with unsteady eyes. I did not dare advance; I did not venture to
make a movement; feeling certain, nevertheless, that He was
there, but that He would escape me again, He whose imperceptible
body had absorbed my reflection.

How frightened I was! And then suddenly I began to see myself
through a mist in the depths of the looking-glass, in a mist as
it were, or through a veil of water; and it seemed to me as if
this water were flowing slowly from left to right, and making my
figure clearer every moment. It was like the end of an eclipse.
Whatever hid me did not appear to possess any clearly defined
outlines, but was a sort of opaque transparency, which gradually
grew clearer.

At last I was able to distinguish myself completely, as I do
every day when I look at myself.

I had seen Him! And the horror of it remained with me, and makes
me shudder even now.

August 21. How could I kill Him, since I could not get hold of
Him? Poison? But He would see me mix it with the water; and then,
would our poisons have any effect on His impalpable body?
No--no--no doubt about the matter. Then?--then?

August 22. I sent for a blacksmith from Rouen and ordered iron
shutters of him for my room, such as some private hotels in Paris
have on the ground floor, for fear of thieves, and he is going to
make me a similar door as well. I have made myself out a coward,
but I do not care about that!