“After all, I do not see why it should not be so,” said the Wanderer thoughtfully.  “At all events, whatever she can do, is evidently done by hypnotism, and such extraordinary experiments have succeeded of late—­”

“I did not say that there was nothing but hypnotism in her processes.”

“What then?  Magic?” The Wanderer’s lip curled scornfully.

“I do not know,” replied the little man, speaking slowly.  “Whatever her secret may be, she keeps it, even when speaking in sleep.  This I can tell you.  I suspect that there is some other being, or person, in that queer old house of hers whom she consults on grave occasions.  At a loss for an answer to a difficult scientific question, I have known her to leave the room and to come back in the course of a few minutes with a reply which I am positive she could never have framed herself.”

“She may have consulted books,” suggested the Wanderer.

“I am an old man,” said Keyork Arabian suddenly.  “I am a very old man; there are not many books which I have not seen and partially read at one time or at another, and my memory is surprisingly good.  I have excellent reasons for believing that her information is not got from anything that was ever written or printed.”

“May I ask of what general nature your questions were?” inquired the other, more interested than he had hitherto been in the conversation.

“They referred to the principles of embalmment.”

“Much has been written about that since the days of the Egyptians.”

“The Egyptians!” exclaimed Keyork with great scorn.  “They embalmed their dead after a fashion.  Did you ever hear that they embalmed the living?” The little man’s eyes shot fire.

“No, nor will I believe in any such outrageous impossibilities!  If that is all, I have little faith in Unorna’s mysterious counsellor.”

“The faith which removes mountains is generally gained by experience when it is gained at all, and the craving for explanation takes the place, in some minds, of a willingness to learn.  It is not my business to find explanations, nor to raise my little self to your higher level, by standing upon this curbstone, in order to deliver a lecture in the popular form, upon matters that interest me.  It is enough that I have found what I wanted.  Go and do likewise.  See for yourself.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  You are unhappy, and unhappiness is dangerous, in rare cases fatal.  If you tell me to-morrow that Unorna is a charlatan, you will be in no worse plight than to-day, nor will your opinion of her influence mine.  If she helps you to find what you want—­so much the better for you—­how much the better, and how great the risk you run, are questions for your judgment.”

“I will go,” answered the Wanderer, after a moment’s hesitation.

“Very good,” said Keyork Arabian.  “If you want to find me again, come to my lodging.  Do you know the house of the Black Mother of God?”