The Lake - pg. 157

He found it hard to believe that in one single night he had seen Machie at the firefly-catching, been pursued by the vision of the baby on the bank, and was now drinking with a woman he had met entirely by chance. Perhaps it was her ugliness that made it possible. To have seen Machie by the moat was a beautiful dream, but this ugly woman in a cheap restaurant was real. Yet drinking with this "reality" seemed at the same time a way to reach the girl in the dream. The uglier the woman, the better the vision. Her ugliness brought Machie's face into view.