Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/117

 which caused hymns to be sung in synagogues, temples and churches by priests of different creeds all brought to the same God by the same miracle; which softened the agonies of the dying, to whom life was impossible; this sovereign hand, the sun of life which dazzled the closed eyes of somnambulists, will not raise itself to restore an heir presumptive to a queen. Wrapt in the memory of his good deeds as if in a shining shroud, he refuses to see anybody and lives in the skies. But, at the dawn of his reign, almost astonished at his own power, this man, whose disinterestedness has equaled his power, permitted a few inquisitive people to be witnesses of his miracles. The fame of this celebrated man, which was unbounded and which might revive again to-morrow, roused Doctor Bouvard at the brink of the grave. The persecuted mesmerist could at last see the most radiant phenomena of this science, guarded in his heart like a treasure. The misfortunes of this old man had touched the great stranger, who allowed him several privileges. And so Bouvard, going up the stairs, suffered his old antagonist’s jests with malicious joy. His only answer was, “You will see! You will see!” and those little tosses of the head indulged in by people who are sure of their facts.

The two doctors entered a more than modest apartment. Bouvard went to talk for a moment in a bedroom adjoining the drawing-room where Minoret, whose mistrust was awakening, was waiting;