I was pensively penning the outline of the inkstand’s circular, quivering shadow. In a distant room a clock struck the hour, while I, dreamer that I am, imagined someone was knocking at the door, softly at first, then louder and louder. He knocked twelve times and paused expectantly.
“Yes, I’m here, come in. …”
–from The Wood-Sprite by Vladimir Nabokov
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