"I want to
see some more beautiful things!" he insisted.
The Duke sat speechless, a fallen heap in his chair, and the courtiers
looked at each other, their faces shifting spectrally in the faint
light, like phantom travellers waiting to be ferried across some
mysterious river. At length Heiligenstern advanced and with every mark
of deference addressed himself to the Duke.
"Your Highness," said he quietly, "need be under no apprehension as to
the effect produced upon the prince. The magic crystal, as your Highness
is aware, is under the protection of the blessed spirits, and its
revelations cannot harm those who are pure-minded enough to receive
them. But the chief purpose of this assemblage was to witness the
communication of vital force to the prince, by means of the electrical
current. The crystal, by revealing its secrets to the prince, has
testified to his perfect purity of mind, and thus declared him to be in
a peculiarly fit state to receive what may be designated as the
Sacrament of the new faith."
A murmur ran through the room, but Heiligenstern continued without
wavering: "I mean thereby to describe that natural religion which, by
instructing its adepts in the use of the hidden potencies of earth and
air, testifies afresh to the power of the unseen Maker of the Universe."
The murmur subsided, and the Duke, regaining his voice, said with an
assumption of authority: "Let the treatment begin."
Heiligenstern immediately spoke a word to the Oriental, who bent over
the metal bed which had been set up in the middle of the room.
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