her. As I went upstairs to her apartment, I was so overcome by emotion
that I trembled, and my heart beat rapidly.

"I entered the apartment. She rose the moment she heard my name
mentioned; and suddenly our eyes met in a peculiar fixed gaze.

"I sat down. I stammered out some commonplaces which she seemed not to
hear. I did not know what to say or do. Then, abruptly, clasping my arms
round her, my dream was realized so suddenly that I began to doubt
whether I was really awake. We were friends after this for two years."

"What conclusion do you draw from it?" said a voice.

The story-teller seemed to hesitate.

"The conclusion I draw from it--well, by Jove, the conclusion is
that it was just a coincidence! And then--who can tell? Perhaps it
was some glance of hers which I had not noticed and which came back
that night to me through one of those mysterious and unconscious
--recollections that often bring before us things ignored by our own
consciousness, unperceived by our minds!"

"Call it whatever you like," said one of his table companions, when the
story was finished; "but if you don't believe in magnetism after that, my
dear boy, you are an ungrateful fellow!"




A FATHER'S CONFESSION