Only you may be able to bring him back to consciousness,--I have done my best in vain.

If YOU fail then we must give up hope." She preceded him into the adjoining chamber; as he entered it after her he paused--almost intimidated, despite his long medical and surgical experience, by the stone-like figure of man that lay before him.

It was as if one should have unearthed a statue, grey with time--a statue nobly formed, with a powerful head and severe features sternly set,--the growth of beard revealing, rather than concealing, the somewhat cruel contour of mouth and chin.

The Professor walked slowly up to the bed and looked at this strange effigy of a human being for many minutes in silence,--Morgana watching him with strained but quiet suspense.

Presently he touched the forehead--it was stone-cold--then the throat, stone-cold and rigid--he bent down and listened for the heart's pulsations,--not a flutter--not a beat! Drawing back from this examination he looked at Morgana,--she met his eyes with the query in her own which she emphasised by the spoken word-- "Dead ?" "No!"-- he answered--"I think not.