"If I did not read your mind, but delved into the infinite, as you say,
why didn't I get this too?"
"Didn't have time, my boy. But you may have read the mind of Mr.
Mayhew, the subconscious mind of Old Bill--the mind that never sleeps
and never forgets, you know, and which retained through the years all
that Mr. Mayhew had put into it; for you drew into the reflector the
elliptical curve, which Mr. Mayhew conceived, but which never in my
life have I considered in conjunction with reflectors."
"But you?" I asked again. "Your picture?"
"I painted from memory, and, if you will remember, left out the
reflector. But Mr. Mayhew had also dipped into the infinite, and
discovered what no living brain knew. Mr. Mayhew"--he turned to the
still shaky old man--"you have lost, it is true, fifty years of your
life. But your remaining years will be full of honor, profit, and ease,
for the whole scientific world will rise to do you homage. You are
still in advance, for you have not only isolated and liquefied helium,
the last of the refractory gases, but you will ultimately solidify it."