ations, the quiet culture, and
the easy, pleasant days of sybaritical studentship which had filled his
life were suddenly things of the past. His passionate love for Eleanor
was predominant. He was like a man afflicted with a strange fever of
unknown origin, which no physician could prescribe for, and which he
himself was powerless to resist.

In his room that night he sat under his student's lamp into the small
hours, writing--writing....

It was the last chance and he was going to stake his all upon it. He was
appealing to the old German professor of his student days, the man who
more than any other could aid him at this time.

A week later he took Eleanor back to London and placed her in the great
specialist's hands. And then followed weary days and nights of anxious
waiting when all but hope seemed fled. Then came a day when his library
door opened softly and the great German doctor looked at Powers
benevolently through his double glasses.

"My young friend," he said, "the work is finished. My last visit to this
most interesting of patients has been paid. I await now only the
confirmation of our theories."

Powers, though outwardly cool, was trembling with excitement.

"I can go to her?" he asked. "You recommend it? The moment has arrived?"

"It has arrived," Herr Rauchen affirmed. "She is strong enough to bear
your presence--to talk in moderation. I will await here the result. It
is an experiment the most interesting of any I have ever known."

Powers moved toward the door, but the professor called him back.

"My young friend," he said, "one moment. There's no hurry. I would ask a
question."

"Well?"

"You say the room is the same, the nurse is the same. Good! Have you the
clothes she arrived in?"

"They are there in full view," Powers answered. "She has come back to
consciousness among precisely the same surroundings as when she first
came to me eight months ago."

"Very good indeed," the professor declared. "Now you shall go to her.
Meanwhile, I wait for you here."

Once more Powers hesitated, with his foot upon the threshold of her
room. It seemed so short a time ago since he stood there before on his
way to his first interview with her since his great experiment. But his
interest was no longer scientific. He knew very well that the next few
minutes must make or mar his life.

The professor had given him hope; their theories had been based upon a
sound basis. But the issue was the greatest he