“Catalina surprised us all by saying: ‘No, Reverend Hypocrite, I will not talk about things you cannot understand. Excuse me, I can only say I am sorry for you from the bottom of my heart. Should you ever be inclined, take a few drops of the contents of this vial; then you will see things not seen by the eye.’
“Handing his reverence, myself, and my friend, Don Francisco R. Cantu y Falomir, a similar vial, she left the room. Our brother of Protestant faith made the air reverberate with exclamations not complimentary to the child, yourself, or your coworkers, Mr. Guillermo Gonzales and Julio Murillo. Without his knowledge the cork came out of the vial he held in his hand, and unconsciously he inhaled the liquid. In about one hour he fell forward in a senseless state. We were afraid he was dead, and with the assistance of Don Francisco R. Cantu y Falomir, I laid him on a bench near by. We were soon relieved of our anxiety. In fifteen minutes he arose, and after looking at us for a moment in a dazed manner, said: ‘I cannot face the world again, gentlemen, for I feel too heavily the force of the long life of sin I have led, not only in this existence, but in the life gone by. Gentlemen, the truth is, I remember. My spirit is crushed and bleeding. Oh, thou Everlasting God! Take me to Thy bosom, that I may soon return and live the life, the example for which You set for us in the beginning. Help me to the bench again, gentlemen, help me. A great force has taken possession of me which I cannot resist.’
“We assisted him to the bench, upon which he stretched himself full length. His face shone with a smile surpassingly beautiful, and in a moment his soul had left its house of clay.
“My hand trembles, your Honor; I fear I cannot continue. Both Don Francisco R. Cantu y Falomir and myself will in one second take ‘Memory Fluid’ from the little vial given us by the strange child, Catalina. One moment more, your Honor, before taking ‘Memory Fluid.’ A strange, large, fair-haired woman came in unannounced this very moment. On seeing Rev. J. T. Note lying silent, she said, making much noise with her loud talking and laughing: ‘Brother Note has passed over. The grand panorama, full of sights of his sinful life, which passed before his vision after taking “Memory Fluid,” staggered him so completely, on seeing a picture of the multiplicity of his sins, that he knew he could hardly rally, and he asked to pass away, that he might come again. And he will come; there is no getting rid of him, but I will wager a picayune he will not be a missionary a third time. He has sinned and he has repented; now he sees. Gentlemen, the object of my call is to present you with a vial of ebony fluid. It is an easy way to preserve your figure after you will to pass over the river Styx. Good-bye. If my friend and lover, the great Governor of Chihuahua, asks for me, tell him I am at the hospital, but will soon be taken to the morgue.’
“She is gone. We have drunk ‘Memory Fluid.’ My pen drops away. I see. Thank God, I see!
“Father Hernandez.”
After the reading of the strange confession was completed, the two scientists and Miss Hinckley remained completely absorbed in their own thought for some time.
Señor Guillermo Gonzales walked the room, back and forth, rapidly, many times. The shadows of the early evening were fast crowding over the room, intensifying the somberness of the scene.
“The reading of the document has simply overwhelmed me with joy,” said Governor Lehumada, as he wiped visible moisture from his eyes.
“It is sufficient cause, dear Miguey, if it be true,” said Señor Guillermo Gonzales.