He could detect that peppermint’s existence,
⁠He read its nature in the book of doom;
Standing at some considerable distance;
⁠Standing, in fact, in quite another room.

Was there a faint impenetrable essence
⁠Wafted towards him from the sucking K.?
Did some pale ghost inform him of its presence?
⁠Or did it happen in some other way?

These are the questions nobody can answer,
⁠These are the problems nobody can solve;
Only we know that Man is an Advancer:
⁠Only we know the Centuries revolve.