staircase to the fourth floor.

At this particular time an extraordinary man had appeared in Paris,
endowed by faith with incalculable power, and controlling magnetic
forces in all their applications. Not only did this great unknown
(who still lives) heal from a distance the worst and most inveterate
diseases, suddenly and radically, as the Savior of men did formerly,
but he was also able to call forth instantaneously the most remarkable
phenomena of somnambulism and conquer the most rebellious will. The
countenance of this mysterious being, who claims to be responsible to
God alone and to communicate, like Swedenborg, with angels, resembles
that of a lion; concentrated, irresistible energy shines in it. His
features, singularly contorted, have a terrible and even blasting
aspect. His voice, which comes from the depths of his being, seems
charged with some magnetic fluid; it penetrates the hearer at every
pore. Disgusted by the ingratitude of the public after his many
cures, he has now returned to an impenetrable solitude, a voluntary
nothingness. His all-powerful hand, which has restored a dying daughter
to her mother, fathers to their grief-stricken children, adored
mistresses to lovers frenzied with love, cured the sick given over
by physicians, soothed the sufferings of the dying when life became
impossible, wrung psalms of thanksgiving in synagogues, temples, and
churches from the lips of priests recalled to the one God by the same
miracle,--that sovereign hand, a sun of life dazzling the closed eyes
of the somnambulist, has never been raised again even to save the
heir-apparent of a kingdom. Wrapped in the memory of his past mercies
as in a luminous shroud, he denies himself to the world and lives for
heaven.

But, at the dawn of his reign, surprised by his own gift, this man,
whose generosity equaled his power, allowed a few interested persons to
witness his miracles. The fame of his work, which was mighty, and could
easily be revived to-morrow, reached Dr. Bouvard, who was then on the
verge of the grave. The persecuted mesmerist was at last enabled to
witness the startling phenomena of a science he had long treasured
in his heart. The sacrifices of the old man touched the heart of the
mysterious stranger, who accorded him certain privileges. As Bouvard now
went up the staircase he listened to the twittings of his old antagonist
with malicious delight, answering only, "You shall see, you shall see!"
with the em