All at once, it occurred to me, that I had no recollection of wading
knee-deep through all that dust, after I awoke. True, an incredible age
of years had passed, since I approached the window; but that was
evidently as nothing, compared with the countless spaces of time that, I
conceived, had vanished whilst I was sleeping. I remembered now, that I
had fallen asleep, sitting in my old chair. Had it gone ...? I glanced
toward where it had stood. Of course, there was no chair to be seen. I
could not satisfy myself, whether it had disappeared, after my waking,
or before. If it had mouldered under me, surely, I should have been
waked by the collapse. Then I remembered that the thick dust, which
covered the floor, would have been sufficient to soften my fall; so that
it was quite possible, I had slept upon the dust for a million years
or more.
As these thoughts wandered through my brain, I glanced again, casually,
to where the chair had stood. Then, for the first time, I noticed that
there were no marks, in the dust, of my footprints, between it and the
window.
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