thought, impulse, affection, emotion. If these threads or wires become,
from any subtle cause, entangled, the skill of the mere medical
practitioner is of no avail to undo the injurious knot, or to unravel
the confused skein. The drugs generally used in such cases are, for the
most part, repellent to the human blood and natural instinct, therefore
they are always dangerous, and often deadly. I knew, by studying your
face, mademoiselle, that you were suffering as acutely as I, too,
suffered some five years ago, and I ventured to try upon you a simple
vegetable essence, merely to see if you were capable of benefiting by
it. The experiment has been so far successful; but----"

He paused, and his face became graver and more abstracted.

"But what?" I queried eagerly.

"I was about to say," he continued, "that the effect is only
transitory. Within forty-eight hours you must naturally relapse into
your former prostrate condition, and I, unfortunately, am powerless to
prevent it."

I sighed wearily, and a feeling of disappointment oppressed me. Was it
possible that I must again be the victim of miserable dejection, pain,
and stupor?

"You can give me another dose of your remedy," I said.

"That I cannot, mademoiselle," he answered regretfully; "I dare not,
without further advice and guidance."

"Advice and guidance from whom?" I inquired.

"From the friend who cured me of my long and almost hopeless illness,"
said Cellini. "He alone can tell me whether I am right in my theories
respecting your nature and constitution."

"And what are those theories?" I asked, becoming deeply interested in
the conversation.

Cellini was silent for a minute or so; he seemed absorbed in a sort of
inward communion with himself. Then he spoke with impressiveness and
gravity:

"In this world, mademoiselle, there are no two natures alike, yet all
are born with a small portion of Divinity within them, which we call
the Soul. It is a mere spark smouldering in the centre of the weight of
clay with which we are encumbered, yet it is there. Now this particular
germ or seed can be cultivated if we will--that is, if we desire and
insist on its growth. As a child's taste for art or learning can be
educated into high capabilities for the future, so can the human Soul
be educated into so high, so supreme an attainment, that no merely
mortal standard of measurement can reach its magnificence. With much
more than half the inhabitants of the globe,