Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/82

 say, "That is quite correct." Once only he raised his hand as if in doubt. But I soon convinced him, by the mention of certain accessory circumstances, that my recollection of the matter was correct.

"Your memory is surprisingly exact," he remarked: "that occurrence had entirely escaped my memory. Naturally, many things might pass unobserved by me that would arrest your attention with all the force of novelty."

He thus indicated his frank acceptance of my theory as the basis of our future intercourse: thenceforth he always spoke in consistence with that view; that is, in our private intercourse. When communicated to him, my impressions of men and things, as they appeared to me, came to excite in him an interest perhaps even more vivid than that experienced by myself. It became our daily custom for me to give him a detailed account of my new discoveries during the day. He was thus enabled, in a degree that otherwise would have been impossible, to follow the current of my ideas, so as to appreciate and solve my difficulties. A peculiar effect of this interchange of thought was gradually produced. Utis not only spoke, but frequently appeared to think also, from my point of view; while I, on the other hand, found myself insensibly acquiescing in the belief, that that former life of mine was but a delusion.

"The first thing in order," said Utis, when I had ended my summary of events, "is to explain our manner of dividing time. The system of division you see on that dial, he went on, is the result of a series of changes. It is so characteristic and so typical of the course of change in many similar matters, that it is worth an explanation in detail.