A MESMERIST'S SPELL I found on entering the breakfast-room that my presence caused no surprise, neither did any of the guests regard me suspiciously.

It had gone abroad that I had gone out to find Kaffar, but was unable to do so; and as Voltaire had publicly spoken of Kaffar's luggage being sent to Cairo, there was, to them, no mystery regarding him.
Several spoke of his going away as being a good riddance, and declared him to be unfit for respectable society; but I did not answer them, and after a while the subject dropped.
Voltaire, however, was not in the room; and when, after having breakfasted, I was wondering where he was, I felt the old terrible sensation come over me.

I tried to resist the influence that was drawing me out of the room, but I could not.

I put on my overcoat and hat, and, drawn on by an unseen power, I went away towards the fir plantation in which the summer-house was built.
As I knew I should, I found Voltaire there.

He smiled on me and lifted his hat politely.