ion. Anna looked up, smiling through her tears; and, making an
effort to be calm, she said, in a voice so smothered as to prove how
delicate she felt the subject to be:--

"We will speak seldom of this journey, dear John, and try to think of
the long and dark journey which is yet before us. We will speak of it,
however, for there should be nothing totally concealed between us."

I kissed her serene and humid eyes, and repeated what she had just said,
syllable for syllable. Anna has not been unmindful of her words;
for rarely, indeed, has she touched on the past, and then oftener in
allusion to her own sorrows, than in reference to my impressions.

But, while the subject of my voyage to the monikin region is, in
a measure, forbidden between me and my wife, there exists no such
restraint as between me and other people. The reader may like to know,
therefore, what effect this extraordinary adventure has left on my mind,
after an interval of ten years.

There have been moments when the whole has appeared a dream; but, on
looking back, and comparing it with other scenes in which I have been an
actor, I cannot perceive that this is not quite as indelibly stamped
on my memory as those. The facts themselves, moreover, are so very like
what I see daily in the course of occurrence around me, that I have come
to the conclusion, I did go to Leaphigh in the way related, and that I
must have been brought back during the temporary insanity of a fever.
I believe, therefore, that there are such countries as Leaphigh and
Leaplow; and after much thought, I am of opinion that great justice has
here been done to the monikin character in general.

The result of much meditation on what I witnessed, has been to produce
sundry material changes in my former opinions, and to unsettle even many
of the notions in which I may be said to have been born and bred. In
order to consume as little of the reader's time as possible, I shall set
down a summary of my conclusions, and then take my leave of him, with
many thanks for his politeness in reading what I have written. Before
completing my task in this way, however, it will be well to add a word
on the subject of one or two of my fellow-travellers.

I never could make up my mind relating to the fact whether we did or did
not actually eat Brigadier Downright. The flesh was so savory, and it
tasted so delicious after a week of philosophical meditation on nuts,
and the recollection of its pleasures i