AUTUMN, 1912 287 



Sphinx to sun'cy its countenance at a proper distance 

 of forty or lifty yards, so does the lly settle himself 

 before the face of the chameleon, at a distance of six 

 or eight or ten inches. That is not too far for the 

 tongue, which is as long as the body: the eye on a 

 swivel has never lost sight of the blue wanderer; it is 

 fixed on him even now; the tongue follows like light- 

 ning, and lo, the lly has vanished, and will buzz and 

 look blue no more ! 



Meanwhile, the same chameleon, on the other side of 

 him, has fallen into a doze, or reverie, or is perchance 

 philosophising, the eye on that side being sunk into the 

 skull. One could say that he is lying comfortably 

 muffled up at home, lapped in rosy dreams, while his 

 fellow chameleon, the other half of him, is abroad hunt- 

 ing, practising all his subtle strategy to capture a shy 

 volatile quarry. Yet at any moment these two, so 

 divided in mind and indifferent to each other's doings 

 and thinkings, can merge into one: they literally pull 

 themselves together, and a single will takes command 

 of the entire body, from the gargoyle head to the pre- 

 hensile tail. 



I can laugh now at the plight I was in just through 

 not being made like a chameleon ; but it wasn't a laugh- 

 ing matter when Conscience pointed sternly to the 

 writing-table and at the same time a persuasive voice 

 called to me from the door to come out, otherwise I 

 should miss something never again to be seen. No hint 

 as to what the w^onderful thing was to be, nor when 



