – ”
“Oh, yes, and a central heating plant, and modern plumbing, and afternoon tea, and everything else – it’s all very marvelous, I know.”
“Well, then, what do you make of it?”
“Damn little, I admit. It’s a complete mystery. But that’s no reason for accepting tales that are physically impossible. Believing in hot baths because you’ve had them is different from believing in people hundreds of years old just because they’ve told you they are.” He laughed again, still uneasily. “Look here, Conway, it’s got on your nerves, this place, and I really don’t wonder at it. Pack up your things and let’s quit. We’ll finish this argument a month or two hence after a jolly little dinner at Maiden’s.”
Conway answered quietly: “I’ve no desire to go back to that life at all.”
“What life?”
“The life you’re thinking of… dinners… dances… polo… and all that…”
“But I never said anything about dances and polo! Anyhow, what’s wrong with them? D’you mean that you’re not coming with me? You’re going to stay here like the other two? Then at least you shan’t stop me from clearing out of it!” Mallinson threw down his cigarette and sprang towards the door with eyes blazing. “You’re off your head!” he cried wildly. “You’re mad, Conway, that’s what’s the matter with you! I know you’re always calm, and I’m always excited, but I’m sane, at any rate, and you’re not! They warned me about it before I joined you at Baskul, and I thought they were wrong, but now I can see they weren’t – ”