Meditation, it seems, is essential to it, and it was by
gazing at the crystal that one could separate one's soul from one's
body and so attain pure and profound meditation."
"Was that your first experience of crystal-gazing?" Godfrey asked.
"Yes; both he and my father had often tried to persuade me to join
them. They often spent whole nights there. But it seemed to me that
the breaking down of father's will was due to it in some way; I grew
to have a fear and horror of it, and so I always refused."
"The change in your father was undoubtedly directly traceable to it,"
Godfrey agreed. "During those periods of crystal-gazing, he was really
in a state of hypnosis, induced by Silva, with his mind bare to
Silva's suggestions; and as these were repeated, he became more and
more a mere echo of Silva's personality. That was what Silva desired
for you, also."
"I felt something of the sort, though I never really understood it,"
said Miss Vaughan; "and as I sat there on the divan that Sunday
afternoon, with his burning eyes upon me, I was terribly afraid. His
will was so much stronger than mine, and besides, I could not keep my
eyes from the crystal.
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