jection, of volition as opposed to passiveness, have any counterpart out of our minds. … Notice, Martha, that in my view the expression, 'Transcendental Being,' implies a contradiction. Our very idea of Being is a mere outcome of experience: and I go so far beyond Nature, I leap so completely out of my human skin, that I can force myself to the contemplation of an unimaginable world, in which there is no contradiction between Being and Non-Being. …
"Therefore, I do not trouble whether I shall in that world be myself or not myself: nor even whether I shall be or not be. …"
She gazes at me, her eyes wide open, and says under her breath:
"Yes, I see."
"And, do you know, the capacity of thus abstracting one's thought itself from its outward form, of looking upon the universe and one's very thought from such a standpoint, sets one on heights incomprehensibly sublime, and gives the purest, the most unearthly delight."
… There is a black cat here, with eyes like emeralds; it ranges noiselessly amongst the rows of gravestones. A singu-
