V


"And you saw her?" said the doctor in French.

"Yes; but the three-thousand-year gag did not work! She spotted
you, cher ami, on the instant. And she wouldn't let me take her
with my kodak."

The doctor looked grave. "I see," he mused thoughtfully. "You must
have my camera, a larger one and more bulky perhaps to carry; but
she will not object to that,--she who has stood for full lengths.
I will give you some private instructions."

"But, cher doctor, this previous-existence idea--at what do you
arrive?"

"There is much to say for it," said the doctor oracularly. "It has
survived in the belief of all ages. Who can tell? That some men
in a previous existence may have been goats or apes," continued the
doctor, looking at him curiously, "does not seem improbable! From
the time of Pythagoras we have known that; but that the individual
as an individual ego has been remanded or projected, has harked
back or anticipated himself, is, we may say, with our powers of
apperception,--that is, the perception that we are perceiving,--
is"--

But the Chevalier had fled. "No matter," said the doctor, "I will