through a strange synchronicity of the establishment 's passageways out of keeping with its usual labyrinthine aura , those who congregated at the altar of the bar could , glancing sideways down the glazed oak counter , see duncan illuminated by a splinter of common space-at times scribbling inspired on his old-fashioned writing pad , at times staring with a lazy eye out of a window that revealed nothing of the outer world , but which may , reflecting back with a green wink , have revealed to him much of the inner world .