he
cabinet prepared for the experiment was situated in a turret. Four
concave mirrors were hung within it, and there was an altar of white
marble, surrounded by a chain of magnetic iron. On it was engraved
the sign of the Pentagram, and this symbol was drawn on the new, white
sheepskin which was stretched beneath. A copper brazier stood on the
altar, with charcoal of alder and of laurel wood, and in front a second
brazier was placed upon a tripod. Eliphas Levi was clothed in a white
robe, longer and more ample than the surplice of a priest, and he wore
upon his head a chaplet of vervain leaves entwined about a golden chain.
In one hand he held a new sword and in the other the Ritual.'

Susie's passion for caricature at once asserted itself, and she laughed
as she saw in fancy the portly little Frenchman, with his round, red
face, thus wonderfully attired.

'He set alight the two fires with the prepared materials, and began, at
first in a low voice, but rising by degrees, the invocations of the
Ritual. The flames invested every object with a wavering light. Presently
they went out. He set more twigs and perfumes on the brazier, and when
the flame started up once more, he saw distinctly before the altar a
human figure larger than life, which dissolved and disappeared. He began
the invocations again and placed himself in a circle, which he had
already traced between the altar and the tripod. Then the depth of the
mirror which was in front of him grew brighter by degrees, and a pale
form arose, and it seemed gradually to approach. He closed his eyes, and
called three times upon Apollonius. When he opened them, a man stood
before him, wholly enveloped in a winding sheet, which seemed more grey
than black. His form was lean, melancholy, and beardless. Eliphas felt an
intense cold, and when he sought to ask his questions found it impossible
to speak. Thereupon, he placed his hand on the Pentagram, and directed
the point of his sword toward the figure, adjuring it mentally by that
sign not to terrify, but to obey him. The form suddenly grew indistinct
and soon it strangely vanished. He commanded it to return, and then felt,
as it were, an air pass by him; and, something having touched the hand
which held the sword, his arm was immediately benumbed as far as the
shoulder. He supposed that the weapon displeased the spirit, and set it
down within the circle. The human figure at once reappeared, but Eliphas
experienced such a sudd