But the subject of conversation which comes closest to her is _religious_ research. Should we recognize in this fact a characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race, of the effect of a Protestant education, or simply a peculiarity of temperament of which there is no explanation? I do not know. At all events she is profoundly religious, with a very acute spirit of inquiry and a perpetual anxiety about human destiny. Under various guises, in various ways, she has asked me about the cause and the final outcome of things. I need not say that none of my replies were couched in a manner to satisfy her. Nevertheless she has received my doubts serenely, smiling at everything. For she is distinctly an amiable being. As regards understanding? Comprehension? She is marvellously intelligent. She is even more marvellously instinctive. Rich in so many natural gifts she might have become a scholar. I have heard her employ a very comprehensive vocabulary in discussing the various subjects of astronomy, chemistry and physiology. But it is the unconscious in her that counts. She is an artist. I have been unable to resist the pleasure of recalling my first meeting with this extraordinary and delightful woman. What a rare chance! You admire afar off, as in a vision, an airy figure comparable in grace to those dancers whom one sees on Pompeiian wall paintings, moving in their light draperies. Some day you discover once again this apparition in real life, softened in colour and hidden under those thicker robes with which mortals cover themselves, and you perceive that she is a person of good mind and good heart, a soul somewhat inclined to mysticism, to philosophy, to religion, a very deep, a very cheerful and a very noble soul. There you have to the life this Loie Fuller, in whom our Roger Marx has hailed the chastest and most expressive of dancers, beautifully inspired, who reanimates within herself and restores to us the lost wonders of Greek mimicry, the art of those motions, at once voluptuous and mystical, which interpret the phenomena of nature and the life history of living beings. ANATOLE FRANCE CONTENTS PAGE I. MY STAGE ENTRANCE 15 II. MY APPEARANCE ON A REAL STAGE AT TWO YEARS AND A HALF 20 III. HOW I CREATED THE SERPENTINE DANCE 25 IV. HOW I CAME TO PARIS 43 V. MY APPEARANCE AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE 51 VI. LIGHT AND THE DANCE 62 VII. A JOURNEY TO RUSSIA--A BROKEN CONTRACT 73 VIII. SARAH BERNHARDT--THE DREAM AND THE REALITY 84 IX. ALEXANDRE DUMAS 101