“Why not, under favorable conditions?”

“But where do they go? Surely they cannot perish utterly?”

“Yes, that is the question. Or, rather, it is not a question. Nothing is ever lost in the spiritual universe.”

“But what,” inquired Ernest, “is the particular reason for your reflection?”

“It is this,” the sculptor replied; “I had a striking motive and lost it.”

“Do you remember,” he continued, speaking to Reginald, “the Narcissus I was working on the last time when you called at my studio?”

“Yes; it was a striking thing and impressed me very much, though I cannot recall it at the moment.”