Since the soul of a man--his will to do things, his will to feel
things--is the man himself, if I had a different soul I should be another
man. The former man would have ceased to be."
"Or would be elsewhere."
It was the doctor who spoke, and he spoke without special interest,
simply expressing his thought of what might happen in so whimsical an
event as that harped upon by Valentine. But Valentine seemed painfully
struck by the almost idle words.
"Elsewhere!" he exclaimed, with a lowering expression. "What do you mean,
doctor? What do you imply?"
The doctor looked at him surprised.
"Merely that a thing expelled is not necessarily a thing slain. If you
turn me out of this room I am not certain to expire on the doormat."
Valentine broke into a nervous and uneasy laugh, and cast a quick glance
all around him, and especially on Cuckoo, who sat listening silently with
her eyebrows drawn together in a pent frown of puzzled attention.
"I see, I see," he said hastily. And here Julian broke in.
"But the whole thing's impossible," he said with a laugh.
"You would say so, doctor?"
Valentine addressed this question to Doctor Levillier in a very marked
and urgent manner.
"You would say so, since the will of man cannot perform miracles?"
"Certainly, I should say so, despite the triumphs of hypnotism.
Pages:
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651