imitable
distance, I could descry the rounded, snowcapp'd head of Mont Blanc,
rearing itself heavenward, where the pale, treacherous moon kept her
silent watch, and from whence the glistening stars twinkled down through
an ocean of space, touching frosted particles of matter with
scintillations of light, and making them glitter like diamonds--world-
old, transparent jewels, set in the cold, ice-blue crown of the eternal
glacier.

I could thus see myself, gazing through my dream eyes on my _eidolon_,
as if it were only a reflection in a mirror. _It_ was walking here on
this wide Alpine plain, all alone; and I recognised also that I had the
power to analyse and appreciate the motives by which it was led hither,
the desires by which it was actuated--the strange thing, being, that I
felt, within myself, all the thoughts and ideas that must have occurred
to _my other self_.

At the same time, however, I seemed to be, as it were, but an inactive
spectator of all that happened; looking on the visionary events of my
dream as if I had no share or part in them. I appeared to possess,
while they occurred, a sort of dual existence, of which I was perfectly
cognisant, then and afterwards.

I knew that I--my other self--wished to reach the heights of the
Matterhorn before and above me: the region of perpetual snow. I
sympathised with that wish; and yet, I could look on at all my efforts
to accomplish it, as if I were uninterested in their success, whilst I
still felt, within myself, all the agony and suspense that must have
filled the mind of my wraith, I could see myself making repeated
exertions to reach the heights; constantly climbing, never getting any
higher. I appeared to patrol a narrow circle, whose circumference I was
unable to cross. Round and round I went, continually striving to get
upwards and onwards:--still, always finding myself in the same identical
spot, as if I had not advanced an inch. I grew tired, weary, exhausted.
I felt sick at heart and in body. A nameless, indefinable horror
seized upon me.

Then, all of a sudden, Min appeared.

She stood on the peaks above me; her figure presented in strong relief
against the dead, neutral tint of the ice-wall behind her. I could see
her face plainly--the look of entreaty in her eyes and the beckoning
motion of her hands. She was calling to me, and urging me to join her;
and--I _could_ not!

A wide crevasse yawned before me, preventing any forward movement