“If she can speak Arabic, what would you say to that?”
“The history of medical science gives many authentic instances of girls who have spoken languages entirely unknown to them.”
“What can I do?” exclaimed Wilfrid. “She knows of secrets in my past life known only to me.”
“I shall be curious if she can tell me thoughts that I have confided to no living person,” said Monsieur Becker.
Minna entered the room.
“Well, my daughter, and how is your familiar spirit?”
“He suffers, father,” she answered, bowing to Wilfrid. “Human passions, clothed in their false riches, surrounded him all night, and showed him all the glories of the world. But you think these things mere tales.”
“Tales as beautiful to those who read them in their brains as the ‘Arabian Nights’ to common minds,” said the pastor, smiling.
“Did not Satan carry our Savior to the pinnacle of the Temple, and show him all the kingdoms of the world?” she said.
“The Evangelists,” replied her father, “did not correct their copies very carefully, and several versions are in existence.”