"I knew the Pessimist's introduction would not be needed," said our Host.
"Nevertheless, it was the introduction that reminded me of the story," said the Professor. "And now," he continued, "can anyone here explain to me the strange conduct of the man with the white roses? For I confess that I can find no place for it in any system of Psychology known to me."
At this question the Son of the House, who for some reason had become the gravest member of the party, looked up and seemed about to speak. But as he raised his eyes they met the bright glance of his pretty cousin, on whose cheek there was a tear. And when the Son of the House saw that, the impulse to speech died within him.
No one else ventured an explanation. But my impression was that there were two persons in the room to whom the strange conduct of the man with the white roses presented no enigma.
[1] "In the novel of Pendennis, written ten years ago, there is an account of a certain Costigan, whom I had invented.... I was smoking in a tavern-parlour one night, and this Costigan came into the room alone—the very man: the most remarkable resemblance of the printed sketches of the man, and of the rude drawings in which I had depicted him. He had the same little coat, the same battered hat, cocked on one eye, the same twinkle in that eye. 'Sir,' said I, knowing him to be an old friend whom I had met in unknown regions, 'sir,' I said, 'may I offer you a glass of brandy and water?' ... How had I come to know him, to divine him? Nothing shall convince me that I have not seen that man in the world of spirits." (Thackeray, De Finibus.) See the whole passage, from which it is evident that Costigan did not recognise his creator.
[2] "Ni pour le jugement, ni pour le raisonnement, ni pour aucune autre faculté de la pensée proprement dite nous n'avons la moindre raison de supposer qu'elle soit attachée à tels ou tels processus cérébraux determinés.... Les phénomènes cérébraux sont en effet à la vie mentale ce que les gestes du chef d'orchestre sont à la symphonie: ils en dessinent les articulations motrices, ils ne font pas autre chose. On ne trouverait done rien des opérations de l'esprit proprement dit à l'intérieur du cerveau." (Professor Henri Bergson: Presidential Address to the Society for Psychical Research, 1913.)