SÉANCE AT THE BARON’S--DIABLERIE EXTRAORDINAIRE.
“With features horribler than Hell e’er traced
On its own brood; no Demon of the waste,
No church-yard ghoul, caught lingering in the light
Of the blest sun, e’er blasted human sight
With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those
The Impostor now, in grinning mockery shows.”
“When I reached the house I found the company above enumerated seated in
the parlor, and all most anxiously awaiting the appearance of the
individual who was to afford us entertainment, and, if possible, some
instruction also. For awhile it appeared that we were doomed to be
disappointed. The expected party had promised to attend at thirty
minutes to eight, and it was nearly that time already, and still there
were no signs of his coming; but, as St. Eustache tolled out the half
hour, a ring at the door-bell announced his arrival.
“The man was a tall and comely personage, apparently of Irish
extraction, and had nothing whatever about him at all remarkable;
indeed, he was a very so-soish sort of individual, who at first refused
his name to everybody, because, to quote his own words: ‘If I remain
_incog._ I shall not be lionized, which in other terms means “bored,”
and pestered by persons seeking to gratify a morbid and impertinent
curiosity--people who look for full-grown miracles, and expect to find
them, instead of studying arts and sciences, and therewith increasing
their knowledge and enriching their experience by a more intimate
acquaintance with philosophic truths, and the recondite mysteries of
mighty Nature.’
“The gentleman was very polished and polite, entering freely into
conversation, and seemed altogether so well pleased with his audience
that he threw off all reserve, laughed, joked, made puns, played upon
words, and kept us in good spirits for half an hour, at the end of which
time he gave us his name as a profound secret, to go no further. That
name was a singular one. It was Mai Vatterale--a very curious name! He
soon proposed an adjournment to the back parlor, and after reaching it
he proceeded to arrange the chairs, six in a line, in the form of a
triangle; after doing this, Monsieur Vatterale signified to the Baron
that his part of the preliminaries was completed, whereupon that
gentleman, turning to his guests, said: ‘I was informed on the day that
the present meeting was arranged with Monsieur, that in all cases it was
absolutely necessary that the physical systems of all who assist at, or
witness his experiments, should be duly fortified with food, for what
particular reason I cannot imagine, nor is it necessary that I should
inquire, seeing that it is his rule, of which all present were duly
notified, so that all might forego their usual repasts at their own
homes, and partake of a little _souper_ with me, previous to commencing
our experiments, and’----
“‘_Permettez moi, s’il vous plait_,’ said Vatterale, courteously. ‘_Si
cela vous est agréable_’--it is my custom, and is for the purpose of
preventing any ill effects that might result from a shock of the nerves,
which, believe me, you will be apt to experience before we have done.’
Of course such an explanation, indicating, as it certainly did, no small
degree of preventive solicitude on the part of the illustrious
foreigner, was perfectly satisfactory, and was accepted in a proper
spirit by the whole company.
“‘This way, ladies; this way, gentlemen, follow me,’ said the Baron,
gaily giving his arm to his wife, and leading the way to his splendid
_salle a manger_.
“The worthy noble had called it _un petit souper_, but the magnificent
_spread_ before us rendered it a somewhat difficult task to imagine what
would constitute a _grand_ supper in his estimation. To describe it is
no part of the task I am engaged on; and, therefore, I shall merely
observe that it was a most _recherché_ affair. The furniture of the
table, as well as the viands themselves, was of the most sumptuous
description, everything on it being of the richest and heaviest gold and
silver plate--heir-looms of the old Noblesse, from whom the Baron was
descended.
“Dinner or supper once over, we all left the table, and once more
adjourned to the back parlor, and took seats in the chairs arranged in a
triangle, the ladies, six in number, occupying those which formed the
western arm thereof. When we all were properly and comfortably seated,
there was quite a large vacant space before us, into which Vatterale
placed two chairs facing each other, and also two foot-stools covered
with damask plush-velvet close together in the other angle. He then
proceeded to lock all the doors leading into the apartment, tied all the
keys together with a piece of scarlet ribbon, and then hung them to one
of the glass prisms pendent from a large gas chandelier directly over
the centre of what I may call, not inappropriately, our circle. The jets
of this chandelier, seven in number, were all in full play under a
strong head of gas, and the room in all parts was quite as light as if
the sun shone into the windows, two of which occupied the northern end
of the parlor, both being very richly curtained, and both quite shut. I
repeat, lest trickery in what followed should be suspected by yourself,
that the seven jets of gas were brightly burning, and continued so all
the evening, except when extinguished, without the aid of _human hands_;
and as they were put out, so also were they relighted more than once.
“Having disposed of the bunch of keys, Vatterale went to both windows,
examined them closely, fastened them down securely--that is to say, the
lower sashes; for he let down one of the upper ones, and threw the
eastern external blinds wide open, and fastened them so. Of course, the
master of ceremonies had never been in that dwelling before, and of
course could not have obtained information respecting it by the usual
methods of visit and inquiry, yet, turning to the Baron, he requested
him to ring for the servant, and through the closed door bid him _remove
an ornamental iron sofa from the chamber immediately above our heads,
into the dark bed-room on the third floor_, as its presence where it
then stood would materially affect the experiments to be made!
“This request, made under such circumstances, surprised us all, but
particularly the Baron, who stared at the man who made it, as if he
regarded him as one risen from the dead; and it was, forsooth, rather a
startling circumstance, to say the least. He admitted that there was
such a room, and such a dark chamber, _au troisième_. Yet how the man
knew it, was very strange, considering that he had been in the house but
a short time, and had not left us for a moment, nor spoken a single word
to any of the servants, save on entering, to inquire if this was the
Baron’s residence.
“Scarcely had we recovered from the surprise natural on such an
occasion, than we were again made sensible that we were dealing with an
extraordinary man, for, turning to me, he begged the loan of a small
metallic coin which I had received as a present from Mr. Carr less than
ten minutes before Vatterale entered the house, and which coin was
remarkably curious and valuable on account of its high antiquity, and it
was one of the only two known to be in existence, and had been begged
for me by Mr. Carr, from his friend Blaise de Jongé, the celebrated
Eastern traveller, and had only been sent in a note to Mr. Carr, by that
eminent savant, the night previous. Having received the coin, Vatterale
placed it in his pocket, and then taking out a set of ivory tablets,
wrote a request thereon, and handed it to Madame la Marquise de la
Fronde, an elderly lady, foster sister to the Baron. The request was
altogether so singular and so novel, that the old lady immediately read
it aloud: ‘_Will Madame la Marquise have the goodness to retire to the
alcove and remove from between her feet and stockings the metallic
plates, and, separating the zinc from the copper ones, place each metal
plate with its own kind, and restore them to her feet outside the
hose!_’ The lady almost fainted with astonishment, for she averred that
no mortal knew that she wore such plates, but that she had for ten
years, and found them, by reason of the electric currents they
elaborated and imparted to her system, highly beneficial to her health.
She retired as requested, and, returning in a minute, convinced us of
the marvellous seeing faculty of the mysterious Mai, by exhibiting the
plates, which were precisely as he had described. She again retired,
and, shortly returning, resumed her seat. These preliminaries being
concluded, Vatterale brought into the open space before us a small
portmanteau, which he carried in his hand when he entered the mansion.
From this he now took a coil of wire--indeed, three small coils tied
together--also a saucer of large dimensions of stone China, or thick,
very thick porcelain, a large vial containing a colorless liquid, a box
of paste or gum, two large, and entirely empty, thin bottles--so thin
that we all looked through them at the light, as he handed them to us
for that purpose. They were as clear as the best window glass, as thin
and as brittle, apparently, as the finest crystal. From the same
receptacle he also took what looked like three rolls of paper, one very
large when unfolded, the others quite small indeed. The larger bundle he
unrolled and spread upon the floor, on the space between the chairs and
_fauteuils_. It was about three feet in diameter, and was painted in all
sorts of colors, and figures entirely nondescript. The centre of this
article was immediately that of the triangle, ‘The Symbolical figure of
the Universe, or Oneness,’ as he called it, and of course was directly
beneath the large chandelier. This done, he placed the saucer right upon
the centre of the symbolical chart, if I may so term it. Then,
unfastening the coils of wire, he laid one along the laps of the
gentlemen on one side, and fastened it by means of a link and hook to
two others, which passed in front of the other two sections of the human
trine. The wire held by the ladies (for we all were directed to grasp
the wire before us with one hand, and the hand of the next neighbor with
the other) was common iron, wound with silver foil; the one before
myself was steel, wound with gold wire; and the other was of solid gold,
wound, as were the others, at intervals, with floss silk. The ladies
grasped with the _left_ hand, and joined their right, while with the
gentlemen this order was reversed. The next proceeding on the part of
Mai, was to place half of the gum into the saucer; upon this he emptied
the vial of colorless liquid, and set fire thereto. It burned with a
clear and steady bluish flame. The gum was gradually consumed, and a
peculiar and most delightful fragrance floated through the room.
“During the burning process, the operator sat upon the stool, and gazed
fixedly and intently upon, or rather toward, the open sash, while the
rest of us were chatting merrily, and wondering what would be the result
of all these weird and curious preparations.
“I said the rest of us were merrily chatting, but must qualify that
observation by excluding from this employment one person, and that
person was--myself, for I found it utterly impossible to mingle in the
conversation with that abandon and unreserve which characterized the
others. It was altogether beyond my power to forget the tremendous
experiences of that very day, which I had undergone. A weight was on my
spirit that could not be lifted off. The ‘Ghost of Ravalette’ seemed to
be invisibly hovering over me, and although unseen, his presence seemed
to be palpably felt by me. The events at Belleville constantly obtruded
themselves before the eye of the mind; the affair at the gardener’s, the
singular result of his impromptu wager, the woman at the _Barrière_,
and, above all, the frightful occurrences at the Rue Michel le Compte,
with its sure--absolutely sure--termination on the Guillotine--the
miserable and ignominious death of D’Emprat, and the unearthly means
whereby his deed of crime--the crime a horrible murder, committed
thirty-seven years before--the unearthly and mysterious means, I repeat,
by which his guilt was brought to light--this, all this, so oppressed me
that I could not take a present interest in what was transpiring about
me. Indeed, I cared little for either Mai or his tricks--which, from
observing the method of his preparations, I had already not only
despised, but put down to the score of legerdemain--clever and
surprising, but still nothing more than legerdemain.
“How rudely this conceit was broken up, how horribly I was convinced of
my mistaken estimate of the man before us, will very soon be seen. As
for his skill in detecting the coin, the sofa, and the plates, I had
already secretly accounted. I remembered Caspar Hauser, and several
other _Sensitives_, who could detect the presence of metals by what may
be called ‘magnetic sense.’ His description of the dark bed-room _au
troisième_, was very simple, for nearly all old houses have such
chambers on that floor; this was an old house; Vatterale saw it, and
made what preliminary capital he could from his acuteness. With the
present weight of experience; with the memory of the deeds of the
mystical Ravalette still fresh in mind, of course I could not be very
highly interested in such displays of minor magic as I felt convinced
were very shortly to be made by the conjuring gentleman before us.
“Suddenly the man whose pretensions I had just been inwardly
criticising, partially raised himself from the stool, threw back his
head until his long, wavy locks fell upon his shoulders, and muttered
between his teeth, as if the word-birth was extremely painful, ‘HE IS
COMING!’ and we noticed that his face, naturally of a dingy yellow,
suddenly became of an ashen-hued paleness, and his eyes darted forth
luminous sparks that were plainly visible even amid the glare of that
brilliantly-lighted apartment; and at the same instant he placed his
right hand over the region of his heart--that is to say, over that part
where nine-and-ninety of every hundred suppose the heart to be, namely,
under the left breast. He did this as if to repress a rising pang, then
turning to his audience, he exclaimed--‘Look sharp! Be firm! be
fearless! be attentive! but if you would avoid danger, a nameless, but
great danger, stir not, move not from your seats. Grasp the cord, retain
each other’s hands, make what remarks you may deem proper, _but stir not
an inch_--a single inch from your seats, happen what may! I am going to
surprise you.’
“We all assented verbally, and not a few of the company began even to
joke him on his sorcery and magic, when we all started from our seats,
but were instantly motioned back by an anxious frown and a commanding,
magisterial wave of his right hand. The simultaneous movement on our
part, was caused by a _yell_, for such it was, that proceeded, not, as
might be anticipated, from a female, but from a Mr. Theodore Dwight, an
American gentleman, hailing from Philadelphia--and at the present time
still dwelling there.
“This person, as all who know him will certify, is no weak, puling,
nerveless man, for a man more the opposite of all this could scarce be
found in a month’s search.
“The sound which came from his lips was a shriek of terror, horror, and
agony combined, as might well be fancied to come from the throats of the
damned souls of the nether hell. It was, indeed, a paroxysm of deadly
fright. In an instant all eyes were turned toward him. He was paler than
a corpse, the very image of Death itself; his eyes protruded from their
sockets, and he trembled as if he stood before the final bar; his lips
refused to tell the cause of his distress, but his gaze was intently
fixed, with an immovable expression of horror, upon _the saucer_ on the
floor. Instinctively our eyes followed the same direction, except
Vatterale’s, who still was looking toward the open sash. With this
exception, I repeat, we all looked toward the floor, when, great God!
what a sight was there! The saucer was still there, but the two small
rolls of paper _were gone_! _They_ had disappeared, but in their stead
we distinctly saw--for, recollect, there were seven full jets of gas in
full blaze right over our heads--we saw, I reiterate, with our
eyes--physical, bodily eyes--three horrible beings, somewhat resembling
overgrown scorpions--only, that instead of claws, they had--_hands and
arms_! for all the world like those of a newly-born negro child! These
detestable _things_, for I dare not blaspheme the Great Eternal by
calling them creatures, were about five inches broad on the back, by
some eighteen in length. Their color was a deep crimson, mottled with
purple, green, and yellow stripes and spots, and they were completely
covered with scales, like those of an armadillo. Conceive, if you can,
of a tarantula or spider so large, and which--each one of them--moved
about on the very tips of twelve legs, sixteen or eighteen inches long,
and all the while whirling and twirling its _hands and arms_ (two of
each), eighteen inches long and three-fourths as large as its body, and
you will form a tolerable picture of the repulsive, unsightly, hideous
monstrosities crawling, or rather ‘stilting,’ round that saucer on the
floor.
“Each one of these loathsome _things_ had four large, protruding eyes,
closely resembling those of the monster Frog of India; but these eyes,
unlike the frog’s, were not leaden-hued; instead of this being the case,
I think no spark of fire ever shone brighter--in fact, they fairly
gleamed with what I can indicate by no other term than infernal redness;
for it seemed that at every flash they emitted the concentrated venom of
a gorgon; and beneath the fearful spell we all sat perfectly immovable
with fear.
“What our agony would have been had the accursed things ventured to move
toward us, I dare not even imagine, but they still and ever kept in the
one track, moving with orderly march around that saucer on the floor. We
felt and knew that they were living, actual realities, a genuine and
horrid trinity of _facts_, and not a mere optical illusion, or the result
of a play upon our fancies, mesmeric or otherwise. This opinion was
confirmed by the most positive and blasting testimony, for, as they
solemnly, demoniacally marched about the centre of that symbolic chart,
they left a trailing streak of greenish--_dead_, _hard_, _greenish_
ichor or pus, behind them at each revolution, and a few drops of this
fell upon the Baron’s carpet. Some months afterward he and I exchanged
letters on the events of that night, and he assured me that not a single
chemical amongst the hundreds applied for the purpose had been of the
least effect toward removing the stain. ‘The carpet has been discharged
of its colors and re-dyed, yet no dye will cover those spots!’ This was
not all, for on one of their rounds they nearly quitted the chart, and
the Baron struck at them with his foot, whereupon one of them spirted
forth a fetid liquid, which fell upon his boot, and made a mark there as
if the leather had been seared with hot iron!
“‘Talk not to me of legerdemain after this! Speak not to me of optical
illusion, or deceptive appearances, in the face of such facts as these,
for here are marks,’ wrote the Baron to me, ‘here are palpable evidences
that defy contradiction. They were made on that night, and there they
yet remain, and, albeit I cry, “Out, damned spots!” they will not, but
persist in remaining absolute confirmations of vivid, strange,
incontrovertible _facts_!’
“‘But why did you not get up, under such circumstances, all of you, and
escape from the room?’ is a very natural and perhaps not unreasonable
question, that may without impropriety be asked just here, and I reply:
For several reasons; among which a few shall be named. First, the doors
were all securely locked, and although we had seen Mai mount a chair,
and hang the keys to one of the glass pendants, yet upon looking there,
we found that they, as well as the two rolls of paper, had disappeared.
Secondly, the windows were fastened down, besides being many feet from
the ground--at least fifteen--and to leap that distance was altogether
out of the question, even had we thought of it, which we did not.
Thirdly, the earnest and solemn warning given by Vatterale before
anything took place; his assurance that if we obeyed his injunctions not
to stir--that, although we might be frightened, yet no harm could or
would befall us--acted, amidst all our terror, as a sort of stopper upon
any precipitate movement, after the first shock was over.
“We could not quit the room provided even all the doors had been flung
wide open. Hast never heard tell of the _fascination_ of Danger? If so,
then know that it was upon us in all its terrible force and power. We
were bound, chained, rooted, riveted to the spot, by a potentiality
never to be questioned, never to be despised, for its might, when once
it fastens upon its victim, is merciless, gripping, stern and
unrelenting. We felt that to stir, was to incur the hazard of an
unknown, unguessed-at danger. ALL were fascinated by terror; to move was
to add ten-fold to its power! It was a feeling akin to that experienced
by the native of Ind, who roused from his mid-day slumber, wakes to feel
the clammy folds of the cobra-capello, the dreadful hooded serpent of
his clime, slowly writhing and winding beneath his garments about his
naked flesh; and who realizes, as his heart stops beating and his blood
runs icily with agony, and as the great big beaded drops of cold sweat
ooze out from every pore, that to stir, to breathe, to even quiver under
the pressure of his mortal fear, is certain, irrevocable, positive
death--knowing as he does, that nor man nor beast hath ever yet lived a
single hour after the fangs of the hooded snake have once opened a
passage for the entrance of the King of Terrors!
“And such was the pall that rested upon the eighteen persons in that
room, as the detestable trinity moved slowly around that saucer on the
floor; their eyes--their great, horny, bulging eyes--all the while
scintillating and flashing with the very essence of intense
malignity--malignity as of a devil! The female portion of the company I
fear may never recover from the shock that night received. They did not
faint, or scream, or swoon, as perhaps it might have been suspected they
would under such diabolic circumstances, simply, however, for the reason
that the tension of soul and nerve was altogether too severe and great
to permit, even for an instant, the reaction which is an absolute
prerequisite to relief by or through the methods indicated.
“Probably the length of time that elapsed from the shriek of our
comrade, till the final disappearance of the three monsters, did not
exceed three minutes, yet in that brief space we had undergone years of
terror.
“Truly, the real lapse of time is not to be reckoned by the beats of the
clock, but only by sensations and heart-throbs. Mai, at the termination
of the time specified, rose from his stool, took a small basket from his
portmanteau, and then fearlessly seizing the _things_, one at a time, he
carefully doubled up their legs under them, and placed them in it. Then
taking the two crystal bottles already alluded to, he placed them
lengthwise on the chart, with their necks and apertures facing each
other, after which he resumed his seat upon the foot-stool, addressing
no word or sign to the spectators of his movements. And now it began to
grow dark! The jets of gas appeared to burn less clear and fully, just
as if some one was slowly turning the cocks which let it on, with a
gradual movement. In a little while the room was darkened, though not
exactly dark, for there was still a dim half light--a sort of semi-blue,
semi-dull red, misty radiance, just sufficient to enable us to
distinguish objects vaguely, indistinct and dimly.
“‘Stir not! fear not!’ said the thick, husky voice of Vatterale; and
before we could reply, a scene commenced, such as it hath seldom fallen
to man’s lot to witness.
“‘Allow me to explain a modern mystery,’ said Vatterale, ‘but first let
me remove your fears. Look!’
“Scarcely had he spoken these words, than the room was suddenly
illuminated, as if the very air was aglow with the most brilliant light,
and we saw the two bottles quite plainly. As we gazed upon these, there
came from one the appearance of an enormous serpent, which proceeded to
coil itself up, until its bulk thrice exceeded that of both the bottles.
Then there came still another, and another, until no less than twelve
lay there, coiled up in a loathsome pile; but as the last one emerged
from one bottle, the first one entered the other, until all had
disappeared as they had come.
“‘I will now show you that you cannot always trust your own senses,’
said Vatterale, ‘nor account for what you see;’ and he straightway
emptied the basket, and broke the bottles. All three were empty! Not a
sign of snake or scorpion was there!
“‘Again, I will show you a curious thing. You will please call a
servant, seat her on one of those chairs, and bid her on a wager hold a
skein of silk while it is being wound--merely to keep her
attention--that is all. But,’ and he spoke very earnestly, ‘whatever
you see or hear, I beg you will not utter a single word.’
“This was assented to; a skein of silk was ordered, but not till the
gaslight had displaced the other.
“‘It will be just seventeen minutes before the girl is ready,’ said Mai;
‘and while waiting, I will _demonstrate a fallacy_. The creatures you
have beheld to night are real, but ephemeral--they are Will-creations,
and perish when the power ceases to act which called them into being. As
proof of what I say, Behold!’
“From the floor in the eastern corner of the room there straightway
begun to arise a light mist, which increased in bulk until a ball of
vapor, three feet in diameter, floated in the air. Thus it remained for
a minute; and then, right before our eyes, began to condense and change
its shape, until at the end of four minutes, it had assumed a human
semblance--but, Heavens! what a caricature!
“At first it was a mere vapory outline, but it rapidly condensed and
consolidated, until what looked like a hideous, half-naked, bow-legged,
splay-footed monster stood before us. Its height was less than three
feet; its chest and body were nearly that in width; its legs were not
over eight inches long; its arms were longer than its entire body; its
head was gigantic; and it had no neck whatever, while from its horrible
head there hung to the very ground the appearance of a tangled mass of
wire-like worms. Its mouth was a fearful-looking red gash, extending to
where ears should have been, but were not. Eyes, nose, cheeks, chin,
lips or forehead, there were none whatever. Do not imagine that this
creature was merely an appearance; it was not, for although born of
vapor, in five minutes it became solid as iron, demonstrating the fact
by stalking heavily across the floor right into the centre of the open
space between us--the chains being dropped as it approached--where it
stood, slowly swaying to and fro, as if its heart was heavy.
“‘Show your quality,’ said Mai to the thing. ‘I will,’ it hissed, and
straightway proceeding toward a table, it stood by it a few minutes, and
it became apparent that it was charging the wood with something from
itself, for soon the table began to turn, to tip, to move, to rise and
float in the air, precisely as is done in spiritual circles.
“‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, you will please act just as if that before
you was a human spirit, invisible to you, and desirous of imparting
information. I dare say you will be surprised at the results. You see
already that it is a capital table-mover, and I beg you to test its
mental and physical powers also--for I assure you there is nothing to
fear, now that I give you leave to break the silence--which was quite
essential in the first part of the curious experiment.’
“Thus assured, several of us asked the thing to show us what it could
do. Whereupon it made motions as if it wanted to write. Paper and pencil
being placed upon the table, it seized the pencil with its long
claw-like fingers, and its hand flew over the page like lightning, and
in ten seconds it finished, and striking the table three heavy blows
with its fist, signified that it had finished; whereupon Mr. D----
reached for the sheet, and read therefrom one of the most tender
messages conceivable, from a dead mother to a living son. Even the hand
writing was a perfect _fac-simile_ of his mother’s; the name--Lucy--was
correct, and certain dear and peculiar phrases, used by her when alive,
were given with minute precision and fidelity; as, for instance, ‘sweet
one, mine,’ instead of ‘my sweet one.’ Mr. D---- turned pale. ‘Is it
possible I have been so imposed upon--so horribly deceived?’ said he,
for he was a devout follower of the modern thaumaturgy.
“Several further tests, equally successful and decisive, were then given
by this ghostly thing, both by writing, tipping, rapping, and the
production of beautiful phantom hands, faces, flowers, and other
objects, many of which were not only singular but magnificent. Probably
thousands of persons have seen the curious pencil drawings, executed by
‘mediums,’ and which are said to be portraits of ‘Spiritual
flowers’--for most certainly they resemble nothing growing on this
earth. Well, in less than five minutes the horrible thing there at the
table, the eyeless monster, executed thirteen such--and they would pass
current as splendid specimens of ‘Spirit art.’
“‘Now,’ said Vatterale, ‘for something else.’ And then addressing the
thing, he said: ‘You will now render yourself viewless, and show what
you can do. And first let us have some music.’ Then turning to the
company, he said: ‘Real spirits love the light, but such as _that_
invariably act most efficiently in the dark--for then they have the
advantage of the elements condensed upon their forms--a semi-material
investiture--and can come in direct contact with material substances,
which, in the case of real spirits, is exceedingly difficult of
accomplishment.’
“During this speech, our attention was diverted from the incarnated to
the incarnator--for it must not be forgotten that the entire phenomena
exhibited by this wondrous personage, were the creatures of his
conscious will, brought into being and again cast out by a thought, and
according to a _known and transferable formula_. True, there were others
in whom this creative faculty existed, but then such persons either
exercised the power involuntarily through the mechanical processes of
mind and will, or else they are but the proxies of the Larvæ. When he
ceased speaking the monster was gone from our sight, but not from our
hearing, for Mai gently waved his hand, and as he did so there came to
us the softest, gentlest, sweetest, and the most soul-stirring strains
of music that ever fell on human hearing. Above, below, around, now
here, now there, close at hand, and then afar off, it sounded; and the
only comparison I can make is, that it sounded like a solemn requiem
chaunted by angels over the perished form of what was once a god--the
tones were so pathetic, so solemn, so supremely sorrow-freighted--
reminding one of the plaintive
“‘Huhm, meleagar malooshe,
Huhm meleagar, ma-looshe,’
only that it was ten-fold more profound, and stirred depths the other
could never reach.
“This strange music was a perfect corroboration of the theory advanced
by the Italian Count at the séance before Napoleon, already mentioned;
for, allowing that the being who made it was a real and independent
existence, it was impossible for such conceptions to exist in it, for
the reason that none but a mighty soul could create them, and the thing
itself was exceedingly, revoltingly low in the scale of organization.
But, on the other hand, if the thing were the creature of Mai’s will, it
was conceivable that it vocally expressed his unuttered thought, itself
totally unconscious of either the music or its meaning.
“It ceased. It still remained invisible, and Mai proposed that Count de
M---- should hold one end of an accordion, while the thing invisibly
held and played upon the other. This was assented to, and the
instrument, bottom up, was held at arm’s length, directly beneath the
light. _It was placed on_, in masterly style, while in that position.
It, as well as a guitar, harp and piano, were played on when no one was
near them, and nothing to be seen; and then, at the command of the
arch-magician, the whole performance was repeated by the terrific thing
in its perfectly visible form.
“Presently, a knock at the door told us that the servant sent for had
arrived, with the silk in her hand. She was admitted; the thing retired
from view.
“‘Marie,’ said the Baron, ‘a wager is laid that one of these gentlemen
cannot unwind a skein of silk which you are to hold, both of you being
blindfolded. I wager that it can be done. If I win, you shall have three
days to visit your family, besides something to carry to the old people
and the little ones. Now, you must not laugh or speak while the silk is
being wound; if you do I lose. Will you try?’
“‘Certainly,’ replied the girl; ‘and you shall see that I will not
laugh. Oh, _papa, maman_, I shall have three days! _Mon Dieu!_ but it is
a fine thing!’ And, taking the seat offered, she suffered the silk to be
placed across her wrists, and be blindfolded by the Baroness.
“This having been done, Mr. D----, at a sign from Vatterale, took the
end of the cord, and began slowly to unwind it.
“‘And now begin,’ said the latter, speaking toward where the thing had
disappeared. The command was heard. It came forth, touched the girl’s
hand, and instantly she was thrown into a profound trance, whence
another touch revived her, but not to wakeful consciousness. Instead of
this, she rose, threw down the silk, approached several musical
instruments in succession, and played upon them most exquisitely. The
thing touched her head, and she made love in the most tender terms to
three gentlemen in succession, declaring to each in turn that he was her
‘eternal affinity,’ and had been so from the foundation of the world.
“Again it touched her; and, suddenly changing her manner, she declaimed
in lofty strain. Now she was Charlotte Corday, then Maximillian the
Incorruptible; again, she was the Maid of Orleans, and then a simple
Indian maiden. Now she was Malibran, and sung divinely; anon, she was a
strong-minded woman, and talked about the Divine creative work of
woman;--about love--that man had made it special when it should be
general, and, therefore, free. She raved about the Bible, called it
excellent soft bark; called the Saviour the Nazarene; spoke of the Deity
as the Great Positive Mind; declared she was His private secretary;
prated about Starnos and ’Cor, Summer Lands, Gupturion, Mornia,
divorces, and how to get them; progress and humbug, milky ways, and the
people of Jupiter, with a hundred other follies, but which she, unlike
her exemplars, for the time believed. The scene continued for at least
two hours, at the end of which time Mai dismissed the thing, and
restored the girl, who was totally oblivious of all that had occurred.
She received sundry pieces of gold from those present, and left the
room, doubtless desiring to unwind more silk at the same rate.
“‘I will now show you something equally curious,’ said Mai, ‘and,
perhaps, quite as interesting as anything you have yet beheld. Look!’
“We did so. Simultaneously, and from all parts of the room, there now
arose, as from the floor, innumerable minute globules of various-colored
fire--red, green, blue, purple, scarlet, gold, silver, crimson, white
and violet--leaping, flashing, dancing and frisking about, as if endowed
with sensuous, joyous gaiety. Apparently, there were thousands of them,
all moving in disorder through the air, now lighting on the
picture-frames suspended from the wall, now collecting in great masses
in front of the splendid mirrors, and, anon, gliding along the floor,
under our seats, through our feet, over the chairs, and about the
carpet, as if in the very wantonness of sport, their every motion being
accompanied by a hissing sound, in kind, though not in volume, like that
emitted by an ascending rocket as it rushes through the air. Presently,
they formed themselves into crowns, just such as I had seen years
before, in that same Paris, float over and crown Napoleon at the behest
of an Italian Count. In an instant I associated the two circumstances,
and, turning to the magician, was about to speak, when, as if divining
my purpose, he nodded to me, and said aloud--
“‘I told you we should meet again! Be patient--this night must pass.
Accept the present I left for you at your hotel, and do not forget that
we shall _meet again_!’ and he became silent as before, while the
company scarcely knew what to make of this abrupt, and apparently
meaningless speech.
“I had solved one problem. Vatterale and the Count were one and the same
person; but who and what were the other two--Miakus and Ravalette?
“The fiery crowns concluded the exhibition, and at a late hour the
company separated, and each sought his pillow.”