t my
passion--so strong, so great, so true, Zara!--will, with patience, draw
you, star of my life, closer and closer, till I at last call you mine?"

I heard the faint rustle of Zara's silk robe, as though she were moving
farther from him.

"You speak ignorantly, Prince. Your studies with Casimir appear to have
brought you little knowledge. Attraction! How can you attract what is
not in your sphere? As well ask for the Moons of Jupiter or the Ring of
Saturn! The laws of attraction and repulsion, Prince Ivan, are fixed by
a higher authority than yours, and you are as powerless to alter or
abate them by one iota, as a child is powerless to repel the advancing
waves of the sea."

Prince Ivan spoke again, and his voice quivered, with suppressed anger.

"You may talk as you will, beautiful Zara; but you shall never persuade
me against my reason. I am no dreamer; no speculator in aerial
nothings; no clever charlatan like Casimir, who, because he is able to
magnetize a dog, pretends to the same authority over human beings, and
dares to risk the health, perhaps the very sanity, of his own sister,
and that of the unfortunate young musician whom he has inveigled in
here, all for the sake of proving his dangerous, almost diabolical,
experiments. Oh, yes; I see you are indignant, but I speak truth. I am
a plain man;--and if I am deficient in electric germs, as Casimir would
say, I have plenty of common sense. I wish to rescue you, Zara. You are
becoming a prey to morbid fancies; your naturally healthy mind is full
of extravagant notions concerning angels and demons and what not; and
your entire belief in, and enthusiasm for, your brother is a splendid
advertisement for him. Let me tear the veil of credulity from your
eyes. Let me teach you how good a thing it is to live and love and
laugh like other people, and leave electricity to the telegraph-wires
and the lamp-posts."

Again I heard the silken rustle of Zara's dress, and, impelled by a
strong curiosity and excitement, I raised a corner of the curtain
hanging over the door, and was able to see the room distinctly. The
Prince stood, or rather lounged, near the window, and opposite to him
was Zara; she had evidently retreated from him as far as possible, and
held herself proudly erect, her eyes flashing with unusual brilliancy
contrasted with the pallor of her face.

"Your insults to my brother, Prince," she said calmly, "I suffer to
pass by me, knowing well to what a depth