rs which constitute the great name. With a
touch of internal collapse he commended himself to the Virgin Mary, the
ecstatic paroxysm passed, and they wandered down another lane, for they
were in the midst of leafy umbrage. Presently a tree gracefully arranged
a portion of its branches in the form of a fan, and bowed with profound
reverence. Still more fantastic, a paralysed branch produced a living
human hand, which in the accompanying engraving is ornamented with an
immaculate cuff, and that hand presented a bouquet to Sophia. By reason
of these matters the doctor became pensive.

A Palladian seance followed. The litany of Lucifer was chanted, and the
prodigy of "substitution" was effected. The ceremony took place in a
grotto with a stalactite roof; Miss Walder produced from a basket the
serpent which was an inseparable companion of all her travels; it
immediately genuflected in front of her, swarmed the wall, and assumed a
pendant position attached to one of the stalactites. It was a reptile of
no ordinary kind, for it began to develop an interminable length of
coils till it had spread itself circlewise over the entire ceiling, and
its head was joined to its tail. The doctor says that he was now
prepared for anything. The serpent gave forth seven horrible hisses, and
in the dim light, for the torches which illuminated the place were
successively giving out of themselves, each person became conscious of
an unseen entity blowing with burning breath in their faces. When at
length there was complete darkness, Sophia herself became radiant, and
brilliantly illuminated the grotto with an intense white light; five
enormous hands could then be seen floating in space, also intensely
luminous, but emitting a green lustre; each hand went wandering in
search of its prey, ultimately seizing a brother, whom it drew
irresistibly forward in the direction of Sophia. Moved by a mysterious
influence, two of them grasped her arms, two clutched her by the
shoulders, one placed his hand on her head. The serpent again hissed
seven significant times, and in place of the solid Sophia the third
Alexander of Macedon was substituted in phantom guise. When he faded
Sophia reappeared and continued going and coming with a phantom between
each of her appearances, so that she was in turn replaced by Luther,
Cleopatra, Robespierre, and others, concluding with the Italian patriot
Garibaldi, who eclipsed all the others, for his bust was converted into
a