in the bathroom for me to empty into the water of my
daily bath, and every hour I grew better, brighter, and stronger. The
natural vivacity of my temperament returned to me; I suffered no pain,
no anxiety, no depression, and I slept as soundly as a child, unvisited
by a single dream. The mere fact of my being alive became a joy to me;
I felt grateful for everything--for my eyesight, my speech, my hearing,
my touch--because all my senses seemed to be sharpened and invigorated
and braced up to the keenest delight. This happy condition of my system
did not come suddenly--sudden cures mean sudden relapses; it was a
gradual, steady, ever-increasing, reliable recovery.

I found the society of Heliobas and his sister very fascinating. Their
conversation was both thoughtful and brilliant, their manners were
evenly gracious and kindly, and the life they led was a model of
perfect household peace and harmony. There was never a fuss about
anything: the domestic arrangements seemed to work on smoothly oiled
wheels; the different repasts were served with quiet elegance and
regularity; the servants were few, but admirably trained; and we all
lived in an absolutely calm atmosphere, unruffled by so much as a
breath of worry. Nothing of a mysterious nature went on, as far as I
could see.

Heliobas passed the greater part of the day in his study--a small,
plainly furnished room, the facsimile of the one I had beheld him in
when I had dreamed those three dreams at Cannes. Whether he received
many or few patients there I could not tell; but that some applied to
him for advice I knew, as I often met strangers crossing the hall on
their way in and out. He always joined us at dinner, and was invariably
cheerful, generally entertaining us with lively converse and sparkling
narrative, though now and then the thoughtful tendency of his mind
predominated, and gave a serious tone to his remarks.

Zara was uniformly bright and even in her temperament. She was my very
ideal of the Greek Psyche, radiant yet calm, pensive yet mirthful. She
was full of beautiful ideas and poetical fancies, and so thoroughly
untouched by the world and its aims, that she seemed to me just to
poise on the earth like a delicate butterfly on a flower; and I should
have been scarcely surprised had I seen her unfold a pair of shining
wings and fly away to some other region. Yet in spite of this
spirituelle nature, she was physically stronger and more robust than
any other