“When he found me perfectly healthy again in mind and body, Heliobas showed me his art of mixing colours.  From that hour all my works were successful.  You know that my pictures are eagerly purchased as soon as completed, and that the colour I obtain in them is to the world a mystery almost magical.  Yet there is not one among the humblest of artists who could not, if he chose, make use of the same means as I have done to gain the nearly imperishable hues that still glow on the canvases of Raphael.  But of this there is no need to speak just now.  I have told you my story, mademoiselle, and it now rests with me to apply its meaning to yourself.  You are attending?”

“Perfectly,” I replied; and, indeed, my interest at this point was so strong that I could almost hear the expectant beating of my heart.  Cellini resumed: 

“Electricity, mademoiselle, is, as you are aware, the wonder of our age.  No end can be foreseen to the marvels it is capable of accomplishing.  But one of the most important branches of this great science is ignorantly derided just now by the larger portion of society—­I mean the use of human electricity; that force which is in each one of us—­in you and in me—­and, to a very large extent, in Heliobas.  He has cultivated the electricity in his own system to such an extent that his mere touch, his lightest glance, have healing in them, or the reverse, as he chooses to exert his power—­I may say it is never the reverse, for he is full of kindness, sympathy, and pity for all humanity.  His influence is so great that he can, without speaking, by his mere presence suggest his own thoughts to other people who are perfect strangers, and cause them to design and carry out certain actions in accordance with his plans.  You are incredulous?  Mademoiselle, this power is in every one of us; only we do not cultivate it, because our education is yet so imperfect.  To prove the truth of what I say, I, though I have only advanced a little way in the cultivation of my own electric force, even I have influenced you.  You cannot deny it.  By my thought, impelled to you, you saw clearly my picture that was actually veiled.  By my force, you replied correctly to a question I asked you concerning that same picture.  By my desire, you gave me, without being aware of it, a message from one I love when you said, ’Dieu vous garde!’ You remember?  And the elixir I gave you, which is one of the simplest remedies discovered by Heliobas, had the effect of making you learn what he intended you to learn—­his name.”

“He!” I exclaimed.  “Why, he does not know me—­he can have no intentions towards me!”