THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
“No, look, and say what you see.”
“T see a black night in which whirl sparks of every colour
around two great ever-rolling eyes. From these eyes leap
rays whose spiral whorls fill space. . . . Oh, it hurts me!
Wake me!”
“No, look.”
“Where do you wish me to look now?”
“Look into Paradise.”
“No, I cannot climb there; the great night pushes me
back, I always fall back.”
“Very well then, look into hell.”
Here the sleep-waker became convulsively agitated.
“No, no!” she cried sobbing; ‘I will not! I shall be
giddy; I should fall! Oh, hold me back! Hold me back!”
“No, descend.”
“Where do you want me to descend ?”
“ Into hell.”
“ But it is horrible! No! No! I will not go there!”
“Go there.”
“ Mercy!”
“Go there. It is my will.”
The features of the sleep-waker become terrible to behold ;
her hair stands on end; her wide-opened eyes show only the
white; her breast heaves, and a sort of death-rattle escapes
from her throat.
“Go there. It is my will,” repeats the magnetizer.
“Tam there!” says the unhappy girl between her teeth,
falling back exhausted. Then she no longer answers; her
head hangs heavy on her shoulder; her arms fall idly by her
side. They approach her. They touch her. They try to
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