Over dinner, Lefevre was beset with inquiries about his mysterious
case:--Was the young man better? Had he been very ill? Was he handsome?
What had the foreign-looking stranger done to him? and for what purpose
had he done it? These questions were mostly ignorant and thoughtless,
and Lefevre either parried them or answered them with great reserve.
When the ladies retired from table, however, more particular and curious
queries were pressed upon him as to the real character of the outrage
upon the young man. He replied that he had not yet discovered, though he
believed he was getting "warm."
"Is it fair," said Julius, "to ask you in what direction you are looking
for an explanation or revelation?"
"Oh, quite fair," said Lefevre, welcoming the question. "To put it in a
word, I look to _electricity_,--animal electricity. I have been for some
time working round, and I hope gradually getting nearer, a scientific
secret of enormous--of transcendent value. Can you conceive, Julius, of
a universal principle in Nature being got so under control as to form a
universal basis of cure?"
"Can I conceive?" said Julius.
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