# Chapter XX explained — The Return > Chapter companion for The Return by Walter de la Mare. ## What happens Lawford, staying with Herbert and Grisel, struggles with haunting memories and visions, particularly a mysterious connection to a place called Detcham. After a restless night and a disturbing episode on a hill, he finds some solace in Grisel's music but remains tormented by fragmented recollections and a fear of losing his sanity. ## Themes in this chapter ### Sanity and Madness Lawford's struggle with fragmented memories and his fear of being thought insane dominate the chapter. ### Isolation and Alienation Lawford feels profoundly alone, even among friends, as his mind drifts into inaccessible memories. ### Mortality and the Past The chapter explores Lawford's haunting by a past life or memory, symbolized by the vision of Detcham and the 'ghoul' Sabathier. ## Character check-ins ### Arthur Lawford Lawford is deeply troubled, experiencing vivid memories and visions, and fears being perceived as insane. ### Herbert Herbert is caring but cautious, trying to humor Lawford while observing his mental state. ### Grisel Grisel provides comfort through music and reassures Herbert that she is not afraid of Lawford's condition. ## Key lines > His eyes shone dark and full like those of a child who has trespassed beyond its hour for bed, and sits marvelling at reality in a waking dream. Lawford's eyes were wide and dark, like a child staying up past bedtime, amazed by the world as if in a dream. _Describes Lawford's trance-like state after the moonlit night._ > What if even in that dark pit beneath, which seemed to whisper Lethe to the tumultuous, swirling waters⁠—what if there, too, were merely a beginning again, and to seek a slumbering refuge there merely a blind and reiterated plunge into the heat and tumult of another day? He wondered if even death was just another start, not an escape from life's struggles. _Lawford's existential reflection on the cycle of life and death._ > It seemed as if a thin and dark cloud began to be quietly withdrawn from over his eyes. A dark haze seemed to lift from his vision, revealing a clearer memory. _Lawford experiences a moment of clarity before the vision of Detcham._ > He turned unsteadily and made his way, as if through a thick, drizzling haze, slowly back. He walked back unsteadily, as if moving through a dense fog. _Lawford's disorientation after the vision on the hill._ > It is not that I don't know they're only dreams. But if once the⁠—the others thought there had been any tampering⁠—here: if once they thought that, it would, you know, be quite over then. He knows his visions are dreams, but fears that if others think he's lost his mind, it would be the end. _Lawford expresses his fear of being judged insane._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se/chapters/xx - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se/chapters