"_Parbleu!_" said the Prince, "I would be glad to witness the experiment. I am myself something of an adept, having known the Abbe Foria in my youth. People used to laugh at him, but the court and the people were present at his curious exhibitions. I, too, was magnetized, drank magnetic water, and passed whole hours on the magnetic chair surrounded by iron rings; all this was to cure me of a sciatica, which, nevertheless, he did not do at all. He asserted that I had no faith, and that I arrayed myself against the power of the fluid. I, however, only ask to believe, and if the doctor can convert me, I am willing." Without answering the Prince, Von Apsberg approached Marie d'Harcourt. Aminta sat by the patient. The doctor looked at the young girl. Seated a few feet from her, he placed his hands in front of Marie's brow, and then lowering them slowly, made some magnetic passes, seeming to direct his action to the gastric regions where she suffered most. Marie did not seem at all affected by the operation. While Matheus was doing thus the Marquise, who sat in front of the doctor, felt her brow grow heavy, her eyes close, and a deep stupefaction take possession of her. She soon felt that sleep was overpowering her, and after a few attempts to resist it, her head sunk on her bosom, and leaning back in her chair, she was completely overpowered. "My daughter is sick," said the Prince, hurrying to Aminta. "No, sir," said the physician coldly, "she only sleeps." "She sleeps," said all who witnessed the scene, and who were evidently surprised. THE SOMNAMBULIST. "She sleeps!" said Matheus, pointing to Aminta, "and to fall so suddenly into that state when I did not intend it, shows her to be very impressionable and nervous." "The Prince," said the Marquis, "has often told me she is a somnambulist." "I am no longer amazed," said Von Apsberg, "at the spontaneity of her sleep." "Is it true," said the Prince, "that somnambulists have the power of being able to see what is taking place in remote spots--that they can transport themselves to remote places and accompany the persons who are pointed out to them?" "All these phenomena are real," replied the doctor, "but they demand the most perfect lucidity in the person magnetized." "And can," asked the Duke, "such experiments be made without inconvenience or danger to the subjects?" "Certainly." "Pardieu," said the Prince, "I would like the doctor to question my daughter." "About what?" said Matheus. "Something interesting to us all. For a month we have had no news from my son, and are becoming uneasy about him." "And do you wish," said the doctor, "to know what the Marquis de Maulear is engaged in now?" "Exactly," said the Prince. "Stop," said Rene, "I object. There is no reason why a wife should know what her husband is about when he is three hundred leagues away. The devil! That is dangerous, and the Marquise might some day regret it."