"Well, not exactly that," interposed Riche, "but I could almost swear he is not dead." Renée sat bolt upright in bed, and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming, and seizing Riche's hand made him repeat his statement. "Oh, thank you, thank you, doctor, for this good news." "Read this, Renée, and this as well," he said smiling, and he handed her Delapine's message and tender little verses. "Are these what you found in the envelope?" she exclaimed, when she had read the contents. "Now I am certain that he will return to me." "Oh, father," she cried, putting her arms round him and kissing him, "this is the best medicine in the world for me, it will soon make me well. See, I feel better already," and she clapped her hands for joy. "Quick, doctor, run and fetch Céleste that I may be the first to give her the good news." Presently Céleste came in, and Renée told her what she had just heard. "Oh, Renée, this is almost too good to be true. Won't it be just delightful to have him back again. I don't think we half know the value of anything until we are deprived of it." "You are perfectly correct," said Riche, "really I think the philosophic mantle of the professor must have descended on you." "Now I begin to understand what Professor Delapine meant when he said the other day 'We shall be separated for a long time, but take courage, it will all come right.' It was a riddle to me at the time, but now it is quite clear what he meant. Don't you think, papa, that the professor must have some wonderful power of seeing into the future? How else could he possibly guess what was going to happen to him?" "I can understand in a sort of vague way," said Payot, "that very clever people might be able to discover what had happened in the past, but how anyone can tell what is going to happen in the future is a mystery to me. Can you explain it to me, doctor?" "I confess the whole thing is inconceivable to me," said Villebois, "and yet I know that it is not impossible, because on more than one occasion Delapine has predicted the most minute details of facts and events which have occurred since precisely as he said they would happen, and I have never once known him wrong." "When Henri comes back to me I will ask him," said Renée as she looked up at Villebois with a slight nod, convinced in her own mind that Delapine was only taking a longer sleep than usual, and that he would be able to wake up of his own accord like Rip van Winkle. "I am sure he will be able to explain it, because he knows everything." "That is rather a large order, mademoiselle," said Riche, laughing. "Even the immortal gods of Homer were not omniscient. If you had read your Faust you may recollect that when Mephistopheles is asked if he knows everything, replies 'Allwissend bin ich nicht; doch viel ist mir bewust.'"[13] "But you must admit that the professor is frightfully clever," said Céleste, looking up at Renée for confirmation.