Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/410

 it seems to me, look upon the arrival of Alban as fortunate; for to say the least, he is a skilful physician, and you ought not to forget that formerly our gentle Maria suffered from nervous attacks, against which all remedies were powerless. Alban cured her in a few weeks by means of this magnetism that you abhor. I believe that it is well to avoid too rigorous prejudice against modern sciences; nature hides in her breast thousands of secrets whose discovery will occupy ages perhaps"

"Well! I must say," interrupted the baron, "that I am not any farther behind the times than others, nor more an enemy to the progress of science; but I believe, to tell the truth, that my antipathy to magnetism proceeds in a great measure from the difficulty I experience in defining this Alban in whose favor my son is so infatuated. I try in vain to seize something real in the multiplied characters in which this singular man appears. I know that gratitude is due him for the cure of my daughter; I would willingly have offered him, for this service, the treasures of a king. Well, dear Bickert, picture to yourself that a repugnance that I could not control has always prevented me from cordially showing my gratitude to him; day by day this man becomes more hateful to me, in spite of my efforts to overcome this singularity; when I look at him, it seems to me that I see again before my eyes that diabolical Danish major who had formerly occasioned me such terrible frights."

"Ah!" exclaimed Bickert, "that then, without proceeding any farther, is the secret of this inexplicable aversion! It is not Alban, it is the Danish major who besieges your imagination with the unfortunate resemblance. This worthy doctor Alban bears the burden on account of his hooked nose and penetrating black eyes. And even should he be something of a visionary, let us excuse this, since he wills and practices well; let us throw aside his human frailties, and let us render homage to the great skill of the physician."

"What you say now, Franz," interrupted the baron, rising,