‘That is not what I mean.’
‘Then what do you mean?’
‘Listen. If a person, of whose veracity there could not be a vestige of a doubt, assured you that he had seen such a transformation actually take place, could it conceivably be explained on natural grounds?’
‘Seen a priest of Isis assume the form of a beetle?’
‘Or a follower of Isis?’
‘Before, or after death?’
He hesitated. I had seldom seen him wear such an appearance of interest,—to be frank, I was keenly interested too!—but, on a sudden there came into his eyes a glint of something that was almost terror. When he spoke, it was with the most unwonted awkwardness.
‘In—in the very act of dying.’
‘In the very act of dying?’
‘If—he had seen a follower of Isis in—the very act of dying, assume—the form of a—a beetle, on any conceivable grounds would such a transformation be susceptible of a natural explanation?’