The Crystal

Many years ago I was boarding in a well known house at the lower end of Broadway, kept by a jolly, light eyed, ligfat haired, fat Germán lady, the widow of a "professor," Mme. Steinberg. As for myself , I was a quiet, old f ashioned teacher of langnages, and the place suited me. Among my pnpils was the daughter of a rich widow lady, living in Washington squre, which was the height of fashionable aspiration in those days. My department was instmction in the Germán language, and in Ella Cameron I found a pnpil so completely and natnrally imbued with the mysticism deemed peculiar to the Germans and the orientáis that I found she grasped the instinct of that grandly expressive language as an infant learning its mother tongue. There was Germán blood somewhere in the long pedigree of Ella's ancestors. Ella Cameron had inherited sufflcient of the natural Scotch intellectual force to give her balance without blunting the subtle sensibilities of her inind. One day there came to our house a foreign gentleman to board. No one knew his nationality, and to this day I am ignorant of it. He spoke English fluently and idomatically correct, but with such an accent a3 he might have learned by being educated abroad; yet he was not an Englisnman, for he said so. His Germán was perfection, hia French Parisian. his Italian and Spanish a marvel. As for his age, he might have been thirty or he might have been fifty. Naturally enough, with oür assimilating tastes, educatíon and pursuits, and through the kind intervention of Mme. Steinberg, Paul Stol berg and I became soon acquainted and then intímate. "Qreat men," he would say, "are but the embodiment of an abstraction, and as purely accidental as anything within the meaning of the word." These and similar enunciations he would give utterance to, not in any dogmatic or self sufflcient spirit, but simply as stating the result of his study and experience. Most cultivated and educated persons I have met have possessed hobbies of same eort, and Stalberg's hobby was the collection of crystals. His collection, however, was certainly the finest I ever saw, containing specimens of quartz, spar and other minerals, and even the diamond in various forms. They were arraned in his cabinet under glass, and numbered several hundred. Besides these, he had in another case a collection of inagnets, comprising about fifty, and also of all sizes. Such a curious concatenation of tastes surprised me, and I remarked upon it, asking why he had selected two such diverse objects for collection. "Not so diverse as you think, my dear friend," said he, "for I, at least, think that where two powers, apparently different in form and character, produce the same resnlts, if exercised in the same manner, ther must be consanguinity somewhere. " "The magnet attracts," said I, "and the crystal, excited by friction, will do the same, but so will a glass bottle or a stick of sealing wax." He smiled, and going to his crystal cabinet selected from it one of the larger ones; then he said, as he returned to my side, "Sit easily in your chair while I show yon something else the crystal will do, and mark your sensations." I took an easy position, restdng my hands on the arms of the chair, and waited. Seatnig himself directly in front of me, he raised the crystal with both hands and at about a distance of sis inches from my person, drew it slowly, perpendicularly before me, from my head to my feet As he did so I noticed a sensation as of a light breeze blowing upon me. Thn operation was repeated, and this time I feit a pteasant drowsiness creep error me, the cool wind still blew npon me, and I aeemed to see nothirtg bat the crystal, which assumed a larger appearanceand became raminous at the angles. A third pass, and it occurred to me that I would mention this lunrinous appearance, which was incxeasing; but on trying to do so I f oand I could not epeak or move, and with a dim fancy that I was rade to fall asleep under such circamBtances I became insensible. When I became conscious the window was open, and the cool October wind blowing upon me; my forehead was wet, and my chair had been wheeled in front of the window. Stolberg sat by me, and I observed that he looked pater than rjpnïü and anxioos. "Wnat is the matter?' said L "NoÖring," he repüed. "I do not care to wait until you should come natnralljr oat of yonr coma, so I used physical means to a waken yo. What do you think of the power of the crystal now?" I replied that I aad never head of it before, and described my sensations to 1 him; but he did not pay mnch attention, and his ruind seemed distraught. "But how is it about the magnet?" said I, "you have not yet proved tb me any identity between these two forcee." "One experiment of this sort isenough for an evening," he replied; "on another occasion I will convince you that the magnet possesses precisely the same power; but teil me - you have a pupil whom I should much like to meet - Miss Cameron." I was surprised that he shonld have heard of her, and said so. "You mentioned her name when you were under the influeñce of the crystal," he replied. "So, then," said I, "this power is allied to that of animal magnetism?" "It produced a kindred resul t by a dif' ferent means But this Miss Cameron, as I judge from your remarks, must be a peculiar character- what I should cali sublimated!" "You are right, though I had no idea of talking in mv sleep, or telling tales ont of school; but really I would like you to see her and converse with her." Stolberg expressed the pleasure it would give him to meet her, and I promised to make an arrangement to that end when I gave her my lesson on the f lowing day. My description of my friend, and my assurance of his scholarly attainments, roused sufficient curioeity in my pupil to render her eager to see him. So an appointment was made, with the consent of her mother, for the following day, and, punctual to the honr, we entered Mrs. Cameron's drawing room. The ladies appeared immediately after, and, presenting my friend, what wasmy surprise to see Miss Cameron suddenly pause, trembling violently, while her face became vividly palé. I stepped forward to support her, but Stolberg had already taken her hand and, as he gracef ully expressed his gratification at meeting her, she became instantly calía, and, seating herself, in a moment she was pleasantly engaged in conversation. Somehow or other we drifted into the subject of mesinerism, and I mentioned the affair of the crystal. Ella was interested, and begged that Mr. Stolberg would give her an opportunity of witnessing its effects. He agreed willingly, and a future occasion was promised when the experiment should be made on the young lady herself. A few days later, on reaching our "boarding house, I was informed by Mme. Steinberg that Mr. Stolberg had packed all his property, with orders to send it on board a packet, which was to sail on the following day for Hamburg. A note to me, left by himself, informed me that he had received letters which required his immediate departure, but that he would not deprive Miss Cameron of her seance, and would meet me at her mother's house in the evening at the hour which had been named. At that time and place I found him, apparently making himself quite at home; and presently opening a 'small box which he had brought with him he drew from it the same crystal with which he had operated upon me. Seating himself in front of her as 8he reclined easily in her arm chair he commenced the mysterious passes with his crystal. I watched her closely, and as he moved it" slowly in front of her I could perceive that she gradnally grew pale; then her eyelids dropped, and she was apparently in a sound sleep. Her mother called to her, touched her, and even used some gentle violence to awaken her, but without the slightest apparent effect. Pointing the crystal at her Stolberg drew silently backward toward the door, when, to our astonishment, the sleeping figure rose, or rather glided after him, out of the door, into the hall, down the stairs, and as he opened the front door Stolberg called to Mrs. Cameron, who stood with me at the head of the stairs watching the results of this wonderful influence: "Ycra see, madame, she would follow me anywhere," and, as though to prove it, she passed out of the door, which Stolberg shut, and, to my horror, I heaxd hún lock it af ter him. I flew down the two flights of stairs into the basement, my brain tnming mad, it seemed to me, and reached the sidewalk by the lower door just in time to Bee a carriage turning at fall speed the next corner. Returning to Mrs. Cameron I fonnd her in a swoon, out of which, as she awakened to sensibility, she passed into convulsions and at midñight was a corpse. Meanwhile the pólice had beeninformed, messages sent in all directions, but of Stolbere or his tinhappy victim I have never heard