"Oh, Bosh!" growled Bill. "All that sounds very fine, in your measly old Sanscrit; but you stole her just the same, and that's plain United States. And now, Mr. Mystic,"--and the angry husband shut his teeth with a savage click--"you must know that outraged confidence will seek revenge. That's your karma, ain't it, Mr. Alonzo Leffingwell, Gnani of Gingalee, and Grand High Muckymuck of the Order of Nowhere? I've got you, and I've got you in your own trap. You're hoist by your own petard. You went in for Science, and so did I. Science is going to settle this dispute, and you're about to learn that nature has _several_ laws. Oh, pusillanimous pirate of the air, you are about to realize that invention is the hand-maid of justice, and that science is--the--mother-in-law--of--doom."
"How,--what,--Bill,--I do not comprehend," murmured Mr. Leffingwell perplexedly, as he disappeared slowly through the ceiling in response to the faint current with which Bill was now holding him.
"No?"--queried Bill sarcastically as the gentleman reappeared. "Then there are, after all, some few things you don't comprehend. Well, then--" and the druggist drew himself up with calm ferocity--"I will enlighten you. Hear then my pronunciamento. You've been weighed in the balance and found wanting--everything that didn't rightfully belong to you; and because of that I, your self-appointed judge and executioner, have resolved--upon--your--complete--annihilation."
The mournful tenor of the Mystic mingled with the high C of his primordial Mate.
"Yes, just that"--burst forth the druggist savagely. "When I discovered that you were not only dead to the proprieties and deaf to appeals, but that you were impervious to boot-jacks and bullets, I set to thinking as to the best manner of dealing with the situation. When I saw you chipper as a lark when impaled on a carving knife, I realized the insufficiency of brute force. It was then that I turned to science and planned for this my long sought and well earned R-E-V-E-N-G-E."
This last word came out in a long hissing whisper, the which is so effective upon the stage.
The Seer was now staring at the druggist in open faced dismay. Imogene was whimpering softly.
"To this end," continued Mr. Vanderhook, "I practically gave up my business. I constructed this laboratory. I gave up Mrs. V.'s society. I permitted _you_ to entertain her while I buried myself to work out _my revenge_. During the past five months I've acquainted myself with all the great authorities on chemistry, electricity, alchemy, astrology, theosophy, and occultism generally. I've studied Darwin and Haeckel and Huxley and Tyndall. I've familiarized myself with all of the facts of all of the sciences. I've saturated myself with the theories of all the philosophers, prophets and cranks. I've studied the body from monkey to man. I've chased the elusive soul down through the unintelligible symbolism of Buddha, on down to the ultimate atom of Huxley--and I've made a Great Discovery. Your school of mysticism's a fake. I've smashed your occultism to smithereens, and I can bear witness to the wisdom of that eminent materialist who said,--'I have tried the soul in the crucible and found it Protoplasm.'"