Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/154

 MARK TWAIN

It was my turn to be surprised now. I said: &quot;I can t help it. I give you my word of honor that it is as I say. I saw you at the reception, and you were dressed precisely as you are now. When they told me a moment ago that I should find a friend in this room, your image rose before me, dress and all, just as I had seen you at the reception.&quot;

Those are the facts. She was not at the reception at all, or anywhere near it ; but I saw her there never theless, and most clearly and unmistakably. To that I could make oath. How is one to explain this? I was not thinking of her at the time ; had not thought of her for years. But she had been thinking of me, no doubt; did her thoughts flit through leagues of air to me, and bring with it that clear and pleasant vision of herself ? I think so. That was and remains my sole experience in the matter of apparitions I mean apparitions that come when one is (ostensibly) awake. I could have been asleep for a moment; the apparition could have been the creature of a dream. Still, that is nothing to the point; the feature of interest is the happening of the thing just at that time, instead of at an earlier or later time, which is argument that its origin lay in thought-transference.

My next incident will be set aside by most persons as being merely a &quot;coincidence,&quot; I suppose. Years ago I used to think sometimes of making a lecturing trip through the antipodes and the borders of the Orient, but always gave up the idea, partly because of the great length of the journey and partly because my wife could not well manage to go with me.

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