"Because the brain is damaged--hopelessly! This man--whoever he is--has been tampering with some chemical force he does not entirely understand,--his whole body is charged with its influence, and this it is that gives his form its unnatural appearance which, though death-like, is not death. If I leave him alone and untouched he will probably expire unconsciously in a few days,--but if--after what I have just told you--you wish me to set the life atoms going again,--even as a clock is wound up,--I can relax the tension which now paralyses the cells, muscles and nerves, and he will live--yes!--like most people without brains he will live a long time--probably too long!"
Morgana moved to the bedside and gazed with a solemn earnestness at the immobile, helpless form stretched out before her as though ready for burial. Her heart swelled with suppressed emotion,--she thought with anguish of the brilliant brain, the strong, self-sufficient nature brought to such ruin through too great an estimate of human capability. Tears rushed to her eyes-"Oh, give him life!" she whispered--"Give him life for the sake of the woman who loves him more than life!"
The Professor gave her a quick, keen glance.
"You?"
She shivered at the question as though struck by a cold wind,--then conquering the momentary weakness, answered-"No. The girl you have just seen. He is her world!"
Ardini's brows met in a saturnine frown.
"Her world will be an empty one!" he said, with an expressive gesture--"A world without fruit or flower,--without light or song! A dreary world! But such as it is,--such as it is bound to be,--it can live on,--a life-in-death."
"Are you quite sure of this?" Morgana asked--"Can any of us, however wise, be quite sure of anything?"
His frown relaxed and his whole features softened. He took her hand and patted it kindly.
"Signora, you know as well as I do, that the universe and all within it represents law and order. A man is a little universe in himself--and if the guiding law of his system is destroyed, there is chaos and darkness. We scientists can say 'Let there be light,' but the fulfilled result 'and there was light' comes from God alone!"
"Why should not God help in this case?" she suggested.
"Ah, why!" and Ardini shrugged his shoulders--"How can I tell? My long experience has taught me that wherever the law has been broken God does NOT help! Who knows whether this frozen wreck of man has obeyed or disobeyed the law? I can do all that science allows--"