stood beside her.

"'Fetch Helfa,' said Abou to a servant, 'and then begone.'

"Helfa was Abou's son. Here, in England, you would cruelly designate him
as something between a madman and an idiot, but the Easterns look not
thus upon those who possess not their ordinary faculties. Through Helfa,
Abou had seen many wonderful things, and now he was going to use him
again.

"'Howajja Herod,' he said to me, 'I am first going to use one of our old
means of getting knowledge. It has failed me in the past, but it will
be, perchance, more potent in the presence of Ilfra the Understanding
One.'

"With that he took some ink, and poured it in Helfa's hand. This ink was
the most precious in his possession, and obtained by means not lawful to
relate. When it was in his son's hands he looked at me straight in the
eyes, until, while I was in possession of all my senses, I seemed to
live a charmed life. My imagination soared, my heart felt a wondrous
joy.

"'Look,' said Abou, 'look in Helfa's hand.'

"I looked intently.

"'What see you, son Herod?'

"'I see a paradise,' I replied, 'but I cannot describe it. The beauties
are incomparable. Ilfra is there; she mingles with those who are most
obeyed.'

"'See you anything by which the mystery can be learned?'

"'I can see nothing.'

"I heard a sigh. I had returned to my normal condition again, and had
told nothing.

"'I expected this,' he said, 'but I will try Helfa.'

"The experiment with Helfa, however, was just as fruitless.

"Then he turned to me. 'Son Herod,' he said, 'prepare to see the greatest
deed ever done by man. All the knowledge and power of my life are to be
concentrated in one act.'

"With that he looked at Helfa, who staggered to a low cushion.

"'Spirit of Helfa, leave the body,' he said.

"Instantly the eyes of Helfa began to close; his limbs grew stiff, and in
a few seconds he lay lifeless by us.

"'I have a mission for you, spirit of Helfa. Flee to the home of spirits,
and bring back the soul of thy sister, that she may tell me what we wish
to know.'

"When the command was given, I felt that a something--an entity--was gone
from us. Abou and I were alone with the two bodies.

"'What expect you, Abou?' I said, anxiously.

"'If the labour of a lifetime has not been a failure,' he said, 'these
two bodies will soon possess their spirits.'"

Again Voltaire stopped in his recital, and looked around the room. He
saw that every eye was fixed upon him,