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 combine their stupefied senses in the least opposition or remonstrance. During the performance of this comedy Solomon took care to adopt looks and gestures as emphatic as possible. He raised his loose robe and spread it as wide as possible, and with his tall figure, full and flowing beard, and impassioned gesticulation, he really seemed to be the magician he pretended to be.

Pietro regarded his companion with a feeling akin to apprehension. “Oh, be comforted, my brother,” exclaimed Solomon; “I told you a little presence of mind was better than a sword and buckler. Ah, my brother, the ceaseless energy that pervades all nature is especially active in the soul advancing towards perfection. The more uninterrupted this vital action in any being, the more potent will its manifestations be. We cannot ourselves resist that universal vitality of which we are manifested elements. Much less can these wretches resist it.”

“Then there must be imperfections, or vacant spaces, in the diffused influences you mention,” slyly interposed Pietro. “Had we remained longer among them we might have discovered that this activity is capable of manifesting itself in methods neither refreshing nor ethical.

“But pardon my apparent intrusiveness,” he added; “from what source have you acquired the sort of ceremonial which you practiced but awhile ago?”

“From no source whatever, but the sensitiveness as to my surroundings which arises from the related activity I have described. Ah,” added Solomon,