THE EQUINOX
waken her, but it is too late; the crime was accomplished;
the woman was dead. It was to the public incredulity in the
matter of magnetism that the authors of this sacrilegious
experiment owed their own immunity from prosecution.
The authorities held an inquest, and death was attributed
to the rupture of an aneurism. The body, anyhow, bore no
trace of violence; they had it buried, and there was an end of
the matter.
Here is another anecdote which we heard from a
travelling companion.
Two friends were staying in the same inn, and sharing the
same room. One of them had a habit of talking in his sleep,
and, at that time, would answer the questions which his com-
rade put to him. One night, he suddenly uttered stifled
cries; his companion woke up and asked him what was the
matter.
“But, don’t you see,” said the sleeper, “don’t you see that
enormous stone . . . it is becoming loose from the mountain
. it is falling on me, it is going to crush me.”
“Oh, well, get out of its way!”
“Impossible! My feet are caught in brambles that cling
ever closer. Ah! Help! Help! There is the great stone
coming right upon me!”
“Well, there it is!” said the other laughing, throwing the
pillow at his head in order to wake him.
A terrible cry, suddenly strangled in his throat, a con-
vulsion, a sigh, then nothing more. The practical joker gets
up, pulls his comrade’s arm, calls him ; in his turn, he becomes
frightened, he cries out, people come with lights... the
unfortunate sleep-waker was dead.
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