Note: Serialized in 1895; first book publication in Germany (in English) from Tauchnitz, January 1896.

Synopsis: The Annual American Catalog, 1897: "An Irish professor had spent almost all his life concocting a draught which would put people to sleep for 7 days or 7 months; he is yet uncertain of its action, and longing to experiment upon some one with it when a waif--a beautiful young girl--is found on his doorstep insensible. When she recovers consciousness her despair marks her out as his subject, and he offers her the chance of drinking his draught, telling her there is a chance of her dying. In case of her waking at the proper time she is to be cared for for life. She lives and turns out to be the professor's grand-daughter and heiress to a large fortune." The "experiment", and the science fiction associated with that, lasts only up to p. 36 (in the original edition), at which point the story becomes a romance for the next 400 pages. Consequently "Munsey's Magazine" says that the title, and the story, "are barely on speaking terms."