"Ah! I now understand," exclaimed my friend, raising the candle and looking into my eyes. "The man has experimented successfully upon you with the novel method of producing hypnosis recently discovered by Charcot at La Salpetriere. Remarkable as it may seem, it is, nevertheless, possible to transfer by suggestion the sensibility of hystero-epileptic subjects to any liquid. On drinking the wine, you absorbed her sensibility, and her very soul thus transferred to you, produced the mysterious affinity of thought and deed. The very singular coincidence of the marks upon your wrists, and the curious magnetic force that impelled you towards her, are nothing more than demonstrations of the powerful psychical influence of the mind on the body." "What can have been the motive for all this?" I exclaimed, when, after considerable difficulty, we had broken the chains and led her to a chair. "The motive was gold," she answered in a weak voice. "I--I am the victim of the man Delianoff. Mine has been a tragic career. Three years ago I loved Nikanor Baranovitch; but, although only eighteen, my mother compelled me to marry the Prince, who was nearly forty years older than myself. It is true he idolised me, but I cannot say that I experienced the least regret when, five months later, he died, leaving me all his wealth. Then, alas! my unhappiness commenced. The management of the estate was left to Delianoff, and there was a clause in the will which provided that if I died, or married Nikanor, the property should go to Vladimir Lemontzeff, a nephew of the Prince's who was an _attache_ at the Embassy in London. "Almost as soon as the Prince was buried, Delianoff proceeded to place me under his influence, for, my mother and most of my near relations being dead, I was utterly alone. The scoundrel was an accomplished hypnotist, and in order to further his villainous scheme, he put cruel rumours in circulation which caused Petersburg society to shun me. His irresistible power of fascination I was unable to withstand, and by hypnotic suggestion he has caused me to hand over to him the greater part of my fortune. He kept me constantly in his thrall by threatening to give information to the police that I had committed murder. This crime he had suggested to me, causing me to believe that I had actually stained my hands with blood. Just at that period I saw you in the Dominique, and, as I have already explained, he practised on you one of his devilish experiments. He was a Nihilist, and on that night he used his influence to induce me to attend a meeting alone, and swear to kill whoever the Executive decided should be removed. Soon afterwards I heard of Nikanor's illness in Pavlova, and you were good enough to convey to him a letter in which I told him how Delianoff had attempted to cut my throat, and how utterly helpless I was in his hands." "Nikanor died, and could not save you," I observed sorrowfully.