Note 48 — IV MADEMOISELLE LUCI

Unable, at first, to learn even the real name of Mlle. Luci, I appealed, in despair, to a lady who occasionally sees ‘visions’ in crystals. ‘What can you see of Mlle. Luci?’ I asked, by letter, giving no hint of any kind as to the lady’s date or connections. The seeress replied that, in an ink-bottle on her writing-desk, she saw a girl of about twenty-eight, dark, handsome, rather like Madame Patti in youth. Her dress was that of the middle of the eighteenth century. On her shoulder was laid another lady’s hand, a long, delicate, white hand, with a ‘marquise’ diamond ring. ‘La Grande Main,’ I exclaimed, ‘the hand of La Grande Main!’—whom we later discovered to be Madame de Vassé.

The coincidence was certainly pretty, but, unless a portrait of Mlle. Ferrand can be discovered, we must remain ignorant as to whether she was correctly represented in the ink-picture; whether a true refraction shone up from the dead past, the afterglow of a romance.