good or for evil, and
why, as I understand, you have never yet dared to pass on the secret of
your power to anyone else. But I swear to you, Doctor, that, if you
will entrust it to me, I will never, under any circumstances whatsoever,
use it except for a good purpose, nor will I ever pass on the secret to
anyone else except with your express permission. And now that you have
given me an idea of its capabilities I simply long to know the secret,
for it seems to me that a chap with your powers could come very near to
working miracles."

"Yes," assented Humphreys quietly, "that is so; indeed, even with my
imperfect knowledge--for I have not yet nearly mastered all the
possibilities of the science--I have done things that without its aid
would have been impossible. And now, if you like, I will initiate you
into the secret of my power, which is very simple after all, and which,
once known, will enable you to do everything that I can do. First of
all, however, I propose to throw you into a cataleptic sleep, in order
that, while you are in that condition, I may imbue you with an absolute
faith in yourself, without which everything that I can teach you would
be practically useless, at least until you had acquired faith in
yourself by the somewhat slow and laborious process which I had to
pursue. I had to acquire faith in myself and my powers by repeated
experiments extending over a period of several months; but you have not
time for that, so I must imbue you with it by the process of suggestion
while you are in a state of trance. Now, are you ready?"

"Yes, quite," answered Dick, with a quick indrawing of the breath; for
now that it came to the point he suddenly found that to submit himself
unreservedly to the hands of even his friend Humphreys, for the purposes
of an experiment that smacked rather strongly of the uncanny, was
something of a nerve-trying experience. Humphreys evidently noted his
momentary hesitation, for he said:

"You need not have the least fear; you will be profoundly unconscious
during the period of sleep, and will awake without the slightest trace
of any unpleasant feeling. Now, stretch yourself out comfortably on
that sofa, and do exactly as I tell you."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Dick descended to the surgery, a few minutes late, the next
morning, he found his friend Humphreys, with his coat off, his shirt
sleeves rolled up, and his clothe