Seen under the clearer light, Doctor Lagarde appeared to be the last person living who would consent to degrade himself by an attempt at imposture1 of any kind. His eyes were the dreamy eyes of a visionary; his look was the prematurely-aged look of a student, accustomed to give the hours to his book which ought to have been given to his bed. To state it briefly2, he was a man who might easily be deceived by others, but who was incapable3 of consciously practicing deception4 himself.
Signing to his visitor to be seated, he took a chair on the opposite side of the small table that stood between them—waited a moment with his face hidden in his hands, as if to collect himself—and then spoke5.
“Do you come to consult me on a case of illness?” he inquired, “or do you ask me to look to the darkness which hides your future life?”
The answer to these questions was frankly6 and briefly expressed. “I have no need to consult you about my health. I come to hear what you can tell me of my future life.”
“I can try,” pursued the Doctor; “but I cannot promise to succeed.”
“I accept your conditions,” the stranger rejoined. “I never believe nor disbelieve. If you will excuse my speaking frankly, I mean to observe you closely, and to decide for myself.”
Doctor Lagarde smiled sadly.
“You have heard of me as a charlatan7 who contrives8 to amuse a few idle people,” he said. “I don’t complain of that; my present position leads necessarily to misinterpretation of myself and my motives10. Still, I may at least say that I am the victim of a sincere avowal11 of my belief in a great science. Yes! I repeat it, a great science! New, I dare say, to the generation we live in, though it was known and practiced in the days when pyramids were built. The age is advancing; and the truths which it is my misfortune to advocate, before the time is ripe for them, are steadily12 forcing their way to recognition. I am resigned to wait. My sincerity13 in this matter has cost me the income that I derived14 from my medical practice. Patients distrust me; doctors refuse to consult with me. I could starve if I had no one to think of but myself. But I have another person to consider, who is very dear to me; and I am driven, literally15 driven, either to turn beggar in the streets, or do what I am doing now.”
He paused, and looked round toward the corner of the room behind him. “Mother,” he said gently, “are you ready?”
An elderly lady, dressed in deep mourning, rose from her seat in the corner. She had been, thus far, hidden from notice by the high back of the easy-chair in which her son sat. Excepting some f olds of fine black lace, laid over her white hair so as to form a head-dress at once simple and picturesque16, there was nothing remarkable17 in her attire18. The visitor rose and bowed. She gravely returned his salute19, and moved so as to place herself opposite to her son.
“May I ask what this lady is going to do?” said the stranger.
“To be of any use to you,” answered Doctor Lagarde, “I must be thrown into the magnetic trance. The person who has the strongest influence over me is the person who will do it to-night.”
He turned to his mother. “When you like,” he said.
Bending over him, she took both the Doctor’s hands, and looked steadily into his eyes. No words passed between them; nothing more took place. In a minute or two, his head was resting against the back of the chair, and his eyelids20 had closed.
“Are you sleeping?” asked Madame Lagarde.
“I am sleeping,” he answered.
She laid his hands gently on the arms of the chair, and turned to address the visitor.
“Let the sleep gain on him for a minute or two more,” she said. “Then take one of his hands, and put to him what questions you please.”
“Does he hear us now, madam?”
“You might fire off a pistol, sir, close to his ear, and he would not hear it. The vibration21 might disturb him; that is all. Until you or I touch him, and so establish the nervous sympathy, he is as lost to all sense of our presence here, as if he were dead.”
“Are you speaking of the thing called Animal Magnetism22, madam?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you believe in it, of course?”
“My son’s belief, sir, is my belief in this thing as in other things. I have heard what he has been saying to you. It is for me that he sacrifices himself by holding these exhibitions; it is in my poor interests that his hardly-earned money is made. I am in infirm health; and, remonstrate23 as I may, my son persists in providing for me, not the bare comforts only, but even the luxuries of life. Whatever I may suffer, I have my compensation; I can still thank God for giving me the greatest happiness that a woman can enjoy, the possession of a good son.”
She smiled fondly as she looked at the sleeping man. “Draw your chair nearer to him,” she resumed, “and take his hand. You may speak freely in making your inquiries24. Nothing that happens in this room goes out of it.”
With those words she returned to her place, in the corner behind her son’s chair.
The visitor took Doctor Lagarde’s hand. As they touched each other, he was conscious of a faintly-titillating sensation in his own hand—a sensation which oddly reminded him of bygone experiments with an electrical machine, in the days when he was a boy at school!
“I wish to question you about my future life,” he began. “How ought I to begin?”
The Doctor spoke his first words in the monotonous25 tones of a man talking in his sleep.
“Own your true motive9 before you begin,” he said. “Your interest in your future life is centered in a woman. You wish to know if her heart will be yours in the time that is to come—and there your interest in your future life ends.”
This startling proof of the sleeper26’s capacity to look, by sympathy, into his mind, and to see there his most secret thoughts, instead of convincing the stranger, excited his suspicions. “You have means of getting information,” he said, “that I don’t understand.”
The Doctor smiled, as if the idea amused him.
Madame Lagarde rose from her seat and interposed.
“Hundreds of strangers come here to consult my son,” she said quietly. “If you believe that we know who those strangers are, and that we have the means of inquiring into their private lives before they enter this room, you believe in something much more incredible than the magnetic sleep!”
This was too manifestly true to be disputed. The visitor made his apologies.
“I should like to have some explanation,” he added. “The thing is so very extraordinary. How can I prevail upon Doctor Lagarde to enlighten me?”
“He can only tell you what he sees,” Madame Lagarde answered; “ask him that, and you will get a direct reply. Say to him: ‘Do you see the lady?’”
The stranger repeated the question. The reply followed at once, in these words:
“I see two figures standing27 side by side. One of them is your figure. The other is the figure of a lady. She only appears dimly. I can discover nothing but that she is taller than women generally are, and that she is dressed in pale blue.”
The man to whom he was speaking started at those last words. “Her favorite color!” he thought to himself—forgetting that, while he held the Doctor’s hand, the Doctor could think with his mind.
“Yes,” added the sleeper quietly, “her favorite color, as you know. She fades and fades as I look at her,” he went on. “She is gone. I only see you, under a new aspect. You have a pistol in your hand. Opposite to you, there stands the figure of another man. He, too, has a pistol in his hand. Are you enemies? Are you meeting to fight a duel28? Is the lady the cause? I try, but I fail to see her.”
“Can you describe the man?”
“Not yet. So far, he is only a shadow in the form of a man.”
There was another interval29. An appearance of disturbance30 showed itself on the sleeper’s face. Suddenly, he waved his free hand in the direction of the waiting-room.
“Send for the visitors who are there,” he said. “They are all to come in. Each one of them is to take one of my hands in turn—while you remain where you are, holding the other hand. Don’t let go of me, even for a moment. My mother will ring.”
Madame Lagarde touched a bell on the table. The servant received his orders from her and retired31. After a short absence, he appeared again in the consulting-room, with one visitor only waiting on the threshold behind him.
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1
imposture
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| n.冒名顶替，欺骗 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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5
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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6
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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7
charlatan
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| n.骗子；江湖医生；假内行 | |
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8
contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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9
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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10
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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11
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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12
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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13
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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14
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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15
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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16
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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17
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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19
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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20
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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21
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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22
magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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23
remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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24
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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25
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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26
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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27
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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28
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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29
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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30
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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31
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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