Lumen. It would, in fact, be a conversation between the living and the dead.
Quærens. Pardon a last question, master—one perhaps a little indiscreet, but a last one, for I see Venus is paling, and I feel that your voice will soon cease to be heard. If actions are thus visible in ethereal regions, we can then see, after our death, not only our own actions, but also those of others—I mean those which specially interest us?
For instance, a pair of twin souls, dwelling in perfect unity, would like to see again for a thousand years the delightful hours passed together on the Earth; they would rush into space with a rapidity equal to that of light, in order to have always before their eyes the same hours of joy.
In another sense, a husband would trace with interest the entire life of his companion; and should some unexpected situation have presented itself, he could at leisure examine the causes leading to the same. He might even, if his disembodied companion resided in some neighbouring region, call upon her to observe, in common with himself, these retrospective incidents.
No denial could be admissible before such palpable evidence, and might not this power exercised by these spirits give rise to some strange revelations?
Lumen. You are very earthly, my friend, to think that in the Heavens memories of a material kind will be valued, and I am astonished that you can continue to think them of importance. What should specially strike you in all we have said during these two interviews is, that by virtue of the laws of light, we can see events after they have been accomplished, although they are past, and indeed when they have entirely vanished.
Quærens. Believe me, master, this truth will never more be effaced from my memory. It is precisely this point which I find so exceedingly marvellous.
Forget, I pray you, my last digression.
To say the truth, that which from our first interview has most taxed and surpassed the bounds of my imagination, was to think that the duration of the voyage of the spirit can be not only nil—negative—but also retrograde!
Time retrogressive.