ch this class of subject is
flourishing amongst us is becoming unendurable, I have admitted that
the incident of that accursed plate produced the profoundest impression
on me. Ottmar is right; if events are to be judged by their results,
this is the most terrible supernatural story conceivable. Wherefore I
pardon Cyprian's disturbed condition which he displayed earlier in the
evening, and which has passed away considerably now. But not another
word on the subject of supernatural horrors. I have seen a manuscript
peeping for some time out of Ottmar's breast-pocket, as if craving for
release; let him release it therefore."

"No, no," said Theodore, "the flood which has been rolling along in
such stormy billows must be gently led away. I have a manuscript well
adapted for that end, which some peculiar circumstances led to my
writing at one time. Although it deals pretty largely with the
mystical, and contains plenty of psychical marvels and strange
hypotheses, it links itself on pretty closely to affairs of every-day
life." He read:

"'AUTOMATONS.

"'"The talking Turk" was attracting universal attention, and setting
the town in commotion. The hall where this automaton was exhibited was
thronged by a continual stream of visitors, of all sorts and
conditions, from morning till night, all eager to listen to the
oracular utterances which were whispered to them by the motionless lips
of that wonderful quasi-human figure. The manner of the construction
and arrangement of this automaton distinguished it in a marked degree
from all puppets of the sort usually exhibited. It was, in fact, a very
remarkable automaton. About the centre of a room of moderate size,
containing only a few indispensable articles of furniture, at this
figure, about the size of a human being, handsomely formed, dressed in
a rich and tasteful Turkish costume, on a low seat shaped as a tripod,
which the exhibitor would move if desired, to show that there was no
means of communication between it and the ground. Its left hand was
placed in an easy position on its knee, and its right rested on a
small movable table. Its appearance, as has been said, was that of a
well-proportioned, handsome man, but the most remarkable part of it was
its head. A face expressing a genuine Oriental astuteness gave it an
appearance of life rarely seen in wax figures, even when they represent
the characteristic countenances of talented men. A l