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determined his choice of a calling. He was surprised to find the light
not steady, but writhing within the substance of the egg, as though that
object was a hollow sphere of some luminous vapour. In moving about to
get different points of view, he suddenly found that he had come between
it and the ray, and that the crystal none the less remained luminous.
Greatly astonished, he lifted it out of the light ray and carried it to
the darkest part of the shop. It remained bright for some four or five
minutes, when it slowly faded and went out. He placed it in the thin
streak of daylight, and its luminousness was almost immediately
restored.
So far, at least, Mr. Wace was able to verify the remarkable story of
Mr. Cave. He has himself repeatedly held this crystal in a ray of light
(which had to be of a less diameter than one millimetre). And in a
perfect darkness, such as could be produced by velvet wrapping, the
crystal did undoubtedly appear very faintly phosphorescent. It would
seem, however, that the luminousness was of some exceptional sort, and
not equally visible to all eyes; for Mr. Harbinger--whose name will be
familiar to the scientific reader in connection with the Pasteur
Institute--was quite unable to see any light whatever. And Mr. Wace's
own capacity for its appreciation was out of comparison inferior to that
of Mr. Cave's. Even with Mr. Cave the power varied very considerably:
his vision was most vivid during states of extreme weakness and fatigue.
Now, from the outset this light in the crystal exercised a curious
fascination upon Mr. Cave. And it says more for his loneliness of soul
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