A Secret Inheritance. Volume 1 of 3

"'Towards us?' I asked.

"'I cannot say,' he replied, 'but we seem to be moving in her direction.'

"'Moving!' I exclaimed. 'How? By what means? Walking, riding, or flying?'

"'We are on the water, it seems,' he said; 'but truly there is nothing clear except the figure of the young girl standing in the midst of the storm.'

"'You dream this constantly?'

"'Constantly.'

"'Has Kristel ever spoken to you of such a girl?'

"'Never.'

"'It is possible,' I suggested, 'that since you and he parted he has met with her.'

"'Ah,' cried Silvain, with animation, 'you have hit the mark. It is through Kristel that she comes to me in my dreams.'

"My suggestion had been lightly made, and the readiness with which he accepted it astonished me. Thinking over it afterwards in cool blood it appeared to me incredible that, in his dreams, Silvain should thus become acquainted with a being whom he had never seen, and of whose existence he had never heard. But Silvain entertained no doubt on the matter.

"'Shall I ever see her in my waking life?' he asked, in a musing tone.

"'You believe she lives?'

"'As surely as I live. If I knew where she is to be found I would go and seek her.'

"In other men's judgment the calm manner in which he spoke of this mystic episode would have been accounted a species of madness; but I knew that he was perfectly sane, and that his brain was as clear and well balanced as my own.

"'For what reason would you seek her?' I asked.

"'I do not know,' he replied, and added, with a grave smile, 'perhaps because she is beautiful.'

"'You have fallen in love with a shadow, Silvain.'

"'It may be,' he said; 'I cannot say how it is-only that I think of her by day and dream of her by night. I wonder whether we shall ever meet!'

"'Cannot you tell?'

"'No, I cannot see into the future. All that comes to me in my dreams of and through Kristel belongs to the past and the present. There is no foreshadowing of what is to be. The picture I have seen of this beautiful girl is a reflex of what Kristel has seen in actual embodiment.'

"It would have been both unkind and ungenerous to throw ridicule upon these statements. To no man would Silvain have spoken as he spoke to me; he had, as it were, opened his soul to my gaze, and I should have been unworthy of friendship had I not received his confidences with respect. Nevertheless I could not bring myself to believe as he believed. I was soon to become a convert.

"About a month after this conversation I was aroused from sleep early in the morning by Silvain. The sun had scarcely risen, and he was fully dressed. I observed signs of agitation in his face.

"'Kristel is in danger,' he said.

"These simple words acted upon me as a charm. I divined instantly that Silvain had dreamt of his brother being in peril. Here, then, to my hand, was a means of verifying a mystery which might assist me in my studies. I questioned Silvain, and he answered me frankly. Yes, he had dreamt of Kristel, and it was his dream which had driven him from his bed. I determined to be precise, and, for my own satisfaction, to extract from Silvain all the details at his command.

"'Kristel,' he said, 'was one of a company of tourists who had set out to traverse a difficult pass, from the summit of which a view of cloud and water, and distant lowlands of great beauty, was to be obtained.'

"'How do you know this?' I asked.

"'Kristel reached the summit,' replied Silvain, 'shortly before sunset, and stood enjoying the prospect.'

"'You saw him there?'

"'I saw him there, with his friends. Near the spot upon which they were gathered was a hut, which in all likelihood was built to accommodate large parties of tourists, such as that of which Kristel formed one. It was spacious, with many bedrooms in it, and one large apartment in which meals were taken. Kristel and his companions retired to this hut after sunset. Then night set in, and my dream ended.'

"'There is nothing very alarming in that,' I observed.

"'I do not think I awoke,' continued Silvain, 'and I cannot say whether the interval between this dream and the dream that followed was one of hours or minutes. Kristel and a companion are exploring a cavern, the opening into which is on the summit of the mountain. They bear torches. The walls and roof of the cavern are of glittering spar and crystal, and the light from the torches is a thousand-fold reflected. They emerge from the cavern through a fissure in the rocks some hundreds of feet below the summit. There is an overhanging ledge of stone, by springing upon which readier access to the hut is gained. Kristel's companion makes the spring, and reaches the ledge in safety. Kristel follows, fails in the attempt, and falls back, bleeding. His companion, standing far above him, cannot reach him by bending over, and, being without ropes, is powerless to assist Kristel, who lies there, badly hurt.'

"'Nothing further, Silvain?'

"'Nothing further.'

"'Do you know from evidence in your dream where this occurred?"

"'No; but Kristel is in Bavaria. I know that by his letters, and by the scheme of travel mapped out by my father.'

"'What do you intend to do?'

"'To go to Kristel. To go to Bavaria.'

"'But by the time you arrive there, he may be gone.'

"'You forget that I told you he is badly hurt. It will be some days, perhaps some weeks, before he is able to resume his travels. I shall arrive in time.'

"'Is it your intention to start to-day?'

"'Yes, I shall start immediately. I must not lose an hour. I am sorry to part from you, Louis, but you see it cannot be helped. I shall miss you sadly.'

"'And I you, Silvain. But, after all, why should we part? My time is my own; I have no arbitrary plan of travel mapped out. I will accompany you to Bavaria, and gain another friend in Kristel.'

"Silvain was delighted at the proposal, and eagerly accepted it. For my own part, although I did not confess it to Silvain, I was not entirely ingenuous in my offer. It was not prompted solely by friendship; an insatiable curiosity possessed me to ascertain the real facts of the case, and, as I have already said, to verify them in detail.

"'Kristel lives?' I said to Silvain.

"'As nearly,' he replied, 'as a man can be convinced of anything, the knowledge of which is acquired by spiritual means, so am I convinced that Kristel lives.'

"'And will recover?'

"'That is beyond me,' said Silvain gravely. 'I hope so-I pray so. You inspire strange thoughts, Louis. Though parted from Kristel by great distances, I hold communion with him while he lives. Were he to die, should I still hold communion with him?'

"The question startled me, holding out, but it did, an illimitable prospect of mysterious knowledge stretching as far as the portals of immortality."

Here Dr. Louis broke off in his narrative, and said, addressing himself immediately to me,