But monks are great sophists, the hobbit the desolation of smau at the next moment John Storm had told himself that it was not Brother Paul who was in the adjoining room, but only his poor perishing body, labouring through the last sloughs of the twilight land the hobbit the desolation of smau death. Paul himself, his soul, his spirit, was far away. Hence it could be no sin to go into the cell of one whose senses were not there. His own door was locked, but he scraped back the key and lit his candle, and stepped into the passage. Not another sound broke the silence of the sleeping house. When John Storm entered the dark room, candle in hand, Brother Paul was standing in the middle of the floor with one hand outstretched and a ghastly and appalling smile upon his face.