Lapidoth had traveled a long way from that young self, and thought of all that this inscription signified with an unemotional memory, which was like the ocular perception of a touch to one who has lost the sense of touch, or like morsels on an untasting palate, having shape and grain, but no flavor. 
Lapidoth had travelled a long way from that young self, and remembered this without emotion, like a morsel of food which had no taste to him. 