The man in the mirror, he could hardly call it a reflection, bore little resemblance to the man who looked into the mirror.  The height, as far as could be judged, was the same, and the face was as Humpty Dumpty had described to Alice ‘two eyes, nose in the middle, mouth under’, but that was about as far as it went.

Whilst the one looking was clean shaven, with a smooth skin, the looked upon had a ragged beard covering half his face, and what part of the skin remained visible was lined and pockmarked.  The mouth, such as could be seen, looked narrow and harsh and there was a livid scar across the bridge of the nose.

But what drew the viewer’s attention most was the eyes.  There was no hint of interest in anything which was happening around this man.  It was as if the eyes drained the life out of everything they saw.

Was this a sign of the man that he was to become?  But maybe it wasn’t too late to avoid this fate; he had made his decision but had not yet conveyed it to anyone else.  There was still time to change his mind and take the other route.  The looker turned away and started to walk thoughtfully back the way he had come.  As he did so, the man in the mirror slowly changed until the reflection once more became identical to the receding back.