He had lived among the Brahmins of India
and the Buddhists of Thibet, and from them
had learned mysteries which have been
laughed at in its shallow scepticism by
the best, but which gave him influence and
authority over the occult faculties of things,
and put him, in short, in possession of what
it is no irreverence to call superhuman
powers. When our friendship had reached
a certain point, he offered to communicate
some of those mysterious gifts to me, and,
with the folly of inexperience, I accepted the
frightful responsibility. I, however, felt no
drawback from the pride of knowledge at first,
but walked about with my heart puffed up
with the secret consciousness of power.
Meantime, his intimacy in my house
increased; and at last I perceived that his
eyes were fixed on the beautiful face and
form of my wife, with looks of unmistakeable
admiration. I became jealous, but without
the slightest reason from anything in the
conduct of my wife. This, however, seemed
only to embitter my feelings towards the
rival who tried to supplant me without a
look or sign of encouragement. All this time
I concealed the alteration of my feelings from
my friend: we went on with our experiments
as before. He taught me the most hidden
and most awful of his powers. He showed
me how to animate the dead—yes, how
to implant my own life in another man's
body, if I had access to it before the blood
had grown cold, and how to leave it again
and restore my original form. I have done
this often; and once—but I think I have
said enough. You now know what I mean
by having gone through the process of
dying."

"No, no!" we all cried, some laughing,
some jeering, and all incredulous. " Go on!
You have not told us how your jealousy was
cured.'

"In this way," said Camillus. " My friend,
encouraged by the influence he exercised over
me by his super-earthly knowledge, presumed
once to watch for my wife in a a deep recess
by a wood, to which she was in the habit of
driving in the summer weather for the
purpose of taking our daughter to walk among
the alleys and by the side of a large lake
which formed the ornament of the place. It
chanced my wife did not go on that occasion;
and when I rode out to join her, as usual, I
was surprised to find the nurse in tears, and
greatly agitated. She told me in a few words
that my friend had attempted to corrupt her
fidelity to her mistress, and deliver her into
the tempter's hands. She pointed as she
spoke to the hollow where he had
disappeared; and, without another word, I
dismounted from my horse, walked hurriedly
along the wood, dived into the dell, and saw
my friend leaning against a tree.

"'I know all!' I said, and struck him
with the flat of my sword. 'Draw, or I
shall kill you like a dog!'

"His eyes flashed fire. 'Fool!' he said,
'you are throwing away your life.'

"'And happy,' I cried, ' if by so doing I
can rid the world of a villain.'

"We fought with desperation, and in a
minute or two I was gazing on the body of
my rival, from which a pool of blood was
welling forth at a wound in the breast. He
looked beautiful as he lay so calm there, and
so sacred—who so short a time before was
filled with wicked hate. ' Ha! ' I said to
myself, ' did he ever receive any encouragement
—a smile, a gift, a look? ' I resolved
to satisfy myself by personal inquiry. I drew
the body into a deeper part of the recess, and
going through the necessary form, I animated
it once more. My own I left covered with
leaves, and, leaping on my horse, galloped
into the city, and rode straight to my own
house. I went up stairs, and found my wife
in the boudoir. ' Count Camillus! ' she cried,
with indignant surprise, ' what entitles you
to enter here? '

"'Love, madam,' I said, and was horrified
to find I was speaking with the voice of my
friend. 'You surely do not repent of the hopes
you have given me?'

'" I, sir? I gave you no hopes. Leave
me, sir! but stay—what blood-marks are
those upon your bosom? Where is my
husband? Ah! I know it all. You have killed
him. Help! help! ' and ringing the bell
which lay upon the table, she never ceased
to call for assistance till half a dozen of the
domestics had come armed into the room.
The full horror of my position burst upon
me.

"' Maria! ' I said, ' for Heaven's sake hear
me for an instant! I am your husband, in
spite of present appearances. Let me go
for but an hour, and I will come to you in
my true form.'

"I was hurried off, in spite of all I could
say. I was laughed at as a madman when
I asserted my true identity. I was lodged
in prison. I felt every hour a torture
too exquisite to be borne; for I knew if
decay once began there was no possibility of
reanimating the corpse, and law was slow.
A week at length passed, an examination
was undergone, and I was committed to
prison. Despair now took possession of me.
I felt I was doomed to be Camillus for ever;
and when the next interrogatory was made,
and my body had been recognised in the
hollow of the wood, unwounded, and no proof
could be brought forward of the manner in
which I had died, I was dismissed. In
destraction, I rushed to my house. I was driven
with horror from the gate. I watched for
my wife at the window. I sawh her in deepest
mourning; and on beholding me, she screamed
and fled into the interior of the house. I saw
my little girl, and would have given my life
for one little kiss of her rosy mouth, but she
was hurried away from me as I had
carried the plague in every breath. Tired,