CHAPTER V.

SÉANCE AT THE BARON’S--DIABLERIE EXTRAORDINAIRE.

“With features horribler than Hell e’er traced On its own brood; no Demon of the waste, No church-yard ghoul, caught lingering in the light Of the blest sun, e’er blasted human sight With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those The Impostor now, in grinning mockery shows.”

“When I reached the house I found the company above enumerated seated in the parlor, and all most anxiously awaiting the appearance of the individual who was to afford us entertainment, and, if possible, some instruction also. For awhile it appeared that we were doomed to be disappointed. The expected party had promised to attend at thirty minutes to eight, and it was nearly that time already, and still there were no signs of his coming; but, as St. Eustache tolled out the half hour, a ring at the door-bell announced his arrival.

“The man was a tall and comely personage, apparently of Irish extraction, and had nothing whatever about him at all remarkable; indeed, he was a very so-soish sort of individual, who at first refused his name to everybody, because, to quote his own words: ‘If I remain _incog._ I shall not be lionized, which in other terms means “bored,” and pestered by persons seeking to gratify a morbid and impertinent curiosity--people who look for full-grown miracles, and expect to find them, instead of studying arts and sciences, and therewith increasing their knowledge and enriching their experience by a more intimate acquaintance with philosophic truths, and the recondite mysteries of mighty Nature.’

“The gentleman was very polished and polite, entering freely into conversation, and seemed altogether so well pleased with his audience that he threw off all reserve, laughed, joked, made puns, played upon words, and kept us in good spirits for half an hour, at the end of which time he gave us his name as a profound secret, to go no further. That name was a singular one. It was Mai Vatterale--a very curious name! He soon proposed an adjournment to the back parlor, and after reaching it he proceeded to arrange the chairs, six in a line, in the form of a triangle; after doing this, Monsieur Vatterale signified to the Baron that his part of the preliminaries was completed, whereupon that gentleman, turning to his guests, said: ‘I was informed on the day that the present meeting was arranged with Monsieur, that in all cases it was absolutely necessary that the physical systems of all who assist at, or witness his experiments, should be duly fortified with food, for what particular reason I cannot imagine, nor is it necessary that I should inquire, seeing that it is his rule, of which all present were duly notified, so that all might forego their usual repasts at their own homes, and partake of a little _souper_ with me, previous to commencing our experiments, and’----

“‘_Permettez moi, s’il vous plait_,’ said Vatterale, courteously. ‘_Si cela vous est agréable_’--it is my custom, and is for the purpose of preventing any ill effects that might result from a shock of the nerves, which, believe me, you will be apt to experience before we have done.’ Of course such an explanation, indicating, as it certainly did, no small degree of preventive solicitude on the part of the illustrious foreigner, was perfectly satisfactory, and was accepted in a proper spirit by the whole company.

“‘This way, ladies; this way, gentlemen, follow me,’ said the Baron, gaily giving his arm to his wife, and leading the way to his splendid _salle a manger_.

“The worthy noble had called it _un petit souper_, but the magnificent _spread_ before us rendered it a somewhat difficult task to imagine what would constitute a _grand_ supper in his estimation. To describe it is no part of the task I am engaged on; and, therefore, I shall merely observe that it was a most _recherché_ affair. The furniture of the table, as well as the viands themselves, was of the most sumptuous description, everything on it being of the richest and heaviest gold and silver plate--heir-looms of the old Noblesse, from whom the Baron was descended.

“Dinner or supper once over, we all left the table, and once more adjourned to the back parlor, and took seats in the chairs arranged in a triangle, the ladies, six in number, occupying those which formed the western arm thereof. When we all were properly and comfortably seated, there was quite a large vacant space before us, into which Vatterale placed two chairs facing each other, and also two foot-stools covered with damask plush-velvet close together in the other angle. He then proceeded to lock all the doors leading into the apartment, tied all the keys together with a piece of scarlet ribbon, and then hung them to one of the glass prisms pendent from a large gas chandelier directly over the centre of what I may call, not inappropriately, our circle. The jets of this chandelier, seven in number, were all in full play under a strong head of gas, and the room in all parts was quite as light as if the sun shone into the windows, two of which occupied the northern end of the parlor, both being very richly curtained, and both quite shut. I repeat, lest trickery in what followed should be suspected by yourself, that the seven jets of gas were brightly burning, and continued so all the evening, except when extinguished, without the aid of _human hands_; and as they were put out, so also were they relighted more than once.

“Having disposed of the bunch of keys, Vatterale went to both windows, examined them closely, fastened them down securely--that is to say, the lower sashes; for he let down one of the upper ones, and threw the eastern external blinds wide open, and fastened them so. Of course, the master of ceremonies had never been in that dwelling before, and of course could not have obtained information respecting it by the usual methods of visit and inquiry, yet, turning to the Baron, he requested him to ring for the servant, and through the closed door bid him _remove an ornamental iron sofa from the chamber immediately above our heads, into the dark bed-room on the third floor_, as its presence where it then stood would materially affect the experiments to be made!

“This request, made under such circumstances, surprised us all, but particularly the Baron, who stared at the man who made it, as if he regarded him as one risen from the dead; and it was, forsooth, rather a startling circumstance, to say the least. He admitted that there was such a room, and such a dark chamber, _au troisième_. Yet how the man knew it, was very strange, considering that he had been in the house but a short time, and had not left us for a moment, nor spoken a single word to any of the servants, save on entering, to inquire if this was the Baron’s residence.

“Scarcely had we recovered from the surprise natural on such an occasion, than we were again made sensible that we were dealing with an extraordinary man, for, turning to me, he begged the loan of a small metallic coin which I had received as a present from Mr. Carr less than ten minutes before Vatterale entered the house, and which coin was remarkably curious and valuable on account of its high antiquity, and it was one of the only two known to be in existence, and had been begged for me by Mr. Carr, from his friend Blaise de Jongé, the celebrated Eastern traveller, and had only been sent in a note to Mr. Carr, by that eminent savant, the night previous. Having received the coin, Vatterale placed it in his pocket, and then taking out a set of ivory tablets, wrote a request thereon, and handed it to Madame la Marquise de la Fronde, an elderly lady, foster sister to the Baron. The request was altogether so singular and so novel, that the old lady immediately read it aloud: ‘_Will Madame la Marquise have the goodness to retire to the alcove and remove from between her feet and stockings the metallic plates, and, separating the zinc from the copper ones, place each metal plate with its own kind, and restore them to her feet outside the hose!_’ The lady almost fainted with astonishment, for she averred that no mortal knew that she wore such plates, but that she had for ten years, and found them, by reason of the electric currents they elaborated and imparted to her system, highly beneficial to her health. She retired as requested, and, returning in a minute, convinced us of the marvellous seeing faculty of the mysterious Mai, by exhibiting the plates, which were precisely as he had described. She again retired, and, shortly returning, resumed her seat. These preliminaries being concluded, Vatterale brought into the open space before us a small portmanteau, which he carried in his hand when he entered the mansion. From this he now took a coil of wire--indeed, three small coils tied together--also a saucer of large dimensions of stone China, or thick, very thick porcelain, a large vial containing a colorless liquid, a box of paste or gum, two large, and entirely empty, thin bottles--so thin that we all looked through them at the light, as he handed them to us for that purpose. They were as clear as the best window glass, as thin and as brittle, apparently, as the finest crystal. From the same receptacle he also took what looked like three rolls of paper, one very large when unfolded, the others quite small indeed. The larger bundle he unrolled and spread upon the floor, on the space between the chairs and _fauteuils_. It was about three feet in diameter, and was painted in all sorts of colors, and figures entirely nondescript. The centre of this article was immediately that of the triangle, ‘The Symbolical figure of the Universe, or Oneness,’ as he called it, and of course was directly beneath the large chandelier. This done, he placed the saucer right upon the centre of the symbolical chart, if I may so term it. Then, unfastening the coils of wire, he laid one along the laps of the gentlemen on one side, and fastened it by means of a link and hook to two others, which passed in front of the other two sections of the human trine. The wire held by the ladies (for we all were directed to grasp the wire before us with one hand, and the hand of the next neighbor with the other) was common iron, wound with silver foil; the one before myself was steel, wound with gold wire; and the other was of solid gold, wound, as were the others, at intervals, with floss silk. The ladies grasped with the _left_ hand, and joined their right, while with the gentlemen this order was reversed. The next proceeding on the part of Mai, was to place half of the gum into the saucer; upon this he emptied the vial of colorless liquid, and set fire thereto. It burned with a clear and steady bluish flame. The gum was gradually consumed, and a peculiar and most delightful fragrance floated through the room.

“During the burning process, the operator sat upon the stool, and gazed fixedly and intently upon, or rather toward, the open sash, while the rest of us were chatting merrily, and wondering what would be the result of all these weird and curious preparations.

“I said the rest of us were merrily chatting, but must qualify that observation by excluding from this employment one person, and that person was--myself, for I found it utterly impossible to mingle in the conversation with that abandon and unreserve which characterized the others. It was altogether beyond my power to forget the tremendous experiences of that very day, which I had undergone. A weight was on my spirit that could not be lifted off. The ‘Ghost of Ravalette’ seemed to be invisibly hovering over me, and although unseen, his presence seemed to be palpably felt by me. The events at Belleville constantly obtruded themselves before the eye of the mind; the affair at the gardener’s, the singular result of his impromptu wager, the woman at the _Barrière_, and, above all, the frightful occurrences at the Rue Michel le Compte, with its sure--absolutely sure--termination on the Guillotine--the miserable and ignominious death of D’Emprat, and the unearthly means whereby his deed of crime--the crime a horrible murder, committed thirty-seven years before--the unearthly and mysterious means, I repeat, by which his guilt was brought to light--this, all this, so oppressed me that I could not take a present interest in what was transpiring about me. Indeed, I cared little for either Mai or his tricks--which, from observing the method of his preparations, I had already not only despised, but put down to the score of legerdemain--clever and surprising, but still nothing more than legerdemain.

“How rudely this conceit was broken up, how horribly I was convinced of my mistaken estimate of the man before us, will very soon be seen. As for his skill in detecting the coin, the sofa, and the plates, I had already secretly accounted. I remembered Caspar Hauser, and several other _Sensitives_, who could detect the presence of metals by what may be called ‘magnetic sense.’ His description of the dark bed-room _au troisième_, was very simple, for nearly all old houses have such chambers on that floor; this was an old house; Vatterale saw it, and made what preliminary capital he could from his acuteness. With the present weight of experience; with the memory of the deeds of the mystical Ravalette still fresh in mind, of course I could not be very highly interested in such displays of minor magic as I felt convinced were very shortly to be made by the conjuring gentleman before us.

“Suddenly the man whose pretensions I had just been inwardly criticising, partially raised himself from the stool, threw back his head until his long, wavy locks fell upon his shoulders, and muttered between his teeth, as if the word-birth was extremely painful, ‘HE IS COMING!’ and we noticed that his face, naturally of a dingy yellow, suddenly became of an ashen-hued paleness, and his eyes darted forth luminous sparks that were plainly visible even amid the glare of that brilliantly-lighted apartment; and at the same instant he placed his right hand over the region of his heart--that is to say, over that part where nine-and-ninety of every hundred suppose the heart to be, namely, under the left breast. He did this as if to repress a rising pang, then turning to his audience, he exclaimed--‘Look sharp! Be firm! be fearless! be attentive! but if you would avoid danger, a nameless, but great danger, stir not, move not from your seats. Grasp the cord, retain each other’s hands, make what remarks you may deem proper, _but stir not an inch_--a single inch from your seats, happen what may! I am going to surprise you.’

“We all assented verbally, and not a few of the company began even to joke him on his sorcery and magic, when we all started from our seats, but were instantly motioned back by an anxious frown and a commanding, magisterial wave of his right hand. The simultaneous movement on our part, was caused by a _yell_, for such it was, that proceeded, not, as might be anticipated, from a female, but from a Mr. Theodore Dwight, an American gentleman, hailing from Philadelphia--and at the present time still dwelling there.

“This person, as all who know him will certify, is no weak, puling, nerveless man, for a man more the opposite of all this could scarce be found in a month’s search.

“The sound which came from his lips was a shriek of terror, horror, and agony combined, as might well be fancied to come from the throats of the damned souls of the nether hell. It was, indeed, a paroxysm of deadly fright. In an instant all eyes were turned toward him. He was paler than a corpse, the very image of Death itself; his eyes protruded from their sockets, and he trembled as if he stood before the final bar; his lips refused to tell the cause of his distress, but his gaze was intently fixed, with an immovable expression of horror, upon _the saucer_ on the floor. Instinctively our eyes followed the same direction, except Vatterale’s, who still was looking toward the open sash. With this exception, I repeat, we all looked toward the floor, when, great God! what a sight was there! The saucer was still there, but the two small rolls of paper _were gone_! _They_ had disappeared, but in their stead we distinctly saw--for, recollect, there were seven full jets of gas in full blaze right over our heads--we saw, I reiterate, with our eyes--physical, bodily eyes--three horrible beings, somewhat resembling overgrown scorpions--only, that instead of claws, they had--_hands and arms_! for all the world like those of a newly-born negro child! These detestable _things_, for I dare not blaspheme the Great Eternal by calling them creatures, were about five inches broad on the back, by some eighteen in length. Their color was a deep crimson, mottled with purple, green, and yellow stripes and spots, and they were completely covered with scales, like those of an armadillo. Conceive, if you can, of a tarantula or spider so large, and which--each one of them--moved about on the very tips of twelve legs, sixteen or eighteen inches long, and all the while whirling and twirling its _hands and arms_ (two of each), eighteen inches long and three-fourths as large as its body, and you will form a tolerable picture of the repulsive, unsightly, hideous monstrosities crawling, or rather ‘stilting,’ round that saucer on the floor.

“Each one of these loathsome _things_ had four large, protruding eyes, closely resembling those of the monster Frog of India; but these eyes, unlike the frog’s, were not leaden-hued; instead of this being the case, I think no spark of fire ever shone brighter--in fact, they fairly gleamed with what I can indicate by no other term than infernal redness; for it seemed that at every flash they emitted the concentrated venom of a gorgon; and beneath the fearful spell we all sat perfectly immovable with fear.

“What our agony would have been had the accursed things ventured to move toward us, I dare not even imagine, but they still and ever kept in the one track, moving with orderly march around that saucer on the floor. We felt and knew that they were living, actual realities, a genuine and horrid trinity of _facts_, and not a mere optical illusion, or the result of a play upon our fancies, mesmeric or otherwise. This opinion was confirmed by the most positive and blasting testimony, for, as they solemnly, demoniacally marched about the centre of that symbolic chart, they left a trailing streak of greenish--_dead_, _hard_, _greenish_ ichor or pus, behind them at each revolution, and a few drops of this fell upon the Baron’s carpet. Some months afterward he and I exchanged letters on the events of that night, and he assured me that not a single chemical amongst the hundreds applied for the purpose had been of the least effect toward removing the stain. ‘The carpet has been discharged of its colors and re-dyed, yet no dye will cover those spots!’ This was not all, for on one of their rounds they nearly quitted the chart, and the Baron struck at them with his foot, whereupon one of them spirted forth a fetid liquid, which fell upon his boot, and made a mark there as if the leather had been seared with hot iron!

“‘Talk not to me of legerdemain after this! Speak not to me of optical illusion, or deceptive appearances, in the face of such facts as these, for here are marks,’ wrote the Baron to me, ‘here are palpable evidences that defy contradiction. They were made on that night, and there they yet remain, and, albeit I cry, “Out, damned spots!” they will not, but persist in remaining absolute confirmations of vivid, strange, incontrovertible _facts_!’

“‘But why did you not get up, under such circumstances, all of you, and escape from the room?’ is a very natural and perhaps not unreasonable question, that may without impropriety be asked just here, and I reply: For several reasons; among which a few shall be named. First, the doors were all securely locked, and although we had seen Mai mount a chair, and hang the keys to one of the glass pendants, yet upon looking there, we found that they, as well as the two rolls of paper, had disappeared. Secondly, the windows were fastened down, besides being many feet from the ground--at least fifteen--and to leap that distance was altogether out of the question, even had we thought of it, which we did not. Thirdly, the earnest and solemn warning given by Vatterale before anything took place; his assurance that if we obeyed his injunctions not to stir--that, although we might be frightened, yet no harm could or would befall us--acted, amidst all our terror, as a sort of stopper upon any precipitate movement, after the first shock was over.

“We could not quit the room provided even all the doors had been flung wide open. Hast never heard tell of the _fascination_ of Danger? If so, then know that it was upon us in all its terrible force and power. We were bound, chained, rooted, riveted to the spot, by a potentiality never to be questioned, never to be despised, for its might, when once it fastens upon its victim, is merciless, gripping, stern and unrelenting. We felt that to stir, was to incur the hazard of an unknown, unguessed-at danger. ALL were fascinated by terror; to move was to add ten-fold to its power! It was a feeling akin to that experienced by the native of Ind, who roused from his mid-day slumber, wakes to feel the clammy folds of the cobra-capello, the dreadful hooded serpent of his clime, slowly writhing and winding beneath his garments about his naked flesh; and who realizes, as his heart stops beating and his blood runs icily with agony, and as the great big beaded drops of cold sweat ooze out from every pore, that to stir, to breathe, to even quiver under the pressure of his mortal fear, is certain, irrevocable, positive death--knowing as he does, that nor man nor beast hath ever yet lived a single hour after the fangs of the hooded snake have once opened a passage for the entrance of the King of Terrors!

“And such was the pall that rested upon the eighteen persons in that room, as the detestable trinity moved slowly around that saucer on the floor; their eyes--their great, horny, bulging eyes--all the while scintillating and flashing with the very essence of intense malignity--malignity as of a devil! The female portion of the company I fear may never recover from the shock that night received. They did not faint, or scream, or swoon, as perhaps it might have been suspected they would under such diabolic circumstances, simply, however, for the reason that the tension of soul and nerve was altogether too severe and great to permit, even for an instant, the reaction which is an absolute prerequisite to relief by or through the methods indicated.

“Probably the length of time that elapsed from the shriek of our comrade, till the final disappearance of the three monsters, did not exceed three minutes, yet in that brief space we had undergone years of terror.

“Truly, the real lapse of time is not to be reckoned by the beats of the clock, but only by sensations and heart-throbs. Mai, at the termination of the time specified, rose from his stool, took a small basket from his portmanteau, and then fearlessly seizing the _things_, one at a time, he carefully doubled up their legs under them, and placed them in it. Then taking the two crystal bottles already alluded to, he placed them lengthwise on the chart, with their necks and apertures facing each other, after which he resumed his seat upon the foot-stool, addressing no word or sign to the spectators of his movements. And now it began to grow dark! The jets of gas appeared to burn less clear and fully, just as if some one was slowly turning the cocks which let it on, with a gradual movement. In a little while the room was darkened, though not exactly dark, for there was still a dim half light--a sort of semi-blue, semi-dull red, misty radiance, just sufficient to enable us to distinguish objects vaguely, indistinct and dimly.

“‘Stir not! fear not!’ said the thick, husky voice of Vatterale; and before we could reply, a scene commenced, such as it hath seldom fallen to man’s lot to witness.

“‘Allow me to explain a modern mystery,’ said Vatterale, ‘but first let me remove your fears. Look!’

“Scarcely had he spoken these words, than the room was suddenly illuminated, as if the very air was aglow with the most brilliant light, and we saw the two bottles quite plainly. As we gazed upon these, there came from one the appearance of an enormous serpent, which proceeded to coil itself up, until its bulk thrice exceeded that of both the bottles. Then there came still another, and another, until no less than twelve lay there, coiled up in a loathsome pile; but as the last one emerged from one bottle, the first one entered the other, until all had disappeared as they had come.

“‘I will now show you that you cannot always trust your own senses,’ said Vatterale, ‘nor account for what you see;’ and he straightway emptied the basket, and broke the bottles. All three were empty! Not a sign of snake or scorpion was there!

“‘Again, I will show you a curious thing. You will please call a servant, seat her on one of those chairs, and bid her on a wager hold a skein of silk while it is being wound--merely to keep her attention--that is all. But,’ and he spoke very earnestly, ‘whatever you see or hear, I beg you will not utter a single word.’

“This was assented to; a skein of silk was ordered, but not till the gaslight had displaced the other.

“‘It will be just seventeen minutes before the girl is ready,’ said Mai; ‘and while waiting, I will _demonstrate a fallacy_. The creatures you have beheld to night are real, but ephemeral--they are Will-creations, and perish when the power ceases to act which called them into being. As proof of what I say, Behold!’

“From the floor in the eastern corner of the room there straightway begun to arise a light mist, which increased in bulk until a ball of vapor, three feet in diameter, floated in the air. Thus it remained for a minute; and then, right before our eyes, began to condense and change its shape, until at the end of four minutes, it had assumed a human semblance--but, Heavens! what a caricature!

“At first it was a mere vapory outline, but it rapidly condensed and consolidated, until what looked like a hideous, half-naked, bow-legged, splay-footed monster stood before us. Its height was less than three feet; its chest and body were nearly that in width; its legs were not over eight inches long; its arms were longer than its entire body; its head was gigantic; and it had no neck whatever, while from its horrible head there hung to the very ground the appearance of a tangled mass of wire-like worms. Its mouth was a fearful-looking red gash, extending to where ears should have been, but were not. Eyes, nose, cheeks, chin, lips or forehead, there were none whatever. Do not imagine that this creature was merely an appearance; it was not, for although born of vapor, in five minutes it became solid as iron, demonstrating the fact by stalking heavily across the floor right into the centre of the open space between us--the chains being dropped as it approached--where it stood, slowly swaying to and fro, as if its heart was heavy.

“‘Show your quality,’ said Mai to the thing. ‘I will,’ it hissed, and straightway proceeding toward a table, it stood by it a few minutes, and it became apparent that it was charging the wood with something from itself, for soon the table began to turn, to tip, to move, to rise and float in the air, precisely as is done in spiritual circles.

“‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, you will please act just as if that before you was a human spirit, invisible to you, and desirous of imparting information. I dare say you will be surprised at the results. You see already that it is a capital table-mover, and I beg you to test its mental and physical powers also--for I assure you there is nothing to fear, now that I give you leave to break the silence--which was quite essential in the first part of the curious experiment.’

“Thus assured, several of us asked the thing to show us what it could do. Whereupon it made motions as if it wanted to write. Paper and pencil being placed upon the table, it seized the pencil with its long claw-like fingers, and its hand flew over the page like lightning, and in ten seconds it finished, and striking the table three heavy blows with its fist, signified that it had finished; whereupon Mr. D---- reached for the sheet, and read therefrom one of the most tender messages conceivable, from a dead mother to a living son. Even the hand writing was a perfect _fac-simile_ of his mother’s; the name--Lucy--was correct, and certain dear and peculiar phrases, used by her when alive, were given with minute precision and fidelity; as, for instance, ‘sweet one, mine,’ instead of ‘my sweet one.’ Mr. D---- turned pale. ‘Is it possible I have been so imposed upon--so horribly deceived?’ said he, for he was a devout follower of the modern thaumaturgy.

“Several further tests, equally successful and decisive, were then given by this ghostly thing, both by writing, tipping, rapping, and the production of beautiful phantom hands, faces, flowers, and other objects, many of which were not only singular but magnificent. Probably thousands of persons have seen the curious pencil drawings, executed by ‘mediums,’ and which are said to be portraits of ‘Spiritual flowers’--for most certainly they resemble nothing growing on this earth. Well, in less than five minutes the horrible thing there at the table, the eyeless monster, executed thirteen such--and they would pass current as splendid specimens of ‘Spirit art.’

“‘Now,’ said Vatterale, ‘for something else.’ And then addressing the thing, he said: ‘You will now render yourself viewless, and show what you can do. And first let us have some music.’ Then turning to the company, he said: ‘Real spirits love the light, but such as _that_ invariably act most efficiently in the dark--for then they have the advantage of the elements condensed upon their forms--a semi-material investiture--and can come in direct contact with material substances, which, in the case of real spirits, is exceedingly difficult of accomplishment.’

“During this speech, our attention was diverted from the incarnated to the incarnator--for it must not be forgotten that the entire phenomena exhibited by this wondrous personage, were the creatures of his conscious will, brought into being and again cast out by a thought, and according to a _known and transferable formula_. True, there were others in whom this creative faculty existed, but then such persons either exercised the power involuntarily through the mechanical processes of mind and will, or else they are but the proxies of the Larvæ. When he ceased speaking the monster was gone from our sight, but not from our hearing, for Mai gently waved his hand, and as he did so there came to us the softest, gentlest, sweetest, and the most soul-stirring strains of music that ever fell on human hearing. Above, below, around, now here, now there, close at hand, and then afar off, it sounded; and the only comparison I can make is, that it sounded like a solemn requiem chaunted by angels over the perished form of what was once a god--the tones were so pathetic, so solemn, so supremely sorrow-freighted-- reminding one of the plaintive

“‘Huhm, meleagar malooshe, Huhm meleagar, ma-looshe,’

only that it was ten-fold more profound, and stirred depths the other could never reach.

“This strange music was a perfect corroboration of the theory advanced by the Italian Count at the séance before Napoleon, already mentioned; for, allowing that the being who made it was a real and independent existence, it was impossible for such conceptions to exist in it, for the reason that none but a mighty soul could create them, and the thing itself was exceedingly, revoltingly low in the scale of organization. But, on the other hand, if the thing were the creature of Mai’s will, it was conceivable that it vocally expressed his unuttered thought, itself totally unconscious of either the music or its meaning.

“It ceased. It still remained invisible, and Mai proposed that Count de M---- should hold one end of an accordion, while the thing invisibly held and played upon the other. This was assented to, and the instrument, bottom up, was held at arm’s length, directly beneath the light. _It was placed on_, in masterly style, while in that position. It, as well as a guitar, harp and piano, were played on when no one was near them, and nothing to be seen; and then, at the command of the arch-magician, the whole performance was repeated by the terrific thing in its perfectly visible form.

“Presently, a knock at the door told us that the servant sent for had arrived, with the silk in her hand. She was admitted; the thing retired from view.

“‘Marie,’ said the Baron, ‘a wager is laid that one of these gentlemen cannot unwind a skein of silk which you are to hold, both of you being blindfolded. I wager that it can be done. If I win, you shall have three days to visit your family, besides something to carry to the old people and the little ones. Now, you must not laugh or speak while the silk is being wound; if you do I lose. Will you try?’

“‘Certainly,’ replied the girl; ‘and you shall see that I will not laugh. Oh, _papa, maman_, I shall have three days! _Mon Dieu!_ but it is a fine thing!’ And, taking the seat offered, she suffered the silk to be placed across her wrists, and be blindfolded by the Baroness.

“This having been done, Mr. D----, at a sign from Vatterale, took the end of the cord, and began slowly to unwind it.

“‘And now begin,’ said the latter, speaking toward where the thing had disappeared. The command was heard. It came forth, touched the girl’s hand, and instantly she was thrown into a profound trance, whence another touch revived her, but not to wakeful consciousness. Instead of this, she rose, threw down the silk, approached several musical instruments in succession, and played upon them most exquisitely. The thing touched her head, and she made love in the most tender terms to three gentlemen in succession, declaring to each in turn that he was her ‘eternal affinity,’ and had been so from the foundation of the world.

“Again it touched her; and, suddenly changing her manner, she declaimed in lofty strain. Now she was Charlotte Corday, then Maximillian the Incorruptible; again, she was the Maid of Orleans, and then a simple Indian maiden. Now she was Malibran, and sung divinely; anon, she was a strong-minded woman, and talked about the Divine creative work of woman;--about love--that man had made it special when it should be general, and, therefore, free. She raved about the Bible, called it excellent soft bark; called the Saviour the Nazarene; spoke of the Deity as the Great Positive Mind; declared she was His private secretary; prated about Starnos and ’Cor, Summer Lands, Gupturion, Mornia, divorces, and how to get them; progress and humbug, milky ways, and the people of Jupiter, with a hundred other follies, but which she, unlike her exemplars, for the time believed. The scene continued for at least two hours, at the end of which time Mai dismissed the thing, and restored the girl, who was totally oblivious of all that had occurred. She received sundry pieces of gold from those present, and left the room, doubtless desiring to unwind more silk at the same rate.

“‘I will now show you something equally curious,’ said Mai, ‘and, perhaps, quite as interesting as anything you have yet beheld. Look!’

“We did so. Simultaneously, and from all parts of the room, there now arose, as from the floor, innumerable minute globules of various-colored fire--red, green, blue, purple, scarlet, gold, silver, crimson, white and violet--leaping, flashing, dancing and frisking about, as if endowed with sensuous, joyous gaiety. Apparently, there were thousands of them, all moving in disorder through the air, now lighting on the picture-frames suspended from the wall, now collecting in great masses in front of the splendid mirrors, and, anon, gliding along the floor, under our seats, through our feet, over the chairs, and about the carpet, as if in the very wantonness of sport, their every motion being accompanied by a hissing sound, in kind, though not in volume, like that emitted by an ascending rocket as it rushes through the air. Presently, they formed themselves into crowns, just such as I had seen years before, in that same Paris, float over and crown Napoleon at the behest of an Italian Count. In an instant I associated the two circumstances, and, turning to the magician, was about to speak, when, as if divining my purpose, he nodded to me, and said aloud--

“‘I told you we should meet again! Be patient--this night must pass. Accept the present I left for you at your hotel, and do not forget that we shall _meet again_!’ and he became silent as before, while the company scarcely knew what to make of this abrupt, and apparently meaningless speech.

“I had solved one problem. Vatterale and the Count were one and the same person; but who and what were the other two--Miakus and Ravalette?

“The fiery crowns concluded the exhibition, and at a late hour the company separated, and each sought his pillow.”