I reflected. This danger was not to be trifled with. It would be better to avoid it by omitting all mention of my Revelation, and by proceeding on the path of Demonstration⁠—which after all, seemed so simple and so conclusive that nothing would be lost by discarding the former means. “Upward, not Northward”⁠—was the clue to the whole proof. It had seemed to me fairly clear before I fell asleep; and when I first awoke, fresh from my dream, it had appeared as patent as arithmetic; but somehow it did not seem to me quite so obvious now. Though my wife entered the room opportunely just at that moment, I decided, after we had exchanged a few words of commonplace conversation, not to begin with her.