“Not all,” returned Heliobas quietly.  “In fact, I may say, very few.  Those who are on my own circle of power I can, naturally, draw to or repel from me; but those who are not, have to be treated by different means.  Sometimes cases occur in which persons, at first not on my circle, are irresistibly attracted to it by a force not mine.  Sometimes, in order to perform a cure, I establish a communication between myself and a totally alien sphere of thought; and to do this is a long and laborious effort.  But it can be done.”

“Then, if it can be done,” said Prince Ivan, “why do you not accomplish it for me?”

“Because you are being forcibly drawn towards me without any effort on my part,” replied Heliobas, with one of his steady, keen looks.  “For what motive I cannot at present determine; but I shall know as soon as you touch the extreme edge of my circle.  You are a long way off it yet, but you are coming in spite of yourself, Ivan.”

The Prince fidgeted restlessly in his chair, and toyed with the fruit on his plate in a nervous manner.

“If I did not know you to be an absolutely truthful and honourable man, Casimir,” he said, “I should think you were trying to deceive me.  But I have seen what you can do, therefore I must believe you.  Still I confess I do not follow you in your circle theory.”

“To begin with,” returned Heliobas, “the Universe is a circle.  Everything is circular, from the motion of planets down to the human eye, or the cup of a flower, or a drop of dew.  My ‘circle theory,’ as you call it, applied to human electric force, is very simple; but I have proved it to be mathematically correct.  Every human being is provided internally and externally with a certain amount of electricity, which is as necessary to existence as the life-blood to the heart or fresh air to the lungs.  Internally it is the germ of a soul or spirit, and is placed there to be either cultivated or neglected as suits the will of man.  It is indestructible; yet, if neglected, it remains always a germ; and, at the death of the body it inhabits, goes elsewhere to seek another chance of development.  If, on the contrary, its growth is fostered by a persevering, resolute will, it becomes a spiritual creature, glorious and supremely powerful, for which a new, brilliant, and endless existence commences when its clay chrysalis perishes.  So much for the internal electrical force.  The external binds us all by fixed laws, with which our wills have nothing whatever to do. (Each one of us walks the earth encompassed by an invisible electric ring—­wide or narrow according to our capabilities.  Sometimes our rings meet and form one, as in the case of two absolutely sympathetic souls, who labour and love together with perfect faith in each other.  Sometimes they clash, and storm ensues, as when a strong antipathy between persons causes them almost to loathe each other’s presence.)