When next I came to my senses I was astounded to find myself stretched on the floor in that same hermit's cell from which I had started. The old monk who had first explained to me the secret that held men together in the Order of St Bruno was bending over me, bathing my temples with some aromatic preparation from a small silver ewer that stood on the floor beside him, whilst I found my head resting on the only evidence of luxury in the place--a beautifully--embroidered silken cushion, that insensibly recalled to me all the glories of the palace of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Toledo. Weak and trembling, like a man who had just recovered from a long and debilitating illness, I scrambled to my feet, and, aided by my companion, I seated myself on a chair that was standing near the table. "Tell me," I said, passing a tremulous hand over my throbbing forehead, "what has happened? Have you had a serious accident here while I have been in this cell?" "No," he said, with a grave shake of his head; "nothing has occurred here--nothing at all." "Did something hit me, or was I all of a sudden stricken with a fit." "Neither," he replied; "all through you have been a free and a conscious agent." "Then, I didn't dream! I didn't rave! I have actually seen the things I have pictured?" I stammered, thoroughly bewildered by the man's steady and truthful gaze. "Oh! I have it," I cried suddenly again, "you have hypnotised me! You made me believe that I was first at the foot of a mountain in far-off Africa then on the snowclad wastes of Canada, and afterwards in a noble throne-room in Spain, where an offer was made that tempted me most sorely." "That is not so," he answered coldly. "I am not a hypnotist! I do not understand mesmerism, and, if I did, I wouldn't practise it. I consider it is based on a malign perversion of some beneficent law of Nature. "No," he went on, reaching out a hand and turning up the light that hung above his head; "there has been no occult influence at work here--none at all. All that you have seen has happened, fairly enough, but with this distinction--it has all happened round about this room. "As a matter of fact, you must always remember this," he proceeded, "the founder of our order, the Bruno Delganni, had a most marvellous knowledge of stage mechanics and effects, and when he found it so hard to discover whether the men who wished to join him were really patriots or not he turned this knowledge to the use you have seen. He erected in every monastery that he established huge theatrical machinery and properties, with the result that the brethren there are able to carry out any kind of test they wish.