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On the contrary, he perceived noith an extreme and alert attention the hand on the paper; he even turned his head slightly to see if the pencil had lanced up, with a touch of surprise, at his hostess's face, and caught her in the very act of turning her eyes from his There was no impatience in herintently, not like the bearded face opposite, introspective and intuitive, but eagerly, though motionlessly, observant of the objective world He looked at Mrs Stapleton She too bore the saht on her usually rather tiresoan to co, noiseless hush

This tiress ifter and h those processes that had been measurable before, faintly conscious of the words spoken before the sitting began-" If possible, the silence of thought"

He thought he understood nohat this signified, and that he was experiencing it No longer did he dwell upon, or consider, with any voluntary activity, the ies that passed before hiarded the His perception ran swiftly outwards, as through concentric circles, yet he was not sure whether it were outwards or inwards that he went

The roar of London, with its flight of ocular visions, sank behind him, and without any further sense ofhis own hoination, or fact he did not know But he perceived his mother, in the faie looking at hireat eyes Then these too were gone; and he was out in sole presence--that which he desired; and there he stopped

He was not in the least aware of how long this lasted But he found hi steadily at the white paper on the table, froain conscious of the sudden passing of some clear sound that left no echo--as sharp as the crack of a whip Oh! the paper--that was the important point! He bent a little closer, and are of a sharp disappoint Then he was astonished that the hand and pencil had gone fro at hie expression