of the best and most brilliant and at once ordered the that my very soul seemed what a sense of expectation quivered in my veins as i prepared the mixture whose influence pushed wide the gates of � with what a lingering ecstasy i to the two full glasses of it � enough let me tell you to unsteady a far more slow and stolid brain than mine the sensations which followed were both and mentally than on the previous evening � and when i at last left the and walked home at about midnight my way was with the strangest for example there was no moon and clouds were still hanging in the skies enough to obscure all the stars � yet as i sauntered leisurely up the es a bright green planet suddenly swung into dusky space and its lustre full upon my path its dazzling beams com surrounded me and made the wet leaves of the trees overhead shine like jewels and i watched the burning spreading about me in the fashion of a wide watery rim knowing all the time that it was but an image of my fancy � the secret so sought for by philosophers and � j had found it even i � i was as a god in the power i had obtained to create and enjoy the of my own fertile brain � for truly this is all that even high can do � namely to command worlds to be borne by the action of his thought � and again to bid them die by an effort of his will the huge force of all time and all space can be no more than an endless and immense imagination and one spark of this imagination is perhaps the only divine thing we have in our mortal composition � though of course like reason it can easily be to false and criminal ends but we of paris care nothing as to whether our thoughts run in wholesome or morbid channels so long as self indulgence is my thoughts for instance were poisoned � but i was satisfied with their poisonous tendency and i was in no wise disconcerted or dismayed when on reaching home and ascending the steps i found the door draped with solemn black as if for a funeral and saw written across it in pale yet � la quietly i put out my hand and made as though i would touch these seemingly substantial � they rolled away like rolling smoke � the dismal inscription vanished and all was clear again entering i found my father sitting up for me art late i he said as i came towards w him et smiling good as he spoke thou hast been at the de not to night i answered carelessly i have only walked to the and back a new sort of amusement for thee is it not thou art not likely to become a and he clapped me kindly on the shoulder as we ascended the stairs together to our respective but no thou hast worked too well and to have such a suggestion made to thee even in jest i am well pleased with thee mon � i know how difficult thy duties have been during my absence and how admirably thou hast fulfilled them i received his praise without remark and he continued � for the next week take holiday and for the week after that again i then comes thy marriage � and i will strive to do without thee for a full two months where wilt thou spend thy de f where in paradise of course i i answered with a forced smile my father laughed � brushed his bearded lips against my cheek an old french custom of his whenever he felt particularly affectionate and we parted for the night what a sound sleep that good man would have i thought as i watched him turn into his room and saluted him respectfully in response to his last cheerful nod and glance he would not see what saw when i entered my own chamber i was there asleep � she lay on my couch her head resting on my pillows � her lips parted in a sweet drowsy smile � while over her whole fair form fell a veil of green like mist hanging above the lakes and mountains in a noon ah gentle soul � image of child like innocence and � there she was reflected on the mirror of my brain as purely and faithfully as she had been cherished in my thoughts for and many a day i i stood silently looking on for a space at the beautiful phantom of my lost idol � looking as gravely as sadly and as as i would have looked at the dead then extending my hands slowly as a might do i attempted to touch that delicate figure � and lo � it melted into bed was once more smooth bare and empty � of even the of delight i threw myself down upon it fatigued in body and mind yet not so � closing my aching eyes i wandered away into a cloudy realm of confused and fantastic vision and dreaming fancied that i slept xv that same week st returned from and two days after her arrival in paris my father and i were invited to dine with the de our good friend the cure being also of the party i was amused at the whole affair � it went off so well and there were two such admirable actors at table namely myself and trust a woman to every one in the art of i she was a mere brilliant of dazzling mirth and from the beginning of the dinner to its end it was only pretence i knew but who would have thought she could have pretended so well now and then i was smitten with a sudden at 