“Full of wonder, I began to gaze into the depths of the crystal, for the moonlight was so bright that everything reflected in the ball was plainly visible. At first I saw nothing but a little upside-down picture of the temple itself, and the overhanging trees, but after a moment this reflection melted away, and other scenes appeared, dissolving and reappearing so rapidly that I could catch but a glimpse of each. Then, all at once, a clear steady vision, upon which I looked intently, took the place of these shifting ones. There were pyramids in this scene, visible from the open door of a vast hall with sculptured figures at the entrance. And in that hall I saw _myself_! But I was not clothed in my ordinary linen tunic. I wore a strange robe, and a still stranger head-dress, and I was bending over something that looked like a plan of a building. For a moment I was puzzled, and altogether confused—till in a flash I _remembered_, and as the truth came to me, I gave a startled cry. “Chares was looking at me with a smile as I raised my head. “‘I was Sheshà—chief engineer and architect among the priests of Egypt, long ages ago,’ I exclaimed. “‘Do you understand now why you were able to plan that mine, and save our city?’ asked Chares quietly. ‘It was knowledge you had already gained in another far-away life, though you were ignorant whence it came, and why the work was easy to you.’ “I was struck dumb with wonder, for not only did I remember my life as Sheshà, but fragments of many other lives since then began to come back to me, some vividly, some only as a sort of confused dream. “But Chares put his hand on my arm and led me out of the temple. “‘Leave your memories now, and let us go in and sleep,’ he said. ‘See, a new day has begun—the greatest day for me in this my present life.’ He pointed to the east, where the first grey streaks of dawn were visible, and I followed him into the house. So for the first time I _remembered_. There have been many, many lives since, and in some of them I again forgot all that had gone before. But, once more now, the old man you know as ‘Mr. Sheston,’ remembers again, otherwise he would not be telling you this story—which is nearly at an end. “When the sun rose we were awakened by the sound of trumpets, the clashing of bells and the shouting of the workmen who were dragging the huge brazen figure on its wheeled platform from the workshop. Later on in the morning, came the procession through the city, where Chares led my beautiful sister up to the great temple. Children strewed flowers before them as they passed through shouting multitudes, praising Chares and showering blessings upon him and his newly made bride. [Illustration: ‘IT WILL LAST FOR EVER’] “By sundown, hundreds of workmen working with a will had set up the statue, on a pedestal at the entrance to the harbour, and now crowds of the citizens took ship, to view it from the sea.