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 four little kicks. She was just stepping off the dais when Mr. James entered.

"Ah, you're the very man I wanted to see," said Hilary Vance joyfully. "I've got a magnificent idea."

"Then Heaven help you!" said Mr. James with a touch of dismay in his tone.

"I'm going to try the anesthetic revelation," said Hilary Vance, unperturbed. There was even a note of pride in his tone.

"And what may that be?" said Mr. James.

"You take gas—ordinary dentist's gas—mixed with a large proportion of air; and without your losing consciousness, the walls of the flesh vanish, you sally forth into the Empyrean, and see visions. I shall see colors undreamed of by the artist, and wonderful beings, the amazing denizens of the sky," said Hilary Vance, warming to enthusiasm.

"You will. You will see scarlet snakes and purple opossums," said Mr. James.

"Purple opossums—glorious!" said Hilary Vance joyfully. "You will come with me?"

"I don't think gas is exactly what you want, Hilary," said Mr. James thoughtfully.