Then the words stopped.  A new noise penetrated the room, the drawn-out rattle of wheels along the road.  Everyone thought of the world outside, which the talk and the light had made them forget.  The man and the family ceased to be two distinct creatures; between them a purblind, sluggish spirit came into being and moved toward the door to meet the diligence as it stopped.


-Jules Romains, The Death of a Nobody