We hear a voice and assume it belongs to the man we are looking at, at least it is his thoughts we hear. He is remembering the circumstances under which he has seen the woman in the past. While he remembers we see M1, his remembered/imagined self, go through the motions described, at least what little actually takes place in the circle of light. He changes his mind about what causes her to appear. At first he says, "When I thought of her..." but he realises that is inaccurate; the woman simply "appears" to him, and always at night. He goes over his routine, carefully starting from his return home after walking the roads since daybreak: he enters, goes to the closet and swaps his greatcoat and hat for a nightgown and cap, then he enters his sanctum and tries to summon her, always without joy, whereupon at dawn he dresses again and heads out on the road.