What had the foreign-looking stranger done to him? and for what purpose
had he done it? These questions were mostly ignorant and thoughtless,
and Lefevre either parried them or answered them with great reserve.
When the ladies retired from table, however, more particular and curious
queries were pressed upon him as to the real character of the outrage
upon the young man. He replied that he had not yet discovered, though he
believed he was getting "warm."

"Is it fair," said Julius, "to ask you in what direction you are looking
for an explanation or revelation?"

"Oh, quite fair," said Lefevre, welcoming the question. "To put it in a
word, I look to _electricity_,--animal electricity. I have been for some
time working round, and I hope gradually getting nearer, a scientific
secret of enormous--of transcendent value. Can you conceive, Julius, of
a universal principle in Nature being got so under control as to form a
universal basis of cure?"

"Can I conceive?" said Julius. "And is that electricity too?"

"I hope to find it is."

"Oh, how slow!" exclaimed Julius,--"oh, how slow you professional
scientific men become! You begin to run on tram-lines, and you can't get
off them! Why fix yourself to call this principle you're seeking for
'electricity'? It will probably restrict your inquiry, and hamper you in
several ways. I would declare to every scientific man, 'Unless you
become as a little child or a poet, you will discover no great truth!'
Setting aside your bias towards what you call 'electricity,' you are
really hoping to discover something that was discovered or divined