_
"Another important secret!" thought I; "this day has certainly been
fruitful in discoveries. A panacea for all diseases, even for the
disease of old age, so that a man may live two hundred years, and still
find some pleasure in existence. But for me life has lost its savor, and
I have no wish to last so long. There is more writing here--another
secret perhaps, but I doubt very much that it will give me any comfort."
_When your soul is darkened, so that it is hard to know evil from
good, and the thoughts that are in you lead to madness, drink of me, and
be cured._
"No, I shall not drink and be cured! Better a thousand times the
thoughts that lead to madness than this colorless existence without
love. I do not wish to recover from so sweet a malady."
I took the bottle in my hand and unstopped it. The stopper formed a
curious little cup, round the rim of which was written, _Drink of
me_. I poured some of the liquid out into the cup; it was pale yellow
in color, and had a faint sickly smell as of honeysuckles.
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