My room is located in the quietest part of the college, and the door is veiled with a heavy black cloth in hopes of soundproofing my quarters, but I cannot find peace.
My mind is whirring. The man I had seen in the street yesterday from afar ~ his eyes… I don't want to say that anyone in any world could have eyes like Will's, but it was true. It was the first thing I'd noticed about him ~ the intense oceans of fierce blue that stared straight ahead, as if looking for someone, something. And his nose ~ it was Will's nose, and even his hair the same rich brown as the hair that I had smelled in my dreams for thirty years. Only the mouth was different. It was firm, serious, even a little bitter and angry.
I should ask the alethiometer, I thought, it will know. But somehow, I'm afraid. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just scared of knowing who really is. No one could remind me so much of Will and not be in some way connected to him, and I've already spent so long a time grieving, I don't know if I can take anything more.
So now I'm lying in my bed, so confused. Who is he? I want so much to know, but my instincts are also frightened.
This won't do. I get up and arrange a shawl around my shoulders. I walk in the garden is what I need.
The air in the garden is sweetly scented with the fragrance of the array of flowers, but it also has a cold bite to it. I walk along the footpath briskly, but the chill seeps through my layers of clothes. I am about to go back in and retrieve a warmer garment, when I notice a rustling of the shrubbery that cannot be leaves.
Curiosity makes me forget the weather. I go up to the bushes and push aside the dense leaves, in hopes of a glimpse of the intruder.
Then, my heart stops. It's the man from the street. He stops struggling and looks straight into my eyes, and right down through them into my heart. And then I know. He's not just the man from the street. He's Will.