“In a little while the wreck was cleared; the old man left me, promising to call again that day, and I went out to order new apparatus, some glazing, another carpet, and to visit a number of patients; after which I returned. It was about three o’clock, and I had not been long in before Miakus, true to his word, came also.” CHAPTER IV. THE MAGIC MIRROR. “‘Let me give you a piece of advice,’ said Miakus, ‘for you need it. First, never intrust any secret to a friend, which, if revealed, would bring trouble or disgrace. Never interfere in a brawl or quarrel, no matter who is right or who wrong; but always let the world do its own fighting, while you stand by to avail yourself of any advantage that chance may disclose; and lastly, keep what you know until there shall be a market for it. Now we will test our magic glass,’ and forthwith we went into the rear office, which by that time had been refitted, so far as glass and carpet were concerned. “In his hands he bore the rose-wood box, which he laid upon the table, while, by the aid of four gimlets, he fixed a silken screen, or curtain, entirely across the room, having previously closed the shutters to exclude every ray of daylight from the apartment. “‘That,’ said he ‘is a magic screen. You have seen a magic-lantern exhibition. Well, this is to be a similar one, _without the lantern_. I now open this box, as you see, and take from it this mirror, which is, as you observe, merely two plates of French glass, with strips of wood around their edges to keep them half an inch apart, and so that a fluid poured between them shall not escape. Nothing depends for success upon either the box, the curtain, or the glasses, but all depends upon the peculiar fluid between them, which is, as you perceive, of a dark brown color, but at a distance, quite inky to the eye. “‘I now hang this mirror by this hook, to the ring sewed to the upper central edge of the screen. Then closing and locking both the doors, thus, I place these two chairs for you and I to sit upon. Then I take this reflector and place it near the gas jet in such a manner as to throw a strong light--a perfectly circular and brilliant disk upon the very centre of the glass tablet, thus,--and he suited his actions to his words; after which we took our seats before the curtain, and I observed that the liquid between the glasses was of such a nature as to reflect a sort of semi-opalescent hue.