A New Faust

Preface

Reader, permit me to strike the keynote — nothing is im possible ! The possibilities of a hundred years ago are the facts of to-day! The theories of this decade of the nineteenth century, however wild and absurd they seem now, may be classed only among the smallest triumphs of the twentieth. To-day, we are blase, on the one hand, over what would have caused our fathers to marvel ; on the other, incredulous about what wiser heads shall accomplish for future generatioris to view, when the first novelty is over, with possibly even a like indifference as we, ourselves, do the achievements of the present. Meanwhile, the wonders of the ages are developing. After a momentary surprise, we can do no more than accept them, as they come, with assumed indifference ; we are too con servative to believe in the undeveloped ' possible ' ; yet I re-strike the keynote — nothing is impossible !

The Divine Conception, being perfect, has completed, not forgotten — everything already exists ; the hidden secrets of the Unseen remain only for man to discover. It is left to his finite intelligence, then, to break the seal and learn the will of the Infinite. Still, let him pause should he dream in his own strength to endow with immortality that which he himself has rendered imperfect, since imperfection — the one VI

PREFACE.

flaw in the natural law — shall have no part in the great prin ciple of Eternity ! Whatever the channel, let the means employed be fair and the purpose legitimate. M. Chatrien has observed : ' There is a limit at which all must pause.' Here, once more, I would strike the keynote — the grand scheme of latent creation being perfect — nothing is impossible ! Still, there is one thing for the disciples of Science to remember — I refer to the warning conveyed in the last words of the story ; it is this — Presume not to fathom The Eternal Mystery. Note. — The Author has deemed it expedient to print the letters marked A, B, and C, as they have some slight bearing on the subsequent history. He offers them to his readers without comment, leaving them to speak for themselves ; at the same time he regrets that he is debarred, by what he considers an honourable pledge, from giving any clue to the names of the writers, further than the initials or superscriptions affixed to each epistle.

LETTER A. From Isador D'A to Baron Von S- ' Mon cher Baron, ' Les deux plus grands desirs du cœur de l'homme sont de conquerir l'atmosphere et de vaincre la mort. ' Les ailes et la vie — il n'a pas la patience d'attendre les deux dans l'avenir, il les exige de suite. ' II est assure de son origine divine, et de sa noble destinee. ' En verite, le ver veut avoir des ailes et devenir papillon sans passer par les epreuves de la crysalide ; combien c'est revoltant de voir le ver usurper l'heritage du papillon.

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Avec votre per mission, je me propose de placer les details dans les mains d'un litterateur en stipulant d'avance que le recit sera nomme d'apres votre desir — " A New Faust." ' Bien a vous, 'D'A LETTER B. From 'One who Believes' to the Editor of the ' News. 'Sir, ' On reading the letter of " Sceptic " in your issue of yesterday, I cannot let the opportunity pass without referring to the remarkable success which attended the experiments in occult science by M. Felix, a Spiritualist, in Paris, two or three years ago. While making a brief stay in that city, I had the good fortune to obtain an invitation to be present at one of his remarkable seances. It is needless to say I was altogether astonished at what I saw and heard on that occasion. There

PREFACE.

was nothing of the spirit-rapping, table-turning nonsense which has served, unfortunately, to bring down the ridicule upon Spiritualism generally that such impostures naturally deserve. The experiments of M. Felix were conducted purely upon a scientific basis, including as he did natural forces — inorganic as well as organic — to accomplish his oral and ocular manifestations. However reasonable the employment of agencies, which, though unseen, undoubtedly exist (such as mind magnetism, the concentrated power of unanimity of will, nerve, and the various organic energies), he had recourse also even to electricity, and other vital forces. By the un initiated this bold step was then regarded with something akin to derision ! Had the world been a couple of years older, how many disciples would he have found !

In these days of the X-rays, it must at length commence to dawn upon every community that there is an invisible link — neither material nor spiritual — capable of being controlled by the human race, and whose influence, while evident in matter, may assimilate itself to what lies beyond, whereby, perhaps, a new and subtler science shall be found to extend to the unknown universe of spirits, and, of that shadowy existence, be made to reveal to our organic visual faculties a far-away gleam of the truth. ' I am, Sir, ' Your obedient servant, ' One Who Believes.

LETTER C.

From Dr. B to H L , Esq., M.A. ' Dear Mr. L , ' Pray excuse me for not having replied sooner to yours of the 2nd and 12th instants, but you are well aware how

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IX fully a professional man's time is occupied. The delay has been unintentional, I assure you. ' In yours of the 2nd, you state that " the line which exists between genius and insanity is so fine that sometimes it is difficult to discern it," and in doing so invite my opinion. If I do not altogether agree with you, it is only because I am doubtful if in many cases such a line even figuratively exists. It is often, indeed, an abstruse problem to discriminate where genius ends and insanity begins. Great men have their idiosyncrasies, and great minds their weak spots. The brain is a complex study. Even in the adult may be found traces of the child. Again, what are hobbies but the milder forms of monomania ? When confronted by such insidious assailants, the profoundest mind may become entirely ir rational.

In the course of my career many cases have come under my notice ; two are uppermost in my mind as I write. One, that of a Scientist, a man altogether in advance of his age, who had chanced on a discovery which, in his efforts to guard, led him to act in so extraordinary a manner that those who did not understand, believing him to be insane, caused him to be committed to an asylum as a measure for the public protection. In the end, I have been told, after enduring much privation and indignity, the poor fellow did indeed become mad, and his secret was lost to all posterity. ' The second case was that of a female patient afflicted with homicidal mania, wjio, on the certificate of sanity given by medical men after a diagnosis of fifteen minutes, and under protest of the physician who had charge of the case for at least five weeks, was sent to prison for a period of six months, in consequence of her having attempted to commit suicide by throwing herself from a window on a third story of the hospital, where she was undergoing treatment for a feminine disorder. While in gaol, after attempting to strangle a warder, she again endeavoured to do away with herself.

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X It was only then that the first physician's testimony was listened to,* and the woman placed in a madhouse, which course should undoubtedly have been adopted in the first instance. Thus, you see, it is no less difficult to determine insanity from sanity, than it is to find the supposed line which you infer separates the man of genius from the veritable lunatic ! ' Beheve me, ' Yours very truly, ' Richard B , M.D.,' etc. * As a matter of fact, the physician, in commenting on the Police Magistrate's previous decision, was threatened with imprisonment for con tempt of Court. — [Author.] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY. — PROFESSOR VAN HOFF — HIS DISCOVERY 1 II. THE MYSTERIOUS SOLVENT .... 9 III. SCIENCE OR INSANITY ? - - - - - 15 IV. THE PROFESSOR MAKES A CONFIDANT OF DR. SCHLOSS - 20 V. A MISUNDERSTANDING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT - - 26 VI.

THE SPECIALIST RETURNS AFTER A LONG ABSENCE - 32 VII. GRETCHEN'S RIVAL - - - - - 40 VIII. STEPHANIE VISITS THE ASYLUM - - - - 48 IX. THE FIGURE AT THE WINDOW - - - 59 X. AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION - - - - 69 XI. A STRANGE ALLIANCE - - - - 80 XII. DR. SCHLOSS' BIRTHDAY, AND HOW IT WAS KEPT - 90 XIII. HOW GRETCHEN DESCENDS FROM HER PEDESTAL - 105 xrv. stephanie's visitor .... - 110 XV. THE STORM FROM WITHIN - - - - 118 XVI. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MILL - , - - 125 XVII. DR. SCHLOSS LEARNS THE TRUTH - - - 135 XVIII. DR. SCHLOSS IS TEMPTED .... 147 XIX. CONCERNING BOTH - - - - - 153 XX. THE LADY OF NOTRE DAME ... - 162 XXI. M. CHATRIEN'S STRANGE RECEPTION - - - 169 XXII. THE TABLES TURN ..... 179 XXIII. THE STRANGER ------ 187 I. II III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. x XI XII. XIII. xrv. XV. XVI. XIX XX XXI, XXII, XXIII, CONTENTS XII CHAPTER PAOE XXIV.

WHERE JACOB STRAAS MOORED HIS BARGE - - 193 XXV. KAREL KLOOS FINDS A MASTER - - - 205 XXVI. MADAME'S LITTLE SUPPER - 213 XXVII. KAREL BECOMES ERRATIC . - - - 227 XXVIII. AT THE SHRINE OF HYGEIA ... - 238 XXIX. THE RECEPTION AT THE CONSULATE - 246 XXX. THE COMTESSE AND HORTENSE ARE ENLIGHTENED - 252 XXXI. THE COMTESSE'S PHYSICIAN - - - - 262 XXXII. THE COMTESSE EXTRACTS AN OATH - - - 272 XXXIII. ' LAUGHTER IN THE MORNING, TEARS AT NIGHT ' - 282 xxxrv. a woman's heart ----- 294 XXXV. THE MYSTERY OF THE SOLVENT - - - 308 XXXVI. VAN HOFF REDEEMS HIS PROMISE - - - 319 XXXVII. MONSIEUR FELIX ----- 326 XXXVIII. THE TEMPLE OF THE SPIRITS - - - - 332 XXXIX. THE GREAT MANIFESTATION - - - - 341 XL. STEPHANIE'S DREAM ----- 354 XLI. IN WHICH M. CHATRIEN BECOMES PROPHETIC - 365 XLII. THE PROFESSOR'S CONFESSION - - - 378 XLIII. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SOLVENT - - - 388 XLIV. WHICH CONCLUDES -----

Chapter I. Introductory

PROFESSOR VAN HOFF HIS DISCOVERY. I am not sure that you will find Vaarlem marked upon the map. At the time my narrative commences it was only a small Dutch village, remarkable for nothing except a lunatic asylum, which happened, after all, not to be situated in the village, but some distance outside it. Nevertheless it was an object of pride even to the stolid villagers, for it was the biggest thing in the country to which they ever hoped to lay claim. Since then Vaarlem has unexpectedly blossomed into a place of some note, with a Stadhuis, a round-bellied Burge meester, and a Corporation of — Heaven knows how many ! One of the most retiring, least understood, and eccentric of its residents at the time our story opens was a certain Dr. Jan Van Hoff, who, in a pretty red-tiled house with picturesque gables, had isolated himself from such society as Vaarlem had at its command, so that he might devote himself, as was popularly asserted, like the alchemist of old, to a vain pursuit after some such phantasm as the Elixir of Life or the Philosopher's Stone !

To the better-informed Jan Van Hoff was a distinguished scientist, a clever physician as well, though Vaarlem was ignorant of the fact. But he had sacrificed everything— his profession, reputation, happiness — to one overwhelming desire : the mad one, it might seem, of rejuvenating the blood by scientific means ; since he had devoted the greater part of his life to experiment and research, with the wild hope of finding out a secret which, if once discovered, would exercise a complete revolutionary influence on the destinies of the entire human race. Though meeting in the course of his investigations with many encouraging evidences that he was on the right track, Dr. Van Hoff had reached his sixty-second year without having attained the object of his ambition. He had squan dered the precious moments, days, hours, years of his life in the chemically-tainted atmosphere of his laboratory ; he had buried love in the crucible ; he had left fatherhood and the refining influence of female society to men whom Nature had endowed with far less intellectual gifts.

Of all this Professor Van Hoff had become painfully aware. Unless in the few years left him he succeeded in discovering the grand secret which had defied well-nigh a life-time's research, he feared that he had thrown away the pleasure of living, with the sweetness of youth and the intoxication of loving and being loved, in the pursuit of a mere chimera, impossible to realize, however near he might have believed himself to have been to it at times. Often the thought occurred to him that he had discovered this too late ! What he had failed to achieve in the best years of his life, how could he hope to accomplish in the feeblest ones ? If Van Hoff were a freethinker, he still had a belief of his own left him unshaken by science — a belief in which a Higher PROFESSOR VAN HOFF 3 Power dominated, and an after-existence maintained a steady hold.

To this Higher Being, whom he was condescending enough to apostrophize as his Creator, he had prayed for forty years — not for spiritual grace or any such unimportant possession, but for a supernatural aid in his researches, whereby he might at length find his efforts crowned by success, and his name handed down to posterity, while his own life and the lives of the most favoured of his fellow-creatures might, nominally through the medium of science, but practically through the generosity of the unseen Power, be extended by him to some hundreds of years. Van Hoff's religion was, ipso facto, one of his own making. His Creator was, according to his fashioning, a sort of fetish to whom he addressed a number of stereotyped prayers, which, partaking of the nature of charms, were uttered with the unction of a devotee.

Still, while acknowledging the influ ences of good and evil, he did not believe that the former was specially pertaining to his Divinity, or that the latter was in any way identified with a personal spirit at variance with the Omnipotent Constructor of all things. To him the devil was but a name in men's mouths used in cases of excitement, or merely for sake of emphasis, with as little reality in it as that of the so-called ' mighty Jove,' who possessed no greater control over the thunderbolts than he, or the monarchical Neptune, whose sovereignty over the ocean was as mythical as the appearance of that phantom skipper of old, Vanderdecken, the Flying Dutchman ! Yet Van Hoff did a thing he was sorry for the moment it was done. Soured by repeated failures, rendered reckless by the signs of approaching age, he ceased one morning to pray to his Divinity, and, in a spirit of pique, Jan Van Hoff sought the aid of the Evil One !

Van Hoff had been out of humour that morning ; there had been a thunderstorm during the night, and it had affected his nerves ; his alarm-clock had gone off an hour earlier than that for which he had set it, and, unrefreshed and out of sorts, he had arisen in the cold gray morning to find that he might have slept for another hour, which, when he came to think of it, was sixty minutes, and each minute contained sixty seconds, making a total of three thousand six hundred seconds — all this he had lost through the trick the nasty thing had played him, and at sixty-two years of age such a loss is irreparable ; so he arose, dressed, chattered, muttered, and, to amuse himself, went into a mathematical calculation as to the probable tenure of life in the average man of sixty-two. After consulting the recent census tables and muddling himself considerably in his statistics, he ultimately arrived at the answer that the average healthy man of sixty-two may live till he is somewhat over seventy-four years of age.

The intelligence was alarming. He found that he had, to put it accurately, but twelve years, four months, and twenty-six days more to live ; a brief period surely, and he on the verge of a marvellous discovery — a discovery, by the way, which he had been on the verge of for the last forty years. He felt he could do something horrible, and something horrible he did : he sank on his knees and prayed to the Evil One, as devoutly as he had ever prayed to his Divinity, that he might aid him in his researches ! As soon as he did so he felt a sickeningly creepy sensation stealing over him. It was as though he was about to be seized with an attack of the ague, and, although as a rule a temperate man, he poured himself out a glass of brandy, which he quaffed off neat, and, finding but little benefit therefrom, sent a second after the first to keep it company.

The proverbial pouring of spirits down to keep the spirits up had the desired effect ; the Pro fessor's spirits rose proportionately. He rang his housekeeper up, bespoke his cafe in the laboratory, and then, with the PROFESSOR VAN HOFF 5 rolling gait of a ship's captain in a heavy sea, he drifted in amongst his retorts and crucibles. The room was a study, but too elaborate in detail to describe with justice ; suffice it to say it partook of the character of the sanctum of an alchemist, a recluse, an entomologist, a geologist, a zoologist, con chologist, and every other ' ologist ' combined. Anatomy and physics, however, predominated, yet at a glance it was apparent to the visitor that the Doctor was a man of very many parts. Still, to what end ? His life had been a wasted one, of use neither to himself nor his fellow-men.

As Van Hoff seated himself before his desk his whole demeanour changed : with trembling hands he drew forth a bunch of keys from his pocket. On the ledge before him, in front of an antique mirror framed in diamond squares, stood a curious cabinet of Oriental make. Almost tenderly he lifted it from its shelf and placed it upon the desk before him ; after this he selected a key in the bunch, inserted it in the lock, and turned it with a click. As he did so he glanced upwards into the glass which reflected his own image — that of a mild, benign-looking man, with silvered locks curling over an expansive brow. There was a wistful look in the deep set eye, while the sharp-cut features gave a peculiar emphasis to the heavy lines around the mouth. Van Hoff averted his gaze with a sigh. ' The face of a disappointed man,' he murmured bitterly.

In a moment, however, his countenance had lost its air of dejection ; there was a wild light in the far-away eyes, a happy smile smoothing down the hard lines of the mouth. With eager finger that trembled as he touched it, he raised the lid of the casket and peered into its depths. A sudden noise, however, made him close it again hastily, and, with a startled look, he rose to his feet and glanced round in the direction from whence the noise had come. It was evident the Professor was a man of a highly nervous temperament. But the glance reassured him ; the noise had been caused by the fall of a large volume from one of the bookshelves upon the floor. Van Hoff left the desk and hastened to replace the book, and as he did so he glanced carelessly at the title — ' The Introduction ot Mediæval Black Art into Modern Science.' ' Bah !' he exclaimed, shrugging his shoulders : ' what rubbish !

I was not aware that I had such a treatise in my library !' Having put the sinister-looking tome into its place, he pro ceeded to lock the door so as to protect himself from intrusion, and then hurried back to the seat which he had just vacated. After this his entire attention was riveted upon his cabinet, which he opened once more, his hands trembling nervously the while. The interior of the cabinet revealed Van Hoff to be a methodical man ; a casual glance showed everything to be in its place. The phials and measures it contained sparkled in the dim light of his reading-lamp, and, even as he sat there, he took out his silk handkerchief and dusted the cut-glass stoppers of some of the tiny bottles — carefully, tenderly — almost as the hands of a mother would smooth down the golden tresses of her child.

True, the Professor was childless, unmarried ; yet these crystal things were his children — dangerous children, one might well sav, for some of them contained poisons so deadly that a single drop might destroy the life which for sixty-two years had governed the human fabric known to the world of science as Jan Van Hoff. The Professor, however, was cautious. He knew the temper of his playfellows, and in his skilled hands found them to be the most faithful of servitors. Already the effects of the brand)- which he had taken upon an empty stomach began to wear off ; he was prepared for work ! Once more the grand scheme of his life absorbed his entire attention. By mathe- PROFESSOR VAN HOFF 7 matical calculation he had still twelve years left to discover the great problem of how decay in living matter might be arrested ; this achieved, his sixty-two years would be, as it were, but a prologue in the life which he would have him self live. 'The blood is life!' he would exclaim. 'Rejuvenate the blood, and living matter must in sympathy become rejuve nated.' That he was, and had been for many years, on the eve of this great discovery he was well aware ; he had had animals whose ordinary tenure of life should have been only twelve or fifteen years living, through inoculation of his drugs, to twenty and thirty years ; but he was conscious he had not yet discovered the secret, for they had at length died.

At last came the cry ' Electricity is Life !' and again the scientist took hope. What if he were to succeed in concentrat ing electricity to a ponderable solution ? The modern theories of the forces by present-day scientists might be altogether wrong ! With the aid of his other ingredients, this, he believed, would effect the desired revolution in the span of human life. The idea was novel — to electricians, perhaps, absurd ; but he rejoiced in the knowledge that even electricians were but in their infancy when they came to deal with the force which they professed to understand. The results of their research, startling though at first they may have appeared, were but as ABC when compared with what undoubtedly lay behind the veil. In order to make electricity adaptable to the human system, the Professor rightly contended that the operator must possess the most perfect control over the unruly and, as yet, even imperfectly-controlled motor.

To effect this obedience on the part of the electric principle, Van Hoff held that electricity must first become materialized. The idea that a force could be thus solidified was treated by his compeers as ridicu lous, but Van Hoff believed it to be possible to achieve such a result through the resistance of a still subtler force. Archi medes had stated, and with truth, when lecturing on the power and application of the lever, that he ' could move the world had he a fixed point to rest his lever on.' In the course of his investigations, figuratively, Van Hoff had found that fixed point, so far as related to his particular branch of research. On storing his electricity, he devised a means of concentrating it. This done, he opined that, by the opposition of a force more powerful than itself, it was possible to materialize it.

He had discovered such a force. It was his secret — a secret he had resolved would perish with him, as he dared not trust it to another, for the power of destruction contained in one simple element was so great, that with it a reckless or drunken man might well-nigh depopulate the world, while he himself, through possession of it, remained invulnerable to attack ! There lay the results of his labours before him, in a well stoppered greenish phial, resembling glass — a strange lumin ous substance of somewhat greater density than mercury, but, unlike the dead quicksilver, shimmering and emitting rays in its mysterious vitality. In order to made the ' electra,' as he called this substance, adaptable to the human system, he proposed, through the agency of a powerful, but as yet undiscovered, solvent, to liquefy it.

The elements of the atmosphere were made to take different forms by changing the pressure and heat — from gases to liquids, from liquids to solids. Here there was no intermediary stage. Accordingly, to reduce his 'electra' to a liquid form, and thereby render possible its fusion with the blood, he had tried many experiments, including the tests which had been applied to all known metals, but with out result. The solvent which would act with a uniform THE MYSTERIOUS SOLVENT 9 result on this new substance had yet to be discovered. Still, Professor Van Hoff had achieved sufficient success to feel at times encouraged to persevere, and what impatience fretted over, enthusiasm enabled him to surmount.

Chapter II. The Mysterious Solvent

Jan Van Hoff was perfectly unconscious of the length of time he had sat before his cabinet with its rows of glistening phials in front of him. Though his body had been inert, his brain had been unusually active. He was still mentally weighing his drachms and his grains, mixing his drugs and compounding new ingredients, when a knock at the door of his laboratory brought him to his feet. Even in his study he was not free from interruption, and, though a naughty ejacula tion framed itself upon his lips, with the self-denial of a man who eschews swearing it remained unuttered, and he pro ceeded resignedly to ascertain the cause. ' Who is there ?' he asked, without opening the door. ' It is Gretchen, Mynheer, with your coffee,' was the response from outside. ' My coffee !' he exclaimed impatiently, opening an inch or two and peering out like an ill-trained abigail. ' My coffee !

Yes, yes ; but I was so busy I would sooner have done with out it.' As he spoke he drew the door back reluctantly, took the silver salver containing the cup of black coffee and rusks from his housekeeper, and then, with a sigh of profound relief, he closed it upon her again, and turned the key in the lock. Once secure from interruption, the Professor hastily gulped down the steaming beverage, but left the rusks untouched. Then he turned once more to his cabinet, took up the bottle containing his ' electra ' with a smile, placed it beside him, and, pressing a spring where it had stood before, he disclosed a secret drawer, in which were deposited a row of small green phials embedded in white cotton. 'My five children which went to create you,' he said, addressing the 'electra'; 'we must create more.' And he glanced across at his battery, which had a place to itself on an adjoining table. ' Could I but find or produce the solvent — could I but give birth to a sixth child, with these my dis covery would be complete, and Jan Van Hoff might live — who knows how long ?

Perhaps for ever !' One by one he removed the phials from the cotton, and as he did so he counted them : ' One, two, three, sour- Suddenly the Professor's jaw dropped, and he gazed in bewilderment at the drawer before him. Surely someone had been to it, yet no one knew of its existence. Certain he was that he had lest but five phials in his hiding-place, yet he had removed four while two still remained ! He could scarcely credit his senses, though it was beyond dispute. When Van Hoff had opened the secret drawer, it had contained not five, but six phials, and the sixth phial had not been placed there by his hands ! The Professor did not utter a sound ; there was blank amazement depicted on his countenance. He drew his spectacles further down upon his nose, thoughtfully took the bottles up, and read the label on each of them, one after another, until he came to the sixth, then he paused and ex amined the phial critically.

On this, like the others, there was a small white label with a blue border, and written in a neat hand were the words ' The Solvent,' but the writing was not his. THE MYSTERIOUS SOLVENT 11 Van Hoff felt stupefied. Too well he remembered how he had invoked the aid of the Evil One that morning, and — could he doubt it ? — here, then, was the fruit ! The momentary feeling of delight which he had at first experienced gave place to a horrible sensation of dismay. Never before had he believed in the existence of such a being, and now the grim truth came to him for the first time with grave import. If the spirit of evil existed, then the spirit of immortality dwelt within him, and, as Esau of old bartered his birthright for a mess of pottage, he had sold his immortality to Satan for this mysterious solvent, of the component parts of which he knew nothing.