“Why, you cut the letters on it, your Honor,” Catalina replied, “with a little pearl-handled knife. I have it also. You used many big words to me then, but I remember them all very well. Do you remember what you said the priest might do with the knife, if I were not a good girl?” “You forget, child, the President does not remember; but tell us about the knife,” said the Governor. “Do; I am all curiosity,” said the President. “It is a big word you used,” said Catalina, “and if you do not remember, I will have to tell you what it means. You said if I were not a good girl, the priest would perform phlebotomy upon me.” “We do not know—explain, child,” said Governor Lehumada. “He meant, the priest would open a blood-vessel, and all of my blood would run out,” laughed the child. “But were you so bad that I had to be constantly reminding you of the fact?” asked President Mortingo. “I was not bad then,” said the child; “it was only after I knew of the disgrace of my birth that I got to be disagreeable and bad. It is now time for you to take ‘Memory Fluid’ from Señor Guillermo Gonzales. I will tell you about other things when you remember. I am now going to meet Helen Hinckley in the Alameda.” She shook hands with the President; kissed the Governor fondly, and with the air of a queen swept from the room. “How strange,” said the President; “a child and a queen in one;” while Governor Lehumada, with a smile on his face, murmured: “Helen Hinckley, my long-lost love, found at last, at last. Would that I, too, could hasten to her.” The President heard the Governor’s confession of love, but gave no sign that his secret had been betrayed. “With your permission, Governor, I will go at once to the studio of Señor Guillermo Gonzales. I wish to become a subject immediately, the child has enthused me very much; in fact, I never believed it possible for any one to arouse my curiosity to such an extent.” At that moment Señor Guillermo Gonzales was shown into the drawing-room, and as he greeted the President, said: “To keep the matter of you becoming a subject very quiet, I came at a suggestion just received from the Governor, to administer the ‘Fluid’ here.” “How considerate,” said President Mortingo. “I really felt a little delicacy in going to your laboratory. Let the experiments begin now, I pray you. I really am getting nervous over it. I hope I will not be affected, on my return to a conscious condition, as was poor Mrs. Grange last night.” “Have no fears, President; it is not likely you committed any evil deeds in a life gone by for which you will now suffer remorse. Your presence in this life is no doubt due to the fact that you desired knowledge—desired to reach the highest plane, without any waste of years.”