perplexed, and with
an embarrassed countenance looked around him. "Yes, prince, by all that
is sacred, this unknown is a terrible being."

"What do you know of him? What connection have you with him? Do not
hope to conceal the truth from us."

"I shall take care not to do so,--for who will warrant that he is not
among us at this very moment?"

"Where? Who?" exclaimed we altogether, half-amused, half-startled,
looking about the room. "That is impossible."

"Oh! to this man, or whatever he may be, things still more
incomprehensible are possible."

"But who is he? Whence comes he? Is he an Armenian or a Russian? Of
the characters be assumes, which is his real one?"

"He is nothing of what he appears to be. There are few conditions or
countries of which he has not worn the mask. No person knows who he is,
whence he comes, or whither he goes. That he has been for a long time
in Egypt, as many pretend, and that he has brought from thence, out of a
catacomb, his, occult sciences, I will neither affirm nor deny. Here we
only know him by the name of the Incomprehensible. How old, for
instance, do you suppose he is?"

"To judge from his appearance he can scarcely have passed forty."

"And of what age do you suppose I am?"

"Not far from fifty."

"Quite right; and I must tell you that I was but a boy of seventeen when
my grandfather spoke to me of this marvellous man whom he had seen at
Famagusta; at which time he appeared nearly of the same age as he does
at present."

"This is exaggerated, ridiculous, and incredible."

"By no means. Were I not prevented by these fetters I could produce
vouchers whose dignity and respectability should leave you no room for
doubt. There are several credible persons who remember having seen him,
each, at the same time, in different parts of the globe. No sword can
wound, no poison can hurt, no fire can burn him; no vessel in which he
embarks can be wrecked. Time itself seems to lose its power over him.
Years do not affect his constitution, nor age whiten his hair. Never
was he seen to take any food. Never did he approach a woman. No sleep
closes his eyes. Of the twenty-four hours in the day there is only one
which he cannot command; during which no person ever saw him, and during
which he never was employed in any terrestrial occupation."

"And this hour is?"

"The twelfth in the night. When the clock strikes twelve at midnight
he ceases to belong to the living. In whatever place