Master of His Fate

erious

hey ate, that there was clear speculation in his eye, that he was not vaguely dreaming, but with alert intelligence examining some question, or facing some contingency; and it was natural he should think that the question or contingency must concern Nora as much as Julius. Yet he made no overture of understanding, fo

completely upsets your point of view, and tumbles down your scheme

ic theory. That's often a good thing," he added, with a pointed glance; "f

nt, swallowed up the serpent-rods of the magicians of Egypt,-so that there is no longer any theory, but only one great, glorious fact. I do admire," he exclaimed, swerving suddenly, "the imag

, "that you must be some such embodiment you

y. Julius, however, said nothing but "Indeed." Lefevre then tried to tempt him into confession by talking about his own father and mother, and by relati

veiled prurience to inquire whence we got them. A man can't help having a father and a mother, I suppose; but he need not be always reminding himself of the fact: no other creature on

Street was thought of, but now they are few who know of its existence. Fashion ignores it. It is tenanted by small clubs, learned societies, and doctors. It slumbers in genteel decorum, with its back to the garish modern thoroughfare. It is always quiet, but by nine o'clock of a dark evening it is deserted. When Dr Lefevre, therefore, stepped out of his hired ha

t it and went in. He entered his dining-

teriou

tion, where tickets are taken before entering Victoria. At Victoria the body was searched for purposes of identification, and there was found upon him a card with the following remarkable inscription:-'I am not dead. Take me to the St. James's Hospital.' To St. James's Hospital accordingly the

growlers and hansoms for the open door. Dr Lefevre got into the first hansom that drew up, and drove off to the hospital. By that time he had told himself that the young man must be a former patient of his (though he did not remember any such), and that he ought to see him at once, although it is not customary for the visiting physi

paragraph," said Lefevr

r Dowling" [the resident assistant-physician] "saw him, and thought it a case

id Lefevre, "l

lub. He had now put on the responsibility of men's health and the enthusiasm of his profession. He s

pening first an outer and then an inner door, Lefevre and his companion entered a large and lofty ward. The room was dark, save for the light of the fire and of a shaded lamp, by which, within a screen, the night-nurse sat conning her list of night-duties. The evening was just beginning out of doors,-shop-fronts were flaring, taverns were becoming noisy, and brilliantly-lit theatres and music-halls were settling down to business,-but here night and darkness had set in more than an hour before. Indeed, in these beds of languishing, which stretched away down either side

erformed its function, but, as if resenting its bondage, it was impishly twitching the man's muscles and catching him by the throat, so that he choked and started. Dr Lefevre raised the man's eyelid to look at his eye: the upturned eye stared out upon him, but the man slept on. He put his hand on the man's forehead (he had a beautiful hand-the ha

the man?

nswered the house-do

o create a seclusion amid the living, breathing silence of the ward, and Lefevre proce

and inquired concerning the young man's clothes: they were evidently those of a gentleman, she said,-of one, at least, who had plenty of money. He turned again to the young man. He raised the left arm to feel the heart, but, cont

ject for this kind of thing, and yet he is in the extreme stage of hypnotism. You see." And the doctor, by sundry t

other, "he has been-

Lefevre, turning on

ing hi

re than mere trance or catalepsy; it seems the extremest suspensory condition,-and that in a young man of such apparent health is very remarkable. It will take a lon

e brandy, sir?"

t's not the stim

rring accuracy. The effect was startling and grotesque. As a galvanic current applied to the proper nerves and muscles of a dead body will produce expressions and a

continued: "I am convinced this is such a peculiar case as I have often imagined, but have never seen. This nervous-muscular suspension is complicated with some exhaustive influenc

f Du Bois-Reymond, and worked on the theory that the electricity stored in the human bo

ader can; for he was deeply interested and fairly skilled in that strange annex of modern medical scie

and the insulating s

res and limbs lost a certain constriction and rigidity which it was manifest they had had only by their disappearance. When the house-physician returned, the sheet (a preparation of spun-glass invented by Lefe

her hand on the machine, with the fingers touching the chemicals. When you feel strength-virtue, so to say-goin

," repeated t

e frame of both Lefevre and his companion, a convulsive shudder passed upon the unconscious body, and-a strange cry rang out upon the silence of the ward, and Lefevre withdrew his hands. He and the house-physician looked at each other pale and shaken. The nurse came running at the cry. Lefevre looked out beyond the screen

d milk," said Lefev

murmured the patien

and this is St.

oh, I'm dreaming!"

this," said Lefevre, as the house-physician reapp

till the card-"this card," said he, taking it from the top of the locker-was dis

r saw the card before! I never heard your

said Lefevre; "this makes it s

r coat." And the young man wished to enter upo

to talk much now. Tell m

, when an elderly gentleman, who looked like a foreigner, came in as the train was about to move. He particularly observed the man from the first, because, though it was a pleasant spring day, he looked pinched and shrunken with cold in his great fur overcoat, and because he had remarked him standing on the platform and scrutinizing the passengers hurrying into the train. The gentleman sat down in the seat opposite the young officer, and drew his fur wrap close about him. The young officer could not keep his eyes off him, and he noted that his features seemed worn thin and arid, as by passage through terrific peril,-as if he had been travelling for many days without sleep and without food, straining

se you not to smoke that cigar. I have a peculiarly sensitive nose for tobacco, and my

that he was rather charmed tha

ge gentleman; "we call them-I won't trouble you with th

and aroma so excellent that, to use his own phrase, he could have eaten it. H

e a day nearer when you must feel it. And even now it would take a little off the keen edge of the appetite for pleasure. How little," said he, "do we understand how to keep ourselves in condition for the complete enjoyment of life! You, I suppose, are about to take

him. He told him about his family, and showed him the innermost secrets of his heart; and all the while he smoked the delicious "Joy of Spain," and felt more and more enthralled and fascinated by the stranger's eyes, which, as he talked, lightened and glowed more and more as their glance played caressingly about him. He was beginning to wonder at that, when with some emphatic phr

the patie

rty here," said the doctor

and the contents of his purse, and

strange! And the card-of course the st

aid the young man, "that he kn

must see what can be don

ician, when they had left the ward, "and they will be sure to cal

Publicity may help us to dis

e the story?" asked

disbeli

ut him in that condition, which se

here are forces in Nature which few can comprehend, a