“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?