In a word, the effect of the vial, applied but for an instant to his nostrils, threw into the shade all the wonders of opium, and rivaled in enchantment the maddening draught of oriental story,—the Hashish,—which the Old Man of the Mountain gave to his devotee Assassins,[1] intoxicating them with the odors of paradise, even as their hands were red with their victims' blood.
[1] The order of the Assassins prevailed in Asia, in the days of the Crusades, and the history of their power and terrible influence is strangely connected with the history of the Knights Templars. The founder of the order, Hassan Sabah, rewarded his devotees for their deeds of murder, by a draught (called as above, the hashish,) whose powers of enchantment consoled them for a lifetime of hardship and danger.
Like one awaking from a trance, Randolph slowly recovered from the effect of the Dream-Elixir, and once more saw the winter light shining through his window. The vial was in his hand,—he had taken the precaution to replace the stopple, the moment after he had applied it to his nostrils.
"It has lost none of its virtues. Held to the nostrils, or a few drops on a kerchief, applied to the mouth, its first effect is rapture; the second, rapture prolonged to delirium; its third, rapture that ends in death."
Randolph replaced the buckskin covering around the stopple of the vial, and then placed the vial in his vest pocket.
At this moment the door opened and the quiet Mr. Hicks entered the room, clad in his gray livery, turned up with black. He bowed and said,—
"Master, Mr. Lynn sends his compliments and desires to see you in the parlor."
"Tell Mr. Lynn that I will attend him presently," said Randolph rising from his knees.—"How is our patient, Mr. Hicks?"
"I left him asleep. He is very weak, though quite easy."
"Mr. Hicks, I desire that you will attend him throughout the day, or place him in the care of some trustworthy servant. If he asks for any one, send for me. Admit no one into his room,—you understand, he is a dear friend of mine,"—he placed his finger on his forehead,—"a little touched here, and I do not wish his misfortune to be known, until all the means of recovery, which I have at my command, prove hopeless. Mr. Hicks, you will remember."