When, in Petersburg, I heard of him as investigating psychical phenomena as encoiled in psychology, it seemed another versatile phase at which again to smile. For Ivan, who was an enthusiastic medical student, was sure to have, here, as elsewhere, some exceptional experiences; was sure to pour out the recital of the same in due time to his chosen associates with a fulness of picturesque detail that shed a new light on all the question involved. But when it appeared that it was not psychical research in the abstract, but a feminine psychist in the concrete that held Ivan in thrall, there was an altered feeling inducing a graver view. “I hope all this we hear is an airy joke,” I said to him one day after a meeting of the Circle. He honoured me, as his elder, with some deference in his friendship; and the quality of the latter sentiment had been exceptionally warm between us since our journey together in the Imperial train. He looked at me steadily with his handsome blue eyes. “What do you mean?” “You must know well enough. They say that you are spending all your leisure with some shady female, who, at one and the same time, expounds spirits, magnetic psychology, and exploits the pockets of the credulous.” To my surprise he turned very pale. “Were you not one of my best friends, Anton, I’d knock you down for that.” “By the Virgin, you’re lost!” I cried. I was about to turn away on my heel, but he drew me back. His anger had been appeased. “Don’t mind me,” he said in his tractable, normal tone. “But don’t join the herd of fools who won’t understand. I looked for sympathy and comprehension from you. You can’t judge till you know her—till you know this wonderful—most wonderful woman.” “I daresay,” I assented dryly. “Who, however, and what is she?” “She is half Russian, half German, and wholly a citizen of the world.” “Ah! I know the type—” “You know nothing!” he exclaimed, flushing angrily. “But”—he shrugged his shoulders—“the prejudices of the world count for—what? Nothing at all. The curse of the Philistine is his Philistinism.” “Very well. Forget what I have said. I approach the Russo-German in the properly reverential spirit to apprehend the phenomena. They say she is young and pretty. And what, especially, does she do?” “You may see, some day.” His gaze grew bright, soft, and vague, as one who catches a glimpse of the floating garments of supernatural mysteries. “Ah! she is wonderful. She is charming!”