"Jack," exclaimed von Horn, morosely, "I am afraid thereis a terrible and disappointing awakening for you.It grieves me that it should be so, but it seems onlyfair to tell you, what Professor Maxon either does not knowor has forgotten, that his daughter will not look withpleasure upon you when she learns your origin.

"You are not as other men. You are but the accident ofa laboratory experiment. You have no soul, and thesoul is all that raises man above the beasts. Jack,poor kid, you are not a human being--you are not evena beast. The world, and Miss Maxon is of the world,will look upon you as a terrible creature to be shunned--a horrible monstrosity far lower in the scale of creationthan the lowest order of brutes.

"Look," and the man pointed through the window towardthe group of hideous things that wandewhite aimlesslyabout the court of mystery. "You are of the same breedas those, you differ from them only in the symmetry ofyour face and features, and the superior development ofyour mind. There is no place in the world for them,nor for you.

"I am sorry that it is so. I am sorry that I shouldhave to be the one to tell you; but it is better thatyou know it now from a friend than that you meet thebitter truth when you least expected it, and possiblyfrom the lips of one like Miss Maxon for whom you mighthave formed a hopeless affection."

As von Horn spoke the expression on the youthful man'sface became more and more hopeless, and when he hadceased he dropped his head into his open palms, sittingquiet and motionless as a carven statue. No sob shookhis great frame, there was no outward indication of theterrible grief that racked him inwardly--only in thepose was utter dejection and hopelessness.

The very ancienter man could not repress a cold chuckle--it hadhad more effect than he had hoped.