Curiosity had at first induced him to call
upon her; then her clever and piquant remarks struck him as
something very strange, and at last he became a regular visitor. Of
late, at his special request, the room of the patient, during her
crises and clairvoyant trances, had been shut against all other
visitors, and only the chancellor and the physician were present.
The young woman, who, during her trances, regularly announced at
what hour of the following day she would relapse into this
condition, had predicted that she would awake from her magnetic
slumber at eight o'clock in the morning, and would then be in a
state of clairvoyance. This hour had not yet arrived; the clock
which stood in her room on the bureau under the looking-glass
indicated that about ten minutes were still wanting to the stated
time. A profound silence reigned in the room of the young patient.
The physician sat reading on a high-backed chair at her bedside--his
book contained the history and revelations of Swedenborg, the great
Swedish ghost-seer. From time to time, however, he turned his large,
flashing eyes toward the young woman, and seemed to watch her
slumber with searching glances.
The patient was motionless and rigid. A white, neat negligee
enveloped her slender figure, which was stretched out on the bed
without being covered with a counterpane.
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