on their first meeting , attending a lecture ( dolphus on `` reinventing the humboldt sea '' ) at the college of mystery , they looked at each other and knew , as if angels had whispered into their ears , that there was now one less mystery in the world , that each served as an answer to another , that each fitted neatly into a hollow that the other had perceived in his or her soul , dropping into place as neatly as a butter-smooth piece in a finely made teak puzzle-or , considering their interests , as easily as a carbolic functional group nested into place on an indole ring .