“At this point the Emperor asked the Count to exhibit a specimen of his spectre-producing power, to which the latter assented. First he walked rapidly several times up and down the saloon, gave directions to lower the lights, which was done, and then, as before, he stood still directly in front of the mirror for a minute or two, and then, in a sharp, cracked tone, repeated thrice the word ‘Look!’ We did so, and as I live, there flashed the semblance of a thousand chains of vivid lightning across the face of the mirror, along the floor, over the ceiling, up and down the walls; now like forks, then as chains of electric fluid; anon changing to fiery acorns, which gradually formed themselves into a fiery crown, rose gently, floated over the company for a few seconds, and then rested in the air about five inches above the head of Napoleon III.—a crown of fire!
“ ‘Mind,’ said he, after this splendid proof of his weird ability, ‘I do not aver that all the phenomena exhibited in these days as spiritual are produced as I have these; but I do say that not one-tenth part is attributable to spiritual agencies. That which is indeed spiritual is not all the product of dead men, but much of it proceeds from the Larvæ and inhabitants of the spaces between the rolling globes.’
“Then turning to me, he repeated his invitation to become an acolyte of the Temple; said we should meet again; and shortly thereafter the séance broke up, and I left the palace, greatly wiser than when I entered it five hours before.
“Calling a voiture de remise, I entered it and rode home to my hotel. Arrived there, I dismounted beneath the glare of a street lamp, and drew forth my pocket-book to pay my fare. On opening it, what was my surprise at finding a letter, closely sealed, within it, directed to myself. I paid the coachman, hastened to my chamber, and then, eagerly tearing the envelope, I read the following very singular letter, written in a female hand, and in the English language:
“ ‘Monsieur,
“ ‘Remember that you have met one human soul who knows and thoroughly understands your strange, mysterious and inexplicable nature—your heaven’s heights, your hell’s depths, your spacic breadth, your volcanic eruptions, your ocean of god-like calmness, and all-pervading, all-sustaining, holy stillness and quiet, wherein the soul in its magnificent grandeur sweeps over all space and all time, and lives an infinity of lives in its own self-created world! As such I see and know you. Yet in all this I see still other and a greater character to arise in your being than now exists there; I see a character is to arise, if you will allow the grander, diviner elements of your being, and also the heavenly elements that surround you, to blend into one united force of harmonic intelligence, that will mould your entire self into a man such as I cannot now describe. Two ways, my friend, are now before you. One so grand, so sublime, that I would (in order to explain it) demand the eloquence of a Patrick Henry, the strength of a Cæsar, the love of a greater still, the wisdom of a god; the other, not all these combined could give me power to depict.
“ ‘In the name of Him and humanity, choose the right.
“ ‘Such are the feelings of one who knows you.
“ ‘Listen—be quiet! your time is precious.
“ ‘Adieu!’
“This was Greek, Hebrew, Sanscrit, all combined, to me; and it continued so for a long, long time. It was evidently written by some one who, while fully aware of one of my weaknesses—a susceptibility to flattery—yet knew not the man himself. Still, the allusions to my awful secret were too palpable to admit a doubt that the writer knew far more than that strange letter said or hinted at. Was it the mysterious Count? If so, why did he take so great an interest in a stranger? I could not understand it.
“Of course I thought much of the Italian Count, and ardently longed to know more of, if I did not join, the mystic Fraternity whereof he was a member; but to no human being had I ever opened my mind upon the subject, either in Paris, or Naples, whither I repaired on my way to the Orient. Indeed, in the latter city the subject lay perdu in the cellars of my mind, for I sought to banish all care while in Italy, in order to drink full draughts of music—that balm for fevered souls.
“While there, I one night went to San Carlos to hear the opera of the ‘Barber of Seville,’ and to listen to the glorious strains of Mario, Grisi and Gassier. I had been charmed out of all my griefs by the celebrated ‘Music Lesson’ of the latter cantatrice, and as I walked homeward I hummed its notes as I passed along, and it rung in my ears long after I had lain down to sleep. With the peculiar caution of Americans generally, but of Californians especially—whose habits I had imbibed during my short residence within the Golden Gate—before retiring I had carefully examined the room, for Italians, especially Neapolitans, bear watching, to see that all was safe and right. It was so. Then securely fastening both doors and windows, I was soon drifting up and down the Dream Sea. Beneath my pillow was my money belt, in which was about two thousand dollars in gold, which, together with a revolver, loaded to the muzzle, was the property of my friend T——s.
“In the morning the room was as when I slept; but the charges were drawn from the pistol, and the gold lay on the table arranged in the form of a triangle, surmounted by the letter ‘R,’ while, pinned to the bosom of my sleeping robe, was a note in English, in a bold, clear handwriting, but in red ink. That note was not there the night before; it could not have been placed there by human hands! ‘Do not fail,’ it read, ‘to remember the purpose for which you crossed the seas, for your enterprise concerns the future ages of the world! It is not yet accomplished. Achieve it. I will yet serve and save you.—E.’
“I was thunder-struck. Again some mysterious being was crossing my path; that being whose strange domain lay on either side of Time, and whose will seemed ever to hedge me about like a wall of fire, so that escape from the strange destiny that hung over me seemed almost impossible. I was in despair, for already had grey hairs shown themselves; I felt that I was growing prematurely old, and that the chances were greatly against me, a son of Adam, ever wedding with a daughter of Ish.”