Page:Vikram and the vampire; or, Tales of Hindu devilry (IA vikramvampireort00burtrich).pdf/299

 'But there is such a thing, O Raja, as love at first sight,' objected the Baital, speaking dogmatically.

'Then perhaps thou canst account for it, dead one,' growled the monarch, surlily.

'I have no reason to do so, O Vikram,' retorted the Vampire, 'when you men have already done it. Listen, then, to the words of the wise. In the olden



time, one of your great philosophers invented a fluid pervading all matter, strongly self-repulsive like the steam of a brass pot, and widely spreading like the breath of scandal. The repulsiveness, however, according to that wise man, is greatly modified by its second property, namely, an energetic attraction or adhesion to all material bodies. Thus every sub-