"Agnes! When I command you to do so, you will open your eyes, and awaken enough so that you may speak to me! You will see me! You will hear my voice! But you will neither see nor hear any other person!

Awaken!"

Agnes slowly opened her eyes, and gazed steadily towards the Doctor.

Otherwise, she did not move.

"You see and hear me?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes!"

"Do you see any other person?"

"No!"

"Agnes, I wish to question you upon a very important subject. Will you reply truthfully?"

"I will reply. Of course it will be truthfully, because I do not know falsehood."

"Do you love any one, so that you would marry him?"

"I do not know what love is. I do not know what marriage means for me."

The Judge breathed a sigh of relief as he heard these words. He thought that his daughter was safe, but even yet he did not comprehend the power of the man beside him.

"I will now tell you what it is to love. Listen!"

"I will listen!"

"In heaven's name, Medjora," cried the Judge, "go no further!" He grasped the Doctor's arm as he made the appeal, but he might as well have addressed a thing of stone. He was unheeded. The Doctor proceeded:

"Somewhere in a secret corner of thy soul, as yet unreached, there is a spot more sensitive than all the rest. A single vibration penetrating there, if harmonious and according with thine own desires, would awaken a joyousness to which all other joys compare as the odor of the rankest weeds to the fragrance of the sweetest rose. A thousand, thousand dreams of happiness are insignificant to the thrill which courses through the veins when that centre of thy soul is touched by love. Forever and forever after, wilt thou be a different being; thine old self cast behind and buried in the oblivion of the past, whilst thy new existence will remain incomplete, until coupled with that other dear one, whose glancing eye hath pierced and found the deepest corner of thy heart. But this is not all. If the first recognition of the existence of thy love be delirious ecstacy, by what name shall I nominate that joy which issues from the consummation of thy heart's desire, when thy love is perfected by a union with one that loves thee better than he loves himself? This is love! Wouldst thou not taste it?"

The girl's lips quivered, and she spoke as one enraptured.

"I would! I would! O give me love! Love! Sweet, sweet love!"

"Thy wish shall be gratified. Look towards that curtain!"

She raised herself into a sitting position, and did as directed.

"Now sleep until I bid thee awaken into love! Sleep!"

The eyelids closed, and the bosom heaved gently as the girl slumbered.

The Doctor addressed Leon.

"Leon! Awaken! I have promised you that you shall meet your future love. She will be life and love to you forever! Awaken!"

Leon stirred, opened his eyes, and looked at the Doctor.

"You cannot see anyone unless I tell you! Look towards that curtain!"

Leon obeyed, and he and Agnes were gazing towards each other, but the silk curtain divided them.

"Now sleep, and when you again awaken, your happiness will be complete!"

Leon's eyes closed. The Doctor touched another spring, and the curtain was drawn aside. At the same instant a fragrant aroma filled the apartment, as though the sweetest incense were burning. He stood a moment in silence, gazing upon the two figures who looked at each other, but did not see. The Judge was overcome so that he found it difficult to speak. He essayed to address the Doctor, but his tongue was heavy, and words were impossible. The Doctor looked towards him an instant, as a slight gurgling sound issued from his lips, and he saw the appeal in the father's eyes; but swiftly he turned away and spoke:

"Awaken! Awaken both! Leon and Agnes, awaken! Awaken and love!" Having reached the climax of his experiment, even the Doctor himself felt a twinge of anxiety lest he might fail. But, as the possibility flashed across his brain, he cast it out again and gazed the more intently at the scene before him. The Judge also watched in dread anxiety, and with waning strength. He hoped almost against hope that the trick would fail.

Leon opened his eyes, and instantly rested them upon Agnes. No sign of recognition appeared upon his face, but only admiration was pictured there. The girl awakened, too, and her eyes gazed upon Leon's face.

Instantly there was a convulsive trembling, and she breathed heavily.

Her lips parted and closed, again and again. It seemed as though a word sought utterance, but was restrained by some secret emotion. Leon began to move towards her, his eyes fixed upon hers, and an expression of ecstatic pleasure spreading over his features. Slowly but surely he advanced, and, as he approached, Agnes trembled more and more.

A swift alteration in the att.i.tude of the girl then took place. In one instant she became thoroughly controlled; all quivering ceased. She stood erect, exhibiting to its fullest her marvellously attractive form. Then, with a bound, she sprang forward, and cast herself upon the breast of her dream-land lover, with a cry that went straight to the heart of her father.

"Leon! Leon! I love you! I love you!" she exclaimed, and as the youth folded her in an enraptured embrace, Judge Dudley fell to the floor senseless.

CHAPTER XI.

THE GENESIS OF LOVE.

I must explain more fully how the scene just related was pre-arranged.

As Dr. Medjora told the Judge, it had been a common occurrence for him to hypnotize Agnes whenever favorable occasions presented. These had not been infrequent, because the girl had exhibited a great fondness for the study of chemistry, and therefore often visited the Doctor in his laboratory. Since the advent of Leon, this habit had been discontinued, or only rarely indulged, and the Doctor, appreciating the maidenly reserve which prompted her, had made no comment.

When, however, he decided that the time had arrived when it would be best for him to put his scheme into operation, he had one day invited Agnes to be present at some interesting experiments which he wished to show. Thus she had readily been enticed to the laboratory, and then the Doctor had hypnotized her, and subsequently led her to the chamber where he had arranged the paraphernalia for his little scene. Before this, he had commanded Leon to sleep, and in a similar condition the lad had been conveyed to the couch whereon he was afterward shown to the Judge.

The Doctor had calculated to meet opposition in the Judge, and his hypnotic _seance_ had been conceived with the double purpose of convincing him of the uselessness of antagonism, while at the same time he would utilize the opportunity to suggest the idea of love to both of the young people.

Ordinarily, by which I mean with subjects having less individuality than these, he would have been content to operate upon one at a time; but with Agnes and Leon, he knew that he could succeed only by acting upon both simultaneously, and at the moment of suggesting love, to present them each one to the other, _in propria persona_, rather than through the imagination. He counted upon personal contact so to intensify the suggestion, that it would not be overcome by will power exerted in the waking state, which would ensue.

All had pa.s.sed to his entire satisfaction, and he had little doubt that his experiment would succeed, but there was still much to do.

First, he again commanded Leon and Agnes to sleep deeply, and then leaving them slumbering on their respective couches, he bore the body of the Judge to the floor above. Examining him closely he soon satisfied himself that his friend had only succ.u.mbed to emotional excitement, and that he would soon recover from his swoon. He then took him to the study and placed him in the chair which he had occupied earlier in the evening. Hastily returning to the secret chamber, he brought Agnes upstairs, taking her through the hall and down to the parlor. Here he suggested to her that, when she awakened, she should think she had merely been visiting the house, but that it was then time to return to her home. In a moment more she opened her eyes, and in natural tones, which showed that she was devoid of any suspicion of what had transpired, she asked if her father was ready to take her home. The Doctor replied that the Judge would join her in a few moments, and returned to the study just in time to find Judge Dudley rubbing his eyes and staring about him bewildered. At sight of the Doctor much of what had happened recurred to him, though he doubted whether he had not been dreaming.

"Doctor Medjora," he exclaimed, "what has happened? Tell me! Tell me the truth!"

"All that is in your mind has occurred," replied the Doctor, calmly.

"You have not been dreaming as you suppose, though you have been unconscious for a brief period."

"And my daughter?" asked the Judge, anxiously.

"Agnes is waiting for you to escort her home. As it is late, I have ordered my carriage to be at your disposal. It should be at the door now. Will you accept it?"

The quiet tone, and the commonplace words disconcerted the Judge. He would have preferred discussing what was pressing heavily upon his thoughts, but after gazing steadily at his host for a moment he decided to let the matter rest for a time. Thus he demonstrated the truth of the Doctor's suggestion theory, for the language used, and the manner adopted, had been chosen with the intention of producing this effect. The Judge, however, did not entirely avoid the topic. His reply was:

"Medjora, you have given me food for deep thought. I cannot at once decide whether you are the greatest charlatan, or the most advanced thinker in the world. I am inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. The other affair shall have my consideration. Good-night!"