For some days my companion-shadow had been less obtrusive than usual;
and such was the reaction of spirits occasioned by the simple mitigation
of torment, that, although I had cause enough besides to be gloomy, I
felt light and comparatively happy. My impression is, that she was quite
aware of the law of appearances that existed between the people of the
place and myself, and had resolved to amuse herself at my expense; for
one evening, after some jesting and raillery, she, somehow or other,
provoked me to attempt to kiss her. But she was well defended from
any assault of the kind.
Her countenance became, of a sudden, absurdly
hideous; the pretty mouth was elongated and otherwise amplified
sufficiently to have allowed of six simultaneous kisses. I started back
in bewildered dismay; she burst into the merriest fit of laughter, and
ran from the room. I soon found that the same undefinable law of change
operated between me and all the other villagers; and that, to feel I was
in pleasant company, it was absolutely necessary for me to discover and
observe the right focal distance between myself and each one with whom
I had to do. This done, all went pleasantly enough. Whether, when I
happened to neglect this precaution, I presented to them an equally
ridiculous appearance, I did not ascertain; but I presume that the
alteration was common to the approximating parties. I was likewise
unable to determine whether I was a necessary party to the production of
this strange transformation, or whether it took place as well, under the
given circumstances, between the inhabitants themselves.