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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4394-h.zip b/4394-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..785239c --- /dev/null +++ b/4394-h.zip diff --git a/4394-h/4394-h.htm b/4394-h/4394-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..065e1f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/4394-h/4394-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14521 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of A Romance of Two Worlds, by Marie Corelli +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Romance of Two Worlds, by Marie Corelli + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Romance of Two Worlds + +Author: Marie Corelli + +Posting Date: August 1, 2009 [EBook #4394] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 22, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +A Romance of Two Worlds +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A NOVEL. +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +MARIE CORELLI, +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "Thelma," "Ardath," "Vendetta," Etc. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#prologue">PROLOGUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">AN ARTIST'S STUDIO.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE MYSTERIOUS POTION.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THREE VISIONS.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">A DANCE AND A PROMISE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CELLINI'S STORY.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE HOTEL MARS AND ITS OWNER.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">ZARA AND PRINCE IVAN.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A SYMPHONY IN THE AIR.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">AN ELECTRIC SHOCK.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">MY STRANGE DEPARTURE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A MINIATURE CREATION.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">SECRETS OF THE SUN AND MOON.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">SOCIABLE CONVERSE.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE ELECTRIC CREED.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">DEATH BY LIGHTNING.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">A STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CONCLUSION.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#appendix">APPENDIX</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="prologue"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PROLOGUE. +</H3> + +<P> +We live in an age of universal inquiry, ergo of universal scepticism. +The prophecies of the poet, the dreams of the philosopher and +scientist, are being daily realized—things formerly considered mere +fairy-tales have become facts—yet, in spite of the marvels of learning +and science that are hourly accomplished among us, the attitude of +mankind is one of disbelief. "There is no God!" cries one theorist; "or +if there be one, <I>I</I> can obtain no proof of His existence!" "There is +no Creator!" exclaims another. "The Universe is simply a rushing +together of atoms." "There can be no immortality," asserts a third. "We +are but dust, and to dust we shall return." "What is called by +idealists the SOUL," argues another, "is simply the vital principle +composed of heat and air, which escapes from the body at death, and +mingles again with its native element. A candle when lit emits flame; +blow out the light, the flame vanishes—where? Would it not be madness +to assert the flame immortal? Yet the soul, or vital principle of human +existence, is no more than the flame of a candle." +</P> + +<P> +If you propound to these theorists the eternal question WHY?—why is +the world in existence? why is there a universe? why do we live? why do +we think and plan? why do we perish at the last?—their grandiose reply +is, "Because of the Law of Universal Necessity." They cannot explain +this mysterious Law to themselves, nor can they probe deep enough to +find the answer to a still more tremendous WHY—namely, WHY, is there a +Law of Universal Necessity?—but they are satisfied with the result of +their reasonings, if not wholly, yet in part, and seldom try to search +beyond that great vague vast Necessity, lest their finite brains should +reel into madness worse than death. Recognizing, therefore, that in +this cultivated age a wall of scepticism and cynicism is gradually +being built up by intellectual thinkers of every nation against all +that treats of the Supernatural and Unseen, I am aware that my +narration of the events I have recently experienced will be read with +incredulity. At a time when the great empire of the Christian Religion +is being assailed, or politely ignored by governments and public +speakers and teachers, I realize to the fullest extent how daring is +any attempt to prove, even by a plain history of strange occurrences +happening to one's self, the actual existence of the Supernatural +around us; and the absolute certainty of a future state of being, after +the passage through that brief soul-torpor in which the body perishes, +known to us as Death. +</P> + +<P> +In the present narration, which I have purposely called a "romance," I +do not expect to be believed, as I can only relate what I myself have +experienced. I know that men and women of to-day must have proofs, or +what they are willing to accept as proofs, before they will credit +anything that purports to be of a spiritual tendency;—something +startling—some miracle of a stupendous nature, such as according to +prophecy they are all unfit to receive. Few will admit the subtle +influence and incontestable, though mysterious, authority exercised +upon their lives by higher intelligences than their own—intelligences +unseen, unknown, but felt. Yes! felt by the most careless, the most +cynical; in the uncomfortable prescience of danger, the inner +forebodings of guilt—the moral and mental torture endured by those who +fight a protracted battle to gain the hardly-won victory in themselves +of right over wrong—in the thousand and one sudden appeals made +without warning to that compass of a man's life, Conscience—and in +those brilliant and startling impulses of generosity, bravery, and +self-sacrifice which carry us on, heedless of consequences, to the +performance of great and noble deeds, whose fame makes the whole world +one resounding echo of glory—deeds that we wonder at ourselves even in +the performance of them—acts of heroism in which mere life goes for +nothing, and the Soul for a brief space is pre-eminent, obeying blindly +the guiding influence of a something akin to itself, yet higher in the +realms of Thought. +</P> + +<P> +There are no proofs as to why such things should be; but that they are, +is indubitable. The miracles enacted now are silent ones, and are +worked in the heart and mind of man alone. Unbelief is nearly supreme +in the world to-day. Were an angel to descend from heaven in the middle +of a great square, the crowd would think he had got himself up on +pulleys and wires, and would try to discover his apparatus. Were he, in +wrath, to cast destruction upon them, and with fire blazing from his +wings, slay a thousand of them with the mere shaking of a pinion, those +who were left alive would either say that a tremendous dynamite +explosion had occurred, or that the square was built on an extinct +volcano which had suddenly broken out into frightful activity. Anything +rather than believe in angels—the nineteenth century protests against +the possibility of their existence. It sees no miracle—it pooh-poohs +the very enthusiasm that might work them. +</P> + +<P> +"Give a positive sign," it says; "prove clearly that what you say is +true, and I, in spite of my Progress and Atom Theory, will believe." +The answer to such a request was spoken eighteen hundred years and more +ago. "A faithless and perverse generation asketh for a sign, and no +sign shall be given unto them." +</P> + +<P> +Were I now to assert that a sign had been given to ME—to me, as one +out of the thousands who demand it—such daring assurance on my part +would meet with the most strenuous opposition from all who peruse the +following pages; each person who reads having his own ideas on all +subjects, and naturally considering them to be the best if not the only +ideas worth anything. Therefore I wish it to be plainly understood that +in this book I personally advocate no new theory of either religion or +philosophy; nor do I hold myself answerable for the opinions expressed +by any of my characters. My aim throughout is to let facts speak for +themselves. If they seem strange, unreal, even impossible, I can only +say that the things of the invisible world must always appear so to +those whose thoughts and desires are centred on this life only. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ARTIST'S STUDIO. +</H3> + +<P> +In the winter of 188-, I was afflicted by a series of nervous ailments, +brought on by overwork and overworry. Chief among these was a +protracted and terrible insomnia, accompanied by the utmost depression +of spirits and anxiety of mind. I became filled with the gloomiest +anticipations of evil; and my system was strung up by slow degrees to +such a high tension of physical and mental excitement, that the +quietest and most soothing of friendly voices had no other effect upon +me than to jar and irritate. Work was impossible; music, my one +passion, intolerable; books became wearisome to my sight; and even a +short walk in the open air brought with it such lassitude and +exhaustion, that I soon grew to dislike the very thought of moving out +of doors. In such a condition of health, medical aid became necessary; +and a skilful and amiable physician, Dr. R——, of great repute in +nervous ailments, attended me for many weeks, with but slight success. +He was not to blame, poor man, for his failure to effect a cure. He had +only one way of treatment, and he applied it to all his patients with +more or less happy results. Some died, some recovered; it was a lottery +on which my medical friend staked his reputation, and won. The patients +who died were never heard of more—those who recovered sang the praises +of their physician everywhere, and sent him gifts of silver plate and +hampers of wine, to testify their gratitude. His popularity was very +great; his skill considered marvellous; and his inability to do ME any +good arose, I must perforce imagine, out of some defect or hidden +obstinacy in my constitution, which was to him a new experience, and +for which he was unprepared. Poor Dr. R——! How many bottles of your +tastily prepared and expensive medicines have I not swallowed, in blind +confidence and blinder ignorance of the offences I thus committed +against all the principles of that Nature within me, which, if left to +itself, always heroically struggles to recover its own proper balance +and effect its own cure; but which, if subjected to the experimental +tests of various poisons or drugs, often loses strength in the +unnatural contest and sinks exhausted, perhaps never to rise with +actual vigour again. Baffled in his attempts to remedy my ailments, Dr. +R—— at last resorted to the usual plan adopted by all physicians when +their medicines have no power. He recommended change of air and scene, +and urged my leaving London, then dark with the fogs of a dreary +winter, for the gaiety and sunshine and roses of the Riviera. The idea +was not unpleasant to me, and I determined to take the advice +proffered. Hearing of my intention, some American friends of mine, +Colonel Everard and his charming young wife, decided to accompany me, +sharing with me the expenses of the journey and hotel accommodation. We +left London all together on a damp foggy evening, when the cold was so +intense that it seemed to bite the flesh like the sharp teeth of an +animal, and after two days' rapid journey, during which I felt my +spirits gradually rising, and my gloomy forebodings vanishing slowly +one by one, we arrived at Cannes, and put up at the Hotel de L——. It +was a lovely place, and most beautifully situated; the garden was a +perfect wilderness of roses in full bloom, and an avenue of +orange-trees beginning to flower cast a delicate fragrance on the warm +delicious air. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Everard was delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"If you do not recover your health here," she said half laughingly to +me on the second morning after our arrival, "I am afraid your case is +hopeless. What sunshine! What a balmy wind! It is enough to make a +cripple cast away his crutches and forget he was ever lame. Don't you +think so?" +</P> + +<P> +I smiled in answer, but inwardly I sighed. Beautiful as the scenery, +the air, and the general surroundings were, I could not disguise from +myself that the temporary exhilaration of my feelings, caused by the +novelty and excitement of my journey to Cannes, was slowly but surely +passing away. The terrible apathy, against which I had fought for so +many months, was again creeping over me with its cruel and resistless +force. I did my best to struggle against it; I walked, I rode, I +laughed and chatted with Mrs. Everard and her husband, and forced +myself into sociability with some of the visitors at the hotel, who +were disposed to show us friendly attention. I summoned all my stock of +will-power to beat back the insidious physical and mental misery that +threatened to sap the very spring of my life; and in some of these +efforts I partially succeeded. But it was at night that the terrors of +my condition manifested themselves. Then sleep forsook my eyes; a dull +throbbing weight of pain encircled my head like a crown of thorns; +nervous terrors shook me from head to foot; fragments of my own musical +compositions hummed in my ears with wearying persistence—fragments +that always left me in a state of distressed conjecture; for I never +could remember how they ended, and I puzzled myself vainly over +crotchets and quavers that never would consent to arrange themselves in +any sort of finale. So the days went on; for Colonel Everard and his +wife, those days were full of merriment, sight-seeing, and enjoyment. +For me, though outwardly I appeared to share in the universal gaiety, +they were laden with increasing despair and wretchedness; for I began +to lose hope of ever recovering my once buoyant health and strength, +and, what was even worse, I seemed to have utterly parted with all +working ability. I was young, and up to within a few months life had +stretched brightly before me, with the prospect of a brilliant career. +And now what was I? A wretched invalid—a burden to myself and to +others—a broken spar flung with other fragments of ship wrecked lives +on the great ocean of Time, there to be whirled away and forgotten. But +a rescue was approaching; a rescue sudden and marvellous, of which, in +my wildest fancies, I had never dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +Staying in the same hotel with us was a young Italian artist, Raffaello +Cellini by name. His pictures were beginning to attract a great deal of +notice, both in Paris and Rome: not only for their faultless drawing, +but for their wonderfully exquisite colouring. So deep and warm and +rich were the hues he transferred to his canvases, that others of his +art, less fortunate in the management of the palette, declared he must +have invented some foreign compound whereby he was enabled to deepen +and brighten his colours for the time being; but that the effect was +only temporary, and that his pictures, exposed to the air for some +eight or ten years, would fade away rapidly, leaving only the traces of +an indistinct blur. Others, more generous, congratulated him on having +discovered the secrets of the old masters. In short, he was admired, +condemned, envied, and flattered, all in a breath; while he himself, +being of a singularly serene and unruffled disposition, worked away +incessantly, caring little or nothing for the world's praise or blame. +</P> + +<P> +Cellini had a pretty suite of rooms in the Hotel de L——, and my +friends Colonel and Mrs. Everard fraternized with him very warmly. He +was by no means slow to respond to their overtures of friendship, and +so it happened that his studio became a sort of lounge for us, where we +would meet to have tea, to chat, to look at the pictures, or to discuss +our plans for future enjoyment. These visits to Cellini's studio, +strange to say, had a remarkably soothing and calming effect upon my +suffering nerves. The lofty and elegant room, furnished with that +"admired disorder" and mixed luxuriousness peculiar to artists, with +its heavily drooping velvet curtains, its glimpses of white marble +busts and broken columns, its flash and fragrance of flowers that +bloomed in a tiny conservatory opening out from the studio and leading +to the garden, where a fountain bubbled melodiously—all this pleased +me and gave me a curious, yet most welcome, sense of absolute rest. +Cellini himself had a fascination for me, for exactly the same reason. +As an example of this, I remember escaping from Mrs. Everard on one +occasion, and hurrying to the most secluded part of the garden, in +order to walk up and down alone in an endeavour to calm an attack of +nervous agitation which had suddenly seized me. While thus pacing about +in feverish restlessness, I saw Cellini approaching, his head bent as +if in thought, and his hands clasped behind his back. As he drew near +me, he raised his eyes—they were clear and darkly brilliant—he +regarded me steadfastly with a kindly smile. Then lifting his hat with +the graceful reverence peculiar to an Italian, he passed on, saying no +word. But the effect of his momentary presence upon me was +remarkable—it was ELECTRIC. I was no longer agitated. Calmed, soothed +and almost happy, I returned to Mrs. Everard, and entered into her +plans for the day with so much alacrity that she was surprised and +delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"If you go on like this," she said, "you will be perfectly well in a +month." +</P> + +<P> +I was utterly unable to account for the remedial influence Raffaello +Cellini's presence had upon me; but such as it was I could not but be +grateful for the respite it gave me from nervous suffering, and my now +daily visits to the artist's studio were a pleasure and a privilege not +to be foregone. Moreover, I was never tired of looking at his pictures. +His subjects were all original, and some of them were very weird and +fantastic. One large picture particularly attracted me. It was entitled +"Lords of our Life and Death." Surrounded by rolling masses of cloud, +some silver-crested, some shot through with red flame, was depicted the +World, as a globe half in light, half in shade. Poised above it was a +great Angel, upon whose calm and noble face rested a mingled expression +of deep sorrow, yearning pity, and infinite regret. Tears seemed to +glitter on the drooping lashes of this sweet yet stern Spirit; and in +his strong right hand he held a drawn sword—the sword of +destruction—pointed forever downwards to the fated globe at his feet. +Beneath this Angel and the world he dominated was darkness—utter +illimitable darkness. But above him the clouds were torn asunder, and +through a transparent veil of light golden mist, a face of surpassing +beauty was seen—a face on which youth, health, hope, love, and +ecstatic joy all shone with ineffable radiance. It was the +personification of Life—not life as we know it, brief and full of +care—but Life Immortal and Love Triumphant. Often and often I found +myself standing before this masterpiece of Cellini's genius, gazing at +it, not only with admiration, but with a sense of actual comfort. One +afternoon, while resting in my favourite low chair opposite the +picture, I roused myself from a reverie, and turning to the artist, who +was showing some water-colour sketches to Mrs. Everard, I said abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you imagine that face of the Angel of Life, Signor Cellini, or had +you a model to copy from?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a moderately good portrait of an existing original," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman's face then, I suppose? How very beautiful she must be!" +</P> + +<P> +"Actual beauty is sexless," he replied, and was silent. The expression +of his face had become abstracted and dreamy, and he turned over the +sketches for Mrs. Everard with an air which showed his thoughts to be +far away from his occupation. +</P> + +<P> +"And the Death Angel?" I went on. "Had you a model for that also?" +</P> + +<P> +This time a look of relief, almost of gladness, passed over his +features. +</P> + +<P> +"No indeed," he answered with ready frankness; "that is entirely my own +creation." +</P> + +<P> +I was about to compliment him on the grandeur and force of his poetical +fancy, when he stopped me by a slight gesture of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"If you really admire the picture," he said, "pray do not say so. If it +is in truth a work of art, let it speak to you as art only, and spare +the poor workman who has called it into existence the shame of having +to confess that it is not above human praise. The only true criticism +of high art is silence—silence as grand as heaven itself." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with energy, and his dark eyes flashed. Amy (Mrs. Everard) +looked at him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Say now!" she exclaimed, with a ringing laugh, "aren't you a little +bit eccentric, signor? You talk like a long-haired prophet! I never met +an artist before who couldn't stand praise; it is generally a matter of +wonder to me to notice how much of that intoxicating sweet they can +swallow without reeling. But you're an exception, I must admit. I +congratulate you!" +</P> + +<P> +Cellini bowed gaily in response to the half-friendly, half-mocking +curtsey she gave him, and, turning to me again, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have a favour to ask of you, mademoiselle. Will you sit to me for +your portrait?" +</P> + +<P> +"I!" I exclaimed, with astonishment. "Signor Cellini, I cannot imagine +why you should wish so to waste your valuable time. There is nothing in +my poor physiognomy worthy of your briefest attention." +</P> + +<P> +"You must pardon me, mademoiselle," he replied gravely, "if I presume +to differ from you. I am exceedingly anxious to transfer your features +to my canvas. I am aware that you are not in strong health, and that +your face has not that roundness and colour formerly habitual to it. +But I am not an admirer of the milkmaid type of beauty. Everywhere I +seek for intelligence, for thought, for inward refinement—in short, +mademoiselle, you have the face of one whom the inner soul consumes, +and, as such, may I plead again with you to give me a little of your +spare time? YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, I ASSURE YOU." +</P> + +<P> +These last words were uttered in a lower tone and with singular +impressiveness. I rose from my seat and looked at him steadily; he +returned me glance for glance, A strange thrill ran through me, +followed by that inexplicable sensation of absolute calm that I had +before experienced. I smiled—I could, not help smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I will come to-morrow," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand thanks, mademoiselle! Can you be here at noon?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked inquiringly at Amy, who clapped her hands with delighted +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course! Any time you like, signor. We will arrange our excursions +so that they shall not interfere with the sittings. It will be most +interesting to watch the picture growing day by day. What will you call +it, signor? By some fancy title?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will depend on its appearance when completed," he replied, as he +threw open the doors of the studio and bowed us out with his usual +ceremonious politeness. +</P> + +<P> +"Au revoir, madame! A demain, mademoiselle!" and the violet velvet +curtains of the portiere fell softly behind us as we made our exit. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there not something strange about that young man?" said Mrs. +Everard, as we walked through the long gallery of the Hotel de L—— +back to our own rooms. "Something fiendish or angelic, or a little of +both qualities mixed up?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think he is what people term PECULIAR, when they fail to understand +the poetical vagaries of genius," I replied. "He is certainly very +uncommon." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" continued my friend meditatively, as she contemplated her +pretty mignonne face and graceful figure in a long mirror placed +attractively in a corner of the hall through which we were passing; +"all I can say is that I wouldn't let him paint MY portrait if he were +to ask ever so! I should be scared to death. I wonder you, being so +nervous, were not afraid of him." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you liked him," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"So I do. So does my husband. He's awfully handsome and clever, and all +that—but his conversation! There now, my dear, you must own he is +slightly QUEER. Why, who but a lunatic would say that the only +criticism of art is silence? Isn't that utter rubbish?" +</P> + +<P> +"The only TRUE criticism," I corrected her gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's all the same. How can there be any criticism at all in +silence? According to his idea when we admire anything very much we +ought to go round with long faces and gags on our mouths. That would be +entirely ridiculous! And what was that dreadful thing he said to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite understand you," I answered; "I cannot remember his +saying anything dreadful." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I have it now," continued Amy with rapidity; "it was awful! He +said you had the FACE OF ONE WHOM THE SOUL CONSUMES. You know that was +most horribly mystical! And when he said it he looked—ghastly! What +did he mean by it, I wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +I made no answer; but I thought I knew. I changed the conversation as +soon as possible, and my volatile American friend was soon absorbed in +a discussion on dress and jewellery. That night was a blessed one for +me; I was free from all suffering, and slept as calmly as a child, +while in my dreams the face of Cellini's "Angel of life" smiled at me, +and seemed to suggest peace. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MYSTERIOUS POTION. +</H3> + +<P> +The next day, punctually at noon, according to my promise, I entered +the studio. I was alone, for Amy, after some qualms of conscience +respecting chaperonage, propriety, and Mrs. Grundy, had yielded to my +entreaties and gone for a drive with some friends. In spite of the +fears she began to entertain concerning the Mephistophelian character +of Raffaello Cellini, there was one thing of which both she and I felt +morally certain: namely, that no truer or more honourable gentleman +than he ever walked on the earth. Under his protection the loveliest +and loneliest woman that ever lived would have been perfectly safe—as +safe as though she were shut up, like the princess in the fairy-tale, +in a brazen tower, of which only an undiscoverable serpent possessed +the key. When I arrived, the rooms were deserted, save for the presence +of a magnificent Newfoundland dog, who, as I entered, rose, and shaking +his shaggy body, sat down before me and offered me his huge paw, +wagging his tail in the most friendly manner all the while, I at once +responded to his cordial greeting, and as I stroked his noble head, I +wondered where the animal had come from; for though—we had visited +Signor Cellini's studio every day, there had been no sign or mention of +this stately, brown-eyed, four-footed companion. I seated myself, and +the dog immediately lay down at my feet, every now and then looking up +at me with an affectionate glance and a renewed wagging of his tail. +Glancing round the well-known room, I noticed that the picture I +admired so much was veiled by a curtain of Oriental stuff, in which +were embroidered threads of gold mingled with silks of various +brilliant hues. On the working easel was a large square canvas, already +prepared, as I supposed, for my features to be traced thereon. It was +an exceedingly warm morning, and though the windows as well as the +glass doors of the conservatory were wide open, I found the air of the +studio very oppressive. I perceived on the table a finely-wrought +decanter of Venetian glass, in which clear water sparkled temptingly. +Rising from my chair, I took an antique silver goblet from the +mantelpiece, filled it with the cool fluid, and was about to drink, +when the cup was suddenly snatched from my hands, and the voice of +Cellini, changed from its usual softness to a tone both imperious and +commanding, startled me. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not drink that," he said; "you must not! You dare not! I forbid +you!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked up at him in mute astonishment. His face was very pale, and +his large dark eyes shone with suppressed excitement. Slowly my +self-possession returned to me, and I said calmly: +</P> + +<P> +"YOU forbid me, signor? Surely you forget yourself. What harm have I +done in helping myself to a simple glass of water in your studio? You +are not usually so inhospitable." +</P> + +<P> +While I spoke his manner changed, the colour returned to his face, and +his eyes softened—he smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me, mademoiselle, for my brusquerie. It is true I forgot +myself for a moment. But you were in danger, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"In danger!" I exclaimed incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mademoiselle. This," and he held up the Venetian decanter to the +light, "is not water simply. If you will observe it now with the +sunshine beating full against it, I think you will perceive +peculiarities in it that will assure you of my veracity." +</P> + +<P> +I looked as he bade me, and saw, to my surprise, that the fluid was +never actually still for a second. A sort of internal bubbling seemed +to work in its centre, and curious specks and lines of crimson and gold +flashed through it from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" I asked; adding with a half-smile, "Are you the possessor +of a specimen of the far-famed Aqua Tofana?" +</P> + +<P> +Cellini placed the decanter carefully on a shelf, and I noticed that he +chose a particular spot for it, where the rays of the sun could fall +perpendicularly upon the vessel containing it. Then turning to me, he +replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Aqua Tofana, mademoiselle, is a deadly poison, known to the ancients +and also to many learned chemists of our day. It is a clear and +colourless liquid, but it is absolutely still—as still as a stagnant +pool. What I have just shown you is not poison, but quite the reverse. +I will prove this to you at once." And taking a tiny liqueur glass from +a side table, he filled it with the strange fluid and drank it off, +carefully replacing the stopper in the decanter. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Signor Cellini," I urged, "if it is so harmless, why did you +forbid my tasting it? Why did you say there was danger for me when I +was about to drink it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because, mademoiselle, for YOU it would be dangerous. Your health is +weak, your nerves unstrung. That elixir is a powerful vivifying tonic, +acting with great rapidity on the entire system, and rushing through +the veins with the swiftness of ELECTRICITY. I am accustomed to it; it +is my daily medicine. But I was brought to it by slow, and almost +imperceptible degrees. A single teaspoonful of that fluid, +mademoiselle, administered to anyone not prepared to receive it, would +be instant death, though its actual use is to vivify and strengthen +human life. You understand now why I said you were in danger?" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," I replied, though in sober truth I was mystified and +puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"And you forgive my seeming rudeness?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certainly! But you have aroused my curiosity. I should like to +know more about this strange medicine of yours." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall know more if you wish," said Cellini, his usual equable +humour and good spirits now quite restored. "You shall know everything; +but not to-day. We have too little time. I have not yet commenced your +picture. And I forgot—you were thirsty, and I was, as you said, +inhospitable. You must permit me to repair my fault." +</P> + +<P> +And with a courteous salute he left the room, to return almost +immediately with a tumbler full of some fragrant, golden-coloured +liquid, in which lumps of ice glittered refreshingly. A few loose +rose-leaves were scattered on the top of this dainty-looking beverage. +</P> + +<P> +"You may enjoy this without fear," said he, smiling; "it will do you +good. It is an Eastern wine, unknown to trade, and therefore untampered +with. I see you are looking at the rose-leaves on the surface. That is +a Persian custom, and I think a pretty one. They float away from your +lips in the action of drinking, and therefore they are no obstacle." +</P> + +<P> +I tasted the wine and found it delicious, soft and mellow as summer +moonlight. While I sipped it the big Newfoundland, who had stretched +himself in a couchant posture on the hearth-rug ever since Cellini had +first entered the room, rose and walked majestically to my side and +rubbed his head caressingly against the folds of my dress. +</P> + +<P> +"Leo has made friends with you, I see," said Cellini. "You should take +that as a great compliment, for he is most particular in his choice of +acquaintance, and most steadfast when he has once made up his mind. He +has more decision of character than many a statesman." +</P> + +<P> +"How is it we have never seen him before?" I inquired. "You never told +us you had such a splendid companion." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not his master," replied the artist. "He only favours me with a +visit occasionally. He arrived from Paris last night, and came straight +here, sure of his welcome. He does not confide his plans to me, but I +suppose he will return to his home when he thinks it advisable. He +knows his own business best." +</P> + +<P> +I laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"What a clever dog! Does he journey on foot, or does he take the train?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe he generally patronizes the railway. All the officials know +him, and he gets into the guard's van as a matter of course. Sometimes +he will alight at a station en route, and walk the rest of the way. But +if he is lazily inclined, he does not stir till the train reaches its +destination. At the end of every six months or so, the railway +authorities send the bill of Leo's journeyings in to his master, when +it is always settled without difficulty." +</P> + +<P> +"And who IS his master?" I ventured to ask. +</P> + +<P> +Cellini's face grew serious and absorbed, and his eyes were full of +grave contemplation as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"His master, mademoiselle, is MY master—one who among men, is +supremely intelligent; among teachers, absolutely unselfish; among +thinkers, purely impersonal; among friends, inflexibly faithful. To him +I owe everything—even life itself. For him no sacrifice, no extreme +devotion would be too great, could I hope thereby to show my gratitude. +But he is as far above human thanks or human rewards as the sun is +above the sea. Not here, not now, dare I say to him, MY FRIEND, BEHOLD +HOW MUCH I LOVE THEE! such language would be all too poor and +unmeaning; but hereafter—who knows?——" and he broke off abruptly +with a half-sigh. Then, as if forcing himself to change the tenor of +his thoughts, he continued in a kind tone: "But, mademoiselle, I am +wasting your time, and am taking no advantage of the favour you have +shown me by your presence to-day. Will you seat yourself here?" and he +placed an elaborately carved oaken settee in one corner of the studio, +opposite his own easel. "I should be sorry to fatigue you at all," he +went on; "do you care for reading?" +</P> + +<P> +I answered eagerly in the affirmative, and he handed me a volume bound +in curiously embossed leather, and ornamented with silver clasps. It +was entitled "Letters of a Dead Musician." +</P> + +<P> +"You will find clear gems of thought, passion, and feeling in this +book," said Cellini; "and being a musician yourself, you will know how +to appreciate them. The writer was one of those geniuses whose work the +world repays with ridicule and contempt. There is no fate more +enviable!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at the artist with some surprise as I took the volume he +recommended, and seated myself in the position he indicated; and while +he busied himself in arranging the velvet curtains behind me as a +background, I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you really consider it enviable, Signor Cellini, to receive the +world's ridicule and contempt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do indeed," he replied, "since it is a certain proof that the world +does not understand you. To achieve something that is above human +comprehension, THAT is greatness. To have the serene sublimity of the +God-man Christ, and consent to be crucified by a gibing world that was +fated to be afterwards civilized and dominated by His teachings, what +can be more glorious? To have the magnificent versatility of a +Shakespeare, who was scarcely recognized in his own day, but whose +gifts were so vast and various that the silly multitudes wrangle over +his very identity and the authenticity of his plays to this hour—what +can be more triumphant? To know that one's own soul can, if +strengthened and encouraged by the force of will, rise to a supreme +altitude of power—is not that sufficient to compensate for the little +whining cries of the common herd of men and women who have forgotten +whether they ever had a spiritual spark in them, and who, straining up +to see the light of genius that burns too fiercely for their +earth-dimmed eyes, exclaim: 'WE see nothing, therefore there CAN be +nothing.' Ah, mademoiselle, the knowledge of one's own inner +Self-Existence is a knowledge surpassing all the marvels of art and +science!" +</P> + +<P> +Cellini spoke with enthusiasm, and his countenance seemed illumined by +the eloquence that warmed his speech. I listened with a sort of dreamy +satisfaction; the visual sensation of utter rest that I always +experienced in this man's presence was upon me, and I watched him with +interest as he drew with quick and facile touch the outline of my +features on his canvas. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually he became more and more absorbed in his work; he glanced at +me from time to time, but did not speak, and his pencil worked rapidly. +I turned over the "Letters of a Dead Musician" with some curiosity. +Several passages struck me as being remarkable for their originality +and depth of thought; but what particularly impressed me as I read on, +was the tone of absolute joy and contentment that seemed to light up +every page. There were no wailings over disappointed ambition, no +regrets for the past, no complaints, no criticism, no word for or +against the brothers of his art; everything was treated from a lofty +standpoint of splendid equality, save when the writer spoke of himself, +and then he became the humblest of the humble, yet never abject, and +always happy. +</P> + +<P> +"O Music!" he wrote, "Music, thou Sweetest Spirit of all that serve +God, what have I done that thou shouldst so often visit me? It is not +well, O thou Lofty and Divine One, that thou shouldst stoop so low as +to console him who is the unworthiest of all thy servants. For I am too +feeble to tell the world how soft is the sound of thy rustling pinions, +how tender is the sighing breath of thy lips, how beyond all things +glorious is the vibration of thy lightest whisper! Remain aloft, thou +Choicest Essence of the Creator's Voice, remain in that pure and +cloudless ether, where alone thou art fitted to dwell. My touch must +desecrate thee, my voice affright thee. Suffice it to thy servant, O +Beloved, to dream of thee and die!" +</P> + +<P> +Meeting Cellini's glance as I finished reading these lines, I asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know the author of this book, signor?" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew him well," he replied; "he was one of the gentlest souls that +ever dwelt in human clay. As ethereal in his music as John Keats in his +poetry, he was one of those creatures born of dreams and rapture that +rarely visit this planet. Happy fellow! What a death was his!" +</P> + +<P> +"How did he die?" I inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"He was playing the organ in one of the great churches of Rome on the +day of the Feast of the Virgin. A choir of finely trained voices sang +to his accompaniment his own glorious setting of the "Regina Coeli." +The music was wonderful, startling, triumphant—ever rising in power +and majesty to a magnificent finale, when suddenly a slight crash was +heard; the organ ceased abruptly, the singers broke off. The musician +was dead. He had fallen forward on the keys of the instrument, and when +they raised him, his face was fairer than the face of any sculptured +angel, so serene was its expression, so rapt was its smile. No one +could tell exactly the cause of his death—he had always been +remarkably strong and healthy. Everyone said it was heart-disease—it +is the usual reason assigned by medical savants for these sudden +departures out of the world. His loss was regretted by all, save myself +and one other who loved him. We rejoiced, and still do rejoice, at his +release." +</P> + +<P> +I speculated vaguely on the meaning of these last words, but I felt +disinclined to ask any more questions, and Cellini, probably seeing +this, worked on at his sketch without further converse. My eyes were +growing heavy, and the printed words in the "Dead Musician's Letters" +danced before my sight like active little black demons with thin waving +arms and legs. A curious yet not unpleasant drowsiness stole over me, +in which I heard the humming of the bees at the open window, the +singing of the birds, and the voices of people in the hotel gardens, +all united in one continuous murmur that seemed a long way off. I saw +the sunshine and the shadow—I saw the majestic Leo stretched full +length near the easel, and the slight supple form of Raffaello Cellini +standing out in bold outline against the light; yet all seemed shifting +and mingling strangely into a sort of wide radiance in which there was +nothing but varying tints of colour. And could it have been my fancy, +or did I actually SEE the curtain fall gradually away from my favourite +picture, just enough for the face of the "Angel of Life" to be seen +smiling down upon me? I rubbed my eyes violently, and started to my +feet at the sound of the artist's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I have tried your patience enough for to-day," he said, and his words +sounded muffled, as though they were being spoken through, a thick +wall. "You can leave me now if you like." +</P> + +<P> +I stood before him mechanically, still holding the book he had lent me +clasped in my hand. Irresolutely I raised my eyes towards the "Lords of +our Life and Death." It was closely veiled. I had then experienced an +optical illusion. I forced myself to speak—to smile—to put back the +novel sensations that were overwhelming me. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," I said, and I heard myself speak as though I were somebody +else at a great distance off—"I think, Signor Cellini, your Eastern +wine has been too potent for me. My head is quite heavy, and I feel +dazed." +</P> + +<P> +"It is mere fatigue and the heat of the day," he replied quietly. "I am +sure you are not too DAZED, as you call it, to see your favourite +picture, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +I trembled. Was not that picture veiled? I looked—there was no curtain +at all, and the faces of the two Angels shone out of the canvas with +intense brilliancy! Strange to say, I felt no surprise at this +circumstance, which, had it occurred a moment previously, would have +unquestionably astonished and perhaps alarmed me. The mistiness of my +brain suddenly cleared; I saw everything plainly; I heard distinctly; +and when I spoke, the tone of my voice sounded as full and ringing as +it had previously seemed low and muffled. I gazed steadfastly at the +painting, and replied, half smiling: +</P> + +<P> +"I should be indeed 'far gone,' as the saying is, if I could not see +that, signor! It is truly your masterpiece. Why have you never +exhibited it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can YOU ask that?" he said with impressive emphasis, at the same time +drawing nearer and fixing upon me the penetrating glance of his dark +fathomless eyes. It then seemed to me that some great inner force +compelled me to answer this half-inquiry, in words of which I had taken +no previous thought, and which, as I uttered them, conveyed no special +meaning to my own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," I said slowly, as if I were repeating a lesson, "you would +not so betray the high trust committed to your charge." +</P> + +<P> +"Well said!" replied Cellini; "you are fatigued, mademoiselle. Au +revoir! Till to-morrow!" And, throwing open the door of his studio, he +stood aside for me to pass out. I looked at him inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Must I come at the same time to-morrow?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please." +</P> + +<P> +I passed my hand across my forehead perplexedly, I felt I had something +else to say before I left him. He waited patiently, holding back with +one hand the curtains of the portiere. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I had a parting word to give you," I said at last, meeting his +gaze frankly; "but I seem to have forgotten what it was." Cellini +smiled gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not trouble to think about it, mademoiselle. I am unworthy the +effort on your part." +</P> + +<P> +A flash of vivid light crossed my eyes for a second, and I exclaimed +eagerly: +</P> + +<P> +"I remember now! It was 'Dieu vous garde' signor!" +</P> + +<P> +He bent his head reverentially. +</P> + +<P> +"Merci mille fois, mademoiselle! Dieu vous garde—vous aussi. Au +revoir." +</P> + +<P> +And clasping my hand with a light yet friendly pressure, he closed the +door of his room behind me. Once alone in the passage, the sense of +high elation and contentment that had just possessed me began gradually +to decrease. I had not become actually dispirited, but a languid +feeling of weariness oppressed me, and my limbs ached as though I had +walked incessantly for many miles. I went straight to my own room. I +consulted my watch; it was half-past one, the hour at which the hotel +luncheon was usually served. Mrs. Everard had evidently not returned +from her drive. I did not care to attend the table d'hote alone; +besides, I had no inclination to eat. I drew down the window-blinds to +shut out the brilliancy of the beautiful Southern sunlight, and +throwing myself on my bed I determined to rest quietly till Amy came +back. I had brought the "Letters of a Dead Musician" away with me from +Cellini's studio, and I began to read, intending to keep myself awake +by this means. But I found I could not fix my attention on the page, +nor could I think at all connectedly. Little by little my eyelids +closed; the book dropped from my nerveless hand; and in a few minutes I +was in a deep and tranquil slumber. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THREE VISIONS. +</H3> + +<P> +Roses, roses! An interminable chain of these royal blossoms, red and +white, wreathed by the radiant fingers of small rainbow-winged +creatures as airy as moonlight mist, as delicate as thistledown! They +cluster round me with smiling faces and eager eyes; they place the end +of their rose-garland in my hand, and whisper, "FOLLOW!" Gladly I obey, +and hasten onward. Guiding myself by the fragrant chain I hold, I pass +through a labyrinth of trees, whose luxuriant branches quiver with the +flight and song of birds. Then comes a sound of waters; the riotous +rushing of a torrent unchecked, that leaps sheer down from rocks a +thousand feet high, thundering forth the praise of its own beauty as it +tosses in the air triumphant crowns of silver spray. How the living +diamonds within it shift, and change, and sparkle! Fain would I linger +to watch this magnificence; but the coil of roses still unwinds before +me, and the fairy voices still cry, "FOLLOW!" I press on. The trees +grow thicker; the songs of the birds cease; the light around me grows +pale and subdued. In the far distance I see a golden crescent that +seems suspended by some invisible thread in the air. Is it the young +moon? No; for as I gaze it breaks apart into a thousand points of vivid +light like wandering stars. These meet; they blaze into letters of +fire. I strain my dazzled eyes to spell out their meaning. They form +one word—HELIOBAS. I read it. I utter it aloud. The rose-chain breaks +at my feet, and disappears. The fairy voices die away on my ear. There +is utter silence, utter darkness,—save where that one NAME writes +itself in burning gold on the blackness of the heavens. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The interior of a vast cathedral is opened before my gaze. The lofty +white marble columns support a vaulted roof painted in fresco, from +which are suspended a thousand lamps that emit a mild and steady +effulgence. The great altar is illuminated; the priests, in glittering +raiment, pace slowly to and fro. The large voice of the organ, +murmuring to itself awhile, breaks forth in a shout of melody; and a +boy's clear, sonorous treble tones pierce the incense-laden air. +"Credo!"—and the silver, trumpet-like notes fall from the immense +height of the building like a bell ringing in a pure atmosphere—"Credo +in unum Deum; Patrem omni-potentum, factorem coeli et terrae, +visibilium omnium et invisibilium." +</P> + +<P> +The cathedral echoes with answering voices; and, involuntarily +kneeling, I follow the words of the grand chant. I hear the music +slacken; the notes of rejoicing change to a sobbing and remorseful +wail; the organ shudders like a forest of pines in a tempest, +"Crucifixus etiam pro nobis; passus et sepultus est." A darkness grows +up around me; my senses swim. The music altogether ceases; but a +brilliant radiance streams through a side-door of the church, and +twenty maidens, clad in white and crowned with myrtle, pacing two by +two, approach me. They gaze at me with joyous eyes. "Art thou also one +of us?" they murmur; then they pass onward to the altar, where again +the lights are glimmering. I watch them with eager interest; I hear +them uplift their fresh young voices in prayer and praise. One of them, +whose deep blue eyes are full of lustrous tenderness, leaves her +companions, and softly approaches me. She holds a pencil and tablet in +her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Write!" she says, in a thrilling whisper; "and write quickly! for +whatsoever thou shalt now inscribe is the clue to thy destiny." +</P> + +<P> +I obey her mechanically, impelled not by my own will, but by some +unknown powerful force acting within and around me. I trace upon the +tablet one word only; it is a name that startles me even while I myself +write it down—HELIOBAS. Scarcely have I written it when a thick white +cloud veils the cathedral from my sight; the fair maiden vanishes, and +all is again still. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I am listening to the accents of a grave melodious voice, which, from +its slow and measured tones, would seem to be in the action of reading +or reciting aloud. I see a small room sparely furnished, and at a table +covered with books and manuscripts is seated a man of noble features +and commanding presence. He is in the full prime of life; his dark hair +has no thread of silver to mar its luxuriance; his face is unwrinkled; +his forehead unfurrowed by care; his eyes, deeply sunk beneath his +shelving brows, are of a singularly clear and penetrating blue, with an +absorbed and watchful look in them, like the eyes of one accustomed to +gaze far out at sea. His hand rests on the open pages of a massive +volume; he is reading, and his expression is intent and earnest—as if +he were littering his own thoughts aloud, with the conviction and force +of an orator who knows the truth of which he speaks: +</P> + +<P> +"The Universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic invisible +Protectorate governs the winds, the tides, the incoming and outgoing of +the seasons, the birth of the flowers, the growth of forests, the +outpourings of the sunlight, the silent glittering of the stars. A wide +illimitable Beneficence embraces all creation. A vast Eternal Pity +exists for all sorrow, all sin. He who first swung the planets in the +air, and bade them revolve till Time shall be no more—He, the +Fountain-Head of Absolute Perfection, is no deaf, blind, capricious, or +remorseless Being. To Him the death of the smallest singing-bird is as +great or as little as the death of a world's emperor. For Him the +timeless withering of an innocent flower is as pitiful as the decay of +a mighty nation. An infant's first prayer to Him is heard with as +tender a patience as the united petitions of thousands of worshippers. +For in everything and around everything, from the sun to a grain of +sand, He hath a portion, small or great, of His own most Perfect +Existence. Should He hate His Creation, He must perforce hate Himself; +and that Love should hate Love is an impossibility. Therefore He loves +all His work; and as Love, to be perfect, must contain Pity, +Forgiveness, and Forbearance, so doth He pity, forgive, and forbear. +Shall a mere man deny himself for the sake of his child or friend? and +shall the Infinite Love refuse to sacrifice itself—yea, even to as +immense a humility as its greatness is immeasurable? Shall we deny +those merciful attributes to God which we acknowledge in His creature, +Man? O my Soul, rejoice that thou hast pierced the veil of the Beyond; +that thou hast seen and known the Truth! that to thee is made clear the +Reason of Life, and the Recompense of Death: yet while rejoicing, +grieve that thou art not fated to draw more than a few souls to the +comfort thou hast thyself attained!" +</P> + +<P> +Fascinated by the speaker's voice and countenance, I listen, straining +my ears to catch every word that falls from his lips. He rises; he +stands erect; he stretches out his hands as though in solemn entreaty. +</P> + +<P> +"Azul!" he exclaims. "Messenger of my fate; thou who art a guiding +spirit of the elements, thou who ridest the storm-cloud and sittest +throned on the edge of the lightning! By that electric spark within me, +of which thou art the Twin Flame, I ask of thee to send me this one +more poor human soul; let me change its unrestfulness into repose, its +hesitation to certainty, its weakness to strength, its weary +imprisonment to the light of liberty! Azul!" +</P> + +<P> +His voice ceases, his extended hands fall slowly, and gradually, +gradually he turns his whole figure towards ME. He faces me—his +intense eyes burn through me—his strange yet tender smile absorbs me. +Yet I am full of unreasoning terror; I tremble—I strive to turn away +from that searching and magnetic gaze. His deep, melodious tones again +ring softly on the silence. He addresses me. +</P> + +<P> +"Fearest thou me, my child? Am I not thy friend? Knowest thou not the +name of HELIOBAS?" +</P> + +<P> +At this word I start and gasp for breath; I would shriek, but cannot, +for a heavy hand seems to close my mouth, and an immense weight presses +me down. I struggle violently with this unseen Power—little by little +I gain the advantage. One effort more! I win the victory—I wake! +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Sakes alive!" says a familiar voice; "you HAVE had a spell of sleep! I +got home about two, nearly starving, and I found you here curled up 'in +a rosy infant slumber,' as the song says. So I hunted up the Colonel +and had lunch, for it seemed a sin to disturb you. It's just struck +four. Shall we have some tea up here?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at Mrs. Everard, and smiled assent. So I had been sleeping for +two hours and a half, and I had evidently been dreaming all the time; +but my dreams had been as vivid as realities. I felt still rather +drowsy, but I was thoroughly rested and in a state of delicious +tranquillity. My friend rang the bell for the tea, and then turned +round and surveyed me with a sort of wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you done to yourself, child?" she said at last, approaching +the bed where I lay, and staring fixedly at me. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you look a different creature. When I left you this morning you +were pale and haggard, a sort of die-away delicate invalid; now your +eyes are bright; and your cheeks have quite a lovely colour in them; +your lips, too, are the right tint. But perhaps," and here she looked +alarmed—"perhaps you've got the fever?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so," I said amusedly, and I stretched out my hand for +her to feel. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you haven't," she continued, evidently reassured; "your palm is +moist and cool, and your pulse is regular. Well, you look spry, anyhow. +I shouldn't wonder if you made up your mind to have a dance to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Dance?" I queried. "What dance, and where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Madame Didier, that jolly little furbelowed Frenchwoman with +whom I was driving just now, has got up a regular party to-night—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hans Breitmann gib a barty?" I interposed, with a mock solemn air of +inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +Amy laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, it MAY be that kind of thing, for all I know to the +contrary. Anyhow, she's hired the band and ordered a right-down elegant +supper. Half the folks in the hotel are going, and a lot of outsiders +have got invitations. She asked if we couldn't come—myself, the +Colonel, and you. I said I could answer for myself and the Colonel, but +not for you, as you were an invalid. But if you keep on looking as you +do at present, no one will believe that there's anything the matter +with you.—Tea, Alphonse!" +</P> + +<P> +This to a polite waiter, who was our special attendant, and who just +then knocked at the door to know "madame's" orders. +</P> + +<P> +Utterly disbelieving what my friend said in regard to my improved +appearance, I rose from the bed and went to the dressing-table to look +in the mirror and judge for myself. I almost recoiled from my own +reflection, so great was my surprise. The heavy marks under my eyes, +the lines of pain that had been for months deepening in my forehead, +the plaintive droop of the mouth that had given me such an air of +ill-health and anxiety—all were gone as if by magic. I saw a +rose-tinted complexion, a pair of laughing, lustrous eyes, and, +altogether, such a happy, mirthful young face smiled back at me, that I +half doubted whether it was indeed myself I saw. +</P> + +<P> +"There now!" cried Amy in triumph, watching me as I pushed my +clustering hair from my brows, and examined myself more intently. "Did +I not tell you so? The change in you is marvellous! I know what it is. +You have been getting better unconsciously to yourself in this lovely +air and scene, and the long afternoon sleep you've just had has +completed the cure." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled at her enthusiasm, but was forced to admit that she was right +as far as my actual looks went. No one would believe that I was, or +ever had been, ill. In silence I loosened my hair and began to brush it +and put it in order before the mirror, and as I did so my thoughts were +very busy. I remembered distinctly all that had happened in the studio +of Raffaello Cellini, and still more distinctly was I able to recall +every detail of the three dreams that had visited me in my slumber. The +NAME, too, that had been the key-note of them all I also remembered, +but some instinct forbade me to utter it aloud. Once I thought, "Shall +I take a pencil and write it down lest I forget it?" and the same +instinct said "No." Amy's voluble chatter ran on like the sound of a +rippling brook all the time I thus meditated over the occurrences of +the day. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, child!" she exclaimed; "will you go to the dance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly I will, with pleasure," I answered, and indeed I felt as if +I should thoroughly enjoy it. +</P> + +<P> +"Brava! It will be real fun. There are no end of foreign titles coming, +I believe. The Colonel's a bit grumpy about it,—he always is when he +has to wear his dress suit. He just hates it. That man hasn't a +particle of vanity. He looks handsomer in his evening clothes than in +anything else, and yet he doesn't see it. But tell me," and her pretty +face became serious with a true feminine anxiety, "whatever will you +wear? You've brought no ball fixings, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +I finished twisting up the last coil of my hair, and turned and kissed +her affectionately. She was the most sweet-tempered and generous of +women, and she would have placed any one of her elaborate costumes at +my disposal had I expressed the least desire in that direction. I +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"No, dear; I certainly have no regular ball 'fixings,' for I never +expected to dance here, or anywhere for that matter. I did not bring +the big trunks full of Parisian toilettes that you indulge in, you +spoilt bride! Still I have something that may do. In fact it will have +to do." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? Have I seen it? Do show!" and her curiosity was +unappeasable. +</P> + +<P> +The discreet Alphonse tapped at the door again just at this moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Entrez!" I answered; and our tea, prepared with the tempting nicety +peculiar to the Hotel de L——, appeared. Alphonse set the tray down +with his usual artistic nourish, and produced a small note from his +vest-pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"For mademoiselle," he said with a bow; and as he handed it to me, his +eyes opened wide in surprise. He, too, perceived the change in my +appearance. But he was dignity itself, and instantly suppressed his +astonishment into the polite impassiveness of a truly accomplished +waiter, and gliding from the room on the points of his toes, as was his +usual custom, he disappeared. The note was from Cellini, and ran as +follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"If mademoiselle will be so good as to refrain from choosing any +flowers for her toilette this evening, she will confer a favour on her +humble friend and servant, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"RAFFAELLO CELLINI." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I handed it to Amy, who was evidently burning with inquisitiveness to +know its contents. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I say he was a queer young man?" she exclaimed, as she perused +the missive attentively. "This is only his way of saying that he means +to send you some flowers himself. But what puzzles me is to think how +he could possibly know you were going to make any special 'toilette' +this evening. It is really very mysterious when I come to think of it, +for Madame Didier said plainly that she would not ask Cellini to the +dance till she saw him at the table d'hote to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps Alphonse has told him all about it," I suggested. +</P> + +<P> +My friend's countenance brightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course! That is it; and Mr. Cellini takes it for granted that a +girl of your age would not be likely to refuse a dance. Still there is +something odd about it, too. By-the-bye, I forgot to ask you how the +picture got on?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, very well, I believe," I replied evasively. "Signor Cellini only +made a slight outline sketch as a beginning." +</P> + +<P> +"And was it like you?—a really good resemblance?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really did not examine it closely enough to be able to judge." +</P> + +<P> +"What a demure young person you are!" laughed Mrs. Everard. "Now, <I>I</I> +should have rushed straight up to the easel and examined every line of +what he was doing. You are a model of discretion, really! I shan't be +anxious about leaving you alone any more. But about your dress for +to-night. Let me see it, there's a good girl." +</P> + +<P> +I opened my trunk and took out a robe of ivory-tinted crepe. It was +made with almost severe simplicity, and was unadorned, save by a soft +ruffle of old Mechlin lace round the neck and sleeves. Amy examined it +critically. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, you would have looked perfectly ghastly in this last night, when +you were as pale and hollow-eyed as a sick nun; but to-night," and she +raised her eyes to my face, "I believe you will do. Don't you want the +bodice cut lower?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks!" I said, smiling. "I will leave that to the portly +dowagers—they will expose neck enough for half-a-dozen other women." +</P> + +<P> +My friend laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Do as you like," she returned; "only I see your gown has short +sleeves, and I thought you might like a square neck instead of that +little simple Greek round. But perhaps it's better as it is. The stuff +is lovely; where did you get it?" +</P> + +<P> +"At one of the London emporiums of Eastern art," I answered. "My dear, +your tea is getting cold." +</P> + +<P> +She laid the dress on the bed, and in doing so, perceived the +antique-looking book with the silver clasps which I had left there. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this?" she asked, turning it round to discover its name. +"'Letters of a Dead Musician!' What a shivery title! Is it morbid +reading?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," I replied, as I leaned comfortably back in an easy-chair +and sipped my tea. "It is a very scholarly, poetical, and picturesque +work. Signor Cellini lent it to me; the author was a friend of his." +</P> + +<P> +Amy looked at me with a knowing and half-serious expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Say now—take care, take care! Aren't you and Cellini getting to be +rather particular friends—something a little beyond the Platonic, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +This notion struck me as so absurd that I laughed heartily. Then, +without pausing for one instant to think what I was saying, I answered +with amazing readiness and frankness, considering that I really knew +nothing about it: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, my dear, Raffaello Cellini is betrothed, and he is a most devoted +lover." +</P> + +<P> +A moment after I had uttered this assertion I was surprised at myself. +What authority had I for saying that Cellini was betrothed? What did I +know about it? Confused, I endeavoured to find some means of retracting +this unfounded and rash remark, but no words of explanation would come +to my lips that had been so ready and primed to deliver what might be, +for all I knew, a falsehood. Amy did not perceive my embarrassment. She +was pleased and interested at the idea of Cellini's being in love. +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" she exclaimed, "it makes him a more romantic character than +ever! Fancy his telling you that he was betrothed! How delightful! I +must ask him all about his chosen fair one. But I'm positively thankful +it isn't you, for I'm sure he's just a little bit off his head. Even +this book he has lent you looks like a wizard's property;" and she +fluttered the leaves of the "Dead Musician's" volume, turning them +rapidly over in search of something attractive. Suddenly she paused and +cried out: "Why, this is right-down awful! He must have been a regular +madman! Just listen!" and she read aloud: +</P> + +<P> +"'How mighty are the Kingdoms of the Air! How vast they are—how +densely populated—how glorious are their destinies—how all-powerful +and wise are their inhabitants! They possess everlasting health and +beauty—their movements are music—their glances are light—they cannot +err in their laws or judgments, for their existence is love. Thrones, +principalities, and powers are among them, yet all are equal. Each one +has a different duty to perform, yet all their labours are lofty. But +what a fate is ours on this low earth! For, from the cradle to the +grave, we are watched by these spiritual spectators—watched with +unflinching interest, unhesitating regard. O Angelic Spirits, what is +there in the poor and shabby spectacle of human life to attract your +mighty Intelligences? Sorrow, sin, pride, shame, ambition, failure, +obstinacy, ignorance, selfishness, forgetfulness—enough to make ye +veil your radiant faces in unpierceable clouds to hide forever the +sight of so much crime and misery. Yet if there be the faintest, +feeblest effort in our souls to answer to the call of your voices, to +rise above the earth by force of the same will that pervades your +destinies, how the sound of great rejoicing permeates those wide +continents ye inhabit, like a wave of thunderous music; and ye are +glad, Blessed Spirits!—glad with a gladness beyond that of your own +lives, to feel and to know that some vestige, however fragile, is +spared from the general wreck of selfish and unbelieving Humanity. +Truly we work under the shadow of a "cloud of Witnesses." Disperse, +disperse, O dense yet brilliant multitudes! turn away from me your +burning, truthful, immutable eyes, filled with that look of divine, +perpetual regret and pity! Lo, how unworthy am I to behold your glory! +and yet I must see and know and love you all, while the mad blind world +rushes on to its own destruction, and none can avert its doom.'" +</P> + +<P> +Here Amy threw down the book with a sort of contempt, and said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"If you are going to muddle your mind with the ravings of a lunatic, +you are not what I took you for. Why, it's regular spiritualism! +Kingdoms of the air indeed! And his cloud of witnesses! Rubbish!" +</P> + +<P> +"He quotes the CLOUD OF WITNESSES from St. Paul," I remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"More shame for him!" replied my friend, with the usual inconsistent +indignation that good Protestants invariably display when their pet +corn, the Bible, is accidentally trodden on. "It has been very well +said that the devil can quote Scripture, and this musician (a good job +he IS dead, I'm sure) is perfectly blasphemous to quote the Testament +in support of his ridiculous ideas! St. Paul did not mean by 'a cloud +of witnesses,' a lot of 'air multitudes' and 'burning, immutable eyes,' +and all that nonsense." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what DID he mean?" I gently persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he meant—why, you know very well what he meant," said Amy, in a +tone of reproachful solemnity. "And I wonder at your asking me such a +question! Surely you know your Bible, and you must be aware that St. +Paul could never have approved of spiritualism." +</P> + +<P> +"'And there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, but one is the +glory of the celestial?" I quoted with, a slight smile. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Everard looked shocked and almost angry. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear, I am ashamed of you! You are a believer in spirits, I do +declare! Why, I thought Maskelyne and Cook had cured everybody of such +notions; and now here's this horrid book going to make you more nervous +than ever. I shall have you getting up one night and shrieking about +burning, immutable eyes looking at you." +</P> + +<P> +I laughed merrily as I rose to pick up the discarded volume from the +floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be afraid," I said; "I'll give back the book to Signor Cellini +to-morrow, and I will tell him that you do not like the idea of my +reading it, and that I am going to study the Bible instead. Come now, +dear, don't look cross!" and I embraced her warmly, for I liked her far +too well to wish to offend her. "Let us concentrate our attention on +our finery for to-night, when a 'dense and brilliant multitude,' not of +air, but of the 'earth earthy,' will pass us under critical survey. I +assure you I mean to make the best of my improved looks, as I don't +believe they will last. I dare say I shall be the 'sick nun' that you +termed me again to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not, dearest," said my friend kindly, returning my caress and +forgetting her momentary ill-humour. "A jolly dance will do you good if +you are careful to avoid over-exertion. But you are quite right, we +must really fix our things ready for the evening, else we shall be all +in a flurry at the last moment, and nothing riles the Colonel so much +as to see women in a fuss. I shall wear my lace dress; but it wants +seeing to. Will you help me?" +</P> + +<P> +Readily assenting, we were soon deep in the arrangement of the +numberless little mysteries that make up a woman's toilette; and +nothing but the most frivolous conversation ensued. But as I assisted +in the sorting of laces, jewels, and other dainty appendages of evening +costume, I was deep in earnest meditation. Reviewing in my own mind the +various sensations I had experienced since I had tasted that Eastern +wine in Cellini's studio, I came to the conclusion that he must have +tried an experiment on me with some foreign drug, of which he alone +knew the properties. Why he should do this I could not determine; but +that he had done it I was certain. Besides this, I felt sure that he +personally exerted some influence upon me—a soothing and calming +influence I was forced to admit—still, it could hardly be allowed to +continue. To be under the control, however slight, of one who was +almost a stranger to me, was, at the least, unnatural and unpleasant. I +was bound to ask him a few plain questions. And, supposing Mrs. Everard +were to speak to him about his being betrothed, and he were to deny it, +and afterwards were to turn round upon me and ask what authority I had +for making such a statement, what should I say? Convict myself of +falsehood? However, it was no use to puzzle over the solution of this +difficulty till it positively presented itself. At any rate, I +determined I would ask him frankly, face to face, for some explanation +of the strange emotions I had felt ever since meeting him; and thus +resolved, I waited patiently for the evening. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DANCE AND A PROMISE. +</H3> + +<P> +Our little French friend, Madame Didier, was not a woman to do things +by halves. She was one of those rare exceptions among Parisian +ladies—she was a perfectly happy wife; nay, more, she was in love with +her own husband, a fact which, considering the present state of society +both in France and England, rendered her almost contemptible in the +eyes of all advanced thinkers. She was plump and jolly in appearance; +round-eyed and brisk as a lively robin. Her husband, a large, +mild-faced placid man—"mon petit mari," as she called him—permitted +her to have her own way in everything, and considered all she did as +perfectly well done. Therefore, when she had proposed this informal +dance at the Hotel de L——, he made no objection, but entered into her +plans with spirit; and, what was far more important, opened his purse +readily to her demands for the necessary expenses. So nothing was +stinted; the beautiful ballroom attached to the hotel was thrown open, +and lavishly decorated with flowers, fountains, and twinkling lights; +an awning extended from its windows right down the avenue of dark +ilex-trees, which were ornamented with Chinese lanterns; an elegant +supper was laid out in the large dining-room, and the whole +establishment was en fete. The delicious strains of a Viennese band +floated to our ears as Colonel Everard, his wife, and myself descended +the staircase on our way to the scene of revelry; and suggestions of +fairyland were presented to us in the graceful girlish forms, clad in +light, diaphanous attire, that flitted here and there, or occasionally +passed us. Colonel Everard marched proudly along with the military +bearing that always distinguished him, now and then glancing admiringly +at his wife, who, indeed, looked her very best. Her dress was of the +finest Brussels lace, looped over a skirt of the palest shell-pink +satin; deep crimson velvet roses clustered on her breast, and nestled +in her rich hair; a necklace of magnificent rubies clasped her neck, +and the same jewels glittered on her round white arms. Her eyes shone +with pleasurable excitement, and the prettiest colour imaginable tinted +her delicate cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"When an American woman is lovely, she is very lovely," I said. "You +will be the belle of the room to-night, Amy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" she replied, well pleased, though, at my remark. "You must +remember I have a rival in yourself." +</P> + +<P> +I shrugged my shoulders incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not like you to be sarcastic," I said. "You know very well I +have the air of a resuscitated corpse." +</P> + +<P> +The Colonel wheeled round suddenly, and brought us all up to a +standstill before a great mirror. +</P> + +<P> +"If YOU are like a resuscitated corpse, I'll throw a hundred dollars +into the next mud-pond," he observed. "Look at yourself." +</P> + +<P> +I looked, at first indifferently, and then with searching scrutiny. I +saw a small, slender girl, clad in white, with a mass of gold hair +twisted loosely up from her neck, and fastened with a single star of +diamonds. A superb garniture of natural lilies of the valley was +fastened on this girl's shoulder; and, falling loosely across her +breast, lost itself in the trailing folds of her gown. She held a +palm-leaf fan entirely covered with lilies of the valley, and a girdle +of the same flowers encircled her waist. Her face was serious, but +contented; her eyes were bright, but with an intense and thoughtful +lustre; and her cheeks were softly coloured, as though a west wind had +blown freshly against them. There was nothing either attractive or +repulsive about her that I could see; and yet—I turned away from the +mirror hastily with a faint smile. +</P> + +<P> +"The lilies form the best part of my toilette," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"That they do," asserted Amy, with emphasis. "They are the finest +specimens I ever saw. It was real elegant of Mr. Cellini to send them +all fixed up ready like that, fan and all. You must be a favourite of +his!" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, let us proceed," I answered, with some abruptness. "We are +losing time." +</P> + +<P> +In a few seconds more we entered the ballroom, and were met at once by +Madame Didier, who, resplendent in black lace and diamonds, gave us +hearty greeting. She stared at me with unaffected amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"Mon dieu!" she exclaimed—her conversation with us was always a +mixture of French and broken English—"I should not 'ave know zis young +lady again! She 'ave si bonne mine. You veel dance, sans doute?" +</P> + +<P> +We readily assented, and the usual assortment of dancing-men of all +ages and sizes was brought forward for our inspection; while the +Colonel, being introduced to a beaming English girl of some seventeen +summers, whirled her at once into the merry maze of dancers, who were +spinning easily round to the lively melody of one of Strauss's most +fascinating waltzes. Presently I also found myself circling the room +with an amiable young German, who ambled round with a certain amount of +cleverness, considering that he was evidently ignorant of the actual +waltz step; and I caught a glimpse now and then of Amy's rubies as they +flashed past me in the dance—she was footing it merrily with a +handsome Austrian Hussar. The room was pleasantly full—not too crowded +for the movements of the dancers; and the whole scene was exceedingly +pretty and animated. I had no lack of partners, and I was surprised to +find myself so keenly alive to enjoyment, and so completely free from +my usual preoccupied condition of nervous misery I looked everywhere +for Raffaello Cellini, but he was not to be seen. The lilies that I +wore, which he had sent me, seemed quite unaffected by the heat and +glare of the gaslight—not a leaf drooped, not a petal withered; and +their remarkable whiteness and fragrance elicited many admiring remarks +from those with whom I conversed. It was growing very late; there were +only two more waltzes before the final cotillon. I was standing near +the large open window of the ballroom, conversing with one of my recent +partners, when a sudden inexplicable thrill shot through me from head +to foot. Instinctively I turned, and saw Cellini approaching. He looked +remarkably handsome, though his face was pale and somewhat wearied in +expression. He was laughing and conversing gaily with two ladies, one +of whom was Mrs. Everard; and as he came towards me he bowed +courteously, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I am too much honoured by the kindness mademoiselle has shown in not +discarding my poor flowers." +</P> + +<P> +"They are lovely," I replied simply; "and I am very much obliged to +you, signor, for sending them to me." +</P> + +<P> +"And how fresh they keep!" said Amy, burying her little nose in the +fragrance of my fan; "yet they have been in the heat of the room all +the evening." +</P> + +<P> +"They cannot perish while mademoiselle wears them," said Cellini +gallantly. "Her breath is their life." +</P> + +<P> +"Bravo!" cried Amy, clapping her hands. "That is very prettily said, +isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +I was silent. I never could endure compliments. They are seldom +sincere, and it gives me no pleasure to be told lies, however prettily +they may be worded. Signor Cellini appeared to divine my thoughts, for +he said in a lower tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, mademoiselle; I see my observation displeased you; but +there is more truth in it than you perhaps know." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, say!" interrupted Mrs. Everard at this juncture; "I am SO +interested, signor, to hear you are engaged! I suppose she is a dream +of beauty?" +</P> + +<P> +The hot colour rushed to my cheeks, and I bit my lips in confusion and +inquietude. What WOULD he answer? My anxiety was not of long duration. +Cellini smiled, and seemed in no way surprised. He said quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"Who told you, madame, that I am engaged?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, she did, of course!" went on my friend, nodding towards me, +regardless of an imploring look I cast at her. "And said you were +perfectly devoted!" +</P> + +<P> +"She is quite right," replied Cellini, with another of those rare sweet +smiles of his; "and you also are right, madame, in your supposition: my +betrothed is a Dream of Beauty." +</P> + +<P> +I was infinitely relieved. I had not, then, been guilty of a falsehood. +But the mystery remained: how had I discovered the truth of the matter +at all? While I puzzled my mind over this question, the other lady who +had accompanied Mrs. Everard spoke. She was an Austrian of brilliant +position and attainments. +</P> + +<P> +"You quite interest me, signor!" she said. "Is your fair fiancee here +to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, madame," replied Cellini; "she is not in this country." +</P> + +<P> +"What a pity!" exclaimed Amy. "I want to see her real bad. Don't you?" +she asked, turning to me. +</P> + +<P> +I raised my eyes and met the dark clear ones of the artist fixed full +upon me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I said hesitatingly; "I should like to meet her. Perhaps the +chance will occur at some future time." +</P> + +<P> +"There is not the slightest doubt about that," said Cellini. "And now, +mademoiselle, will you give me the pleasure of this waltz with you? or +are you promised to another partner?" +</P> + +<P> +I was not engaged, and I at once accepted his proffered arm. Two +gentlemen came hurriedly up to claim Amy and her Austrian friend; and +for one brief moment Signor Cellini and I stood alone in a +comparatively quiet corner of the ballroom, waiting for the music to +begin. I opened my lips to ask him a question, when he stopped me by a +slight gesture of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Patience!" he said in a low and earnest tone. "In a few moments you +shall have the opportunity you seek." +</P> + +<P> +The band burst forth just then in the voluptuous strains of a waltz by +Gung'l, and together we floated away to its exquisite gliding measure. +I use the word FLOATED, advisedly, for no other term could express the +delightful sensation I enjoyed. Cellini was a superb dancer. It seemed +to me that our feet scarcely touched the floor, so swiftly, so easily +and lightly we sped along. A few rapid turns, and I noticed we were +nearing the open French windows, and, before I well realized it, we had +stopped dancing and were pacing quietly side by side down the ilex +avenue, where the little lanterns twinkled like red fireflies and green +glow-worms among the dark and leafy branches. +</P> + +<P> +We walked along in silence till we reached the end of the path. There, +before us, lay the open garden, with its broad green lawn, bathed in +the lovely light of the full moon, sailing aloft in a cloudless sky. +The night was very warm, but, regardless of this fact, Cellini wrapped +carefully round me a large fleecy white burnous that he had taken from +a chair where it was lying, on his way through the avenue. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not cold," I said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"No; but you will be, perhaps. It is not wise to run any useless risks." +</P> + +<P> +I was again silent. A low breeze rustled in the tree-tops near us; the +music of the ballroom reached us only in faint and far echoes; the +scent of roses and myrtle was wafted delicately on the balmy air; the +radiance of the moon softened the outlines of the landscape into a +dreamy suggestiveness of its reality. Suddenly a sound broke on our +ears—a delicious, long, plaintive trill; then a wonderful shower of +sparkling roulades; and finally, a clear, imploring, passionate note +repeated many times. It was a nightingale, singing as only the +nightingales of the South can sing. I listened entranced. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!<BR> + No hungry generations tread thee down;<BR> + The voice I hear this passing night was heard<BR> + In ancient days by emperor and clown,'"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +quoted Cellini in earnest tones. +</P> + +<P> +"You admire Keats?" I asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"More than any other poet that has lived," he replied. "His was the +most ethereal and delicate muse that ever consented to be tied down to +earth. But, mademoiselle, you do not wish to examine me as to my taste +in poetry. You have some other questions to put to me, have you not?" +</P> + +<P> +For one instant I hesitated. Then I spoke out frankly, and answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, signor. What was there in that wine you gave me this morning?" +</P> + +<P> +He met my searching gaze unflinchingly. +</P> + +<P> +"A medicine," he said. "An excellent and perfectly simple remedy made +of the juice of plants, and absolutely harmless." +</P> + +<P> +"But why," I demanded, "why did you give me this medicine? Was it not +wrong to take so much responsibility upon yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I think not. If you are injured or offended, then I was wrong; but if, +on the contrary, your health and spirits are ever so little improved, +as I see they are, I deserve your thanks, mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +And he waited with an air of satisfaction and expectancy. I was puzzled +and half-angry, yet I could not help acknowledging to myself that I +felt better and more cheerful than I had done for many months. I looked +up at the artist's dark, intelligent face, and said almost humbly: +</P> + +<P> +"I DO thank you, signor. But surely you will tell me your reasons for +constituting yourself my physician without even asking my leave." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and his eyes looked very friendly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle, I am one of those strangely constituted beings who +cannot bear to see any innocent thing suffer. It matters not whether it +be a worm in the dust, a butterfly in the air, a bird, a flower, or a +human creature. The first time I saw you I knew that your state of +health precluded you from the enjoyment of life natural to your sex and +age. I also perceived that the physicians had been at work upon you +trying to probe into the causes of your ailment, and that they had +signally failed. Physicians, mademoiselle, are very clever and +estimable men, and there are a few things which come within the limit +of their treatment; but there are also other things which baffle their +utmost profundity of knowledge. One of these is that wondrous piece of +human machinery, the nervous system; that intricate and delicate +network of fine threads—electric wires on which run the messages of +thought, impulse, affection, emotion. If these threads or wires become, +from any subtle cause, entangled, the skill of the mere medical +practitioner is of no avail to undo the injurious knot, or to unravel +the confused skein. The drugs generally used in such cases are, for the +most part, repellent to the human blood and natural instinct, therefore +they are always dangerous, and often deadly. I knew, by studying your +face, mademoiselle, that you were suffering as acutely as I, too, +suffered some five years ago, and I ventured to try upon you a simple +vegetable essence, merely to see if you were capable of benefiting by +it. The experiment has been so far successful; but——" +</P> + +<P> +He paused, and his face became graver and more abstracted. +</P> + +<P> +"But what?" I queried eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"I was about to say," he continued, "that the effect is only +transitory. Within forty-eight hours you must naturally relapse into +your former prostrate condition, and I, unfortunately, am powerless to +prevent it." +</P> + +<P> +I sighed wearily, and a feeling of disappointment oppressed me. Was it +possible that I must again be the victim of miserable dejection, pain, +and stupor? +</P> + +<P> +"You can give me another dose of your remedy," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"That I cannot, mademoiselle," he answered regretfully; "I dare not, +without further advice and guidance." +</P> + +<P> +"Advice and guidance from whom?" I inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"From the friend who cured me of my long and almost hopeless illness," +said Cellini. "He alone can tell me whether I am right in my theories +respecting your nature and constitution." +</P> + +<P> +"And what are those theories?" I asked, becoming deeply interested in +the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +Cellini was silent for a minute or so; he seemed absorbed in a sort of +inward communion with himself. Then he spoke with impressiveness and +gravity: +</P> + +<P> +"In this world, mademoiselle, there are no two natures alike, yet all +are born with a small portion of Divinity within them, which we call +the Soul. It is a mere spark smouldering in the centre of the weight of +clay with which we are encumbered, yet it is there. Now this particular +germ or seed can be cultivated if we will—that is, if we desire and +insist on its growth. As a child's taste for art or learning can be +educated into high capabilities for the future, so can the human Soul +be educated into so high, so supreme an attainment, that no merely +mortal standard of measurement can reach its magnificence. With much +more than half the inhabitants of the globe, this germ of immortality +remains always a germ, never sprouting, overlaid and weighted down by +the lymphatic laziness and materialistic propensities of its shell or +husk—the body. But I must put aside the forlorn prospect of the +multitudes in whom the Divine Essence attains to no larger quantity +than that proportioned out to a dog or bird—I have only to speak of +the rare few with whom the soul is everything—those who, perceiving +and admitting its existence within them, devote all their powers to +fanning up their spark of light till it becomes a radiant, burning, +inextinguishable flame. The mistake made by these examples of beatified +Humanity is that they too often sacrifice the body to the demands of +the spirit. It is difficult to find the medium path, but it can be +found; and the claims of both body and soul can be satisfied without +sacrificing the one to the other. I beg your earnest attention, +mademoiselle, for what I say concerning THE RARE FEW WITH WHOM THE SOUL +IS EVERYTHING. YOU are one of those few, unless I am greatly in error. +And you have sacrificed your body so utterly to your spirit that the +flesh rebels and suffers. This will not do. You have work before you in +the world, and you cannot perform it unless you have bodily health as +well as spiritual desire. And why? Because you are a prisoner here on +earth, and you must obey the laws of the prison, however unpleasant +they may be to you. Were you free as you have been in ages past and as +you will be in ages to come, things would be different; but at present +you must comply with the orders of your gaolers—the Lords of Life and +Death." +</P> + +<P> +I heard him, half awed, half fascinated. His words were full of +mysterious suggestions. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know I am of the temperament you describe?" I asked in a +low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know, mademoiselle; I can only guess. There is but one person +who can perhaps judge of you correctly,—a man older than myself by +many years—whose life is the very acme of spiritual perfection—whose +learning is vast and unprejudiced. I must see and speak to him before I +try any more of my, or rather his, remedies. But we have lingered long +enough out here, and unless you have something more to say to me, we +will return to the ballroom. You will otherwise miss the cotillon;" and +he turned to retrace the way through the illuminated grove. +</P> + +<P> +But a sudden thought had struck me, and I resolved to utter it aloud. +Laying my hand on his arm and looking him full in the face, I said +slowly and distinctly: +</P> + +<P> +"This friend of yours that you speak of—is not his name HELIOBAS?" +</P> + +<P> +Cellini started violently; the blood rushed up to his brows and as +quickly receded, leaving him paler than before. His dark eyes glowed +with suppressed excitement—his hand trembled. Recovering himself +slowly, he met my gaze fixedly; his glance softened, and he bent his +head with an air of respect and reverence. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle, I see that you must know all. It is your fate. You are +greatly to be envied. Come to me to-morrow, and I will tell you +everything that is to be told. Afterwards your destiny rests in your +own hands. Ask nothing more of me just now." +</P> + +<P> +He escorted me without further words back to the ballroom, where the +merriment of the cotillon was then at its height. Whispering to Mrs. +Everard as I passed her that I was tired and was going to bed, I +reached the outside passage, and there, turning to Cellini, I said +gently: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, signor. To-morrow at noon I will come." +</P> + +<P> +He replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, mademoiselle! To-morrow at noon you will find me ready." +</P> + +<P> +With that he saluted me courteously and turned away. I hurried up to my +own room, and on arriving there I could not help observing the +remarkable freshness of the lilies I wore. They looked as if they had +just been gathered. I unfastened them all from my dress, and placed +them carefully in water; then quickly disrobing, I was soon in bed. I +meditated for a few minutes on the various odd occurrences of the day; +but my thoughts soon grew misty and confused, and I travelled quickly +off into the Land of Nod, and thence into the region of sleep, where I +remained undisturbed by so much as the shadow of a dream. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CELLINI'S STORY. +</H3> + +<P> +The following morning at the appointed hour, I went to Cellini's +studio, and was received by him with a sort of gentle courtesy and +kindliness that became him very well. I was already beginning to +experience an increasing languor and weariness, the sure forerunner of +what the artist had prophesied—namely, a return of all my old +sufferings. Amy, tired out by the dancing of the previous night, was +still in bed, as were many of those who had enjoyed Madame Didier's +fete; and the hotel was unusually quiet, almost seeming as though half +the visitors had departed during the night. It was a lovely morning, +sunny and calm; and Cellini, observing that I looked listless and +fatigued, placed a comfortable easy-chair for me near the window, from +whence I could see one of the prettiest parterres of the garden, gay +with flowers of every colour and perfume. He himself remained standing, +one hand resting lightly on his writing-table, which was strewn with a +confusion of letters and newspapers. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Leo?" I asked, as I glanced round the room in search of that +noble animal. +</P> + +<P> +"Leo left for Paris last night," replied Cellini; "he carried an +important despatch for me, which I feared to trust to the post-office." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it safer in Leo's charge?" I inquired, smiling, for the sagacity of +the dog amused as well as interested me. +</P> + +<P> +"Much safer! Leo carries on his collar a small tin case, just large +enough to contain several folded sheets of paper. When he knows he has +that box to guard during his journeys, he is simply unapproachable. He +would fight any one who attempted to touch it with the ferocity of a +hungry tiger, and there is no edible dainty yet invented that could +tempt his appetite or coax him into any momentary oblivion of his duty. +There is no more trustworthy or faithful messenger." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you have sent him to your friend—his master," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. He has gone straight home to—Heliobas." +</P> + +<P> +This name now awakened in me no surprise or even curiosity. It simply +sounded homelike and familiar. I gazed abstractedly out of the window +at the brilliant blossoms in the garden, that nodded their heads at me +like so many little elves with coloured caps on, but I said nothing. I +felt that Cellini watched me keenly and closely. Presently he continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I tell you everything now, mademoiselle?" +</P> + +<P> +I turned towards him eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask you one question?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"How and where did you hear the name of Heliobas?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked up hesitatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"In a dream, signor, strange to say; or rather in three dreams. I will +relate them to you." +</P> + +<P> +And I described the visions I had seen, being careful to omit no +detail, for, indeed, I remembered everything with curious distinctness. +</P> + +<P> +The artist listened with grave and fixed attention. When I had +concluded he said: +</P> + +<P> +"The elixir I gave you acted more potently than even I imagined it +would. You are more sensitive than I thought. Do not fatigue yourself +any more, mademoiselle, by talking. With your permission I will sit +down here opposite to you and tell you my story. Afterwards you must +decide for yourself whether you will adopt the method of treatment to +which I owe my life, and something more than my life—my reason." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his own library-chair towards me, and seated himself. A few +moments passed in silence; his expression was very earnest and +absorbed, and he regarded my face with a sympathetic interest which +touched me profoundly. Though I felt myself becoming more and more +enervated and apathetic as the time went on, and though I knew I was +gradually sinking down again into my old Slough of Despond, yet I felt +instinctively that I was somehow actively concerned in what was about +to be said, therefore I forced myself to attend closely to every word +uttered. Cellini began to speak in low and quiet tones as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"You must be aware, mademoiselle, that those who adopt any art as a +means of livelihood begin the world heavily handicapped—weighted down, +as it were, in the race for fortune. The following of art is a very +different thing to the following of trade or mercantile business. In +buying or selling, in undertaking the work of import or export, a good +head for figures, and an average quantity of shrewd common sense, are +all that is necessary in order to win a fair share of success. But in +the finer occupations, whose results are found in sculpture, painting, +music and poetry, demands are made upon the imagination, the emotions, +the entire spiritual susceptibility of man. The most delicate fibres of +the brain are taxed; the subtle inner workings of thought are brought +into active play; and the temperament becomes daily and hourly more +finely strung, more sensitive, more keenly alive to every passing +sensation. Of course there are many so-called 'ARTISTS' who are mere +shams of the real thing; persons who, having a little surface-education +in one or the other branch of the arts, play idly with the paint-brush, +or dabble carelessly in the deep waters of literature,—or borrow a few +crotchets and quavers from other composers, and putting them together +in haste, call it ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. Among these are to be found the +self-called 'professors' of painting; the sculptors who allow the work +of their 'ghosts' to be admired as their own; the magazine-scribblers; +the 'smart' young leader-writers and critics; the half-hearted +performers on piano or violin who object to any innovation, and prefer +to grind on in the unemotional, coldly correct manner which they are +pleased to term the 'classical'—such persons exist, and will exist, so +long as good and evil are leading forces of life. They are the aphides +on the rose of art. But the men and women I speak of as ARTISTS are +those who work day and night to attain even a small degree of +perfection, and who are never satisfied with their own best efforts. I +was one of these some years ago, and I humbly assert myself still to be +of the same disposition; only the difference between myself then and +myself now is, that THEN I struggled blindly and despairingly, and NOW +I labour patiently and with calmness, knowing positively that I shall +obtain what I seek at the duly appointed hour. I was educated as a +painter, mademoiselle, by my father, a good, simple-hearted man, whose +little landscapes looked like bits cut out of the actual field and +woodland, so fresh and pure were they. But I was not content to follow +in the plain path he first taught me to tread. Merely correct drawing, +merely correct colouring, were not sufficient for my ambition. I had +dazzled my eyes with the loveliness of Correggio's 'Madonna,' and had +marvelled at the wondrous blue of her robe—a blue so deep and intense +that I used to think one might scrape away the paint till a hole was +bored in the canvas and yet not reach the end of that fathomless azure +tint; I had studied the warm hues of Titian; I had felt ready to float +away in the air with the marvellous 'Angel of the Annunciation'—and +with all these thoughts in me, how could I content myself with the +ordinary aspiration of modern artists? I grew absorbed in one +subject—Colour. I noted how lifeless and pale the colouring of to-day +appeared beside that of the old masters, and I meditated deeply on the +problem thus presented to me. What was the secret of Correggio—of Fra +Angelico—of Raphael? I tried various experiments; I bought the most +expensive and highly guaranteed pigments. In vain, for they were all +adulterated by the dealers! Then I obtained colours in the rough, and +ground and mixed them myself; still, though a little better result was +obtained, I found trade adulteration still at work with the oils, the +varnishes, the mediums—in fact, with everything that painters use to +gain effect in their works. I could nowhere escape from vicious +dealers, who, to gain a miserable percentage on every article sold, are +content to be among the most dishonest men in this dishonest age. +</P> + +<P> +"I assure you, mademoiselle, that not one of the pictures which are now +being painted for the salons of Paris and London can possibly last a +hundred years. I recently visited that Palace of Art, the South +Kensington Museum, in London, and saw there a large fresco by Sir +Frederick Leighton. It had just been completed, I was informed. It was +already fading! Within a few years it will be a blur of indistinct +outlines. I compared its condition with the cartoons of Raphael, and a +superb Giorgione in the same building; these were as warm and bright as +though recently painted. It is not Leighton's fault that his works are +doomed to perish as completely off the canvas as though he had never +traced them; it is his dire misfortune, and that of every other +nineteenth-century painter, thanks to the magnificent institution of +free trade, which has resulted in a vulgar competition of all countries +and all classes to see which can most quickly jostle the other out of +existence. But I am wearying you, mademoiselle—pardon me! To resume my +own story. As I told you, I could think of nothing but the one subject +of Colour; it haunted me incessantly. I saw in my dreams visions, of +exquisite forms and faces that I longed to transfer to my canvas, but I +could never succeed in the attempt. My hand seemed to have lost all +skill. About this time my father died, and I, having no other relation +in the world, and no ties of home to cling to, lived in utter solitude, +and tortured my brain more and more with the one question that baffled +and perplexed me. I became moody and irritable; I avoided intercourse +with everyone, and at last sleep forsook my eyes. Then came a terrible +season of feverish trouble, nervous dejection and despair. At times I +would sit silently brooding; at others I started up and walked rapidly +for hours, in the hope to calm the wild unrest that took possession of +my brain. I was then living in Rome, in the studio that had been my +father's. One evening—how well I remember it!—I was attacked by one +of those fierce impulses that forbade me to rest or think or sleep, +and, as usual, I hurried out for one of those long aimless excursions I +had latterly grown accustomed to. At the open street-door stood the +proprietress of the house, a stout, good-natured contadina, with her +youngest child Pippa holding to her skirt. As she saw me approaching, +she started back with an exclamation of alarm, and catching the little +girl up in her arms, she made the sign of the cross rapidly. Astonished +at this, I paused in my hasty walk, and said with as much calmness as I +could muster: +</P> + +<P> +"'What do you mean by that? Have I the evil-eye, think you?' +</P> + +<P> +"Curly-haired Pippa stretched out her arms to me—I had often caressed +the little one, and given her sweetmeats and toys—but her mother held +her back with a sort of smothered scream, and muttered: +</P> + +<P> +"'Holy Virgin! Pippa must not touch him; he is mad.' +</P> + +<P> +"Mad? I looked at the woman and child in scornful amazement. Then +without further words I turned, and went swiftly away down the street +out of their sight. Mad! Was I indeed losing my reason? Was this the +terrific meaning of my sleepless nights, my troubled thoughts, my +strange inquietude? Fiercely I strode along, heedless whither I was +going, till I found myself suddenly on the borders of the desolate +Campagna. A young moon gleamed aloft, looking like a slender sickle +thrust into the heavens to reap an over-abundant harvest of stars. I +paused irresolutely. There was a deep silence everywhere. I felt faint +and giddy: curious flashes of light danced past my eyes, and my limbs +shook like those of a palsied old man. I sank upon a stone to rest, to +try and arrange my scattered ideas into some sort of connection and +order. Mad! I clasped my aching head between my hands, and brooded on +the fearful prospect looming before me, and in the words of poor King +Lear, I prayed in my heart: +</P> + +<P> + "'O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heavens!'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"PRAYER! There was another thought. How could <I>I</I> pray? For I was a +sceptic. My father had educated me with broadly materialistic views; he +himself was a follower of Voltaire, and with his finite rod he took the +measure of Divinity, greatly to his own satisfaction. He was a good +man, too, and he died with exemplary calmness in the absolute certainty +of there being nothing in his composition but dust, to which he was as +bound to return. He had not a shred of belief in anything but what he +called the Universal Law of Necessity; perhaps this was why all his +pictures lacked inspiration. I accepted his theories without thinking +much about them, and I had managed to live respectably without any +religious belief. But NOW—now with the horrible phantom of madness +rising before me—my firm nerves quailed. I tried, I longed to PRAY. +Yet to whom? To what? To the Universal Law of Necessity? In that there +could be no hearing or answering of human petitions. I meditated on +this with a kind of sombre ferocity. Who portioned out this Law of +Necessity? What brutal Code compels us to be born, to live, to suffer, +and to die without recompense or reason? Why should this Universe be an +ever-circling Wheel of Torture? Then a fresh impetus came to me. I rose +from my recumbent posture and stood erect; I trembled no more. A +curious sensation of defiant amusement possessed me so violently that I +laughed aloud. Such a laugh, too! I recoiled from the sound, as from a +blow, with a shudder. It was the laugh of—a madman! I thought no more; +I was resolved. I would fulfil the grim Law of Necessity to its letter. +If Necessity caused my birth, it also demanded my death. Necessity +could not force me to live against my will. Better eternal nothingness +than madness. Slowly and deliberately I took from my vest a Milanese +dagger of thin sharp steel—one that I always carried with me as a +means of self-defence—I drew it from its sheath, and looked at the +fine edge glittering coldly in the pallid moon-rays. I kissed it +joyously; it was my final remedy! I poised it aloft with firm +fingers—another instant and it would have been buried deep in my +heart, when I felt a powerful grasp on my wrist, and a strong arm +struggling with mine forced the dagger from my hand. Savagely angry at +being thus foiled in my desperate intent, I staggered back a few paces +and sullenly stared at my rescuer. He was a tall man, clad in a dark +overcoat bordered with fur; he looked like a wealthy Englishman or +American travelling for pleasure. His features were fine and +commanding; his eyes gleamed with a gentle disdain as he coolly met my +resentful gaze. When he spoke his voice was rich and mellifluous, +though his accents had a touch in them of grave scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"'So you are tired of your life, young man! All the more reason have +you to live. Anyone can die. A murderer has moral force enough to jeer +at his hangman. It is very easy to draw the last breath. It can be +accomplished successfully by a child or a warrior. One pang of far less +anguish than the toothache, and all is over. There is nothing heroic +about it, I assure you! It is as common as going to bed; it is almost +prosy. LIFE is heroism, if you like; but death is a mere cessation of +business. And to make a rapid and rude exit off the stage before the +prompter gives the sign is always, to say the least of it, ungraceful. +Act the part out, no matter how bad the play. What say you?' +</P> + +<P> +"And, balancing the dagger lightly on one finger, as though it were a +paper-knife, he smiled at me with so much frank kindliness that it was +impossible to resist him. I advanced and held out my hand. +</P> + +<P> +"'Whoever you are,' I said, 'you speak like a true man. But you are +ignorant of the causes which compelled me to—-' and a hard sob choked +my utterance. My new acquaintance pressed my proffered hand cordially, +but the gravity of his tone did not vary as he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"'There is no cause, my friend, which compels us to take violent leave +of existence, unless it be madness or cowardice.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Aye, and what if it were madness?' I asked him eagerly. He scanned me +attentively, and laying his fingers lightly on my wrist, felt my pulse. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pooh, my dear sir!' he said; 'you are no more mad than I am. You are +a little overwrought and excited—that I admit. You have some mental +worry that consumes you. You shall tell me all about it. I have no +doubt I can cure you in a few days.' +</P> + +<P> +"Cure me? I looked at him in wonderment and doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"'Are you a physician?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He laughed. 'Not I! I should be sorry to belong to the profession. Yet +I administer medicines and give advice in certain cases. I am simply a +remedial agent—not a doctor. But why do we stand here in this bleak +place, which must be peopled by the ghosts of olden heroes? Come with +me, will you? I am going to the Hotel Costanza, and we can talk there. +As for this pretty toy, permit me to return it to you. You will not +force it again to the unpleasant task of despatching its owner.' +</P> + +<P> +"And he handed the dagger back to me with a slight bow. I sheathed it +at once, feeling somewhat like a chidden child, as I met the slightly +satirical gleam of the clear blue eyes that watched me. +</P> + +<P> +"'Will you give me your name, signor?' I asked, as we turned from the +Campagna towards the city. +</P> + +<P> +"'With pleasure. I am called Heliobas. A strange name? Oh, not at all! +It is pure Chaldee. My mother—as lovely an Eastern houri as Murillo's +Madonna, and as devout as Santa Teresa—gave me the Christian saint's +name of Casimir also, but Heliobas pur et simple suits me best, and by +it I am generally known.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You are a Chaldean?' I inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"'Exactly so. I am descended directly from one of those "wise men of +the East" (and, by the way, there were more than three, and they were +not all kings), who, being wide awake, happened to notice the +birth-star of Christ on the horizon before the rest of the world's +inhabitants had so much as rubbed their sleepy eyes. The Chaldeans have +been always quick of observation from time immemorial. But in return +for my name, you will favour me with yours?' +</P> + +<P> +"I gave it readily, and we walked on together. I felt wonderfully +calmed and cheered—as soothed, mademoiselle, as I have noticed you +yourself have felt when in MY company." +</P> + +<P> +Here Cellini paused, and looked at me as though expecting a question; +but I preferred to remain silent till I had heard all he had to say. He +therefore resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"We reached the Hotel Costanza, where Heliobas was evidently well +known. The waiters addressed him as Monsieur le Comte; but he gave me +no information as to this title. He had a superb suite of rooms in the +hotel, furnished with every modern luxury; and as soon as we entered a +light supper was served. He invited me to partake, and within the space +of half an hour I had told him all my history—my ambition—my +strivings after the perfection of colour—my disappointment, dejection, +and despair—and, finally, the fearful dread of coming madness that had +driven me to attempt my own life. He listened patiently and with +unbroken attention. When I had finished, he laid one hand on my +shoulder, and said gently: +</P> + +<P> +"'Young man, pardon me if I say that up to the present your career has +been an inactive, useless, selfish "kicking against the pricks," as St. +Paul says. You set before yourself a task of noble effort, namely, to +discover the secret of colouring as known to the old masters; and +because you meet with the petty difficulty of modern trade adulteration +in your materials, you think that there is no chance—that all is lost. +Fie! Do you think Nature is overcome by a few dishonest traders? She +can still give you in abundance the unspoilt colours she gave to +Raphael and Titian; but not in haste—not if you vulgarly scramble for +her gifts in a mood that is impatient of obstacle and delay. "Ohne +hast, ohne rast," is the motto of the stars. Learn it well. You have +injured your bodily health by useless fretfulness and peevish +discontent, and with that we have first to deal. In a week's time, I +will make a sound, sane man of you; and then I will teach you how to +get the colours you seek—yes!' he added, smiling, 'even to the +compassing of Correggio's blue.' +</P> + +<P> +"I could not speak for joy and gratitude; I grasped my friend and +preserver by the hand. We stood thus together for a brief interval, +when suddenly Heliobas drew himself up to the full stateliness of his +height and bent his calm eyes deliberately upon me. A strange thrill +ran through me; I still held his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"'Rest!' he said in slow and emphatic tones, 'Weary and overwrought +frame, take thy full and needful measure of repose! Struggling and +deeply injured spirit, be free of thy narrow prison! By that Force +which I acknowledge within me and thee and in all created things, I +command thee, REST!' +</P> + +<P> +"Fascinated, awed, overcome by his manner, I gazed at him and would +have spoken, but my tongue refused its office—my senses swam—my eyes +closed—my limbs gave way—I fell senseless." +</P> + +<P> +Cellini again paused and looked at me. Intent on his words, I would not +interrupt him. He went on: +</P> + +<P> +"When I say senseless, mademoiselle, I allude of course to my body. But +I, myself—that is, my soul—was conscious; I lived, I moved, I heard, +I saw. Of that experience I am forbidden to speak. When I returned to +mortal existence I found myself lying on a couch in the same room where +I had supped with Heliobas, and Heliobas himself sat near me reading. +It was broad noonday. A delicious sense of tranquillity and youthful +buoyancy was upon me, and without speaking I sprang up from my +recumbent position and touched him on the arm. He looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"'Well?' he asked, and his eyes smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I seized his hand, and pressed it reverently to my lips. +</P> + +<P> +"'My best friend!' I exclaimed. 'What wonders have I not seen—what +truths have I not learned—what mysteries!' +</P> + +<P> +"'On all these things be silent,' replied Heliobas. 'They must not be +lightly spoken of. And of the questions you naturally desire to ask me, +you shall have the answers in due time. What has happened to you is not +wonderful; you have simply been acted upon by scientific means. But +your cure is not yet complete. A few days more passed with me will +restore you thoroughly. Will you consent to remain so long in my +company?' +</P> + +<P> +"Gladly and gratefully I consented, and we spent the next ten days +together, during which Heliobas administered to me certain remedies, +external and internal, which had a marvellous effect in renovating and +invigorating my system. By the expiration of that time I was strong and +well—a sound and sane man, as my rescuer had promised I should be—my +brain was fresh and eager for work, and my mind was filled with new and +grand ideas of art. And I had gained through Heliobas two inestimable +things—a full comprehension of the truth of religion, and the secret +of human destiny; and I had won a LOVE so exquisite!" +</P> + +<P> +Here Cellini paused, and his eyes were uplifted in a sort of wondering +rapture. He continued after a pause: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mademoiselle, I discovered that I was loved, and watched over and +guided by ONE so divinely beautiful, so gloriously faithful, that +mortal language fails before the description of such perfection!" +</P> + +<P> +He paused again, and again continued: +</P> + +<P> +"When he found me perfectly healthy again in mind and body, Heliobas +showed me his art of mixing colours. From that hour all my works were +successful. You know that my pictures are eagerly purchased as soon as +completed, and that the colour I obtain in them is to the world a +mystery almost magical. Yet there is not one among the humblest of +artists who could not, if he chose, make use of the same means as I +have done to gain the nearly imperishable hues that still glow on the +canvases of Raphael. But of this there is no need to speak just now. I +have told you my story, mademoiselle, and it now rests with me to apply +its meaning to yourself. You are attending?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly," I replied; and, indeed, my interest at this point was so +strong that I could almost hear the expectant beating of my heart. +Cellini resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"Electricity, mademoiselle, is, as you are aware, the wonder of our +age. No end can be foreseen to the marvels it is capable of +accomplishing. But one of the most important branches of this great +science is ignorantly derided just now by the larger portion of +society—I mean the use of human electricity; that force which is in +each one of us—in you and in me—and, to a very large extent, in +Heliobas. He has cultivated the electricity in his own system to such +an extent that his mere touch, his lightest glance, have healing in +them, or the reverse, as he chooses to exert his power—I may say it is +never the reverse, for he is full of kindness, sympathy, and pity for +all humanity. His influence is so great that he can, without speaking, +by his mere presence suggest his own thoughts to other people who are +perfect strangers, and cause them to design and carry out certain +actions in accordance with his plans. You are incredulous? +Mademoiselle, this power is in every one of us; only we do not +cultivate it, because our education is yet so imperfect. To prove the +truth of what I say, <I>I</I>, though I have only advanced a little way in +the cultivation of my own electric force, even <I>I</I> have influenced YOU. +You cannot deny it. By my thought, impelled to you, you saw clearly my +picture that was actually veiled. By MY force, you replied correctly to +a question I asked you concerning that same picture. By MY desire, you +gave me, without being aware of it, a message from one I love when you +said, 'Dieu vous garde!' You remember? And the elixir I gave you, which +is one of the simplest remedies discovered by Heliobas, had the effect +of making you learn what he intended you to learn—his name." +</P> + +<P> +"He!" I exclaimed. "Why, he does not know me—he can have no intentions +towards me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle," replied Cellini gravely, "if you will think again of +the last of your three dreams, you will not doubt that he HAS +intentions towards you. As I told you, he is a PHYSICAL ELECTRICIAN. By +that is meant a great deal. He knows by instinct whether he is or will +be needed sooner or later. Let me finish what I have to say. You are +ill, mademoiselle—ill from over-work. You are an improvisatrice—that +is, you have the emotional genius of music, a spiritual thing +unfettered by rules, and utterly misunderstood by the world. You +cultivate this faculty, regardless of cost; you suffer, and you will +suffer more. In proportion as your powers in music grow, so will your +health decline. Go to Heliobas; he will do for you what he did for me. +Surely you will not hesitate? Between years of weak invalidism and +perfect health, in less than a fortnight, there can be no question of +choice." +</P> + +<P> +I rose from my seat slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is this Heliobas?" I asked. "In Paris?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, in Paris. If you decide to go there, take my advice, and go +alone. You can easily make some excuse to your friends. I will give you +the address of a ladies' Pension, where you will be made at home and +comfortable. May I do this?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you please," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +He wrote rapidly in pencil on a card of his own: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + "MADAME DENISE,<BR> + "36, Avenue du Midi,<BR> + "Paris,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and handed it to me. I stood still where I had risen, thinking deeply. +I had been impressed and somewhat startled by Cellini's story; but I +was in no way alarmed at the idea of trusting myself to the hands of a +physical electrician such as Heliobas professed to be. I knew that +there were many cases of serious illnesses being cured by means of +electricity—that electric baths and electric appliances of all +descriptions were in ordinary use; and I saw no reason to be surprised +at the fact of a man being in existence who had cultivated electric +force within himself to such an extent that he was able to use it as a +healing power. There seemed to me to be really nothing extraordinary in +it. The only part of Cellini's narration I did not credit was the +soul-transmigration he professed to have experienced; and I put that +down to the over-excitement of his imagination at the time of his first +interview with Heliobas. But I kept this thought to myself. In any +case, I resolved to go to Paris. The great desire of my life was to be +in perfect health, and I determined to omit no means of obtaining this +inestimable blessing. Cellini watched me as I remained standing before +him in silent abstraction. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you go?" he inquired at last. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I will go," I replied. "But will you give me a letter to your +friend?" +</P> + +<P> +"Leo has taken it and all necessary explanations already," said +Cellini, smiling; "I knew you would go. Heliobas expects you the day +after to-morrow. His residence is Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. You are +not angry with me, mademoiselle? I could not help knowing that you +would go." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"Electricity again, I suppose! No, I am not angry. Why should I be? I +thank you very much, signor, and I shall thank you more if Heliobas +indeed effects my cure." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that is certain, positively certain," answered Cellini; "you can +indulge that hope as much as you like, mademoiselle, for it is one that +cannot be disappointed. Before you leave me, you will look at your own +picture, will you not?" and, advancing to his easel, he uncovered it. +</P> + +<P> +I was greatly surprised. I thought he had but traced the outline of my +features, whereas the head was almost completed. I looked at it as I +would look at the portrait of a stranger. It was a wistful, sad-eyed, +plaintive face, and on the pale gold of the hair rested a coronal of +lilies. +</P> + +<P> +"It will soon be finished," said Cellini, covering the easel again; "I +shall not need another sitting, which is fortunate, as it is so +necessary for you to go away. And now will you look at the 'Life and +Death' once more?" +</P> + +<P> +I raised my eyes to the grand picture, unveiled that day in all its +beauty. +</P> + +<P> +"The face of the Life-Angel there," went on Cellini quietly, "is a poor +and feeble resemblance of the One I love. You knew I was betrothed, +mademoiselle?" +</P> + +<P> +I felt confused, and was endeavouring to find an answer to this when he +continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Do not trouble to explain, for <I>I</I> know how YOU knew. But no more of +this. Will you leave Cannes to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. In the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Then good-bye, mademoiselle. Should I never see you again—-" +</P> + +<P> +"Never see me again!" I interrupted. "Why, what do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not allude to your destinies, but to mine," he said, with a +kindly look. "My business may call me away from here before you come +back—our paths may lie apart—many circumstances may occur to prevent +our meeting—so that, I repeat, should I never see you again, you will, +I hope, bear me in your friendly remembrance as one who was sorry to +see you suffer, and who was the humble means of guiding you to renewed +health and happiness." +</P> + +<P> +I held out my hand, and my eyes filled with tears. There was something +so gentle and chivalrous about him, and withal so warm and sympathetic, +that I felt indeed as if I were bidding adieu to one of the truest +friends I should ever have in my life. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope nothing will cause you to leave Cannes till I return to it," I +said with real earnestness. "I should like you to judge of my +restoration to health." +</P> + +<P> +"There will be no need for that," he replied; "I shall know when you +are quite recovered through Heliobas." +</P> + +<P> +He pressed my hand warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I brought back the book you lent me," I went on; "but I should like a +copy of it for myself. Can I get it anywhere?" +</P> + +<P> +"Heliobas will give you one with pleasure," replied Cellini; "you have +only to make the request. The book is not on sale. It was printed for +private circulation only. And now, mademoiselle, we part. I +congratulate you on the comfort and joy awaiting you in Paris. Do not +forget the address—Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. Farewell!" +</P> + +<P> +And again shaking my hand cordially, he stood at his door watching me +as I passed out and began to ascend the stairs leading to my room. On +the landing I paused, and, looking round, saw him still there. I smiled +and waved my hand. He did the same in response, once—twice; then +turning abruptly, disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon I explained to Colonel and Mrs. Everard that I had +resolved to consult a celebrated physician in Paris (whose name, +however, I did not mention), and should go there alone for a few days. +On hearing that I knew of a well-recommended ladies' Pension, they made +no objection to my arrangements, and they agreed to remain at the Hotel +de L—-till I returned. I gave them no details of my plans, and of +course never mentioned Raffaello Cellini in connection with the matter. +A nervous and wretchedly agitated night made me more than ever +determined to try the means of cure proposed to me. At ten o'clock the +following morning I left Cannes by express train for Paris. Just before +starting I noticed that the lilies of the valley Cellini had given me +for the dance had, in spite of my care, entirely withered, and were +already black with decay—so black that they looked as though they had +been scorched by a flash of lightning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HOTEL MARS AND ITS OWNER. +</H3> + +<P> +It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the day +succeeding the night of my arrival in Paris, when I found myself +standing at the door of the Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. I had proved +the Pension kept by Madame Denise to be everything that could be +desired; and on my presentation of Raffaello Cellini's card of +introduction, I had been welcomed by the maitresse de la maison with a +cordial effusiveness that amounted almost to enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Ce cher Cellini!" the cheery and pleasant little woman had exclaimed, +as she set before me a deliciously prepared breakfast. "Je l'aime tant! +Il a si bon coeur! et ses beaux yeux! Mon Dieu, comme un ange!" +</P> + +<P> +As soon as I had settled the various little details respecting my room +and attendance, and had changed my travelling-dress for a quiet +visiting toilette, I started for the abode of Heliobas. +</P> + +<P> +The weather was very cold; I had left the summer behind me at Cannes, +to find winter reigning supreme in Paris. A bitter east wind blew, and +a few flakes of snow fell now and then from the frowning sky. The house +to which I betook myself was situated at a commanding corner of a road +facing the Champs Elysees. It was a noble-looking building. The broad +steps leading to the entrance were guarded on either side by a +sculptured Sphinx, each of whom held, in its massive stone paws, a +plain shield, inscribed with the old Roman greeting to strangers, +"Salve!" Over the portico was designed a scroll which bore the name +"Hotel Mars" in clearly cut capitals, and the monogram "C. H." +</P> + +<P> +I ascended the steps with some hesitation, and twice I extended my hand +towards the bell, desiring yet fearing to awaken its summons. I noticed +it was an electric bell, not needing to be pulled but pressed; and at +last, after many doubts and anxious suppositions, I very gently laid my +fingers on the little button which formed its handle. Scarcely had I +done this than the great door slid open rapidly without the least +noise. I looked for the servant in attendance—there was none. I paused +an instant; the door remained invitingly open, and through it I caught +a glimpse of flowers. Resolving to be bold, and to hesitate no longer, +I entered. As I crossed the threshold, the door closed behind me +instantly with its previous swiftness and silence. +</P> + +<P> +I found myself in a spacious hall, light and lofty, surrounded with +fluted pillars of white marble. In the centre a fountain bubbled +melodiously, and tossed up every now and then a high jet of sparkling +spray, while round its basin grew the rarest ferns and exotics, which +emitted a subtle and delicate perfume. No cold air penetrated here; it +was as warm and balmy as a spring day in Southern Italy. Light Indian +bamboo chairs provided with luxurious velvet cushions were placed in +various corners between the marble columns, and on one of these I +seated myself to rest a minute, wondering what I should do next, and +whether anyone would come to ask me the cause of my intrusion. My +meditations were soon put to flight by the appearance of a young lad, +who crossed the hall from the left-hand side and approached me. He was +a handsome boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, and he was attired +in a simple Greek costume of white linen, relieved with a broad crimson +silk sash. A small flat crimson cap rested on his thick black curls; +this he lifted with deferential grace, and, saluting me, said +respectfully: +</P> + +<P> +"My master is ready to receive you, mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +I rose without a word and followed him, scarcely permitting myself to +speculate as to how his master knew I was there at all. +</P> + +<P> +The hall was soon traversed, and the lad paused before a magnificent +curtain of deep crimson velvet, heavily bordered with gold. Pulling a +twisted cord that hung beside it, the heavy, regal folds parted in +twain with noiseless regularity, and displayed an octagon room, so +exquisitely designed and ornamented that I gazed upon it as upon some +rare and beautiful picture. It was unoccupied, and my young escort +placed a chair for me near the central window, informing me as he did +so that "Monsieur le Comte" would be with me instantly; whereupon he +departed. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone, I gazed in bewilderment at the loveliness round me. The +walls and ceiling were painted in fresco. I could not make out the +subjects, but I could see faces of surpassing beauty smiling from +clouds, and peering between stars and crescents. The furniture appeared +to be of very ancient Arabian design; each chair was a perfect +masterpiece of wood-carving, picked out and inlaid with gold. The sight +of a semi-grand piano, which stood open, brought me back to the +realization that I was living in modern times, and not in a dream of +the Arabian Nights; while the Paris Figaro and the London Times—both +of that day's issue—lying on a side-table, demonstrated the nineteenth +century to me with every possible clearness. There were flowers +everywhere in this apartment—in graceful vases and in gilded osier +baskets—and a queer lop-sided Oriental jar stood quite near me, filled +almost to overflowing with Neapolitan violets. Yet it was winter in +Paris, and flowers were rare and costly. +</P> + +<P> +Looking about me, I perceived an excellent cabinet photograph of +Raffaello Cellini, framed in antique silver; and I rose to examine it +more closely, as being the face of a friend. While I looked at it, I +heard the sound of an organ in the distance playing softly an old +familiar church chant. I listened. Suddenly I bethought myself of the +three dreams that had visited me, and a kind of nervous dread came upon +me. This Heliobas,—was I right after all in coming to consult him? Was +he not perhaps a mere charlatan? and might not his experiments upon me +prove fruitless, and possibly fatal? An idea seized me that I would +escape while there was yet time. Yes! ... I would not see him to-day, +at any rate; I would write and explain. These and other disjointed +thoughts crossed my mind; and yielding to the unreasoning impulse of +fear that possessed me, I actually turned to leave the room, when I saw +the crimson velvet portiere dividing again in its regular and graceful +folds, and Heliobas himself entered. +</P> + +<P> +I stood mute and motionless. I knew him well; he was the very man I had +seen in my third and last dream; the same noble, calm features; the +same commanding presence; the same keen, clear eyes; the same +compelling smile. There was nothing extraordinary about his appearance +except his stately bearing and handsome countenance; his dress was that +of any well-to-do gentleman of the present day, and there was no +affectation of mystery in his manner. He advanced and bowed +courteously; then, with a friendly look, held out his hand. I gave him +mine at once. +</P> + +<P> +"So you are the young musician?" he said, in those warm mellifluous +accents that I had heard before and that I so well remembered. "My +friend Raffaello Cellini has written to me about you. I hear you have +been suffering from physical depression?" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke as any physician might do who inquired after a patient's +health. I was surprised and relieved. I had prepared myself for +something darkly mystical, almost cabalistic; but there was nothing +unusual in the demeanour of this pleasant and good-looking gentleman +who, bidding me be seated, took a chair himself opposite to me, and +observed me with that sympathetic and kindly interest which any +well-bred doctor would esteem it his duty to exhibit. I became quite at +ease, and answered all his questions fully and frankly. He felt my +pulse in the customary way, and studied my face attentively. I +described all my symptoms, and he listened with the utmost patience. +When I had concluded, he leaned back in his chair and appeared to +ponder deeply for some moments. Then he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, of course, that I am not a doctor?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know," I said; "Signer Cellini explained to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" and Heliobas smiled. "Raffaello explained as much as he might; +but not everything. I must tell you I have a simple pharmacopoeia of my +own—it contains twelve remedies, and only twelve. In fact there me no +more that are of any use to the human mechanism. All are made of the +juice of plants, and six of them are electric. Raffaello tried you with +one of them, did he not?" +</P> + +<P> +As he put this question, I was aware of a keenly inquiring look sent +from the eyes of my interrogator into mine. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I answered frankly, "and it made me dream, and I dreamt of YOU." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas laughed lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"So!—that is well. Now I am going in the first place to give you what +I am sure will be satisfactory information. If you agree to trust +yourself to my care, you will be in perfect health in a little less +than a fortnight—but you must follow my rules exactly." +</P> + +<P> +I started up from my seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course!" I exclaimed eagerly, forgetting all my previous fear of +him; "I will do all you advise, even if you wish to magnetize me as you +magnetized Signor Cellini!" +</P> + +<P> +"I never MAGNETIZED Raffaello," he said gravely; "he was on the verge +of madness, and he had no faith whereby to save himself. I simply set +him free for a time, knowing that his was a genius which would find out +things for itself or perish in the effort. I let him go on a voyage of +discovery, and he came back perfectly satisfied. That is all. You do +not need his experience." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a woman—your desire is to be well and strong, health being +beauty—to love and to be beloved—to wear pretty toilettes and to be +admired; and you have a creed which satisfies you, and which you +believe in without proofs." +</P> + +<P> +There was the slightest possible tinge of mockery in his voice as he +said these words. A tumultuous rush of feelings overcame me. My high +dreams of ambition, my innate scorn of the trite and commonplace, my +deep love of art, my desires of fame—all these things bore down upon +my heart and overcame it, and a pride too deep for tears arose in me +and found utterance. +</P> + +<P> +"You think I am so slight and weak a thing!" I exclaimed. "YOU, who +profess to understand the secrets of electricity—you have no better +instinctive knowledge of me than that! Do you deem women all alike—all +on one common level, fit for nothing but to be the toys or drudges of +men? Can you not realize that there are some among them who despise the +inanities of everyday life—who care nothing for the routine of +society, and whose hearts are filled with cravings that no mere human +love or life can satisfy? Yes—even weak women are capable of +greatness; and if we do sometimes dream of what we cannot accomplish +through lack of the physical force necessary for large achievements, +that is not our fault but our misfortune. We did not create ourselves. +We did not ask to be born with the over-sensitiveness, the fatal +delicacy, the highly-strung nervousness of the feminine nature. +Monsieur Heliobas, you are a learned and far-seeing man, I have no +doubt; but you do not read me aright if you judge me as a mere woman +who is perfectly contented with the petty commonplaces of ordinary +living. And as for my creed, what is it to you whether I kneel in the +silence of my own room or in the glory of a lighted cathedral to pour +out my very soul to ONE whom I know exists, and whom I am satisfied to +believe in, as you say, without proofs, save such proofs as I obtain +from my own inner consciousness? I tell you, though, in your opinion it +is evident my sex is against me, I would rather die than sink into the +miserable nonentity of such lives as are lived by the majority of +women." +</P> + +<P> +I paused, overcome by my own feelings. Heliobas smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"So! You are stung!" he said quietly; "stung into action. That is as it +should be. Resume your seat, mademoiselle, and do not be angry with me. +I am studying you for your own good. In the meantime permit me to +analyze your words a little. You are young and inexperienced. You speak +of the 'over-sensitiveness, the fatal delicacy, the highly-strung +nervousness of the feminine nature.' My dear lady, if you had lived as +long as I have, you would know that these are mere stock phrases—for +the most part meaningless. As a rule, women are less sensitive than +men. There are many of your sex who are nothing but lumps of lymph and +fatty matter—women with less instinct than the dumb beasts, and with +more brutality. There are others who,—adding the low cunning of the +monkey to the vanity of the peacock,—seek no other object but the +furtherance of their own designs, which are always petty even when not +absolutely mean. There are obese women whose existence is a doze +between dinner and tea. There are women with thin lips and pointed +noses, who only live to squabble over domestic grievances and interfere +in their neighbours' business. There are your murderous women with +large almond eyes, fair white hands, and voluptuous red lips, who, +deprived of the dagger or the poison-bowl, will slay a reputation in a +few lazily enunciated words, delivered with a perfectly high-bred +accent. There are the miserly woman, who look after cheese-parings and +candle-ends, and lock up the soap. There are the spiteful women whose +very breath is acidity and venom. There are the frivolous women whose +chitter-chatter and senseless giggle are as empty as the rattling of +dry peas on a drum. In fact, the delicacy of women is extremely +overrated—their coarseness is never done full justice to. I have heard +them recite in public selections of a kind that no man would dare to +undertake—such as Tennyson's 'Rizpah,' for instance. I know a woman +who utters every line of it, with all its questionable allusions, +boldly before any and everybody, without so much as an attempt at +blushing. I assure you men are far more delicate than women—far more +chivalrous—far larger in their views, and more generous in their +sentiments. But I will not deny the existence of about four women in +every two hundred and fifty, who may be, and possibly are, examples of +what the female sex was originally intended to be—pure-hearted, +self-denying, gentle and truthful—filled with tenderness and +inspiration. Heaven knows my own mother was all this and more! And my +sister is—. But let me speak to you of yourself. You love music, I +understand—you are a professional artist?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was," I answered, "till my state of health stopped me from working." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas bent his eyes upon me in friendly sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"You were, and you will be again, an improvisatrice" he went on. "Do +you not find it difficult to make your audiences understand your aims?" +</P> + +<P> +I smiled as the remembrance of some of my experiences in public came to +my mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I said, half laughing. "In England, at least, people do not know +what is meant by IMPROVISING. They think it is to take a little theme +and compose variations on it—the mere ABC of the art. But to sit down +to the piano and plan a whole sonata or symphony in your head, and play +it while planning it, is a thing they do not and will not understand. +They come to hear, and they wonder and go away, and the critics declare +it to be CLAP-TRAP." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly!" replied Heliobas. "But you are to be congratulated on having +attained this verdict. Everything that people cannot quite understand +is called CLAP-TRAP in England; as for instance the matchless +violin-playing of Sarasate; the tempestuous splendor of Rubinstein; the +wailing throb of passion in Hollmann's violoncello—this is, according +to the London press, CLAP-TRAP; while the coldly correct performances +of Joachim and the 'icily-null' renderings of Charles Halle are voted +'magnificent' and 'full of colour.' But to return to yourself. Will you +play to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not touched the instrument for two months," I said; "I am +afraid I am out of practice." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you shall not exert yourself to-day," returned Heliobas kindly. +"But I believe I can help you with your improvisations. You compose the +music as you play, you tell me. Well, have you any idea how the +melodies or the harmonies form themselves in your brain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not the least in the world," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the act of thinking them out an effort to you?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. They come as though someone else were planning them for +me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well! I think I can certainly be of use to you in this matter as +in others. I understand your temperament thoroughly. And now let me +give you my first prescription." +</P> + +<P> +He went to a corner of the room and lifted from the floor an ebony +casket, curiously carved and ornamented with silver. This he unlocked. +It contained twelve flasks of cut glass, stoppered with gold and +numbered in order. He next pulled out a side drawer in this casket, and +in it I saw several little thin empty glass tubes, about the size of a +cigarette-holder. Taking two of these he filled them from two of the +larger flasks, corked them tightly, and then turning to me, said: +</P> + +<P> +"To-night, on going to bed, have a warm bath, empty the contents of the +tube marked No. 1 into it, and then immerse yourself thoroughly for +about five minutes. After the bath, put the fluid in this other tube +marked 2, into a tumbler of fresh spring water, and drink it off. Then +go straight to bed." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I have any dreams?" I inquired with a little anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not," replied Heliobas, smiling. "I wish you to sleep as +soundly as a year-old child. Dreams are not for you to-night. Can you +come to me tomorrow afternoon at five o'clock? If you can arrange to +stay to dinner, my sister will be pleased to meet you; but perhaps you +are otherwise engaged?" +</P> + +<P> +I told him I was not, and explained where I had taken rooms, adding +that I had come to Paris expressly to put myself under his treatment. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have no cause to regret this journey," he said earnestly. "I +can cure you thoroughly, and I will. I forget your nationality—you are +not English?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not entirely. I am half Italian." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes! I remember now. But you have been educated in England?" +</P> + +<P> +"Partly." +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad it is only partly," remarked Heliobas. "If it had been +entirely, your improvisations would have had no chance. In fact you +never would have improvised. You would have played the piano like poor +mechanical Arabella Goddard. As it is, there is some hope of +originality in you—you need not be one of the rank and file unless you +choose." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not choose," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but you must take the consequences, and they are bitter. A woman +who does not go with her time is voted eccentric; a woman who prefers +music to tea and scandal is an undesirable acquaintance; and a woman +who prefers Byron to Austin Dobson is—in fact, no measure can gauge +her general impossibility!" I laughed gaily. "I will take all the +consequences as willingly as I will take your medicines," I said, +stretching out my hand for the little vases which he gave me wrapped in +paper. "And I thank you very much, monsieur. And"—here I hesitated. +Ought I not to ask him his fee? Surely the medicines ought to be paid +for? +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas appeared to read my thoughts, for he said, as though answering +my unuttered question: +</P> + +<P> +"I do not accept fees, mademoiselle. To relieve your mind from any +responsibility of gratitude to me, I will tell you at once that I never +promise to effect a cure unless I see that the person who comes to be +cured has a certain connection with myself. If the connection exists I +am bound by fixed laws to serve him or her. Of course I am able also to +cure those who are NOT by nature connected with me; but then I have to +ESTABLISH a connection, and this takes time, and is sometimes very +difficult to accomplish, almost as tremendous a task as the laying down +of the Atlantic cable. But in your case I am actually COMPELLED to do +my best for you, so you need be under no sense of obligation." +</P> + +<P> +Here was a strange speech—the first really inexplicable one I had +heard from his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I am connected with you?" I asked, surprised. "How? In what way?" +</P> + +<P> +"It would take too long to explain to you just now," said Heliobas +gently; "but I can prove to you in a moment that a connection DOES +exist between YOUR inner self, and MY inner self, if you wish it." +</P> + +<P> +"I do wish it very much," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Then take my hand," continued Heliobas, stretching it out, "and look +steadily at me." +</P> + +<P> +I obeyed, half trembling. As I gazed, a veil appeared to fall from my +eyes. A sense of security, of comfort, and of absolute confidence came +upon me, and I saw what might be termed THE IMAGE OF ANOTHER FACE +looking at me THROUGH or BEHIND the actual form and face of Heliobas. +And that other face was his, and yet not his; but whatever it appeared +to be, it was the face of a friend to ME, one that I was certain I had +known long, long ago, and moreover one that I must have loved in some +distant time, for my whole soul seemed to yearn towards that indistinct +haze where smiled the fully recognised yet unfamiliar countenance. This +strange sensation lasted but a few seconds, for Heliobas suddenly +dropped my hand. The room swam round me; the walls seemed to rock; then +everything steadied and came right again, and all was as usual, only I +was amazed and bewildered. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it mean?" I murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"It means the simplest thing in nature," replied Heliobas quietly, +"namely, that your soul and mine are for some reason or other placed on +the same circle of electricity. Nothing more nor less. Therefore we +must serve each other. Whatever I do for you, you have it in your power +to repay me amply for hereafter." +</P> + +<P> +I met the steady glance of his keen eyes, and a sense of some +indestructible force within me gave me a sudden courage. +</P> + +<P> +"Decide for me as you please," I answered fearlessly. "I trust you +completely, though I do not know why I do so." +</P> + +<P> +"You will know before long. You are satisfied of the fact that my touch +can influence you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; most thoroughly." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. All other explanations, if you desire them, shall be given +you in due time. In the power I possess over you and some others, there +is neither mesmerism nor magnetism—nothing but a purely scientific +fact which can be clearly and reasonably proved and demonstrated. But +till you are thoroughly restored to health, we will defer all +discussion. And now, mademoiselle, permit me to escort you to the door. +I shall expect you to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Together we left the beautiful room in which this interview had taken +place, and crossed the hall. As we approached the entrance, Heliobas +turned towards me and said with a smile: +</P> + +<P> +"Did not the manoeuvres of my street-door astonish you?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little," I confessed. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very simple. The button you touch outside is electric; it opens +the door and at the same time rings the bell in my study, thus +informing me of a visitor. When the visitor steps across the threshold +he treads, whether he will or no, on another apparatus, which closes +the door behind him and rings another bell in my page's room, who +immediately comes to me for orders. You see how easy? And from within +it is managed in almost the same manner." +</P> + +<P> +And he touched a handle similar to the one outside, and the door opened +instantly. Heliobas held out his hand—that hand which a few minutes +previously had exercised such strange authority over me. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, mademoiselle. You are not afraid of me now?" +</P> + +<P> +I laughed. "I do not think I was ever really afraid of you," I said. +"If I was, I am not so any longer. You have promised me health, and +that promise is sufficient to give me entire courage." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well," said Heliobas. "Courage and hope in themselves are the +precursors of physical and mental energy. Remember to-morrow at five, +and do not keep late hours to-night. I should advise you to be in bed +by ten at the latest." +</P> + +<P> +I agreed to this, and we shook hands and parted. I walked blithely +along, back to the Avenue du Midi, where, on my arrival indoors, I +found a letter from Mrs. Everard. She wrote "in haste" to give me the +names of some friends of hers whom she had discovered, through the +"American Register," to be staying at the Grand Hotel. She begged me to +call upon them, and enclosed two letters of introduction for the +purpose. She concluded her epistle by saying: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Raffaello Cellini has been invisible ever since your departure, but +our inimitable waiter, Alphonse, says he is very busy finishing a +picture for the Salon—something that we have never seen. I shall +intrude myself into his studio soon on some pretence or other, and will +then let you know all about it. In the meantime, believe me, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Your ever devoted friend,<BR> + AMY." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I answered this letter, and then spent a pleasant evening at the +Pension, chatting sociably with Madame Denise and another cheery little +Frenchwoman, a day governess, who boarded there, and who had no end of +droll experiences to relate, her enviable temperament being to always +see the humorous side of life. I thoroughly enjoyed her sparkling +chatter and her expressive gesticulations, and we all three made +ourselves merry till bedtime. Acting on the advice of Heliobas, I +retired early to my room, where a warm bath had been prepared in +compliance with my orders. I uncorked the glass tube No. 1, and poured +the colourless fluid it contained into the water, which immediately +bubbled gently, as though beginning to boil. After watching it for a +minute or two, and observing that this seething movement steadily +continued, I undressed quickly and stepped in. Never shall I forget the +exquisite sensation I experienced! I can only describe it as the poor +little Doll's Dressmaker in "Our Mutual Friend" described her angel +visitants, her "blessed children," who used to come and "take her up +and make her light." If my body had been composed of no grosser matter +than fire and air, I could not have felt more weightless, more buoyant, +more thoroughly exhilarated than when, at the end of the prescribed +five minutes, I got out of that marvellous bath of healing! As I +prepared for bed, I noticed that the bubbling of the water had entirely +ceased; but this was easy of comprehension, for if it had contained +electricity, as I supposed, my body had absorbed it by contact, which +would account for the movement being stilled. I now took the second +little phial, and prepared it as I had been told. This time the fluid +was motionless. I noticed it was very faintly tinged with amber. I +drank it off—it was perfectly tasteless. Once in bed, I seemed to have +no power to think any more—my eyes closed readily—the slumber of a +year-old child, as Heliobas had said, came upon me with resistless and +sudden force, and I remembered no more. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ZARA AND PRINCE IVAN. +</H3> + +<P> +The sun poured brilliantly into my room when I awoke the next morning. +I was free from all my customary aches and pains, and a delightful +sense of vigour and elasticity pervaded my frame. I rose at once, and, +looking at my watch, found to my amazement that it was twelve o'clock +in the day! Hastily throwing on my dressing-gown, I rang the bell, and +the servant appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it actually mid-day?" I asked her. "Why did you not call me?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl smiled apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"I did knock at mademoiselle's door, but she gave me no answer. Madame +Denise came up also, and entered the room; but seeing mademoiselle in +so sound a sleep, she said it was a pity to disturb mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +Which statement good Madame Denise, toiling upstairs just then with +difficulty, she being stout and short of breath, confirmed with many +smiling nods of her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast shall be served at the instant," she said, rubbing her fat +hands together; "but to disturb you when you slept—ah, Heaven! the +sleep of an infant—I could not do it! I should have been wicked!" +</P> + +<P> +I thanked her for her care of me; I could have kissed her, she looked +so motherly, and kind, and altogether lovable. And I felt so merry and +well! She and the servant retired to prepare my coffee, and I proceeded +to make my toilette. As I brushed out my hair I heard the sound of a +violin. Someone was playing next door. I listened, and recognised a +famous Beethoven Concerto. The unseen musician played brilliantly and +withal tenderly, both touch and tone reminding me of some beautiful +verses in a book of poems I had recently read, called "Love-Letters of +a Violinist," in which the poet [FOOTNOTE: Author of the equally +beautiful idyl, "Gladys the Singer," included in the new American +copyright edition just issued.] talks of his "loved Amati," and says: +"I prayed my prayer. I wove into my song +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Fervour, and joy, and mystery, and the bleak,<BR> + The wan despair that words could never speak.<BR> + I prayed as if my spirit did belong<BR> + To some old master who was wise and strong,<BR> + Because he lov'd and suffered, and was weak.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "I trill'd the notes, and curb'd them to a sigh,<BR> + And when they falter'd most, I made them leap<BR> + Fierce from my bow, as from a summer sleep<BR> + A young she-devil. I was fired thereby<BR> + To bolder efforts—and a muffled cry<BR> + Came from the strings as if a saint did weep.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "I changed the theme. I dallied with the bow<BR> + Just time enough to fit it to a mesh<BR> + Of merry tones, and drew it back afresh,<BR> + To talk of truth, and constancy, and woe,<BR> + And life, and love, and madness, and the glow<BR> + Of mine own soul which burns into my flesh."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +All my love for music welled freshly up in my heart; I, who had felt +disinclined to touch the piano for months, now longed to try my +strength again upon the familiar and responsive key-board. For a piano +has never been a mere piano to me; it is a friend who answers to my +thought, and whose notes meet my fingers with caressing readiness and +obedience. +</P> + +<P> +Breakfast came, and I took it with great relish. Then, to pass the day, +I went out and called on Mrs. Everard's friends, Mr. and Mrs. Challoner +and their daughters. I found them very agreeable, with that easy +bonhomie and lack of stiffness that distinguishes the best Americans. +Finding out through Mrs. Everard's letter that I was an "artiste" they +at once concluded I must need support and patronage, and with impulsive +large-heartedness were beginning to plan as to the best means of +organizing a concert for me. I was taken by surprise at this, for I had +generally found the exact reverse of this sympathy among English +patrons of art, who were never tired of murmuring the usual platitudes +about there being "so many musicians," "music was overdone," +"improvising was not understood or cared for," etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +But these agreeable Americans, as soon as they discovered that I had +not come for any professional reason to Paris, but only to consult a +physician about my health, were actually disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we shall persuade you to give a recital some time!" persisted the +handsome smiling mother of the family. "I know lots of people in Paris. +We'll get it up for you!" +</P> + +<P> +I protested, half laughing, that I had no idea of the kind, but they +were incorrigibly generous. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Challoner, arranging her diamond rings on her +pretty white hand with pardonable pride. "Brains don't go for nothing +in OUR country. As soon as you are fixed up in health, we'll give you a +grand soiree in Paris, and we'll work up all our folks in the place. +Don't tell me you are not as glad of dollars as any one of us." +</P> + +<P> +"Dollars are very good," I admitted, "but real appreciation is far +better." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you shall have both from us," said Mrs. Challoner. "And now, +will you stop to luncheon?" +</P> + +<P> +I accepted this invitation, given as it was with the most friendly +affability, and enjoyed myself very much. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't look ill," said the eldest Miss Challoner to me, later on. +"I don't see that you want a physician." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am getting much better now," I replied; "and I hope soon to be +quite well." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's your doctor?" +</P> + +<P> +I hesitated. Somehow the name of Heliobas would not come to my lips. +Fortunately Mrs. Challoner diverted her daughter's attention at this +moment by the announcement that a dressmaker was waiting to see her; +and in the face of such an important visit, no one remembered to ask me +again the name of my medical adviser. +</P> + +<P> +I left the Grand Hotel in good time to prepare for my second visit to +Heliobas. As I was going there to dinner I made a slightly dressy +toilette, if a black silk robe relieved with a cluster of pale pink +roses can be called dressy. This time I drove to the Hotel Mars, +dismissing the coachman, however, before ascending the steps. The door +opened and closed as usual, and the first person I saw in the hall was +Heliobas himself, seated in one of the easy-chairs, reading a volume of +Plato. He rose and greeted me cordially. Before I could speak a word, +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You need not tell me that you slept well. I see it in your eyes and +face. You feel better?" +</P> + +<P> +My gratitude to him was so great that I found it difficult to express +my thanks. Tears rushed to my eyes, yet I tried to smile, though I +could not speak. He saw my emotion, and continued kindly: +</P> + +<P> +"I am as thankful as you can be for the cure which I see has begun, and +will soon be effected. My sister is waiting to see you. Will you come +to her room?" +</P> + +<P> +We ascended a flight of stairs thickly carpeted, and bordered on each +side by tropical ferns and flowers, placed in exquisitely painted china +pots and vases. I heard the distant singing of many birds mingled with +the ripple and plash of waters. We reached a landing where the +afterglow of the set sun streamed through a high oriel window of richly +stained glass. Turning towards the left, Heliobas drew aside the folds +of some azure satin hangings, and calling in a low voice "Zara!" +motioned me to enter. I stepped into a spacious and lofty apartment +where the light seemed to soften and merge into many shades of opaline +radiance and delicacy—a room the beauty of which would at any other +time have astonished and delighted me, but which now appeared as +nothing beside the surpassing loveliness of the woman who occupied it. +Never shall I behold again any face or form so divinely beautiful! She +was about the medium height of women, but her small finely-shaped head +was set upon so slender and proud a throat that she appeared taller +than she actually was. Her figure was most exquisitely rounded and +proportioned, and she came across the room to give me greeting with a +sort of gliding graceful movement, like that of a stately swan floating +on calm sunlit water. Her complexion was transparently clear—most +purely white, most delicately rosy, Her eyes—large, luminous and dark +as night, fringed with long silky black lashes—looked like +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Fairy lakes, where tender thoughts<BR> + Swam softly to and fro."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Her rich black hair was arranged a la Marguerite, and hung down in one +long loose thick braid that nearly reached the end of her dress, and +she was attired in a robe of deep old gold Indian silk as soft as +cashmere, which was gathered in round her waist by an antique belt of +curious jewel-work, in which rubies and turquoises seemed to be thickly +studded. On her bosom shone a strange gem, the colour and form of which +I could not determine. It was never the same for two minutes together. +It glowed with many various hues—now bright crimson, now +lightning-blue, sometimes deepening into a rich purple or tawny orange. +Its lustre was intense, almost dazzling to the eye. Its beautiful +wearer gave me welcome with a radiant smile and a few cordial words, +and drawing me by the hand to the low couch she had just vacated, made +me sit down beside her. Heliobas had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"And so," said Zara—how soft and full of music was her voice!—"so you +are one of Casimir's patients? I cannot help considering that you are +fortunate in this, for I know my brother's power. If he says he will +cure you, you may be sure he means it. And you are already better, are +you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Much better," I said, looking earnestly into the lovely star-like eyes +that regarded me with such interest and friendliness. "Indeed, to-day I +have felt so well, that I cannot realize ever having been ill." +</P> + +<P> +"I am very glad," said Zara, "I know you are a musician, and I think +there can be no bitterer fate than for one belonging to your art to be +incapacitated from performance of work by some physical obstacle. Poor +grand old Beethoven! Can anything be more pitiful to think of than his +deafness? Yet how splendidly he bore up against it! And Chopin, too—so +delicate in health that he was too often morbid even in his music. +Strength is needed to accomplish great things—the double strength of +body and soul." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you, too, a musician?" I inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I love music passionately, and I play a little on the organ in our +private chapel; but I follow a different art altogether. I am a mere +imitator of noble form—I am a sculptress." +</P> + +<P> +"You?" I said in some wonder, looking at the very small, beautifully +formed white hand that lay passively on the edge of the couch beside +me. "You make statues in marble like Michael Angelo?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like Angelo?" murmured Zara; and she lowered her brilliant eyes with a +reverential gravity. "No one in these modern days can approach the +immortal splendour of that great master. He must have known heroes and +talked with gods to be able to hew out of the rocks such perfection of +shape and attitude as his 'David.' Alas! my strength of brain and hand +is mere child's play compared to what HAS been done in sculpture, and +what WILL yet be done; still, I love the work for its own sake, and I +am always trying to render a resemblance of—" +</P> + +<P> +Here she broke off abruptly, and a deep blush suffused her cheeks. +Then, looking up suddenly, she took my hand impulsively, and pressed it. +</P> + +<P> +"Be my friend," she said, with a caressing inflection in her rich +voice, "I have no friends of my own sex, and I wish to love you. My +brother has always had so much distrust of the companionship of women +for me. You know his theories; and he has always asserted that the +sphere of thought in which I have lived all my life is so widely apart +from those in which other women exist—that nothing but unhappiness for +me could come out of associating us together. When he told me yesterday +that you were coming to see me to-day, I knew he must have discovered +something in your nature that was not antipathetic to mine; otherwise +he would not have brought you to me. Do you think you can like +me?—perhaps LOVE me after a little while?" +</P> + +<P> +It would have been a cold heart indeed that would not have responded to +such a speech as this, uttered with the pleading prettiness of a loving +child. Besides, I had warmed to her from the first moment I had touched +her hand; and I was overjoyed to think that she was willing to elect me +as a friend. I therefore replied to her words by putting my arm +affectionately round her waist and kissing her. My beautiful, tender +Zara! How innocently happy she seemed to be thus embraced! and how +gently her fragrant lips met mine in that sisterly caress! She leaned +her dark head for a moment on my shoulder, and the mysterious jewel on +her breast flashed into a weird red hue like the light of a stormy +sunset. +</P> + +<P> +"And now we have drawn up, signed, and sealed our compact of +friendship," she said gaily, "will you come and see my studio? There is +nothing in it that deserves to last, I think; still, one has patience +with a child when he builds his brick houses, and you must have equal +patience with me. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +And she led the way through her lovely room, which I now noticed was +full of delicate statuary, fine paintings, and exquisite embroidery, +while flowers were everywhere in abundance. Lifting the hangings at the +farther end of the apartment, she passed, I following, into a lofty +studio, filled with all the appurtenances of the sculptor's art. Here +and there were the usual spectral effects which are always suggested to +the mind by unfinished plaster models—an arm in one place, a head in +another; a torso, or a single hand, protruding ghost-like from a fold +of dark drapery. At the very end of the room stood a large erect +figure, the outlines of which could but dimly be seen through its linen +coverings; and to this work, whatever it was, Zara did not appear +desirous of attracting my attention. She led me to one particular +corner; and, throwing aside a small crimson velvet curtain, said: +</P> + +<P> +"This is the last thing I have finished in marble. I call it +'Approaching Evening.'" +</P> + +<P> +I stood silently before the statue, lost in admiration. I could not +conceive it possible that the fragile little hand of the woman who +stood beside me could have executed such a perfect work. She had +depicted "Evening" as a beautiful nude female figure in the act of +stepping forward on tip-toe; the eyes were half closed, and the sweet +mouth slightly parted in a dreamily serious smile. The right forefinger +was laid lightly on the lips, as though suggesting silence; and in the +left hand was loosely clasped a bunch of poppies. That was all. But the +poetry and force of the whole conception as carried out in the statue +was marvellous. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like it?" asked Zara, half timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Like it!" I exclaimed. "It is lovely—wonderful! It is worthy to rank +with the finest Italian masterpieces." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no!" remonstrated Zara; "no, indeed! When the great Italian +sculptors lived and worked—ah! one may say with the Scriptures, 'There +were giants in those days.' Giants—veritable ones; and we modernists +are the pigmies. We can only see Art now through the eyes of others who +came before us. We cannot create anything new. We look at painting +through Raphael; sculpture through Angelo; poetry through Shakespeare; +philosophy through Plato. It is all done for us; we are copyists. The +world is getting old—how glorious to have lived when it was young! But +nowadays the very children are blase." +</P> + +<P> +"And you—are not you blase to talk like that, with your genius and all +the world before you?" I asked laughingly, slipping my arm through +hers. "Come, confess!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara looked at me gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"I sincerely hope the world is NOT all before me," she said; "I should +be very sorry if I thought so. To have the world all before you in the +general acceptation of that term means to live long, to barter whatever +genius you have for gold, to hear the fulsome and unmeaning flatteries +of the ignorant, who are as ready with condemnation as praise—to be +envied and maligned by those less lucky than you are. Heaven defend me +from such a fate!" +</P> + +<P> +She spoke with earnestness and solemnity; then, dropping the curtain +before her statue, turned away. I was admiring the vine-wreathed head +of a young Bacchante that stood on a pedestal near me, and was about to +ask Zara what subject she had chosen for the large veiled figure at the +farthest end of her studio, when we were interrupted by the entrance of +the little Greek page whom I had seen on my first visit to the house. +He saluted us both, and addressing himself to Zara, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur le Comte desires me to tell you, madame, that Prince Ivan +will be present at dinner." +</P> + +<P> +Zara looked somewhat vexed; but the shade of annoyance flitted away +from her fair face like a passing shadow, as she replied quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Monsieur le Comte, my brother, that I shall be happy to receive +Prince Ivan." +</P> + +<P> +The page bowed deferentially and departed. Zara turned round, and I saw +the jewel on her breast flashing with a steely glitter like the blade +of a sharp sword. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not like Prince Ivan myself," she said; "but he is a singularly +brave and resolute man, and Casimir has some reason for admitting him +to our companionship. Though I greatly doubt if—" Here a flood of +music broke upon our ears like the sound of a distant orchestra. Zara +looked at me and smiled. "Dinner is ready!" she announced; "but you +must not imagine that we keep a band to play us to our table in +triumph. It is simply a musical instrument worked by electricity that +imitates the orchestra; both Casimir and I prefer it to a gong!" +</P> + +<P> +And slipping her arm affectionately through mine, she drew me from the +studio into the passage, and together we went down the staircase into a +large dining-room, rich with oil-paintings and carved oak, where +Heliobas awaited us. Close by him stood another gentleman, who was +introduced to me as Prince Ivan Petroffsky. He was a fine-looking, +handsome-featured young man, of about thirty, tall and +broad-shouldered, though beside the commanding stature of Heliobas, his +figure did not show to so much advantage as it might have done beside a +less imposing contrast. He bowed to me with easy and courteous grace; +but his deeply reverential salute to Zara had something in it of that +humility which a slave might render to a queen. She bent her head +slightly in answer, and still holding me by the hand, moved to her seat +at the bottom of the table, while her brother took the head. My seat +was at the right hand of Heliobas, Prince Ivan's at the left, so that +we directly faced each other. +</P> + +<P> +There were two men-servants in attendance, dressed in dark livery, who +waited upon us with noiseless alacrity. The dinner was exceedingly +choice; there was nothing coarse or vulgar in the dishes—no great +heavy joints swimming in thin gravy a la Anglaise; no tureens of +unpalatable sauce; no clumsy decanters filled with burning sherry or +drowsy port. The table itself was laid out in the most perfect taste, +with the finest Venetian glass and old Dresden ware, in which tempting +fruits gleamed amid clusters of glossy dark leaves. Flowers in tall +vases bloomed wherever they could be placed effectively; and in the +centre of the board a small fountain played, tinkling as it rose and +fell like a very faintly echoing fairy chime. The wines that were +served to us were most delicious, though their flavour was quite +unknown to me—one in especial, of a pale pink colour, that sparkled +slightly as it was poured into my glass, seemed to me a kind of nectar +of the gods, so soft it was to the palate. The conversation, at first +somewhat desultory, grew more concentrated as the time went on, though +Zara spoke little and seemed absorbed in her own thoughts more than +once. The Prince, warmed with the wine and the general good cheer, +became witty and amusing in his conversation; he was a man who had +evidently seen a good deal of the world, and who was accustomed to take +everything in life a la bagatelle. He told us gay stories of his life +in St. Petersburg; of the pranks he had played in the Florentine +Carnival; of his journey to the American States, and his narrow escape +from the matrimonial clutches of a Boston heiress. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas listened to him with a sort of indulgent kindness, only +smiling now and then at the preposterous puns the young man would +insist on making at every opportunity that presented itself. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a lucky fellow, Ivan," he said at last. "You like the good +things of life, and you have got them all without any trouble on your +own part. You are one of those men who have absolutely nothing to wish +for." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan frowned and pulled his dark moustache with no very +satisfied air. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so sure about that," he returned. "No one is contented in +this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and +the last thing longed for always seems the most necessary to happiness." +</P> + +<P> +"The truest philosophy," said Heliobas, "is not to long for anything in +particular, but to accept everything as it comes, and find out the +reason of its coming." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by 'the reason of its coming'?" questioned Prince +Ivan. "Do you know, Casimir, I find you sometimes as puzzling as +Socrates." +</P> + +<P> +"Socrates?—Socrates was as clear as a drop of morning dew, my dear +fellow," replied Heliobas. "There was nothing puzzling about him. His +remarks were all true and trenchant—hitting smartly home to the heart +like daggers plunged down to the hilt. That was the worst of him—he +was too clear—too honest—too disdainful of opinions. Society does not +love such men. What do I mean, you ask, by accepting everything as it +comes, and trying to find out the reason of its coming? Why, I mean +what I say. Each circumstance that happens to each one of us brings its +own special lesson and meaning—forms a link or part of a link in the +chain of our existence. It seems nothing to you that you walk down a +particular street at a particular hour, and yet that slight action of +yours may lead to a result you wot not of. 'Accept the hint of each new +experience,' says the American imitator of Plato—Emerson. If this +advice is faithfully followed, we all have enough to occupy us busily +from the cradle to the grave." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan looked at Zara, who sat quietly thoughtful, only lifting +her bright eyes now and then to glance at her brother as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you," he said, with sudden moroseness, "there are some hints +that we cannot accept—some circumstances that we must not yield to. +Why should a man, for instance, be subjected to an undeserved and +bitter disappointment?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because," said Zara, joining in the conversation for the first time, +"he has most likely desired what he is not fated to obtain." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince bit his lips, and gave a forced laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, madame, you are against me in all our arguments," he observed, +with some bitterness in his tone. "As Casimir suggests, I am a bad +philosopher. I do not pretend to more than the ordinary attributes of +an ordinary man; it is fortunate, if I may be permitted to say so, that +the rest of the word's inhabitants are very like me, for if everyone +reached to the sublime heights of science and knowledge that you and +your brother have attained—-" +</P> + +<P> +"The course of human destiny would run out, and Paradise would be an +established fact," laughed Heliobas. "Come, Ivan! You are a true +Epicurean. Have some more wine, and a truce to discussions for the +present." And, beckoning to one of the servants, he ordered the +Prince's glass to be refilled. +</P> + +<P> +Dessert was now served, and luscious fruits in profusion, including +peaches, bananas, plantains, green figs, melons, pine-apples, and +magnificent grapes, were offered for our choice. As I made a selection +for my own plate, I became aware of something soft rubbing itself +gently against my dress; and looking down, I saw the noble head and +dark intelligent eyes of my old acquaintance Leo, whom I had last met +at Cannes. I gave an exclamation of pleasure, and the dog, encouraged, +stood up and laid a caressing paw on my arm. +</P> + +<P> +"You know Leo, of course," said Heliobas, turning to me. "He went to +see Raffaello while you were at Cannes. He is a wonderful animal—more +valuable to me than his weight in gold." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan, whose transient moodiness had passed away like a bad devil +exorcised by the power of good wine, joined heartily in the praise +bestowed on this four-footed friend of the family. +</P> + +<P> +"It was really through Leo," he said, "that you were induced to follow +out your experiments in human electricity, Casimir, was it not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Heliobas, calling the dog, who went to him immediately +to be fondled. "I should never have been much encouraged in my +researches, had he not been at hand. I feared to experimentalize much +on my sister, she being young at the time—and women are always frail +of construction—but Leo was willing and ready to be a victim to +science, if necessary. Instead of a martyr he is a living triumph—are +you not, old boy?" he continued, stroking the silky coat of the animal, +who responded with a short low bark of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +My curiosity was much excited by these remarks, and I said eagerly: +</P> + +<P> +"Will you tell me in what way Leo has been useful to you? I have a +great affection for dogs, and I never tire of hearing stories of their +wonderful intelligence." +</P> + +<P> +"I will certainly tell you," replied Heliobas. "To some people the +story might appear improbable, but it is perfectly true and at the same +time simple of comprehension. When I was a very young man, younger than +Prince Ivan, I absorbed myself in the study of electricity—its +wonderful powers, and its various capabilities. From the consideration +of electricity in the different forms by which it is known to civilized +Europe, I began to look back through history, to what are ignorantly +called 'the dark ages,' but which might more justly be termed the +enlightened youth of the world. I found that the force of electricity +was well understood by the ancients—better understood by them, in +fact, than it is by the scientists of our day. The 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, +UPHARSIN' that glittered in unearthly characters on the wall at +Belshazzar's feast, was written by electricity; and the Chaldean kings +and priests understood a great many secrets of another form of electric +force which the world to-day scoffs at and almost ignores—I mean human +electricity, which we all possess, but which we do not all cultivate +within us. When once I realized the existence of the fact of human +electric force, I applied the discovery to myself, and spared no pains +to foster and educate whatever germ of this power lay within me. I +succeeded with more ease and celerity than I had imagined possible. At +the time I pursued these studies, Leo here was quite a young dog, full +of the clumsy playfulness and untrained ignorance of a Newfoundland +puppy. One day I was very busy reading an interesting Sanskrit scroll +which treated of ancient medicines and remedies, and Leo was gambolling +in his awkward way about the room, playing with an old slipper and +worrying it with his teeth. The noise he made irritated and disturbed +me, and I rose in my chair and called him by name, somewhat angrily. He +paused in his game and looked up—his eyes met mine exactly. His head +drooped; he shivered uneasily, whined, and lay down motionless. He +never stirred once from the position he had taken, till I gave him +permission—and remember, he was untrained. This strange behaviour led +me to try other experiments with him, and all succeeded. I gradually +led him up to the point I desired—that is, <I>I</I> FORCED HIM TO RECEIVE +MY THOUGHT AND ACT UPON IT, as far as his canine capabilities could do, +and he has never once failed. It is sufficient for me to strongly WILL +him to do a certain thing, and I can convey that command of mine to his +brain without uttering a single word, and he will obey me." +</P> + +<P> +I suppose I showed surprise and incredulity in my face, for Heliobas +smiled at me and continued: +</P> + +<P> +"I will put him to the proof at any time you like. If you wish him to +fetch anything that he is physically able to carry, and will write the +name of whatever it is on a slip of paper, just for me to know what you +require, I guarantee Leo's obedience." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at Zara, and she laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems like magic to you, does it not?" she said; "but I assure you +it is quite true." +</P> + +<P> +"I am bound to admit," said Prince Ivan, "that I once doubted both Leo +and his master, but I am quite converted. Here, mademoiselle," he +continued, handing me a leaf from his pocket-book and a pencil—"write +down something that you want; only don't send the dog to Italy on an +errand just now, as we want him back before we adjourn to the +drawing-room." +</P> + +<P> +I remembered that I had left an embroidered handkerchief on the couch +in Zara's room, and I wrote this down on the paper, which I passed to +Heliobas. He glanced at it and tore it up. Leo was indulging himself +with a bone under the table, but came instantly to his master's call. +Heliobas took the dog's head between his two hands, and gazed steadily +into the grave brown eyes that regarded him with equal steadiness. This +interchange of looks lasted but a few seconds. Leo left the room, +walking with an unruffled and dignified pace, while we awaited his +return—Heliobas and Zara with indifference, Prince Ivan with +amusement, and I with interest and expectancy. Two or three minutes +elapsed, and the dog returned with the same majestic demeanour, +carrying between his teeth my handkerchief. He came straight to me and +placed it in my hand; shook himself, wagged his tail, and conveying a +perfectly human expression of satisfaction into his face, went under +the table again to his bone. I was utterly amazed, but at the same time +convinced. I had not seen the dog since my arrival in Paris, and it was +impossible for him to have known where to find my handkerchief, or to +recognize it as being mine, unless through the means Heliobas had +explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you command human beings so?" I asked, with a slight tremor of +nervousness. +</P> + +<P> +"Not all," returned Heliobas quietly. "In fact, I may say, very few. +Those who are on my own circle of power I can, naturally, draw to or +repel from me; but those who are not, have to be treated by different +means. Sometimes cases occur in which persons, at first NOT on my +circle, are irresistibly attracted to it by a force not mine. +Sometimes, in order to perform a cure, I establish a communication +between myself and a totally alien sphere of thought; and to do this is +a long and laborious effort. But it can be done." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, if it can be done," said Prince Ivan, "why do you not accomplish +it for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because you are being forcibly drawn towards me without any effort on +my part," replied Heliobas, with one of his steady, keen looks. "For +what motive I cannot at present determine; but I shall know as soon as +you touch the extreme edge of my circle. You are a long way off it yet, +but you are coming in spite of yourself, Ivan." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince fidgeted restlessly in his chair, and toyed with the fruit +on his plate in a nervous manner. +</P> + +<P> +"If I did not know you to be an absolutely truthful and honourable man, +Casimir," he said, "I should think you were trying to deceive me. But I +have seen what you can do, therefore I must believe you. Still I +confess I do not follow you in your circle theory." +</P> + +<P> +"To begin with," returned Heliobas, "the Universe is a circle. +Everything is circular, from the motion of planets down to the human +eye, or the cup of a flower, or a drop of dew. MY 'circle theory,' as +you call it, applied to human electric force, is very simple; but I +have proved it to be mathematically correct. Every human being is +provided INTERNALLY and EXTERNALLY with a certain amount of +electricity, which is as necessary to existence as the life-blood to +the heart or fresh air to the lungs. Internally it is the germ of a +soul or spirit, and is placed there to be either cultivated or +neglected as suits the WILL of man. It is indestructible; yet, if +neglected, it remains always a germ; and, at the death of the body it +inhabits, goes elsewhere to seek another chance of development. If, on +the contrary, its growth is fostered by a persevering, resolute WILL, +it becomes a spiritual creature, glorious and supremely powerful, for +which a new, brilliant, and endless existence commences when its clay +chrysalis perishes. So much for the INTERNAL electrical force. The +EXTERNAL binds us all by fixed laws, with which our wills have nothing +whatever to do. (Each one of us walks the earth encompassed by an +invisible electric ring—wide or narrow according to our capabilities. +Sometimes our rings meet and form one, as in the case of two absolutely +sympathetic souls, who labour and love together with perfect faith in +each other. Sometimes they clash, and storm ensues, as when a strong +antipathy between persons causes them almost to loathe each other's +presence.) All these human electric rings are capable of attraction and +repulsion. If a man, during his courtship of a woman, experiences once +or twice a sudden instinctive feeling that there is something in her +nature not altogether what he expected or desired, let him take warning +and break off the attachment; for the electric circles do not combine, +and nothing but unhappiness would come from forcing a union. I would +say the same thing to a woman. If my advice were followed, how many +unhappy marriages would be avoided! But you have tempted me to talk too +much, Ivan. I see the ladies wish to adjourn. Shall we go to the +smoking-room for a little, and join them in the drawing-room +afterwards?" +</P> + +<P> +We all rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the Prince gaily, as he prepared to follow his host, "I +realize one thing which gives me pleasure, Casimir. If in truth I am +being attracted towards your electric circle, I hope I shall reach it +soon, as I shall then, I suppose, be more en rapport with madame, your +sister." +</P> + +<P> +Zara's luminous eyes surveyed him with a sort of queenly pity and +forbearance. +</P> + +<P> +"By the time YOU arrive at that goal, Prince," she said calmly, "it is +most probable that <I>I</I> shall have departed." +</P> + +<P> +And with one arm thrown round my waist, she saluted him gravely, and +left the room with me beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you like to see the chapel on your way to the drawing-room?" she +asked, as we crossed the hall. +</P> + +<P> +I gladly accepted this proposition, and Zara took me down a flight of +marble steps, which terminated in a handsomely-carved oaken door. +Pushing this softly open, she made the sign of the cross and sank on +her knees. I did the same, and then looked with reverential wonder at +the loveliness and serenity of the place. It was small, but lofty, and +the painted dome-shaped roof was supported by eight light marble +columns, wreathed with minutely-carved garlands of vine-leaves. The +chapel was fitted up in accordance with the rites of the Catholic +religion, and before the High Altar and Tabernacle burned seven roseate +lamps, which were suspended from the roof by slender gilt chains. A +large crucifix, bearing a most sorrowful and pathetic figure of Christ, +was hung on one of the side walls; and from a corner altar, shining +with soft blue and silver, an exquisite statue of the Madonna and Child +was dimly seen from where we knelt. A few minutes passed, and Zara +rose. Looking towards the Tabernacle, her lips moved as though +murmuring a prayer, and then, taking me by the hand, she led me gently +out. The heavy oaken door swung softly behind us as we ascended the +chapel steps and re-entered the great hall. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a Catholic, are you not?" then said Zara to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I answered; "but—" +</P> + +<P> +"But you have doubts sometimes, you would say! Of course. One always +doubts when one sees the dissensions, the hypocrisies, the false +pretences and wickedness of many professing Christians. But Christ and +His religion are living facts, in spite of the suicide of souls He +would gladly save. You must ask Casimir some day about these things; he +will clear up all the knotty points for you. Here we are at the +drawing-room door." +</P> + +<P> +It was the same room into which I had first been shown. Zara seated +herself, and made me occupy a low chair beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," she said, "can you not come here and stay with me while you +are under Casimir's treatment?" +</P> + +<P> +I thought of Madame Denise and her Pension. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could," I said; "but I fear my friends would want to know +where I am staying, and explanations would have to be given, which I do +not feel disposed to enter upon." +</P> + +<P> +"Why," went on Zara quietly, "you have only to say that you are being +attended by a Dr. Casimir who wishes to have you under his own +supervision, and that you are therefore staying in his house under the +chaperonage of his sister." +</P> + +<P> +I laughed at the idea of Zara playing the chaperon, and told her she +was far too young and beautiful to enact that character. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know how old I am?" she asked, with a slight smile. +</P> + +<P> +I guessed seventeen, or at any rate not more than twenty. +</P> + +<P> +"I am thirty-eight," said Zara. +</P> + +<P> +Thirty-eight! Impossible! I would not believe it. I could not. I +laughed scornfully at such an absurdity, looking at her as she sat +there a perfect model of youthful grace and loveliness, with her +lustrous eyes and rose-tinted complexion. +</P> + +<P> +"You may doubt me if you choose," she said, still smiling; "but I have +told you the truth. I am thirty-eight years of age according to the +world's counting. What I am, measured by another standard of time, +matters not just now. You see I look young, and, what is more, I am +young. I enjoy my youth. I hear that women of society at thirty-eight +are often faded and blase—what a pity it is that they do not +understand the first laws of self-preservation! But to resume what I +was saying, you know now that I am quite old enough in the eyes of the +world to chaperon you or anybody. You had better arrange to stay here. +Casimir asked me to settle the matter with, you." +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke, Heliobas and Prince Ivan entered. The latter looked +flushed and excited—Heliobas was calm and stately as usual. He +addressed himself to me at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I have ordered my carriage, mademoiselle, to take you back this +evening to the Avenue du Midi. If you will do as Zara tells you, and +explain to your friends the necessity there is for your being under the +personal supervision of your doctor, you will find everything will +arrange itself very naturally. And the sooner you come here the +better—in fact, Zara will expect you here to-morrow early in the +afternoon. I may rely upon you?" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with a certain air of command, evidently expecting no +resistance on my part. Indeed, why should I resist? Already I loved +Zara, and wished to be more in her company; and then, most probably, my +complete restoration to health would be more successfully and quickly +accomplished if I were actually in the house of the man who had +promised to cure me. Therefore I replied: +</P> + +<P> +"I will do as you wish, monsieur. Having placed myself in your hands, I +must obey. In this particular case," I added, looking at Zara, +"obedience is very agreeable to me." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled and seemed satisfied. He then took a small goblet from +a side-table and left the room. Returning, however, almost immediately +with the cup filled to the brim, he said, handing it to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Drink this—it is your dose for to-night; and then you will go home, +and straight to bed." +</P> + +<P> +I drank it off at once. It was delicious in flavour—like very fine +Chianti. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you no soothing draught for me?" said Prince Ivan, who had been +turning over a volume of photographs in a sullenly abstracted sort of +way. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Heliobas, with a keen glance at him; "the draught fitted +for your present condition might soothe you too thoroughly." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince looked at Zara, but she was mute. She had taken a piece of +silk embroidery from a workbasket near her, and was busily employed +with it. Heliobas advanced and laid his hand on the young man's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Sing to us, Ivan," he said, in a kind tone. "Sing us one of your wild +Russian airs—Zara loves them, and this young lady would like to hear +your voice before she goes." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince hesitated, and then, with another glance at Zara's bent +head, went to the piano. He had a brilliant touch, and accompanied +himself with great taste and delicacy; but his voice was truly +magnificent—a baritone of deep and mellow quality, sonorous, and at +the same time tender. He sang a French rendering of a Slavonic +love-song, which, as nearly as I can translate it into English, ran as +follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As the billows fling shells on the shore,<BR> + As the sun poureth light on the sea,<BR> + As a lark on the wing scatters song to the spring,<BR> + So rushes my love to thee.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As the ivy clings close to the tower,<BR> + As the dew lieth deep in a flower,<BR> + As the shadow to light, as the day unto night,<BR> + So clings my wild soul to thee!<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As the moon glitters coldly alone,<BR> + Above earth on her cloud-woven throne,<BR> + As the rocky-bound cave repulses a wave,<BR> + So thy anger repulseth me.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As the bitter black frost of a night<BR> + Slays the roses with pitiless might,<BR> + As a sharp dagger-thrust hurls a king to the dust,<BR> + So thy cruelty murdereth me.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Yet in spite of thy queenly disdain,<BR> + Thou art seared by my passion and pain;<BR> + Thou shalt hear me repeat, till I die for it, sweet!<BR> + 'I love thee! I dare to love THEE!'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +He ended abruptly and with passion, and rose from the piano directly. +</P> + +<P> +I was enthusiastic in my admiration of the song and of the splendid +voice which had given it utterance, and the Prince seemed almost +grateful for the praise accorded him both by Heliobas and myself. +</P> + +<P> +The page entered to announce that "the carriage was waiting for +mademoiselle," and I prepared to leave. Zara kissed me affectionately, +and whispering, "Come early to-morrow," made a graceful salute to +Prince Ivan, and left the room immediately. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas then offered me his arm to take me to the carriage. Prince +Ivan accompanied us. As the hall door opened in its usual noiseless +manner, I perceived an elegant light brougham drawn by a pair of black +horses, who were giving the coachman a great deal of trouble by the +fretting and spirited manner in which they pawed the stones and +pranced. Before descending the steps I shook hands with Heliobas, and +thanked him for the pleasant evening I had passed. +</P> + +<P> +"We will try to make all your time with us pass as pleasantly," he +returned. "Good-night! What, Ivan," as he perceived the Prince attiring +himself in his great-coat and hat, "are you also going?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am off," he replied, with a kind of forced gaiety; "I am bad +company for anyone to-night, and I won't inflict myself upon you, +Casimir. Au revoir! I will put mademoiselle into the carriage if she +will permit me." +</P> + +<P> +We went down the steps together, Heliobas watching us from the open +door. As the Prince assisted me into the brougham, he whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Are you one of them!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at him in bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"One of them!" I repeated. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," he muttered impatiently, as he made a pretence of +covering me with the fur rugs inside the carriage: "if you are not now, +you will be, or Zara would not have kissed you. If you ever have the +chance ask her to think of me at my best. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +I was touched and a little sorry for him. I held out my hand in +silence. He pressed it hard, and calling to the coachman, "36, Avenue +du Midi," stood on the pavement bareheaded, looking singularly pale and +grave in the starlight, as the carriage rolled swiftly away, and the +door of the Hotel Mars closed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SYMPHONY IN THE AIR. +</H3> + +<P> +Within a very short time I became a temporary resident in the house of +Heliobas, and felt myself to be perfectly at home there. I had +explained to Madame Denise the cause of my leaving her comfortable +Pension, and she had fully approved of my being under a physician's +personal care in order to ensure rapid recovery; but when she heard the +name of that physician, which I gave (in accordance with Zara's +instructions) as Dr. Casimir, she held up her fat hands in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mademoiselle," she exclaimed, "have you not dread of that terrible +man? Is it not he that is reported to be a cruel mesmerist who +sacrifices everybody—yes, even his own sister, to his medical +experiments? Ah, mon Dieu! it makes me to shudder!" +</P> + +<P> +And she shuddered directly, as a proof of her veracity. I was amused. I +saw in her an example of the common multitude, who are more ready to +believe in vulgar spirit-rapping and mesmerism than to accept an +established scientific fact. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know Dr. Casimir and his sister?" I asked her. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen them, mademoiselle; perhaps once—twice—three times! It +is true madame is lovely as an angel; but they say"—here she lowered +her voice mysteriously—"that she is wedded to a devil! It is true, +mademoiselle—all people say so. And Suzanne Michot—a very respectable +young person, mademoiselle, from Auteuil—she was employed at one time +as under-housemaid at Dr. Casimir's, and she had things to say—ah, to +make the blood like ice!" +</P> + +<P> +"What did she say?" I asked with a half smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," and Madame Denise came close to me and looked confidential, +"Suzanne—I assure you a most respectable girl—said that one evening +she was crossing the passage near Madame Casimir's boudoir, and she saw +a light like fire coming through the curtains of the portiere. And she +stopped to listen, and she heard a strange music like the sound of +harps. She ventured to go nearer—Suzanne is a brave girl, +mademoiselle, and most virtuous—and to raise the curtain the smallest +portion just to permit the glance of an eye. And—imagine what she saw." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" I exclaimed impatiently. "WHAT did she see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, mademoiselle, you will not believe me—but Suzanne Michot has +respectable parents, and would not tell a lie—well, Suzanne saw her +mistress, Madame Casimir, standing up near her couch with both arms +extended as to embrace the air. Round her there was—believe it or not, +mademoiselle, as you please—a ring of light like a red fire, which +seemed to grow larger and redder always. All suddenly, madame grew pale +and more pale, and then fell on her couch as one dead, and all the red +fire went out. Suzanne had fear, and she tried to call out—but now see +what happened to Suzanne! She was PUSHED from the spot, mademoiselle, +pushed along as though by some strong personage; yet she saw no one +till she reached her own door, and in her room she fainted from alarm. +The very next morning Dr. Casimir dismissed her, with her full wages +and a handsome present besides; but he LOOKED at her, Suzanne said, in +a manner to make her tremble from head to foot. Now, mademoiselle, +judge yourself whether it is fit for one who is suffering with nerves +to go to so strange a house!" +</P> + +<P> +I laughed. Her story had not the least effect upon me. In fact, I made +up my mind that the so respectable and virtuous Suzanne Michot had been +drinking some of her master's wine. I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Your words only make me more desirous to go, Madame Denise. Besides, +Dr. Casimir has already done me a great deal of good. You must have +heard things of him that are not altogether bad, surely?" +</P> + +<P> +The little woman reflected seriously, and then said, as with some +reluctance: +</P> + +<P> +"It is certainly true, mademoiselle, that in the quarter of the poor he +is much beloved. Jean Duclos—he is a chiffonnier—had his one child +dying of typhoid fever, and he was watching it struggling for breath; +it was at the point to die. Monsieur le Comte Casimir, or Dr. +Casimir—for he is called both—came in all suddenly, and in half an +hour had saved the little one's life. I do not deny that he may have +some good in him, and that he understands medicine; but there is +something wrong—" And Madame Denise shook her head forlornly a great +number of times. +</P> + +<P> +None of her statements deterred me from my intention, and I was +delighted when I found myself fairly installed at the Hotel Mars. Zara +gave me a beautiful room next to her own; she had taken pains to fit it +up herself with everything that was in accordance with my particular +tastes, such as a choice selection of books; music, including many of +the fascinating scores of Schubert and Wagner; writing materials; and a +pretty, full-toned pianette. My window looked out on a small courtyard, +which had been covered over with glass and transformed into a +conservatory. I could enter it by going down a few steps, and could +have the satisfaction of gathering roses and lilies of the valley, +while outside the east wind blew and the cold snowflakes fell over +Paris. I wrote to Mrs. Everard from my retreat, and I also informed the +Challoners where they could find me if they wanted me. These duties +done, I gave myself up to enjoyment. Zara and I became inseparables; we +worked together, read together, and together every morning gave those +finishing-touches to the ordering and arrangement of the household +which are essentially feminine, and which not the wisest philosopher in +all the world has been, or ever will be, able to accomplish +successfully. We grew to love each other dearly, with that ungrudging, +sympathizing, confiding friendship that is very rarely found between +two women. In the meantime my cure went on rapidly. Every night on +retiring to rest Heliobas prepared a medicinal dose for me, of the +qualities of which I was absolutely ignorant, but which I took +trustingly from his hand. Every morning a different little phial of +liquid was placed in the bathroom for me to empty into the water of my +daily bath, and every hour I grew better, brighter, and stronger. The +natural vivacity of my temperament returned to me; I suffered no pain, +no anxiety, no depression, and I slept as soundly as a child, unvisited +by a single dream. The mere fact of my being alive became a joy to me; +I felt grateful for everything—for my eyesight, my speech, my hearing, +my touch—because all my senses seemed to be sharpened and invigorated +and braced up to the keenest delight. This happy condition of my system +did not come suddenly—sudden cures mean sudden relapses; it was a +gradual, steady, ever-increasing, reliable recovery. +</P> + +<P> +I found the society of Heliobas and his sister very fascinating. Their +conversation was both thoughtful and brilliant, their manners were +evenly gracious and kindly, and the life they led was a model of +perfect household peace and harmony. There was never a fuss about +anything: the domestic arrangements seemed to work on smoothly oiled +wheels; the different repasts were served with quiet elegance and +regularity; the servants were few, but admirably trained; and we all +lived in an absolutely calm atmosphere, unruffled by so much as a +breath of worry. Nothing of a mysterious nature went on, as far as I +could see. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas passed the greater part of the day in his study—a small, +plainly furnished room, the facsimile of the one I had beheld him in +when I had dreamed those three dreams at Cannes. Whether he received +many or few patients there I could not tell; but that some applied to +him for advice I knew, as I often met strangers crossing the hall on +their way in and out. He always joined us at dinner, and was invariably +cheerful, generally entertaining us with lively converse and sparkling +narrative, though now and then the thoughtful tendency of his mind +predominated, and gave a serious tone to his remarks. +</P> + +<P> +Zara was uniformly bright and even in her temperament. She was my very +ideal of the Greek Psyche, radiant yet calm, pensive yet mirthful. She +was full of beautiful ideas and poetical fancies, and so thoroughly +untouched by the world and its aims, that she seemed to me just to +poise on the earth like a delicate butterfly on a flower; and I should +have been scarcely surprised had I seen her unfold a pair of shining +wings and fly away to some other region. Yet in spite of this +spirituelle nature, she was physically stronger and more robust than +any other woman I ever saw. She was gay and active; she was never +tired, never ailing, and she enjoyed life with a keen zest such as is +unknown to the tired multitudes who toil on hopelessly and wearily, +wondering, as they work, why they were born. Zara evidently had no +doubts or speculations of this kind; she drank in every minute of her +existence as if it were a drop of honey-dew prepared specially for her +palate. I never could believe that her age was what she had declared it +to be. She seemed to look younger every day; sometimes her eyes had +that limpid, lustrous innocence that is seen in the eyes of a very +little child; and, again, they would change and glow with the earnest +and lofty thought of one who had lived through years of study, +research, and discovery. For the first few days of my visit she did not +work in her studio at all, but appeared to prefer reading or talking +with me. One afternoon, however, when we had returned from a short +drive in the Bois de Boulogne, she said half hesitatingly: +</P> + +<P> +"I think I will go to work again to-morrow morning, if you will not +think me unsociable." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Zara dearest!" I replied. "Of course I shall not think you +unsociable. I would not interfere with any of your pursuits for the +world." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me with a sort of wistful affection, and continued: +</P> + +<P> +"But you must know I like to work quite alone, and though it may look +churlish, still not even you must come into the studio. I never can do +anything before a witness; Casimir himself knows that, and keeps away +from me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" I said, "I should be an ungrateful wretch if I could not oblige +you in so small a request. I promise not to disturb you, Zara; and do +not think for one moment that I shall be dull. I have books, a piano, +flowers—what more do I want? And if I like I can go out; then I have +letters to write, and all sorts of things to occupy me. I shall be +quite happy, and I shall not come near you till you call me." +</P> + +<P> +Zara kissed me. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a dear girl," she said; "I hate to appear inhospitable, but I +know you are a real friend—that you will love me as much away from you +as near you, and that you have none of that vulgar curiosity which some +women give way to, when what they desire to see is hidden from them. +You are not inquisitive, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +I laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"The affairs of other people have never appeared so interesting to me +that I have cared to bother myself about them," I replied. +"Blue-Beard's Chamber would never have been unlocked had I been that +worthy man's wife." +</P> + +<P> +"What a fine moral lesson the old fairy-tale teaches!" said Zara. "I +always think those wives of Blue-Beard deserved their fate for not +being able to obey him in his one request. But in regard to your +pursuits, dear, while I am at work in my studio, you can use the grand +piano in the drawing-room when you please, as well as the little one in +your own room; and you can improvise on the chapel organ as much as you +like." +</P> + +<P> +I was delighted at this idea, and thanked her heartily. She smiled +thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"What happiness it must be for you to love music so thoroughly!" she +said. "It fills you with enthusiasm. I used to dislike to read the +biographies of musical people; they all seemed to find so much fault +with one another, and grudged each other every little bit of praise +wrung from the world's cold, death-doomed lips. It is to me +pathetically absurd to see gifted persons all struggling along, and +rudely elbowing each other out of the way to win—what? A few stilted +commonplace words of approbation or fault-finding in the newspapers of +the day, and a little clapping and shouting from a gathering of +ordinary minded persons, who only clap and shout because it is possibly +the fashion to do so. It is really ludicrous. If the music the musician +offers to the public be really great, it will live by itself and defy +praise or blame. Because Schubert died of want and sorrow, that does +not interfere with the life of his creations. Because Wagner is voted +impossible and absurd by many who think themselves good judges of +musical art, that does not offer any obstacle to the steady spread of +his fame, which is destined to become as universal as that of +Shakespeare. Poor Joachim, the violinist, has got a picture in his +private house, in which Wagner is painted as suffering the tortures of +hell; can anything be more absurd, when we consider how soon the +learned fiddler, who has occupied his life in playing other people's +compositions, will be a handful of forgotten dust, while multitudes yet +to come will shout their admiration of 'Tristran' and 'Parsifal.' Yes, +as I said, I never cared for musical people much, till I met a friend +of my brother's—a man whose inner life was an exquisite harmony." +</P> + +<P> +"I know!" I interrupted her. "He wrote the 'Letters of a Dead +Musician.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Zara. "I suppose you saw the book at Raffaello's studio. +Good Raffaello Cellini! his is another absolutely ungrudging and +unselfish spirit. But this musician that I speak of was like a child in +humility and reverence. Casimir told me he had never sounded so perfect +a nature. At one time he, too, was a little anxious for recognition and +praise, and Casimir saw that he was likely to wreck himself on that +fatal rock of poor ambition. So he took him in hand, and taught him the +meaning of his work, and why it was especially given him to do; and +that man's life became 'one grand sweet song.' But there are tears in +your eyes, dear! What have I said to grieve you?" +</P> + +<P> +And she caressed me tenderly. The tears were indeed thick in my eyes, +and a minute or two elapsed before I could master them. At last I +raised my head and endeavoured to smile. +</P> + +<P> +"They are not sad tears, Zara," I said; "I think they come from a +strong desire I have to be what you are, what your brother is, what +that dead musician must have been. Why, I have longed, and do long for +fame, for wealth, for the world's applause, for all the things which +you seem to think so petty and mean. How can I help it? Is not fame +power? Is not money a double power, strong to assist one's self and +those one loves? Is not the world's favour a necessary means to gain +these things?" +</P> + +<P> +Zara's eyes gleamed with a soft and pitying gentleness. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you understand what you mean by power?" she asked. "World's fame? +World's wealth? Will these things make you enjoy life? You will perhaps +say yes. I tell you no. Laurels of earth's growing fade; gold of +earth's getting is good for a time, but it palls quickly. Suppose a man +rich enough to purchase all the treasures of the world—what then? He +must die and leave them. Suppose a poet or musician so famous that all +nations know and love him: he too must die, and go where nations exist +no longer. And you actually would grasp ashes and drink wormwood, +little friend? Music, the heaven-born spirit of pure sound, does not +teach you so!" +</P> + +<P> +I was silent. The gleam of the strange jewel Zara always wore flashed +in my eyes like lightning, and anon changed to the similitude of a +crimson star. I watched it, dreamily fascinated by its unearthly +glitter. +</P> + +<P> +"Still," I said, "you yourself admit that such fame as that of +Shakespeare or Wagner becomes a universal monument to their memories. +That is something, surely?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to them," replied Zara; "they have partly forgotten that they ever +were imprisoned in such a narrow gaol as this world. Perhaps they do +not care to remember it, though memory is part of immortality." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" I sighed restlessly; "your thoughts go beyond me, Zara. I cannot +follow your theories." +</P> + +<P> +Zara smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"We will not talk about them any more," she said; "you must tell +Casimir—he will teach you far better than I can." +</P> + +<P> +"What shall I tell him?" I asked; "and what will he teach me?" +</P> + +<P> +"You will tell him what a high opinion you have of the world and its +judgments," said Zara, "and he will teach you that the world is no more +than a grain of dust, measured by the standard of your own soul. This +is no mere platitude—no repetition of the poetical statement 'THE +MIND'S THE STANDARD OF THE MAN;' it is a fact, and can be proved as +completely as that two and two make four. Ask Casimir to set you free." +</P> + +<P> +"To set me free?" I asked, surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" and Zara looked at me brightly. "He will know if you are strong +enough to travel!" And, nodding her head gaily to me, she left the room +to prepare for the dinner-hour which was fast approaching. +</P> + +<P> +I pondered over her words a good deal without arriving at any +satisfactory conclusion as to the meaning of them. I did not resume the +conversation with her, nor did I speak to Heliobas as yet, and the days +went on smoothly and pleasantly till I had been nearly a week in +residence at the Hotel Mars. I now felt perfectly well and strong, +though Heliobas continued to give me his remedies regularly night and +morning. I began an energetic routine of musical practice: the +beautiful piano in the drawing-room answered readily to my touch, and +many a delightful hour slipped by as I tried various new difficulties +on the key-board, or worked out different combinations of harmony. I +spent a great deal of my time at the organ in the little chapel, the +bellows of which were worked by electricity, in a manner that gave not +the least trouble, and was perfectly simple of management. +</P> + +<P> +The organ itself was peculiarly sweet in tone, the "vox humana" stop +especially producing an entrancingly rich and tender sound. The +silence, warmth, and beauty of the chapel, with the winter sunlight +streaming through its stained windows, and the unbroken solitude I +enjoyed there, all gave fresh impetus to the fancies of my brain, and a +succession of solemn and tender melodies wove themselves under my +fingers as a broidered carpet is woven on the loom. +</P> + +<P> +One particular afternoon, I was sitting at the instrument as usual, and +my thoughts began to busy themselves with the sublime tragedy of +Calvary. I mused, playing softly all the while, on the wonderful, +blameless, glorious life that had ended in the shame and cruelty of the +Cross, when suddenly, like a cloud swooping darkly across the heaven of +my thoughts, came the suggestive question: "Is it all true? Was Christ +indeed Divine—or is it all a myth, a fable—an imposture?" +Unconsciously I struck a discordant chord on the organ—a faint tremor +shook me, and I ceased playing. An uncomfortable sensation came over +me, as of some invisible presence being near me and approaching softly, +slowly, yet always more closely; and I hurriedly rose from my seat, +shut the organ, and prepared to leave the chapel, overcome by a strange +incomprehensible terror. I was glad when I found myself safely outside +the door, and I rushed into the hall as though I were being pursued; +yet the oddest part of my feeling was, that whoever thus pursued me, +did so out of love, not enmity, and that I was almost wrong in running +away. I leaned for a moment against one of the columns in the hall, +trying to calm the excited beating of my heart, when a deep voice +startled me: +</P> + +<P> +"So! you are agitated and alarmed! Unbelief is easily scared!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked up and met the calm eyes of Heliobas. He appeared to be +taller, statelier, more like a Chaldean prophet or king than I had ever +seen him before. There was something in his steady scrutiny of my face +that put me to a sort of shame, and when he spoke again it was in a +tone of mild reproof. +</P> + +<P> +"You have been led astray, my child, by the conflicting and vain +opinions of mankind. You, like many others in the world, delight to +question, to speculate, to weigh this, to measure that, with little or +no profit to yourself or your fellow-creatures. And you have come +freshly from a land where, in the great Senate-house, a poor perishable +lump of clay calling itself a man, dares to stand up boldly and deny +the existence of God, while his compeers, less bold than he, pretend a +holy displeasure, yet secretly support him—all blind worms denying the +existence of the sun; a land where so-called Religion is split into +hundreds of cold and narrow sects, gatherings assembled for the +practice of hypocrisy, lip-service and lies—where Self, not the +Creator, is the prime object of worship; a land, mighty once among the +mightiest, but which now, like an over-ripe pear, hangs loosely on its +tree, awaiting but a touch to make it fall! A land—let me not name +it;—where the wealthy, high-fed ministers of the nation slowly argue +away the lives of better men than themselves, with vain words of colder +and more cruel force than the whirling spears of untaught savages! What +have you, an ardent disciple of music, to do in such a land where +favouritism and backstair influence win the day over even the merits of +a Schubert? Supposing you were a second Beethoven, what could you do in +that land without faith or hope? that land which is like a +disappointed, churlish, and aged man with tottering feet and purblind +eyes, who has long ago exhausted all enjoyment and sees nothing new +under the sun. The world is wide—faith is yet extant—and the +teachings of Christ are true. 'Believe and live; doubt and die!' That +saying is true also." +</P> + +<P> +I had listened to these words in silence; but now I spoke eagerly and +impatiently, remembering what Zara had told me. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," I said, "if I have been misguided by modern opinions—if I have +unconsciously absorbed the doctrines of modern fashionable +atheism—lead me right. Teach me what you know. I am willing to learn. +Let me find out the reason of my life. SET ME FREE!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas regarded me with earnest solemnity. +</P> + +<P> +"Set you free!" he murmured, in a low tone. "Do you know what you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I answered, with reckless fervour. "I do not know what I ask; but +I feel that you have the power to show me the unseen things of another +world. Did you not yourself tell me in our first interview that you had +let Raffaello Cellini 'go on a voyage of discovery, and that he came +back perfectly satisfied?' Besides, he told me his history. From you he +has gained all that gives him peace and comfort. You possess electric +secrets undreamt of by the world. Prove your powers upon me; I am not +afraid." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled. "Not afraid! And you ran out of the chapel just now as +if you were pursued by a fiend! You must know that the only WOMAN I +ever tried my greatest experiment upon is my sister Zara. She was +trained and prepared for it in the most careful manner; and it +succeeded. Now"—and Heliobas looked half-sad, half-triumphant—"she +has passed beyond my power; she is dominated by one greater than I. But +she cannot use her force for others; she can only employ it to defend +herself. Therefore, I am willing to try you if you indeed desire it—to +see if the same thing will occur to you as to Zara; and I firmly +believe it will." +</P> + +<P> +A slight tremor came over me; but I said with an attempt at +indifference: +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that I shall be dominated also by some great force or +influence?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think so," replied Heliobas musingly. "Your nature is more prone to +love than to command. Try and follow me in the explanation I am going +to give you. Do you know some lines by Shelley that run— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Nothing in the world is single,<BR> + All things by a law divine<BR> + In one another's being mingle—<BR> + Why not I with thine?'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I said. "I know the lines well. I used to think them very +sentimental and pretty." +</P> + +<P> +"They contain," said Heliobas, "the germ of a great truth, as many of +the most fanciful verses of the poets do. As the 'image of a voice' +mentioned in the Book of Job hinted at the telephone, and as +Shakespeare's 'girdle round the earth' foretold the electric telegraph, +so the utterances of the inspired starvelings of the world, known as +poets, suggest many more wonders of the universe than may be at first +apparent. Poets must always be prophets, or their calling is in vain. +Put this standard of judgment to the verse-writers of the day, and +where would they be? The English Laureate is no seer: he is a mere +relater of pretty stories. Algernon Charles Swinburne has more fire in +him, and more wealth of expression, but he does not prophesy; he has a +clever way of combining Biblical similes with Provengal passion—et +voila tout! The prophets are always poor—the sackcloth and ashes of +the world are their portion; and their bodies moulder a hundred years +or more in the grave before the world finds out what they meant by +their ravings. But apropos of these lines of Shelley. He speaks of the +duality of existence. 'Nothing in the world is single.' He might have +gone further, and said nothing in the universe is single. Cold and +heat, storm and sunshine, good and evil, joy and sorrow—all go in +pairs. This double life extends to all the spheres and above the +spheres. Do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand what you say," I said slowly; "but I cannot see your +meaning as applied to myself or yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"I will teach you in a few words," went on Heliobas. "You believe in +the soul?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. Now realize that there is no soul on this earth that is +complete, ALONE. Like everything else, it is dual. It is like half a +flame that seeks the other half, and is dissatisfied and restless till +it attains its object. Lovers, misled by the blinding light of Love, +think they have reached completeness when they are united to the person +beloved. Now, in very, very rare cases, perhaps one among a thousand, +this desirable result is effected; but the majority of people are +content with the union of bodies only, and care little or nothing about +the sympathy or attachment between souls. There are people, however, +who do care, and who never find their Twin-Flame or companion Spirit at +all on earth, and never will find it. And why? Because it is not +imprisoned in clay; it is elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" I asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you seem to ask me by your eyes what this all means. I will +apply it at once to myself. By my researches into human electrical +science, I discovered that MY companion, MY other half of existence, +though not on earth, was near me, and could be commanded by me; and, on +being commanded, obeyed. With Zara it was different. She could not +COMMAND—she OBEYED; she was the weaker of the two. With you, I think +it will be the same thing. Men sacrifice everything to ambition; women +to love. It is natural. I see there is much of what I have said that +appears to have mystified you; it is no good puzzling your brain any +more about it. No doubt you think I am talking very wildly about +Twin-Flames and Spiritual Affinities that live for us in another +sphere. You do not believe, perhaps, in the existence of beings in the +very air that surrounds us, invisible to ordinary human eyes, yet +actually akin to us, with a closer relationship than any tie of blood +known on earth?" +</P> + +<P> +I hesitated. Heliobas saw my hesitation, and his eyes darkened with a +sombre wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you one of those also who must see in order to believe?" he said, +half angrily. "Where do you suppose your music comes from? Where do you +suppose any music comes from that is not mere imitation? The greatest +composers of the world have been mere receptacles of sound; and the +emptier they were of self-love and vanity, the greater quantity of +heaven-born melody they held. The German Wagner—did he not himself say +that he walked up and down in the avenues, 'trying to catch the +harmonies as they floated in the air'? Come with me—come back to the +place you left, and I will see if you, like Wagner, are able to catch a +melody flying." +</P> + +<P> +He grasped my unresisting arm, and led me, half-frightened, +half-curious, into the little chapel, where he bade me seat myself at +the organ. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not play a single note," he said, "till you are compelled." +</P> + +<P> +And standing beside me, Heliobas laid his hands on my head, then +pressed them on my ears, and finally touched my hands, that rested +passively on the keyboard. +</P> + +<P> +He then raised his eyes, and uttered the name I had often thought of +but never mentioned—the name he had called upon in my dream. +</P> + +<P> +"Azul!" he said, in a low, penetrating voice, "open the gateways of the +Air that we may hear the sound of Song!" +</P> + +<P> +A soft rushing noise of wind answered his adjuration. This was followed +by a burst of music, transcendently lovely, but unlike any music I had +ever heard. There were sounds of delicate and entrancing tenderness +such as no instrument made by human hands could produce; there was +singing of clear and tender tone, and of infinite purity such as no +human voices could be capable of. I listened, perplexed, alarmed, yet +entranced. Suddenly I distinguished a melody running through the +wonderful air-symphonies—a melody like a flower, fresh and perfect. +Instinctively I touched the organ and began to play it; I found I could +produce it note for note. I forgot all fear in my delight, and I played +on and on in a sort of deepening rapture. Gradually I became aware that +the strange sounds about me were dying slowly away; fainter and fainter +they grew—softer—farther—and finally ceased. But the melody—that +one distinct passage of notes I had followed out—remained with me, and +I played it again and again with feverish eagerness lest it should +escape me. I had forgotten the presence of Heliobas. But a touch on my +shoulder roused me. I looked up and met his eyes fixed upon, me with a +steady and earnest regard. A shiver ran through, me, and I felt +bewildered. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I lost it?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Lost what?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"The tune I heard—the harmonies." +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied; "at least I think not. But if you have, no matter. +You will hear others. Why do you look so distressed?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is lovely," I said wistfully, "all that music; but it is not MINE;" +and tears of regret filled my eyes. "Oh, if it were only mine—my very +own composition!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"It is as much yours as any thing belongs to anyone. Yours? why, what +can you really call your own? Every talent you have, every breath you +draw, every drop of blood flowing in your veins, is lent to you only; +you must pay it all back. And as far as the arts go, it is a bad sign +of poet, painter, or musician, who is arrogant enough to call his work +his own. It never was his, and never will be. It is planned by a higher +intelligence than his, only he happens to be the hired labourer chosen +to carry out the conception; a sort of mechanic in whom boastfulness +looks absurd; as absurd as if one of the stonemasons working at the +cornice of a cathedral were to vaunt himself as the designer of the +whole edifice. And when a work, any work, is completed, it passes out +of the labourer's hands; it belongs to the age and the people for whom +it was accomplished, and, if deserving, goes on belonging to future +ages and future peoples. So far, and only so far, music is your own. +But are you convinced? or do you think you have been dreaming all that +you heard just now?" +</P> + +<P> +I rose from the organ, closed it gently, and, moved by a sudden +impulse, held out both my hands to Heliobas. He took them and held them +in a friendly clasp, watching me intently as I spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe in YOU," I said firmly; "and I know thoroughly well that I +was not dreaming; I certainly heard strange music, and entrancing +voices. But in acknowledging your powers over something unseen, I must +explain to you the incredulity I at first felt, which I believe annoyed +you. I was made sceptical on one occasion, by attending a so-called +spiritual seance, where they tried to convince me of the truth of +table-turning—" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas laughed softly, still holding my hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Your reason will at once tell you that disembodied spirits never +become so undignified as to upset furniture or rap on tables. Neither +do they write letters in pen and ink and put them under doors. +Spiritual beings are purely spiritual; they cannot touch anything +human, much less deal in such vulgar display as the throwing about of +chairs, and the opening of locked sideboards. You were very rightly +sceptical in these matters. But in what I have endeavoured to prove to +you, you have no doubts, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"None in the world," I said. "I only ask you to go on teaching me the +wonders that seem so familiar to you. Let me know all I may; and soon!" +I spoke with trembling eagerness. +</P> + +<P> +"You have been only eight days in the house, my child," said Heliobas, +loosening my hands, and signing me to come out of the chapel with him; +"and I do not consider you sufficiently strong as yet for the +experiment you wish me to try upon you. Even now you are agitated. Wait +one week more, and then you shall be—" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" I asked impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Lifted up," he replied. "Lifted up above this little speck called +earth. But now, no more of this. Go to Zara; keep your mind well +employed; study, read, and pray—pray much and often in few and simple +words, and with as utterly unselfish a heart as you can prepare. Think +that you are going to some high festival, and attire your soul in +readiness. I do not say to you 'Have faith;' I would not compel your +belief in anything against your own will. You wish to be convinced of a +future existence; you seek proofs; you shall have them. In the meantime +avoid all conversation with me on the subject. You can confide your +desires to Zara if you like; her experience may be of use to you. You +had best join her now. Au revoir!" and with a kind parting gesture, he +left me. +</P> + +<P> +I watched his stately figure disappear in the shadow of the passage +leading to his own study, and then I hastened to Zara's room. The +musical episode in the chapel had certainly startled me, and the words +of Heliobas were full of mysterious meaning; but, strange to say, I was +in no way rendered anxious or alarmed by the prospect I had before me +of being "lifted up," as my physician had expressed it. I thought of +Raffaello Cellini and his history, and I determined within myself that +no cowardly hesitation or fear should prevent me from making the +attempt to see what he professed to have seen. I found Zara reading. +She looked up as I entered, and greeted me with her usual bright smile. +</P> + +<P> +"You have had a long practice," she began; "I thought you were never +coming." +</P> + +<P> +I sat down beside her, and related at once all that had happened to me +that afternoon. Zara listened with deep and almost breathless interest. +</P> + +<P> +"You are quite resolved," she said, when I had concluded, "to let +Casimir exert his force upon you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am quite resolved," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"And you have no fear?" +</P> + +<P> +"None that I am just now conscious of." +</P> + +<P> +Zara's eyes became darker and deeper in the gravity of her intense +meditation. At last she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I can help you to keep your courage firmly to the point, by letting +you know at once what Casimir will do to you. Beyond that I cannot go. +You understand the nature of an electric shock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there are different kinds of electric shocks—some that are +remedial, some that are fatal. There are cures performed by a careful +use of the electric battery—again, people are struck dead by +lightning, which is the fatal result of electric force. But all this is +EXTERNAL electricity; now what Casimir will use on you will be INTERNAL +electricity." +</P> + +<P> +I begged her to explain more clearly. She went on: +</P> + +<P> +"You have internally a certain amount of electricity, which has been +increased recently by the remedies prescribed for you by Casimir. But, +however much you have, Casimir has more, and he will exert his force +over your force, the greater over the lesser. You will experience an +INTERNAL electric shock, which, like a sword, will separate in twain +body and spirit. The spiritual part of you will be lifted up above +material forces; the bodily part will remain inert and useless, till +the life, which is actually YOU, returns to put its machinery in motion +once more." +</P> + +<P> +"But shall I return at all?" I asked half doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"You must return, because God has fixed the limits of your life on +earth, and no human power can alter His decree. Casimir's will can set +you free for a time, but only for a time. You are bound to return, be +it never so reluctantly. Eternal liberty is given by Death alone, and +Death cannot be forced to come." +</P> + +<P> +"How about suicide?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The suicide," replied Zara, "has no soul. He kills his body, and by +the very act proves that whatever germ of an immortal existence he may +have had once, has escaped from its unworthy habitation, and gone, like +a flying spark, to find a chance of growth elsewhere. Surely your own +reason proves this to you? The very animals have more soul than a man +who commits suicide. The beasts of prey slay each other for hunger or +in self-defence, but they do not slay themselves. That is a brutality +left to man alone, with its companion degradation, drunkenness." +</P> + +<P> +I mused awhile in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"In all the wickedness and cruelty of mankind," I said, "it is almost a +wonder that there is any spiritual existence left on earth at all. Why +should God trouble Himself to care for such few souls as thoroughly +believe in and love Him?—they can be but a mere handful." +</P> + +<P> +"Such a mere handful are worth more than the world to him," said Zara +gravely. "Oh, my dear, do not say such things as why should God trouble +Himself? Why do you trouble yourself for the safety and happiness of +anyone you love?" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes grew soft and tender, and the jewel she wore glimmered like +moonlight on the sea. I felt a little abashed, and, to change the +subject, I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Zara, what is that stone you always wear? Is it a talisman?" +</P> + +<P> +"It belonged to a king," said Zara,—"at least, it was found in a +king's coffin. It has been in our family for generations. Casimir says +it is an electric stone—there are such still to be found in remote +parts of the sea. Do you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is very brilliant and lovely," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"When I die," went on Zara slowly, "I will leave it to you." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope I shall have to wait a long time before I get it, then," I +exclaimed, embracing her affectionately. "Indeed, I will pray never to +receive it." +</P> + +<P> +"You will pray wrongly," said Zara, smiling. "But tell me, do you quite +understand from my explanation what Casimir will do to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I do." +</P> + +<P> +"And you are not afraid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. Shall I suffer any pain?" +</P> + +<P> +"No actual pang. You will feel giddy for a moment, and your body will +become unconscious. That is all." +</P> + +<P> +I meditated for a few moments, and then looking up, saw Zara's eyes +watching me with a wistful inquiring tenderness. I answered her look +with a smile, and said, half gaily: +</P> + +<P> +"L'audace, l'audace, et toujours l'audace! That must be my motto, Zara. +I have a chance now of proving how far a woman's bravery can go, and I +assure you I am proud of the opportunity. Your brother uttered some +very cutting remarks on the general inaptitude of the female sex when I +first made his acquaintance; so, for the honour of the thing, I must +follow the path I have begun to tread. A plunge into the unseen world +is surely a bold step for a woman, and I am determined to take it +courageously." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well," said Zara. "I do not think it possible for you ever to +regret it. It is growing late—shall we prepare for dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +I assented, and we separated to our different rooms. Before commencing +to dress I opened the pianette that stood near my window, and tried +very softly to play the melody I had heard in the chapel. To my joy it +came at once to my fingers, and I was able to remember every note. I +did not attempt to write it down—somehow I felt sure it would not +escape me now. A sense of profound gratitude filled my heart, and, +remembering the counsel given by Heliobas, I knelt reverently down and +thanked God for the joy and grace of music. As I did so, a faint breath +of sound, like a distant whisper of harps played in unison, floated +past my ears,—then appeared to sweep round in ever-widening circles, +till it gradually died away. But it was sweet and entrancing enough for +me to understand how glorious and full of rapture must have been the +star-symphony played on that winter's night long ago, when the angels +chanted together, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and +good-will to Man!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. +</H3> + +<P> +Prince Ivan Petroffsky was a constant visitor at the Hotel Mars, and I +began to take a certain interest in him, not unmingled with pity, for +it was evident that he was hopelessly in love with my beautiful friend +Zara. She received him always with courtesy and kindness; but her +behaviour to him was marked by a somewhat cold dignity, which, like a +barrier of ice, repelled the warmth of his admiration and attention. +Once or twice, remembering what he had said to me, I endeavoured to +speak to her concerning him and his devotion; but she so instantly and +decisively turned the conversation that I saw I should displease her if +I persisted in it. Heliobas appeared to be really attached to the +Prince, at which I secretly wondered; the worldly and frivolous young +nobleman was of so entirely different a temperament to that of the +thoughtful and studious Chaldean philosopher. Yet there was evidently +some mysterious attraction between them—the Prince appeared to be +profoundly interested in electric theories and experiments, and +Heliobas never wearied of expounding them to so attentive a listener. +The wonderful capabilities of the dog Leo also were brought into +constant requisition for Prince Ivan's benefit, and without doubt they +were most remarkable. This animal, commanded—or, I should say, +brain-electrified—by Heliobas, would fetch anything that was named to +him through his master's force, providing it was light enough for him +to carry; and he would go into the conservatory and pluck off with his +teeth any rare or common flower within his reach that was described to +him by the same means. Spoken to or commanded by others, he was simply +a good-natured intelligent Newfoundland; but under the authority of +Heliobas, he became more than human in ready wit and quick obedience, +and would have brought in a golden harvest to any great circus or +menagerie. +</P> + +<P> +He was a never-failing source of wonder and interest to me, and even +more so to the Prince, who made him the subject of many an abstruse and +difficult discussion with his friend Casimir. I noticed that Zara +seemed to regret the frequent companionship of Ivan Petroffsky and her +brother, and a shade of sorrow or vexation often crossed her fair face +when she saw them together absorbed in conversation or argument. +</P> + +<P> +One evening a strange circumstance occurred which startled and deeply +impressed me. Prince Ivan had dined with us; he was in extraordinarily +high spirits—his gaiety was almost boisterous, and his face was deeply +flushed. Zara glanced at him half indignantly more than once when his +laughter became unusually uproarious, and I saw that Heliobas watched +him closely and half-inquiringly, as if he thought there was something +amiss. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince, however, heedless of his host's observant eye, tossed off +glass after glass of wine, and talked incessantly. After dinner, when +we all assembled in the drawing-room, he seated himself at the piano +without being asked, and sang several songs. Whether he were influenced +by drink or strong excitement, his voice at any rate showed no sign of +weakness or deterioration. Never had I heard him sing so magnificently. +He seemed possessed not by an angel but by a demon of song. It was +impossible not to listen to him, and while listening, equally +impossible not to admire him. Even Zara, who was generally indifferent +to his music, became, on this particular night, fascinated into a sort +of dreamy attention. He perceived this, and suddenly addressed himself +to her in softened tones which bore no trace of their previous loudness. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame, you honour me to-night by listening to my poor efforts. It is +seldom I am thus rewarded!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara flushed deeply, and then grew very pale. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, Prince," she answered quietly, "you mistake me. I always +listen with pleasure to your singing—to-night, perhaps, my mood is +more fitted to music than is usual with me, and thus I may appear to +you to be more attentive. But your voice always delights me as it must +delight everybody who hears it." +</P> + +<P> +"While you are in a musical mood then," returned Prince Ivan, "let me +sing you an English song—one of the loveliest ever penned. I have set +it to music myself, as such words are not of the kind to suit ordinary +composers or publishers; they are too much in earnest, too passionate, +too full of real human love and sorrow. The songs that suit modern +drawing-rooms and concert-halls, as a rule, are those that are full of +sham sentiment—a real, strong, throbbing HEART pulsing through a song +is too terribly exciting for lackadaisical society. Listen!" And, +playing a dreamy, murmuring prelude like the sound of a brook flowing +through a hollow cavern, he sang Swinburne's "Leave-Taking," surely one +of the saddest and most beautiful poems in the English language. +</P> + +<P> +He subdued his voice to suit the melancholy hopelessness of the lines, +and rendered it with so much intensity of pathetic expression that it +was difficult to keep tears from filling the eyes. When he came to the +last verse, the anguish of a wasted life seemed to declare itself in +the complete despair of his low vibrating tones: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Let us go hence and rest; she will not love.<BR> + She shall not hear us if we sing hereof,<BR> + Nor see love's ways, how sore they are and steep.<BR> + Come hence, let be, lie still; it is enough.<BR> + Love is a barren sea, bitter and deep;<BR> + And though she saw all heaven in flower above,<BR> + She would not love!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The deep melancholy of the music and the quivering pathos of the deep +baritone voice were so affecting that it was almost a relief when the +song ceased. I had been looking out of the window at the fantastic +patterns of the moonlight on the garden walk, but now I turned to see +in Zara's face her appreciation of what we had just heard. To my +surprise she had left the room. Heliobas reclined in his easy-chair, +glancing up and down the columns of the Figaro; and the Prince still +sat at the piano, moving his fingers idly up and down the keys without +playing. The little page entered with a letter on a silver salver. It +was for his master. Heliobas read it quickly, and rose, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I must leave you to entertain yourselves for ten minutes while I +answer this letter. Will you excuse me?" and with the ever-courteous +salute to us which was part of his manner, he left the room. +</P> + +<P> +I still remained at the window. Prince Ivan still dumbly played the +piano. There were a few minutes of absolute silence. Then the Prince +hastily got up, shut the piano, and approached me. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know where Zara is?" he demanded in a low, fierce tone. +</P> + +<P> +I looked at him in surprise and a little alarm—he spoke with so much +suppressed anger, and his eyes glittered so strangely. +</P> + +<P> +"No," I answered frankly. "I never saw her leave the room." +</P> + +<P> +"I did," he said. "She slipped out like a ghost, or a witch, or an +angel, while I was singing the last verse of Swinburne's song. Do you +know Swinburne, mademoiselle?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I replied, wondering at his manner more and more. "I only know +him, as you do, to be a poet." +</P> + +<P> +"Poet, madman, or lover—all three should be one and the same thing," +muttered the Prince, clenching and unclenching that strong right hand +of his on which sparkled a diamond like a star. "I have often wondered +if poets feel what they write—whether Swinburne, for instance, ever +felt the weight of a dead cold thing within him HERE," slightly +touching the region of his heart, "and realized that he had to drag +that corpse of unburied love with him everywhere—even to the grave, +and beyond—O God!—beyond the grave!" I touched him gently on the arm. +I was full of pity for him—his despair was so bitter and keen. +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Ivan," I said, "you are excited and overwrought. Zara meant no +slight to you in leaving the room before your song was finished. I am +quite sure of that. She is kindness itself—her nature is all sweetness +and gentleness. She would not willingly offend you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Offend me!" he exclaimed; "she could not offend me if she tried. She +could tread upon me, stab me, slay me, but never offend me. I see you +are sorry for me—and I thank you. I kiss your hand for your gentle +pity, mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +And he did so, with a knightly grace that became him well. I thought +his momentary anger was passing, but I was mistaken. Suddenly he raised +his arm with a fierce gesture, and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"By heaven! I will wait no longer. I am a fool to hesitate. I may wait +a century before I draw out of Casimir the secret that would enable me +to measure swords with my rival. Listen!" and he grasped my shoulder +roughly. "Stay here, you! If Casimir returns, tell him I have gone for +a walk of half an hour. Play to him—keep him occupied—be my friend in +this one thing—I trust you. Let him not seek for Zara, or for me. I +shall not be long absent." +</P> + +<P> +"Stay!" I whispered hurriedly, "What are you going to do? Surely you +know the power of Heliobas. He is supreme here. He could find out +anything he chose. He could—-" +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan looked at me fixedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you swear to me that you actually do not know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Know what?" I asked, perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +He laughed bitterly, sarcastically. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever hear that line of poetry which speaks of 'A woman wailing +for her demon-lover'? That is what Zara does. Of one thing I am +certain—she does not wail or wait long; he comes quickly." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, utterly mystified. "Who comes quickly? +I am sure you do not know what you are talking about." +</P> + +<P> +"I DO know," he replied firmly; "and I am going to prove my knowledge. +Remember what I have asked you." And without another word or look, he +threw open the velvet curtains of the portiere, and disappeared behind +them. +</P> + +<P> +Left to myself, I felt very nervous and excited. All sorts of odd +fancies came into my head, and would not go away, but danced about like +Will-o'-the-wisps on a morass. What did Prince Ivan mean? Was he mad? +or had he drunk too much wine? What strange illusion had he in his mind +about Zara and a demon? Suddenly a thought flashed upon me that made me +tremble from head to foot. I remembered what Heliobas had said about +twin flames and dual affinities; and I also reflected that he had +declared Zara to be dominated by a more powerful force than his own. +But then, I had accepted it as a matter of course that, whatever the +force was, it must be for good, not evil, over a being so pure, so +lovely and so intelligent as Zara. +</P> + +<P> +I knew and felt that there were good and evil forces. Now, suppose Zara +were commanded by some strange evil thing, unguessed at, undreamt of in +the wildest night-mare? I shuddered as with icy cold. It could not be. +I resolutely refused to admit such a fearful conjecture. Why, I thought +to myself, with a faint smile, I was no better in my imaginings than +the so virtuous and ever-respectable Suzanne Michot of whom Madame +Denise had spoken. Still the hateful thought came back again and again, +and refused to go away. +</P> + +<P> +I went to my old place at the window and looked out. The moonlight fell +in cold slanting rays; but an army of dark clouds were hurrying up from +the horizon, looking in their weird shapes like the mounted Walkyres in +Wagner's "Niebelungen Ring," galloping to Walhalla with the bodies of +dead warriors slung before them. A low moaning wind had arisen, and was +beginning to sob round the house like the Banshee. Hark! what was that? +I started violently. Surely that was a faint shriek? I listened +intently. Nothing but the wind rustling among some creaking branches. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "A woman wailing for her demon-lover."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +How that line haunted me! And with, it there slowly grew up in my mind +a black looming horror; an idea, vague and ghastly, that froze my blood +and turned me faint and giddy. Suppose, when I had consented to be +experimented upon by Heliobas—when my soul in the electric trance was +lifted up to the unseen world—suppose an evil force, terrible and +all-compelling, were to dominate ME and hold me forever and ever! I +gasped for breath! Oh, so much the more need of prayer! +</P> + +<P> +"Pray much and often, with as unselfish a heart as you can prepare." +</P> + +<P> +Thus Heliobas had said; and I thought to myself, if all those who were +on the brink of great sin or crime could only be brought to feel +beforehand what I felt when facing the spectral dread of unknown evil, +then surely sins would be fewer and crimes never committed. And I +murmured softly, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from +evil." +</P> + +<P> +The mere utterance of these words seemed to calm and encourage me; and +as I gazed up at the sky again, with its gathering clouds, one star, +like a bright consoling eye, looked at me, glittering cheerfully amid +the surrounding darkness. +</P> + +<P> +More than ten minutes had elapsed since Prince Ivan had left the room, +and there was no sound of returning footsteps. And where was Zara? I +determined to seek her. I was free to go anywhere in the house, only +avoiding her studio during her hours of work; and she never worked at +night. I would go to her and confide all my strange thoughts and +terrors to her friendly sympathy. I hurried through the hall and up the +staircase quickly, and should have gone straight into Zara's boudoir +had I not heard a sound of voices which caused me to stop precipitately +outside the door. Zara was speaking. Her low, musical accents fell like +a silver chime on the air. +</P> + +<P> +"I have told you," she said, "again and again that it is impossible. +You waste your life in the pursuit of a phantom; for a phantom I must +be to you always—a mere dream, not a woman such as your love would +satisfy. You are a strong man, in sound health and spirits; you care +for the world and the things that are in it. I do not. You would make +me happy, you say. No doubt you would do your best—your wealth and +influence, your good looks, your hospitable and friendly nature would +make most women happy. But what should <I>I</I> care for your family +diamonds? for your surroundings? for your ambitions? The society of the +world fills me with disgust and prejudice. Marriage, as the world +considers it, shocks and outrages my self-respect; the idea of a bodily +union without that of souls is to me repulsive and loathsome. Why, +therefore, waste your time in seeking a love which does not exist, +which never will exist for you?" +</P> + +<P> +I heard the deep, passionate tones of Prince Ivan in answer: +</P> + +<P> +"One light kindles another, Zara! The sunlight melts the snow! I cannot +believe but that a long and faithful love may—nay, MUST—have its +reward at last. Even according to your brother's theories, the emotion +of love is capable of powerful attraction. Cannot I hope that my +passion—so strong, so great, so true, Zara!—will, with patience, draw +you, star of my life, closer and closer, till I at last call you mine?" +</P> + +<P> +I heard the faint rustle of Zara's silk robe, as though she were moving +farther from him. +</P> + +<P> +"You speak ignorantly, Prince. Your studies with Casimir appear to have +brought you little knowledge. Attraction! How can you attract what is +not in your sphere? As well ask for the Moons of Jupiter or the Ring of +Saturn! The laws of attraction and repulsion, Prince Ivan, are fixed by +a higher authority than yours, and you are as powerless to alter or +abate them by one iota, as a child is powerless to repel the advancing +waves of the sea." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan spoke again, and his voice quivered, with suppressed anger. +</P> + +<P> +"You may talk as you will, beautiful Zara; but you shall never persuade +me against my reason. I am no dreamer; no speculator in aerial +nothings; no clever charlatan like Casimir, who, because he is able to +magnetize a dog, pretends to the same authority over human beings, and +dares to risk the health, perhaps the very sanity, of his own sister, +and that of the unfortunate young musician whom he has inveigled in +here, all for the sake of proving his dangerous, almost diabolical, +experiments. Oh, yes; I see you are indignant, but I speak truth. I am +a plain man;—and if I am deficient in electric germs, as Casimir would +say, I have plenty of common sense. I wish to rescue you, Zara. You are +becoming a prey to morbid fancies; your naturally healthy mind is full +of extravagant notions concerning angels and demons and what not; and +your entire belief in, and enthusiasm for, your brother is a splendid +advertisement for him. Let me tear the veil of credulity from your +eyes. Let me teach you how good a thing it is to live and love and +laugh like other people, and leave electricity to the telegraph-wires +and the lamp-posts." +</P> + +<P> +Again I heard the silken rustle of Zara's dress, and, impelled by a +strong curiosity and excitement, I raised a corner of the curtain +hanging over the door, and was able to see the room distinctly. The +Prince stood, or rather lounged, near the window, and opposite to him +was Zara; she had evidently retreated from him as far as possible, and +held herself proudly erect, her eyes flashing with unusual brilliancy +contrasted with the pallor of her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Your insults to my brother, Prince," she said calmly, "I suffer to +pass by me, knowing well to what a depth of wilful blind ignorance you +are fallen. I pity you—and—I despise you! You are indeed a plain man, +as you say—nothing more and nothing less. You can take advantage of +the hospitality of this house, and pretend friendship to the host, +while you slander him behind his back, and insult his sister in the +privacy of her own apartment. Very manlike, truly; and perfectly in +accordance with a reasonable being who likes to live and love and laugh +according to the rule of society—a puppet whose wires society pulls, +and he dances or dies as society pleases. I told you a gulf existed +between us—you have widened it, for which I thank you! As I do not +impose any of my wishes upon you, and therefore cannot request you to +leave the room, you must excuse me if <I>I</I> retire elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +And she approached the entrance of her studio, which was opposite to +where I stood; but the Prince reached it before her, and placed his +back against it. His face was deathly pale, and his dark eyes blazed +with wrath and love intermingled. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Zara!" he exclaimed in a sort of loud whisper. "If you think to +escape me so, you are in error. I came to you reckless and resolved! +You shall be mine if I die for it!" And he strove to seize her in his +arms. But she escaped him and stood at bay, her lips quivering, her +bosom heaving, and her hands clenched. +</P> + +<P> +"I warn you!" she exclaimed. "By the intense loathing I have for you; +by the force which makes my spirit rise in arms against you, I warn +you! Do not dare to touch me! If you care for your own life, leave me +while there is time!" +</P> + +<P> +Never had she looked so supremely, terribly beautiful. I gazed at her +from my corner of the doorway, awed, yet fascinated. The jewel on her +breast glowed with an angry red lustre, and shot forth dazzling opaline +rays, as though it were a sort of living, breathing star. Prince Ivan +paused—entranced no doubt, as I was, by her unearthly loveliness. His +face flushed—he gave a low laugh of admiration. Then he made two swift +strides forward and caught her fiercely in his embrace. His triumph was +brief. Scarcely had his strong arm clasped her waist, when it fell numb +and powerless—scarcely had his eager lips stooped towards hers, when +he reeled and sank heavily on the ground, senseless! The spell that had +held me a silent spectator of the scene was broken. Terrified, I rushed +into the room, crying out: +</P> + +<P> +"Zara, Zara! What have you done?" +</P> + +<P> +Zara turned her eyes gently upon me—they were soft and humid as though +recently filled with tears. All the burning scorn and indignation had +gone out of her face—she looked pityingly at the prostrate form of her +admirer. +</P> + +<P> +"He is not dead," she said quietly. "I will call Casimir." +</P> + +<P> +I knelt beside the Prince and raised his hand. It was cold and heavy. +His lips were blue, and his closed eyelids looked as though, in the +words of Homer, "Death's purple finger" had shut them fast forever. No +breath—no pulsation of the heart. I looked fearfully at Zara. She +smiled half sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"He is not dead," she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure?" I murmured. "What was it, Zara, that made him fall? I +was at the door—I saw and heard everything." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you did," said Zara gently; "and I am glad of it. I wished you +to see and hear all." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a fit, do you think?" I asked again, looking sorrowfully at the +sad face of the unfortunate Ivan, which seemed to me to have already +graven upon it the stern sweet smile of those who have passed all +passion and pain forever. "Oh, Zara! do you believe he will recover?" +And tears choked my voice—tears of compassion and regret. +</P> + +<P> +Zara came and kissed me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he will recover—do not fret, little one. I have rung my private +bell for Casimir; he will be here directly. The Prince has had a +shock—not a fatal one, as you will see. You look doubtful—are you +afraid of me, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +I gazed at her earnestly. Those clear childlike eyes—that frank +smile—that gentle and dignified mien—could they accompany evil +thoughts? No! I was sure Zara was good as she was lovely. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not afraid of you, Zara," I said gravely; "I love you too well +for that. But I am sorry for the poor Prince; and I cannot +understand—-" +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot understand why those who trespass against fixed laws should +suffer?" observed Zara calmly. "Well, you will understand some day. You +will know that in one way or another it is the reason of all suffering, +both physical and mental, in the world." +</P> + +<P> +I said no more, but waited in silence till the sound of a firm +approaching footstep announced Heliobas. He entered the room +quickly—glanced at the motionless form of the Prince, then at me, and +lastly at his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Has he been long thus?" he asked in a low tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Not five minutes," replied Zara. +</P> + +<P> +A pitying and affectionate gentleness of expression filled his keen +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckless boy!" he murmured softly, as he stooped and laid one hand +lightly on Ivan's breast. "He is the very type of misguided human +bravery. You were too hard upon him, Zara!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"He spoke against you," she said. "Of course he did," returned her +brother with a smile. "And it was perfectly natural he should do so. +Have I not read his thoughts? Do not I know that he considers me a +false pretender and CHARLATAN? And have I not humoured him? In this he +is no worse than any one of his race. Every great scientific discovery +is voted impossible at the first start. Ivan is not to blame because he +is like the rest of the world. He will be wiser in time." +</P> + +<P> +"He attempted to force his desires," began Zara again, and her cheeks +flushed indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," answered her brother. "I foresaw how it would be, but was +powerless to prevent it. He was wrong—but bold! Such boldness compels +a certain admiration. This fellow would scale the stars, if he knew how +to do it, by physical force alone." +</P> + +<P> +I grew impatient, and interrupted these remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps he is scaling the stars now," I said; "or at any rate he will +do so if death can show him the way." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas gave me a friendly glance. +</P> + +<P> +"You also are growing courageous when you can speak to your physician +thus abruptly," he observed quietly. "Death has nothing to do with our +friend as yet, I assure you. Zara, you had better leave us. Your face +must not be the first for Ivan's eyes to rest upon. You," nodding to +me, "can stay." +</P> + +<P> +Zara pressed my hand gently as she passed me, and entered her studio, +the door of which closed behind her, and I heard the key turn in the +lock. I became absorbed in the proceedings of Heliobas. Stooping +towards the recumbent form of Prince Ivan, he took the heavy lifeless +hands firmly in his own, and then fixed his eyes fully and steadily on +the pale, set features with an expression of the most forcible calm and +absolutely undeniable authority. Not one word did he utter, but +remained motionless as a statue in the attitude thus assumed—he seemed +scarcely to breathe—not a muscle of his countenance moved. Perhaps +twenty or thirty seconds might have elapsed, when a warm tinge of +colour came back to the apparently dead face—the brows twitched—the +lips quivered and parted in a heavy sigh. The braised appearance of the +eyelids gave place to the natural tint—they opened, disclosing the +eyes, which stared directly into those of the compelling Master who +thus forced their obedience. A strong shudder shook the young man's +frame; his before nerveless hands grasped those of Heliobas with force +and fervour, and still meeting that steady look which seemed to pierce +the very centre of his system, Prince Ivan, like Lazarus of old, arose +and stood erect. As he did so, Heliobas withdrew his eyes, dropped his +hands and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You are better, Ivan?" he inquired kindly. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince looked about him, bewildered. He passed one hand across his +forehead without replying. Then he turned slightly and perceived me in +the window-embrasure, whither I had retreated in fear and wonderment at +the marvellous power of Heliobas, thus openly and plainly displayed. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he said, addressing me, "have I been dreaming?" +</P> + +<P> +I could not answer him. I was glad to see him recover, yet I was a +little afraid. Heliobas pushed a chair gently towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Ivan," he said quietly. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince obeyed, and covered his face with his hand as though in deep +and earnest meditation. I looked on in silence and wonderment. Heliobas +spoke not another word, and together we watched the pensive figure in +the chair, so absorbed in serious thought. Some minutes passed. The +gentle tick of the clock in the outer hall grew almost obtrusive, so +loud did it seem in the utter stillness that surrounded us. I longed to +speak—to ask questions—to proffer sympathy—but dared not move or +utter a syllable. Suddenly the Prince rose; his manner was calm and +dignified, yet touched with a strange humility. He advanced to +Heliobas, holding out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me, Casimir!" he said simply. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas at once grasped the proffered palm within his own, and looked +at the young man with an almost fatherly tenderness. +</P> + +<P> +"Say no more, Ivan," he returned, his rich voice sounding more than +usually mellow in its warmth and heartiness. "We must all learn before +we can know, and some of our lessons are sharp and difficult. Whatever +you have thought of me, remember I have not, and do not, blame you. To +be offended with unbelievers is to show that you are not yourself quite +sure of the faith to which you would compel them." +</P> + +<P> +"I would ask you one thing," went on the Prince, speaking in a low +tone. "Do not let me stay to fall into fresh errors. Teach me—guide +me, Casimir; I will be the most docile of your pupils. As for Zara—" +</P> + +<P> +He paused, as if overcome. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me," said Heliobas, taking his arm; "a glass of good wine +will invigorate you. It is better to see Zara no more for a time. Let +me take charge of you. You, mademoiselle," turning to me, "will be kind +enough to tell Zara that the Prince has recovered, and sends her a +friendly good-night. Will that message suffice?" he inquired of Ivan, +with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince looked at me with a sort of wistful gravity as I came +forward to bid him farewell. +</P> + +<P> +"You will embrace her," he said slowly, "without fear. Her eyes will +rain sunshine upon you; they will not dart lightning. Her lips will +meet yours, and their touch will be warm—not cold, as sharp steel. +Yes; bid her good-night for me; tell her that an erring man kisses the +hem of her robe, and prays her for pardon. Tell her that I understand; +tell her I have seen her lover!" +</P> + +<P> +"With these words, uttered distinctly and emphatically, he turned away +with. Heliobas, who still held him by the arm in a friendly, +half-protecting manner. The tears stood in my eyes. I called softly: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Prince Ivan!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked back with a faint smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, mademoiselle!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas also looked back and gave me an encouraging nod, which meant +several things at once, such as "Do not be anxious," "He will be all +right soon," and "Always believe the best." I watched their two figures +disappear through the doorway, and then, feeling almost cheerful again, +I knocked at the door of Zara's studio. She opened it at once, and came +out. I delivered the Prince's message, word for word, as he had given +it. She listened, and sighed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sorry for him, Zara?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied; "I am sorry for him as far as I can be sorry for +anything. I am never actually VERY sorry for any circumstances, however +grievous they may appear." +</P> + +<P> +I was surprised at this avowal. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Zara," I said, "I thought you were so keenly sympathetic?" +</P> + +<P> +"So I am sympathetic, but only with suffering ignorance—a dying bird +that knows not why it should die—a withering rose that sees not the +reason for its withering; but for human beings who wilfully blind +themselves to the teachings of their own instincts, and are always +doing what they know they ought not to do in spite of warning, I cannot +say I am sorry. And for those who DO study the causes and ultimate +results of their existence, there is no occasion to be sorry, as they +are perfectly happy, knowing everything that happens to them to be for +their advancement and justification." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," I asked with a little hesitation, "what did Prince Ivan mean +by saying he had seen your lover, Zara?" +</P> + +<P> +"He meant what he said, I suppose," replied Zara, with sudden coldness. +"Excuse me, I thought you said you were not inquisitive." +</P> + +<P> +I could not bear this change of tone in her, and I clasped my arms +tight about her and smiled in her face. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall not get angry with ME, Zara. I am not going to be treated +like poor Ivan. I have found out what you are, and how dangerous it is +to admire you; but I do admire and love you. And I defy you to knock me +down as unceremoniously as you did the Prince—you beautiful living bit +of Lightning!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara moved restlessly in my embrace, but I held her fast. At the last +epithet I bestowed on her, she grew very pale; but her eyes resembled +the jewels on her breast in their sheeny glitter. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you found out?" she murmured. "What do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say I KNOW," I went on boldly, still keeping my arms round +her; "but I have made a guess which I think comes near the truth. Your +brother has had the care of you ever since you were a little child, and +I believe he has, by some method known only to himself, charged you +with electricity. Yes, Zara," for she had started and tried to loosen +my hold of her; "and it is that which keeps you young and fresh as a +girl of sixteen, at an age when other women lose their bloom and grow +wrinkles. It is that which gives you the power to impart a repelling +shock to people you dislike, as in the case of Prince Ivan. It is that +which gives you such an attractive force for those with whom you have a +little sympathy—such as myself, for instance; and you cannot, Zara, +with all your electric strength, unclasp my arms from your waist, +because you have not the sentiment of repulsion towards me which would +enable you to do it. Shall I go on guessing?" +</P> + +<P> +Zara made a sign of assent—the expression of her face had softened, +and a dimpling smile played round the corners of her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Your lover," I went on steadily and slowly, "is a native of some other +sphere—perhaps a creation of your own fancy—perhaps (for I will not +be sceptical any more) a beautiful and all-powerful angelic spirit. I +will not discuss this with you. I believe that when Prince Ivan fell +senseless, he saw, or fancied he saw, that nameless being. And now," I +added, loosening my clasp of her, "have I guessed well?" +</P> + +<P> +Zara looked meditative. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," she said, "why you should imagine—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "there is no imagination in the case. I have +reasoned it out. Here is a book I found in the library on electric +organs as they are discovered to exist in certain fish. Listen: 'They +are nervous apparatuses which in the arrangement of their parts may be +compared to a Voltaic pile. They develop electricity and give +electrical discharges.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" said Zara. +</P> + +<P> +"You say 'Well!' as if you did not know!" I exclaimed half-angrily, +half-laughingly. "These fish have helped me to understand a great deal, +I assure you. Your brother must have discovered the seed or +commencement of electrical organs like those described, in the human +body; and he has cultivated them in you and in himself, and has brought +them to a high state of perfection. He has cultivated them in Raffaello +Cellini, and he is beginning to cultivate them in me, and I hope most +sincerely he will succeed. I think his theory is a magnificent one!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara gazed seriously at me, and her large eyes seemed to grow darker +with the intensity of her thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Supposing you had reasoned out the matter correctly," she said—"and I +will not deny that you have done a great deal towards the comprehension +of it—have you no fear? do you not include some drawbacks in even +Casimir's learning such a secret, and being able to cultivate and +educate such a deadly force as that of electricity in the human being?" +</P> + +<P> +"If it is deadly, it is also life-giving," I answered. "Remedies are +also poisons. You laid the Prince senseless at your feet, but your +brother raised him up again. Both these things were done by +electricity. I can understand it all now; I see no obscurity, no +mystery. And oh, what a superb discovery it is!" +</P> + +<P> +Zara smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You enthusiast!" she said, "it is nothing new. It was well known to +the ancient Chaldeans. It was known to Moses and his followers; it was +practised in perfection by Christ and His disciples. To modern +civilization it may seem a discovery, because the tendency Of all +so-called progress is to forget the past. The scent of the human savage +is extraordinarily keen—keener than that of any animal—he can follow +a track unerringly by some odour he is able to detect in the air. +Again, he can lay back his ears to the wind and catch a faint, far-off +sound with, certainty and precision, and tell you what it is. Civilized +beings have forgotten all this; they can neither smell nor hear with +actual keenness. Just in the same way, they have forgotten the use of +the electrical organs they all indubitably possess in large or minute +degree. As the muscles of the arm are developed by practice, so can the +wonderful internal electrical apparatus of man be strengthened and +enlarged by use. The world in its youth knew this; the world in its age +forgets, as an old man forgets or smiles disdainfully at the past +sports of his childhood. But do not let us talk any more to-night. If +you think your ideas of me are correct—-" +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure they are!" I cried triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +Zara held out her arms to me. +</P> + +<P> +"And you are sure you love me?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +I nestled into her embrace and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure!" I answered. "Zara, I love and honour you more than any woman I +ever met or ever shall meet. And you love me—I know you do!" +</P> + +<P> +"How can I help it?" she said. "Are you not one of us? Good-night, +dearest! Sleep well!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night!" I answered. "And remember Prince Ivan asked for your +pardon." +</P> + +<P> +"I remember!" she replied softly. "I have already pardoned him, and I +will pray for him." And a sort of radiant pity and forbearance +illumined her lovely features, as we parted for the night. So might an +angel look on some repentant sinner pleading for Heaven's forgiveness. +</P> + +<P> +I lay awake for some time that night, endeavouring to follow out the +track of thought I had entered upon in my conversation with Zara. With +such electricity as Heliobas practised, once admitting that human +electric force existed, a fact which no reasoning person could deny, +all things were possible. Even a knowledge of superhuman events might +be attained, if there were anything in the universe that WAS +superhuman; and surely it would be arrogant and ignorant to refuse to +contemplate such a probability. At one time people mocked at the wild +idea that a message could flash in a moment of time from one side of +the Atlantic to the other by means of a cable laid under the sea; now +that it is an established fact, the world has grown accustomed to it, +and has ceased to regard it as a wonder. Granting human electricity to +exist, why should not a communication be established, like a sort of +spiritual Atlantic cable, between man and the beings of other spheres +and other solar systems? The more I reflected on the subject the more +lost I became in daring speculations concerning that other world, to +which I was soon to be lifted. Then in a sort of half-doze, I fancied I +saw an interminable glittering chain of vivid light composed of circles +that were all looped one in another, which seemed to sweep round the +realms of space and to tie up the sun, moon, and stars like flowers in +a ribbon of fire. After much anxious and humble research, I found +myself to be one of the smallest links in this great chain. I do not +know whether I was grateful or afraid at this discovery, for sleep put +an end to my drowsy fancies, and dropped a dark curtain over my waking +dreams. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MY STRANGE DEPARTURE. +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning brought me two letters; one from Mrs. Everard, telling +me that she and the Colonel had resolved on coming to Paris. +</P> + +<P> +"All the nice people are going away from here," she wrote. "Madame +Didier and her husband have started for Naples; and, to crown our +lonesomeness, Raffaello Cellini packed up all his traps, and left us +yesterday morning en route for Rome. The weather continues to be +delicious; but as you seem to be getting on so well in Paris, in spite +of the cold there, we have made up our minds to join you, the more +especially as I want to renovate my wardrobe. We shall go straight to +the Grand Hotel; and I am writing to Mrs. Challoner by this post, +asking her to get us rooms. We are so glad you are feeling nearly +recovered—of course, you must not leave your physician till you are +quite ready. At any rate, we shall not arrive till the end of next +week." +</P> + +<P> +I began to calculate. During that strange interview in the chapel, +Heliobas had said that in eight days more I should be strong enough to +undergo the transmigration he had promised to effect upon me. Those +eight days were now completed on this very morning. I was glad of this; +for I did not care to see Mrs. Everard or anyone till the experiment +was over. The other letter I received was from Mrs. Challoner, who +asked me to give an "Improvisation" at the Grand Hotel that day +fortnight. +</P> + +<P> +When I went down to breakfast, I mentioned both these letters, and +said, addressing myself to Heliobas: +</P> + +<P> +"Is it not rather a sudden freak of Raffaello Cellini's to leave +Cannes? We all thought he was settled for the winter there. Did you +know he was going to Rome?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Heliobas, as he stirred his coffee abstractedly. "I knew +he was going there some day this month; his presence is required there +on business." +</P> + +<P> +"And are you going to give the Improvisation this Mrs. Challoner asks +you for?" inquired Zara. +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at Heliobas. He answered for me. +</P> + +<P> +"I should certainly give it if I were you," he said quietly: "there +will be nothing to prevent your doing so at the date named." +</P> + +<P> +I was relieved. I had not been altogether able to divest myself of the +idea that I might possibly never come out alive from the electric +trance to which I had certainly consented; and this assurance on the +part of Heliobas was undoubtedly comforting. We were all very silent +that morning; we all wore grave and preoccupied expressions. Zara was +very pale, and appeared lost in thought. Heliobas, too, looked slightly +careworn, as though he had been up all night, engaged in some +brain-exhausting labour. No mention was made of Prince Ivan; we avoided +his name by a sort of secret mutual understanding. When the breakfast +was over, I looked with a fearless smile at the calm face of Heliobas, +which appeared nobler and more dignified than ever with that slight +touch of sadness upon it, and said softly: +</P> + +<P> +"The eight days are accomplished!" +</P> + +<P> +He met my gaze fully, with a steady and serious observation of my +features, and replied: +</P> + +<P> +"My child, I am aware of it. I expect you in my private room at noon. +In the meantime speak to no one—not even to Zara; read no books; touch +no note of music. The chapel has been prepared for you; go there and +pray. When you see a small point of light touch the extreme edge of the +cross upon the altar, it will be twelve o'clock, and you will then come +to me." +</P> + +<P> +With these words, uttered in a grave and earnest tone, he left me. A +sensation of sudden awe stole upon me. I looked at Zara. She laid her +finger on her lips and smiled, enjoining silence; then drawing my hand +close within her own, she led me to the door of the chapel. There she +took a soft veil of some white transparent fabric, and flung it over +me, embracing and kissing me tenderly as she did so, but uttering no +word. Taking my hand again, she entered the chapel with me, and +accompanied me through what seemed a blaze of light and colour to the +high altar, before which was placed a prie-dieu of crimson velvet. +Motioning me to kneel, she kissed me once more through the filmy veil +that covered me from head to foot; then turning noiselessly away she +disappeared, and I heard the heavy oaken door close behind her. Left +alone, I was able to quietly take note of everything around me. The +altar before which I knelt was ablaze with lighted candles, and a +wealth of the purest white flowers decorated it, mingling their +delicious fragrance with the faintly perceptible odour of incense. On +all sides of the chapel, in every little niche, and at every shrine, +tapers were burning like fireflies in a summer twilight. At the foot of +the large crucifix, which occupied a somewhat shadowy corner, lay a +wreath of magnificent crimson roses. It would seem as though some high +festival were about to be celebrated, and I gazed around me with a +beating heart, half expecting some invisible touch to awaken the notes +of the organ and a chorus of spirit-voices to respond with the "Gloria +in excelsis Deo!" But there was silence—absolute, beautiful, restful +silence. I strove to collect my thoughts, and turning my eyes towards +the jewelled cross that surmounted the high altar, I clasped my hands, +and began to wonder how and for what I should pray. Suddenly the idea +struck me that surely it was selfish to ask Heaven for anything; would +it not be better to reflect on all that had already been given to me, +and to offer up thanks? Scarcely had this thought entered my mind when +a sort of overwhelming sense of unworthiness came over me. Had I ever +been unhappy? I wondered. If so, why? I began to count up my blessings +and compare them with my misfortunes. Exhausted pleasure-seekers may be +surprised to hear that I proved the joys of my life to have far +exceeded my sorrows. I found that I had sight, hearing, youth, sound +limbs, an appreciation of the beautiful in art and nature, and an +intense power of enjoyment. For all these things, impossible of +purchase by mere wealth, should I not give thanks? For every golden ray +of sunshine, for every flower that blooms, for the harmonies of the +wind and sea, for the singing of birds and the shadows of trees, should +I not—should we not all give thanks? For is there any human sorrow so +great that the blessing of mere daylight on the earth does not far +exceed? We mortals are spoilt and petted children—the more gifts we +have the more we crave; and when we burn or wound ourselves by our own +obstinacy or carelessness, we are ungratefully prone to blame the +Supreme Benefactor for our own faults. We don black mourning robes as a +sort of sombre protest against Him for having removed some special +object of our choice and love, whereas, if we believed in Him and were +grateful to Him, we should wear dazzling white in sign of rejoicing +that our treasure is safe in the land of perfect joy where we ourselves +desire to be. Do we suffer from illness, loss of money, position, or +friends, we rail against Fate—another name for God—and complain like +babes who have broken their toys; yet the sun shines on, the seasons +come and go, the lovely panorama of Nature unrolls itself all for our +benefit, while we murmur and fret and turn our eyes away in anger. +</P> + +<P> +Thinking of these things and kneeling before the altar, my heart became +filled with gratitude; and no petition suggested itself to me save one, +and that was, "Let me believe and love!" I thought of the fair, strong, +stately figure of Christ, standing out in the world's history, like a +statue of pure white marble against a dark background; I mused on the +endurance, patience, forgiveness, and perfect innocence of that most +spotless life which was finished on the cross, and again I murmured, +"Let me believe and love!" And I became so absorbed in meditation that +the time fled fast, till a sudden sparkle of flame flashing across the +altar-steps caused me to look up. The jewelled cross had become a cross +of fire. The point of light I had been, told to watch for had not only +touched the extreme edge, but had crept down among all the precious +stones and lit them up like stars. I afterwards learned that this +effect was produced by means of a thin, electric wire, which, +communicating with a timepiece constructed on the same system, +illuminated the cross at sunrise, noon, and sunset. It was time for me +to join Heliobas. I rose gently, and left the chapel with a quiet and +reverent step, for I have always thought that to manifest hurry and +impatience in any place set apart for the worship of the Creator is to +prove yourself one of the unworthiest things created. Once outside the +door I laid aside my veil, and then, with a perfectly composed and +fearless mind, went straight to the Electrician's study. I shall never +forget the intense quiet of the house that morning. The very fountain +in the hall seemed to tinkle in a sort of subdued whisper. I found +Heliobas seated at his table, reading. How my dream came vividly back +to me, as I saw him in that attitude! I felt that I knew what he was +reading. He looked up as I entered, and greeted me with a kindly yet +grave smile. I broke silence abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your book is open," I said, "at a passage commencing thus: 'The +universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic invisible +Protectorate governs the winds, the tides.' Is it not so?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is so," returned Heliobas. "Are you acquainted with the book?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only through the dream I had of you at Cannes," I answered. "I do +think Signor Cellini had some power over me." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he had in your then weak state. But now that you are as +strong as he is, he could not influence you at all. Let us be brief in +our converse, my child. I have a few serious things to say to you +before you leave me, on your celestial journey." +</P> + +<P> +I trembled slightly, but took the chair he pointed out to me—a large +easy-chair in which one could recline and sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," continued Heliobas; "I told you, when you first came here, +that whatever I might do to restore you to health, you would have it in +your power to repay me amply. You ARE restored to health; will you give +me my reward?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would and will do anything to prove my gratitude to you," I said +earnestly. "Only tell me how." +</P> + +<P> +"You are aware," he went on, "of my theories respecting the Electric +Spirit or Soul in Man. It is progressive, as I have told you—it begins +as a germ—it goes on increasing in power and beauty for ever, till it +is great and pure enough to enter the last of all worlds—God's World. +But there are sometimes hindrances to its progression—obstacles in its +path, which cause it to recoil and retire a long way back—so far back +occasionally that it has to commence its journey over again. Now, by my +earnest researches, I am able to study and watch the progress of my own +inner force or soul. So far, all has been well—prayerfully and humbly +I may say I believe all has been well. But I foresee an approaching +shadow—a difficulty—a danger—which, if it cannot be repelled or +passed in some way, threatens to violently push back my advancing +spiritual nature, so that, with much grief and pain, I shall have to +re-commence the work that I had hoped was done. I cannot, with all my +best effort, discover WHAT this darkening obstacle is—but YOU, yes, +YOU"—for I had started up in surprise—"you, when you are lifted up +high enough to behold these things, may, being perfectly unselfish in +this research, attain to the knowledge of it and explain it to me, when +you return. In trying to probe the secret for myself, it is of course +purely for my own interest; and nothing clear, nothing satisfactory can +be spiritually obtained, in which selfishness has ever so slight a +share. You, if indeed I deserve your gratitude for the aid I have given +you—you will be able to search out the matter more certainly, being in +the position of one soul working for another. Still, I cannot compel +you to do this for me—I only ask, WILL you?" +</P> + +<P> +His entreating and anxious tone touched me keenly; but I was amazed and +perplexed, and could not yet realize what strange thing was going to +happen to me. But whatever occurred I was resolved to give a ready +consent to his request, therefore I said firmly: +</P> + +<P> +"I will do my best, I promise you. Remember that I do not know, I +cannot even guess where I am going, or what strange sensations will +overcome me; but if I am permitted to have any recollection of earth at +all, I will try to find out what you ask." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas seemed satisfied, and rising from his chair, unlocked a +heavily-bound iron safe. From this he took a glass flask of a strange, +ever-moving, glittering fluid, the same in appearance as that which +Raffaello Cellini had forbidden me to drink. He then paused and looked +searchingly at me. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he said in an authoritative tone, "tell me WHY you wish to +see what to mortals is unseen? What motive have you? What ulterior +plan?" +</P> + +<P> +I hesitated. Then I gathered my strength together and answered +decisively: +</P> + +<P> +"I desire to know why this world, this universe exists; and also wish +to prove, if possible, the truth and necessity of religion. And I think +I would give my life, if it were worth anything, to be certain of the +truth of Christianity." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas gazed in my face with a sort of half-pity, half-censure. +</P> + +<P> +"You have a daring aim," he said slowly, "and you are a bold seeker. +But shame, repentance and sorrow await you where you are going, as well +as rapture and amazement. '<I>I</I> WOULD GIVE MY LIFE IF IT WERE WORTH +ANYTHING.' That utterance has saved you—otherwise to soar into an +unexplored wilderness of spheres, weighted by your own doubts and +guided solely by your own wild desires, would be a fruitless journey." +</P> + +<P> +I felt abashed as I met his steady, scrutinizing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely it is well to wish to know the reason of things?" I asked, with +some timidity. +</P> + +<P> +"The desire of knowledge is a great virtue, certainly," he replied; "it +is not truly felt by one in a thousand. Most persons are content to +live and die, absorbed in their own petty commonplace affairs, without +troubling themselves as to the reasons of their existence. Yet it is +almost better, like these, to wallow in blind ignorance than wantonly +to doubt the Creator because He is unseen, or to put a self-opinionated +construction on His mysteries because He chooses to veil them from our +eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not doubt!" I exclaimed earnestly. "I only want to make sure, and +then perhaps I may persuade others." +</P> + +<P> +"You can never compel faith," said Heliobas calmly. "You are going to +see wonderful things that no tongue or pen can adequately describe. +Well, when you return to earth again, do you suppose you can make +people believe the story of your experiences? Never! Be thankful if you +are the possessor of a secret joy yourself, and do not attempt to +impart it to others, who will only repel and mock you." +</P> + +<P> +"Not even to one other?" I asked hesitatingly. +</P> + +<P> +A warm, kindly smile seemed to illuminate his face as I put this +question. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, to one other, the other half of yourself—you may tell all +things," he said. "But now, no more converse. If you are quite ready, +drink this." +</P> + +<P> +He held out to me a small tumbler filled with the sparkling volatile +liquid he had poured from the flask. For one moment my courage almost +forsook me, and an icy shiver ran through my veins. Then I bethought +myself of all my boasted bravery; was it possible that I should fail +now at this critical moment? I allowed myself no more time for +reflection, but took the glass from his hand and drained its contents +to the last drop. It was tasteless, but sparkling and warm on the +tongue. Scarcely had I swallowed it, when a curiously light, dizzy +sensation overcame me, and the figure of Heliobas standing before me +seemed to assume gigantic proportions. I saw his hands extend—his +eyes, like lamps of electric flame, burned through and through me—and +like a distant echo, I heard the deep vibrating tones of his voice +uttering the following words: +</P> + +<P> +"Azul! Azul! Lift up this light and daring spirit unto thyself; be its +pioneer upon the path it must pursue; suffer it to float untrammelled +through the wide and glorious Continents of Air; give it form and force +to alight on any of the vast and beautiful spheres it may desire to +behold; and if worthy, permit it to gaze, if only for a brief interval, +upon the supreme vision of the First and Last of worlds. By the force +thou givest unto me, I free this soul; do thou, Azul, quickly receive +it!" +</P> + +<P> +A dense darkness now grew thickly around me—-I lost all power over my +limbs—I felt myself being lifted up forcibly and rapidly, up, up, into +some illimitable, terrible space of blackness and nothingness. I could +not think, move, or cry out—I could only feel that I was rising, +rising, steadily, swiftly, breathlessly ... when suddenly a long +quivering flash of radiance, like the fragment of a rainbow, struck +dazzlingly across my sight. Darkness? What had I to do with darkness? I +knew not the word—I was only conscious of light—light exquisitely +pure and brilliant—light through which I stepped as easily as a bird +flies in air. Perfectly awake to my sensations, I felt somehow that +there was nothing remarkable in them—I seemed to be at home in some +familiar element. Delicate hands held mine—a face far lovelier than +the loveliest face of woman ever dreamed by poet or painter, smiled +radiantly at me, and I smiled back again. A voice whispered in strange +musical murmurs, such as I well seemed to know and comprehend: +</P> + +<P> +"Gaze behind thee ere the picture fades." +</P> + +<P> +I obeyed, half reluctantly, and saw as a passing shadow in a glass, or +a sort of blurred miniature painting, the room where Heliobas stood, +watching some strange imperfect shape, which I seemed faintly to +recognise. It looked like a small cast in clay, very badly executed, of +the shape I at present wore; but it was incomplete, as though the +sculptor had given it up as a failure and gone away, leaving it +unfinished. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I dwell in that body?" I mused to myself, as I felt the perfection +of my then state of being. "How came I shut in such a prison? How poor +a form—how destitute of faculties—how full of infirmities—how +limited in capabilities—how narrow in all intelligence—how +ignorant—how mean!" +</P> + +<P> +And I turned for relief to the shining companion who held me, and +obeying an impulse suddenly imparted, I felt myself floating higher and +higher till the last limits of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth +were passed, and fields of pure and cloudless ether extended before us. +Here we met myriads of creatures like ourselves, all hastening in +various directions—all lovely and radiant as a dream of the fairies. +Some of these beings were quite tiny and delicate—some of lofty +stature and glorious appearance: their forms were human, yet so +refined, improved, and perfected, that they were unlike, while so like +humanity. +</P> + +<P> +"Askest thou nothing?" whispered the voice beside me. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," I answered, "what I must know." +</P> + +<P> +"These spirits that we behold," went on the voice, "are the guardians +of all the inhabitants of all the planets. Their labours are those of +love and penitence. Their work is to draw other souls to God—to +attract them by warnings, by pleading, by praying. They have all worn +the garb of mortality themselves, and they teach mortals by their own +experience. For these radiant creatures are expiating sins of their own +in thus striving to save others—the oftener they succeed the nearer +they approach to Heaven. This is what is vaguely understood on your +earth as purgatory; the sufferings of spirits who love and long for the +presence of their Creator, and who yet are not pure enough to approach +Him. Only by serving and saving others can they obtain at last their +own joy. Every act of ingratitude and forgetfulness and wickedness +committed by a mortal, detains one or another of these patient workers +longer away from Heaven—imagine then what a weary while many of them +have to wait." +</P> + +<P> +I made no answer, and we floated on. Higher and higher—higher and +higher—till at last my guide, whom I knew to be that being whom +Heliobas had called Azul, bade me pause. We were floating close +together in what seemed a sea of translucent light. From this point I +could learn something of the mighty workings of the Universe. I gazed +upon countless solar systems, that like wheels within wheels revolved +with such rapidity that they seemed all one wheel. I saw planets whirl +around and around with breathless swiftness, like glittering balls +flung through the air—burning comets flared fiercely past like torches +of alarm for God's wars against Evil—a marvellous procession of +indescribable wonders sweeping on for ever in circles, grand, huge, and +immeasurable. And as I watched the superb pageant, I was not startled +or confused—I looked upon it as anyone might look on any quiet +landscape scene in what we know of Nature. I scarcely could perceive +the Earth from whence I had come—so tiny a speck was it—nothing but a +mere pin's point in the burning whirl of immensities. I felt, however, +perfectly conscious of a superior force in myself to all these enormous +forces around me—I knew without needing any explanation that I was +formed of an indestructible essence, and that were all these stars and +systems suddenly to end in one fell burst of brilliant horror, I should +still exist—I should know and remember and feel—should be able to +watch the birth of a new Universe, and take my part in its growth and +design. +</P> + +<P> +"Remind me why these wonders exist," I said, turning to my guide, and +speaking in those dulcet sounds which were like music and yet like +speech; "and why amid them all the Earth is believed by its inhabitants +to have merited destruction, and yet to have been found worthy of +redemption?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thy last question shall be answered first," replied Azul. "Seest thou +yonder planet circled with a ring? It is known to the dwellers on +Earth, of whom when in clay thou art one, as Saturn. Descend with me!" +</P> + +<P> +And in a breath of time we floated downwards and alighted on a broad +and beautiful plain, where flowers of strange shape and colour grew in +profusion. Here we were met by creatures of lofty stature and dazzling +beauty, human in shape, yet angelic in countenance. They knelt to us +with reverence and joy, and then passed on to their toil or pleasure, +whichever invited them, and I looked to Azul for explanation. +</P> + +<P> +"To these children of the Creator," said that radiant guide, "is +granted the ability to see and to converse with the spirits of the air. +They know them and love them, and implore their protection. In this +planet sickness and old age are unknown, and death comes as a quiet +sleep. The period of existence is about two hundred years, according to +the Earth's standard of time; and the process of decay is no more +unlovely than the gentle withering of roses. The influence of the +electric belt around their world is a bar to pestilence and disease, +and scatters health with light. All sciences, arts, and inventions +known on Earth are known here, only to greater perfection. The three +important differences between the inhabitants of this planet and those +who dwell on Earth are these: first they have no rulers in authority, +as each one perfectly governs himself; second, they do not marry, as +the law of attraction which draws together any two of opposite sexes, +holds them fast in inviolable fidelity; thirdly, there is no creature +in all the immensity of this magnificent sphere who has ever doubted, +or who ever will doubt, the existence of the Creator." +</P> + +<P> +A thrill of fiery shame seemed to dart through my spiritual being as I +heard this, and I made no answer. Some fairy-like little creatures, the +children of the Saturnites, as I supposed, here came running towards us +and knelt down, reverently clasping their hands in prayer. They then +gathered flowers and flung them on that portion of ground where we +stood, and gazed at us fearlessly and lovingly, as they might have +gazed at some rare bird or butterfly. +</P> + +<P> +Azul signed to me, and we rose while yet in their sight, and soaring +through the radiance of the ring, which was like a sun woven into a +circle, we soon left Saturn far behind us, and alighted on Venus. Here +seas, mountains, forests, lakes, and meadows were one vast garden, in +which the bloom and verdure of all worlds seemed to find a home. Here +were realized the dreams of sculptors and painters, in the graceful +forms and exquisite faces of the women, and the splendid strength and +godlike beauty of the men. A brief glance was sufficient to show me +that the moving spring of all the civilization of this radiant planet +was the love of Nature and Art united. There were no wars—for there +were no different nations. All the inhabitants were like one vast +family; they worked for one another, and vied with each other in paying +homage to those of the loftiest genius among them. They had one supreme +Monarch to whom they all rendered glad obedience; and he was a Poet, +ready to sacrifice his throne with joy as soon as his people should +discover a greater than he. For they all loved not the artist but the +Art; and selfishness was a vice unknown. Here, none loved or were +wedded save those who had spiritual sympathies, and here, too, no +creature existed who did not believe in and worship the Creator. The +same state of things existed in Jupiter, the planet we next visited, +where everything was performed by electricity. Here persons living +hundreds of miles apart could yet converse together with perfect ease +through an electric medium; ships ploughed the seas by electricity; +printing, an art of which the dwellers on Earth are so proud, was +accomplished by electricity—in fact, everything in the way of science, +art, and invention known to us was also known in Jupiter, only to +greater perfection, because tempered and strengthened by an electric +force which never failed. From Jupiter, Azul guided me to many other +fair and splendid worlds—yet none of them were Paradise; all had some +slight drawback—some physical or spiritual ailment, as it were, which +had to be combated with and conquered. All the inhabitants of each star +longed for something they had not—something better, greater, and +higher—and therefore all had discontent. They could not realize their +best desires in the state of existence they then were, therefore they +all suffered disappointment. They were all compelled to work in some +way or another; they were all doomed to die. Yet, unlike the dwellers +on Earth, they did not, because their lives were more or less +constrained and painful, complain of or deny the goodness of God—on +the contrary, they believed in a future state which should be as +perfect as their present one was imperfect; and the chief aim and +object of all their labours was to become worthy of attaining that +final grand result—Eternal Happiness and Peace. +</P> + +<P> +"Readest thou the lesson in these glowing spheres, teeming with life +and learning?" murmured Azul to me, as we soared swiftly on together. +"Know that not one smallest world in all the myriad systems circling +before thee, holds a single human creature who doubts his Maker. Not +one! except thine own doomed star! Behold it yonder—sparkling feebly, +like a faint flame amid sunshine—how poor a speck it is—how like a +scarcely visible point in all the brilliancy of the ever-revolving +wheel of Life! Yet there dwell the dwarfs of clay—the men and women +who pretend to love while they secretly hate and despise one another. +There, wealth is a god, and the greed of gain a virtue. There, genius +starves, and heroism dies unrewarded. There, faith is martyred, and +unbelief elected sovereign monarch of the people. There, the sublime, +unreachable mysteries of the Universe are haggled over by poor finite +minds who cannot call their lives their own. There, nation wars against +nation, creed against creed, soul against soul. Alas, fated planet! how +soon shalt thou be extinct, and thy place shall know thee no more!" +</P> + +<P> +I gazed earnestly at my radiant guide. "If that is true," I said, "why +then should we have a legend that God, in the person of one called +Christ, came to die for so miserable and mean a race of beings?" +</P> + +<P> +Azul answered not, but turned her luminous eyes upon me with a sort of +wide dazzling wonder. Some strange impelling force bore me onward, and +before I could realize it I was alone. Alone, in a vast area of light +through which I floated, serene and conscious of power. A sound falling +from a great height reached me; it was first like a grand organ-chord, +and then like a voice, trumpet-clear and far-echoing. +</P> + +<P> +"Spirit that searchest for the Unseen," it said, "because I will not +that no atom of true worth should perish, unto thee shall be given a +vision—unto thee shall be taught a lesson thou dreamest not of. THOU +shalt create; THOU shalt design and plan; THOU shalt be worshipped, and +THOU shalt destroy! Rest therefore in the light and behold the things +that are in the light, for the tune cometh when all that seemeth clear +and visible now shall be but darkness. And they that love me not shall +have no place of abode in that hour!" +</P> + +<P> +The voice ceased. Awed, yet consoled, I listened for it again. There +was no more sound. Around me was illimitable light—illimitable +silence. But a strange scene unfolded itself swiftly before me—a sort +of shifting dream that was a reality, yet so wonderfully unreal—a +vision that impressed itself on every portion of my intelligence; a +kind of spirit-drama in which I was forced to enact the chief part, and +where a mystery that I had deemed impenetrable was made perfectly clear +and simple of comprehension. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A MINIATURE CREATION. +</H3> + +<P> +In my heaven-uplifted dream, I thought I saw a circular spacious garden +in which all the lovely landscapes of a superior world appeared to form +themselves by swift degrees. The longer I looked at it, the more +beautiful it became, and a little star shone above it like a sun. Trees +and flowers sprang up under my gaze, and all stretched themselves +towards me, as though for protection. Birds flew about and sang; some +of them tried to get as near as possible to the little sun they saw; +and other living creatures began to move about in the shadows of the +groves, and on the fresh green grass. All the wonderful workings of +Nature, as known to us in the world, took place over again in this +garden, which seemed somehow to belong to me; and I watched everything +with a certain satisfaction and delight. Then the idea came to me that +the place would be fairer if there were either men or angels to inhabit +it; and quick as light a whisper came to me: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + "CREATE!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +And I thought in my dream that by the mere desire of my being, +expressed in waves of electric warmth that floated downwards from me to +the earth I possessed, my garden was suddenly filled with men, women +and children, each of whom had a small portion of myself in them, +inasmuch as it was I who made them move and talk and occupy themselves +in all manner of amusements. Many of them knelt down to me and prayed, +and offered thanksgivings for having been created; but some of them +went instead to the little star, which they called a sun, and thanked +that, and prayed to that instead. Then others went and cut down the +trees in the garden, and dug up stones, and built themselves little +cities, where they all dwelt together like flocks of sheep, and ate and +drank and made merry with the things I had given them. Then I thought +that I increased their intelligence and quickness of perception, and +by-and-by they grew so proud that they forgot everything but +themselves. They ceased to remember how they were created, and they +cared no more to offer praises to their little sun that through me gave +them light and heat. But because something of my essence still was in +them, they always instinctively sought to worship a superior creature +to themselves; and puzzling themselves in their folly, they made +hideous images of wood and clay, unlike anything in heaven or earth, +and offered sacrifices and prayer to these lifeless puppets instead of +to me. Then I turned away my eyes in sorrow and pity, but never in +anger; for I could not be wrathful with these children of my own +creation. And when I thus turned away my eyes, all manner of evil came +upon the once fair scene—pestilence and storm, disease and vice. A +dark shadow stole between my little world and me—the shadow of the +people's own wickedness. And as every delicate fibre of my spiritual +being repelled evil by the necessity of the pure light in which I dwelt +serene. I waited patiently for the mists to clear, so that I might +again behold the beauty of my garden. Suddenly a soft clamour smote +upon my sense of hearing, and a slender stream of light, like a +connecting ray, seemed to be flung upwards through the darkness that +hid me from the people I had created and loved. I knew the sound—it +was the mingled music of the prayers of children. An infinite pity and +pleasure touched me, my being thrilled with love and tenderness; and +yielding to these little ones who asked me for protection, I turned my +eyes again towards the garden I had designed for fairness and pleasure. +But alas! how changed it had become! No longer fresh and sweet, the +people had turned it into a wilderness; they had divided it into small +portions, and in so doing had divided themselves into separate +companies called nations, all of whom fought with each other fiercely +for their different little parterres or flower-beds. Some haggled and +talked incessantly over the mere possession of a stone which they +called a rock; others busied themselves in digging a little yellow +metal out of the earth, which, when once obtained, seemed to make the +owners of it mad, for they straightway forgot everything else. As I +looked, the darkness between me and my creation grew denser, and was +only pierced at last by those long wide shafts of radiance caused by +the innocent prayers of those who still remembered me. And I was full +of regret, for I saw my people wandering hither and thither, restless +and dissatisfied, perplexed by their own errors, and caring nothing for +the love I bore them. Then some of them advanced and began to question +why they had been created, forgetting completely how their lives had +been originally designed by me for happiness, love and wisdom. Then +they accused me of the existence of evil, refusing to see that where +there is light there is also darkness, and that darkness is the rival +force of the Universe, whence cometh silently the Unnamable Oblivion of +Souls. They could not see, my self-willed children, that they had of +their own desire sought the darkness and found it; and now, because it +gloomed above them like a pall, they refused to believe in the light +where still I was loving and striving to attract them still. Yet it was +not all darkness, and I knew that even what there was might be repelled +and cleared away if only my people would turn towards me once more. So +I sent down upon them all possible blessings—some they rejected +angrily, some they snatched at and threw away again, as though they +were poor and trivial—none of them were they thankful for, and none +did they desire to keep. And the darkness above them deepened, while my +anxious pity and love for them increased. For how could I turn +altogether away from them, as long as but a few remembered me? There +were some of these weak children of mine who loved and honoured me so +well that they absorbed some of my light into themselves, and became +heroes, poets, musicians, teachers of high and noble thought, and +unselfish, devoted martyrs for the sake of the reverence they bore me. +There were women pure and sweet, who wore their existence as innocently +as lilies, and who turned to me to seek protection, not for themselves, +but for those they loved. There were little children, whose asking +voices were like waves of delicious music to my being, and for whom I +had a surpassing tenderness. And yet all these were a mere handful +compared to the numbers who denied my existence, and who had wilfully +crushed out and repelled every spark of my essence in themselves. And +as I contemplated this, the voice I had heard at the commencement of my +dream rushed towards me like a mighty wind broken through by thunder: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + "DESTROY!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +A great pity and love possessed me. In deep awe, yet solemn +earnestness, I pleaded with that vast commanding voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Bid me not destroy!" I implored. "Command me not to disperse into +nothingness these children of my fancy, some of whom yet love and trust +to me for safety. Let me strive once more to bring them out of their +darkness into the light—to bring them to the happiness I designed them +to enjoy. They have not all forgotten me—let me give them more time +for thought and recollection!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the great voice shook the air: +</P> + +<P> +"They love darkness rather than light; they love the perishable earth +of which they are in part composed, better than the germ of immortality +with which they were in the beginning endowed. This garden of thine is +but a caprice of thy intelligence; the creatures that inhabit it are +soulless and unworthy, and are an offence to that indestructible +radiance of which thou art one ray. Therefore I say unto thee +again—DESTROY!" +</P> + +<P> +My yearning love grew stronger, and I pleaded with renewed force. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, thou Unseen Glory!" I cried; "thou who hast filled me with this +emotion of love and pity which permeates and supports my existence, how +canst thou bid me take this sudden revenge upon my frail creation! No +caprice was it that caused me to design it; nothing but a thought of +love and a desire of beauty. Even yet I will fulfil my plan—even yet +shall these erring children of mine return to me in time, with +patience. While one of them still lifts a hand in prayer to me, or +gratitude, I cannot destroy! Bid me rather sink into the darkness of +the uttermost deep of shadow; only let me save these feeble little ones +from destruction!" +</P> + +<P> +The voice replied not. A flashing opal brilliancy shot across the light +in which I rested, and I beheld an Angel, grand, lofty, majestic, with +a countenance in which shone the lustre of a myriad summer mornings. +</P> + +<P> +"Spirit that art escaped from the Sorrowful Star," it said in accents +clear and sonorous, "wouldst thou indeed be content to suffer the loss +of heavenly joy and peace, in order to rescue thy perishing creation?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would!" I answered; "if I understood death, I would die to save one +of those frail creatures, who seek to know me and yet cannot find me +through the darkness they have brought upon themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"To die," said the Angel, "to understand death, thou wouldst need to +become one of them, to take upon thyself their form—to imprison all +that brilliancy of which thou art now composed, into a mean and common +case of clay; and even if thou couldst accomplish this, would thy +children know thee or receive thee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nay, but if I could suffer shame by them," I cried impetuously, "I +could not suffer sin. My being would be incapable of error, and I would +show these creatures of mine the bliss of purity, the joy of wisdom, +the ecstasy of light, the certainty of immortality, if they followed +me. And then I would die to show them death is easy, and that in dying +they would come to me and find their happiness for ever!" +</P> + +<P> +The stature of the Angel grew more lofty and magnificent, and its +star-like eyes flashed fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, oh thou wanderer from the Earth!" it said, "understandest thou +not the Christ?" +</P> + +<P> +A deep awe trembled through me. Meanwhile the garden I had thought a +world appeared to roll up like a cloudy scroll, and vanished, and I +knew that it had been a vision, and no more. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh doubting and foolish Spirit!" went on the Angel—"thou who art but +one point of living light in the Supreme Radiance, even THOU wouldst +consent to immure thyself in the darkness of mortality for sake of thy +fancied creation! Even THOU wouldst submit to suffer and to die, in +order to show the frail children of thy dream a purely sinless and +spiritual example! Even THOU hast had the courage to plead with the One +All-Sufficing Voice against the destruction of what to thee was but a +mirage floating in this ether! Even THOU hast had love, forgiveness, +pity! Even THOU wouldst be willing to dwell among the creatures of thy +fancy as one of them, knowing in thy inner self that by so doing, thy +spiritual presence would have marked thy little world for ever as +sanctified and impossible to destroy. Even THOU wouldst sacrifice a +glory to answer a child's prayer—even thou wouldst have patience! And +yet thou hast dared to deny to God those attributes which thou thyself +dost possess—He is so great and vast—thou so small and slight! For +the love thou feelest throbbing through thy being, He is the very +commencement and perfection of all love; if thou hast pity, He has ten +thousand times more pity; if THOU canst forgive, remember that from Him +flows all thy power of forgiveness! There is nothing thou canst do, +even at the highest height of spiritual perfection, that He cannot +surpass by a thousand million fold! Neither shalt thou refuse to +believe that He can also suffer. Know that nothing is more godlike than +unselfish sorrow—and the grief of the Creator over one erring human +soul is as vast as He Himself is vast. Why wouldst thou make of Him a +being destitute of the best emotions that He Himself bestows upon thee? +THOU wouldst have entered into thy dream-world and lived in it and died +in it, if by so doing thou couldst have drawn one of thy creatures back +to the love of thee; and wilt thou not receive the Christ?" +</P> + +<P> +I bowed my head, and a flood of joy rushed through me. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe—I believe and I love!" I murmured. "Desert me not, O +radiant Angel! I feel and know that all these wonders must soon pass +away from my sight; but wilt thou also go?" +</P> + +<P> +The Angel smiled and touched me. +</P> + +<P> +"I am thy guardian," it said. "I have been with thee always. I can +never leave thee so long as thy soul seeks spiritual things. Asleep or +awake on the Earth, wherever thou art, I also am. There have been times +when I have warned thee and thou wouldst not listen, when I have tried +to draw thee onward and thou wouldst not come; but now I fear no more +thy disobedience, for thy restlessness is past. Come with me; it is +permitted thee to see far off the vision of the Last Circle." +</P> + +<P> +The glorious figure raised me gently by the hand, and we floated on and +on, higher and higher, past little circles which my guide told me were +all solar systems, though they looked nothing but slender garlands of +fire, so rapidly did they revolve and so swiftly did we pass them. +Higher and higher we went, till even to my untiring spirit the way +seemed long. Beautiful creatures in human shape, but as delicate as +gossamer, passed us every now and then, some in bands of twos and +threes, some alone; and the higher we soared the more dazzlingly lovely +these inhabitants of the air seemed to be. +</P> + +<P> +"They are all born of the Great Circle," my guardian Angel explained to +me: "and to them is given the power of communicating high thought or +inspiration. Among them are the Spirits of Music, of Poesy, of +Prophecy, and of all Art ever known in all worlds. The success of their +teaching depends on how much purity and unselfishness there is in the +soul to which they whisper their divine messages—messages as brief as +telegrams which must be listened to with entire attention and acted +upon at once, or the lesson is lost and may never come again." +</P> + +<P> +Just then I saw a Shape coming towards me as of a lovely fair-haired +child, who seemed to be playing softly on a strange glittering +instrument like a broken cloud strung through with sunbeams. Heedless +of consequences, I caught at its misty robe in a wild effort to detain +it. It obeyed my touch, and turned its deeply luminous eyes first upon +me, and then upon the Angel who accompanied my flight. +</P> + +<P> +"What seekest thou?" it asked in a voice like the murmuring of the wind +among flowers. +</P> + +<P> +"Music!" I answered. "Sing me thy melodies—fill me with harmonies +divine and unreachable—and I will strive to be worthy of thy +teachings!" +</P> + +<P> +The young Shape smiled and drew closer towards me. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy wish is granted, Sister Spirit!" it replied. "The pity I shall +feel for thy fate when thou art again pent in clay, shall be taught +thee in minor music—thou shalt possess the secret of unwritten sound, +and I will sing to thee and bring thee comfort. On Earth, call but my +name—Aeon! and thou shalt behold me. For thy longing voice is known to +the Children of Music, and hath oft shaken the vibrating light wherein +they dwell. Fear not! As long as thou dost love me, I am thine." And +parting slowly, still smiling, the lovely vision, with its small +radiant hands ever wandering among the starry strings of its cloud-like +lyre, floated onward. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a clear voice said "Welcome!" and looking up I saw my first +friend, Azul. I smiled in glad recognition—I would have spoken—but +lo! a wide immensity of blazing glory broke like many-coloured +lightning around me—so dazzling, so overpowering, that I instinctively +drew back and paused—I felt I could go no further. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," said my guardian gently—"here ends thy journey. Would that it +were possible, poor Spirit, for thee to pass this boundary! But that +may not be—as yet. In the meanwhile thou mayest gaze for a brief space +upon the majestic sphere which mortals dream of as Heaven. Behold and +see how fair is the incorruptible perfection of God's World!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked and trembled—I should have sunk yet further backward, had not +Azul and my Angel-guide held me with their light yet forcible clasp. My +heart fails me now as I try to write of that tremendous, that sublime +scene—the Centre of the Universe—the Cause of all Creation. How +unlike Heaven such as we in our ignorance have tried to depict! though +it is far better we should have a mistaken idea than none at all. What +I beheld was a circle, so huge that no mortal measurements could +compass it—a wide Ring composed of seven colours, rainbow-like, but +flashing with perpetual motion and brilliancy, as though a thousand +million suns were for ever being woven into it to feed its transcendent +lustre. From every part of this Ring darted long broad shafts of light, +some of which stretched out so far that I could not see where they +ended; sometimes a bubbling shower of lightning sparks would be flung +out on the pure ether, and this would instantly form into circles, +small or great, and whirl round and round the enormous girdle of flame +from which they had been cast, with the most inconceivable rapidity. +But wonderful as the Ring was, it encompassed a Sphere yet more +marvellous and dazzling; a great Globe of opal-tinted light, revolving +as it were upon its own axis, and ever surrounded by that +scintillating, jewel-like wreath of electricity, whose only motion was +to shine and burn within itself for ever. I could not bear to look upon +the brightness of that magnificent central World—so large that +multiplying the size of the sun by a hundred thousand millions, no +adequate idea could be formed of its vast proportions. And ever it +revolved—and ever the Rainbow Ring around it glittered and cast forth +those other rings which I knew now were living solar systems cast forth +from that electric band as a volcano casts forth fire and lava. My +Angel-guide motioned me to look towards that side of the Ring which was +nearest to the position of the Earth. I looked, and perceived that +there the shafts of descending light formed themselves as they fell +into the shape of a Cross. At this, such sorrow, love, and shame +overcame me, that I knew not where to turn. I murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"Send me back again, dear Angel—send me back to that Star of Sorrow +and Error! Let me hasten to make amends there for all my folly—let me +try to teach others what now I know. I am unworthy to be here beside +thee—I am unfit to look on yonder splendid World—let me return to do +penance for my sins and shortcomings; for what am I that God should +bless me? and though I should consume myself in labour and suffering, +how can I ever hope to deserve the smallest place in that heavenly +glory I now partly behold?" And could spirits shed tears, I should have +wept with remorse and grief. +</P> + +<P> +Azul spoke, softly and tenderly: +</P> + +<P> +"Now thou dost believe—henceforth thou must love! Love alone can pass +yon flaming barrier—love alone can gain for thee eternal bliss. In +love and for love were all things made—God loveth His creatures, even +so let His creatures love Him, and so shall the twain be drawn +together." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" added my Angel-guide. "Thou hast not travelled so far as yet +to remain in ignorance. That burning Ring thou seest is the result of +the Creator's ever-working Intelligence; from it all the Universe hath +sprung. It is exhaustless and perpetually creative; it is pure and +perfect Light. The smallest spark of that fiery essence in a mortal +frame is sufficient to form a soul or spirit, such as mine, or that of +Azul, or thine, when thou art perfected. The huge world rolling within +the Ring is where God dwells. Dare not thou to question His shape, His +look, His mien! Know that He is the Supreme Spirit in which all Beauty, +all Perfection, all Love, find consummation. His breath is the fire of +the Ring; His look, His pleasure, cause the motion of His World and all +worlds. There where He dwells, dwell also all pure souls; there all +desires have fulfilment without satiety, and there all loveliness, +wisdom or pleasure known in any or all of the other spheres are also +known. Speak, Azul, and tell this wanderer from Earth what she will +gain in winning her place in Heaven." +</P> + +<P> +Azul looked tenderly upon me and said: +</P> + +<P> +"When thou hast slept the brief sleep of death, when thou art permitted +to throw off for ever thy garb of clay, and when by thine own ceaseless +love and longing thou hast won the right to pass the Great Circle, thou +shalt find thyself in a land where the glories of the natural scenery +alone shall overpower thee with joy—scenery that for ever changes into +new wonders and greater beauty. Thou shalt hear music such as thou +canst not dream of. Thou shalt find friends, beyond all imagination +fair and faithful. Thou shalt read and see the history of all the +planets, produced for thee in an ever-moving panorama. Thou shalt love +and be beloved for ever by thine own Twin Soul; wherever that spirit +may be now, it must join thee hereafter. The joys of learning, memory, +consciousness, sleep, waking, and exercise shall all be thine. Sin, +sorrow, pain, disease and death thou shalt know no more. Thou shalt be +able to remember happiness, to possess it, and to look forward to it. +Thou shalt have full and pleasant occupation without fatigue—thy food +and substance shall be light and air. Flowers, rare and imperishable, +shall bloom for thee; birds of exquisite form and tender voice shall +sing to thee; angels shall be thy companions. Thou shalt have fresh and +glad desires to offer to God with every portion of thy existence, and +each one shall be granted as soon as asked, for then thou wilt not be +able to ask anything that is displeasing to Him. But because it is a +joy to wish, thou shalt wish! and because it is a joy to grant, so also +will He grant. No delight, small or great, is wanting in that vast +sphere; only sorrow is lacking, and satiety and disappointment have no +place. Wilt thou seek for admittance there or wilt thou faint by the +way and grow weary?" +</P> + +<P> +I raised my eyes full of ecstasy and reverence. +</P> + +<P> +"My mere efforts must count as nothing," I said; "but if Love can help +me, I will love and long for God's World until I die!" +</P> + +<P> +My guardian Angel pointed to those rays of light I had before noticed, +that slanted downwards towards Earth in the form of a Cross. +</P> + +<P> +"That is the path by which THOU must travel. Mark it well! All pilgrims +from the Sorrowful Star must journey by that road. Woe to them that +turn aside to roam mid spheres they know not of, to lose themselves in +seas of light wherein they cannot steer! Remember my warning! And now, +Spirit who art commended to my watchful care, thy brief liberty is +ended. Thou hast been lifted up to the outer edge of the Electric +Circle, further we dare not take thee. Hast thou aught else to ask +before the veil of mortality again enshrouds thee?" +</P> + +<P> +I answered not, but within myself I formed a wild desire. The Electric +Ring flashed fiercely on my uplifted eyes, but I kept them fixed +hopefully and lovingly on its intensely deep brilliancy. +</P> + +<P> +"If Love and Faith can avail me," I murmured, "I shall see what I have +sought." +</P> + +<P> +I was not disappointed. The fiery waves of light parted on either side +of the spot where I with my companions rested; and a Figure,—majestic, +unutterably grand and beautiful,—approached me. At the same moment a +number of other faces and forms shone hoveringly out of the Ring; one I +noticed like an exquisitely lovely woman, with floating hair and clear, +earnest, unfathomable eyes. Azul and the Angel sank reverently down and +drooped their radiant heads like flowers in hot sunshine. I alone, +daringly, yet with inexpressible affection welling up within me, +watched with unshrinking gaze the swift advance of that supreme Figure, +upon whose broad brows rested the faint semblance of a Crown of Thorns. +A voice penetratingly sweet addressed me: +</P> + +<P> +"Mortal from the Star I saved from ruin, because thou hast desired Me, +I come! Even as thy former unbelief, shall be now thy faith. Because +thou lovest Me, I am with thee. For do I not know thee better than the +Angels can? Have I not dwelt in thy clay, suffered thy sorrows, wept +thy tears, died thy deaths? One with My Father, and yet one with thee, +I demand thy love, and so through Me shalt thou attain immortal life!" +</P> + +<P> +I felt a touch upon me like a scorching flame—a thrill rushed through +my being—and then I knew that I was sinking down, down, further and +further away. I saw that wondrous Figure standing serene and smiling +between the retiring waves of electric radiance. I saw the great inner +sphere revolve, and glitter as it rolled, like an enormous diamond +encircled with gold and sapphire, and then all suddenly the air grew +dim and cloudy, and the sensation of falling became more and more +rapid. Azul was beside me still, and I also perceived the outline of my +guardian Angel's form, though that was growing indistinct. I now +recalled the request of Heliobas, and spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"Azul, tell me what shadow rests upon the life of him to whom I am now +returning?" +</P> + +<P> +Azul looked at me earnestly, and replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Thou daring one! Seekest thou to pierce the future fate of others? Is +it not enough for thee to have heard the voice that maketh the Angel's +singing silent, and wouldst thou yet know more?" +</P> + +<P> +I was full of a strange unhesitating courage, therefore I said +fearlessly: +</P> + +<P> +"He is thy Beloved one, Azul—thy Twin Soul; and wilt thou let him fall +away from thee when a word or sign might save him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Even as he is my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice," +replied Azul, with a tinge of melancholy. "For though he has +accomplished much, he is as yet but mortal. Thou canst guide him thus +far; tell him, when death lies like a gift in his hand, let him +withhold it, and remember me. And now, my friend—farewell!" +</P> + +<P> +I would have spoken again, but could not. An oppressed sensation came +over me, and I seemed to plunge coldly into a depth of inextricable +blackness. I felt cramped for room, and struggled for existence, for +motion, for breath. What had happened to me? I wondered indignantly. +Was I a fettered prisoner? had I lost the use of my light aerial limbs +that had borne me so swiftly through the realms of space? What crushing +weight overpowered me? why such want of air and loss of delightful +ease? I sighed restlessly and impatiently at the narrow darkness in +which I found myself—a sorrowful, deep, shuddering sigh .... and WOKE! +That is to say, I languidly opened mortal eyes to find myself once more +pent up in mortal frame, though I retained a perfect remembrance and +consciousness of everything I had experienced during my +spirit-wanderings. Heliobas stood in front of me with outstretched +hands, and his eyes were fixed on mine with a mingled expression of +anxiety and authority, which changed into a look of relief and gladness +as I smiled at him and uttered his name aloud. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SECRETS OF THE SUN AND MOON. +</H3> + +<P> +"Have I been long away?" I asked, as I raised myself upright in the +chair where I had been resting. +</P> + +<P> +"I sent you from hence on Thursday morning at noon," replied Heliobas. +"It is now Friday evening, and within a few minutes of midnight. I was +growing alarmed. I have never known anyone stay absent for so long; and +you resisted my authority so powerfully, that I began to fear you would +never come back at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had not been compelled to do so!" I said regretfully. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt you do. It is the general complaint. Will you stand up now +and see how you feel?" +</P> + +<P> +I obeyed. There was still a slight sensation about me as of being +cramped for space; but this was passing, and otherwise I felt +singularly strong, bright and vigorous. I stretched out my hands in +unspeakable gratitude to him through whose scientific power I had +gained my recent experience. +</P> + +<P> +"I can never thank you enough!" I said earnestly. "I dare say you know +something of what I have seen on my journey?" +</P> + +<P> +"Something, but not all," he replied. "Of course I know what worlds and +systems you saw, but what was said to you, or what special lessons were +given you for your comfort, I cannot tell." "Then I will describe +everything while it is fresh upon me," I returned. "I feel that I must +do so in order that you may understand how glad I am,—how grateful I +am to you." +</P> + +<P> +I then related the different scenes through which I had passed, +omitting no detail. Heliobas listened with profound interest and +attention. When I had finished, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yours has been a most wonderful, I may say almost exceptional, +experience. It proves to me more than ever the omnipotence of WILL. +Most of those who have been placed by my means in the Uplifted or +Electric state of being, have consented to it simply to gratify a sense +of curiosity—few therefore have gone beyond the pure ether, where, as +in a sea, the planets swim. Cellini, for instance, never went farther +than Venus, because in the atmosphere of that planet he met the Spirit +that rules and divides his destiny. Zara—she was daring, and reached +the outer rim of the Great Circle; but even she never caught a glimpse +of the great Central Sphere. YOU, differing from these, started with a +daring aim which you never lost sight of till you had fulfilled it. How +true are those words: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye +shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you'! It is not +possible," and here he sighed, "that amid such wonders you could have +remembered me—it were foolish on my part to expect it." +</P> + +<P> +"I confess I thought nothing of you," I said frankly, "till I was +approaching Earth again; but then my memory prompted me in time, and I +did not forget your request." +</P> + +<P> +"And what did you learn?" he asked anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Simply this. Azul said that I might deliver you this message: When +death lies like a gift in your hand, withhold it, and remember her." +</P> + +<P> +"As if I did not always guide myself by her promptings!" exclaimed +Heliobas, with a tender smile. +</P> + +<P> +"You might forget to do so for once," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" he replied fervently. "It could not be. But I thank you, my +child, for having thought of me—the message you bring shall be +impressed strongly on my mind. Now, before you leave me to-night, I +must say a few necessary words." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, and appeared to consider profoundly for some minutes. At +last he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I have selected certain writings for your perusal," he said. "In them +you will find full and clear instructions how to cultivate and educate +the electric force within you, and thus continue the work I have begun. +With these you will also perceive that I have written out the receipt +for the volatile fluid which, if taken in a small quantity every day, +will keep you in health, strength, and intellectual vigour, while it +will preserve your youth and enjoyment of life to a very much longer +extent than that usually experienced by the majority. Understand me +well—this liquid of itself cannot put you into an uplifted state of +existence; you need HUMAN electric force applied strongly to your +system to compass this; and as it is dangerous to try the experiment +too often—dangerous to the body, I mean—it will be as well, as you +have work to do yet in this life, not to attempt it again. But if you +drink the fluid every morning of your life, and at the same time obey +my written manual as to the cultivation of your own inner force, which +is already existent in a large degree, you will attain to certain +advantages over the rest of the people you meet, which will give you +not only physical, but mental power." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a minute or two, and again went on: +</P> + +<P> +"When you have educated your Will to a certain height of electric +command, you can at your pleasure see at any time, and see plainly, the +spirits who inhabit the air; and also those who, descending to long +distances below the Great Circle, come within the range of human +electricity, or the attractive matter contained in the Earth's +atmosphere. You can converse with them, and they with you. You will +also be able, at your desire, to see the parted spirits of dead +persons, so long as they linger within Earth's radius, which they +seldom do, being always anxious to escape from it as soon as possible. +Love may sometimes detain them, or remorse; but even these have to +yield to the superior longings which possess them the instant they are +set free. You will, in your intercourse with your fellow-mortals, be +able to discern their motives quickly and unerringly—you will at once +discover where you are loved and where you are disliked; and not all +the learning and logic of so-called philosophers shall be able to cloud +your instinct. You will have a keener appreciation of good and +beautiful things—a delightful sense of humour, and invariable +cheerfulness; and whatever you do, unless you make some mistake by your +own folly, will carry with it its success. And, what is perhaps a +greater privilege, you will find that all who are brought into very +close contact with you will be beneficially influenced, or the reverse, +exactly as you choose to exert your power. I do not think, after what +you have seen, you will ever desire to exert a malign influence, +knowing that the Creator of your being is all love and forgiveness. At +any rate, the greatest force in the universe, electricity, is +yours—that is, it has begun to form itself in you—and you have +nothing to do but to encourage its growth, just as you would encourage +a taste for music or the fine arts. Now let me give you the writings." +</P> + +<P> +He unlocked a desk, and took from it two small rolls of parchment, one +tied with a gold ribbon, the other secured in a kind of case with a +clasp. This last he held up before my eyes, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"This contains my private instructions to you. Never make a single one +of them public. The world is not ready for wisdom, and the secrets of +science can only be explained to the few. Therefore keep this parchment +safely under lock and key, and never let any eye but your own look upon +its contents." +</P> + +<P> +I promised, and he handed it to me. Then taking the other roll, which +was tied with ribbon, he said, +</P> + +<P> +"Here is written out what I call the Electric Principle of +Christianity. This is for your own study and consideration; still, if +you ever desire to explain my theory to others, I do not forbid you. +But as I told you before, you can never compel belief—the goldfish in +a glass bowl will never understand the existence of the ocean. Be +satisfied if you can guide yourself by the compass you have found, but +do not grieve if you are unable to guide others. You may try, but it +will not be surprising if you fail. Nor will it be your fault. The only +sorrow that might happen to you in these efforts would be in case you +should love someone very dearly, and yet be unable to instil the truth +of what yon know into that particular soul. You would then have to make +a discovery, which is always more or less painful—namely, that your +love was misplaced, inasmuch as the nature you had selected as worthy +of love had no part with yours; and that separation utter and eternal +must therefore occur, if not in this life, then in the future. So I +would say beware of loving, lest you should not love rightly—though I +believe you will soon be able to discern clearly the spirit that is by +fate destined to complete and perfect your own. And now, though I know +you are scarcely fatigued enough to sleep, I will say good-night." +</P> + +<P> +I took the second roll of parchment from his hand, and opening it a +little way, I saw that it was covered with very fine small writing. +Then I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Does Zara know how long I have been absent?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Heliobas; "and she, like myself, was surprised and +anxious. I think she went to bed long ago; but you may look into her +room and see if she is awake, before you yourself retire to rest." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke of Zara his eyes grew melancholy and his brow clouded. An +instinctive sense of fear came upon me. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she not well?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"She is perfectly well," he answered. "Why should you imagine her to be +otherwise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me," I said; "I fancied that you looked unhappy when I +mentioned her." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas made no answer. He stepped to the window, and throwing back +the curtain, called me to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out yonder." he said in low and earnest tones; "look at the dark +blue veil strewn with stars, through which so lately your daring soul +pierced its flight! See how the small Moon hangs like a lamp in Heaven, +apparently outshining the myriad worlds around her, that are so much +vaster and fairer! How deceptive is the human eye!—nearly as deceptive +as the human reason. Tell me—why did you not visit the Moon, or the +Sun, in your recent wanderings?" +</P> + +<P> +This question caused me some surprise. It was certainly very strange +that I had not thought of doing so. Yet, on pondering the matter in my +mind, I remembered that during my aerial journey suns and moons had +been no more to me than flowers strewn on a meadow. I now regretted +that I had not sought to know something of those two fair luminaries +which light and warm our earth. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas, after watching my face intently, resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot guess the reason of your omission? I will tell you. There +is nothing to see in either Sun or Moon. They were both inhabited +worlds once; but the dwellers in the Sun have ages ago lived their +lives and passed to the Central Sphere. The Sun is nothing now but a +burning world, burning rapidly, and surely, away: or rather, IT IS +BEING ABSORBED BACK INTO THE ELECTRIC CIRCLE FROM WHICH IT ORIGINALLY +SPRANG, TO BE THROWN OUT AGAIN IN SOME NEW AND GRANDER FORM. And so +with all worlds, suns and systems, for ever and ever. Hundreds of +thousands of those brief time-breathings called years may pass before +this consummation of the Sun; but its destruction is going on now, or +rather its absorption—and we on our cold small star warm ourselves, +and are glad, in the light of an empty world on fire!" +</P> + +<P> +I listened with awe and interest. +</P> + +<P> +"And the Moon?" I asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"The Moon does not exist. What we see is the reflection or the +electrograph of what she once was. Atmospherical electricity has +imprinted this picture of a long-ago living world upon the heavens, +just as Raphael drew his cartoons for the men of to-day to see." +</P> + +<P> +"But," I exclaimed in surprise, "how about the Moon's influence on the +tides? and what of eclipses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not the Moon, but the electric photograph of a once living but now +absorbed world, has certainly an influence on the tides. The sea is +impregnated with electricity. Just as the Sun will absorb colours, so +the electricity in the sea is repelled or attracted by the electric +picture of the Moon in Heaven. Because, as a painting is full of +colour, so is that faithful sketch of a vanished sphere, drawn with a +pencil of pure light, full of immense electricity; and to carry the +simile further, just as a painting may be said to be formed of various +dark and light tints, so the electric portrait of the Moon contains +various degrees of electric force—which, coming in contact with the +electricity of the Earth's atmosphere, produces different effects on us +and on the natural scenes amid which we dwell. As for eclipses—if you +slowly pass a round screen between yourself and a blazing fire, you +will only see the edges of the fire. In the same way the electrograph +of the Moon passes at stated intervals between the Earth and the +burning world of the Sun." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet surely," I said, "the telescope has enabled us to see the Moon as +a solid globe—we have discerned mountains and valleys on its surface; +and then it revolves round us regularly—how do you account for these +facts?" +</P> + +<P> +"The telescope," returned Heliobas, "is merely an aid to the human eye; +and, as I told you before, nothing is so easily deceived as our sense +of vision, even when assisted by mechanical appliances. The telescope, +like the stereoscope, simply enables us to see the portrait of the Moon +more clearly; but all the same, the Moon, as a world, does not exist. +Her likeness, taken by electricity, may last some thousands of years, +and as long as it lasts it must revolve around us, because everything +in the universe moves, and moves in a circle. Besides which, this +portrait of the moon being composed of pure electricity, is attracted +and forced to follow the Earth by the compelling influence of the +Earth's own electric power. Therefore, till the picture fades, it must +attend the Earth like the haunting spectre of a dead joy. You can +understand now why we never see what we imagine to be the OTHER SIDE of +the Moon. It simply has NO other side, except space. Space is the +canvas—the Moon is a sketch. How interested we are when a discovery is +made of some rare old painting, of which the subject is a perfectly +beautiful woman! It bears no name—perhaps no date—but the face that +smiles at us is exquisite—the lips yet pout for kisses—the eyes brim +over, with love! And we admire it tenderly and reverently—we mark it +'Portrait of a lady,' and give it an honoured place among our art +collections. With how much more reverence and tenderness ought we to +look up at the 'Portrait of a Fair Lost Sphere,' circling yonder in +that dense ever-moving gallery of wonders where the hurrying throng of +spectators are living and dying worlds!" +</P> + +<P> +I had followed the speaker's words with fascinated attention, but now I +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Dying, Heliobas? There is no death." +</P> + +<P> +"True!" he answered, with hesitating slowness. "But there is what we +call death—transition—and it is always a parting." +</P> + +<P> +"But not for long!" I exclaimed, with all the gladness and eagerness of +my lately instructed soul. "As worlds are absorbed into the Electric +Circle and again thrown out in new and more glorious forms, so are we +absorbed and changed into shapes of perfect beauty, having eyes that +are strong and pure enough to look God in the face. The body +perishes—but what have WE to do with the body—our prison and place of +experience, except to rejoice when we shake off its weight for ever!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"You have learned your high lesson well," he said. "You speak with the +assurance and delight of a spirit satisfied. But when I talk of DEATH, +I mean by that word the parting asunder of two souls who love each +other; and though such separation may be brief, still it is always a +separation. For instance, suppose—" he hesitated: "suppose Zara were +to die?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you would soon meet her again," I answered. "For though you +might live many years after her, still you would know in yourself that +those years were but minutes in the realms of space—" +</P> + +<P> +"Minutes that decide our destinies," he interrupted with solemnity. +"And there is always this possibility to contemplate—suppose Zara were +to leave me now, how can I be sure that I shall be strong enough to +live out my remainder of life purely enough to deserve to meet her +again? And if not then Zara's death would mean utter and almost +hopeless separation for ever—though perhaps I might begin over again +in some other form, and so reach the goal." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke so musingly and seriously that I was surprised, for I had +thought him impervious to such a folly as the fear of death. +</P> + +<P> +"You are melancholy, Heliobas," I said. "In the first place, Zara is +not going to leave you yet; and secondly, if she did, you know your +strongest efforts would be brought to bear on your career, in order +that no shadow of obstinacy or error might obstruct your path. Why, the +very essence of our belief is in the strength of Will-power. What we +WILL to do, especially if it be any act of spiritual progress, we can +always accomplish." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas took my hand and pressed it warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are so lately come from the high regions," he said, "that it warms +and invigorates me to hear your encouraging words. Pray do not think me +capable of yielding long to the weakness of foreboding. I am, in spite +of my advancement in electric science, nothing but a man, and am apt to +be hampered oftentimes by my mortal trappings. We have prolonged our +conversation further than I intended. I assure you it is better for you +to try to sleep, even though, as I know, you feel so wide awake. Let me +give you a soothing draught; it will have the effect of composing your +physical nerves into steady working order." +</P> + +<P> +He poured something from a small phial into a glass, and handed it to +me. I drank it at once, obediently, and with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, my Master!" I then said. "You need have no fear of your +own successful upward progress. For if there were the slightest chance +of your falling into fatal error, all those human souls you have +benefited would labour and pray for your rescue; and I know now that +prayers reach Heaven, so long as they are unselfish. I, though I am one +of the least of your disciples, out of the deep gratitude of my heart +towards you, will therefore pray unceasingly for you, both here and +hereafter." +</P> + +<P> +He bent his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you!" he said simply. "More deeds are wrought by prayer than +this world dreams of! That is a true saying. God bless you, my child. +Good-night!" +</P> + +<P> +And he opened the door of his study for me to pass out. As I did so, he +laid his hand lightly on my head in a sort of unspoken +benediction—then he closed his door, and I found myself alone in the +great hall. A suspended lamp was burning brightly, and the fountain was +gurgling melodiously to itself in a subdued manner, as if it were +learning a new song for the morning. I sped across the mosaic pavement +with a light eager step, and hurried up the stairs, intent on finding +Zara to tell her how happy I felt, and how satisfied I was with my +wonderful experience. I reached the door of her bedroom—it was ajar. I +softly pushed it farther open, and looked in. A small but exquisitely +modelled statue of an "Eros" ornamented one corner. His uplifted torch +served as a light which glimmered faintly through a rose-coloured +glass, and shed a tender lustre over the room; but especially upon the +bed, ornamented with rich Oriental needlework, where Zara lay fast +asleep. How beautiful she looked! Almost as lovely as any one of the +radiant spirits I had met in my aerial journey! Her rich dark hair was +scattered loosely on the white pillows; her long silky lashes curled +softly on the delicately tinted cheeks; her lips, tenderly red, like +the colour on budding apple-blossoms in early spring, were slightly +parted, showing the glimmer of the small white teeth within; her +night-dress was slightly undone, and half displayed and half disguised +her neck and daintily rounded bosom, on which the electric jewel she +always wore glittered brilliantly as it rose and sank with her regular +and quiet breathing. One fair hand lay outside the coverlet, and the +reflection from the lamp of the "Eros" flickered on a ring which +adorned it, making its central diamond flash like a wandering star. +</P> + +<P> +I looked long and tenderly on this perfect ideal of a "Sleeping +Beauty," and then thought I would draw closer and see if I could kiss +her without awaking her. I advanced a few steps into the room—when +suddenly I was stopped. Within about a yard's distance from the bed a +SOMETHING opposed my approach! I could not move a foot forward—I tried +vigorously, but in vain! I could step backward, and that was all. +Between me and Zara there seemed to be an invisible barrier, strong, +and absolutely impregnable. There was nothing to be seen—nothing but +the softly-shaded room—the ever-smiling "Eros," and the exquisite +reposeful figure of my sleeping friend. Two steps, and I could have +touched her; but those two steps I was forcibly prevented from +making—as forcibly as though a deep ocean had rolled between her and +me. I did not stop long to consider this strange occurrence—I felt +sure it had something to do with her spiritual life and sympathy, +therefore it neither alarmed nor perplexed me. Kissing my hand tenderly +towards my darling, who lay so close to me, and who was yet so +jealously and invisibly guarded during her slumbers, I softly and +reverently withdrew. On reaching my own apartment, I was more than half +inclined to sit up reading and studying the parchments Heliobas had +given me; but on second thoughts I resolved to lock up these precious +manuscripts and go to bed. I did so, and before preparing to sleep I +remembered to kneel down and offer up praise and honour, with a loving +and believing heart, to that Supreme Glory, of which I had been +marvellously permitted to enjoy a brief but transcendent glimpse. And +as I knelt, absorbed and happy, I heard, like a soft echo falling +through the silence of my room, a sound like distant music, through +which these words floated towards me: "A new commandment give I unto +you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOCIABLE CONVERSE. +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning Zara came herself to awaken me, looking as fresh and +lovely as a summer morning. She embraced me very tenderly, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have been talking for more than an hour with Casimir. He has told me +everything. What wonders you have seen! And are you not happy, dearest? +Are you not strong and satisfied?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly!" I replied. "But, O Zara! what a pity that all the world +should not know what we know!" +</P> + +<P> +"All have not a desire for knowledge," replied Zara. "Even in your +vision of the garden you possessed, there were only a few who still +sought you; for those few you would have done anything, but for the +others your best efforts were in vain." +</P> + +<P> +"They might not have been always in vain," I said musingly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, they might not," agreed Zara. "That is just the case of the world +to-day. While there is life in it, there is also hope. And talking of +the world, let me remind you that you are back in it now, and must +therefore be hampered with tiresome trivialities. Two of these are as +follows; First, here is a letter for you, which has just come; +secondly, breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at her smiling face attentively. She was the very embodiment +of vigorous physical health and beauty; it seemed like a dream to +remember her in the past night, guarded by that invincible barrier, the +work of no mortal hand. I uttered nothing, however, of these thoughts, +and responding to her evident gaiety of heart, I smiled also. +</P> + +<P> +"I will be down punctually at the expiration of the twenty minutes," I +said. "I assure you, Zara, I am quite sensible of the claims of earthly +existence upon me. For instance, I am very hungry, and I shall enjoy +breakfast immensely if you will make the coffee." +</P> + +<P> +Zara, who among her other accomplishments had the secret of making +coffee to perfection, promised laughingly to make it extra well, and +flitted from the room, singing softly as she went a fragment of the +Neapolitan Stornello: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Fior di mortelle<BR> + Queste manine tue son tanto belle!<BR> + Fior di limone<BR> + Ti voglio far morire di passione<BR> + Salta! lari—lira."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The letter Zara had brought me was from Mrs. Everard, announcing that +she would arrive in Paris that very day, Sunday. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"By the time you get this note," so ran her words, "we shall have +landed at the Grand Hotel. Come and see us at once, if you can. The +Colonel is anxious to judge for himself how you are looking. If you are +really recovered sufficiently to leave your medical pension, we shall +be delighted to have you with us again. I, in particular, shall be +glad, for it is real lonesome when the Colonel is out, and I do hate to +go shopping by myself, So take pity upon your affectionate +<BR><BR> +"AMY." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Seated at breakfast, I discussed this letter with Heliobas and Zara, +and decided that I would call at the Grand Hotel that morning. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would come with me, Zara," I said wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +To my surprise, she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly I will, if you like. But we will attend High Mass at Notre +Dame first. There will be plenty of time for the call afterwards." +</P> + +<P> +I gladly agreed to this, and Heliobas added with cheerful cordiality: +</P> + +<P> +"Why not ask your friends to dine here to-morrow? Zara's call will be a +sufficient opening formality; and you yourself have been long enough +with us now to know that any of your friends will be welcome here. We +might have a pleasant little party, especially if you add Mr. and Mrs. +Challoner and their daughters to the list. And I will ask Ivan." +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at Zara when the Prince's name was uttered, but she made no +sign of either offence or indifference. +</P> + +<P> +"You are very hospitable," I said, addressing Heliobas; "but I really +see no reason why you should throw open your doors to my friends, +unless, indeed, you specially desire to please me." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course I do!" he replied heartily; and Zara looked up and +smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," I returned, "I will ask them to come. What am I to say about my +recovery, which I know is little short of miraculous?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say," replied Heliobas, "that you have been cured by electricity. +There is nothing surprising in such a statement nowadays. But say +nothing of the HUMAN electric force employed upon you—no one would +believe you, and the effort to persuade unpersuadable people is always +a waste of time." +</P> + +<P> +An hour after this conversation Zara and I were in the cathedral of +Notre Dame. I attended the service with very different feelings to +those I had hitherto experienced during the same ceremony. Formerly my +mind had been distracted by harassing doubts and perplexing +contradictions; now everything had a meaning for me—high, and solemn, +and sweet. As the incense rose, I thought of those rays of connecting +light I had seen, on which prayers travel exactly as sound travels +through the telephone. As the grand organ pealed sonorously through the +fragrant air, I remembered the ever youthful and gracious Spirits of +Music, one of whom, Aeon, had promised to be my friend. Just to try the +strength of my own electric force, I whispered the name and looked up. +There, on a wide slanting ray of sunlight that fell directly across the +altar was the angelic face I well remembered!—the delicate hands +holding the semblance of a harp in air! It was but for an instant I saw +it—one brief breathing-space in which its smile mingled with the +sunbeams and then it vanished. But I knew I was not forgotten, and the +deep satisfaction of my soul poured itself in unspoken praise on the +flood of the "Sanctus! Sanctus!" that just then rolled triumphantly +through the aisles of Notre Dame. Zara was absorbed in silent prayer +throughout the Mass; but at its conclusion, when we came out of the +cathedral, she was unusually gay and elate. She conversed vivaciously +with me concerning the social merits and accomplishments of the people +we were going to visit; while the brisk walk through the frosty air +brightened her eyes and cheeks into warmer lustre, so that on our +arrival at the Grand Hotel she looked to my fancy even lovelier than +usual. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Everard did not keep us waiting long in the private salon to which +we were shown. She fluttered down, arrayed in a wonderful "art" gown of +terra-cotta and pale blue hues cunningly intermixed, and proceeded to +hug me with demonstrative fervour. Then she held me a little distance +off, and examined me attentively. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," she said, "you are simply in lovely condition! I never +would have believed it. You are actually as plump and pink as a peach. +And you are the same creature that wailed and trembled, and had +palpitations and headaches and stupors! Your doctor must be a perfect +magician. I think I must consult him, for I am sure I don't look half +as well as you do." +</P> + +<P> +And indeed she did not. I thought she had a tired, dragged appearance, +but I would not say so. I knew her well, and I was perfectly aware that +though she was fascinating and elegant in every way, her life was too +much engrossed in trifles ever to yield her healthy satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +After responding warmly to her affectionate greeting, I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Amy, you must allow me to introduce the sister of my doctor to you. +Madame Zara Casimir—Mrs. Everard." +</P> + +<P> +Zara, who had moved aside a little way out of delicacy, to avoid +intruding on our meeting, now turned, and with her own radiant smile +and exquisite grace, stretched out her little well-gloved hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I am delighted to know you!" she said, in those sweet penetrating +accents of hers which were like music. "YOUR friend," here indicating +me by a slight yet tender gesture, "has also become mine; but I do not +think we shall be jealous, shall we?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Everard made some attempt at a suitable reply, but she was so +utterly lost in admiration of Zara's beauty, that her habitual +self-possession almost deserted her. Zara, however, had the most +perfect tact, and with it the ability of making herself at home +anywhere, and we were soon all three talking cheerfully and without +constraint. When the Colonel made his appearance, which he did very +shortly, he too was "taken off his feet," as the saying is, by Zara's +loveliness, and the same effect was produced on the Challoners, who +soon afterwards joined us in a body. Mrs. Challoner, in particular, +seemed incapable of moving her eyes from the contemplation of my +darling's sweet face, and I glowed with pride and pleasure as I noted +how greatly she was admired. Miss Effie Challoner alone, who was, by a +certain class of young men, considered "doocid pretty, with go in her," +opposed her stock of physical charms to those of Zara, with a certain +air of feminine opposition; but she was only able to keep this barrier +up for a little time. Zara's winning power of attraction was too much +for her, and she, like all present, fell a willing captive to the +enticing gentleness, the intellectual superiority, and the sympathetic +influence exercised by the evenly balanced temperament and character of +the beautiful woman I loved so well. +</P> + +<P> +After some desultory and pleasant chat, Zara, in the name of her +brother and herself, invited Colonel and Mrs. Everard and the Challoner +family to dine at the Hotel Mars next day—an invitation which was +accepted by all with eagerness. I perceived at once that every one of +them was anxious to know more of Zara and her surroundings—a curiosity +which I could not very well condemn. Mrs. Everard then wanted me to +remain with her for the rest of the afternoon; but an instinctive +feeling came upon me, that soon perhaps I should have to part from +Heliobas and Zara, and all the wonders and delights of their household, +in order to resume my own working life—therefore I determined I would +drain my present cup of pleasure to the last drop. So I refused Amy's +request, pleading as an excuse that I was still under my doctor's +authority, and could not indulge in such an excitement as an afternoon +in her society without his permission. Zara bore me out in this +assertion, and added for me to Mrs. Everard: +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, I think it will be better for her to remain perfectly quiet +with us for a day or two longer; then she will be thoroughly cured, and +free to do as she likes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" said Mrs. Challoner; "I must say she doesn't look as if +anything were the matter with her. In fact, I never saw two more happy, +healthy-looking girls than you both. What secret do you possess to make +yourselves look so bright?" +</P> + +<P> +"No secret at all," replied Zara, laughing; "we simply follow the exact +laws of health, and they suffice." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Everard, who had been examining me critically and asking me a +few questions, here turned to Zara and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you really mean to say, Madame Casimir, that your brother cured +this girl by electricity?" +</P> + +<P> +"Purely so!" she answered earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's the most wonderful recovery <I>I</I> ever saw. Why, at Cannes, +she was hollow-eyed, pale, and thin as a willow-wand; now she +looks—well, she knows how she is herself—but if she feels as spry as +she looks, she's in first-rate training!" +</P> + +<P> +I laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I DO feel spry, Colonel," I said. "Life seems to me like summer +sunshine." +</P> + +<P> +"Brava!" exclaimed Mr. Challoner. He was a staid, rather slow +Kentuckian who seldom spoke; and when he did, seemed to find it rather +an exertion. "If there's one class of folk I detest more than another, +it is those all-possessed people who find life unsuited to their +fancies. Nobody asked them to come into it—nobody would miss them if +they went out of it. Being in it, it's barely civil to grumble at the +Deity who sent them along here. I never do it myself if I can help it." +</P> + +<P> +We laughed, and Mrs. Challoner's eyes twinkled. +</P> + +<P> +"In England, dear, for instance," she said, with a mischievous glance +at her spouse—"in England you never grumbled, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Challoner looked volumes—his visage reddened, and he clenched his +broad fist with ominous vigour. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, by the Lord!" he said, with even more than his usual deliberate +utterance, "in England the liveliest flea that ever gave a triumphal +jump in air would find his spirits inclined to droop! I tell you, +ma'am," he continued, addressing himself to Zara, whose merry laugh +rang out like a peal of little golden bells at this last remark—"I +tell you that when I walked in the streets of London I used to feel as +if I were one of a band of criminals. Every person I met looked at me +as if the universe were about to be destroyed next minute, and they had +to build another up right away without God to help 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I believe I agree with you," said Colonel Everard. "The English +take life too seriously. In their craze for business they manage to do +away with pleasure altogether. They seem afraid to laugh, and they even +approach the semblance of a smile with due caution." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm free to confess," added his wife, "that I'm not easily chilled +through. But an English 'at home' acts upon me like a patent +refrigerator—I get regularly frozen to the bone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me!" laughed Zara; "you give very bad accounts of Shakespeare's +land! It must be very sad!" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it wasn't always so," pursued Colonel Everard; "there are +legends which speak of it as Merrie England. I dare say it might have +been merry once, before it was governed by shopkeepers; but now, you +must get away from it if you want to enjoy life. At least such is my +opinion. But have you never been in England, Madame Casimir? You speak +English perfectly." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am a fairly good linguist," replied Zara, "thanks to my brother. +But I have never crossed the Channel." +</P> + +<P> +The Misses Challoner looked politely surprised; their father's shrewd +face wore an expression of grim contentment. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't cross it, ma'am," he said emphatically, "unless you have a +special desire to be miserable. If you want to know how Christians love +one another and how to be made limply and uselessly wretched, spend a +Sunday in London." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I will not try the experiment, Mr. Challoner," returned Zara +gaily. "Life is short, and I prefer to enjoy it." +</P> + +<P> +"Say," interrupted Mrs. Challoner, turning to me at this juncture, "now +you are feeling so well, would it be asking you too much to play us a +piece of your own improvising?" +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at the grand piano, which occupied a corner of the salon +where we sat, and hesitated. But at a slight nod from Zara, I rose, +drew off my gloves, and seated myself at the instrument. Passing my +hands lightly over the keys, I wandered through a few running passages; +and as I did so, murmured a brief petition to my aerial friend Aeon. +Scarcely had I done this, when a flood of music seemed to rush to my +brain and thence to my fingers, and I played, hardly knowing what I +played, but merely absorbed in trying to give utterance to the sounds +which were falling softly upon my inner sense of hearing like drops of +summer rain on a thirsty soil. I was just aware that I was threading +the labyrinth of a minor key, and that the result was a network of +delicate and tender melody reminding me of Heinrich Heine's words: +</P> + +<P> +"Lady, did you not hear the nightingale sing? A beautiful silken +voice—a web of happy notes—and my soul was taken in its meshes, and +strangled and tortured thereby." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes, and the inner voice that conversed with me so sweetly, +died away into silence, and at the same time my fingers found their way +to the closing chord. As one awaking from a dream, I looked up. The +little group of friendly listeners were rapt in the deepest attention; +and when I ceased, a murmur of admiration broke from them all, while +Zara's eyes glistened with sympathetic tears. +</P> + +<P> +"How can you do it?" asked Mrs. Challoner in good-natured amazement. +"It seems to me impossible to compose like that while seated at the +piano, and without taking previous thought!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not MY doing," I began; "it seems to come to me from—" +</P> + +<P> +But I was checked by a look from Zara, that gently warned me not to +hastily betray the secret of my spiritual communion with the unseen +sources of harmony. So I smiled and said no more. Inwardly I was full +of a great rejoicing, for I knew that however well I had played in past +days, it was nothing compared to the vigour and ease which were now +given to me—a sort of unlocking of the storehouse of music, with +freedom to take my choice of all its vast treasures. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's what WE call inspiration," said Mr. Challoner, giving my +hand a friendly grasp; "and wherever it comes from, it must be a great +happiness to yourself as well as to others." +</P> + +<P> +"It is," I answered earnestly. "I believe few are so perfectly happy in +music as I am." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Everard looked thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"No amount of practice could make ME play like that," she said; "yet I +have had two or three masters who were supposed to be first-rate. One +of them was a German, who used to clutch his hair like a walking +tragedian whenever I played a wrong note. I believe he got up his +reputation entirely by that clutch, for he often played wrong notes +himself without minding it. But just because he worked himself into a +sort of frenzy when others went wrong, everybody praised him, and said +he had such an ear and was so sensitive that he must be a great +musician. He worried me nearly to death over Bach's 'Well-tempered +Klavier'—all to no purpose, for I can't play a note of it now, and +shouldn't care to if I could. I consider Bach a dreadful old bore, +though I know it is heresy to say so. Even Beethoven is occasionally +prosy, only no one will be courageous enough to admit it. People would +rather go to sleep over classical music than confess they don't like +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Schubert would have been a grander master than Beethoven, if he had +only lived long enough," said Zara; "but I dare say very few will agree +with me in such an assertion. Unfortunately most of my opinions differ +from those of everyone else." +</P> + +<P> +"You should say FORTUNATELY, madame," said Colonel Everard, bowing +gallantly; "as the circumstance has the happy result of making you +perfectly original as well as perfectly charming." +</P> + +<P> +Zara received this compliment with her usual sweet equanimity, and we +rose to take our leave. As we were passing out, Amy Everard drew me +back and crammed into the pocket of my cloak a newspaper. +</P> + +<P> +"Read it when you are alone," she whispered; "and you will see what +Raffaello Cellini has done with the sketch he made of you." +</P> + +<P> +We parted from these pleasant Americans with cordial expressions of +goodwill, Zara reminding them of their engagement to visit her at her +own home next day, and fixing the dinner-hour for half-past seven. +</P> + +<P> +On our return to the Hotel Mars, we found Heliobas in the drawing-room, +deep in converse with a Catholic priest—a fine-looking man of +venerable and noble features. Zara addressed him as "Father Paul," and +bent humbly before him to receive his blessing, which he gave her with +almost parental tenderness. He seemed, from his familiar manner with +them, to be a very old friend of the family. +</P> + +<P> +On my being introduced to him, he greeted me with gentle courtesy, and +gave me also his simple unaffected benediction. We all partook of a +light luncheon to-gether, after which repast Heliobas and Father Paul +withdrew together. Zara looked after their retreating figures with a +sort of meditative pathos in her large eyes; and then she told me she +had something to finish in her studio—would I excuse her for about an +hour? I readily consented, for I myself was desirous of passing a +little time in solitude, in order to read the manuscripts Heliobas had +given me. "For," thought I, "if there is anything in them not quite +clear to me, he will explain it, and I had better take advantage of his +instruction while I can." +</P> + +<P> +As Zara and I went upstairs together, we were followed by Leo—a most +unusual circumstance, as that faithful animal was generally in +attendance on his master. Now, however, he seemed to have something +oppressive on his mind, for he kept close to Zara, and his big brown +eyes, whenever he raised them to her face, were full of intense +melancholy. His tail drooped in a forlorn way, and all the vivacity of +his nature seemed to have gone out of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Leo does not seem well," I said, patting the dog's beautiful silky +coat, an attention to which he responded by a heavy sigh and a wistful +gaze approaching to tears. Zara looked at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Leo!" she murmured caressingly. "Perhaps he feels lonely. Do you +want to come with your mistress to-day, old boy? So you shall. Come +along—cheer up, Leo!" +</P> + +<P> +And, nodding to me, she passed into her studio, the dog following her. +I turned into my own apartment, and then bethought myself of the +newspaper Mrs. Everard had thrust into my pocket. It was a Roman +journal, and the passage marked for my perusal ran as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"The picture of the Improvisatrice, painted by our countryman Signor +Raffaello Cellini, has been purchased by Prince N——for the sum of +forty thousand francs. The Prince generously permits it to remain on +view for a few days longer, so that those who have not yet enjoyed its +attraction, have still time to behold one of the most wonderful +pictures of the age. The colouring yet remains a marvel to both +students and connoisseurs, and the life-like appearance of the girl's +figure, robed in its clinging white draperies ornamented with lilies of +the valley, is so strong, that one imagines she will step out of the +canvas and confront the bystanders. Signor Cellini must now be +undoubtedly acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses of modern +times." +</P> + +<P> +I could see no reason, as I perused this, to be sure that <I>I</I> had +served as the model for this successful work of art, unless the white +dress and the lilies of the valley, which I had certainly worn at +Cannes, were sufficient authority for forming such a conclusion. Still +I felt quite a curiosity about the picture—the more so as I could +foresee no possible chance of my ever beholding it. I certainly should +not go to Rome on purpose, and in a few days it would be in the +possession of Prince N——, a personage whom in all probability I +should never know. I put the newspaper carefully by, and then turned my +mind to the consideration of quite another subject—namely, the +contents of my parchment documents. The first one I opened was that +containing the private instructions of Heliobas to myself for the +preservation of my own health, and the cultivation of the electric +force within me. These were so exceedingly simple, and yet so wonderful +in their simplicity, that I was surprised. They were based upon the +plainest and most reasonable common-sense arguments—easy enough for a +child to understand. Having promised never to make them public, it is +impossible for me to give the slightest hint of their purport; but I +may say at once, without trespassing the bounds of my pledged word, +that if these few concise instructions were known and practised by +everyone, doctors would be entirely thrown out of employment, and +chemists' shops would no longer cumber the streets. Illness would be +very difficult of attainment—though in the event of its occurring each +individual would know how to treat him or herself—and life could be +prolonged easily and comfortably to more than a hundred years, barring, +of course, accidents by sea, rail and road, or by deeds of violence. +But it will take many generations before the world is UNIVERSALLY +self-restrained enough to follow such plain maxims as those laid down +for me in the writing of my benefactor, Heliobas—even if it be ever +self-restrained at all, which, judging from the present state of +society, is much to be doubted. Therefore, no more of the subject, on +which, indeed, I am forbidden to speak. +</P> + +<P> +The other document, called "The Electric Principle of Christianity," I +found so curious and original, suggesting so many new theories +concerning that religion which has civilized a great portion of +humanity, that, as I am not restrained by any promise on this point, I +have resolved to give it here in full. My readers must not be rash +enough to jump to the conclusion that I set it forward as an +explanation or confession of my own faith; my creed has nothing to do +with anyone save myself. I simply copy the manuscript I possess, as the +theory of a deeply read and widely intelligent man, such as Heliobas +undoubtedly WAS and IS; a man, too, in whose veins runs the blood of +the Chaldean kings—earnest and thoughtful Orientals, who were far +wiser in their generation perhaps than we, with all our boasted +progress, are in ours. The coincidences which have to do with +electrical science will, I believe, be generally admitted to be curious +if not convincing. To me, of course, they are only fresh proofs of WHAT +<I>I</I> KNOW, because <I>I</I> HAVE SEEN THE GREAT ELECTRIC CIRCLE, and know its +power (guided as it is by the Central Intelligence within) to be +capable of anything, from the sending down of a minute spark of +instinct into the heart of a flower, to the perpetual manufacture and +re-absorption of solar systems by the million million. And it is a +circle that ever widens without end. What more glorious manifestation +can there be of the Creator's splendour and wisdom! But as to how this +world of ours span round in its own light littleness farther and +farther from the Radiant Ring, till its very Sun began to be +re-absorbed, and till its Moon disappeared and became a mere +picture—till it became of itself like a small blot on the fair scroll +of the Universe, while its inhabitants grew to resent all heavenly +attraction; and how it was yet thought worth God's patience and tender +consideration, just for the sake of a few human souls upon it who still +remembered and loved Him, to give it one more chance before it should +be drawn back into the Central Circle like a spark within a fire—all +this is sufficiently set forth in the words of Heliobas, quoted in the +next chapter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ELECTRIC CREED. +</H3> + +<P> +The "Electric Principle of Christianity" opened as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"From all Eternity God, or the SUPREME SPIRIT OF LIGHT, existed, and to +all Eternity He will continue to exist. This is plainly stated in the +New Testament thus: 'God is a SPIRIT, and they that worship Him must +worship Him IN SPIRIT and in truth.' +</P> + +<P> +"He is a Shape of pure Electric Radiance. Those who may be inclined to +doubt this may search the Scriptures on which they pin their faith, and +they will find that all the visions and appearances of the Deity there +chronicled were electric in character. +</P> + +<P> +"As a poet forms poems, or a musician melodies, so God formed by a +Thought the Vast Central Sphere in which He dwells, and peopled it with +the pure creations of His glorious fancy. And why? Because, being pure +Light, He is also pure Love; the power or capacity of Love implies the +necessity of Loving; the necessity of loving points to the existence of +things to be loved—hence the secret of creation. From the ever-working +Intelligence of this Divine Love proceeded the Electric Circle of the +Universe, from whence are born all worlds. +</P> + +<P> +"This truth vaguely dawned upon the ancient poets of Scripture when +they wrote: 'Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of +God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be +light. And there was light.' +</P> + +<P> +"These words apply SOLELY to the creation or production of OUR OWN +EARTH, and in them we read nothing but a simple manifestation of +electricity, consisting in a HEATING PASSAGE OF RAYS from the Central +Circle to the planet newly propelled forth from it, which caused that +planet to produce and multiply the wonders of the animal, vegetable, +and mineral kingdoms which we call Nature. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us now turn again to the poet-prophets of Scripture: 'And God +said, Let us make man in our image.' The word 'OUR' here implies an +instinctive idea that God was never alone. This idea is correct. Love +cannot exist in a chaos; and God by the sheer necessity of His Being +has for ever been surrounded by radiant and immortal Spirits emanating +from His own creative glory—beings in whom all beauty and all purity +are found. In the IMAGES, therefore (only the IMAGES), of these +Children of Light and of Himself, He made Man—that is, He caused the +Earth to be inhabited and DOMINATED by beings composed of Earth's +component parts, animal, vegetable, and mineral, giving them their +superiority by placing within them His 'LIKENESS' in the form of an +ELECTRIC FLAME or GERM of spiritual existence combined with its +companion working-force of WILL-POWER. +</P> + +<P> +"Like all flames, this electric spark can either be fanned into a fire +or it can be allowed to escape in air—IT CAN NEVER BE DESTROYED. It +can be fostered and educated till it becomes a living Spiritual Form of +absolute beauty—an immortal creature of thought, memory, emotion, and +working intelligence. If, on the contrary, he is neglected or +forgotten, and its companion Will is drawn by the weight of Earth to +work for earthly aims alone, then it escapes and seeks other chances of +development in OTHER FORMS on OTHER PLANETS, while the body it leaves, +SUPPORTED ONLY BY PHYSICAL SUSTENANCE DRAWN FROM THE EARTH ON WHICH IT +DWELLS, becomes a mere lump of clay ANIMATED BY MERE ANIMAL LIFE +SOLELY, full of inward ignorance and corruption and outward incapacity. +Of such material are the majority of men composed BY THEIR OWN +FREE-WILL AND CHOICE, because they habitually deaden the voice of +conscience and refuse to believe in the existence of a spiritual +element within and around them. +</P> + +<P> +"To resume: the Earth is one of the smallest of planets; and not only +this, but, from its position in the Universe, receives a less amount of +direct influence from the Electric Circle than other worlds more +happily situated. Were men wise enough to accept this fact, they would +foster to the utmost the germs of electric sympathy within themselves, +in order to form a direct communication, or system of attraction, +between this planet and the ever-widening Ring, so that some spiritual +benefit might accrue to them thereby. But as the ages roll on, their +chances of doing this diminish. The time is swiftly approaching when +the invincible Law of Absorption shall extinguish Earth as easily as we +blow out the flame of a candle. True, it may be again reproduced, and +again thrown out on space; but then it will be in a new and grander +form, and will doubtless have more godlike inhabitants. +</P> + +<P> +"In the meantime—during those brief cycles of centuries which are as a +breath in the workings of the Infinite, and which must yet elapse +before this world, as we know it, comes to an end—God has taken pity +on the few, very few souls dwelling here, pent up in mortal clay, who +have blindly tried to reach Him, like plants straining up to the light, +and has established a broad stream of sympathetic electric +communication with Himself, which all who care to do so may avail +themselves of. +</P> + +<P> +"Here it may be asked: Why should God take pity? Because that Supreme +Shape of Light finds a portion of Himself in all pure souls that love +Him, and HE CANNOT DESPISE HIMSELF. Also because He is capable of all +the highest emotions known to man, in a far larger and grander degree, +besides possessing other sentiments and desires unimaginable to the +human mind. It is enough to say that all the attributes that accompany +perfect goodness He enjoys; therefore He can feel compassion, +tenderness, forgiveness, patience—all or any of the emotions that +produce pure, unselfish pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Granting Him, therefore, these attributes (and it is both blasphemous +and unreasonable to DENY HIM THOSE VIRTUES WHICH DISTINGUISH THE BEST +OF MEN), it is easily understood how He, the All-Fair Beneficent Ruler +of the Central Sphere, perceiving the long distance to which the Earth +was propelled, like a ball flung too far out, from the glory of His +Electric Ring, saw also that the creatures He had made in His image +were in danger of crushing that image completely out, and with it all +remembrance of Him, in the fatal attention they gave to their merely +earthly surroundings, lacking, as they did, and not possessing +sufficient energy to seek, electric attraction. In brief, this Earth +and God's World were like America and Europe before the Atlantic Cable +was laid. Now the messages of goodwill flash under the waves, heedless +of the storms. So also God's Cable is laid between us and His Heaven in +the person of Christ. +</P> + +<P> +"For ages (always remembering that our ages are with God a moment) the +idea of WORSHIP was in the mind of man. With this idea came also the +sentiment of PROPITIATION. The untamed savage has from time immemorial +instinctively felt the necessity of looking up to a Being greater than +Himself, and also of seeking a reconciliation with that Being for some +fault or loss in himself which he is aware of, yet cannot explain. This +double instinct—worship and propitiation—is the key-note of all the +creeds of the world, and may be called God's first thought of the cable +to be hereafter laid—a lightning-thought which He instilled into the +human race to prepare it, as one might test a telegraph-wire from house +to house, before stretching it across a continent. +</P> + +<P> +"All religions, as known to us, are mere types of Christianity. It is a +notable fact that some of the oldest and most learned races in the +world, such as the Armenians and Chaldeans, were the first to be +convinced of the truth of Christ's visitation. Buddhism, of which there +are so many million followers, is itself a type of Christ's teaching; +only it lacks the supernatural element. Buddha died a hermit at the age +of eighty, as any wise and ascetic man might do to-day. The death and +resurrection of Christ were widely different. Anyone can be a Buddha +again; anyone can NOT be a Christ. That there are stated to be more +followers of Buddhism than of Christianity is no proof of any efficacy +in the former or lack of power in the latter. Buddhists help to swell +that very large class of persons who prefer a flattering picture to a +plain original; or who, sheep-like by nature, finding themselves all +together in one meadow, are too lazy, as well as too indifferent, to +seek pastures fresher and fairer. +</P> + +<P> +"Through the divine influence of an Electric Thought, then, the world +unconsciously grew to expect SOMETHING—they knew not what. The old +creeds of the world, like sunflowers, turned towards that unknown Sun; +the poets, prophets, seers, all spoke of some approaching consolation +and glory; and to this day the fated Jews expect it, unwilling to +receive as their Messiah the Divine Martyr they slew, though their own +Scriptures testify to His identity. +</P> + +<P> +"Christ came, born of a Virgin; that is, a radiant angel from God's +Sphere was in the first place sent down to Earth to wear the form of +Mary of Bethlehem, in Judea. Within that vessel of absolute purity God +placed an Emanation of His own radiance—no germ or small flame such as +is given to us in our bodies to cultivate and foster, but a complete +immortal Spirit, a portion of God Himself, wise, sinless, and strong. +This Spirit, pent up in clay, was born as a helpless babe, grew up as +man—as man taught, comforted, was slain and buried; but as pure Spirit +rose again and returned in peace to Heaven, His mission done. +</P> + +<P> +"It was necessary, in order to establish what has been called an +electric communication between God's Sphere and this Earth, that an +actual immortal, untainted Spirit in the person of Christ should walk +this world, sharing with men sufferings, difficulties, danger, and +death. Why? In order that we might first completely confide in and +trust Him, afterwards realizing His spiritual strength and glory by His +resurrection. And here may be noted the main difference between the +Electric Theory of Christianity and other theories. CHRIST DID NOT DIE +BECAUSE GOD NEEDED A SACRIFICE. The idea of sacrifice is a relic of +heathen barbarism; God is too infinitely loving to desire the sacrifice +of the smallest flower. He is too patient to be ever wrathful; and +barbaric ignorance confronts us again in the notion that He should need +to be appeased. And the fancy that He should desire Himself or part of +Himself to become a sacrifice to Himself has arisen out of the absurd +and conflicting opinions of erring humanity, wherein right and wrong +are so jumbled together that it is difficult to distinguish one from +the other. Christ's death was not a sacrifice; it was simply a means of +confidence and communion with the Creator. A sinless Spirit suffered to +show us how to suffer; lived on earth to show us how to live; prayed to +show us how to pray; died to show us how to die; rose again to impress +strongly upon us that there was in truth a life beyond this one, for +which He strove to prepare our souls. Finally, by His re-ascension into +Heaven He established that much-needed electric communication between +us and the Central Sphere. +</P> + +<P> +"It can be proved from the statements of the New Testament that in +Christ was an Embodied Electric Spirit. From first to last His career +was attended by ELECTRIC PHENOMENA, of which eight examples are here +quoted; and earnest students of the matter can find many others if they +choose to examine for themselves. +</P> + +<P> +"1. The appearance of the Star and the Vision of Angels on the night of +His birth. The Chaldeans saw His 'star in the east,' and they came to +worship Him. The Chaldeans were always a learned people, and +electricity was an advanced science with them. They at once recognized +the star to be no new planet, but simply a star-shaped flame flitting +through space. They knew what this meant. Observe, too, that they had +no doubts upon the point; they came 'to worship him,' and provided +themselves with gifts to offer to this radiant Guest, the offspring of +pure Light. The vision of the angels appearing to the shepherds was +simply a joyous band of the Singing Children of the Electric Ring, who +out of pure interest and pleasure floated in sight of Earth, drawn +thither partly by the already strong attractive influence of the +Radiance that was imprisoned there in the form of the Babe of Bethlehem. +</P> + +<P> +"2. When Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, 'THE HEAVENS OPENED.' +</P> + +<P> +"3. The sympathetic influence of Christ was so powerful that when He +selected His disciples, He had but to speak to them, and at the sound +of His voice, though they were engaged in other business, 'THEY LEFT +ALL AND FOLLOWED HIM." +</P> + +<P> +"4. Christ's body was charged with electricity. Thus He was easily able +to heal sick and diseased persons by a touch or a look. The woman who +caught at His garment in the crowd was cured of her long-standing +ailment; and we see that Christ was aware of His own electric force by +the words He used on that occasion: 'WHO TOUCHED ME? FOR I FEEL THAT +SOME VIRTUE IS GONE OUT OF ME'—which is the exact feeling that a +physical electrician experiences at this day after employing his powers +on a subject. The raising of Jairus's daughter, of the widow's son at +Nain, and of Lazarus, were all accomplished by the same means. +</P> + +<P> +"5. The walking on the sea was a purely electric effort, AND CAN BE +ACCOMPLISHED NOW BY ANYONE who has cultivated sufficient inner force. +The sea being full of electric particles will support anybody +sufficiently and similarly charged—the two currents combining to +procure the necessary equilibrium. Peter, who was able to walk a little +way, lost his power directly his will became vanquished by +fear—because the sentiment of fear disperses electricity, and being +purely HUMAN emotion, does away with spiritual strength for the time. +</P> + +<P> +"6. The Death of Christ was attended by electric manifestations—by the +darkness over the land during the Crucifixion; the tearing of the +temple veil in twain; and the earthquake which finally ensued. +</P> + +<P> +"7. The Resurrection was a most powerful display of electric force. It +will be remembered that the angel who was found sitting at the entrance +of the empty sepulchre 'had a countenance like LIGHTNING,' i.e., like +electric flame. It must also be called to mind how the risen Christ +addressed Mary Magdalene: 'TOUCH ME NOT, for I am but newly risen!' Why +should she not have touched Him? Simply because His strength then was +the strength of concentrated in-rushing currents of electricity; and to +touch him at that moment would have been for Magdalene instant death by +lightning. This effect of embodied electric force has been shadowed +forth in the Greek legends of Apollo, whose glory consumed at a breath +the mortal who dared to look upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"8. The descent of the Holy Ghost, by which term is meant an +ever-flowing current of the inspired working Intelligence of the +Creator, was purely electric in character: 'Suddenly there came a sound +from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house +where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them CLOVEN TONGUES +LIKE AS OF FIRE, and sat upon each of them.' It may here be noted that +the natural electric flame is DUAL or 'cloven' in shape. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us now take the Creed as accepted to-day by the Christian Church, +and see how thoroughly it harmonizes with the discoveries of spiritual +electricity. 'I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven +and Earth, and of all things VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.' This is a brief +and simple description of the Creator as He exists—a Supreme Centre of +Light, out of whom MUST spring all life, all love, all wisdom. +</P> + +<P> +"'And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of +the Father before all ages.' This means that the only absolute +Emanation of His own PERSONAL Radiance that ever wore such mean garb as +our clay was found in Christ—who, as part of God, certainly existed +'BEFORE ALL AGES.' For as the Creed itself says, He was 'God of God, +LIGHT OF LIGHT. Then we go on through the circumstances of Christ's +birth, life, death, and resurrection, and our profession of faith +brings us to 'I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, +who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,' etc. This, as already +stated, means that we believe that since Christ ascended into Heaven, +our electric communication with the Creator has been established, and +an ever-flowing current of divine inspiration is turned beneficially in +the direction of our Earth, 'proceeding from the Father and the Son.' +We admit in the Creed that this inspiration manifested itself before +Christ came and 'SPAKE BY THE PROPHETS;' but, as before stated, this +only happened at rare and difficult intervals, while now Christ Himself +speaks through those who most strongly adhere to His teachings. +</P> + +<P> +"It may here be mentioned that few seem to grasp the fact of the +SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WOMEN intended to be conveyed in the person of the +Virgin Mary. She was actually one of the radiant Spirits of the Central +Sphere, imprisoned by God's will in woman's form. After the birth of +Christ, she was still kept on earth, to follow His career to the end. +There was a secret understanding between Himself and her. As for +instance, when she found Him among the doctors of the law, she for one +moment suffered her humanity to get the better of her in anxious +inquiries; and His reply, 'Why sought ye Me? Wist ye not that I must be +about My Father's business?' was a sort of reminder to her, which she +at once accepted. Again, at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, when +Christ turned the water into wine, He said to His mother, 'WOMAN, what +have I to do with thee?' which meant simply: What have I to do with +thee as WOMAN merely?—which was another reminder to her of her +spiritual origin, causing her at once to address the servants who stood +by as follows: 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' And why, it may +be asked, if Mary was really an imprisoned immortal Spirit, sinless and +joyous, should she be forced to suffer all the weaknesses, sorrows, and +anxieties of any ordinary woman and mother? SIMPLY AS AN EXAMPLE TO +WOMEN who are the mothers of the human race; and who, being thus laid +under a heavy responsibility, need sympathetic guidance. Mary's life +teaches women that the virtues they need are—obedience, purity, +meekness, patience, long-suffering, modesty, self-denial, and +endurance. She loved to hold a secondary position; she placed herself +in willing subjection to Joseph—a man of austere and simple life, +advanced in years, and weighted with the cares of a family by a +previous marriage—who wedded her by AN INFLUENCE WHICH COMPELLED HIM +to become her protector in the eyes of the world. Out of these facts, +simple as they are, can be drawn the secret of happiness for women—a +secret and a lesson that, if learned by heart, would bring them and +those they love out of storm and bewilderment into peace and safety. +</P> + +<P> +"FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ONCE BECOME AWARE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE CENTRAL +SPHERE AND OF THE ELECTRIC RING SURROUNDING IT, AND WHO ARE ABLE TO +REALISE TO THE FULL THE GIGANTIC AS WELL AS MINUTE WORK PERFORMED BY +THE ELECTRIC WAVES AROUND US AND WITHIN US, there can no longer be any +doubt as to all the facts of Christianity, as none of them, VIEWED BY +THE ELECTRIC THEORY, are otherwise than in accordance with the +Creator's love and sympathy with even the smallest portion of His +creation. +</P> + +<P> +"Why then, if Christianity be a Divine Truth, are not all people +Christians? As well ask, if music and poetry are good things, why all +men are not poets and musicians. Art seeks art; in like manner God +seeks God—that is, He seeks portions of His own essence among His +creatures. Christ Himself said, 'Many are called, but few are chosen;' +and it stands to reason that very few souls will succeed in becoming +pure enough to enter the Central Sphere without hindrance. Many, on +leaving Earth, will be detained in the Purgatory of Air, where +thousands of spirits work for ages, watching over others, helping and +warning others, and in this unselfish labour succeed in raising +themselves, little by little, higher and ever higher, till they at last +reach the longed-for goal. It must also be remembered that not only +from Earth, but from ALL WORLDS, released souls seek to attain final +happiness in the Central Sphere where God is; so that, however great +the number of those that are permitted to proceed thither from this +little planet, they can only form, as it were, one drop in a mighty +ocean. +</P> + +<P> +"It has been asked whether the Electric Theory of Christianity includes +the doctrine of Hell, or a place of perpetual punishment. Eternal +Punishment is merely a form of speech for what is really Eternal +Retrogression. For as there is a Forward, so there must be a Backward. +The electric germ of the Soul—delicate, fiery, and imperishable as it +is—can be forced by its companion Will to take refuge in a lower form +of material existence, dependent on the body it first inhabits. For +instance, a man who is obstinate in pursuing ACTIVE EVIL can so +retrograde the progress of any spiritual life within him, that it shall +lack the power to escape, as it might do, from merely lymphatic and +listless temperaments, to seek some other chance of development, but +shall sink into the form of quadrupeds, birds, and other creatures +dominated by purely physical needs. But there is one thing it can never +escape from—MEMORY. And in that faculty is constituted Hell. So that +if a man, by choice, forces his soul DOWNWARD to inhabit hereafter the +bodies of dogs, horses, and other like animals, he should know that he +does so at the cost of everything except Remembrance. Eternal +Retrogression means that the hopelessly tainted electric germ recoils +further and further from the Pure Centre whence it sprang, ALWAYS +BEARING WITHIN ITSELF the knowledge of WHAT IT WAS ONCE and WHAT IT +MIGHT HAVE BEEN. There is a pathetic meaning in the eyes of a dog or a +seal; in the melancholy, patient gaze of the oxen toiling at the +plough; there is an unuttered warning in the silent faces of flowers; +there is more tenderness of regret in the voice of the nightingale than +love; and in the wild upward soaring of the lark, with its throat full +of passionate, shouting prayer, there is shadowed forth the yearning +hope that dies away in despair as the bird sinks to earth again, his +instincts not half satisfied. There is no greater torture than to be +compelled to remember, in suffering, joys and glorious opportunities +gone for ever. +</P> + +<P> +"Regarding the Electric Theory of Religion, it is curious to observe +how the truth of it has again and again been dimly shadowed forth in +the prophecies of Art, Science, and Poesy. The old painters who +depicted a halo of light round the head of their Virgins and Saints did +so out of a correct impulse which they did not hesitate to obey. +[Footnote: An impulse which led them vaguely to foresee, though, not to +explain, the electric principle of spiritual life.] The astronomers +who, after years of profound study, have been enabled to measure the +flames of the burning sun, and to find out that these are from two to +four thousand miles high, are nearly arrived at the conclusion that it +is a world in a state of conflagration, in which they will be perfectly +right. Those who hold that this Earth of ours was once self-luminous +are also right; for it was indeed so when first projected from the +Electric Ring. The compilers or inventors of the 'Arabian Nights' also +hit upon a truth when they described human beings as forced through +evil influences to take the forms of lower animals—a truth just +explained in the Law of Retrogression. All art, all prophecy, all +poesy, should therefore be accepted eagerly and studied earnestly, for +in them we find ELECTRIC INSPIRATION out of which we are able to draw +lessons for our guidance hereafter. The great point that scientists and +artists have hitherto failed to discover, is the existence of the +Central Sphere and its Surrounding Electric Circle. Once realize these +two great facts, and all the wonders and mysteries of the Universe are +perfectly easy of comprehension. +</P> + +<P> +"In conclusion, I offer no opinion as to which is Christ's Church, or +the Fountain-head of spirituality in the world. In all Churches errors +have intruded through unworthy and hypocritical members. In a crowded +congregation of worshippers there may perhaps be only one or two who +are free from self-interest and personal vanity. In Sectarianism, for +instance, there is no shred of Christianity. Lovers of God and +followers of Christ must, in the first place, have perfect Unity; and +the bond uniting them must be an electric one of love and faith. No +true Christian should be able to hate, despise, or envy the other. Were +I called upon to select among the churches, I should choose that which +has most electricity working within it, and which is able to believe in +a positive electrical communication between Christ and herself taking +place daily on her altars—a Church which holds, as it were, the other +end of the telegraphic ray between Earth and the Central Sphere, and +which is, therefore, able to exist among the storms of modern opinions, +affording refuge and consolation to the few determined travellers who +are bound onward and upward. I shall not name the Church I mean, +because it is the duty of everyone to examine and find it out for +himself or herself. And even though this Church instinctively works in +the right direction, it is full of errors introduced by ignorant and +unworthy members—errors which must be carefully examined and cast +aside by degrees. But, as I said before, it is the only Church which +has Principles of Electricity within it, and is therefore destined to +live, because electricity is life. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I beseech the reader of this manuscript to which I, Heliobas, +append my hand and seal, to remember and realize earnestly the +following invincible facts: first that God and His Christ EXIST; +secondly, that while the little paltry affairs of our temporal state +are being built up as crazily as a child's house of cards, the huge +Central Sphere revolves, and the Electric Ring, strong and +indestructible, is ever at its work of production and re-absorption; +thirdly, that every thought and word of EVERY HABITANT ON EVERY PLANET +is reflected in lightning language before the Creator's eyes as easily +as we receive telegrams; fourthly, that this world is THE ONLY SPOT IN +THE UNIVERSE where His existence is actually questioned and doubted. +And the general spread of modern positivism, materialism and atheism is +one of the most terrific and meaning signs of the times. The work of +separating the wheat from the chaff is beginning. Those who love and +believe in God and Spiritual Beauty are about to be placed on one side; +the millions who worship Self are drawing together in vast opposing +ranks on the other; and the moment approaches which is prophesied to be +'as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, and +shineth even to the other part.' In other words, the fiery whirlpool of +the Ring is nearly ready to absorb our planet in its vortex; and out of +all who dwell upon its surface, how many shall reach the glorious +Central World of God? Of two men working in the same field, shall it +not be as Christ foretold—'the one shall be taken, and the other left'? +</P> + +<P> +"Friend, or Pupil, Reader! Whoever thou art, take heed and foster thine +own soul! For know that nothing can hinder the Immortal Germ within us +from taking the form imposed upon it by our WILLS. Through Love and +Faith, it can become an Angel, and perform wonders even while in its +habitation of clay; through indifference and apathy, it can desert us +altogether and for ever; through mockery and blasphemous disbelief, it +can sink into even a lower form than that of snake or toad. In our own +unfettered hand lies our eternal destiny. Wonderful and terrible +responsibility! Who shall dare to say we have no need of prayer?" +</P> + +<P> +This document was signed "Casimir Heliobas," and bore a seal on which +the impression seemed to consist of two Arabic or Sanskrit words, which +I could not understand. I put it carefully away with its companion MS. +under lock and key, and while I was yet pausing earnestly on its +contents, Zara came into my room. She had finished her task in the +studio, she said, and she now proposed a drive in the Bois as an +agreeable way of passing the rest of the afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to be as long as possible in your company," she added, with a +caressing sweetness in her manner; "for now your friends have come to +Paris, I expect you will soon be leaving us, so I must have as much of +you as I can." +</P> + +<P> +My heart sank at the thought of parting from her, and I looked +wistfully at her lovely face. Leo had followed her in from the studio, +and seemed still very melancholy. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall always be good friends, Zara dearest," I said, "shall we not? +Close, fond friends, like sisters?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sisters are not always fond of each other," remarked Zara, half gaily. +"And you know 'there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother'!" +</P> + +<P> +"And what friend is that in YOUR case?" I asked, half jestingly, half +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Death!" she replied with a strange smile, in which there was both +pathos and triumph. +</P> + +<P> +I started at her unexpected reply, and a kind of foreboding chilled my +blood. I endeavoured, however, to speak cheerfully as I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course, death sticks more closely to us than any friend or +relative. But you look fitter to receive the embraces of life than of +death, Zara." +</P> + +<P> +"They are both one and the same thing," she answered; "or rather, the +one leads to the other. But do not let us begin to philosophize. Put on +your things and come. The carriage is waiting." +</P> + +<P> +I readily obeyed her, and we enjoyed an exhilarating drive together. +The rest of the day passed with us all very pleasantly and our +conversation had principally to do with the progress of art and +literature in many lands, and maintained itself equably on the level of +mundane affairs. Among other things, we spoke of the Spanish violinist +Sarasate, and I amused Heliobas by quoting to him some of the +criticisms of the London daily papers on this great artist, such as, +"He plays pieces which, though adapted to show his wonderful skill, are +the veriest clap-trap;" "He lacks breadth and colour;" "A true type of +the artist virtuoso," etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +"Half these people do not know in the least what they mean by 'breadth +and colour' or 'virtuosity,'" said Heliobas, with a smile. "They think +emotion, passion, all true sentiment combined with extraordinary +TECHNIQUE, must be 'clap-trap.' Now the Continent of Europe +acknowledges Pablo de Sarasate as the first violinist living, and +London would not be London unless it could thrust an obtuse opposing +opinion in the face of the Continent. England is the last country in +the world to accept anything new. Its people are tired and blase; like +highly trained circus-horses, they want to trot or gallop always in the +old grooves. It will always be so. Sarasate is like a brilliant meteor +streaming across their narrow bit of the heaven of music; they stare, +gape, and think it is an unnatural phenomenon—a 'virtuosity' in the +way of meteors, which they are afraid to accept lest it set them on +fire. What would you? The meteor shines and burns; it is always a +meteor!" +</P> + +<P> +So, talking lightly, and gliding from subject to subject, the hours +wore away, and we at last separated for the night. +</P> + +<P> +I shall always be glad to remember how tenderly Zara kissed me and +wished me good repose; and I recall now, with mingled pain, wonder, and +gratitude, how perfectly calm and contented I felt as, after my +prayers, I sank to sleep, unwarned, and therefore happily unconscious, +of what awaited me on the morrow. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DEATH BY LIGHTNING. +</H3> + +<P> +The morning of the next day dawned rather gloomily. A yellowish fog +obscured the air, and there was a closeness and sultriness in the +atmosphere that was strange for that wintry season. I had slept well, +and rose with the general sense of ease and refreshment that I always +experienced since I had been under the treatment of Heliobas. Those +whose unhappy physical condition causes them to awake from uneasy +slumber feeling almost more fatigued than when they retired to rest, +can scarcely have any idea of the happiness it engenders to open +untired, glad eyes with the morning light; to feel the very air a +nourishment; to stand with lithe, rested limbs in the bath of cool, +pure water, finding that limpid element obediently adding its quota to +the vigour of perfect health; to tingle from head to foot with the warm +current of life running briskly through the veins, making the heart +merry, the brain clear, and all the powers of body and mind in active +working condition. This is indeed most absolute enjoyment. Add to it +the knowledge of the existence of one's own inner Immortal Spirit—the +beautiful germ of Light in the fostering of which no labour is ever +taken in vain—the living, wondrous thing that is destined to watch an +eternity of worlds bloom and fade to bloom again, like flowers, while +itself, superior to them all, shall become ever more strong and +radiant—with these surroundings and prospects, who shall say life is +not worth living? +</P> + +<P> +Dear Life! sweet Moment! gracious Opportunity! brief Journey so well +worth the taking! gentle Exile so well worth enduring!—thy bitterest +sorrows are but blessings in disguise; thy sharpest pains are brought +upon us by ourselves, and even then are turned to warnings for our +guidance; while above us, through us, and around us radiates the +Supreme Love, unalterably tender! +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts, and others like them, all more or less conducive to +cheerfulness, occupied me till I had finished dressing. Melancholy was +now no part of my nature, otherwise I might have been depressed by the +appearance of the weather and the murkiness of the air. But since I +learned the simple secrets of physical electricity, atmospheric +influences have had no effect upon the equable poise of my +temperament—a fact for which I cannot be too grateful, seeing how many +of my fellow-creatures permit themselves to be affected by changes in +the wind, intense heat, intense cold, or other things of the like +character. +</P> + +<P> +I went down to breakfast, singing softly on my way, and I found Zara +already seated at the head of her table, while Heliobas was occupied in +reading and sorting a pile of letters that lay beside his plate. Both +greeted me with their usual warmth and heartiness. +</P> + +<P> +During the repast, however, the brother and sister were strangely +silent, and once or twice I fancied that Zara's eyes filled with tears, +though she smiled again so quickly and radiantly that I felt I was +mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +A piece of behaviour on the part of Leo, too, filled me with dismay. He +had been lying quietly at his master's feet for some time, when he +suddenly arose, sat upright, and lifting his nose in air, uttered a +most prolonged and desolate howl. Anything more thoroughly heartbroken +and despairing than that cry I have never heard. After he had concluded +it, the poor animal seemed ashamed of what he had done, and creeping +meekly along, with drooping head and tail, he kissed his master's hand, +then mine, and lastly Zara's. Finally, he went into a distant corner +and lay down again, as if his feelings were altogether too much for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he ill?" I asked pityingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I think not," replied Heliobas. "The weather is peculiar +to-day—close, and almost thunderous; dogs are very susceptible to such +changes." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the page entered bearing a silver salver, on which lay a +letter, which he handed to his master and immediately retired. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas opened and read it. +</P> + +<P> +"Ivan regrets he cannot dine with us to-day," he said, glancing at his +sister; "he is otherwise engaged. He says, however, that he hopes to +have the pleasure of looking in during the latter part of the evening." +</P> + +<P> +Zara inclined her head gently, and made no other reply. +</P> + +<P> +A few seconds afterwards we rose from table, and Zara, linking her arm +through mine, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I want to have a talk with you while we can be alone. Come to my room." +</P> + +<P> +We went upstairs together, followed by the wise yet doleful Leo, who +seemed determined not to let his mistress out of his sight. When we +arrived at our destination, Zara pushed me gently into an easy-chair, +and seated herself in another one opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to ask a favour of you," she began; "because I know you +will do anything to please me or Casimir. Is it not so?" +</P> + +<P> +I assured her she might rely upon my observing; with the truest +fidelity any request of hers, small or great. +</P> + +<P> +She thanked me and resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"You know I have been working secretly in my studio for some time past. +I have been occupied in the execution of two designs—one is finished, +and is intended as a gift to Casimir. The other"—she hesitated—"is +incomplete. It is the colossal figure which was veiled when you first +came in to see my little statue of 'Evening'. I made an attempt beyond +my powers—in short, I cannot carry out the idea to my satisfaction. +Now, dear, pay great attention to what I say. I have reason to believe +that I shall be compelled to take a sudden journey—promise me that +when I am gone you will see that unfinished statue completely +destroyed—utterly demolished." +</P> + +<P> +I could not answer her for a minute or two, I was so surprised by her +words. +</P> + +<P> +"Going on a journey, Zara?" I said. "Well, if you are, I suppose you +will soon return home again; and why should your statue be destroyed in +the meantime? You may yet be able to bring it to final perfection." +</P> + +<P> +Zara shook her head and smiled half sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you it was a favour I had to ask of you," she said; "and now +you are unwilling to grant it." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not unwilling—believe me, dearest, I would do anything to please +you," I assured her; "but it seems so strange to me that you should +wish the result of your labour destroyed, simply because you are going +on a journey." +</P> + +<P> +"Strange as it seems, I desire it most earnestly," said Zara; +"otherwise—but if you will not see it done for me, I must preside at +the work of demolition myself, though I frankly confess it would be +most painful to me." +</P> + +<P> +I interrupted her. +</P> + +<P> +"Say no more, Zara!" I exclaimed; "I will do as you wish. When you are +gone, you say—" +</P> + +<P> +"When I am gone," repeated Zara firmly, "and before you yourself leave +this house, you will see that particular statue destroyed. You will +thus do me a very great service." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," I said, "and when are you coming back again? Before I leave +Paris?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so—I think so," she replied evasively; "at any rate, we shall +meet again soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you going?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. Such a lovely, glad, and triumphant smile! +</P> + +<P> +"You will know my destination before to-night has passed away," she +answered. "In the meanwhile I have your promise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Most certainly." +</P> + +<P> +She kissed me, and as she did so, a lurid flash caught my eyes and +almost dazzled them. It was a gleam of fiery lustre from the electric +jewel she wore. +</P> + +<P> +The day went on its usual course, and the weather seemed to grow +murkier every hour. The air was almost sultry, and when during the +afternoon I went into the conservatory to gather some of the glorious +Marechal Niel roses that grew there in such perfection, the intense +heat of the place was nearly insupportable. I saw nothing of Heliobas +all day, and, after the morning, very little of Zara. She disappeared +soon after luncheon, and I could not find her in her rooms nor in her +studio, though I knocked at the door several times. Leo, too, was +missing. After being alone for an hour or more, I thought I would pay a +visit to the chapel. But on attempting to carry out this intention I +found its doors locked—an unusual circumstance which rather surprised +me. Fancying that I heard the sound of voices within, I paused to +listen. But all was profoundly silent. Strolling into the hall, I took +up at random from a side-table a little volume of poems, unknown to me, +called "Pygmalion in Cyprus;" and seating myself in one of the +luxurious Oriental easy-chairs near the silvery sparkling fountain, I +began to read. I opened the book I held at "A Ballad of Kisses," which +ran as follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "There are three kisses that I call to mind,<BR> + And I will sing their secrets as I go,—<BR> + The first, a kiss too courteous to be kind,<BR> + Was such a kiss as monks and maidens know,<BR> + As sharp as frost, as blameless as the snow.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The second kiss, ah God! I feel it yet,—<BR> + And evermore my soul will loathe the same,—<BR> + The toys and joys of fate I may forget,<BR> + But not the touch of that divided shame;<BR> + It clove my lips—it burnt me like a flame.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The third, the final kiss, is one I use<BR> + Morning and noon and night, and not amiss.<BR> + Sorrow be mine if such I do refuse!<BR> + And when I die, be Love enrapt in bliss<BR> + Re-sanctified in heaven by such a kiss!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +This little gem, which I read and re-read with pleasure, was only one +of many in the same collection, The author was assuredly a man of +genius. I studied his word-melodies with intense interest, and noted +with some surprise how original and beautiful were many of his fancies +and similes. I say I noted them with surprise, because he was evidently +a modern Englishman, and yet unlike any other of his writing species. +His name was not Alfred Tennyson, nor Edwin Arnold, nor Matthew Arnold, +nor Austin Dobson, nor Martin Tupper. He was neither plagiarist nor +translator—he was actually an original man. I do not give his name +here, as I consider it the duty of his own country to find him out and +acknowledge him, which, as it is so proud of its literary standing, of +course it will do in due season. On this, my first introduction to his +poems, I became speedily absorbed in them, and was repeating to myself +softly a verse which I remember now: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Hers was sweetest of sweet faces,<BR> + Hers the tenderest eyes of all;<BR> + In her hair she had the traces<BR> + Of a heavenly coronal,<BR> + Bringing sunshine to sad places<BR> + Where the sunlight could not fall."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Then I was startled by the sound of a clock striking six. I bethought +myself of the people who were coming to dinner, and decided to go to my +room and dress. Replacing the "Pygmalion" book on the table whence I +had taken it, I made my way upstairs, thinking as I went of Zara and +her strange request, and wondering what journey she was going upon. +</P> + +<P> +I could not come to any satisfactory conclusion on this point, besides, +I had a curious disinclination to think about it very earnestly, though +the subject kept recurring to my mind. Yet always some inward monitor +seemed to assure me, as plainly as though the words were spoken in my +ear: +</P> + +<P> +"It is useless for you to consider the reason of this, or the meaning +of that. Take things as they come in due order: one circumstance +explains the other, and everything is always for the best." +</P> + +<P> +I prepared my Indian crepe dress for the evening, the same I had worn +for Madame Didier's party at Cannes; only, instead of having lilies of +the valley to ornament it with, I arranged some clusters of the +Marechal Niel roses I had gathered from the conservatory—lovely +blossoms, with their dewy pale-gold centres forming perfect cups of +delicious fragrance. These, relieved by a few delicate sprays of the +maiden-hair fern, formed a becoming finish to my simple costume. As I +arrayed myself, and looked at my own reflection in the long mirror, I +smiled out of sheer gratitude. For health, joyous and vigorous, +sparkled in my eyes, glowed on my cheeks, tinted my lips, and rounded +my figure. The face that looked back at me from the glass was a +perfectly happy one, ready to dimple into glad mirth or bright +laughter. No shadow of pain or care remained upon it to remind me of +past suffering, and I murmured half aloud: "Thank God!" +</P> + +<P> +"Amen!" said a soft voice, and, turning round, I saw Zara. +</P> + +<P> +But how shall I describe her? No words can adequately paint the +glorious beauty in which, that night, she seemed to move as in an +atmosphere of her own creating. She wore a clinging robe of the +richest, softest white satin, caught in at the waist by a zone of +pearls—pearls which, from their size and purity, must have been +priceless. Her beautiful neck and arms were bare, and twelve rows of +pearls were clasped round her slender throat, supporting in their +centre the electric stone, which shone with a soft, subdued radiance, +like the light of the young moon. Her rich, dark hair was arranged in +its usual fashion—that is, hanging down in one thick plait, which on +this occasion was braided in and out with small pearls. On her bosom +she wore a magnificent cluster of natural orange-blossoms; and of +these, while I gazed admiringly at her, I first spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"You look like a bride, Zara! You have all the outward signs of +one—white satin, pearls, and orange-blossoms!" +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"They are the first cluster that has come out in our conservatory," she +said; "and I could not resist them. As to the pearls, they belonged to +my mother, and are my favourite ornaments; and white satin is now no +longer exclusively for brides. How soft and pretty that Indian crepe +is! Your toilette is charming, and suits you to perfection. Are you +quite ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated and sighed. Then she raised her lovely eyes with a sort +of wistful tenderness. +</P> + +<P> +"Before we go down I should like you to kiss me once," she said. +</P> + +<P> +I embraced her fondly, and our lips met with a lingering sisterly +caress. +</P> + +<P> +"You will never forget me, will you?" she asked almost anxiously; +"never cease to think of me kindly?" +</P> + +<P> +"How fanciful you are to-night, Zara dear!" I said. "As if I COULD +forget you! I shall always think of you as the loveliest and sweetest +woman in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"And when I am out of the world—what then?" she pursued. +</P> + +<P> +Remembering her spiritual sympathies, I answered at once: +</P> + +<P> +"Even then I shall know you to be one of the fairest of the angels. So +you see, Zara darling, I shall always love you." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you will," she said meditatively; "you are one of us. But +come! I hear voices downstairs. I think our expected guests have +arrived, and we must be in the drawing-room to receive them. Good-bye, +little friend!" And she again kissed me. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye!" I repeated in astonishment; "why 'good-bye'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because it is my fancy to say the word," she replied with quiet +firmness. "Again, dear little friend, good-bye!" +</P> + +<P> +I felt bewildered, but she would not give me time to utter another +syllable. She took my hand and hurried me with her downstairs, and in +another moment we were both in the drawing-room, receiving and saying +polite nothings to the Everards and Challoners, who had all arrived +together, resplendent in evening costume. Amy Everard, I thought, +looked a little tired and fagged, though she rejoiced in a superb +"arrangement" by Worth of ruby velvet and salmon-pink. But, though a +perfect dress is consoling to most women, there are times when even +that fails of its effect; and then Worth ceases to loom before the +feminine eye as a sort of demi-god, but dwindles insignificantly to the +level of a mere tailor, whose prices are ruinous. And this, I think, +was the state of mind in which Mrs. Everard found herself that evening; +or else she was a trifle jealous of Zara's harmonious grace and +loveliness. Be this as it may, she was irritable, and whisperingly +found fault with, me for being in such good health. +</P> + +<P> +"You will have too much colour if you don't take care," she said almost +pettishly, "and nothing is so unfashionable." +</P> + +<P> +"I know!" I replied with due meekness. "It is very bad style to be +quite well—it is almost improper." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me, and a glimmering smile lighted her features. But she +would not permit herself to become good-humoured, and she furled and +unfurled her fan of pink ostrich feathers with some impatience. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did that child get all those pearls from?" she next inquired, +with a gesture of her head towards Zara. +</P> + +<P> +"They belonged to her mother," I answered, smiling as I heard Zara +called a CHILD, knowing, as I did, her real age. +</P> + +<P> +"She is actually wearing a small fortune on her person," went on Amy; +"I wonder her brother allows her. Girls never understand the value of +things of that sort. They should be kept for her till she is old enough +to appreciate them." +</P> + +<P> +I made no reply; I was absorbed in watching Heliobas, who at that +moment entered the room accompanied by Father Paul. He greeted his +guests with warmth and unaffected heartiness, and all present were, I +could see, at once fascinated by the dignity of his presence and the +charm of his manner. To an uninstructed eye there was nothing unusual +about him; but to me there was a change in his expression which, as it +were, warned and startled me. A deep shadow of anxiety in his eyes made +them look more sombre and less keen; his smile was not so sweet as it +was stern, and there was an undefinable SOMETHING in his very bearing +that suggested—what? Defiance? Yes, defiance; and it was this which, +when I had realized it, curiously alarmed me. For what had he, +Heliobas, to do with even the thought of defiance? Did not all his +power come from the knowledge of the necessity of obedience to the +spiritual powers within and without? Quick as light the words spoken to +me by Aztul regarding him came back to my remembrance: "Even as he is +my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice." What if he SHOULD +fail? A kind of instinct came upon me that some immediate danger of +this threatened him, and I braced myself up to a firm determination, +that, if this was so, I, out of my deep gratitude to him, would do my +utmost best to warn him in time. While these thoughts possessed me, the +hum of gay conversation went on, and Zara's bright laughter ever and +again broke like music on the air. Father Paul, too, proved himself to +be of quite a festive and jovial disposition, for he made himself +agreeable to Mrs. Challoner and her daughters, and entertained them +with the ease and bonhomie of an accomplished courtier and man of the +world. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was announced in the usual way—that is, with the sound of music +played by the electric instrument devoted to that purpose, a +performance which elicited much admiration from all the guests. +Heliobas led the way into the dining-room with Mrs. Everard; Colonel +Everard followed, with Zara on one arm and the eldest Miss Challoner on +the other; Mr. Challoner and myself came next; and Father Paul, with +Mrs. Challoner and her other daughter Effie, brought up the rear. There +was a universal murmur of surprise and delight as the dinner-table came +in view; and its arrangement was indeed a triumph of art. In the centre +was placed a large round of crystal in imitation of a lake, and on this +apparently floated a beautiful gondola steered by the figure of a +gondolier, both exquisitely wrought in fine Venetian glass. The +gondolier was piled high with a cargo of roses; but the wonder of it +all was, that the whole design was lit up by electricity. Electric +sparkles, like drops of dew, shone on the leaves of the flowers; the +gondola was lit from end to end with electric stars, which were +reflected with prismatic brilliancy in the crystal below; the +gondolier's long pole glittered with what appeared to be drops of water +tinged by the moonlight, but which was really an electric wire, and in +his cap flashed an electric diamond. The whole ornament scintillated +and glowed like a marvellous piece of curiously contrived jewel-work. +And this was not all. Beside every guest at table a slender vase, +shaped like a long-stemmed Nile lily, held roses and ferns, in which +were hidden tiny electric stars, causing the blossoms to shine with a +transparent and almost fairy-like lustre. +</P> + +<P> +Four graceful youths, clad in the Armenian costume, stood waiting +silently round the table till all present were seated, and then they +commenced the business of serving the viands, with swift and noiseless +dexterity. As soon as the soup was handed round, tongues were loosened, +and the Challoners, who had been gazing at everything in almost +open-mouthed astonishment, began to relieve their feelings by warm +expressions of unqualified admiration, in which Colonel and Mrs. +Everard were not slow to join. +</P> + +<P> +"I do say, and I will say, this beats all I've ever seen," said good +Mrs. Challoner, as she bent to examine the glittering vase of flowers +near her plate. +</P> + +<P> +"And this is real electric light? And is it perfectly harmless?" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smilingly assured her of the safety of his table decorations. +"Electricity," he said, "though the most powerful of masters, is the +most docile of slaves. It is capable of the smallest as well as of the +greatest uses. It can give with equal certainty life or death; in fact, +it is the key-note of creation." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that your theory, sir?" asked Colonel Everard. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not only my theory," answered Heliobas, "it is a truth, +indisputable and unalterable, to those who have studied the mysteries +of electric science." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you base all your medical treatment on this principle?" pursued +the Colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. Your young friend here, who came to me from Cannes, looking +as if she had but a few months to live, can bear witness to the +efficacy of my method." +</P> + +<P> +Every eye was now turned upon me, and I looked up and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember, Amy," I said, addressing Mrs. Everard, "how you told +me I looked like a sick nun at Cannes? What do I look like now?" +</P> + +<P> +"You look as if you had never been ill in your life," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to say," remarked Mr. Challoner in his deliberate manner, +"that you remind me very much of a small painting of Diana that I saw +in the Louvre the other day. You have the same sort of elasticity in +your movements, and the same bright healthy eyes." +</P> + +<P> +I bowed, still smiling. "I did not know you were such a flatterer, Mr. +Challoner! Diana thanks you!" +</P> + +<P> +The conversation now became general, and turned, among other subjects, +upon the growing reputation of Raffaello Cellini. +</P> + +<P> +"What surprises me in that young man," said Colonel Everard, "is his +colouring. It is simply marvellous. He was amiable enough to present me +with a little landscape scene; and the effect of light upon it is so +powerfully done that you would swear the sun was actually shining +through it." +</P> + +<P> +The fine sensitive mouth of Heliobas curved in a somewhat sarcastic +smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Mere trickery, my dear sir—a piece of clap-trap," he said lightly. +"That is what would be said of such pictures—in England at least. And +it WILL be said by many oracular, long-established newspapers, while +Cellini lives. As soon as he is dead—ah! c'est autre chose!—he will +then most probably be acknowledged the greatest master of the age. +There may even be a Cellini 'School of Colouring,' where a select +company of daubers will profess to know the secret that has died with +him. It is the way of the world!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Challoner's rugged face showed signs of satisfaction, and his +shrewd eyes twinkled. +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are, sir!" he said, holding up his glass of wine. "I drink +to you! Sir, I agree with you! I calculate there's a good many worlds +flying round in space, but a more ridiculous, feeble-minded, contrary +sort of world than this one, I defy any archangel to find!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas laughed, nodded, and after a slight pause resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"It is astonishing to me that people do not see to what an infinite +number of uses they could put the little re-discovery they have made of +LUMINOUS PAINT. In that simple thing there is a secret, which as yet +they do not guess—a wonderful, beautiful, scientific secret, which may +perhaps take them a few hundred years to find out. In the meantime they +have got hold of one end of the thread; they can make luminous paint, +and with it they can paint light-houses, and, what is far more +important—ships. Vessels in mid-ocean will have no more need of +fog-signals and different-coloured lamps; their own coat of paint will +be sufficient to light them safely on their way. Even rooms can be so +painted as to be perfectly luminous at night. A friend of mine, +residing in Italy, has a luminous ballroom, where the ceiling is +decorated with a moon and stars in electric light. The effect is +exceedingly lovely; and though people think a great deal of money must +have been laid out upon it, it is perhaps the only great ballroom in +Italy that has been really cheaply fitted up. But, as I said before, +there is another secret behind the invention or discovery of luminous +paint—a secret which, when once unveiled, will revolutionize all the +schools of art in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know this secret?" asked Mrs. Challoner. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, madame—perfectly." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why don't you disclose it for the benefit of everybody?" demanded +Erne Challoner. +</P> + +<P> +"Because, my dear young lady, no one would believe me if I did. The +time is not yet ripe for it. The world must wait till its people are +better educated." +</P> + +<P> +"Better educated!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard. "Why, there is nothing +talked of nowadays but education and progress! The very children are +wiser than their parents!" +</P> + +<P> +"The children!" returned Heliobas, half inquiringly, half indignantly. +"At the rate things are going, there will soon be no children left; +they will all be tired little old men and women before they are in +their teens. The very babes will be born old. Many of them are being +brought up without any faith in God or religion; the result will be an +increase of vice and crime. The purblind philosophers, miscalled wise +men, who teach the children by the light of poor human reason only, and +do away with faith in spiritual things, are bringing down upon the +generations to come an unlooked-for and most terrific curse. Childhood, +the happy, innocent, sweet, unthinking, almost angelic age, at which +Nature would have us believe in fairies and all the delicate aerial +fancies of poets, who are, after all, the only true sages—childhood, I +say, is being gradually stamped out under the cruel iron heel of the +Period—a period not of wisdom, health, or beauty, but one of drunken +delirium, in which the world rushes feverishly along, its eyes fixed on +one hard, glittering, stony-featured idol—Gold. Education! Is it +education to teach the young that their chances of happiness depend on +being richer than their neighbours? Yet that is what it all tends to. +Get on!—be successful! Trample on others, but push forward yourself! +Money, money!—let its chink be your music; let its yellow shine be +fairer than the eyes of love or friendship! Let its piles accumulate +and ever accumulate! There are beggars in the streets, but they are +impostors! There is poverty in many places, but why seek to relieve it? +Why lessen the sparkling heaps of gold by so much as a coin? Accumulate +and ever accumulate! Live so, and then—die! And then—who knows what +then?" +</P> + +<P> +His voice had been full of ringing eloquence as he spoke, but at these +last words it sank into a low, thrilling tone of solemnity and +earnestness. We all looked at him, fascinated by his manner, and were +silent. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Challoner was the first to break the impressive pause. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not a speaker, sir," he observed slowly, "but I've got a good deal +of feeling somewheres; and you'll allow me to say that I feel your +words—I think they're right true. I've often wanted to say what you've +said, but haven't seen my way clear to it. Anyhow, I've had a very +general impression about me that what we call Society has of late years +been going, per express service, direct to the devil—if the ladies +will excuse me for plain speaking. And as the journey is being taken by +choice and free-will, I suppose there's no hindrance or stoppage +possible. Besides, it's a downward line, and curiously free from +obstructions." +</P> + +<P> +"Bravo, John!" exclaimed Mrs. Challoner. "You are actually corning out! +I never heard you indulge in similes before." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear," returned her husband, somewhat gratified, "better late +than never. A simile is a good thing if it isn't overcrowded. For +instance, Mr. Swinburne's similes are laid on too thick sometimes. +There is a verse of his, which, with all my admiration for him, I never +could quite fathom. It is where he earnestly desires to be as 'Any leaf +of any tree;' or, failing that, he wouldn't mind becoming 'As bones +under the deep, sharp sea.' I tried hard to see the point of that, but +couldn't fix it." +</P> + +<P> +We all laughed. Zara, I thought, was especially merry, and looked her +loveliest. She made an excellent hostess, and exerted herself to the +utmost to charm—an effort in which she easily succeeded. +</P> + +<P> +The shadow on the face of her brother had not disappeared, and once or +twice I noticed that Father Paul looked at him with a certain kindly +anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +The dinner approached its end. The dessert, with its luxurious dishes +of rare fruit, such as peaches, plantains, hothouse grapes, and even +strawberries, was served, and with it a delicious, sparkling, +topaz-tinted wine of Eastern origin called Krula, which was poured out +to us in Venetian glass goblets, wherein lay diamond-like lumps of ice. +The air was so exceedingly oppressive that evening that we found this +beverage most refreshing. When Zara's goblet was filled, she held it up +smiling, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have a toast to propose." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear!" murmured the gentlemen, Heliobas excepted. +</P> + +<P> +"To our next merry meeting!" and as she said this she kissed the rim of +the cup, and made a sign as though wafting it towards her brother. +</P> + +<P> +He started as if from a reverie, seized his glass, and drained off its +contents to the last drop. +</P> + +<P> +Everyone responded with heartiness to Zara's toast and then Colonel +Everard proposed the health of the fair hostess, which was drunk with +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +After this Zara gave the signal, and all the ladies rose to adjourn to +the drawing-room. As I passed Heliobas on my way out, he looked so +sombre and almost threatening of aspect, that I ventured to whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"Remember Azul!" +</P> + +<P> +"She has forgotten ME!" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Never—never!" I said earnestly. "Oh, Heliobas! what is wrong with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +He made no answer, and there was no opportunity to say more, as I had +to follow Zara. But I felt very anxious, though I scarcely knew why, +and I lingered at the door and glanced back at him. As I did so, a low, +rumbling sound, like chariot-wheels rolling afar off, broke suddenly on +our ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Thunder," remarked Mr. Challoner quietly. "I thought we should have +it. It has been unnaturally warm all day. A good storm will clear the +air." +</P> + +<P> +In my brief backward look at Heliobas, I noted that when that +far-distant thunder sounded, he grew very pale. Why? He was certainly +not one to have any dread of a storm—he was absolutely destitute of +fear. I went into the drawing-room with a hesitating step—my instincts +were all awake and beginning to warn me, and I murmured softly a prayer +to that strong, invisible majestic spirit which I knew must be near +me—my guardian Angel. I was answered instantly—my foreboding grew +into a positive certainty that some danger menaced Heliobas, and that +if I desired to be his friend, I must be prepared for an emergency. +Receiving this, as all such impressions should be received, as a direct +message sent me for my guidance, I grew calmer, and braced up my +energies to oppose SOMETHING, though I knew not what. +</P> + +<P> +Zara was showing her lady-visitors a large album of Italian +photographs, and explaining them as she turned the leaves. As I entered +the room, she said eagerly to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Play to us, dear! Something soft and plaintive. We all delight in your +music, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear the thunder just now?" I asked irrelevantly. +</P> + +<P> +"It WAS thunder? I thought so!" said Mrs. Everard. "Oh, I do hope there +is not going to be a storm! I am so afraid of a storm!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are nervous?" questioned Zara kindly, as she engaged her attention +with some very fine specimens among the photographs, consisting of +views from Venice. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose I am," returned Amy, half laughing. "Yet I am plucky +about most things, too. Still I don't like to hear the elements +quarrelling together—they are too much in earnest about it—and no +person can pacify them." +</P> + +<P> +Zara smiled, and gently repeated her request to me for some music—a +request in which Mrs. Challoner and her daughters eagerly joined. As I +went to the piano I thought of Edgar Allan Poe's exquisite poem: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "In Heaven a spirit doth dwell,<BR> + Whose heart-strings are a lute;<BR> + None sing so wildly well<BR> + As the angel Israfel,<BR> + And the giddy stars, so legends tell,<BR> + Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell<BR> + Of his voice—all mute."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +As I poised my fingers above the keys of the instrument, another long, +low, ominous roll of thunder swept up from the distance and made the +room tremble. +</P> + +<P> +"Play—play, for goodness' sake!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard; "and then we +shall not be obliged to fix our attention on the approaching storm!" +</P> + +<P> +I played a few soft opening arpeggio passages, while Zara seated +herself in an easy-chair near the window, and the other ladies arranged +themselves on sofas and ottomans to their satisfaction. The room was +exceedingly close: and the scent of the flowers that were placed about +in profusion was almost too sweet and overpowering. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "And they say (the starry choir<BR> + And the other listening things)<BR> + That Israfeli's fire<BR> + Is owing to that lyre,<BR> + By which lie sits and sings,—<BR> + The trembling living wire<BR> + Of those unusual strings."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +How these verses haunted me! With them floating in my mind, I +played—losing myself in mazes of melody, and travelling harmoniously +in and out of the different keys with that sense of perfect joy known +only to those who can improvise with ease, and catch the unwritten +music of nature, which always appeals most strongly to emotions that +are unspoilt by contact with the world, and which are quick to respond +to what is purely instinctive art. I soon became thoroughly absorbed, +and forgot that there were any persons present. In fancy I imagined +myself again in view of the glory of the Electric Ring—again I seemed +to behold the opaline radiance of the Central Sphere: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Where Love's a grown-up God,<BR> + Where the Houri glances are<BR> + Imbued with all the beauty<BR> + Which we worship in a star."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +By-and-by I found my fingers at the work of tenderly unravelling a +little skein of major melody, as soft and childlike as the innocent +babble of a small brooklet flowing under ferns. I followed this airy +suggestion obediently, till it led me of itself to its fitting end, +when I ceased playing. I was greeted by a little burst of applause, and +looking up, saw that all the gentlemen had come in from the +dining-room, and were standing near me. The stately figure of Heliobas +was the most prominent in the group; he stood erect, one hand resting +lightly on the framework of the piano, and his eyes met mine fixedly. +</P> + +<P> +"You were inspired," he said with a grave smile, addressing me; "you +did not observe our entrance." +</P> + +<P> +I was about to reply, when a loud, appalling crash of thunder rattled +above us, as if some huge building had suddenly fallen into ruins. It +startled us all into silence for a moment, and we looked into each +other's faces with a certain degree of awe. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a good one," remarked Mr. Challoner. "There was nothing +undecided about that clap. Its mind was made up." +</P> + +<P> +Zara suddenly rose from her seat, and drew aside the window-curtains. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if it is raining," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Amy Everard uttered a little shriek of dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't open the blinds!" she exclaimed. "It is really dangerous!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas glanced at her with a little sarcastic smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Take a seat on the other side of the room, if you are alarmed, +madame," he said quietly, placing a chair in the position he suggested, +which Amy accepted eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +She would, I believe, have gladly taken refuge in the coal-cellar had +he offered it. Zara, in the meantime, who had not heard Mrs. Everard's +exclamation of fear, had drawn up one of the blinds, and stood silently +looking out upon the night. Instinctively we all joined her, with the +exception of Amy, and looked out also. The skies were very dark; a +faint moaning wind stirred the tops of the leafless trees; but there +was no rain. A dry volcanic heat pervaded the atmosphere—in fact we +all felt the air so stifling, that Heliobas threw open the window +altogether, saying, as he did so: +</P> + +<P> +"In a thunderstorm, it is safer to have the windows open than shut; +besides, one cannot suffocate." +</P> + +<P> +A brilliant glare of light flashed suddenly upon our vision. The +heavens seemed torn open from end to end, and a broad lake of pale blue +fire lay quivering in the heart of the mountainous black clouds—for a +second only. An on-rushing, ever-increasing, rattling roar of thunder +ensued, that seemed to shake the very earth, and all was again darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"This is magnificent!" cries Mrs. Challoner, who, with her family, had +travelled a great deal, and was quite accustomed to hurricanes and +other inconveniences caused by the unaccommodating behaviour of the +elements. "I don't think I ever saw anything like it, John dear, even +that storm we saw at Chamounix was not any better than this." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," returned her husband meditatively, "you see we had the snow +mountains there, and the effect was pretty lively. Then there were the +echoes—those cavernous echoes were grand! What was that passage in +Job, Effie, that I used to say they reminded me of?" +</P> + +<P> +"'The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His reproof ... +The thunder of His power, who can understand?'" replied Effie Challoner +reverently. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" he replied. "I opine that Job was pretty correct in his +ideas—don't you, reverend sir?" turning to Father Paul. +</P> + +<P> +The priest nodded, and held up his finger warningly. +</P> + +<P> +"That lady—Mrs. Everard—is going to sing or play, I think," he +observed. "Shall we not keep silence?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked towards Amy in some surprise. I knew she sang very prettily, +but I had thought she was rendered too nervous by the storm to do aught +but sit quiet in her chair. However, there she was at the piano, and in +another moment her fresh, sweet mezzo-soprano rang softly through the +room in Tosti's plaintive song, "Good-bye!" We listened, but none of us +moved from the open window where we still inhaled what air there was, +and watched the lowering sky. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Hush! a voice from the far-away,<BR> + 'Listen and learn,' it seems to say;<BR> + 'All the to-morrows shall be as to-day,'"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +sang Amy with pathetic sweetness. Zara suddenly moved, as if oppressed, +from her position among us as we stood clustered together, and stepped +out through the French window into the outside balcony, her head +uncovered to the night. +</P> + +<P> +"You will catch cold!" Mrs. Challoner and I both called to her +simultaneously. She shook her head, smiling back at us; and folding her +arms lightly on the stone balustrade, leaned there and looked up at the +clouds. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The link must break, and the lamp must die;<BR> + Good-bye to Hope! Good-bye—good-bye!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Amy's voice was a peculiarly thrilling one, and on this occasion +sounded with more than its usual tenderness. What with her singing and +the invisible presence of the storm, an utter silence possessed us—not +one of us cared to move. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas once stepped to his sister's side in the open balcony, and +said something, as I thought, to warn her against taking cold; but it +was a very brief whisper, and he almost immediately returned to his +place amongst us. Zara looked very lovely out there; the light coming +from the interior of the room glistened softly on the sheen of her +satin dress and its ornaments of pearls; and the electric stone on her +bosom shone faintly, like a star on a rainy evening. Her beautiful +face, turned upwards to the angry sky, was half in light and half in +shade; a smile parted her lips, and her eyes were bright with a look of +interest and expectancy. Another sudden glare, and the clouds were +again broken asunder; but this time in a jagged and hasty manner, as +though a naked sword had been thrust through them and immediately +withdrawn. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a nasty flash," said Colonel Everard, with an observant +glance at the lovely Juliet-like figure on the balcony. "Mademoiselle, +had you not better come in?" +</P> + +<P> +"When it begins to rain I will come in," she said, without changing her +posture. "I hear the singing so well out here. Besides, I love the +storm." +</P> + +<P> +A tumultuous crash of thunder, tremendous for its uproar and the length +of time it was prolonged, made us look at each other again with anxious +faces. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "What are we waiting for? Oh, my heart!<BR> + Kiss me straight on the brows and part!<BR> + Again! again, my heart, my heart!<BR> + What are we waiting for, you and I?<BR> + A pleading look—a stifled cry!<BR> + Good-bye for ever—-"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Horror! what was that? A lithe swift serpent of fire twisting +venomously through the dark heavens! Zara raised her arms, looked up, +smiled, and fell—senseless! With such appalling suddenness that we had +scarcely recovered from the blinding terror of that forked +lightning-flash, when we saw her lying prone before us on the balcony +where one instant before she had stood erect and smiling! With +exclamations of alarm and distress we lifted and bore her within the +room and laid her tenderly down upon the nearest sofa. At that moment a +deafening, terrific thunder-clap—one only—as if a huge bombshell had +burst in the air, shook the ground under our feet; and then with a +swish and swirl of long pent-up and suddenly-released wrath, down came +the rain. +</P> + +<P> +Amy's voice died away in a last "Good-bye!" and she rushed from the +piano, with pale face and trembling lips, gasping out: +</P> + +<P> +"What has happened? What is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"She has been stunned by a lightning-flash," I said, trying to speak +calmly, while I loosened Zara's dress and sprinkled her forehead with +eau-de-Cologne from a scent-bottle Mrs. Challoner had handed to me. +"She will recover in a few minutes." +</P> + +<P> +But my limbs trembled under me, and tears, in spite of myself, forced +their way into my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas meanwhile—his countenance white and set as a marble +mask—shut the window fiercely, pulled down the blind, and drew the +heavy silken curtains close. He then approached his sister's senseless +form, and, taking her wrist tenderly, felt for her pulse. We looked on +in the deepest anxiety. The Challoner girls shivered with terror, and +began to cry. Mrs. Everard, with more self-possession, dipped a +handkerchief in cold water and laid it on Zara's temples; but no faint +sigh parted the set yet smiling lips—no sign of life was visible. All +this while the rain swept down in gusty torrents and rattled furiously +against the window-panes; while the wind, no longer a moan, had risen +into a shriek, as of baffled yet vindictive anger. At last Heliobas +spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I should be glad of other medical skill than my own," he said, in low +and stifled accents. "This may be a long fainting-fit." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Challoner at once proffered his services. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go for you anywhere you like," he said cheerily; "and I think my +wife and daughters had better come with me. Our carriage is sure to be +in waiting. It will be necessary for the lady to have perfect quiet +when she recovers, and visitors are best away. You need not be alarmed, +I am sure. By her colour it is evident she is only in a swoon. What +doctor shall I send?" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas named one Dr. Morini, 10, Avenue de l'Alma. +</P> + +<P> +"Right! He shall be here straight. Come, wife—come, girls! Mrs. +Everard, we'll send back our carriage for you and the Colonel. +Good-night! We'll call to-morrow and inquire after mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas gratefully pressed his hand as he withdrew, and his wife and +daughters, with whispered farewells, followed him. We who were left +behind all remained near Zara, doing everything we could think of to +restore animation to that senseless form. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the servants, too, hearing what had happened, gathered in a +little cluster at the drawing-room door, looking with pale and alarmed +faces at the death-like figure of their beautiful mistress. Half an +hour or more must have passed in this manner; within the room there was +a dreadful silence—but outside the rain poured down in torrents, and +the savage wind howled and tore at the windows like a besieging army. +Suddenly Amy Everard, who had been quietly and skilfully assisting me +in rubbing Zara's hands and bathing her forehead, grew faint, +staggered, and would have fallen had not her husband caught her on his +arm. +</P> + +<P> +"I am frightened," she gasped. "I cannot bear it—she looks so still, +and she is growing—rigid, like a corpse! Oh, if she should be dead!" +And she hid her face on her husband's breast. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment we heard the grating of wheels on the gravel outside; it +was the Challoners' carriage returned. The coachman, after depositing +his master and family at the Grand Hotel, had driven rapidly back in +the teeth of the stinging sleet and rain to bring the message that Dr. +Morini would be with us as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," whispered Colonel Everard gently to me, "I'll take Amy home. +She is thoroughly upset, and it's no use having her going off into +hysterics. I'll call with Challoner to-morrow;" and with a kindly +parting nod of encouragement to us all, he slipped softly out of the +room, half leading, half carrying his trembling wife; and in a couple +of minutes we heard the carriage again drive away. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone at last with Heliobas and Father Paul, I, kneeling at the +side of my darling Zara, looked into their faces for comfort, but found +none. The dry-eyed despair on the countenance of Heliobas pierced me to +the heart; the pitying, solemn expression of the venerable priest +touched me as with icy cold. The lovely, marble-like whiteness and +stillness of the figure before me filled me with a vague terror. Making +a strong effort to control my voice, I called, in a low, clear tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Zara! Zara!" +</P> + +<P> +No sign—not the faintest flicker of an eyelash! Only the sound of the +falling rain and the moaning wind—the thunder had long ago ceased. +Suddenly a something attracted my gaze, which first surprised and then +horrified me. The jewel—the electric stone on Zara's bosom no longer +shone! It was like a piece of dull unpolished pebble. Grasping at the +meaning of this, with overwhelming instinctive rapidity, I sprang up +and caught the arm of Heliobas. +</P> + +<P> +"You—you!" I whispered hurriedly. "YOU can restore her! Do as you did +with Prince Ivan; you can—you must! That stone she wears—the light +has gone out of it. If that means—and I am sure it does—that life has +for a little while gone out of HER, YOU can bring it back. +Quick—Quick! You have the power!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me with burning grief-haunted eyes; and a sigh that was +almost a groan escaped his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I have NO power," he said. "Not over her. I told you she was dominated +by a higher force than mine. What can <I>I</I> do? Nothing—worse than +nothing—I am utterly helpless." +</P> + +<P> +I stared at him in a kind of desperate horror. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me," I said slowly, "that she is dead—really +dead?" +</P> + +<P> +He was about to answer, when one of the watching servants announced in +a low tone: "Dr. Morini." +</P> + +<P> +The new-comer was a wiry, keen-eyed little Italian; his movements were +quick, decisive, and all to the point of action. The first thing he did +was to scatter the little group of servants right and left, and send +them about their business. The next, to close the doors of the room +against all intrusion. He then came straight up to Heliobas, and +pressing his hand in a friendly manner, said briefly: +</P> + +<P> +"How and when did this happen?" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas told him in as few words as possible. Dr. Morini then bent +over Zara's lifeless form, and examined her features attentively. He +laid his car against her heart and listened. Finally, he caught sight +of the round, lustreless pebble hanging at her neck suspended by its +strings of pearls. Very gently he moved this aside; looked, and +beckoned us to come and look also. Exactly on the spot where the +electric stone had rested, a small circular mark, like a black bruise, +tainted the fair soft skin—a mark no larger than a small finger-ring. +</P> + +<P> +"Death by electricity," said Dr. Morini quietly. "Must have been +instantaneous. The lightning-flash, or downward electric current, +lodged itself here, where this mark is, and passed directly through the +heart. Perfectly painless, but of course fatal. She has been dead some +time." +</P> + +<P> +And, replacing the stone ornament in its former position, he stepped +back with a suggestive glance at Father Paul. I listened and saw—but I +was in a state of stupefaction. Dead? My beautiful, gay, strong Zara +DEAD? Impossible! I knelt beside her; I called her again and again by +every endearing and tender name I could think of; I kissed her sweet +lips. Oh, they were cold as ice, and chilled my blood! As one in a +dream, I saw Heliobas advance; he kissed her forehead and mouth; he +reverently unclasped the pearls from about her throat, and with them +took off the electric stone. Then Father Paul stepped slowly forward, +and in place of that once brilliant gem, now so dim and destitute of +fire, he laid a crucifix upon the fair and gentle breast, motionless +for ever. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of this sacred symbol, some tense cord seemed to snap in my +brain, and I cried out wildly: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, no! Not that! That is for the dead; Zara is not dead! It is +all a mistake—a mistake! She will be quite well presently; and she +will smile and tell you how foolish you were to think her dead! Dead? +She cannot be dead; it is impossible—quite impossible!" And I broke +into a passion of sobs and tears. +</P> + +<P> +Very gently and kindly Dr. Morini drew me away, and by dint of friendly +persuasion, in which there was also a good deal of firm determination, +led me into the hall, where he made me swallow a glass of wine. As I +could not control my sobs, he spoke with some sternness: +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle, you can do no good by giving way in this manner. Death +is a very beautiful and solemn thing, and it is irreverent to show +unseemly passion in such a great Presence. You loved your friend—let +it be a comfort to you that she died painlessly. Control yourself, in +order to assist in rendering her the last few gentle services +necessary; and try to console the desolate brother, who looks in real +need of encouragement." +</P> + +<P> +These last words roused me. I forced back my tears, and dried my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I will, Dr. Morini," I said, in a trembling voice. "I am ashamed to be +so weak. I know what I ought to do, and I will do it. You may trust me." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me approvingly. +</P> + +<P> +"That is well," he said briefly. "And now, as I am of no use here, I +will say good-night. Remember, excessive grief is mere selfishness; +resignation is heroism." +</P> + +<P> +He was gone. I nerved myself to the task I had before me, and within an +hour the fair casket of what had been Zara lay on an open bier in the +little chapel, lights burning round it, and flowers strewn above it in +mournful profusion. +</P> + +<P> +We left her body arrayed in its white satin garb; the cluster of +orange-blossoms she had gathered still bloomed upon the cold breast, +where the crucifix lay; but in the tresses of the long dark hair I wove +a wreath of lilies instead of the pearls we had undone. +</P> + +<P> +And now I knelt beside the bier absorbed in thought. Some of the +weeping servants had assembled, and knelt about in little groups. The +tall candles on the altar were lit, and Father Paul, clad in mourning +priestly vestments, prayed there in silence. The storm of rain and wind +still raged without, and the windows of the chapel shook and rattled +with the violence of the tempest. +</P> + +<P> +A distant clock struck ONE! with a deep clang that echoed throughout +the house. I shuddered. So short a time had elapsed since Zara had been +alive and well; now, I could not bear to think that she was gone from +me for ever. For ever, did I say? No, not for ever—not so long as love +exists—love that shall bring us together again in that far-off Sphere +where—- +</P> + +<P> +Hush! what was that? The sound of the organ? I looked around me in +startled wonderment. There was no one seated at the instrument; it was +shut close. The lights on the altar and round the bier burnt steadily; +the motionless figure of the priest before the tabernacle; the praying +servants of the household—all was unchanged. But certainly a flood of +music rolled grandly on the ear—music that drowned for a moment the +howling noise of the battering wind. I rose softly, and touched one of +the kneeling domestics on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear the organ?" I said. +</P> + +<P> +The woman looked up at me with tearful, alarmed eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No, mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +I paused, listening. The music grew louder and louder, and surged round +me in waves of melody. Evidently no one in the chapel heard it but +myself. I looked about for Heliobas, but he had not entered. He was +most probably in his study, whither he had retired to grieve in secret +when we had borne Zara's body to its present couch of dreamless sleep. +</P> + +<P> +These sounds were meant for me alone, then? I waited, and the music +gradually died away; and as I resumed my kneeling position by the bier +all was again silence, save for the unabated raging of the storm. +</P> + +<P> +A strange calmness now fell on my spirits. Some invisible hand seemed +to hold me still and tearless. Zara was dead. I realized it now. I +began to consider that she must have known her fate beforehand. This +was what she had meant when she said she was going on a journey. The +more I thought of this the quieter I became, and I hid my face in my +hands and prayed earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +A touch roused me—an imperative, burning touch. An airy brightness, +like a light cloud with sunshine falling through it, hovered above +Zara's bier! I gazed breathlessly; I could not move my lips to utter a +sound. A face looked at me—a face angelically beautiful! It smiled. I +stretched out my hands; I struggled for speech, and managed to whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"Zara, Zara! you have come back!" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice, so sweetly familiar, answered me: "To life? Ah, never, never +again! I am too happy to return. But save him—save my brother! Go to +him; he is in danger; to you is given the rescue. Save him; and for me +rejoice, and grieve no more!" +</P> + +<P> +The face vanished, the brightness faded, and I sprang up from my knees +in haste. For one instant I looked at the beautiful dead body of the +friend I loved, with its set mouth and placid features, and then I +smiled. This was not Zara—SHE was alive and happy; this fair clay was +but clay doomed to perish, but SHE was imperishable. +</P> + +<P> +"Save him—save my brother!" These words rang in my ears. I hesitated +no longer—I determined to seek Heliobas at once. Swiftly and +noiselessly I slipped out of the chapel. As the door swung behind me I +heard a sound that first made me stop in sudden alarm, and then hurry +on with increased eagerness. There was no mistaking it—it was the +clash of steel! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY. +</H3> + +<P> +I rushed to the study-door, tore aside the velvet hangings, and faced +Heliobas and Prince Ivan Petroffsky. They held drawn weapons, which +they lowered at my sudden entrance, and paused irresolutely. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing?" I cried, addressing myself to Heliobas. "With the +dead body of your sister in the house you can fight! You, too!" and I +looked reproachfully at Prince Ivan; "you also can desecrate the +sanctity of death, and yet—you LOVED her!" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince spoke not, but clenched his sword-hilt with a fiercer grasp, +and glared wildly on his opponent. His eyes had a look of madness in +them—his dress was much disordered—his hair wet with drops of +rain—his face ghastly white, and his whole demeanour was that of a man +distraught with grief and passion. But he uttered no word. Heliobas +spoke; he was coldly calm, and balanced his sword lightly on his open +hand as if it were a toy. +</P> + +<P> +"This GENTLEMAN," he said, with deliberate emphasis, "happened, on his +way thither, to meet Dr. Morini, who informed him of the fatal +catastrophe which has caused my sister's death. Instead of respecting +the sacredness of my solitude under the circumstances, he thrust +himself rudely into my presence, and, before I could address him, +struck me violently in the face, and accused me of being my sister's +murderer. Such conduct can only meet with one reply. I gave him his +choice of weapons: he chose swords. Our combat has just begun—we are +anxious to resume it; therefore if you, mademoiselle, will have the +goodness to retire—-" +</P> + +<P> +I interrupted him. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall certainly not retire," I said firmly. "This behaviour on both +your parts is positive madness. Prince Ivan, please to listen to me. +The circumstances of Zara's death were plainly witnessed by me and +others—her brother is as innocent of having caused it as I am." +</P> + +<P> +And I recounted to him quietly all that had happened during that fatal +and eventful evening. He listened moodily, tracing out the pattern of +the carpet with the point of his sword. When I had finished he looked +up, and a bitter smile crossed his features. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder, mademoiselle," he said, "that your residence in this +accursed house has not taught you better. I quite believe all you say, +that Zara, unfortunate girl that she was, received her death by a +lightning-flash. But answer me this: Who made her capable of attracting +atmospheric electricity? Who charged her beautiful delicate body with a +vile compound of electrical fluid, so that she was as a living magnet, +bound to draw towards herself electricity in all its forms? Who +tampered with her fine brain and made her imagine herself allied to a +spirit of air? Who but HE—HE!—yonder unscrupulous wretch!—he who in +pursuit of his miserable science, practised his most dangerous +experiments on his sister, regardless of her health, her happiness, her +life! I say he is her murderer—her remorseless murderer, and a +thrice-damned villain!" +</P> + +<P> +And he sprang forward to renew the combat. I stepped quietly, +unflinchingly between him and Heliobas. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "this cannot go on. Zara herself forbids it!" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince paused, and looked at me in a sort of stupefaction. +</P> + +<P> +"Zara forbids it!" he muttered. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," I went on, "that I have seen Zara since her death; I have +spoken to her. She herself sent me here." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan stared, and then burst into a fit of wild laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Little fool!" he cried to me; "he has maddened you too, then! You are +also a victim! Miserable girl! out of my path! Revenge—revenge! while +I am yet sane!" +</P> + +<P> +Then pushing me roughly aside, he cast away his sword, and shouted to +Heliobas: +</P> + +<P> +"Hand to hand, villain! No more of these toy-weapons! Hand to hand!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas instantly threw down his sword also, and rushing forward +simultaneously, they closed together in savage conflict. Heliobas was +the taller and more powerful of the two, but Prince Ivan seemed imbued +with the spirit of a hundred devils, and sprang at his opponent's +throat with the silent breathless ferocity of a tiger. At first +Heliobas appeared to be simply on the defensive, and his agile, skilful +movements were all used to parry and ward off the other's grappling +eagerness. But as I watched the struggle, myself speechless and +powerless, I saw his face change. Instead of its calm and almost +indifferent expression, there came a look which was completely foreign +to it—a look of savage determination bordering on positive cruelty. In +a moment I saw what was taking place in his mind. The animal passions +of the mere MAN were aroused—the spiritual force was utterly +forgotten. The excitement of the contest was beginning to tell, and the +desire of victory was dominant in the breast of him whose ideas were +generally—and should have been now—those of patient endurance and +large generosity. The fight grew closer, hotter, and more terrible. +Suddenly the Prince swerved aside and fell, and within a second +Heliobas held him down, pressing one knee firmly against his chest. +From my point of observation I noted with alarm that little by little +Ivan ceased his violent efforts to rise, and that he kept his eyes +fixed on the overshadowing face of his foe with an unnatural and +curious pertinacity. I stepped forward. Heliobas pressed his whole +weight heavily down on the young man's prostrate body, while with both +hands he held him by the shoulders, and gazed with terrific meaning +into his fast-paling countenance. Ivan's lips turned blue; his eyes +appeared to start from their sockets; his throat rattled. The spell +that held me silent was broken; a flash of light, a flood of memory +swept over my intelligence. I knew that Heliobas was exciting the whole +battery of his inner electric force, and that thus employed for the +purposes of vengeance, it must infallibly cause death. I found my +speech at last. +</P> + +<P> +"Heliobas!" I cried "Remember, remember Azul! When Death lies like a +gift in your hand, withhold it. Withhold it, Heliobas; and give Life +instead!" +</P> + +<P> +He started at the sound of my voice, and looked up. A strong shudder +shook his frame. Very slowly, very reluctantly, he relaxed his +position; he rose from his kneeling posture on the Prince's breast—he +left him and stood upright. Ivan at the same moment heaved a deep sigh, +and closed his eyes, apparently insensible. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually one by one the hard lines faded out of the face of Heliobas, +and his old expression of soft and grave beneficence came back to it as +graciously as sunlight after rain. He turned to me, and bent his head +in a sort of reverential salutation. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank and bless you," he said; "you reminded me in time! Another +moment and it would have been too late. You have saved me." +</P> + +<P> +"Give him his life," I said, pointing to Ivan. +</P> + +<P> +"He has it," returned Heliobas; "I have not taken it from him, thank +God! He provoked me; I regret it. I should have been more patient with +him. He will revive immediately. I leave him to your care. In dealing +with him, I ought to have remembered that human passion like his, +unguided by spiritual knowledge, was to be met with pity and +forbearance. As it is, however, he is safe. For me, I will go and pray +for Zara's pardon, and that of my wronged Azul." +</P> + +<P> +As he uttered the last words, he started, looked up, and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"My beautiful one! Thou HAST pardoned me? Thou wilt love me still? Thou +art with me, Azul, my beloved? I have not lost thee, oh my best and +dearest! Wilt thou lead me? Whither? Nay—no matter whither—I come!" +</P> + +<P> +And as one walking in sleep, he went out of the room, and I heard his +footsteps echoing in the distance on the way to the chapel. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone with the Prince, I snatched a glass of cold water from the +table, and sprinkled some of it on his forehead and hands. This was +quite sufficient to revive him; and he drew a long breath, opened his +eyes, and stared wildly about him. Seeing no one but me he grew +bewildered, and asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +Then catching sight of the drawn swords lying still on the ground where +they had been thrown, he sprang to his feet, and cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the coward and murderer?" +</P> + +<P> +I made him sit down and hear with patience what I had to say. I +reminded him that Zara's health and happiness had always been perfect, +and that her brother would rather have slain himself than her. I told +him plainly that Zara had expected her death, and had prepared for +it—had even bade me good-bye, although then I had not understood the +meaning of her words. I recalled to his mind the day when Zara had used +her power to repulse him. +</P> + +<P> +"Disbelieve as you will in electric spiritual force," I said. "Your +message to her then through me was—TELL HER I HAVE SEEN HER LOVER." +</P> + +<P> +At these words a sombre shadow flitted over the Prince's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you," he said slowly, "that I believe I was on that occasion +the victim of an hallucination. But I will explain to you what I saw. A +superb figure, like, and yet unlike, a man, but of a much larger and +grander form, appeared to me, as I thought, and spoke. 'Zara is mine,' +it said—'mine by choice; mine by freewill; mine till death; mine after +death; mine through eternity. With her thou hast naught in common; thy +way lies elsewhere. Follow the path allotted to thee, and presume no +more upon an angel's patience.' Then this Strange majestic-looking +creature, whose face, as I remember it, was extraordinarily beautiful, +and whose eyes were like self-luminous stars, vanished. But, after all, +what of it? The whole thing was a dream." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so sure of that," I said quietly, "But, Prince Ivan, now that +you are calmer and more capable of resignation, will you tell me why +you loved Zara?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why!" he broke out impetuously. "Why, because it was impossible to +help loving her." +</P> + +<P> +"That is no answer," I replied. "Think! You can reason well if you +like—I have heard you hold your own in an argument. What made you love +Zara?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me in a sort of impatient surprise, but seeing I was very +much in earnest, he pondered a minute or so before replying. +</P> + +<P> +"She was the loveliest woman I have ever seen!" he said at last, and in +his voice there was a sound of yearning and regret. +</P> + +<P> +"Is THAT all?" I queried, with a gesture of contempt. "Because her body +was beautiful—because she had sweet kissing lips and a soft skin; +because her hand was like a white flower, and her dark hair clustering +over her brow reminded one of a misty evening cloud hiding moonlight; +because the glance of her glorious eyes made the blood leap through +your veins and sting you with passionate desire—are these the reasons +of your so-called love? Oh, give it some other and lower name! For the +worms shall feed on the fair flesh that won your admiration—their wet +and slimy bodies shall trail across the round white arms and tender +bosom—unsightly things shall crawl among the tresses of the glossy +hair; and nothing, nothing shall remain of what you loved, but dust. +Prince Ivan, you shudder; but I too loved Zara—I loved HER, not the +perishable casket in which, like a jewel, she was for a time enshrined. +I love her still—and for the being I love there is no such thing as +death." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince was silent, and seemed touched. I had spoken with real +feeling, and tears of emotion stood in my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I loved her as a man generally loves," he said, after a little pause. +"Nay—more than most men love most women!" +</P> + +<P> +"Most men are too often selfish in both their loves and hatreds," I +returned. "Tell me if there was anything in Zara's mind and +intelligence to attract you? Did you sympathize in her pursuits; did +you admire her tastes; had you any ideas in common with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I confess I had not," he answered readily. "I considered her to be +entirely a victim to her brother's scientific experiments. I thought, +by making her my wife, to release her from such tyranny and give her +rescue and refuge. To this end I found out all I could from—HIM"—he +approached the name of Heliobas with reluctance—"and I made up my mind +that her delicate imagination had been morbidly excited; but that +marriage and a life like that led by other women would bring her to a +more healthy state of mind." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled with a little scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"Your presumption was almost greater than your folly, Prince," I said, +"that with such ideas as these in your mind you could dream of winning +Zara for a wife. Do you think she could have led a life like that of +other women? A frivolous round of gaiety, a few fine dresses and +jewels, small-talk, society scandal, stale compliments—you think such +things would have suited HER? And would she have contented herself with +a love like yours? Come! Come and see how well she has escaped you!" +</P> + +<P> +And I beckoned him towards the door. He hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Where would you take me?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"To the chapel. Zara's body lies there." +</P> + +<P> +He shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no—not there! I cannot bear to look upon her perished +loveliness—to see that face, once so animated, white and rigid—death +in such a form is too horrible!" +</P> + +<P> +And he covered his eyes with his hand—I saw tears slowly drop through +his fingers. I gazed at him, half in wonder, half in pity. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet you are a brave man!" I said. +</P> + +<P> +These words roused him. He met my gaze with such a haggard look of woe +that my heart ached for him. What comfort had he now? What joy could he +ever expect? All his happiness was centred in the fact of BEING +ALIVE—alive to the pleasures of living, and to the joys the world +could offer to a man who was strong, handsome, rich, and +accomplished—how could he look upon death as otherwise than a +loathsome thing—a thing not to be thought of in the heyday of youthful +blood and jollity—a doleful spectre, in whose bony hands the roses of +love must fall and wither! With a sense of deep commiseration in me, I +spoke again with great gentleness. +</P> + +<P> +"You need not look upon Zara's corpse unless you wish it, Prince," I +said. "To you, the mysteries of the Hereafter have not been unlocked, +because there is something in your nature that cannot and will not +believe in God. Therefore to you, death must be repellent. I know you +are one of those for whom the present alone exists—you easily forget +the past, and take no trouble for the future. Paris is your heaven, or +St. Petersburg, or Vienna, as the fancy takes you; and the modern +atheistical doctrines of French demoralization are in your blood. +Nothing but a heaven-sent miracle could make you other than you are, +and miracles do not exist for the materialist. But let me say two words +more before you go from this house. Seek no more to avenge yourself for +your love-disappointment on Heliobas—for you have really nothing to +avenge. By your own confession you only cared for Zara's body—that +body was always perishable, and it has perished by a sudden but natural +catastrophe. With her soul, you declare you had nothing in common—that +was herself—and she is alive to us who love her as she sought to be +loved. Heliobas is innocent of having slain her body; he but helped to +cultivate and foster that beautiful Spirit which he knew to be HER—for +that he is to be honored and commended. Promise me, therefore, Prince +Ivan, that you will never approach him again except in +friendship—indeed, you owe him an apology for your unjust accusation, +as also your gratitude for his sparing your life in the recent +struggle." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince kept his eyes steadily fixed upon me all the time I was +speaking, and as I finished, he sighed and moved restlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your words are compelling, mademoiselle," he said; "and you have a +strange attraction for me. I know I am not wrong in thinking that you +are a disciple of Heliobas, whose science I admit, though I doubt his +theories. I promise you willingly what you ask—nay, I will even offer +him my hand if he will accept it." +</P> + +<P> +Overjoyed at my success, I answered: "He is in the chapel, but I will +fetch him here." +</P> + +<P> +Over the Prince's face a shadow of doubt, mingled with dread, passed +swiftly, and he seemed to be forming a resolve in his own mind which +was more or less distasteful to him. Whatever the feeling was he +conquered it by a strong effort, and said with firmness: +</P> + +<P> +"No; I will go to him myself. And I will look again upon—upon the face +I loved. It is but one pang the more, and why should I not endure it?" +</P> + +<P> +Seeing him thus inclined, I made no effort to dissuade him, and without +another word I led the way to the chapel. I entered it reverently, he +following me closely, with slow hushed footsteps. All was the same as I +had left it, save that the servants of the household had gone to take +some needful rest before the morning light called them to their daily +routine of labour. Father Paul, too, had retired, and Heliobas alone +knelt beside all that remained of Zara, his figure as motionless as +though carved in bronze, his face hidden in his hands. As we +approached, he neither stirred nor looked up, therefore I softly led +the Prince to the opposite side of the bier, that he might look quietly +on the perished loveliness that lay there at rest for ever. Ivan +trembled, yet steadfastly gazed at the beautiful reposeful form, at the +calm features on which the smile with which death had been received, +still lingered—at the folded hands, the fading orange-blossoms—at the +crucifix that lay on the cold breast like the final seal on the letter +of life. Impulsively he stooped forward, and with a tender awe pressed +his lips on the pale forehead, but instantly started back with the +smothered, exclamation: +</P> + +<P> +"O God! how cold!" +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of his voice Heliobas rose up erect, and the two men faced +each other, Zara's dead body lying like a barrier betwixt them. +</P> + +<P> +A pause followed—a pause in which I heard my own heart beating loudly, +so great was my anxiety. Heliobas suffered a few moments to elapse, +then stretched his hand across his sister's bier. +</P> + +<P> +"In HER name, let there be peace between us, Ivan," he said in accents +that were both gentle and solemn. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince, touched to the quick, responded to these kindly words with +eager promptness, and they clasped hands over the quiet and lovely form +that lay there—a silent, binding witness of their reconciliation. +</P> + +<P> +"I have to ask your pardon, Casimir," then whispered Ivan. "I have also +to thank you for my life." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank the friend who stands beside you," returned Heliobas, in the +same low tone, with a slight gesture towards me. "She reminded me of a +duty in time. As for pardon, I know of no cause of offence on your part +save what was perfectly excusable. Say no more; wisdom comes with +years, and you are yet young." +</P> + +<P> +A long silence followed. We all remained looking wistfully down upon +the body of our lost darling, in thought too deep for words or weeping. +I then noticed that another humble mourner shared our watch—a mourner +whose very existence I had nearly forgotten. It was the faithful Leo. +He lay couchant on the stone floor at the foot of the bier, almost as +silent as a dog of marble; the only sign of animation he gave being a +deep sigh which broke from his honest heart now and then. I went to him +and softly patted his shaggy coat. He looked up at me with big brown +eyes full of tears, licked my hand meekly, and again laid his head down +upon his two fore-paws with a resignation that was most pathetic. +</P> + +<P> +The dawn began to peer faintly through the chapel windows—the dawn of +a misty, chilly morning. The storm of the past night had left a sting +in the air, and the rain still fell, though gently. The wind had almost +entirely sunk into silence. I re-arranged the flowers that were strewn +on Zara's corpse, taking away all those that had slightly faded. The +orange-blossom was almost dead, but I left that where it was—where the +living Zara had herself placed it. As I performed this slight service, +I thought, half mournfully, half gladly— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Yes, Heaven is thine, but this<BR> + Is a world of sweets and sours—<BR> + Our flowers are merely FLOWERS;<BR> + And the shadow of thy perfect bliss<BR> + Is the sunshine of ours."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan at last roused himself as from a deep and melancholy +reverie, and, addressing himself to Heliobas, said softly: +</P> + +<P> +"I will intrude no longer on your privacy, Casimir. Farewell! I shall +leave Paris to-night." +</P> + +<P> +For all answer Heliobas beckoned him and me also out of the chapel. As +soon as its doors closed behind us, and we stood in the centre hall, he +spoke with affectionate and grave earnestness: +</P> + +<P> +"Ivan, something tells me that you and I shall not meet again for many +years, if ever. Therefore, when you say 'farewell,' the word falls upon +my ears with double meaning. We are friends—our friendship is +sanctified by the dead presence of one whom we both loved, in different +ways; therefore you will take in good part what I now say to you. You +know, you cannot disguise from yourself that the science I study is +fraught with terrible truth and marvellous discoveries; the theories I +deduce from it you disbelieve, because you are nearly a materialist. I +say NEARLY—not quite. That 'not quite' makes me love you, Ivan: I +would save the small bright spark that flickers within you from both +escape and extinction. But I cannot—at least, not as yet. Still, in +order that you may know that there is a power in me higher than +ordinary human reason, before you go from me to-night hear my prophecy +of your career. The world waits for you, Ivan—the world, all agape and +glittering with a thousand sparkling toys; it waits greedy for your +presence, ready to fawn upon you for a smile, willing to cringe to you +for a nod of approval. And why? Because wealth is yours—vast, +illimitable wealth. Aye—you need not start or look incredulous—you +will find it as I say. You, whose fortune up to now has barely reached +a poor four thousand per annum—you are at this moment the possessor of +millions. Only last night a relative of yours, whose name you scarcely +know, expired, leaving all his hoarded treasures to you. Before the +close of this present day, on whose threshold we now stand, you will +have the news. When you receive it remember me, and acknowledge that at +least for once I knew and spoke the truth. Follow the broad road, Ivan, +laid out before you—a road wide enough not only for you to walk in, +but for the crowd of toadies and flatterers also, who will push on +swiftly after you and jostle you on all sides; be strong of heart and +merry of countenance! Gather the roses; press the luscious grapes into +warm, red wine that, as you quaff it, shall make your blood dance a mad +waltz in your veins, and fair women's faces shall seem fairer to you +than ever, their embraces more tender, their kisses more tempting! Spin +the ball of Society like a toy in the palm of your hand! I see your +life stretching before me like a brilliant, thread-like ephemeral ray +of light! But in the far distance across it looms a shadow—a shadow +that your power alone can never lift. Mark me, Ivan! When the first +dread chill of that shadow makes itself felt, come to me—I shall yet +be living. Come; for then no wealth can aid you—at that dark hour no +boon companions can comfort. Come; and by our friendship so lately +sworn—by Zara's pure soul—by God's existence, I will not die till I +have changed that darkness over you into light eternal!—Fare you well!" +</P> + +<P> +He caught the Prince's hand, and wrung it hard; then, without further +word, look, or gesture, turned and disappeared again within the chapel. +</P> + +<P> +His words had evidently made a deep impression on the young nobleman, +who gazed after his retreating figure with a certain awe not unmingled +with fear. +</P> + +<P> +I held out my hand in silent farewell. Ivan took it gently, and kissed +it with graceful courtesy. +</P> + +<P> +"Casimir told me that your intercession saved my life, mademoiselle," +he said. "Accept my poor thanks. If his present prophet-like utterances +be true—-" +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you doubt him?" I asked, with some impatience. "Can you +believe in NOTHING?" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince, still holding my hand, looked at me in a sort of grave +perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you have hit it," he observed quietly. "I doubt everything +except the fact of my own existence, and there are times when I am not +even sure of that. But if, as I said before, the prophecy of my +Chaldean friend, whom I cannot help admiring with all my heart, turns +out to be correct, then my life is more valuable to me than ever with +such wealth to balance it, and I thank you doubly for having saved it +by a word in time." +</P> + +<P> +I withdrew my hand gently from his. +</P> + +<P> +"You think the worth of your life increased by wealth?" Tasked. +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally! Money is power." +</P> + +<P> +"And what of the shadow also foretold as inseparable from your fate?" +</P> + +<P> +A faint smile crossed his features. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, pardon me! That is the only portion of Casimir's fortune-telling +that I am inclined to disbelieve thoroughly." +</P> + +<P> +"But," I said, "if you are willing to accept the pleasant part of his +prophecy, why not admit the possibility of the unpleasant occurring +also?" +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"In these enlightened times, mademoiselle, we only believe what is +agreeable to us, and what suits our own wishes, tastes, and opinions. +Ca va sans dire. We cannot be forced to accept a Deity against our +reason. That is a grand result of modern education." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" and I looked at him with pity. "Poor human reason! It will +reel into madness sometimes for a mere trifle—an overdose of alcohol +will sometimes upset it altogether—what a noble omnipotent thing is +human reason! But let me not detain you. Good-bye, and—as the greeting +of olden times used to run—God save you!" +</P> + +<P> +He bent his head with a light reverence. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you to be a good, sweet woman," he said, "therefore I am +grateful for your blessing. My mother," and here his eyes grew dreamy +and wistful—"poor soul! she died long ago—my mother would never let +me retire to rest without signing the cross on my brow. Ah well, that +is past! I should like, mademoiselle," and his voice sank very low, "to +send some flowers for—her—you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +I did understand, and readily promised to lay whatever blossoms he +selected tenderly above the sacred remains of that earthly beauty he +had loved, as he himself said, "more than most men love most women." +</P> + +<P> +He thanked me earnestly, and seemed relieved and satisfied. Casting a +look of farewell around the familiar hall, he wafted a parting kiss +towards the chapel—an action which, though light, was full of +tenderness and regret. Then, with a low salute, he left me. The +street-door opened and closed after him in its usual noiseless manner. +He was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The morning had now fairly dawned, and within the Hotel Mars the work +of the great mansion went on in its usual routine; but a sombre +melancholy was in the atmosphere—a melancholy that not all my best +efforts could dissipate. The domestics looked sullen and heavy-eyed; +the only ones in their number who preserved their usual equanimity were +the Armenian men-servants and the little Greek page. Preparations for +Zara's funeral went on apace; they were exceedingly simple, and the +ceremony was to be quite private in character. Heliobas issued his +orders, and saw to the carrying out of his most minute instructions in +his usual calm manner; but his eyes looked heavy, and his fine +countenance was rendered even more majestic by the sacred, resigned +sorrow that lay upon it like a deep shadow. His page served him with +breakfast in his private room: but he left the light meal untasted. One +of the women brought me coffee; but the very thought of eating and +drinking seemed repulsive, and I could not touch anything. My mind was +busy with the consideration of the duty I had to perform—namely, to +see the destruction of Zara's colossal statue, as she had requested. +After thinking about it for some time, I went to Heliobas and told him +what I had it in charge to do. He listened attentively. +</P> + +<P> +"Do it at once," he said decisively. "Take my Armenians; they are +discreet, obedient, and they ask no questions—with strong hammers they +will soon crush the clay. Stay! I will come with you." Then looking at +me scrutinizingly, he added kindly: "You have eaten nothing, my child? +You cannot? But your strength will give way—here, take this." And lie +held out a small glass of a fluid whose revivifying properties I well +knew to be greater than any sustenance provided by an ordinary meal. I +swallowed it obediently, and as I returned the empty glass to him he +said: "I also have a commission in charge from Zara. You know, I +suppose, that she was prepared for her death?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not know; but I think she must have been," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"She was. We both were. We remained together in the chapel all day, +saying what parting words we had to say to one another. We knew her +death, or rather her release, was to occur at some hour that night; but +in what way the end was destined to come, we knew not. Till I heard the +first peals of thunder, I was in suspense; but after that I was no +longer uncertain. You were a witness of the whole ensuing scene. No +death could have been more painless than hers. But let me not forget +the message she gave me for you." Here he took from a secret drawer the +electric stone Zara had always worn. "This jewel is yours," he said. +"You need not fear to accept it—it contains no harm! it will bring you +no ill-fortune. You see how all the sparkling brilliancy has gone out +of it? Wear it, and within a few minutes it will be as lustrous as +ever. The life throbbing in your veins warms the electricity contained +in it; and with the flowing of your blood, its hues change and glow. It +has no power to attract; it can simply absorb and shine. Take it as a +remembrance of her who loved you and who loves you still." +</P> + +<P> +I was still in my evening dress, and my neck was bare. I slipped the +chain, on which hung the stone, round my throat, and watched the +strange gem with some curiosity. In a few seconds a pale streak of +fiery topaz flashed through it, which deepened and glowed into a warm +crimson, like the heart of a red rose; and by the time it had become +thoroughly warmed against my flesh, it glittered as brilliantly as ever. +</P> + +<P> +"I will always wear it," I said earnestly. "I believe it will bring me +good fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it will," returned Heliobas simply. "And now let us fulfil +Zara's other commands." +</P> + +<P> +On our way across the hall we were stopped by the page, who brought us +a message of inquiry after Zara's health from Colonel Everard and his +wife, and also from the Challoners. Heliobas hastily wrote a few brief +words in pencil, explaining the fatal result of the accident, and +returned it to the messenger, giving orders at the same time that all +the blinds should be pulled down at the windows of the house, that +visitors might understand there was no admittance. We then proceeded to +the studio, accompanied by the Armenians carrying heavy hammers. +Reverently, and with my mind full of recollections of Zara's living +presence, I opened the familiar door. The first thing that greeted us +was a most exquisitely wrought statue in white marble of Zara herself, +full length, and arrayed in her customary graceful Eastern costume. The +head was slightly raised: a look of gladness lighted up the beautiful +features; and within the loosely clasped hands was a cluster of roses. +Bound the pedestal were carved the words, "Omnia vincit Amor," with +Zara's name and the dates of her birth and death. A little slip of +paper lay at the foot of the statue, which Heliobas perceived, and +taking it he read and passed it to me. The lines were in Zara's +handwriting, and ran as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"To my beloved Casimir—my brother, my friend, my guide and teacher, to +whom I owe the supreme happiness of my life in this world and the +next—let this poor figure of his grateful Zara be a memento of happy +days that are gone, only to be renewed with redoubled happiness +hereafter." +</P> + +<P> +I handed back the paper silently, with tears in my eyes, and we turned +our attention to the colossal figure we had come to destroy. It stood +at the extreme end of the studio, and was entirely hidden by white +linen drapery. Heliobas advanced, and by a sudden dexterous movement +succeeded in drawing off the coverings with a single effort, and then +we both fell back and gazed at the clay form disclosed in amazement. +What did it represent? A man? a god? an angel? or all three united in +one vast figure? +</P> + +<P> +It was an unfinished work. The features of the face were undeclared, +save the brow and eyes; and these were large, grand, and full of +absolute wisdom and tranquil consciousness of power. I could have gazed +on this wonderful piece of Zara's handiwork for hours, but Heliobas +called to the Armenian servants, who stood near the door awaiting +orders, and commanded them to break it down. For once these +well-trained domestics showed signs of surprise, and hesitated. Their +master frowned. Snatching a hammer from one of them, he himself +attacked the great statue as if it were a personal foe. The Armenians, +seeing he was in earnest, returned to their usual habits of passive +obedience, and aided him in his labour. Within a few minutes the great +and beautiful figure lay in fragments on the floor, and these fragments +were soon crushed into indistinguishable atoms. I had promised to +witness this work of destruction, and witness it I did, but it was with +pain and regret. When all was finished, Heliobas commanded his men to +carry the statue of Zara's self down to his own private room, and then +to summon all the domestics of the household in a body to the great +hall, as he wished to address them. I heard him give this order with +some surprise, and he saw it. As the Armenians slowly disappeared, +carrying with great care the marble figure of their late mistress, he +turned to me, as he locked up the door of the studio, and said quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"These ignorant folk, who serve me for money and food—money that they +have eagerly taken, and food that they have greedily devoured—they +think that I am the devil or one of the devil's agents, and I am going +to prove their theories entirely to their satisfaction. Come and see!" +</P> + +<P> +I followed him, somewhat mystified. On the way downstairs he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know why Zara wished that statue destroyed?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I said frankly; "unless for the reason that it was incomplete." +</P> + +<P> +"It always would have been incomplete," returned Heliobas; "even had +she lived to work at it for years. It was a daring attempt, and a +fruitless one. She was trying to make a clay figure of one who never +wore earthly form—the Being who is her Twin-Soul, who dominates her +entirely, and who is with her now. As well might she have tried to +represent in white marble the prismatic hues of the rainbow!" +</P> + +<P> +We had now reached the hall, and the servants were assembling by twos +and threes. They glanced at their master with looks of awe, as he took +up a commanding position near the fountain, and faced them with a +glance of calm scrutiny and attention. I drew a chair behind one of the +marble columns and seated myself, watching everything with interest. +Leo appeared from some corner or other, and laid his rough body down +close at his master's feet. +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes all the domestics, some twenty in number, were +present, and Heliobas, raising his voice, spoke with a clear deliberate +enunciation: +</P> + +<P> +"I have sent for you all this morning, because I am perfectly aware +that you have all determined to give me notice." +</P> + +<P> +A stir of astonishment and dismay ensued on the part of the small +audience, and I heard one voice near me whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"He IS the devil, or how could he have known it?" +</P> + +<P> +The lips of Heliobas curled in a fine sarcastic smile. He went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I spare you this trouble. Knowing your intentions, I take upon myself +to dismiss you at once. Naturally, you cannot risk your characters by +remaining in the service of the devil. For my own part, I wonder the +devil's money has not burnt your hands, or his food turned to poison in +your mouths. My sister, your kind and ever-indulgent mistress, is dead. +You know this, and it is your opinion that I summoned up the +thunderstorm which caused her death. Be it so. Report it so, if you +will, through Paris; your words do not affect me. You have been +excellent machines, and for your services many thanks! As soon as my +sister's funeral is over, your wages, with an additional present, will +be sent to you. You can then leave my house when you please; and, +contrary to the usual custom of accepted devils, I am able to say, +without perishing in the effort—God speed you all!" +</P> + +<P> +The faces of those he addressed exhibited various emotions while he +spoke—fear contending with a good deal of shame. The little Greek page +stepped forward timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"The master knows that I will never leave him," he murmured, and his +large eyes were moist with tears. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas laid a gentle hand on the boy's dark curls, but said nothing. +One of the four Armenians advanced, and with a graceful rapid gesture +of his right hand, touched his head and breast. +</P> + +<P> +"My lord will not surely dismiss US who desire to devote ourselves to +his service? We are willing to follow my lord to the death if need be, +for the sake of the love and honour we bear him." +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas looked at him very kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am richer in friends than I thought myself to be," he said quietly. +"Stay then, by all means, Afra, you and your companions, since you have +desired it. And you, my boy," he went on, addressing the tearful page, +"think you that I would turn adrift an orphan, whom a dying mother +trusted to my care? Nay, child, I am as much your servant as you are +mine, so long as your love turns towards me." +</P> + +<P> +For all answer the page kissed his hand in a sort of rapture, and +flinging back his clustering hair from his classic brows, surveyed the +domestics, who had taken their dismissal in silent acquiescence, with a +pretty scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, all of you, scum of Paris!" he cried in his clear treble +tones—"you who know neither God nor devil! You will have your +money—more than your share—what else seek you? You have served one of +the noblest of men; and because he is so great and wise and true, you +judge him a fiend! Oh, so like the people of Paris—they who pervert +all things till they think good evil and evil good! Look you! you have +worked for your wages; but I have worked for HIM—I would starve with +him, I would die for him! For to me he is not fiend, but Angel!" +</P> + +<P> +Overcome by his own feelings the boy again kissed his master's hand, +and Heliobas gently bade him be silent. He himself looked round on the +still motionless group of servants with an air of calm surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Consider yourselves dismissed, +and at liberty to go where you please. Any one of you that chooses to +apply to me for a character shall not lack the suitable recommendation. +There is no more to say." +</P> + +<P> +A lively-looking woman with quick restless black eyes stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure," she said, with a mincing curtsey, "that we are very sorry +if we have unintentionally wronged monsieur; but monsieur, who is aware +of so many things, must know that many reports are circulated about +monsieur that make one to shudder; that madame his sister's death so +lamentable has given to all, what one would say, the horrors; and +monsieur must consider that poor servants of virtuous reputation—" +</P> + +<P> +"So, Jeanne Claudet!" interrupted Heliobas, in a thrilling low tone. +"And what of the child—the little waxen-faced helpless babe left to +die on the banks of the Loire? But it did not die, Jeanne—it was +rescued; and it shall yet live to loathe its mother!" +</P> + +<P> +The woman uttered a shriek, and fainted. +</P> + +<P> +In the feminine confusion and fuss that ensued, Heliobas, accompanied +by his little page and the dog Leo, left the hall and entered his own +private room, where for some time I left him undisturbed. +</P> + +<P> +In the early part of the afternoon a note was brought to me. It was +from Colonel Everard, entreating me to come as soon as possible to his +wife, who was very ill. +</P> + +<P> +"Since she heard of the death of that beautiful young lady, a death so +fearfully sudden and unexpected," wrote the Colonel, "she has been +quite unlike herself—nervous, hysterical, and thoroughly unstrung. It +will be a real kindness to her if you will come as soon as you can—she +has such, a strong desire for your company." +</P> + +<P> +I showed this note at once to Heliobas. He read it, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you must go. Wait till our simple funeral ceremony is over, +and then—we part. Not for ever; I shall see you often again. For now I +have lost Zara, you are my only female disciple, and I shall not +willingly lose sight of you. You will correspond with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gladly and gratefully," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall not lose by it. I can initiate you into many secrets that +will be useful to you in your career. As for your friend Mrs. Everard, +you will find that your presence will cure her. You have progressed +greatly in electric force: the mere touch of your hand will soothe her, +as you will find. But never be tempted to try any of the fluids of +which you have the recipes on her, or on anybody but yourself, unless +you write to me first about it, as Cellini did when he tried an +experiment on you. As for your own bodily and spiritual health, you +know thoroughly what to do—KEEP THE SECRET; and make a step in advance +every day. By-and-by you will have double work." +</P> + +<P> +"How so?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"In Zara's case, her soul became dominated by a Spirit whose destiny +was fulfilled and perfect, and who never could descend to imprisonment +in earthly clay. Now, you will not be dominated—you will be simply +EQUALIZED; that is, you will find the exact counterpart of your own +soul dwelling also in human form, and you will have to impart your own +force to that other soul, which will, in its turn, impart to yours a +corresponding electric impetus. There is no union so lovely as such an +one—no harmony so exquisite; it is like a perfect chord, complete and +indissoluble. There are sevenths and ninths in music, beautiful and +effective in their degrees; but perhaps none of them are so absolutely +satisfying to the ear as the perfect chord. And this is your lot in +life and in love, my child—be grateful for it night and morning on +your bended knees before the Giver of all good. And walk warily—your +own soul with that other shall need much thought and humble prayer. Aim +onward and upward—you know the road—you also know, and you have +partly seen, what awaits you at the end." +</P> + +<P> +After this conversation we spoke no more in private together. The rest +of the afternoon was entirely occupied with the final preparations for +Zara's funeral, which was to take place at Pere-la-Chaise early the +next morning. A large and beautiful wreath of white roses, lilies, and +maiden-hair arrived from Prince Ivan; and, remembering my promise to +him, I went myself to lay it in a conspicuous place on Zara's corpse. +That fair body was now laid in its coffin of polished oak, and a +delicate veil of filmy lace draped it from head to foot. The placid +expression of the features remained unchanged, save for a little extra +rigidity of the flesh; the hands, folded over the crucifix, were stiff, +and looked as though they were moulded in wax. I placed the wreath in +position and paused, looking wistfully at that still and solemn figure. +Father Paul, slowly entering from a side-door, came and stood beside me. +</P> + +<P> +"She is happy!" he said; and a cheerful expression irradiated his +venerable features. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you also know she would die that night?" I asked softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Her brother sent for me, and told me of her expected dissolution. She +herself told me, and made her last confession and communion. Therefore +I was prepared." +</P> + +<P> +"But did you not doubt—were you not inclined to think they might be +wrong?" I inquired, with some astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew Heliobas as a child," the priest returned. "I knew his father +and mother before him; and I have been always perfectly aware of the +immense extent of his knowledge, and the value of his discoveries. If I +were inclined to be sceptical on spiritual matters, I should not be of +the race I am; for I am also a Chaldean." +</P> + +<P> +I said no more, and Father Paul trimmed the tapers burning round the +coffin in devout silence. Again I looked at the fair dead form before +me; but somehow I could not feel sad again. All my impulses bade me +rejoice. Why should I be unhappy on Zara's account?—more especially +when the glories of the Central Sphere were yet fresh in my memory, and +when I knew as a positive fact that her happiness was now perfect. I +left the chapel with a light step and lighter heart, and went to my own +room to pack up my things that all might be in readiness for my +departure on the morrow. On my table I found a volume whose quaint +binding I at once recognised—"The Letters of a Dead Musician." A card +lay beside it, on which was written in pencil: +</P> + +<P> +"Knowing of your wish to possess this book, I herewith offer it for +your acceptance. It teaches you a cheerful devotion to Art, and an +indifference to the world's opinions—both of which are necessary to +you in your career.—HELIOBAS." +</P> + +<P> +Delighted with this gift, I opened the book, and found my name written +on the fly-leaf, with the date of the month and year, and the words: +</P> + +<P> +"La musica e il lamento dell' amore o la preghiera a gli Dei." (Music +is the lament of love, or a prayer to the Gods.) +</P> + +<P> +I placed this treasure carefully in a corner of my portmanteau, +together with the parchment scrolls containing "The Electric Principle +of Christianity," and the valuables recipes of Heliobas; and as I did +so, I caught sight of myself in the long mirror that directly faced me. +I was fascinated, not by my own reflection, but by the glitter of the +electric gem I wore. It flashed and glowed like a star, and was really +lovely—far more brilliant than the most brilliant cluster of fine +diamonds. I may here remark that I have been asked many questions +concerning this curious ornament whenever I have worn it in public, and +the general impression has been that it is some new arrangement of +ornamental electricity. It is, however, nothing of the kind; it is +simply a clear pebble, common enough on the shores of tropical +countries, which has the property of absorbing a small portion of the +electricity in a human body, sufficient to make it shine with prismatic +and powerful lustre—a property which has only as yet been discovered +by Heliobas, who asserts that the same capability exists in many other +apparently lustreless stones which have been untried, and are therefore +unknown. The "healing stones," or amulets, still in use in the East, +and also in the remote parts of the Highlands (see notes to Archibald +Clerk's translation of 'Ossian'), are also electric, but in a different +way—they have the property of absorbing DISEASE and destroying it in +certain cases; and these, after being worn a suitable length of time, +naturally exhaust what virtue they originally possessed, and are no +longer of any use. Stone amulets are considered nowadays as a mere +superstition of the vulgar and uneducated; but it must be remembered +that superstition itself has always had for it a foundation some grain, +however small and remote, of fact. I could give a very curious +explanation of the formation of ORCHIDS, those strange plants called +sometimes "Freaks of Nature," as if Nature ever indulged in a "freak" +of any kind! But I have neither time nor space to enter upon the +subject now; indeed, if I were once to begin to describe the wonderful, +amazing and beautiful vistas of knowledge that the wise Chaldean, who +is still my friend and guide, has opened up and continues to extend +before my admiring vision, a work of twenty volumes would scarce +contain all I should have to say. But I have written this book merely +to tell those who peruse it, about Heliobas, and what I myself +experienced in his house; beyond this I may not go. For, as, I observed +in my introduction, I am perfectly aware that few, if any, of my +readers will accept my narrative as more than a mere visionary +romance—or that they will admit the mysteries of life, death, +eternity, and all the wonders of the Universe to be simply the NATURAL +AND SCIENTIFIC OUTCOME OF A RING OF EVERLASTING ELECTRIC HEAT AND +LIGHT; but whether they agree to it or no, I can say with Galileo, "E +pur si muove!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONCLUSION. +</H3> + +<P> +It was a very simple and quiet procession that moved next day from the +Hotel Mars to Pere-la-Chaise. Zara's coffin was carried in an open +hearse, and was covered with a pall of rich white velvet, on which lay +a royal profusion of flowers—Ivan's wreath, and a magnificent cross of +lilies sent by tender-hearted Mrs. Challoner, being most conspicuous +among them. The only thing a little unusual about it was that the +funeral car was drawn by two stately WHITE horses; and Heliobas told me +this had been ordered at Zara's special request, as she thought the +solemn pacing through the streets of dismal black steeds had a +depressing effect on the passers-by. +</P> + +<P> +"And why," she had said, "should anybody be sad, when <I>I</I> in reality am +so thoroughly happy?" +</P> + +<P> +Prince Ivan Petroffsky had left Paris, but his carriage, drawn by two +prancing Russian steeds, followed the hearse at a respectful distance, +as also the carriage of Dr. Morini, and some other private persons +known to Heliobas. A few people attended it on foot, and these were +chiefly from among the very poor, some of whom had benefited by Zara's +charity or her brother's medical skill, and had heard of the calamity +through rumour, or through the columns of the Figaro, where it was +reported with graphic brevity. The weather was still misty, and the +fiery sun seemed to shine through tears as Father Paul, with his +assistants, read in solemn yet cheerful tones the service for the dead +according to the Catholic ritual. One of the chief mourners at the +grave was the faithful Leo; who, without obtruding himself in anyone's +way, sat at a little distance, and seemed, by the confiding look with +which he turned his eyes upon his master, to thoroughly understand that +he must henceforth devote his life entirely to him alone. The coffin +was lowered, the "Requiem aeternam" spoken—all was over. Those +assembled shook hands quietly with Heliobas, saluted each other, and +gradually dispersed. I entered a carriage and drove back to the Hotel +Mars, leaving Heliobas in the cemetery to give his final instructions +for the ornamentation and decoration of his sister's grave. +</P> + +<P> +The little page served me with some luncheon in my own apartment, and +by the time all was ready for my departure, Heliobas returned. I went +down to him in his study, and found him sitting pensively in his +arm-chair, absorbed in thought. He looked sad and solitary, and my +whole heart went out to him in gratitude and sympathy. I knelt beside +him as a daughter might have done, and softly kissed his hand. +</P> + +<P> +He started as though awakened suddenly from sleep, and seeing me, his +eyes softened, and he smiled gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you come to say 'Good-bye,' my child?" he asked, in a kind tone. +"Well, your mission here is ended!" +</P> + +<P> +"Had I any mission at all," I replied, with a grateful look, "save the +very selfish one which was comprised in the natural desire to be +restored to health?" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas surveyed me for a few moments in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Were I to tell you," he said at last, "by what mystical authority and +influence you were compelled to come here, by what a marvellously +linked chain of circumstances you became known to me long before I saw +you; how I was made aware that you were the only woman living to whose +companionship I could trust my sister at a time when the society of one +of her own sex became absolutely necessary to her; how you were marked +out to me as a small point of light by which possibly I might steer my +course clear of the darkness which threatened me—I say, were I to tell +you all this, you would no longer doubt the urgent need of your +presence here. It is, however, enough to tell you that you have +fulfilled all that was expected of you, even beyond my best hopes; and +in return for your services, the worth of which you cannot realize, +whatever guidance I can give you in the future for your physical and +spiritual life, is yours. I have done something for you, but not +much—I will do more. Only, in communicating with me, I ask you to +honour me with your full confidence in all matters pertaining to +yourself and your surroundings—then I shall not be liable to errors of +judgment in the opinions I form or the advice I give." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise most readily," I replied gladly, for it seemed to me that I +was rich in possessing as a friend and counsellor such a man as this +student of the loftiest sciences. +</P> + +<P> +"And now one thing more," he resumed, opening a drawer in the table +near which he sat. "Here is a pencil for you to write your letters to +me with. It will last about ten years, and at the expiration of that +time you can have another. Write with it on any paper, and the marks +will be like those of an ordinary drawing-pencil; but as fast as they +are written they disappear. Trouble not about this circumstance—write +all you have to say, and when you have finished your letter your +closely covered pages shall seem blank. Therefore, were the eye of a +stranger to look at them, nothing could be learned therefrom. But when +they reach me, I can make the writing appear and stand out on these +apparently unsullied pages as distinctly as though your words had been +printed. My letters to you will also, when you receive them, appear +blank; but you will only have to press them for about ten minutes in +this"—and he handed me what looked like an ordinary +blotting-book—"and they will be perfectly legible. Cellini has these +little writing implements; he uses them whenever the distances are too +great for us to amuse ourselves with the sagacity of Leo—in fact the +journeys of that faithful animal have principally been to keep him in +training." +</P> + +<P> +"But," I said, as I took the pencil and book from his hand, "why do you +not make these convenient writing materials public property? They would +be so useful." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I build up a fortune for some needy stationer?" he asked, +with a half-smile. "Besides, they are not new things. They were known +to the ancients, and many secret letters, laws, histories, and poems +were written with instruments such as these. In an old library, +destroyed more than two centuries ago, there was a goodly pile of +apparently blank parchment. Had I lived then and known what I know now, +I could have made the white pages declare their mystery." +</P> + +<P> +"Has this also to do with electricity?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly—with what is called vegetable electricity. There is not a +plant or herb in existence, but has almost a miracle hidden away in its +tiny cup or spreading leaves—do you doubt it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not I!" I answered quickly. "I doubt nothing!" +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"You are right!" he said. "Doubt is the destroyer of beauty—the poison +in the sweet cup of existence—the curse which mankind have brought on +themselves. Avoid it as you would the plague. Believe in anything or +everything miraculous and glorious—the utmost reach of your faith can +with difficulty grasp the majestic reality and perfection of everything +you can see, desire, or imagine. Mistrust that volatile thing called +Human Reason, which is merely a name for whatever opinion we happen to +adopt for the time—it is a thing which totters on its throne in a fit +of rage or despair—there is nothing infinite about it. Guide yourself +by the delicate Spiritual Instinct within you, which tells you that +with God all things are possible, save that He cannot destroy Himself +or lessen by one spark the fiery brilliancy of his ever-widening circle +of productive Intelligence. But make no attempt to convert the world to +your way of thinking—it would be mere waste of time." +</P> + +<P> +"May I never try to instruct anyone in these things?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You can try, if you choose; but you will find most human beings like +the herd of swine in the Gospel, possessed by devils that drive them +headlong into the sea. You know, for instance, that angels and aerial +spirits actually exist; but were you to assert your belief in them, +philosophers (so-called) would scout your theories as absurd,—though +their idea of a LONELY God, who yet is Love, is the very acme of +absurdity. For Love MUST have somewhat to love, and MUST create the +beauty and happiness round itself and the things beloved. But why point +out these simple things to those who have no desire to see? Be content, +child, that YOU have been deemed worthy of instruction—it is a higher +fate for you than if you had been made a Queen." +</P> + +<P> +The little page now entered, and told me that the carriage was at the +door in waiting. As he disappeared again after delivering this message, +Heliobas rose from his chair, and taking my two hands in his, pressed +them kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"One word more, little friend, on the subject of your career. I think +the time will come when you will feel that music is almost too sacred a +thing to be given away for money to a careless and promiscuous public. +However this may be, remember that scarce one of the self-styled +artists who cater for the crowd deserves to be called MUSICIAN in the +highest sense of the word. Most of them seek not music, but money and +applause; and therefore the art they profess is degraded by them into a +mere trade. But you, when you play in public, must forget that PERSONS +with little vanities and lesser opinions exist. Think of what you saw +in your journey with Azul; and by a strong effort of your will, you +can, if you choose, COMPEL certain harmonies to sound in your +ears—fragments of what is common breathing air to the Children of the +Ring, some of whom you saw—and you will be able to reproduce them in +part, if not in entirety. But if you once admit a thought of Self to +enter your brain, those aerial sounds will be silenced instantly. By +this means, too, you can judge who are the true disciples of music in +this world—those who, like Schubert and Chopin, suffered the +heaven-born melodies to descend THROUGH them as though they were mere +conductors of sound; or those who, feebly imitating other composers, +measure out crotchets and quavers by rule and line, and flood the world +with inane and perishable, and therefore useless, productions. And +now,—farewell." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remain in Paris?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"For a few days only. I shall go to Egypt, and in travelling accustom +myself to the solitude in which I must dwell, now Zara has left me." +</P> + +<P> +"You have Azul," I ventured to remark. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! but how often do I see her? Only when my soul for an instant is +clear from all earthly and gross obstruction; and how seldom I can +attain to this result while weighted with my body! But she is near +me—that I know—faithful as the star to the mariner's compass!" +</P> + +<P> +He raised his head as he spoke, and his eyes flashed. Never had I seen +him look more noble or kingly. The inspired radiance of his face +softened down into his usual expression of gentleness and courtesy, and +he said, offering me his arm: +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see you to the carriage. You know, it is not an actual parting +with us—I intend that we shall meet frequently. For instance, the next +time we exchange pleasant greetings will be in Italy." +</P> + +<P> +I suppose I looked surprised; I certainly felt so, for nothing was +further from my thoughts than a visit to Italy. +</P> + +<P> +Heliobas smiled, and said in a tone that was almost gay: +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I draw the picture for you? I see a fair city, deep embowered in +hills and sheltered by olive-groves. Over it beams a broad sky, deeply +blue; many soft bells caress the summer air. Away in the Cascine Woods +a gay party of people are seated on the velvety moss; they have +mandolins, and they sing for pure gaiety of heart. One of them, a woman +with fair hair, arrayed in white, with a red rose at her bosom, is +gathering the wild flowers that bloom around her, and weaving them into +posies for her companions. A stranger, pacing slowly, book in hand, +through the shady avenue, sees her—her eyes meet his. She springs up +to greet him; he takes her hand. The woman is yourself; the stranger no +other than your poor friend, who now, for a brief space, takes leave of +you!" +</P> + +<P> +So rapidly had he drawn up this picture, that the impression made on me +was as though a sudden vision had been shown to me in a magic glass. I +looked at him earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then our next meeting will be happy?" I said inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course. Why not? And the next—and the next after that also!" he +answered. +</P> + +<P> +At this reply, so frankly given, I was relieved, and accompanied him +readily through the hall towards the street-door. Leo met us here, and +intimated, as plainly as a human being could have done, his wish to bid +me good-bye. I stooped and kissed his broad head and patted him +affectionately, and was rewarded for these attentions by seeing his +plume-like tail wave slowly to and fro—a sign of pleasure the poor +animal had not betrayed since Zara's departure from the scene of her +earthly imprisonment. +</P> + +<P> +At the door the pretty Greek boy handed me a huge basket of the +loveliest flowers. +</P> + +<P> +"The last from the conservatory," said Heliobas. "I shall need no more +of these luxuries." +</P> + +<P> +As I entered the carriage he placed the flowers beside me, and again +took my hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, my child!" he said, in earnest and kindly tones. "I have +your address, and will write you all my movements. In any trouble, +small or great, of your own, send to me for advice without hesitation. +I can tell you already that I foresee the time when you will resign +altogether the precarious and unsatisfactory life of a mere +professional musician. You think no other career would be possible to +you? Well, you will see! A few months will decide all. Good-bye again; +God bless you!" +</P> + +<P> +The carriage moved off, and Heliobas stood on the steps of his mansion +watching it out of sight. To the last I saw his stately figure erect in +the light of the winter sunshine—a figure destined from henceforth to +occupy a prominent position in my life and memory. The regret I felt at +parting from him was greatly mitigated by the assurance he gave me of +our future meeting, a promise which has since been fulfilled, and is +likely soon to be fulfilled again. That I have such a friend is an +advantageous circumstance for me, for through his guidance I am able to +judge accurately of many things occurring in the course of the daily +life around me—things which, seemingly trivial, are the hints of +serious results to come, which, I am thus permitted in part to foresee. +There is a drawback, of course, and the one bitter drop in the cup of +knowledge is, that the more I progress under the tuition of Heliobas, +the less am I deceived by graceful appearances. I perceive with almost +cruel suddenness the true characters of all those whom I meet. No smile +of lip or eye can delude me into accepting mere surface-matter for real +depth, and it is intensely painful for me to be forced to behold +hypocrisy in the expression of the apparently devout—sensuality in the +face of some radiantly beautiful and popular woman—vice under the mask +of virtue—self-interest in the guise of friendship, and spite and +malice springing up like a poisonous undergrowth beneath the words of +elegant flattery or dainty compliment. I often wish I could throw a +rose-coloured mist of illusion over all these things and still more +earnestly do I wish I could in a single instance find myself mistaken. +But alas! the fatal finger of the electric instinct within me points +out unerringly the flaw in every human diamond, and writes "SHAM" +across many a cunningly contrived imitation of intelligence and +goodness. Still, the grief I feel at this is counterbalanced in part by +the joy with which I quickly recognize real virtue, real nobility, real +love; and when these attributes flash out upon me from the faces of +human beings, my own soul warms, and I know I have seen a vision as of +angels. The capability of Heliobas to foretell future events proved +itself in his knowledge of the fate of the famous English hero, Gordon, +long before that brave soldier met his doom. At the time the English +Government sent him out on his last fatal mission, a letter from +Heliobas to me contained the following passage: +</P> + +<P> +"I see Gordon has chosen his destiny and the manner of his death. Two +ways of dying have been offered him—one that is slow, painful, and +inglorious; the other sudden, and therefore sweeter to a man of his +temperament. He himself is perfectly aware of the approaching end of +his career; he will receive his release at Khartoum. England will +lament over him for a little while, and then he will be declared an +inspired madman, who rushed recklessly on his own doom; while those who +allowed him to be slain will be voted the wisest, the most just and +virtuous in the realm." +</P> + +<P> +This prophecy was carried out to the letter, as I fully believe certain +things of which I am now informed will also be fulfilled. But though +there are persons who pin their faith on "Zadkiel," I doubt if there +are any who will believe in such a thing as ELECTRIC DIVINATION. The +one is mere vulgar imposture, the other is performed on a purely +scientific basis in accordance with certain existing rules and +principles; yet I think there can be no question as to which of the two +the public en masse is likely to prefer. On the whole, people do not +mind being deceived; they hate being instructed, and the trouble of +thinking for themselves is almost too much for them. Therefore +"Zadkiel" is certain to flourish for many and many a long day, while +the lightning instinct of prophecy dormant in every human being remains +unused and utterly forgotten except by the rare few. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +I have little more to say. I feel that those among my readers who idly +turn over these pages, expecting to find a "NOVEL" in the true +acceptation of the term, may be disappointed. My narrative is simply an +"experience:" but I have no wish to persuade others of the central +truth contained in it—namely, THE EXISTENCE OF POWERFUL ELECTRIC +ORGANS IN EVERY HUMAN BEING, WHICH WITH PROPER CULTIVATION ARE CAPABLE +OF MARVELLOUS SPIRITUAL FORCE. The time is not yet ripe for this fact +to be accepted. +</P> + +<P> +The persons connected with this story may be dismissed in a few words. +When I joined my friend Mrs. Everard, she was suffering from nervous +hysteria. My presence had the soothing effect Heliobas had assured me +of, and in a very few days we started from Paris in company for +England. She, with her amiable and accomplished husband, went back to +the States a few months since to claim an immense fortune, which they +are now enjoying as most Americans enjoy wealth. Amy has diamonds to +her heart's content, and toilettes galore from Worth's; but she has no +children, and from the tone of her letters to me, I fancy she would +part with one at least of her valuable necklaces to have a small pair +of chubby arms round her neck, and a soft little head nestling against +her bosom. +</P> + +<P> +Raffaello Cellini still lives and works; his paintings are among the +marvels of modern Italy for their richness and warmth of colour—colour +which, in spite of his envious detractors, is destined to last through +ages. He is not very rich, for he is one of those who give away their +substance to the poor and the distressed; but where he is known he is +universally beloved. None of his pictures have yet been exhibited in +England, and he is in no hurry to call upon the London critics for +their judgment. He has been asked several times to sell his large +picture, "Lords of our Life and Death," but he will not. I have never +met him since our intercourse at Cannes, but I hear of him frequently +through Heliobas, who has recently forwarded me a proof engraving of +the picture "L'Improvisatrice," for which I sat as model. It is a +beautiful work of art, but that it is like ME I am not vain enough to +admit. I keep it, not as a portrait of myself, but as a souvenir of the +man through whose introduction I gained the best friend I have. +</P> + +<P> +News of Prince Ivan Petroffsky reaches me frequently. He is possessor +of the immense wealth foretold by Heliobas; the eyes of Society +greedily follows his movements; his name figures conspicuously in the +"Fashionable Intelligence;" and the magnificence of his recent marriage +festivities was for some time the talk of the Continent. He has married +the only daughter of a French Duke—a lovely creature, as soulless and +heartless as a dressmaker's stuffed model; but she carries his jewels +well on her white bosom, and receives his guests with as much dignity +as a well-trained major-domo. These qualities suffice to satisfy her +husband at present; how long his satisfaction will last is another +matter. He has not quite forgotten Zara; for on every recurring Jour +des Morts, or Feast of the Dead, he sends a garland or cross of flowers +to the simple grave in Pere-la-Chaise. Heliobas watches his career with +untiring vigilance; nor can I myself avoid taking a certain interest in +the progress of his fate. At the moment I write he is one of the most +envied and popular noblemen in all the Royal Courts of Europe; and no +one thinks of asking him whether he is happy. He MUST be happy, says +the world; he has everything that is needed to make him so. Everything? +yes—all except one thing, for which he will long when the shadow of +the end draws near. +</P> + +<P> +And now what else remains? A brief farewell to those who have perused +this narrative, or a lingering parting word? +</P> + +<P> +In these days of haste and scramble, when there is no time for faith, +is there time for sentiment? I think not. And therefore there shall be +none between my readers and me, save this—a friendly warning. +Belief—belief in God—belief in all things noble, unworldly, lofty, +and beautiful, is rapidly being crushed underfoot by—what? By mere +lust of gain! Be sure, good people, be very sure that you are RIGHT in +denying God for the sake of man—in abjuring the spiritual for the +material—before you rush recklessly onward. The end for all of you can +be but death; and are you quite positive after all that there is NO +Hereafter? Is it sense to imagine that the immense machinery of the +Universe has been set in motion for nothing? Is it even common reason +to consider that the Soul of man, with all its high musings, its dreams +of unseen glory, its longings after the Infinite, is a mere useless +vapour, or a set of shifting molecules in a perishable brain? The mere +fact of the EXISTENCE OF A DESIRE clearly indicates an EQUALLY EXISTING +CAPACITY for the GRATIFICATION of that desire; therefore, I ask, would +the WISH for a future state of being, which is secretly felt by every +one of us, have been permitted to find a place in our natures, IF THERE +WERE NO POSSIBLE MEANS OF GRANTING IT? Why all this discontent with the +present—why all this universal complaint and despair and +world-weariness, if there be NO HEREAFTER? For my own part, I have told +you frankly WHAT I HAVE SEEN and WHAT I KNOW; but I do not ask you to +believe me. I only say, IF—IF you admit to yourselves the possibility +of a future and eternal state of existence, would it not be well for +you to inquire seriously how you are preparing for it in these wild +days? Look at society around you, and ask yourselves: Whither is our +"PROGRESS" tending—Forward or Backward—Upward or Downward? Which way? +Fight the problem out. Do not glance at it casually, or put it away as +an unpleasant thought, or a consideration involving too much +trouble—struggle with it bravely till you resolve it, and whatever the +answer may be, ABIDE BY IT. If it leads you to deny God and the +immortal destinies of your own souls, and you find hereafter, when it +is too late, that both God and immortality exist, you have only +yourselves to blame. We are the arbiters of our own fate, and that fact +is the most important one of our lives. Our WILL is positively +unfettered; it is a rudder put freely into our hands, and with it we +can steer WHEREVER WE CHOOSE. God will not COMPEL our love or +obedience. We must ourselves DESIRE to love and obey—DESIRE IT ABOVE +ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD. +</P> + +<P> +As for the Electric Origin of the Universe, a time is coming when +scientific men will acknowledge it to be the only theory of Creation +worthy of acceptance. All the wonders of Nature are the result of LIGHT +AND HEAT ALONE—i.e., are the work of the Electric Ring I have +endeavoured to describe, which MUST go on producing, absorbing and +reproducing worlds, suns and systems for ever and ever. The Ring, in +its turn, is merely the outcome of God's own personality—the +atmosphere surrounding the World in which He has His existence—a World +created by Love and for Love alone. I cannot force this theory on +public attention, which is at present claimed by various learned +professors, who give ingenious explanations of "atoms" and "molecules;" +yet, even regarding these same "atoms," the mild question may be put: +Where did the FIRST "atom" come from? Some may answer: "We call the +first atom GOD." Surely it is as well to call Him a Spirit of pure +Light as an atom? However, the fact of one person's being convinced of +a truth will not, I am aware, go very far to convince others. I have +related my "experience" exactly as it happened at the time, and my +readers can accept or deny the theories of Heliobas as they please. +Neither denial, acceptance, criticism, nor incredulity can affect ME +personally, inasmuch as I am not Heliobas, but simply the narrator of +an episode connected with him; and as such, my task is finished. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="appendix"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX. +</H3> + +<P> +[In publishing these selections from letters received concerning the +"Romance," I am in honour bound not to disclose the names of my +correspondents, and this necessary reticence will no doubt induce the +incredulous to declare that they are not genuine epistles, but mere +inventions of my own. I am quite prepared for such a possible +aspersion, and in reply, I can but say that I hold the originals in my +possession, and that some of them have been read by my friend Mr. +George Bentley, under whose auspices this book has been successfully +launched on the sea of public favour. I may add that my correspondents +are all strangers to me personally—not one of them have I ever met. A +few have indeed asked me to accord them interviews, but this request I +invariably deny, not wishing to set myself forward in any way as an +exponent of high doctrine in which I am as yet but a beginner and +student.—AUTHOR.] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER I. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAR MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"You must receive so many letters that I feel it is almost a shame to +add to the number, but I cannot resist writing to tell you how very +much your book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds,' has helped me. My dear +friend Miss F——, who has written to you lately I believe, first read +it to me, and I cannot tell you what a want in my life it seemed to +fill up. I have been always interested in the so-called Supernatural, +feeling very conscious of depths in my own self and in others that are +usually ignored. ... I have been reading as many books as I could +obtain upon Theosophy, but though thankful for the high thoughts I +found in them, I still felt a great want—that of combining this occult +knowledge with my own firm belief in the Christian religion. Your book +seemed to give me just what I wanted—IT HAS DEEPENED AND STRENGTHENED +MY BELIEF IN AND LOVE TO GOD AND HAS MADE THE NEW TESTAMENT A NEW BOOK +TO ME. Things which I could not understand before seem clear in the +light which your 'Vision' has thrown upon them, and I cannot remain +satisfied without expressing to you my sincere gratitude. May your book +be read by all who are ready to receive the high truths that it +contains! With thanks, I remain, dear Madam, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Yours sincerely, + M. S."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER II. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid you will think it very presumptuous of a stranger to +address you, but I have lately read your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and have been much struck with it. It has opened my mind to +such new impressions, and seems to be so much what I have been groping +for so long, that I thought if you would be kind enough to answer this, +I might get a firmer hold on those higher things and be at anchor at +last. If you have patience to read so far, you will imagine I must be +very much in earnest to intrude myself on you like this, but from the +tone of your book I do not believe you would withdraw your hand where +you could do good. ... I never thought of or read of the electric force +(or spirit) in every human being before, but I do believe in it after +reading your book, and YOU HAVE MADE THE NEXT WORLD A LIVING THING TO +ME, and raised my feelings above the disappointments and trials of this +life. ... Your book was put into my hands at a time when I was deeply +distressed and in trouble about my future; but you have shown me how +small a thing this future of OUR life is. ... Would it be asking too +much of you to name any books you think might help me in this new vein +of thought you have given me? Apologizing for having written, believe +me yours sincerely, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"B. W. L." +</P> + +<P> +[I answered to the best of my ability the writer of the above, and +later on received another letter as follows:] +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive my writing to you again on the subject of your 'Romance,' but +I read it so often and think of it so much. I cannot say the wonderful +change your book has wrought in my life, and though very likely you are +constantly hearing of the good it has done, yet it cannot but be the +sweetest thing you can hear—that the seed you have planted is bringing +forth so much fruit. ... The Bible is a new book to me since your work +came into my hands." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER III. +</P> + +<P> +[The following terribly pathetic avowal is from a clergyman of the +Church of England: ] +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"Your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds,' has stopped me on the brink of +what is doubtless a crime, and yet I had come to think it the only way +out of impending madness. I speak of self-destruction—suicide. And +while writing the word, I beg of you to accept my gratitude for the +timely rescue of my soul. Once I believed in the goodness of God—but +of late years the cry of modern scientific atheism, 'There is NO God,' +has rung in my ears till my brain has reeled at the desolation and +nothingness of the Universe. No good, no hope, no satisfaction in +anything—this world only with all its mockery and failure—and +afterwards annihilation! Could a God design and create so poor and +cruel a jest? So I thought—and the misery of the thought was more than +I could bear. I had resolved to make an end. No one knew, no one +guessed my intent, till one Sunday afternoon a friend lent me your +book. I began to read, and never left it till I had finished the last +page—then I knew I was saved. Life smiled again upon me in consoling +colours, and I write to tell you that whatever other good your work may +do and is no doubt doing, you have saved both the life and reason of +one grateful human being. If you will write to me a few lines I shall +be still more grateful, for I feel you can help me. I seem to have read +Christ's mission wrong—but with patience and prayer it is possible to +redeem my error. Once more thanking you, I am, +</P> + +<P> +"Yours with more thankfulness than I can write, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"L. E. F." +</P> + +<P> +[I lost no time in replying to this letter, and since then have +frequently corresponded with the writer, from whose troubled mind the +dark cloud has now entirely departed. And I may here venture to remark +that the evils of "modern scientific atheism" are far more widely +spread and deeply rooted than the majority of persons are aware of, and +that many of the apparently inexplicable cases of self-slaughter on +which the formal verdict, "Suicide during a state of temporary +insanity," is passed, have been caused by long and hopeless brooding on +the "nothingness of the Universe"—which, if it were a true theory, +would indeed make of Creation a bitter, nay, even a senseless jest. The +cruel preachers of such a creed have much to answer for. The murderer +who destroys human life for wicked passion and wantonness is less +criminal than the proudly learned, yet egotistical, and therefore +densely ignorant scientist, who, seeking to crush the soul by his +feeble, narrow-minded arguments, and deny its imperishable nature, +dares to spread his poisonous and corroding doctrines of despair +through the world, draining existence of all its brightness, and +striving to erect barriers of distrust between the creature and the +Creator. No sin can be greater than this; for it is impossible to +estimate the measure of evil that may thus be brought into otherwise +innocent and happy lives. The attitude of devotion and faith is natural +to Humanity, while nothing can be more UNnatural and disastrous to +civilization, morality and law, than deliberate and determined +Atheism.—AUTHOR.] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER IV. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAR MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I dare say you have had many letters, but I must add mine to the +number to thank you for your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds.' I am +deeply interested in the wonderful force we possess, all in a greater +or lesser degree—call it influence, electricity, or what you will. I +have thought much on Theosophy and Psychical Research—but what struck +me in your book was the glorious selflessness inculcated and the +perfect Majesty of the Divinity clear throughout—no sweeping away of +the Crucified One. I felt a better woman for the reading of it twice: +and I know others, too, who are higher and better women for such noble +thoughts and teaching. ... People for the most part dream away their +lives; one meets so few who really believe in electrical affinity, and +I have felt it so often and for so long. Forgive my troubling you with +this letter, but I am grateful for your labour of love towards raising +men and women. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Sincerely yours, +<BR> +"R. H." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P><P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER V. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to know if Marie Corelli honestly believes the theory +which she enunciates in her book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds:' and also +if she has any proof on which to found that same theory?—if so, the +authoress will greatly oblige an earnest seeker after Truth if she will +give the information sought to +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"A. S." +</P> + +<P> +[I sent a brief affirmative answer to the above note; the "proof" of +the theories set forth in the "Romance" is, as I have already stated, +easily to be found in the New Testament. But there are those who do not +and will not believe the New Testament, and for them there are no +"proofs" of any existing spirituality in earth or heaven. "Having eyes +they see not, and hearing they do not understand."—AUTHOR.] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER VI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAR MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I have lately been reading with intense pleasure your 'Romance of Two +Worlds,' and I must crave your forbearance towards me when I tell you +that it has filled me with envy and wonder. I feel sure that many +people must have plied you with questions on the subject already, but I +am certain that you are too earnest and too sympathetic to feel bored +by what is in no sense idle curiosity, but rather a deep and genuine +longing to know the truth. ... To some minds it would prove such a +comfort and such, a relief to have their vague longings and beliefs +confirmed and made tangible, and, as you know, at the present day +so-called Religion, which is often a mere mixture of dogma and +superstition, is scarcely sufficient to do this. ... I might say a +great deal more and weary your patience, which has already been tried, +I fear. But may I venture to hope that you have some words of comfort +and assurance out of your own experience to give me? With your +expressed belief in the good influence which each may exert over the +other, not to speak of a higher and holier incentive in the example of +One (in whom you also believe) who bids us for His sake to 'Bear one +another's burdens,' you cannot, I think, turn away in impatience from +the seeking of a very earnest soul. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Yours sincerely, +<BR> +"B. D." +</P> + +<P> +[I have received about fifty letters written in precisely the same tone +as the above—all more or less complaining of the insufficiency of +"so-called Religion, which is often a mere mixture of dogma and +superstition"—and I ask—What are the preachers of Christ's clear +message about that there should be such plaintively eager anxious souls +as these, who are evidently ready and willing to live noble lives if +helped and encouraged ever so little? Shame on those men who presume to +take up the high vocation of the priesthood for the sake of self-love, +self-interest, worldly advancement, money or position! These things are +not among Christ's teachings. If there are members of the clergy who +can neither plant faith, nor consolation, nor proper comprehension of +God's infinite Beauty and Goodness in the hearts of their hearers, I +say that their continuance in such sacred office is an offence to the +Master whom they profess to serve. "It must needs be that offences +come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" To such may be +addressed the words, "Hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven +against men; ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that +are entering to go in."—AUTHOR.] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER VII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you will not think it great presumption my writing to you. My +excuse must be that I so much want to believe in he great Spirit that +'makes for righteousness,' and I cannot! Your book puts it all so +clearly that if I can only know it to be a true experience of your own, +it will go a long way in dispersing the fog that modern writings +surround one with. ... +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Apologizing for troubling you, I am faithfully yours, +<BR><BR> +"C.M.E." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER VIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in writing to you. My +excuse must be the very deep interest your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' has excited in me. I, of course, understand that the STORY +itself is a romance, but in reading it carefully it seems to me that it +is a book written with a purpose. ... The Electric Creed respecting +Religion seems to explain so much in Scripture which has always seemed +to me impossible to accept blindly without explanation of any kind; and +the theory that Christ came to die and to suffer for us as an Example +and a means of communication with God, and not as a SACRIFICE, clears +up a point which has always been to me personally a stumbling-block. I +cannot say how grateful I shall be if you can tell me any means of +studying this subject further; and trusting you will excuse me for +troubling you, I am, Madam, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Yours truly, +<BR> +"H. B." +</P> + +<P> +[Once more I may repeat that the idea of a sacrifice to appease God's +anger is purely JEWISH, and has nothing whatever to do with +Christianity according to Christ. He Himself says, "I am the WAY, the +Truth, and the Life; no man cometh to the Father but BY ME." Surely +these words are plain enough, and point unmistakably to a MEANS OF +COMMUNICATION through Christ between the Creator and this world. +Nowhere does the Divine Master say that God is so furiously angry that +he must have the bleeding body of his own messenger, Christ, hung up +before Him as a human sacrifice, as though He could only be pacified by +the scent of blood! Horrible and profane idea! and one utterly at +variance with the tenderness and goodness of "Our Father" as pictured +by Christ in these gentle words—"Fear not, little flock; it is your +Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Whereas that Christ +should come to draw us closer to God by the strong force of His own +Divinity, and by His Resurrection prove to us the reality of the next +life, is not at all a strange or ungodlike mission, and ought to make +us understand more surely than ever how infinitely pitying and +forbearing is the All-Loving One, that He should, as it were, with such +extreme affection show us a way by which to travel through darkness +unto light. To those who cannot see this perfection of goodness +depicted in Christ's own words, I would say in the terse Oriental maxim: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Diving, and finding no pearls in the sea,<BR> + Blame not the ocean, the fault is in THEE."<BR> + AUTHOR.]<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER IX. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAR MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"I have lately been reading your remarkable book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and I feel that I must write to you about it. I have never +viewed Christianity in the broadly transfigured light you throw upon +it, and I have since been studying carefully the four Gospels and +comparing them with the theories in your book. The result has been a +complete and happy change in my ideas of religion, and I feel now as if +I had, like a leper of old, touched the robe of Christ and been healed +of a long-standing infirmity. Will you permit me to ask if you have +evolved this new and beneficent lustre from the Gospel yourself? or +whether some experienced student in mystic matters has been your +instructor? I hear from persons who have seen you that you are quite +young, and I cannot understand how one of your sex and age seems able +so easily to throw light on what to many has been, and is still, +impenetrable darkness. I have been a preacher for some years, and I +thought the Testament was old and familiar to me; but you have made it +a new and marvellous book full of most precious meanings, and I hope I +may be able to impart to those whom it is my duty to instruct, +something of the great consolation and hope your writing has filled me +with. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Believe me, +<BR><BR> +"Gratefully yours, +<BR> +"T.M." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LETTER X. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"MADAM, +</P> + +<P> +"Will you tell me what ground you have for the foundation of the +religious theory contained in your book, 'A Romance of Two Worlds'? Is +it a part of your own belief? I am MOST anxious to know this, and I am +sure you will be kind enough to answer me. Till I read your book I +thought myself an Agnostic, but now I am not quite sure of this. I do +not believe in the Deity as depicted by the Churches. I CANNOT. Over +and over again I have asked myself—If there is a God, why should He be +angry? It would surely be easy for Him to destroy this world entirely +as one would blow away an offending speck of dust, and it would be much +better and BRAVER for Him to do this than to torture His creation. For +I call life a torture and certainly a useless and cruel torture if it +is to end in annihilation. I know I seem to be blasphemous in these +remarks, yet if you only knew what I suffer sometimes! I desire, I LONG +to believe. YOU seem so certain of your Creed—a Creed so noble, +reasonable and humane—the God you depict so worthy of the adoration of +a Universe. I BEG of you to tell me—DO you feel sure of this +beneficent all-pervading Love concerning which you write so eloquently? +I do not wish to seem an intruder on your most secret thought. I want +to believe that YOU believe—and if I felt this, the tenor of my whole +life might change. Help me if you can—I stand in real need of help. +You may judge I am very deeply in earnest, or I should not have written +to you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Yours faithfully, +<BR> +"A. W. L." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Of such letters as these I have received enough to make a volume of +themselves; but I think the ten I have selected are sufficient to show +how ardent and inextinguishable is the desire or STRAINING UPWARD, like +a flower to the light, of the human Soul for those divine things which +nourish it. Scarcely a day passes without my receiving more of these +earnest and often pathetic appeals for a little help, a little comfort, +a little guidance, enough to make one's heart ache at the thought of so +much doubt and desolation looming cloud-like over the troubled minds of +many who would otherwise lead not only happy but noble and useful +lives. When will the preachers learn to preach Christ simply—Christ +without human dogmas or differences? When shall we be able to enter a +building set apart for sacred worship—a building of finest +architectural beauty, "glorious without and within," like the "King's +Daughter" of David's psalm—glorious with, light, music, flowers, and +art of the noblest kind (for Art is God's own inspiration to men, and +through it He should be served), there to hear the pure, unselfish +doctrine of Christ as He Himself preached it? For such a temple, the +time has surely come—a nook sacred to God, and untainted by the breath +of Mammon, where we could adore our Creator "in spirit and in truth." +The evils of nineteenth-century cynicism and general flippancy of +thought—great evils as they are and sure prognostications of worse +evils to come—cannot altogether crush out the Divine flame burning in +the "few" that are "chosen," though these few are counted as fools and +dreamers. Yet they shall be proved wise and watchful ere long. The +signs of the times are those that indicate an approaching great +upheaval and change in human destinies. This planet we call ours is in +some respects like ourselves: it was born; it has had its infancy, its +youth, its full prime; and now its age has set in, and with age the +first beginnings of decay. Absorbed once more into the Creative Circle +IT MUST BE; and when again thrown forth among its companion-stars, our +race will no more inhabit it. We shall have had our day—our little +chance—we shall have lost or won. Christ said, "This generation shall +not pass away till all My words be fulfilled," the word "generation" +thus used meaning simply the human race. We put a very narrow limit to +the significance of the Saviour's utterance when we imagine that the +generation He alluded to implied merely the people living in His own +day. In the depths of His Divine wisdom He was acquainted with all the +secrets of the Past and Future; He had no doubt seen this very world +peopled by widely different beings to ourselves, and knew that what we +call the human race is only a passing tribe permitted for a time to +sojourn here. What a strangely presumptuous idea is that which pervades +the minds of the majority of persons—namely, that Mankind, as we know +it, must be the highest form of creation, simply because it is the +highest form WE can see! How absurd it is to be so controlled by our +limited vision, when we cannot even perceive the minute wonders that a +butterfly beholds, or pierce the sunlit air with anything like the +facility possessed by the undazzled eyes of an upward-soaring bird! +Nay, we cannot examine the wing of a common house-fly without the aid +of a microscope—to observe the facial expression of our own actors on +the stage we look through opera-glasses—to form any idea of the +wonders of the stars we construct telescopes to assist our feeble and +easily deluded sight; and yet—yet we continue to parcel out the +infinite gradations of creative Force and Beauty entirely to suit our +own private opinions, and conclude that WE are the final triumph of the +Divine Artist's Supreme Intelligence! Alas! in very truth we are a +sorry spectacle both to our soberly thinking selves and the Higher +Powers, invited, as it were, to spend our life's brief day in one of +God's gardens as His friends and guests, who certainly are not expected +to abuse their Host's hospitality, and, ignoring Him, call themselves +the owners and masters of the ground! For we are but wanderers beneath +the sun; a "generation" which must most surely and rapidly "pass away" +to make room for another; and as the work of the Universe is always +progressive, that other will be of nobler capacity and larger +accomplishment. So while we are here, let us think earnestly of the few +brief chances remaining to us—they grow fewer every hour. On one side +is the endless, glorious heritage of the purely aspiring, Immortal +Spirit; on the other the fleeting Mirage of this our present Existence; +and, midway between the two, the swinging pendulum of HUMAN WILL, which +decides our fate. God does not choose for us, or compel our love—we +are free to fashion out our own futures; but in making our final choice +we cannot afford to waste one moment of our precious, unreturning time. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARIE CORELLI. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance of Two Worlds, by Marie Corelli + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS *** + +***** This file should be named 4394-h.htm or 4394-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/9/4394/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Romance of Two Worlds + +Author: Marie Corelli + +Posting Date: August 1, 2009 [EBook #4394] +Release Date: August, 2003 +First Posted: January 22, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +A Romance of Two Worlds + +A NOVEL. + + +BY + +MARIE CORELLI, + + +Author of "Thelma," "Ardath," "Vendetta," Etc. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PROLOGUE + I. AN ARTIST'S STUDIO. + II. THE MYSTERIOUS POTION. + III. THREE VISIONS. + IV. A DANCE AND A PROMISE. + V. CELLINI'S STORY. + VI. THE HOTEL MARS AND ITS OWNER. + VII. ZARA AND PRINCE IVAN. + VIII. A SYMPHONY IN THE AIR. + IX. AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. + X. MY STRANGE DEPARTURE. + XI. A MINIATURE CREATION. + XII. SECRETS OF THE SUN AND MOON. + XIII. SOCIABLE CONVERSE. + XIV. THE ELECTRIC CREED. + XV. DEATH BY LIGHTNING. + XVI. A STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY. + XVII. CONCLUSION. + APPENDIX + + + + +A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. + +PROLOGUE. + + +We live in an age of universal inquiry, ergo of universal scepticism. +The prophecies of the poet, the dreams of the philosopher and +scientist, are being daily realized--things formerly considered mere +fairy-tales have become facts--yet, in spite of the marvels of learning +and science that are hourly accomplished among us, the attitude of +mankind is one of disbelief. "There is no God!" cries one theorist; "or +if there be one, _I_ can obtain no proof of His existence!" "There is +no Creator!" exclaims another. "The Universe is simply a rushing +together of atoms." "There can be no immortality," asserts a third. "We +are but dust, and to dust we shall return." "What is called by +idealists the SOUL," argues another, "is simply the vital principle +composed of heat and air, which escapes from the body at death, and +mingles again with its native element. A candle when lit emits flame; +blow out the light, the flame vanishes--where? Would it not be madness +to assert the flame immortal? Yet the soul, or vital principle of human +existence, is no more than the flame of a candle." + +If you propound to these theorists the eternal question WHY?--why is +the world in existence? why is there a universe? why do we live? why do +we think and plan? why do we perish at the last?--their grandiose reply +is, "Because of the Law of Universal Necessity." They cannot explain +this mysterious Law to themselves, nor can they probe deep enough to +find the answer to a still more tremendous WHY--namely, WHY, is there a +Law of Universal Necessity?--but they are satisfied with the result of +their reasonings, if not wholly, yet in part, and seldom try to search +beyond that great vague vast Necessity, lest their finite brains should +reel into madness worse than death. Recognizing, therefore, that in +this cultivated age a wall of scepticism and cynicism is gradually +being built up by intellectual thinkers of every nation against all +that treats of the Supernatural and Unseen, I am aware that my +narration of the events I have recently experienced will be read with +incredulity. At a time when the great empire of the Christian Religion +is being assailed, or politely ignored by governments and public +speakers and teachers, I realize to the fullest extent how daring is +any attempt to prove, even by a plain history of strange occurrences +happening to one's self, the actual existence of the Supernatural +around us; and the absolute certainty of a future state of being, after +the passage through that brief soul-torpor in which the body perishes, +known to us as Death. + +In the present narration, which I have purposely called a "romance," I +do not expect to be believed, as I can only relate what I myself have +experienced. I know that men and women of to-day must have proofs, or +what they are willing to accept as proofs, before they will credit +anything that purports to be of a spiritual tendency;--something +startling--some miracle of a stupendous nature, such as according to +prophecy they are all unfit to receive. Few will admit the subtle +influence and incontestable, though mysterious, authority exercised +upon their lives by higher intelligences than their own--intelligences +unseen, unknown, but felt. Yes! felt by the most careless, the most +cynical; in the uncomfortable prescience of danger, the inner +forebodings of guilt--the moral and mental torture endured by those who +fight a protracted battle to gain the hardly-won victory in themselves +of right over wrong--in the thousand and one sudden appeals made +without warning to that compass of a man's life, Conscience--and in +those brilliant and startling impulses of generosity, bravery, and +self-sacrifice which carry us on, heedless of consequences, to the +performance of great and noble deeds, whose fame makes the whole world +one resounding echo of glory--deeds that we wonder at ourselves even in +the performance of them--acts of heroism in which mere life goes for +nothing, and the Soul for a brief space is pre-eminent, obeying blindly +the guiding influence of a something akin to itself, yet higher in the +realms of Thought. + +There are no proofs as to why such things should be; but that they are, +is indubitable. The miracles enacted now are silent ones, and are +worked in the heart and mind of man alone. Unbelief is nearly supreme +in the world to-day. Were an angel to descend from heaven in the middle +of a great square, the crowd would think he had got himself up on +pulleys and wires, and would try to discover his apparatus. Were he, in +wrath, to cast destruction upon them, and with fire blazing from his +wings, slay a thousand of them with the mere shaking of a pinion, those +who were left alive would either say that a tremendous dynamite +explosion had occurred, or that the square was built on an extinct +volcano which had suddenly broken out into frightful activity. Anything +rather than believe in angels--the nineteenth century protests against +the possibility of their existence. It sees no miracle--it pooh-poohs +the very enthusiasm that might work them. + +"Give a positive sign," it says; "prove clearly that what you say is +true, and I, in spite of my Progress and Atom Theory, will believe." +The answer to such a request was spoken eighteen hundred years and more +ago. "A faithless and perverse generation asketh for a sign, and no +sign shall be given unto them." + +Were I now to assert that a sign had been given to ME--to me, as one +out of the thousands who demand it--such daring assurance on my part +would meet with the most strenuous opposition from all who peruse the +following pages; each person who reads having his own ideas on all +subjects, and naturally considering them to be the best if not the only +ideas worth anything. Therefore I wish it to be plainly understood that +in this book I personally advocate no new theory of either religion or +philosophy; nor do I hold myself answerable for the opinions expressed +by any of my characters. My aim throughout is to let facts speak for +themselves. If they seem strange, unreal, even impossible, I can only +say that the things of the invisible world must always appear so to +those whose thoughts and desires are centred on this life only. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AN ARTIST'S STUDIO. + + +In the winter of 188-, I was afflicted by a series of nervous ailments, +brought on by overwork and overworry. Chief among these was a +protracted and terrible insomnia, accompanied by the utmost depression +of spirits and anxiety of mind. I became filled with the gloomiest +anticipations of evil; and my system was strung up by slow degrees to +such a high tension of physical and mental excitement, that the +quietest and most soothing of friendly voices had no other effect upon +me than to jar and irritate. Work was impossible; music, my one +passion, intolerable; books became wearisome to my sight; and even a +short walk in the open air brought with it such lassitude and +exhaustion, that I soon grew to dislike the very thought of moving out +of doors. In such a condition of health, medical aid became necessary; +and a skilful and amiable physician, Dr. R----, of great repute in +nervous ailments, attended me for many weeks, with but slight success. +He was not to blame, poor man, for his failure to effect a cure. He had +only one way of treatment, and he applied it to all his patients with +more or less happy results. Some died, some recovered; it was a lottery +on which my medical friend staked his reputation, and won. The patients +who died were never heard of more--those who recovered sang the praises +of their physician everywhere, and sent him gifts of silver plate and +hampers of wine, to testify their gratitude. His popularity was very +great; his skill considered marvellous; and his inability to do ME any +good arose, I must perforce imagine, out of some defect or hidden +obstinacy in my constitution, which was to him a new experience, and +for which he was unprepared. Poor Dr. R----! How many bottles of your +tastily prepared and expensive medicines have I not swallowed, in blind +confidence and blinder ignorance of the offences I thus committed +against all the principles of that Nature within me, which, if left to +itself, always heroically struggles to recover its own proper balance +and effect its own cure; but which, if subjected to the experimental +tests of various poisons or drugs, often loses strength in the +unnatural contest and sinks exhausted, perhaps never to rise with +actual vigour again. Baffled in his attempts to remedy my ailments, Dr. +R---- at last resorted to the usual plan adopted by all physicians when +their medicines have no power. He recommended change of air and scene, +and urged my leaving London, then dark with the fogs of a dreary +winter, for the gaiety and sunshine and roses of the Riviera. The idea +was not unpleasant to me, and I determined to take the advice +proffered. Hearing of my intention, some American friends of mine, +Colonel Everard and his charming young wife, decided to accompany me, +sharing with me the expenses of the journey and hotel accommodation. We +left London all together on a damp foggy evening, when the cold was so +intense that it seemed to bite the flesh like the sharp teeth of an +animal, and after two days' rapid journey, during which I felt my +spirits gradually rising, and my gloomy forebodings vanishing slowly +one by one, we arrived at Cannes, and put up at the Hotel de L----. It +was a lovely place, and most beautifully situated; the garden was a +perfect wilderness of roses in full bloom, and an avenue of +orange-trees beginning to flower cast a delicate fragrance on the warm +delicious air. + +Mrs. Everard was delighted. + +"If you do not recover your health here," she said half laughingly to +me on the second morning after our arrival, "I am afraid your case is +hopeless. What sunshine! What a balmy wind! It is enough to make a +cripple cast away his crutches and forget he was ever lame. Don't you +think so?" + +I smiled in answer, but inwardly I sighed. Beautiful as the scenery, +the air, and the general surroundings were, I could not disguise from +myself that the temporary exhilaration of my feelings, caused by the +novelty and excitement of my journey to Cannes, was slowly but surely +passing away. The terrible apathy, against which I had fought for so +many months, was again creeping over me with its cruel and resistless +force. I did my best to struggle against it; I walked, I rode, I +laughed and chatted with Mrs. Everard and her husband, and forced +myself into sociability with some of the visitors at the hotel, who +were disposed to show us friendly attention. I summoned all my stock of +will-power to beat back the insidious physical and mental misery that +threatened to sap the very spring of my life; and in some of these +efforts I partially succeeded. But it was at night that the terrors of +my condition manifested themselves. Then sleep forsook my eyes; a dull +throbbing weight of pain encircled my head like a crown of thorns; +nervous terrors shook me from head to foot; fragments of my own musical +compositions hummed in my ears with wearying persistence--fragments +that always left me in a state of distressed conjecture; for I never +could remember how they ended, and I puzzled myself vainly over +crotchets and quavers that never would consent to arrange themselves in +any sort of finale. So the days went on; for Colonel Everard and his +wife, those days were full of merriment, sight-seeing, and enjoyment. +For me, though outwardly I appeared to share in the universal gaiety, +they were laden with increasing despair and wretchedness; for I began +to lose hope of ever recovering my once buoyant health and strength, +and, what was even worse, I seemed to have utterly parted with all +working ability. I was young, and up to within a few months life had +stretched brightly before me, with the prospect of a brilliant career. +And now what was I? A wretched invalid--a burden to myself and to +others--a broken spar flung with other fragments of ship wrecked lives +on the great ocean of Time, there to be whirled away and forgotten. But +a rescue was approaching; a rescue sudden and marvellous, of which, in +my wildest fancies, I had never dreamed. + +Staying in the same hotel with us was a young Italian artist, Raffaello +Cellini by name. His pictures were beginning to attract a great deal of +notice, both in Paris and Rome: not only for their faultless drawing, +but for their wonderfully exquisite colouring. So deep and warm and +rich were the hues he transferred to his canvases, that others of his +art, less fortunate in the management of the palette, declared he must +have invented some foreign compound whereby he was enabled to deepen +and brighten his colours for the time being; but that the effect was +only temporary, and that his pictures, exposed to the air for some +eight or ten years, would fade away rapidly, leaving only the traces of +an indistinct blur. Others, more generous, congratulated him on having +discovered the secrets of the old masters. In short, he was admired, +condemned, envied, and flattered, all in a breath; while he himself, +being of a singularly serene and unruffled disposition, worked away +incessantly, caring little or nothing for the world's praise or blame. + +Cellini had a pretty suite of rooms in the Hotel de L----, and my +friends Colonel and Mrs. Everard fraternized with him very warmly. He +was by no means slow to respond to their overtures of friendship, and +so it happened that his studio became a sort of lounge for us, where we +would meet to have tea, to chat, to look at the pictures, or to discuss +our plans for future enjoyment. These visits to Cellini's studio, +strange to say, had a remarkably soothing and calming effect upon my +suffering nerves. The lofty and elegant room, furnished with that +"admired disorder" and mixed luxuriousness peculiar to artists, with +its heavily drooping velvet curtains, its glimpses of white marble +busts and broken columns, its flash and fragrance of flowers that +bloomed in a tiny conservatory opening out from the studio and leading +to the garden, where a fountain bubbled melodiously--all this pleased +me and gave me a curious, yet most welcome, sense of absolute rest. +Cellini himself had a fascination for me, for exactly the same reason. +As an example of this, I remember escaping from Mrs. Everard on one +occasion, and hurrying to the most secluded part of the garden, in +order to walk up and down alone in an endeavour to calm an attack of +nervous agitation which had suddenly seized me. While thus pacing about +in feverish restlessness, I saw Cellini approaching, his head bent as +if in thought, and his hands clasped behind his back. As he drew near +me, he raised his eyes--they were clear and darkly brilliant--he +regarded me steadfastly with a kindly smile. Then lifting his hat with +the graceful reverence peculiar to an Italian, he passed on, saying no +word. But the effect of his momentary presence upon me was +remarkable--it was ELECTRIC. I was no longer agitated. Calmed, soothed +and almost happy, I returned to Mrs. Everard, and entered into her +plans for the day with so much alacrity that she was surprised and +delighted. + +"If you go on like this," she said, "you will be perfectly well in a +month." + +I was utterly unable to account for the remedial influence Raffaello +Cellini's presence had upon me; but such as it was I could not but be +grateful for the respite it gave me from nervous suffering, and my now +daily visits to the artist's studio were a pleasure and a privilege not +to be foregone. Moreover, I was never tired of looking at his pictures. +His subjects were all original, and some of them were very weird and +fantastic. One large picture particularly attracted me. It was entitled +"Lords of our Life and Death." Surrounded by rolling masses of cloud, +some silver-crested, some shot through with red flame, was depicted the +World, as a globe half in light, half in shade. Poised above it was a +great Angel, upon whose calm and noble face rested a mingled expression +of deep sorrow, yearning pity, and infinite regret. Tears seemed to +glitter on the drooping lashes of this sweet yet stern Spirit; and in +his strong right hand he held a drawn sword--the sword of +destruction--pointed forever downwards to the fated globe at his feet. +Beneath this Angel and the world he dominated was darkness--utter +illimitable darkness. But above him the clouds were torn asunder, and +through a transparent veil of light golden mist, a face of surpassing +beauty was seen--a face on which youth, health, hope, love, and +ecstatic joy all shone with ineffable radiance. It was the +personification of Life--not life as we know it, brief and full of +care--but Life Immortal and Love Triumphant. Often and often I found +myself standing before this masterpiece of Cellini's genius, gazing at +it, not only with admiration, but with a sense of actual comfort. One +afternoon, while resting in my favourite low chair opposite the +picture, I roused myself from a reverie, and turning to the artist, who +was showing some water-colour sketches to Mrs. Everard, I said abruptly: + +"Did you imagine that face of the Angel of Life, Signor Cellini, or had +you a model to copy from?" + +He looked at me and smiled. + +"It is a moderately good portrait of an existing original," he said. + +"A woman's face then, I suppose? How very beautiful she must be!" + +"Actual beauty is sexless," he replied, and was silent. The expression +of his face had become abstracted and dreamy, and he turned over the +sketches for Mrs. Everard with an air which showed his thoughts to be +far away from his occupation. + +"And the Death Angel?" I went on. "Had you a model for that also?" + +This time a look of relief, almost of gladness, passed over his +features. + +"No indeed," he answered with ready frankness; "that is entirely my own +creation." + +I was about to compliment him on the grandeur and force of his poetical +fancy, when he stopped me by a slight gesture of his hand. + +"If you really admire the picture," he said, "pray do not say so. If it +is in truth a work of art, let it speak to you as art only, and spare +the poor workman who has called it into existence the shame of having +to confess that it is not above human praise. The only true criticism +of high art is silence--silence as grand as heaven itself." + +He spoke with energy, and his dark eyes flashed. Amy (Mrs. Everard) +looked at him curiously. + +"Say now!" she exclaimed, with a ringing laugh, "aren't you a little +bit eccentric, signor? You talk like a long-haired prophet! I never met +an artist before who couldn't stand praise; it is generally a matter of +wonder to me to notice how much of that intoxicating sweet they can +swallow without reeling. But you're an exception, I must admit. I +congratulate you!" + +Cellini bowed gaily in response to the half-friendly, half-mocking +curtsey she gave him, and, turning to me again, said: + +"I have a favour to ask of you, mademoiselle. Will you sit to me for +your portrait?" + +"I!" I exclaimed, with astonishment. "Signor Cellini, I cannot imagine +why you should wish so to waste your valuable time. There is nothing in +my poor physiognomy worthy of your briefest attention." + +"You must pardon me, mademoiselle," he replied gravely, "if I presume +to differ from you. I am exceedingly anxious to transfer your features +to my canvas. I am aware that you are not in strong health, and that +your face has not that roundness and colour formerly habitual to it. +But I am not an admirer of the milkmaid type of beauty. Everywhere I +seek for intelligence, for thought, for inward refinement--in short, +mademoiselle, you have the face of one whom the inner soul consumes, +and, as such, may I plead again with you to give me a little of your +spare time? YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, I ASSURE YOU." + +These last words were uttered in a lower tone and with singular +impressiveness. I rose from my seat and looked at him steadily; he +returned me glance for glance, A strange thrill ran through me, +followed by that inexplicable sensation of absolute calm that I had +before experienced. I smiled--I could, not help smiling. + +"I will come to-morrow," I said. + +"A thousand thanks, mademoiselle! Can you be here at noon?" + +I looked inquiringly at Amy, who clapped her hands with delighted +enthusiasm. + +"Of course! Any time you like, signor. We will arrange our excursions +so that they shall not interfere with the sittings. It will be most +interesting to watch the picture growing day by day. What will you call +it, signor? By some fancy title?" + +"It will depend on its appearance when completed," he replied, as he +threw open the doors of the studio and bowed us out with his usual +ceremonious politeness. + +"Au revoir, madame! A demain, mademoiselle!" and the violet velvet +curtains of the portiere fell softly behind us as we made our exit. + +"Is there not something strange about that young man?" said Mrs. +Everard, as we walked through the long gallery of the Hotel de L---- +back to our own rooms. "Something fiendish or angelic, or a little of +both qualities mixed up?" + +"I think he is what people term PECULIAR, when they fail to understand +the poetical vagaries of genius," I replied. "He is certainly very +uncommon." + +"Well!" continued my friend meditatively, as she contemplated her +pretty mignonne face and graceful figure in a long mirror placed +attractively in a corner of the hall through which we were passing; +"all I can say is that I wouldn't let him paint MY portrait if he were +to ask ever so! I should be scared to death. I wonder you, being so +nervous, were not afraid of him." + +"I thought you liked him," I said. + +"So I do. So does my husband. He's awfully handsome and clever, and all +that--but his conversation! There now, my dear, you must own he is +slightly QUEER. Why, who but a lunatic would say that the only +criticism of art is silence? Isn't that utter rubbish?" + +"The only TRUE criticism," I corrected her gently. + +"Well, it's all the same. How can there be any criticism at all in +silence? According to his idea when we admire anything very much we +ought to go round with long faces and gags on our mouths. That would be +entirely ridiculous! And what was that dreadful thing he said to you?" + +"I don't quite understand you," I answered; "I cannot remember his +saying anything dreadful." + +"Oh, I have it now," continued Amy with rapidity; "it was awful! He +said you had the FACE OF ONE WHOM THE SOUL CONSUMES. You know that was +most horribly mystical! And when he said it he looked--ghastly! What +did he mean by it, I wonder?" + +I made no answer; but I thought I knew. I changed the conversation as +soon as possible, and my volatile American friend was soon absorbed in +a discussion on dress and jewellery. That night was a blessed one for +me; I was free from all suffering, and slept as calmly as a child, +while in my dreams the face of Cellini's "Angel of life" smiled at me, +and seemed to suggest peace. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MYSTERIOUS POTION. + + +The next day, punctually at noon, according to my promise, I entered +the studio. I was alone, for Amy, after some qualms of conscience +respecting chaperonage, propriety, and Mrs. Grundy, had yielded to my +entreaties and gone for a drive with some friends. In spite of the +fears she began to entertain concerning the Mephistophelian character +of Raffaello Cellini, there was one thing of which both she and I felt +morally certain: namely, that no truer or more honourable gentleman +than he ever walked on the earth. Under his protection the loveliest +and loneliest woman that ever lived would have been perfectly safe--as +safe as though she were shut up, like the princess in the fairy-tale, +in a brazen tower, of which only an undiscoverable serpent possessed +the key. When I arrived, the rooms were deserted, save for the presence +of a magnificent Newfoundland dog, who, as I entered, rose, and shaking +his shaggy body, sat down before me and offered me his huge paw, +wagging his tail in the most friendly manner all the while, I at once +responded to his cordial greeting, and as I stroked his noble head, I +wondered where the animal had come from; for though--we had visited +Signor Cellini's studio every day, there had been no sign or mention of +this stately, brown-eyed, four-footed companion. I seated myself, and +the dog immediately lay down at my feet, every now and then looking up +at me with an affectionate glance and a renewed wagging of his tail. +Glancing round the well-known room, I noticed that the picture I +admired so much was veiled by a curtain of Oriental stuff, in which +were embroidered threads of gold mingled with silks of various +brilliant hues. On the working easel was a large square canvas, already +prepared, as I supposed, for my features to be traced thereon. It was +an exceedingly warm morning, and though the windows as well as the +glass doors of the conservatory were wide open, I found the air of the +studio very oppressive. I perceived on the table a finely-wrought +decanter of Venetian glass, in which clear water sparkled temptingly. +Rising from my chair, I took an antique silver goblet from the +mantelpiece, filled it with the cool fluid, and was about to drink, +when the cup was suddenly snatched from my hands, and the voice of +Cellini, changed from its usual softness to a tone both imperious and +commanding, startled me. + +"Do not drink that," he said; "you must not! You dare not! I forbid +you!" + +I looked up at him in mute astonishment. His face was very pale, and +his large dark eyes shone with suppressed excitement. Slowly my +self-possession returned to me, and I said calmly: + +"YOU forbid me, signor? Surely you forget yourself. What harm have I +done in helping myself to a simple glass of water in your studio? You +are not usually so inhospitable." + +While I spoke his manner changed, the colour returned to his face, and +his eyes softened--he smiled. + +"Forgive me, mademoiselle, for my brusquerie. It is true I forgot +myself for a moment. But you were in danger, and----" + +"In danger!" I exclaimed incredulously. + +"Yes, mademoiselle. This," and he held up the Venetian decanter to the +light, "is not water simply. If you will observe it now with the +sunshine beating full against it, I think you will perceive +peculiarities in it that will assure you of my veracity." + +I looked as he bade me, and saw, to my surprise, that the fluid was +never actually still for a second. A sort of internal bubbling seemed +to work in its centre, and curious specks and lines of crimson and gold +flashed through it from time to time. + +"What is it?" I asked; adding with a half-smile, "Are you the possessor +of a specimen of the far-famed Aqua Tofana?" + +Cellini placed the decanter carefully on a shelf, and I noticed that he +chose a particular spot for it, where the rays of the sun could fall +perpendicularly upon the vessel containing it. Then turning to me, he +replied: + +"Aqua Tofana, mademoiselle, is a deadly poison, known to the ancients +and also to many learned chemists of our day. It is a clear and +colourless liquid, but it is absolutely still--as still as a stagnant +pool. What I have just shown you is not poison, but quite the reverse. +I will prove this to you at once." And taking a tiny liqueur glass from +a side table, he filled it with the strange fluid and drank it off, +carefully replacing the stopper in the decanter. + +"But, Signor Cellini," I urged, "if it is so harmless, why did you +forbid my tasting it? Why did you say there was danger for me when I +was about to drink it?" + +"Because, mademoiselle, for YOU it would be dangerous. Your health is +weak, your nerves unstrung. That elixir is a powerful vivifying tonic, +acting with great rapidity on the entire system, and rushing through +the veins with the swiftness of ELECTRICITY. I am accustomed to it; it +is my daily medicine. But I was brought to it by slow, and almost +imperceptible degrees. A single teaspoonful of that fluid, +mademoiselle, administered to anyone not prepared to receive it, would +be instant death, though its actual use is to vivify and strengthen +human life. You understand now why I said you were in danger?" + +"I understand," I replied, though in sober truth I was mystified and +puzzled. + +"And you forgive my seeming rudeness?" + +"Oh, certainly! But you have aroused my curiosity. I should like to +know more about this strange medicine of yours." + +"You shall know more if you wish," said Cellini, his usual equable +humour and good spirits now quite restored. "You shall know everything; +but not to-day. We have too little time. I have not yet commenced your +picture. And I forgot--you were thirsty, and I was, as you said, +inhospitable. You must permit me to repair my fault." + +And with a courteous salute he left the room, to return almost +immediately with a tumbler full of some fragrant, golden-coloured +liquid, in which lumps of ice glittered refreshingly. A few loose +rose-leaves were scattered on the top of this dainty-looking beverage. + +"You may enjoy this without fear," said he, smiling; "it will do you +good. It is an Eastern wine, unknown to trade, and therefore untampered +with. I see you are looking at the rose-leaves on the surface. That is +a Persian custom, and I think a pretty one. They float away from your +lips in the action of drinking, and therefore they are no obstacle." + +I tasted the wine and found it delicious, soft and mellow as summer +moonlight. While I sipped it the big Newfoundland, who had stretched +himself in a couchant posture on the hearth-rug ever since Cellini had +first entered the room, rose and walked majestically to my side and +rubbed his head caressingly against the folds of my dress. + +"Leo has made friends with you, I see," said Cellini. "You should take +that as a great compliment, for he is most particular in his choice of +acquaintance, and most steadfast when he has once made up his mind. He +has more decision of character than many a statesman." + +"How is it we have never seen him before?" I inquired. "You never told +us you had such a splendid companion." + +"I am not his master," replied the artist. "He only favours me with a +visit occasionally. He arrived from Paris last night, and came straight +here, sure of his welcome. He does not confide his plans to me, but I +suppose he will return to his home when he thinks it advisable. He +knows his own business best." + +I laughed. + +"What a clever dog! Does he journey on foot, or does he take the train?" + +"I believe he generally patronizes the railway. All the officials know +him, and he gets into the guard's van as a matter of course. Sometimes +he will alight at a station en route, and walk the rest of the way. But +if he is lazily inclined, he does not stir till the train reaches its +destination. At the end of every six months or so, the railway +authorities send the bill of Leo's journeyings in to his master, when +it is always settled without difficulty." + +"And who IS his master?" I ventured to ask. + +Cellini's face grew serious and absorbed, and his eyes were full of +grave contemplation as he answered: + +"His master, mademoiselle, is MY master--one who among men, is +supremely intelligent; among teachers, absolutely unselfish; among +thinkers, purely impersonal; among friends, inflexibly faithful. To him +I owe everything--even life itself. For him no sacrifice, no extreme +devotion would be too great, could I hope thereby to show my gratitude. +But he is as far above human thanks or human rewards as the sun is +above the sea. Not here, not now, dare I say to him, MY FRIEND, BEHOLD +HOW MUCH I LOVE THEE! such language would be all too poor and +unmeaning; but hereafter--who knows?----" and he broke off abruptly +with a half-sigh. Then, as if forcing himself to change the tenor of +his thoughts, he continued in a kind tone: "But, mademoiselle, I am +wasting your time, and am taking no advantage of the favour you have +shown me by your presence to-day. Will you seat yourself here?" and he +placed an elaborately carved oaken settee in one corner of the studio, +opposite his own easel. "I should be sorry to fatigue you at all," he +went on; "do you care for reading?" + +I answered eagerly in the affirmative, and he handed me a volume bound +in curiously embossed leather, and ornamented with silver clasps. It +was entitled "Letters of a Dead Musician." + +"You will find clear gems of thought, passion, and feeling in this +book," said Cellini; "and being a musician yourself, you will know how +to appreciate them. The writer was one of those geniuses whose work the +world repays with ridicule and contempt. There is no fate more +enviable!" + +I looked at the artist with some surprise as I took the volume he +recommended, and seated myself in the position he indicated; and while +he busied himself in arranging the velvet curtains behind me as a +background, I said: + +"Do you really consider it enviable, Signor Cellini, to receive the +world's ridicule and contempt?" + +"I do indeed," he replied, "since it is a certain proof that the world +does not understand you. To achieve something that is above human +comprehension, THAT is greatness. To have the serene sublimity of the +God-man Christ, and consent to be crucified by a gibing world that was +fated to be afterwards civilized and dominated by His teachings, what +can be more glorious? To have the magnificent versatility of a +Shakespeare, who was scarcely recognized in his own day, but whose +gifts were so vast and various that the silly multitudes wrangle over +his very identity and the authenticity of his plays to this hour--what +can be more triumphant? To know that one's own soul can, if +strengthened and encouraged by the force of will, rise to a supreme +altitude of power--is not that sufficient to compensate for the little +whining cries of the common herd of men and women who have forgotten +whether they ever had a spiritual spark in them, and who, straining up +to see the light of genius that burns too fiercely for their +earth-dimmed eyes, exclaim: 'WE see nothing, therefore there CAN be +nothing.' Ah, mademoiselle, the knowledge of one's own inner +Self-Existence is a knowledge surpassing all the marvels of art and +science!" + +Cellini spoke with enthusiasm, and his countenance seemed illumined by +the eloquence that warmed his speech. I listened with a sort of dreamy +satisfaction; the visual sensation of utter rest that I always +experienced in this man's presence was upon me, and I watched him with +interest as he drew with quick and facile touch the outline of my +features on his canvas. + +Gradually he became more and more absorbed in his work; he glanced at +me from time to time, but did not speak, and his pencil worked rapidly. +I turned over the "Letters of a Dead Musician" with some curiosity. +Several passages struck me as being remarkable for their originality +and depth of thought; but what particularly impressed me as I read on, +was the tone of absolute joy and contentment that seemed to light up +every page. There were no wailings over disappointed ambition, no +regrets for the past, no complaints, no criticism, no word for or +against the brothers of his art; everything was treated from a lofty +standpoint of splendid equality, save when the writer spoke of himself, +and then he became the humblest of the humble, yet never abject, and +always happy. + +"O Music!" he wrote, "Music, thou Sweetest Spirit of all that serve +God, what have I done that thou shouldst so often visit me? It is not +well, O thou Lofty and Divine One, that thou shouldst stoop so low as +to console him who is the unworthiest of all thy servants. For I am too +feeble to tell the world how soft is the sound of thy rustling pinions, +how tender is the sighing breath of thy lips, how beyond all things +glorious is the vibration of thy lightest whisper! Remain aloft, thou +Choicest Essence of the Creator's Voice, remain in that pure and +cloudless ether, where alone thou art fitted to dwell. My touch must +desecrate thee, my voice affright thee. Suffice it to thy servant, O +Beloved, to dream of thee and die!" + +Meeting Cellini's glance as I finished reading these lines, I asked: + +"Did you know the author of this book, signor?" + +"I knew him well," he replied; "he was one of the gentlest souls that +ever dwelt in human clay. As ethereal in his music as John Keats in his +poetry, he was one of those creatures born of dreams and rapture that +rarely visit this planet. Happy fellow! What a death was his!" + +"How did he die?" I inquired. + +"He was playing the organ in one of the great churches of Rome on the +day of the Feast of the Virgin. A choir of finely trained voices sang +to his accompaniment his own glorious setting of the "Regina Coeli." +The music was wonderful, startling, triumphant--ever rising in power +and majesty to a magnificent finale, when suddenly a slight crash was +heard; the organ ceased abruptly, the singers broke off. The musician +was dead. He had fallen forward on the keys of the instrument, and when +they raised him, his face was fairer than the face of any sculptured +angel, so serene was its expression, so rapt was its smile. No one +could tell exactly the cause of his death--he had always been +remarkably strong and healthy. Everyone said it was heart-disease--it +is the usual reason assigned by medical savants for these sudden +departures out of the world. His loss was regretted by all, save myself +and one other who loved him. We rejoiced, and still do rejoice, at his +release." + +I speculated vaguely on the meaning of these last words, but I felt +disinclined to ask any more questions, and Cellini, probably seeing +this, worked on at his sketch without further converse. My eyes were +growing heavy, and the printed words in the "Dead Musician's Letters" +danced before my sight like active little black demons with thin waving +arms and legs. A curious yet not unpleasant drowsiness stole over me, +in which I heard the humming of the bees at the open window, the +singing of the birds, and the voices of people in the hotel gardens, +all united in one continuous murmur that seemed a long way off. I saw +the sunshine and the shadow--I saw the majestic Leo stretched full +length near the easel, and the slight supple form of Raffaello Cellini +standing out in bold outline against the light; yet all seemed shifting +and mingling strangely into a sort of wide radiance in which there was +nothing but varying tints of colour. And could it have been my fancy, +or did I actually SEE the curtain fall gradually away from my favourite +picture, just enough for the face of the "Angel of Life" to be seen +smiling down upon me? I rubbed my eyes violently, and started to my +feet at the sound of the artist's voice. + +"I have tried your patience enough for to-day," he said, and his words +sounded muffled, as though they were being spoken through, a thick +wall. "You can leave me now if you like." + +I stood before him mechanically, still holding the book he had lent me +clasped in my hand. Irresolutely I raised my eyes towards the "Lords of +our Life and Death." It was closely veiled. I had then experienced an +optical illusion. I forced myself to speak--to smile--to put back the +novel sensations that were overwhelming me. + +"I think," I said, and I heard myself speak as though I were somebody +else at a great distance off--"I think, Signor Cellini, your Eastern +wine has been too potent for me. My head is quite heavy, and I feel +dazed." + +"It is mere fatigue and the heat of the day," he replied quietly. "I am +sure you are not too DAZED, as you call it, to see your favourite +picture, are you?" + +I trembled. Was not that picture veiled? I looked--there was no curtain +at all, and the faces of the two Angels shone out of the canvas with +intense brilliancy! Strange to say, I felt no surprise at this +circumstance, which, had it occurred a moment previously, would have +unquestionably astonished and perhaps alarmed me. The mistiness of my +brain suddenly cleared; I saw everything plainly; I heard distinctly; +and when I spoke, the tone of my voice sounded as full and ringing as +it had previously seemed low and muffled. I gazed steadfastly at the +painting, and replied, half smiling: + +"I should be indeed 'far gone,' as the saying is, if I could not see +that, signor! It is truly your masterpiece. Why have you never +exhibited it?" + +"Can YOU ask that?" he said with impressive emphasis, at the same time +drawing nearer and fixing upon me the penetrating glance of his dark +fathomless eyes. It then seemed to me that some great inner force +compelled me to answer this half-inquiry, in words of which I had taken +no previous thought, and which, as I uttered them, conveyed no special +meaning to my own ears. + +"Of course," I said slowly, as if I were repeating a lesson, "you would +not so betray the high trust committed to your charge." + +"Well said!" replied Cellini; "you are fatigued, mademoiselle. Au +revoir! Till to-morrow!" And, throwing open the door of his studio, he +stood aside for me to pass out. I looked at him inquiringly. + +"Must I come at the same time to-morrow?" I asked. + +"If you please." + +I passed my hand across my forehead perplexedly, I felt I had something +else to say before I left him. He waited patiently, holding back with +one hand the curtains of the portiere. + +"I think I had a parting word to give you," I said at last, meeting his +gaze frankly; "but I seem to have forgotten what it was." Cellini +smiled gravely. + +"Do not trouble to think about it, mademoiselle. I am unworthy the +effort on your part." + +A flash of vivid light crossed my eyes for a second, and I exclaimed +eagerly: + +"I remember now! It was 'Dieu vous garde' signor!" + +He bent his head reverentially. + +"Merci mille fois, mademoiselle! Dieu vous garde--vous aussi. Au +revoir." + +And clasping my hand with a light yet friendly pressure, he closed the +door of his room behind me. Once alone in the passage, the sense of +high elation and contentment that had just possessed me began gradually +to decrease. I had not become actually dispirited, but a languid +feeling of weariness oppressed me, and my limbs ached as though I had +walked incessantly for many miles. I went straight to my own room. I +consulted my watch; it was half-past one, the hour at which the hotel +luncheon was usually served. Mrs. Everard had evidently not returned +from her drive. I did not care to attend the table d'hote alone; +besides, I had no inclination to eat. I drew down the window-blinds to +shut out the brilliancy of the beautiful Southern sunlight, and +throwing myself on my bed I determined to rest quietly till Amy came +back. I had brought the "Letters of a Dead Musician" away with me from +Cellini's studio, and I began to read, intending to keep myself awake +by this means. But I found I could not fix my attention on the page, +nor could I think at all connectedly. Little by little my eyelids +closed; the book dropped from my nerveless hand; and in a few minutes I +was in a deep and tranquil slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THREE VISIONS. + + +Roses, roses! An interminable chain of these royal blossoms, red and +white, wreathed by the radiant fingers of small rainbow-winged +creatures as airy as moonlight mist, as delicate as thistledown! They +cluster round me with smiling faces and eager eyes; they place the end +of their rose-garland in my hand, and whisper, "FOLLOW!" Gladly I obey, +and hasten onward. Guiding myself by the fragrant chain I hold, I pass +through a labyrinth of trees, whose luxuriant branches quiver with the +flight and song of birds. Then comes a sound of waters; the riotous +rushing of a torrent unchecked, that leaps sheer down from rocks a +thousand feet high, thundering forth the praise of its own beauty as it +tosses in the air triumphant crowns of silver spray. How the living +diamonds within it shift, and change, and sparkle! Fain would I linger +to watch this magnificence; but the coil of roses still unwinds before +me, and the fairy voices still cry, "FOLLOW!" I press on. The trees +grow thicker; the songs of the birds cease; the light around me grows +pale and subdued. In the far distance I see a golden crescent that +seems suspended by some invisible thread in the air. Is it the young +moon? No; for as I gaze it breaks apart into a thousand points of vivid +light like wandering stars. These meet; they blaze into letters of +fire. I strain my dazzled eyes to spell out their meaning. They form +one word--HELIOBAS. I read it. I utter it aloud. The rose-chain breaks +at my feet, and disappears. The fairy voices die away on my ear. There +is utter silence, utter darkness,--save where that one NAME writes +itself in burning gold on the blackness of the heavens. + + * * * * * + +The interior of a vast cathedral is opened before my gaze. The lofty +white marble columns support a vaulted roof painted in fresco, from +which are suspended a thousand lamps that emit a mild and steady +effulgence. The great altar is illuminated; the priests, in glittering +raiment, pace slowly to and fro. The large voice of the organ, +murmuring to itself awhile, breaks forth in a shout of melody; and a +boy's clear, sonorous treble tones pierce the incense-laden air. +"Credo!"--and the silver, trumpet-like notes fall from the immense +height of the building like a bell ringing in a pure atmosphere--"Credo +in unum Deum; Patrem omni-potentum, factorem coeli et terrae, +visibilium omnium et invisibilium." + +The cathedral echoes with answering voices; and, involuntarily +kneeling, I follow the words of the grand chant. I hear the music +slacken; the notes of rejoicing change to a sobbing and remorseful +wail; the organ shudders like a forest of pines in a tempest, +"Crucifixus etiam pro nobis; passus et sepultus est." A darkness grows +up around me; my senses swim. The music altogether ceases; but a +brilliant radiance streams through a side-door of the church, and +twenty maidens, clad in white and crowned with myrtle, pacing two by +two, approach me. They gaze at me with joyous eyes. "Art thou also one +of us?" they murmur; then they pass onward to the altar, where again +the lights are glimmering. I watch them with eager interest; I hear +them uplift their fresh young voices in prayer and praise. One of them, +whose deep blue eyes are full of lustrous tenderness, leaves her +companions, and softly approaches me. She holds a pencil and tablet in +her hand. + +"Write!" she says, in a thrilling whisper; "and write quickly! for +whatsoever thou shalt now inscribe is the clue to thy destiny." + +I obey her mechanically, impelled not by my own will, but by some +unknown powerful force acting within and around me. I trace upon the +tablet one word only; it is a name that startles me even while I myself +write it down--HELIOBAS. Scarcely have I written it when a thick white +cloud veils the cathedral from my sight; the fair maiden vanishes, and +all is again still. + + * * * * * + +I am listening to the accents of a grave melodious voice, which, from +its slow and measured tones, would seem to be in the action of reading +or reciting aloud. I see a small room sparely furnished, and at a table +covered with books and manuscripts is seated a man of noble features +and commanding presence. He is in the full prime of life; his dark hair +has no thread of silver to mar its luxuriance; his face is unwrinkled; +his forehead unfurrowed by care; his eyes, deeply sunk beneath his +shelving brows, are of a singularly clear and penetrating blue, with an +absorbed and watchful look in them, like the eyes of one accustomed to +gaze far out at sea. His hand rests on the open pages of a massive +volume; he is reading, and his expression is intent and earnest--as if +he were littering his own thoughts aloud, with the conviction and force +of an orator who knows the truth of which he speaks: + +"The Universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic invisible +Protectorate governs the winds, the tides, the incoming and outgoing of +the seasons, the birth of the flowers, the growth of forests, the +outpourings of the sunlight, the silent glittering of the stars. A wide +illimitable Beneficence embraces all creation. A vast Eternal Pity +exists for all sorrow, all sin. He who first swung the planets in the +air, and bade them revolve till Time shall be no more--He, the +Fountain-Head of Absolute Perfection, is no deaf, blind, capricious, or +remorseless Being. To Him the death of the smallest singing-bird is as +great or as little as the death of a world's emperor. For Him the +timeless withering of an innocent flower is as pitiful as the decay of +a mighty nation. An infant's first prayer to Him is heard with as +tender a patience as the united petitions of thousands of worshippers. +For in everything and around everything, from the sun to a grain of +sand, He hath a portion, small or great, of His own most Perfect +Existence. Should He hate His Creation, He must perforce hate Himself; +and that Love should hate Love is an impossibility. Therefore He loves +all His work; and as Love, to be perfect, must contain Pity, +Forgiveness, and Forbearance, so doth He pity, forgive, and forbear. +Shall a mere man deny himself for the sake of his child or friend? and +shall the Infinite Love refuse to sacrifice itself--yea, even to as +immense a humility as its greatness is immeasurable? Shall we deny +those merciful attributes to God which we acknowledge in His creature, +Man? O my Soul, rejoice that thou hast pierced the veil of the Beyond; +that thou hast seen and known the Truth! that to thee is made clear the +Reason of Life, and the Recompense of Death: yet while rejoicing, +grieve that thou art not fated to draw more than a few souls to the +comfort thou hast thyself attained!" + +Fascinated by the speaker's voice and countenance, I listen, straining +my ears to catch every word that falls from his lips. He rises; he +stands erect; he stretches out his hands as though in solemn entreaty. + +"Azul!" he exclaims. "Messenger of my fate; thou who art a guiding +spirit of the elements, thou who ridest the storm-cloud and sittest +throned on the edge of the lightning! By that electric spark within me, +of which thou art the Twin Flame, I ask of thee to send me this one +more poor human soul; let me change its unrestfulness into repose, its +hesitation to certainty, its weakness to strength, its weary +imprisonment to the light of liberty! Azul!" + +His voice ceases, his extended hands fall slowly, and gradually, +gradually he turns his whole figure towards ME. He faces me--his +intense eyes burn through me--his strange yet tender smile absorbs me. +Yet I am full of unreasoning terror; I tremble--I strive to turn away +from that searching and magnetic gaze. His deep, melodious tones again +ring softly on the silence. He addresses me. + +"Fearest thou me, my child? Am I not thy friend? Knowest thou not the +name of HELIOBAS?" + +At this word I start and gasp for breath; I would shriek, but cannot, +for a heavy hand seems to close my mouth, and an immense weight presses +me down. I struggle violently with this unseen Power--little by little +I gain the advantage. One effort more! I win the victory--I wake! + + * * * * * + +"Sakes alive!" says a familiar voice; "you HAVE had a spell of sleep! I +got home about two, nearly starving, and I found you here curled up 'in +a rosy infant slumber,' as the song says. So I hunted up the Colonel +and had lunch, for it seemed a sin to disturb you. It's just struck +four. Shall we have some tea up here?" + +I looked at Mrs. Everard, and smiled assent. So I had been sleeping for +two hours and a half, and I had evidently been dreaming all the time; +but my dreams had been as vivid as realities. I felt still rather +drowsy, but I was thoroughly rested and in a state of delicious +tranquillity. My friend rang the bell for the tea, and then turned +round and surveyed me with a sort of wonder. + +"What have you done to yourself, child?" she said at last, approaching +the bed where I lay, and staring fixedly at me. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, you look a different creature. When I left you this morning you +were pale and haggard, a sort of die-away delicate invalid; now your +eyes are bright; and your cheeks have quite a lovely colour in them; +your lips, too, are the right tint. But perhaps," and here she looked +alarmed--"perhaps you've got the fever?" + +"I don't think so," I said amusedly, and I stretched out my hand for +her to feel. + +"No, you haven't," she continued, evidently reassured; "your palm is +moist and cool, and your pulse is regular. Well, you look spry, anyhow. +I shouldn't wonder if you made up your mind to have a dance to-night." + +"Dance?" I queried. "What dance, and where?" + +"Well, Madame Didier, that jolly little furbelowed Frenchwoman with +whom I was driving just now, has got up a regular party to-night--" + +"Hans Breitmann gib a barty?" I interposed, with a mock solemn air of +inquiry. + +Amy laughed. + +"Well, yes, it MAY be that kind of thing, for all I know to the +contrary. Anyhow, she's hired the band and ordered a right-down elegant +supper. Half the folks in the hotel are going, and a lot of outsiders +have got invitations. She asked if we couldn't come--myself, the +Colonel, and you. I said I could answer for myself and the Colonel, but +not for you, as you were an invalid. But if you keep on looking as you +do at present, no one will believe that there's anything the matter +with you.--Tea, Alphonse!" + +This to a polite waiter, who was our special attendant, and who just +then knocked at the door to know "madame's" orders. + +Utterly disbelieving what my friend said in regard to my improved +appearance, I rose from the bed and went to the dressing-table to look +in the mirror and judge for myself. I almost recoiled from my own +reflection, so great was my surprise. The heavy marks under my eyes, +the lines of pain that had been for months deepening in my forehead, +the plaintive droop of the mouth that had given me such an air of +ill-health and anxiety--all were gone as if by magic. I saw a +rose-tinted complexion, a pair of laughing, lustrous eyes, and, +altogether, such a happy, mirthful young face smiled back at me, that I +half doubted whether it was indeed myself I saw. + +"There now!" cried Amy in triumph, watching me as I pushed my +clustering hair from my brows, and examined myself more intently. "Did +I not tell you so? The change in you is marvellous! I know what it is. +You have been getting better unconsciously to yourself in this lovely +air and scene, and the long afternoon sleep you've just had has +completed the cure." + +I smiled at her enthusiasm, but was forced to admit that she was right +as far as my actual looks went. No one would believe that I was, or +ever had been, ill. In silence I loosened my hair and began to brush it +and put it in order before the mirror, and as I did so my thoughts were +very busy. I remembered distinctly all that had happened in the studio +of Raffaello Cellini, and still more distinctly was I able to recall +every detail of the three dreams that had visited me in my slumber. The +NAME, too, that had been the key-note of them all I also remembered, +but some instinct forbade me to utter it aloud. Once I thought, "Shall +I take a pencil and write it down lest I forget it?" and the same +instinct said "No." Amy's voluble chatter ran on like the sound of a +rippling brook all the time I thus meditated over the occurrences of +the day. + +"Say, child!" she exclaimed; "will you go to the dance?" + +"Certainly I will, with pleasure," I answered, and indeed I felt as if +I should thoroughly enjoy it. + +"Brava! It will be real fun. There are no end of foreign titles coming, +I believe. The Colonel's a bit grumpy about it,--he always is when he +has to wear his dress suit. He just hates it. That man hasn't a +particle of vanity. He looks handsomer in his evening clothes than in +anything else, and yet he doesn't see it. But tell me," and her pretty +face became serious with a true feminine anxiety, "whatever will you +wear? You've brought no ball fixings, have you?" + +I finished twisting up the last coil of my hair, and turned and kissed +her affectionately. She was the most sweet-tempered and generous of +women, and she would have placed any one of her elaborate costumes at +my disposal had I expressed the least desire in that direction. I +answered: + +"No, dear; I certainly have no regular ball 'fixings,' for I never +expected to dance here, or anywhere for that matter. I did not bring +the big trunks full of Parisian toilettes that you indulge in, you +spoilt bride! Still I have something that may do. In fact it will have +to do." + +"What is it? Have I seen it? Do show!" and her curiosity was +unappeasable. + +The discreet Alphonse tapped at the door again just at this moment. + +"Entrez!" I answered; and our tea, prepared with the tempting nicety +peculiar to the Hotel de L----, appeared. Alphonse set the tray down +with his usual artistic nourish, and produced a small note from his +vest-pocket. + +"For mademoiselle," he said with a bow; and as he handed it to me, his +eyes opened wide in surprise. He, too, perceived the change in my +appearance. But he was dignity itself, and instantly suppressed his +astonishment into the polite impassiveness of a truly accomplished +waiter, and gliding from the room on the points of his toes, as was his +usual custom, he disappeared. The note was from Cellini, and ran as +follows: + + +"If mademoiselle will be so good as to refrain from choosing any +flowers for her toilette this evening, she will confer a favour on her +humble friend and servant, + +"RAFFAELLO CELLINI." + + +I handed it to Amy, who was evidently burning with inquisitiveness to +know its contents. + +"Didn't I say he was a queer young man?" she exclaimed, as she perused +the missive attentively. "This is only his way of saying that he means +to send you some flowers himself. But what puzzles me is to think how +he could possibly know you were going to make any special 'toilette' +this evening. It is really very mysterious when I come to think of it, +for Madame Didier said plainly that she would not ask Cellini to the +dance till she saw him at the table d'hote to-night." + +"Perhaps Alphonse has told him all about it," I suggested. + +My friend's countenance brightened. + +"Of course! That is it; and Mr. Cellini takes it for granted that a +girl of your age would not be likely to refuse a dance. Still there is +something odd about it, too. By-the-bye, I forgot to ask you how the +picture got on?" + +"Oh, very well, I believe," I replied evasively. "Signor Cellini only +made a slight outline sketch as a beginning." + +"And was it like you?--a really good resemblance?" + +"I really did not examine it closely enough to be able to judge." + +"What a demure young person you are!" laughed Mrs. Everard. "Now, _I_ +should have rushed straight up to the easel and examined every line of +what he was doing. You are a model of discretion, really! I shan't be +anxious about leaving you alone any more. But about your dress for +to-night. Let me see it, there's a good girl." + +I opened my trunk and took out a robe of ivory-tinted crepe. It was +made with almost severe simplicity, and was unadorned, save by a soft +ruffle of old Mechlin lace round the neck and sleeves. Amy examined it +critically. + +"Now, you would have looked perfectly ghastly in this last night, when +you were as pale and hollow-eyed as a sick nun; but to-night," and she +raised her eyes to my face, "I believe you will do. Don't you want the +bodice cut lower?" + +"No, thanks!" I said, smiling. "I will leave that to the portly +dowagers--they will expose neck enough for half-a-dozen other women." + +My friend laughed. + +"Do as you like," she returned; "only I see your gown has short +sleeves, and I thought you might like a square neck instead of that +little simple Greek round. But perhaps it's better as it is. The stuff +is lovely; where did you get it?" + +"At one of the London emporiums of Eastern art," I answered. "My dear, +your tea is getting cold." + +She laid the dress on the bed, and in doing so, perceived the +antique-looking book with the silver clasps which I had left there. + +"What's this?" she asked, turning it round to discover its name. +"'Letters of a Dead Musician!' What a shivery title! Is it morbid +reading?" + +"Not at all," I replied, as I leaned comfortably back in an easy-chair +and sipped my tea. "It is a very scholarly, poetical, and picturesque +work. Signor Cellini lent it to me; the author was a friend of his." + +Amy looked at me with a knowing and half-serious expression. + +"Say now--take care, take care! Aren't you and Cellini getting to be +rather particular friends--something a little beyond the Platonic, eh?" + +This notion struck me as so absurd that I laughed heartily. Then, +without pausing for one instant to think what I was saying, I answered +with amazing readiness and frankness, considering that I really knew +nothing about it: + +"Why, my dear, Raffaello Cellini is betrothed, and he is a most devoted +lover." + +A moment after I had uttered this assertion I was surprised at myself. +What authority had I for saying that Cellini was betrothed? What did I +know about it? Confused, I endeavoured to find some means of retracting +this unfounded and rash remark, but no words of explanation would come +to my lips that had been so ready and primed to deliver what might be, +for all I knew, a falsehood. Amy did not perceive my embarrassment. She +was pleased and interested at the idea of Cellini's being in love. + +"Really!" she exclaimed, "it makes him a more romantic character than +ever! Fancy his telling you that he was betrothed! How delightful! I +must ask him all about his chosen fair one. But I'm positively thankful +it isn't you, for I'm sure he's just a little bit off his head. Even +this book he has lent you looks like a wizard's property;" and she +fluttered the leaves of the "Dead Musician's" volume, turning them +rapidly over in search of something attractive. Suddenly she paused and +cried out: "Why, this is right-down awful! He must have been a regular +madman! Just listen!" and she read aloud: + +"'How mighty are the Kingdoms of the Air! How vast they are--how +densely populated--how glorious are their destinies--how all-powerful +and wise are their inhabitants! They possess everlasting health and +beauty--their movements are music--their glances are light--they cannot +err in their laws or judgments, for their existence is love. Thrones, +principalities, and powers are among them, yet all are equal. Each one +has a different duty to perform, yet all their labours are lofty. But +what a fate is ours on this low earth! For, from the cradle to the +grave, we are watched by these spiritual spectators--watched with +unflinching interest, unhesitating regard. O Angelic Spirits, what is +there in the poor and shabby spectacle of human life to attract your +mighty Intelligences? Sorrow, sin, pride, shame, ambition, failure, +obstinacy, ignorance, selfishness, forgetfulness--enough to make ye +veil your radiant faces in unpierceable clouds to hide forever the +sight of so much crime and misery. Yet if there be the faintest, +feeblest effort in our souls to answer to the call of your voices, to +rise above the earth by force of the same will that pervades your +destinies, how the sound of great rejoicing permeates those wide +continents ye inhabit, like a wave of thunderous music; and ye are +glad, Blessed Spirits!--glad with a gladness beyond that of your own +lives, to feel and to know that some vestige, however fragile, is +spared from the general wreck of selfish and unbelieving Humanity. +Truly we work under the shadow of a "cloud of Witnesses." Disperse, +disperse, O dense yet brilliant multitudes! turn away from me your +burning, truthful, immutable eyes, filled with that look of divine, +perpetual regret and pity! Lo, how unworthy am I to behold your glory! +and yet I must see and know and love you all, while the mad blind world +rushes on to its own destruction, and none can avert its doom.'" + +Here Amy threw down the book with a sort of contempt, and said to me: + +"If you are going to muddle your mind with the ravings of a lunatic, +you are not what I took you for. Why, it's regular spiritualism! +Kingdoms of the air indeed! And his cloud of witnesses! Rubbish!" + +"He quotes the CLOUD OF WITNESSES from St. Paul," I remarked. + +"More shame for him!" replied my friend, with the usual inconsistent +indignation that good Protestants invariably display when their pet +corn, the Bible, is accidentally trodden on. "It has been very well +said that the devil can quote Scripture, and this musician (a good job +he IS dead, I'm sure) is perfectly blasphemous to quote the Testament +in support of his ridiculous ideas! St. Paul did not mean by 'a cloud +of witnesses,' a lot of 'air multitudes' and 'burning, immutable eyes,' +and all that nonsense." + +"Well, what DID he mean?" I gently persisted. + +"Oh, he meant--why, you know very well what he meant," said Amy, in a +tone of reproachful solemnity. "And I wonder at your asking me such a +question! Surely you know your Bible, and you must be aware that St. +Paul could never have approved of spiritualism." + +"'And there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, but one is the +glory of the celestial?" I quoted with, a slight smile. + +Mrs. Everard looked shocked and almost angry. + +"My dear, I am ashamed of you! You are a believer in spirits, I do +declare! Why, I thought Maskelyne and Cook had cured everybody of such +notions; and now here's this horrid book going to make you more nervous +than ever. I shall have you getting up one night and shrieking about +burning, immutable eyes looking at you." + +I laughed merrily as I rose to pick up the discarded volume from the +floor. + +"Don't be afraid," I said; "I'll give back the book to Signor Cellini +to-morrow, and I will tell him that you do not like the idea of my +reading it, and that I am going to study the Bible instead. Come now, +dear, don't look cross!" and I embraced her warmly, for I liked her far +too well to wish to offend her. "Let us concentrate our attention on +our finery for to-night, when a 'dense and brilliant multitude,' not of +air, but of the 'earth earthy,' will pass us under critical survey. I +assure you I mean to make the best of my improved looks, as I don't +believe they will last. I dare say I shall be the 'sick nun' that you +termed me again to-morrow." + +"I hope not, dearest," said my friend kindly, returning my caress and +forgetting her momentary ill-humour. "A jolly dance will do you good if +you are careful to avoid over-exertion. But you are quite right, we +must really fix our things ready for the evening, else we shall be all +in a flurry at the last moment, and nothing riles the Colonel so much +as to see women in a fuss. I shall wear my lace dress; but it wants +seeing to. Will you help me?" + +Readily assenting, we were soon deep in the arrangement of the +numberless little mysteries that make up a woman's toilette; and +nothing but the most frivolous conversation ensued. But as I assisted +in the sorting of laces, jewels, and other dainty appendages of evening +costume, I was deep in earnest meditation. Reviewing in my own mind the +various sensations I had experienced since I had tasted that Eastern +wine in Cellini's studio, I came to the conclusion that he must have +tried an experiment on me with some foreign drug, of which he alone +knew the properties. Why he should do this I could not determine; but +that he had done it I was certain. Besides this, I felt sure that he +personally exerted some influence upon me--a soothing and calming +influence I was forced to admit--still, it could hardly be allowed to +continue. To be under the control, however slight, of one who was +almost a stranger to me, was, at the least, unnatural and unpleasant. I +was bound to ask him a few plain questions. And, supposing Mrs. Everard +were to speak to him about his being betrothed, and he were to deny it, +and afterwards were to turn round upon me and ask what authority I had +for making such a statement, what should I say? Convict myself of +falsehood? However, it was no use to puzzle over the solution of this +difficulty till it positively presented itself. At any rate, I +determined I would ask him frankly, face to face, for some explanation +of the strange emotions I had felt ever since meeting him; and thus +resolved, I waited patiently for the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A DANCE AND A PROMISE. + + +Our little French friend, Madame Didier, was not a woman to do things +by halves. She was one of those rare exceptions among Parisian +ladies--she was a perfectly happy wife; nay, more, she was in love with +her own husband, a fact which, considering the present state of society +both in France and England, rendered her almost contemptible in the +eyes of all advanced thinkers. She was plump and jolly in appearance; +round-eyed and brisk as a lively robin. Her husband, a large, +mild-faced placid man--"mon petit mari," as she called him--permitted +her to have her own way in everything, and considered all she did as +perfectly well done. Therefore, when she had proposed this informal +dance at the Hotel de L----, he made no objection, but entered into her +plans with spirit; and, what was far more important, opened his purse +readily to her demands for the necessary expenses. So nothing was +stinted; the beautiful ballroom attached to the hotel was thrown open, +and lavishly decorated with flowers, fountains, and twinkling lights; +an awning extended from its windows right down the avenue of dark +ilex-trees, which were ornamented with Chinese lanterns; an elegant +supper was laid out in the large dining-room, and the whole +establishment was en fete. The delicious strains of a Viennese band +floated to our ears as Colonel Everard, his wife, and myself descended +the staircase on our way to the scene of revelry; and suggestions of +fairyland were presented to us in the graceful girlish forms, clad in +light, diaphanous attire, that flitted here and there, or occasionally +passed us. Colonel Everard marched proudly along with the military +bearing that always distinguished him, now and then glancing admiringly +at his wife, who, indeed, looked her very best. Her dress was of the +finest Brussels lace, looped over a skirt of the palest shell-pink +satin; deep crimson velvet roses clustered on her breast, and nestled +in her rich hair; a necklace of magnificent rubies clasped her neck, +and the same jewels glittered on her round white arms. Her eyes shone +with pleasurable excitement, and the prettiest colour imaginable tinted +her delicate cheeks. + +"When an American woman is lovely, she is very lovely," I said. "You +will be the belle of the room to-night, Amy!" + +"Nonsense!" she replied, well pleased, though, at my remark. "You must +remember I have a rival in yourself." + +I shrugged my shoulders incredulously. + +"It is not like you to be sarcastic," I said. "You know very well I +have the air of a resuscitated corpse." + +The Colonel wheeled round suddenly, and brought us all up to a +standstill before a great mirror. + +"If YOU are like a resuscitated corpse, I'll throw a hundred dollars +into the next mud-pond," he observed. "Look at yourself." + +I looked, at first indifferently, and then with searching scrutiny. I +saw a small, slender girl, clad in white, with a mass of gold hair +twisted loosely up from her neck, and fastened with a single star of +diamonds. A superb garniture of natural lilies of the valley was +fastened on this girl's shoulder; and, falling loosely across her +breast, lost itself in the trailing folds of her gown. She held a +palm-leaf fan entirely covered with lilies of the valley, and a girdle +of the same flowers encircled her waist. Her face was serious, but +contented; her eyes were bright, but with an intense and thoughtful +lustre; and her cheeks were softly coloured, as though a west wind had +blown freshly against them. There was nothing either attractive or +repulsive about her that I could see; and yet--I turned away from the +mirror hastily with a faint smile. + +"The lilies form the best part of my toilette," I said. + +"That they do," asserted Amy, with emphasis. "They are the finest +specimens I ever saw. It was real elegant of Mr. Cellini to send them +all fixed up ready like that, fan and all. You must be a favourite of +his!" + +"Come, let us proceed," I answered, with some abruptness. "We are +losing time." + +In a few seconds more we entered the ballroom, and were met at once by +Madame Didier, who, resplendent in black lace and diamonds, gave us +hearty greeting. She stared at me with unaffected amazement. + +"Mon dieu!" she exclaimed--her conversation with us was always a +mixture of French and broken English--"I should not 'ave know zis young +lady again! She 'ave si bonne mine. You veel dance, sans doute?" + +We readily assented, and the usual assortment of dancing-men of all +ages and sizes was brought forward for our inspection; while the +Colonel, being introduced to a beaming English girl of some seventeen +summers, whirled her at once into the merry maze of dancers, who were +spinning easily round to the lively melody of one of Strauss's most +fascinating waltzes. Presently I also found myself circling the room +with an amiable young German, who ambled round with a certain amount of +cleverness, considering that he was evidently ignorant of the actual +waltz step; and I caught a glimpse now and then of Amy's rubies as they +flashed past me in the dance--she was footing it merrily with a +handsome Austrian Hussar. The room was pleasantly full--not too crowded +for the movements of the dancers; and the whole scene was exceedingly +pretty and animated. I had no lack of partners, and I was surprised to +find myself so keenly alive to enjoyment, and so completely free from +my usual preoccupied condition of nervous misery I looked everywhere +for Raffaello Cellini, but he was not to be seen. The lilies that I +wore, which he had sent me, seemed quite unaffected by the heat and +glare of the gaslight--not a leaf drooped, not a petal withered; and +their remarkable whiteness and fragrance elicited many admiring remarks +from those with whom I conversed. It was growing very late; there were +only two more waltzes before the final cotillon. I was standing near +the large open window of the ballroom, conversing with one of my recent +partners, when a sudden inexplicable thrill shot through me from head +to foot. Instinctively I turned, and saw Cellini approaching. He looked +remarkably handsome, though his face was pale and somewhat wearied in +expression. He was laughing and conversing gaily with two ladies, one +of whom was Mrs. Everard; and as he came towards me he bowed +courteously, saying: + +"I am too much honoured by the kindness mademoiselle has shown in not +discarding my poor flowers." + +"They are lovely," I replied simply; "and I am very much obliged to +you, signor, for sending them to me." + +"And how fresh they keep!" said Amy, burying her little nose in the +fragrance of my fan; "yet they have been in the heat of the room all +the evening." + +"They cannot perish while mademoiselle wears them," said Cellini +gallantly. "Her breath is their life." + +"Bravo!" cried Amy, clapping her hands. "That is very prettily said, +isn't it?" + +I was silent. I never could endure compliments. They are seldom +sincere, and it gives me no pleasure to be told lies, however prettily +they may be worded. Signor Cellini appeared to divine my thoughts, for +he said in a lower tone: + +"Pardon me, mademoiselle; I see my observation displeased you; but +there is more truth in it than you perhaps know." + +"Oh, say!" interrupted Mrs. Everard at this juncture; "I am SO +interested, signor, to hear you are engaged! I suppose she is a dream +of beauty?" + +The hot colour rushed to my cheeks, and I bit my lips in confusion and +inquietude. What WOULD he answer? My anxiety was not of long duration. +Cellini smiled, and seemed in no way surprised. He said quietly: + +"Who told you, madame, that I am engaged?" + +"Why, she did, of course!" went on my friend, nodding towards me, +regardless of an imploring look I cast at her. "And said you were +perfectly devoted!" + +"She is quite right," replied Cellini, with another of those rare sweet +smiles of his; "and you also are right, madame, in your supposition: my +betrothed is a Dream of Beauty." + +I was infinitely relieved. I had not, then, been guilty of a falsehood. +But the mystery remained: how had I discovered the truth of the matter +at all? While I puzzled my mind over this question, the other lady who +had accompanied Mrs. Everard spoke. She was an Austrian of brilliant +position and attainments. + +"You quite interest me, signor!" she said. "Is your fair fiancee here +to-night?" + +"No, madame," replied Cellini; "she is not in this country." + +"What a pity!" exclaimed Amy. "I want to see her real bad. Don't you?" +she asked, turning to me. + +I raised my eyes and met the dark clear ones of the artist fixed full +upon me. + +"Yes," I said hesitatingly; "I should like to meet her. Perhaps the +chance will occur at some future time." + +"There is not the slightest doubt about that," said Cellini. "And now, +mademoiselle, will you give me the pleasure of this waltz with you? or +are you promised to another partner?" + +I was not engaged, and I at once accepted his proffered arm. Two +gentlemen came hurriedly up to claim Amy and her Austrian friend; and +for one brief moment Signor Cellini and I stood alone in a +comparatively quiet corner of the ballroom, waiting for the music to +begin. I opened my lips to ask him a question, when he stopped me by a +slight gesture of his hand. + +"Patience!" he said in a low and earnest tone. "In a few moments you +shall have the opportunity you seek." + +The band burst forth just then in the voluptuous strains of a waltz by +Gung'l, and together we floated away to its exquisite gliding measure. +I use the word FLOATED, advisedly, for no other term could express the +delightful sensation I enjoyed. Cellini was a superb dancer. It seemed +to me that our feet scarcely touched the floor, so swiftly, so easily +and lightly we sped along. A few rapid turns, and I noticed we were +nearing the open French windows, and, before I well realized it, we had +stopped dancing and were pacing quietly side by side down the ilex +avenue, where the little lanterns twinkled like red fireflies and green +glow-worms among the dark and leafy branches. + +We walked along in silence till we reached the end of the path. There, +before us, lay the open garden, with its broad green lawn, bathed in +the lovely light of the full moon, sailing aloft in a cloudless sky. +The night was very warm, but, regardless of this fact, Cellini wrapped +carefully round me a large fleecy white burnous that he had taken from +a chair where it was lying, on his way through the avenue. + +"I am not cold," I said, smiling. + +"No; but you will be, perhaps. It is not wise to run any useless risks." + +I was again silent. A low breeze rustled in the tree-tops near us; the +music of the ballroom reached us only in faint and far echoes; the +scent of roses and myrtle was wafted delicately on the balmy air; the +radiance of the moon softened the outlines of the landscape into a +dreamy suggestiveness of its reality. Suddenly a sound broke on our +ears--a delicious, long, plaintive trill; then a wonderful shower of +sparkling roulades; and finally, a clear, imploring, passionate note +repeated many times. It was a nightingale, singing as only the +nightingales of the South can sing. I listened entranced. + + "'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! + No hungry generations tread thee down; + The voice I hear this passing night was heard + In ancient days by emperor and clown,'" + +quoted Cellini in earnest tones. + +"You admire Keats?" I asked eagerly. + +"More than any other poet that has lived," he replied. "His was the +most ethereal and delicate muse that ever consented to be tied down to +earth. But, mademoiselle, you do not wish to examine me as to my taste +in poetry. You have some other questions to put to me, have you not?" + +For one instant I hesitated. Then I spoke out frankly, and answered: + +"Yes, signor. What was there in that wine you gave me this morning?" + +He met my searching gaze unflinchingly. + +"A medicine," he said. "An excellent and perfectly simple remedy made +of the juice of plants, and absolutely harmless." + +"But why," I demanded, "why did you give me this medicine? Was it not +wrong to take so much responsibility upon yourself?" + +He smiled. + +"I think not. If you are injured or offended, then I was wrong; but if, +on the contrary, your health and spirits are ever so little improved, +as I see they are, I deserve your thanks, mademoiselle." + +And he waited with an air of satisfaction and expectancy. I was puzzled +and half-angry, yet I could not help acknowledging to myself that I +felt better and more cheerful than I had done for many months. I looked +up at the artist's dark, intelligent face, and said almost humbly: + +"I DO thank you, signor. But surely you will tell me your reasons for +constituting yourself my physician without even asking my leave." + +He laughed, and his eyes looked very friendly. + +"Mademoiselle, I am one of those strangely constituted beings who +cannot bear to see any innocent thing suffer. It matters not whether it +be a worm in the dust, a butterfly in the air, a bird, a flower, or a +human creature. The first time I saw you I knew that your state of +health precluded you from the enjoyment of life natural to your sex and +age. I also perceived that the physicians had been at work upon you +trying to probe into the causes of your ailment, and that they had +signally failed. Physicians, mademoiselle, are very clever and +estimable men, and there are a few things which come within the limit +of their treatment; but there are also other things which baffle their +utmost profundity of knowledge. One of these is that wondrous piece of +human machinery, the nervous system; that intricate and delicate +network of fine threads--electric wires on which run the messages of +thought, impulse, affection, emotion. If these threads or wires become, +from any subtle cause, entangled, the skill of the mere medical +practitioner is of no avail to undo the injurious knot, or to unravel +the confused skein. The drugs generally used in such cases are, for the +most part, repellent to the human blood and natural instinct, therefore +they are always dangerous, and often deadly. I knew, by studying your +face, mademoiselle, that you were suffering as acutely as I, too, +suffered some five years ago, and I ventured to try upon you a simple +vegetable essence, merely to see if you were capable of benefiting by +it. The experiment has been so far successful; but----" + +He paused, and his face became graver and more abstracted. + +"But what?" I queried eagerly. + +"I was about to say," he continued, "that the effect is only +transitory. Within forty-eight hours you must naturally relapse into +your former prostrate condition, and I, unfortunately, am powerless to +prevent it." + +I sighed wearily, and a feeling of disappointment oppressed me. Was it +possible that I must again be the victim of miserable dejection, pain, +and stupor? + +"You can give me another dose of your remedy," I said. + +"That I cannot, mademoiselle," he answered regretfully; "I dare not, +without further advice and guidance." + +"Advice and guidance from whom?" I inquired. + +"From the friend who cured me of my long and almost hopeless illness," +said Cellini. "He alone can tell me whether I am right in my theories +respecting your nature and constitution." + +"And what are those theories?" I asked, becoming deeply interested in +the conversation. + +Cellini was silent for a minute or so; he seemed absorbed in a sort of +inward communion with himself. Then he spoke with impressiveness and +gravity: + +"In this world, mademoiselle, there are no two natures alike, yet all +are born with a small portion of Divinity within them, which we call +the Soul. It is a mere spark smouldering in the centre of the weight of +clay with which we are encumbered, yet it is there. Now this particular +germ or seed can be cultivated if we will--that is, if we desire and +insist on its growth. As a child's taste for art or learning can be +educated into high capabilities for the future, so can the human Soul +be educated into so high, so supreme an attainment, that no merely +mortal standard of measurement can reach its magnificence. With much +more than half the inhabitants of the globe, this germ of immortality +remains always a germ, never sprouting, overlaid and weighted down by +the lymphatic laziness and materialistic propensities of its shell or +husk--the body. But I must put aside the forlorn prospect of the +multitudes in whom the Divine Essence attains to no larger quantity +than that proportioned out to a dog or bird--I have only to speak of +the rare few with whom the soul is everything--those who, perceiving +and admitting its existence within them, devote all their powers to +fanning up their spark of light till it becomes a radiant, burning, +inextinguishable flame. The mistake made by these examples of beatified +Humanity is that they too often sacrifice the body to the demands of +the spirit. It is difficult to find the medium path, but it can be +found; and the claims of both body and soul can be satisfied without +sacrificing the one to the other. I beg your earnest attention, +mademoiselle, for what I say concerning THE RARE FEW WITH WHOM THE SOUL +IS EVERYTHING. YOU are one of those few, unless I am greatly in error. +And you have sacrificed your body so utterly to your spirit that the +flesh rebels and suffers. This will not do. You have work before you in +the world, and you cannot perform it unless you have bodily health as +well as spiritual desire. And why? Because you are a prisoner here on +earth, and you must obey the laws of the prison, however unpleasant +they may be to you. Were you free as you have been in ages past and as +you will be in ages to come, things would be different; but at present +you must comply with the orders of your gaolers--the Lords of Life and +Death." + +I heard him, half awed, half fascinated. His words were full of +mysterious suggestions. + +"How do you know I am of the temperament you describe?" I asked in a +low voice. + +"I do not know, mademoiselle; I can only guess. There is but one person +who can perhaps judge of you correctly,--a man older than myself by +many years--whose life is the very acme of spiritual perfection--whose +learning is vast and unprejudiced. I must see and speak to him before I +try any more of my, or rather his, remedies. But we have lingered long +enough out here, and unless you have something more to say to me, we +will return to the ballroom. You will otherwise miss the cotillon;" and +he turned to retrace the way through the illuminated grove. + +But a sudden thought had struck me, and I resolved to utter it aloud. +Laying my hand on his arm and looking him full in the face, I said +slowly and distinctly: + +"This friend of yours that you speak of--is not his name HELIOBAS?" + +Cellini started violently; the blood rushed up to his brows and as +quickly receded, leaving him paler than before. His dark eyes glowed +with suppressed excitement--his hand trembled. Recovering himself +slowly, he met my gaze fixedly; his glance softened, and he bent his +head with an air of respect and reverence. + +"Mademoiselle, I see that you must know all. It is your fate. You are +greatly to be envied. Come to me to-morrow, and I will tell you +everything that is to be told. Afterwards your destiny rests in your +own hands. Ask nothing more of me just now." + +He escorted me without further words back to the ballroom, where the +merriment of the cotillon was then at its height. Whispering to Mrs. +Everard as I passed her that I was tired and was going to bed, I +reached the outside passage, and there, turning to Cellini, I said +gently: + +"Good-night, signor. To-morrow at noon I will come." + +He replied: + +"Good-night, mademoiselle! To-morrow at noon you will find me ready." + +With that he saluted me courteously and turned away. I hurried up to my +own room, and on arriving there I could not help observing the +remarkable freshness of the lilies I wore. They looked as if they had +just been gathered. I unfastened them all from my dress, and placed +them carefully in water; then quickly disrobing, I was soon in bed. I +meditated for a few minutes on the various odd occurrences of the day; +but my thoughts soon grew misty and confused, and I travelled quickly +off into the Land of Nod, and thence into the region of sleep, where I +remained undisturbed by so much as the shadow of a dream. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CELLINI'S STORY. + + +The following morning at the appointed hour, I went to Cellini's +studio, and was received by him with a sort of gentle courtesy and +kindliness that became him very well. I was already beginning to +experience an increasing languor and weariness, the sure forerunner of +what the artist had prophesied--namely, a return of all my old +sufferings. Amy, tired out by the dancing of the previous night, was +still in bed, as were many of those who had enjoyed Madame Didier's +fete; and the hotel was unusually quiet, almost seeming as though half +the visitors had departed during the night. It was a lovely morning, +sunny and calm; and Cellini, observing that I looked listless and +fatigued, placed a comfortable easy-chair for me near the window, from +whence I could see one of the prettiest parterres of the garden, gay +with flowers of every colour and perfume. He himself remained standing, +one hand resting lightly on his writing-table, which was strewn with a +confusion of letters and newspapers. + +"Where is Leo?" I asked, as I glanced round the room in search of that +noble animal. + +"Leo left for Paris last night," replied Cellini; "he carried an +important despatch for me, which I feared to trust to the post-office." + +"Is it safer in Leo's charge?" I inquired, smiling, for the sagacity of +the dog amused as well as interested me. + +"Much safer! Leo carries on his collar a small tin case, just large +enough to contain several folded sheets of paper. When he knows he has +that box to guard during his journeys, he is simply unapproachable. He +would fight any one who attempted to touch it with the ferocity of a +hungry tiger, and there is no edible dainty yet invented that could +tempt his appetite or coax him into any momentary oblivion of his duty. +There is no more trustworthy or faithful messenger." + +"I suppose you have sent him to your friend--his master," I said. + +"Yes. He has gone straight home to--Heliobas." + +This name now awakened in me no surprise or even curiosity. It simply +sounded homelike and familiar. I gazed abstractedly out of the window +at the brilliant blossoms in the garden, that nodded their heads at me +like so many little elves with coloured caps on, but I said nothing. I +felt that Cellini watched me keenly and closely. Presently he continued: + +"Shall I tell you everything now, mademoiselle?" + +I turned towards him eagerly. + +"If you please," I answered. + +"May I ask you one question?" + +"Certainly." + +"How and where did you hear the name of Heliobas?" + +I looked up hesitatingly. + +"In a dream, signor, strange to say; or rather in three dreams. I will +relate them to you." + +And I described the visions I had seen, being careful to omit no +detail, for, indeed, I remembered everything with curious distinctness. + +The artist listened with grave and fixed attention. When I had +concluded he said: + +"The elixir I gave you acted more potently than even I imagined it +would. You are more sensitive than I thought. Do not fatigue yourself +any more, mademoiselle, by talking. With your permission I will sit +down here opposite to you and tell you my story. Afterwards you must +decide for yourself whether you will adopt the method of treatment to +which I owe my life, and something more than my life--my reason." + +He turned his own library-chair towards me, and seated himself. A few +moments passed in silence; his expression was very earnest and +absorbed, and he regarded my face with a sympathetic interest which +touched me profoundly. Though I felt myself becoming more and more +enervated and apathetic as the time went on, and though I knew I was +gradually sinking down again into my old Slough of Despond, yet I felt +instinctively that I was somehow actively concerned in what was about +to be said, therefore I forced myself to attend closely to every word +uttered. Cellini began to speak in low and quiet tones as follows: + +"You must be aware, mademoiselle, that those who adopt any art as a +means of livelihood begin the world heavily handicapped--weighted down, +as it were, in the race for fortune. The following of art is a very +different thing to the following of trade or mercantile business. In +buying or selling, in undertaking the work of import or export, a good +head for figures, and an average quantity of shrewd common sense, are +all that is necessary in order to win a fair share of success. But in +the finer occupations, whose results are found in sculpture, painting, +music and poetry, demands are made upon the imagination, the emotions, +the entire spiritual susceptibility of man. The most delicate fibres of +the brain are taxed; the subtle inner workings of thought are brought +into active play; and the temperament becomes daily and hourly more +finely strung, more sensitive, more keenly alive to every passing +sensation. Of course there are many so-called 'ARTISTS' who are mere +shams of the real thing; persons who, having a little surface-education +in one or the other branch of the arts, play idly with the paint-brush, +or dabble carelessly in the deep waters of literature,--or borrow a few +crotchets and quavers from other composers, and putting them together +in haste, call it ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. Among these are to be found the +self-called 'professors' of painting; the sculptors who allow the work +of their 'ghosts' to be admired as their own; the magazine-scribblers; +the 'smart' young leader-writers and critics; the half-hearted +performers on piano or violin who object to any innovation, and prefer +to grind on in the unemotional, coldly correct manner which they are +pleased to term the 'classical'--such persons exist, and will exist, so +long as good and evil are leading forces of life. They are the aphides +on the rose of art. But the men and women I speak of as ARTISTS are +those who work day and night to attain even a small degree of +perfection, and who are never satisfied with their own best efforts. I +was one of these some years ago, and I humbly assert myself still to be +of the same disposition; only the difference between myself then and +myself now is, that THEN I struggled blindly and despairingly, and NOW +I labour patiently and with calmness, knowing positively that I shall +obtain what I seek at the duly appointed hour. I was educated as a +painter, mademoiselle, by my father, a good, simple-hearted man, whose +little landscapes looked like bits cut out of the actual field and +woodland, so fresh and pure were they. But I was not content to follow +in the plain path he first taught me to tread. Merely correct drawing, +merely correct colouring, were not sufficient for my ambition. I had +dazzled my eyes with the loveliness of Correggio's 'Madonna,' and had +marvelled at the wondrous blue of her robe--a blue so deep and intense +that I used to think one might scrape away the paint till a hole was +bored in the canvas and yet not reach the end of that fathomless azure +tint; I had studied the warm hues of Titian; I had felt ready to float +away in the air with the marvellous 'Angel of the Annunciation'--and +with all these thoughts in me, how could I content myself with the +ordinary aspiration of modern artists? I grew absorbed in one +subject--Colour. I noted how lifeless and pale the colouring of to-day +appeared beside that of the old masters, and I meditated deeply on the +problem thus presented to me. What was the secret of Correggio--of Fra +Angelico--of Raphael? I tried various experiments; I bought the most +expensive and highly guaranteed pigments. In vain, for they were all +adulterated by the dealers! Then I obtained colours in the rough, and +ground and mixed them myself; still, though a little better result was +obtained, I found trade adulteration still at work with the oils, the +varnishes, the mediums--in fact, with everything that painters use to +gain effect in their works. I could nowhere escape from vicious +dealers, who, to gain a miserable percentage on every article sold, are +content to be among the most dishonest men in this dishonest age. + +"I assure you, mademoiselle, that not one of the pictures which are now +being painted for the salons of Paris and London can possibly last a +hundred years. I recently visited that Palace of Art, the South +Kensington Museum, in London, and saw there a large fresco by Sir +Frederick Leighton. It had just been completed, I was informed. It was +already fading! Within a few years it will be a blur of indistinct +outlines. I compared its condition with the cartoons of Raphael, and a +superb Giorgione in the same building; these were as warm and bright as +though recently painted. It is not Leighton's fault that his works are +doomed to perish as completely off the canvas as though he had never +traced them; it is his dire misfortune, and that of every other +nineteenth-century painter, thanks to the magnificent institution of +free trade, which has resulted in a vulgar competition of all countries +and all classes to see which can most quickly jostle the other out of +existence. But I am wearying you, mademoiselle--pardon me! To resume my +own story. As I told you, I could think of nothing but the one subject +of Colour; it haunted me incessantly. I saw in my dreams visions, of +exquisite forms and faces that I longed to transfer to my canvas, but I +could never succeed in the attempt. My hand seemed to have lost all +skill. About this time my father died, and I, having no other relation +in the world, and no ties of home to cling to, lived in utter solitude, +and tortured my brain more and more with the one question that baffled +and perplexed me. I became moody and irritable; I avoided intercourse +with everyone, and at last sleep forsook my eyes. Then came a terrible +season of feverish trouble, nervous dejection and despair. At times I +would sit silently brooding; at others I started up and walked rapidly +for hours, in the hope to calm the wild unrest that took possession of +my brain. I was then living in Rome, in the studio that had been my +father's. One evening--how well I remember it!--I was attacked by one +of those fierce impulses that forbade me to rest or think or sleep, +and, as usual, I hurried out for one of those long aimless excursions I +had latterly grown accustomed to. At the open street-door stood the +proprietress of the house, a stout, good-natured contadina, with her +youngest child Pippa holding to her skirt. As she saw me approaching, +she started back with an exclamation of alarm, and catching the little +girl up in her arms, she made the sign of the cross rapidly. Astonished +at this, I paused in my hasty walk, and said with as much calmness as I +could muster: + +"'What do you mean by that? Have I the evil-eye, think you?' + +"Curly-haired Pippa stretched out her arms to me--I had often caressed +the little one, and given her sweetmeats and toys--but her mother held +her back with a sort of smothered scream, and muttered: + +"'Holy Virgin! Pippa must not touch him; he is mad.' + +"Mad? I looked at the woman and child in scornful amazement. Then +without further words I turned, and went swiftly away down the street +out of their sight. Mad! Was I indeed losing my reason? Was this the +terrific meaning of my sleepless nights, my troubled thoughts, my +strange inquietude? Fiercely I strode along, heedless whither I was +going, till I found myself suddenly on the borders of the desolate +Campagna. A young moon gleamed aloft, looking like a slender sickle +thrust into the heavens to reap an over-abundant harvest of stars. I +paused irresolutely. There was a deep silence everywhere. I felt faint +and giddy: curious flashes of light danced past my eyes, and my limbs +shook like those of a palsied old man. I sank upon a stone to rest, to +try and arrange my scattered ideas into some sort of connection and +order. Mad! I clasped my aching head between my hands, and brooded on +the fearful prospect looming before me, and in the words of poor King +Lear, I prayed in my heart: + + "'O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heavens!' + +"PRAYER! There was another thought. How could _I_ pray? For I was a +sceptic. My father had educated me with broadly materialistic views; he +himself was a follower of Voltaire, and with his finite rod he took the +measure of Divinity, greatly to his own satisfaction. He was a good +man, too, and he died with exemplary calmness in the absolute certainty +of there being nothing in his composition but dust, to which he was as +bound to return. He had not a shred of belief in anything but what he +called the Universal Law of Necessity; perhaps this was why all his +pictures lacked inspiration. I accepted his theories without thinking +much about them, and I had managed to live respectably without any +religious belief. But NOW--now with the horrible phantom of madness +rising before me--my firm nerves quailed. I tried, I longed to PRAY. +Yet to whom? To what? To the Universal Law of Necessity? In that there +could be no hearing or answering of human petitions. I meditated on +this with a kind of sombre ferocity. Who portioned out this Law of +Necessity? What brutal Code compels us to be born, to live, to suffer, +and to die without recompense or reason? Why should this Universe be an +ever-circling Wheel of Torture? Then a fresh impetus came to me. I rose +from my recumbent posture and stood erect; I trembled no more. A +curious sensation of defiant amusement possessed me so violently that I +laughed aloud. Such a laugh, too! I recoiled from the sound, as from a +blow, with a shudder. It was the laugh of--a madman! I thought no more; +I was resolved. I would fulfil the grim Law of Necessity to its letter. +If Necessity caused my birth, it also demanded my death. Necessity +could not force me to live against my will. Better eternal nothingness +than madness. Slowly and deliberately I took from my vest a Milanese +dagger of thin sharp steel--one that I always carried with me as a +means of self-defence--I drew it from its sheath, and looked at the +fine edge glittering coldly in the pallid moon-rays. I kissed it +joyously; it was my final remedy! I poised it aloft with firm +fingers--another instant and it would have been buried deep in my +heart, when I felt a powerful grasp on my wrist, and a strong arm +struggling with mine forced the dagger from my hand. Savagely angry at +being thus foiled in my desperate intent, I staggered back a few paces +and sullenly stared at my rescuer. He was a tall man, clad in a dark +overcoat bordered with fur; he looked like a wealthy Englishman or +American travelling for pleasure. His features were fine and +commanding; his eyes gleamed with a gentle disdain as he coolly met my +resentful gaze. When he spoke his voice was rich and mellifluous, +though his accents had a touch in them of grave scorn. + +"'So you are tired of your life, young man! All the more reason have +you to live. Anyone can die. A murderer has moral force enough to jeer +at his hangman. It is very easy to draw the last breath. It can be +accomplished successfully by a child or a warrior. One pang of far less +anguish than the toothache, and all is over. There is nothing heroic +about it, I assure you! It is as common as going to bed; it is almost +prosy. LIFE is heroism, if you like; but death is a mere cessation of +business. And to make a rapid and rude exit off the stage before the +prompter gives the sign is always, to say the least of it, ungraceful. +Act the part out, no matter how bad the play. What say you?' + +"And, balancing the dagger lightly on one finger, as though it were a +paper-knife, he smiled at me with so much frank kindliness that it was +impossible to resist him. I advanced and held out my hand. + +"'Whoever you are,' I said, 'you speak like a true man. But you are +ignorant of the causes which compelled me to---' and a hard sob choked +my utterance. My new acquaintance pressed my proffered hand cordially, +but the gravity of his tone did not vary as he replied: + +"'There is no cause, my friend, which compels us to take violent leave +of existence, unless it be madness or cowardice.' + +"'Aye, and what if it were madness?' I asked him eagerly. He scanned me +attentively, and laying his fingers lightly on my wrist, felt my pulse. + +"'Pooh, my dear sir!' he said; 'you are no more mad than I am. You are +a little overwrought and excited--that I admit. You have some mental +worry that consumes you. You shall tell me all about it. I have no +doubt I can cure you in a few days.' + +"Cure me? I looked at him in wonderment and doubt. + +"'Are you a physician?' I asked. + +"He laughed. 'Not I! I should be sorry to belong to the profession. Yet +I administer medicines and give advice in certain cases. I am simply a +remedial agent--not a doctor. But why do we stand here in this bleak +place, which must be peopled by the ghosts of olden heroes? Come with +me, will you? I am going to the Hotel Costanza, and we can talk there. +As for this pretty toy, permit me to return it to you. You will not +force it again to the unpleasant task of despatching its owner.' + +"And he handed the dagger back to me with a slight bow. I sheathed it +at once, feeling somewhat like a chidden child, as I met the slightly +satirical gleam of the clear blue eyes that watched me. + +"'Will you give me your name, signor?' I asked, as we turned from the +Campagna towards the city. + +"'With pleasure. I am called Heliobas. A strange name? Oh, not at all! +It is pure Chaldee. My mother--as lovely an Eastern houri as Murillo's +Madonna, and as devout as Santa Teresa--gave me the Christian saint's +name of Casimir also, but Heliobas pur et simple suits me best, and by +it I am generally known.' + +"'You are a Chaldean?' I inquired. + +"'Exactly so. I am descended directly from one of those "wise men of +the East" (and, by the way, there were more than three, and they were +not all kings), who, being wide awake, happened to notice the +birth-star of Christ on the horizon before the rest of the world's +inhabitants had so much as rubbed their sleepy eyes. The Chaldeans have +been always quick of observation from time immemorial. But in return +for my name, you will favour me with yours?' + +"I gave it readily, and we walked on together. I felt wonderfully +calmed and cheered--as soothed, mademoiselle, as I have noticed you +yourself have felt when in MY company." + +Here Cellini paused, and looked at me as though expecting a question; +but I preferred to remain silent till I had heard all he had to say. He +therefore resumed: + +"We reached the Hotel Costanza, where Heliobas was evidently well +known. The waiters addressed him as Monsieur le Comte; but he gave me +no information as to this title. He had a superb suite of rooms in the +hotel, furnished with every modern luxury; and as soon as we entered a +light supper was served. He invited me to partake, and within the space +of half an hour I had told him all my history--my ambition--my +strivings after the perfection of colour--my disappointment, dejection, +and despair--and, finally, the fearful dread of coming madness that had +driven me to attempt my own life. He listened patiently and with +unbroken attention. When I had finished, he laid one hand on my +shoulder, and said gently: + +"'Young man, pardon me if I say that up to the present your career has +been an inactive, useless, selfish "kicking against the pricks," as St. +Paul says. You set before yourself a task of noble effort, namely, to +discover the secret of colouring as known to the old masters; and +because you meet with the petty difficulty of modern trade adulteration +in your materials, you think that there is no chance--that all is lost. +Fie! Do you think Nature is overcome by a few dishonest traders? She +can still give you in abundance the unspoilt colours she gave to +Raphael and Titian; but not in haste--not if you vulgarly scramble for +her gifts in a mood that is impatient of obstacle and delay. "Ohne +hast, ohne rast," is the motto of the stars. Learn it well. You have +injured your bodily health by useless fretfulness and peevish +discontent, and with that we have first to deal. In a week's time, I +will make a sound, sane man of you; and then I will teach you how to +get the colours you seek--yes!' he added, smiling, 'even to the +compassing of Correggio's blue.' + +"I could not speak for joy and gratitude; I grasped my friend and +preserver by the hand. We stood thus together for a brief interval, +when suddenly Heliobas drew himself up to the full stateliness of his +height and bent his calm eyes deliberately upon me. A strange thrill +ran through me; I still held his hand. + +"'Rest!' he said in slow and emphatic tones, 'Weary and overwrought +frame, take thy full and needful measure of repose! Struggling and +deeply injured spirit, be free of thy narrow prison! By that Force +which I acknowledge within me and thee and in all created things, I +command thee, REST!' + +"Fascinated, awed, overcome by his manner, I gazed at him and would +have spoken, but my tongue refused its office--my senses swam--my eyes +closed--my limbs gave way--I fell senseless." + +Cellini again paused and looked at me. Intent on his words, I would not +interrupt him. He went on: + +"When I say senseless, mademoiselle, I allude of course to my body. But +I, myself--that is, my soul--was conscious; I lived, I moved, I heard, +I saw. Of that experience I am forbidden to speak. When I returned to +mortal existence I found myself lying on a couch in the same room where +I had supped with Heliobas, and Heliobas himself sat near me reading. +It was broad noonday. A delicious sense of tranquillity and youthful +buoyancy was upon me, and without speaking I sprang up from my +recumbent position and touched him on the arm. He looked up. + +"'Well?' he asked, and his eyes smiled. + +"I seized his hand, and pressed it reverently to my lips. + +"'My best friend!' I exclaimed. 'What wonders have I not seen--what +truths have I not learned--what mysteries!' + +"'On all these things be silent,' replied Heliobas. 'They must not be +lightly spoken of. And of the questions you naturally desire to ask me, +you shall have the answers in due time. What has happened to you is not +wonderful; you have simply been acted upon by scientific means. But +your cure is not yet complete. A few days more passed with me will +restore you thoroughly. Will you consent to remain so long in my +company?' + +"Gladly and gratefully I consented, and we spent the next ten days +together, during which Heliobas administered to me certain remedies, +external and internal, which had a marvellous effect in renovating and +invigorating my system. By the expiration of that time I was strong and +well--a sound and sane man, as my rescuer had promised I should be--my +brain was fresh and eager for work, and my mind was filled with new and +grand ideas of art. And I had gained through Heliobas two inestimable +things--a full comprehension of the truth of religion, and the secret +of human destiny; and I had won a LOVE so exquisite!" + +Here Cellini paused, and his eyes were uplifted in a sort of wondering +rapture. He continued after a pause: + +"Yes, mademoiselle, I discovered that I was loved, and watched over and +guided by ONE so divinely beautiful, so gloriously faithful, that +mortal language fails before the description of such perfection!" + +He paused again, and again continued: + +"When he found me perfectly healthy again in mind and body, Heliobas +showed me his art of mixing colours. From that hour all my works were +successful. You know that my pictures are eagerly purchased as soon as +completed, and that the colour I obtain in them is to the world a +mystery almost magical. Yet there is not one among the humblest of +artists who could not, if he chose, make use of the same means as I +have done to gain the nearly imperishable hues that still glow on the +canvases of Raphael. But of this there is no need to speak just now. I +have told you my story, mademoiselle, and it now rests with me to apply +its meaning to yourself. You are attending?" + +"Perfectly," I replied; and, indeed, my interest at this point was so +strong that I could almost hear the expectant beating of my heart. +Cellini resumed: + +"Electricity, mademoiselle, is, as you are aware, the wonder of our +age. No end can be foreseen to the marvels it is capable of +accomplishing. But one of the most important branches of this great +science is ignorantly derided just now by the larger portion of +society--I mean the use of human electricity; that force which is in +each one of us--in you and in me--and, to a very large extent, in +Heliobas. He has cultivated the electricity in his own system to such +an extent that his mere touch, his lightest glance, have healing in +them, or the reverse, as he chooses to exert his power--I may say it is +never the reverse, for he is full of kindness, sympathy, and pity for +all humanity. His influence is so great that he can, without speaking, +by his mere presence suggest his own thoughts to other people who are +perfect strangers, and cause them to design and carry out certain +actions in accordance with his plans. You are incredulous? +Mademoiselle, this power is in every one of us; only we do not +cultivate it, because our education is yet so imperfect. To prove the +truth of what I say, _I_, though I have only advanced a little way in +the cultivation of my own electric force, even _I_ have influenced YOU. +You cannot deny it. By my thought, impelled to you, you saw clearly my +picture that was actually veiled. By MY force, you replied correctly to +a question I asked you concerning that same picture. By MY desire, you +gave me, without being aware of it, a message from one I love when you +said, 'Dieu vous garde!' You remember? And the elixir I gave you, which +is one of the simplest remedies discovered by Heliobas, had the effect +of making you learn what he intended you to learn--his name." + +"He!" I exclaimed. "Why, he does not know me--he can have no intentions +towards me!" + +"Mademoiselle," replied Cellini gravely, "if you will think again of +the last of your three dreams, you will not doubt that he HAS +intentions towards you. As I told you, he is a PHYSICAL ELECTRICIAN. By +that is meant a great deal. He knows by instinct whether he is or will +be needed sooner or later. Let me finish what I have to say. You are +ill, mademoiselle--ill from over-work. You are an improvisatrice--that +is, you have the emotional genius of music, a spiritual thing +unfettered by rules, and utterly misunderstood by the world. You +cultivate this faculty, regardless of cost; you suffer, and you will +suffer more. In proportion as your powers in music grow, so will your +health decline. Go to Heliobas; he will do for you what he did for me. +Surely you will not hesitate? Between years of weak invalidism and +perfect health, in less than a fortnight, there can be no question of +choice." + +I rose from my seat slowly. + +"Where is this Heliobas?" I asked. "In Paris?" + +"Yes, in Paris. If you decide to go there, take my advice, and go +alone. You can easily make some excuse to your friends. I will give you +the address of a ladies' Pension, where you will be made at home and +comfortable. May I do this?" + +"If you please," I answered. + +He wrote rapidly in pencil on a card of his own: + + "MADAME DENISE, + "36, Avenue du Midi, + "Paris," + +and handed it to me. I stood still where I had risen, thinking deeply. +I had been impressed and somewhat startled by Cellini's story; but I +was in no way alarmed at the idea of trusting myself to the hands of a +physical electrician such as Heliobas professed to be. I knew that +there were many cases of serious illnesses being cured by means of +electricity--that electric baths and electric appliances of all +descriptions were in ordinary use; and I saw no reason to be surprised +at the fact of a man being in existence who had cultivated electric +force within himself to such an extent that he was able to use it as a +healing power. There seemed to me to be really nothing extraordinary in +it. The only part of Cellini's narration I did not credit was the +soul-transmigration he professed to have experienced; and I put that +down to the over-excitement of his imagination at the time of his first +interview with Heliobas. But I kept this thought to myself. In any +case, I resolved to go to Paris. The great desire of my life was to be +in perfect health, and I determined to omit no means of obtaining this +inestimable blessing. Cellini watched me as I remained standing before +him in silent abstraction. + +"Will you go?" he inquired at last. + +"Yes; I will go," I replied. "But will you give me a letter to your +friend?" + +"Leo has taken it and all necessary explanations already," said +Cellini, smiling; "I knew you would go. Heliobas expects you the day +after to-morrow. His residence is Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. You are +not angry with me, mademoiselle? I could not help knowing that you +would go." + +I smiled faintly. + +"Electricity again, I suppose! No, I am not angry. Why should I be? I +thank you very much, signor, and I shall thank you more if Heliobas +indeed effects my cure." + +"Oh, that is certain, positively certain," answered Cellini; "you can +indulge that hope as much as you like, mademoiselle, for it is one that +cannot be disappointed. Before you leave me, you will look at your own +picture, will you not?" and, advancing to his easel, he uncovered it. + +I was greatly surprised. I thought he had but traced the outline of my +features, whereas the head was almost completed. I looked at it as I +would look at the portrait of a stranger. It was a wistful, sad-eyed, +plaintive face, and on the pale gold of the hair rested a coronal of +lilies. + +"It will soon be finished," said Cellini, covering the easel again; "I +shall not need another sitting, which is fortunate, as it is so +necessary for you to go away. And now will you look at the 'Life and +Death' once more?" + +I raised my eyes to the grand picture, unveiled that day in all its +beauty. + +"The face of the Life-Angel there," went on Cellini quietly, "is a poor +and feeble resemblance of the One I love. You knew I was betrothed, +mademoiselle?" + +I felt confused, and was endeavouring to find an answer to this when he +continued: + +"Do not trouble to explain, for _I_ know how YOU knew. But no more of +this. Will you leave Cannes to-morrow?" + +"Yes. In the morning." + +"Then good-bye, mademoiselle. Should I never see you again---" + +"Never see me again!" I interrupted. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"I do not allude to your destinies, but to mine," he said, with a +kindly look. "My business may call me away from here before you come +back--our paths may lie apart--many circumstances may occur to prevent +our meeting--so that, I repeat, should I never see you again, you will, +I hope, bear me in your friendly remembrance as one who was sorry to +see you suffer, and who was the humble means of guiding you to renewed +health and happiness." + +I held out my hand, and my eyes filled with tears. There was something +so gentle and chivalrous about him, and withal so warm and sympathetic, +that I felt indeed as if I were bidding adieu to one of the truest +friends I should ever have in my life. + +"I hope nothing will cause you to leave Cannes till I return to it," I +said with real earnestness. "I should like you to judge of my +restoration to health." + +"There will be no need for that," he replied; "I shall know when you +are quite recovered through Heliobas." + +He pressed my hand warmly. + +"I brought back the book you lent me," I went on; "but I should like a +copy of it for myself. Can I get it anywhere?" + +"Heliobas will give you one with pleasure," replied Cellini; "you have +only to make the request. The book is not on sale. It was printed for +private circulation only. And now, mademoiselle, we part. I +congratulate you on the comfort and joy awaiting you in Paris. Do not +forget the address--Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. Farewell!" + +And again shaking my hand cordially, he stood at his door watching me +as I passed out and began to ascend the stairs leading to my room. On +the landing I paused, and, looking round, saw him still there. I smiled +and waved my hand. He did the same in response, once--twice; then +turning abruptly, disappeared. + +That afternoon I explained to Colonel and Mrs. Everard that I had +resolved to consult a celebrated physician in Paris (whose name, +however, I did not mention), and should go there alone for a few days. +On hearing that I knew of a well-recommended ladies' Pension, they made +no objection to my arrangements, and they agreed to remain at the Hotel +de L---till I returned. I gave them no details of my plans, and of +course never mentioned Raffaello Cellini in connection with the matter. +A nervous and wretchedly agitated night made me more than ever +determined to try the means of cure proposed to me. At ten o'clock the +following morning I left Cannes by express train for Paris. Just before +starting I noticed that the lilies of the valley Cellini had given me +for the dance had, in spite of my care, entirely withered, and were +already black with decay--so black that they looked as though they had +been scorched by a flash of lightning. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE HOTEL MARS AND ITS OWNER. + + +It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the day +succeeding the night of my arrival in Paris, when I found myself +standing at the door of the Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. I had proved +the Pension kept by Madame Denise to be everything that could be +desired; and on my presentation of Raffaello Cellini's card of +introduction, I had been welcomed by the maitresse de la maison with a +cordial effusiveness that amounted almost to enthusiasm. + +"Ce cher Cellini!" the cheery and pleasant little woman had exclaimed, +as she set before me a deliciously prepared breakfast. "Je l'aime tant! +Il a si bon coeur! et ses beaux yeux! Mon Dieu, comme un ange!" + +As soon as I had settled the various little details respecting my room +and attendance, and had changed my travelling-dress for a quiet +visiting toilette, I started for the abode of Heliobas. + +The weather was very cold; I had left the summer behind me at Cannes, +to find winter reigning supreme in Paris. A bitter east wind blew, and +a few flakes of snow fell now and then from the frowning sky. The house +to which I betook myself was situated at a commanding corner of a road +facing the Champs Elysees. It was a noble-looking building. The broad +steps leading to the entrance were guarded on either side by a +sculptured Sphinx, each of whom held, in its massive stone paws, a +plain shield, inscribed with the old Roman greeting to strangers, +"Salve!" Over the portico was designed a scroll which bore the name +"Hotel Mars" in clearly cut capitals, and the monogram "C. H." + +I ascended the steps with some hesitation, and twice I extended my hand +towards the bell, desiring yet fearing to awaken its summons. I noticed +it was an electric bell, not needing to be pulled but pressed; and at +last, after many doubts and anxious suppositions, I very gently laid my +fingers on the little button which formed its handle. Scarcely had I +done this than the great door slid open rapidly without the least +noise. I looked for the servant in attendance--there was none. I paused +an instant; the door remained invitingly open, and through it I caught +a glimpse of flowers. Resolving to be bold, and to hesitate no longer, +I entered. As I crossed the threshold, the door closed behind me +instantly with its previous swiftness and silence. + +I found myself in a spacious hall, light and lofty, surrounded with +fluted pillars of white marble. In the centre a fountain bubbled +melodiously, and tossed up every now and then a high jet of sparkling +spray, while round its basin grew the rarest ferns and exotics, which +emitted a subtle and delicate perfume. No cold air penetrated here; it +was as warm and balmy as a spring day in Southern Italy. Light Indian +bamboo chairs provided with luxurious velvet cushions were placed in +various corners between the marble columns, and on one of these I +seated myself to rest a minute, wondering what I should do next, and +whether anyone would come to ask me the cause of my intrusion. My +meditations were soon put to flight by the appearance of a young lad, +who crossed the hall from the left-hand side and approached me. He was +a handsome boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, and he was attired +in a simple Greek costume of white linen, relieved with a broad crimson +silk sash. A small flat crimson cap rested on his thick black curls; +this he lifted with deferential grace, and, saluting me, said +respectfully: + +"My master is ready to receive you, mademoiselle." + +I rose without a word and followed him, scarcely permitting myself to +speculate as to how his master knew I was there at all. + +The hall was soon traversed, and the lad paused before a magnificent +curtain of deep crimson velvet, heavily bordered with gold. Pulling a +twisted cord that hung beside it, the heavy, regal folds parted in +twain with noiseless regularity, and displayed an octagon room, so +exquisitely designed and ornamented that I gazed upon it as upon some +rare and beautiful picture. It was unoccupied, and my young escort +placed a chair for me near the central window, informing me as he did +so that "Monsieur le Comte" would be with me instantly; whereupon he +departed. + +Left alone, I gazed in bewilderment at the loveliness round me. The +walls and ceiling were painted in fresco. I could not make out the +subjects, but I could see faces of surpassing beauty smiling from +clouds, and peering between stars and crescents. The furniture appeared +to be of very ancient Arabian design; each chair was a perfect +masterpiece of wood-carving, picked out and inlaid with gold. The sight +of a semi-grand piano, which stood open, brought me back to the +realization that I was living in modern times, and not in a dream of +the Arabian Nights; while the Paris Figaro and the London Times--both +of that day's issue--lying on a side-table, demonstrated the nineteenth +century to me with every possible clearness. There were flowers +everywhere in this apartment--in graceful vases and in gilded osier +baskets--and a queer lop-sided Oriental jar stood quite near me, filled +almost to overflowing with Neapolitan violets. Yet it was winter in +Paris, and flowers were rare and costly. + +Looking about me, I perceived an excellent cabinet photograph of +Raffaello Cellini, framed in antique silver; and I rose to examine it +more closely, as being the face of a friend. While I looked at it, I +heard the sound of an organ in the distance playing softly an old +familiar church chant. I listened. Suddenly I bethought myself of the +three dreams that had visited me, and a kind of nervous dread came upon +me. This Heliobas,--was I right after all in coming to consult him? Was +he not perhaps a mere charlatan? and might not his experiments upon me +prove fruitless, and possibly fatal? An idea seized me that I would +escape while there was yet time. Yes! ... I would not see him to-day, +at any rate; I would write and explain. These and other disjointed +thoughts crossed my mind; and yielding to the unreasoning impulse of +fear that possessed me, I actually turned to leave the room, when I saw +the crimson velvet portiere dividing again in its regular and graceful +folds, and Heliobas himself entered. + +I stood mute and motionless. I knew him well; he was the very man I had +seen in my third and last dream; the same noble, calm features; the +same commanding presence; the same keen, clear eyes; the same +compelling smile. There was nothing extraordinary about his appearance +except his stately bearing and handsome countenance; his dress was that +of any well-to-do gentleman of the present day, and there was no +affectation of mystery in his manner. He advanced and bowed +courteously; then, with a friendly look, held out his hand. I gave him +mine at once. + +"So you are the young musician?" he said, in those warm mellifluous +accents that I had heard before and that I so well remembered. "My +friend Raffaello Cellini has written to me about you. I hear you have +been suffering from physical depression?" + +He spoke as any physician might do who inquired after a patient's +health. I was surprised and relieved. I had prepared myself for +something darkly mystical, almost cabalistic; but there was nothing +unusual in the demeanour of this pleasant and good-looking gentleman +who, bidding me be seated, took a chair himself opposite to me, and +observed me with that sympathetic and kindly interest which any +well-bred doctor would esteem it his duty to exhibit. I became quite at +ease, and answered all his questions fully and frankly. He felt my +pulse in the customary way, and studied my face attentively. I +described all my symptoms, and he listened with the utmost patience. +When I had concluded, he leaned back in his chair and appeared to +ponder deeply for some moments. Then he spoke. + +"You know, of course, that I am not a doctor?" + +"I know," I said; "Signer Cellini explained to me." + +"Ah!" and Heliobas smiled. "Raffaello explained as much as he might; +but not everything. I must tell you I have a simple pharmacopoeia of my +own--it contains twelve remedies, and only twelve. In fact there me no +more that are of any use to the human mechanism. All are made of the +juice of plants, and six of them are electric. Raffaello tried you with +one of them, did he not?" + +As he put this question, I was aware of a keenly inquiring look sent +from the eyes of my interrogator into mine. + +"Yes," I answered frankly, "and it made me dream, and I dreamt of YOU." + +Heliobas laughed lightly. + +"So!--that is well. Now I am going in the first place to give you what +I am sure will be satisfactory information. If you agree to trust +yourself to my care, you will be in perfect health in a little less +than a fortnight--but you must follow my rules exactly." + +I started up from my seat. + +"Of course!" I exclaimed eagerly, forgetting all my previous fear of +him; "I will do all you advise, even if you wish to magnetize me as you +magnetized Signor Cellini!" + +"I never MAGNETIZED Raffaello," he said gravely; "he was on the verge +of madness, and he had no faith whereby to save himself. I simply set +him free for a time, knowing that his was a genius which would find out +things for itself or perish in the effort. I let him go on a voyage of +discovery, and he came back perfectly satisfied. That is all. You do +not need his experience." + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +"You are a woman--your desire is to be well and strong, health being +beauty--to love and to be beloved--to wear pretty toilettes and to be +admired; and you have a creed which satisfies you, and which you +believe in without proofs." + +There was the slightest possible tinge of mockery in his voice as he +said these words. A tumultuous rush of feelings overcame me. My high +dreams of ambition, my innate scorn of the trite and commonplace, my +deep love of art, my desires of fame--all these things bore down upon +my heart and overcame it, and a pride too deep for tears arose in me +and found utterance. + +"You think I am so slight and weak a thing!" I exclaimed. "YOU, who +profess to understand the secrets of electricity--you have no better +instinctive knowledge of me than that! Do you deem women all alike--all +on one common level, fit for nothing but to be the toys or drudges of +men? Can you not realize that there are some among them who despise the +inanities of everyday life--who care nothing for the routine of +society, and whose hearts are filled with cravings that no mere human +love or life can satisfy? Yes--even weak women are capable of +greatness; and if we do sometimes dream of what we cannot accomplish +through lack of the physical force necessary for large achievements, +that is not our fault but our misfortune. We did not create ourselves. +We did not ask to be born with the over-sensitiveness, the fatal +delicacy, the highly-strung nervousness of the feminine nature. +Monsieur Heliobas, you are a learned and far-seeing man, I have no +doubt; but you do not read me aright if you judge me as a mere woman +who is perfectly contented with the petty commonplaces of ordinary +living. And as for my creed, what is it to you whether I kneel in the +silence of my own room or in the glory of a lighted cathedral to pour +out my very soul to ONE whom I know exists, and whom I am satisfied to +believe in, as you say, without proofs, save such proofs as I obtain +from my own inner consciousness? I tell you, though, in your opinion it +is evident my sex is against me, I would rather die than sink into the +miserable nonentity of such lives as are lived by the majority of +women." + +I paused, overcome by my own feelings. Heliobas smiled. + +"So! You are stung!" he said quietly; "stung into action. That is as it +should be. Resume your seat, mademoiselle, and do not be angry with me. +I am studying you for your own good. In the meantime permit me to +analyze your words a little. You are young and inexperienced. You speak +of the 'over-sensitiveness, the fatal delicacy, the highly-strung +nervousness of the feminine nature.' My dear lady, if you had lived as +long as I have, you would know that these are mere stock phrases--for +the most part meaningless. As a rule, women are less sensitive than +men. There are many of your sex who are nothing but lumps of lymph and +fatty matter--women with less instinct than the dumb beasts, and with +more brutality. There are others who,--adding the low cunning of the +monkey to the vanity of the peacock,--seek no other object but the +furtherance of their own designs, which are always petty even when not +absolutely mean. There are obese women whose existence is a doze +between dinner and tea. There are women with thin lips and pointed +noses, who only live to squabble over domestic grievances and interfere +in their neighbours' business. There are your murderous women with +large almond eyes, fair white hands, and voluptuous red lips, who, +deprived of the dagger or the poison-bowl, will slay a reputation in a +few lazily enunciated words, delivered with a perfectly high-bred +accent. There are the miserly woman, who look after cheese-parings and +candle-ends, and lock up the soap. There are the spiteful women whose +very breath is acidity and venom. There are the frivolous women whose +chitter-chatter and senseless giggle are as empty as the rattling of +dry peas on a drum. In fact, the delicacy of women is extremely +overrated--their coarseness is never done full justice to. I have heard +them recite in public selections of a kind that no man would dare to +undertake--such as Tennyson's 'Rizpah,' for instance. I know a woman +who utters every line of it, with all its questionable allusions, +boldly before any and everybody, without so much as an attempt at +blushing. I assure you men are far more delicate than women--far more +chivalrous--far larger in their views, and more generous in their +sentiments. But I will not deny the existence of about four women in +every two hundred and fifty, who may be, and possibly are, examples of +what the female sex was originally intended to be--pure-hearted, +self-denying, gentle and truthful--filled with tenderness and +inspiration. Heaven knows my own mother was all this and more! And my +sister is--. But let me speak to you of yourself. You love music, I +understand--you are a professional artist?" + +"I was," I answered, "till my state of health stopped me from working." + +Heliobas bent his eyes upon me in friendly sympathy. + +"You were, and you will be again, an improvisatrice" he went on. "Do +you not find it difficult to make your audiences understand your aims?" + +I smiled as the remembrance of some of my experiences in public came to +my mind. + +"Yes," I said, half laughing. "In England, at least, people do not know +what is meant by IMPROVISING. They think it is to take a little theme +and compose variations on it--the mere ABC of the art. But to sit down +to the piano and plan a whole sonata or symphony in your head, and play +it while planning it, is a thing they do not and will not understand. +They come to hear, and they wonder and go away, and the critics declare +it to be CLAP-TRAP." + +"Exactly!" replied Heliobas. "But you are to be congratulated on having +attained this verdict. Everything that people cannot quite understand +is called CLAP-TRAP in England; as for instance the matchless +violin-playing of Sarasate; the tempestuous splendor of Rubinstein; the +wailing throb of passion in Hollmann's violoncello--this is, according +to the London press, CLAP-TRAP; while the coldly correct performances +of Joachim and the 'icily-null' renderings of Charles Halle are voted +'magnificent' and 'full of colour.' But to return to yourself. Will you +play to me?" + +"I have not touched the instrument for two months," I said; "I am +afraid I am out of practice." + +"Then you shall not exert yourself to-day," returned Heliobas kindly. +"But I believe I can help you with your improvisations. You compose the +music as you play, you tell me. Well, have you any idea how the +melodies or the harmonies form themselves in your brain?" + +"Not the least in the world," I replied. + +"Is the act of thinking them out an effort to you?" he asked. + +"Not at all. They come as though someone else were planning them for +me." + +"Well, well! I think I can certainly be of use to you in this matter as +in others. I understand your temperament thoroughly. And now let me +give you my first prescription." + +He went to a corner of the room and lifted from the floor an ebony +casket, curiously carved and ornamented with silver. This he unlocked. +It contained twelve flasks of cut glass, stoppered with gold and +numbered in order. He next pulled out a side drawer in this casket, and +in it I saw several little thin empty glass tubes, about the size of a +cigarette-holder. Taking two of these he filled them from two of the +larger flasks, corked them tightly, and then turning to me, said: + +"To-night, on going to bed, have a warm bath, empty the contents of the +tube marked No. 1 into it, and then immerse yourself thoroughly for +about five minutes. After the bath, put the fluid in this other tube +marked 2, into a tumbler of fresh spring water, and drink it off. Then +go straight to bed." + +"Shall I have any dreams?" I inquired with a little anxiety. + +"Certainly not," replied Heliobas, smiling. "I wish you to sleep as +soundly as a year-old child. Dreams are not for you to-night. Can you +come to me tomorrow afternoon at five o'clock? If you can arrange to +stay to dinner, my sister will be pleased to meet you; but perhaps you +are otherwise engaged?" + +I told him I was not, and explained where I had taken rooms, adding +that I had come to Paris expressly to put myself under his treatment. + +"You shall have no cause to regret this journey," he said earnestly. "I +can cure you thoroughly, and I will. I forget your nationality--you are +not English?" + +"No, not entirely. I am half Italian." + +"Ah, yes! I remember now. But you have been educated in England?" + +"Partly." + +"I am glad it is only partly," remarked Heliobas. "If it had been +entirely, your improvisations would have had no chance. In fact you +never would have improvised. You would have played the piano like poor +mechanical Arabella Goddard. As it is, there is some hope of +originality in you--you need not be one of the rank and file unless you +choose." + +"I do not choose," I said. + +"Well, but you must take the consequences, and they are bitter. A woman +who does not go with her time is voted eccentric; a woman who prefers +music to tea and scandal is an undesirable acquaintance; and a woman +who prefers Byron to Austin Dobson is--in fact, no measure can gauge +her general impossibility!" I laughed gaily. "I will take all the +consequences as willingly as I will take your medicines," I said, +stretching out my hand for the little vases which he gave me wrapped in +paper. "And I thank you very much, monsieur. And"--here I hesitated. +Ought I not to ask him his fee? Surely the medicines ought to be paid +for? + +Heliobas appeared to read my thoughts, for he said, as though answering +my unuttered question: + +"I do not accept fees, mademoiselle. To relieve your mind from any +responsibility of gratitude to me, I will tell you at once that I never +promise to effect a cure unless I see that the person who comes to be +cured has a certain connection with myself. If the connection exists I +am bound by fixed laws to serve him or her. Of course I am able also to +cure those who are NOT by nature connected with me; but then I have to +ESTABLISH a connection, and this takes time, and is sometimes very +difficult to accomplish, almost as tremendous a task as the laying down +of the Atlantic cable. But in your case I am actually COMPELLED to do +my best for you, so you need be under no sense of obligation." + +Here was a strange speech--the first really inexplicable one I had +heard from his lips. + +"I am connected with you?" I asked, surprised. "How? In what way?" + +"It would take too long to explain to you just now," said Heliobas +gently; "but I can prove to you in a moment that a connection DOES +exist between YOUR inner self, and MY inner self, if you wish it." + +"I do wish it very much," I answered. + +"Then take my hand," continued Heliobas, stretching it out, "and look +steadily at me." + +I obeyed, half trembling. As I gazed, a veil appeared to fall from my +eyes. A sense of security, of comfort, and of absolute confidence came +upon me, and I saw what might be termed THE IMAGE OF ANOTHER FACE +looking at me THROUGH or BEHIND the actual form and face of Heliobas. +And that other face was his, and yet not his; but whatever it appeared +to be, it was the face of a friend to ME, one that I was certain I had +known long, long ago, and moreover one that I must have loved in some +distant time, for my whole soul seemed to yearn towards that indistinct +haze where smiled the fully recognised yet unfamiliar countenance. This +strange sensation lasted but a few seconds, for Heliobas suddenly +dropped my hand. The room swam round me; the walls seemed to rock; then +everything steadied and came right again, and all was as usual, only I +was amazed and bewildered. + +"What does it mean?" I murmured. + +"It means the simplest thing in nature," replied Heliobas quietly, +"namely, that your soul and mine are for some reason or other placed on +the same circle of electricity. Nothing more nor less. Therefore we +must serve each other. Whatever I do for you, you have it in your power +to repay me amply for hereafter." + +I met the steady glance of his keen eyes, and a sense of some +indestructible force within me gave me a sudden courage. + +"Decide for me as you please," I answered fearlessly. "I trust you +completely, though I do not know why I do so." + +"You will know before long. You are satisfied of the fact that my touch +can influence you?" + +"Yes; most thoroughly." + +"Very well. All other explanations, if you desire them, shall be given +you in due time. In the power I possess over you and some others, there +is neither mesmerism nor magnetism--nothing but a purely scientific +fact which can be clearly and reasonably proved and demonstrated. But +till you are thoroughly restored to health, we will defer all +discussion. And now, mademoiselle, permit me to escort you to the door. +I shall expect you to-morrow." + +Together we left the beautiful room in which this interview had taken +place, and crossed the hall. As we approached the entrance, Heliobas +turned towards me and said with a smile: + +"Did not the manoeuvres of my street-door astonish you?" + +"A little," I confessed. + +"It is very simple. The button you touch outside is electric; it opens +the door and at the same time rings the bell in my study, thus +informing me of a visitor. When the visitor steps across the threshold +he treads, whether he will or no, on another apparatus, which closes +the door behind him and rings another bell in my page's room, who +immediately comes to me for orders. You see how easy? And from within +it is managed in almost the same manner." + +And he touched a handle similar to the one outside, and the door opened +instantly. Heliobas held out his hand--that hand which a few minutes +previously had exercised such strange authority over me. + +"Good-bye, mademoiselle. You are not afraid of me now?" + +I laughed. "I do not think I was ever really afraid of you," I said. +"If I was, I am not so any longer. You have promised me health, and +that promise is sufficient to give me entire courage." + +"That is well," said Heliobas. "Courage and hope in themselves are the +precursors of physical and mental energy. Remember to-morrow at five, +and do not keep late hours to-night. I should advise you to be in bed +by ten at the latest." + +I agreed to this, and we shook hands and parted. I walked blithely +along, back to the Avenue du Midi, where, on my arrival indoors, I +found a letter from Mrs. Everard. She wrote "in haste" to give me the +names of some friends of hers whom she had discovered, through the +"American Register," to be staying at the Grand Hotel. She begged me to +call upon them, and enclosed two letters of introduction for the +purpose. She concluded her epistle by saying: + + +"Raffaello Cellini has been invisible ever since your departure, but +our inimitable waiter, Alphonse, says he is very busy finishing a +picture for the Salon--something that we have never seen. I shall +intrude myself into his studio soon on some pretence or other, and will +then let you know all about it. In the meantime, believe me, + +"Your ever devoted friend, AMY." + + +I answered this letter, and then spent a pleasant evening at the +Pension, chatting sociably with Madame Denise and another cheery little +Frenchwoman, a day governess, who boarded there, and who had no end of +droll experiences to relate, her enviable temperament being to always +see the humorous side of life. I thoroughly enjoyed her sparkling +chatter and her expressive gesticulations, and we all three made +ourselves merry till bedtime. Acting on the advice of Heliobas, I +retired early to my room, where a warm bath had been prepared in +compliance with my orders. I uncorked the glass tube No. 1, and poured +the colourless fluid it contained into the water, which immediately +bubbled gently, as though beginning to boil. After watching it for a +minute or two, and observing that this seething movement steadily +continued, I undressed quickly and stepped in. Never shall I forget the +exquisite sensation I experienced! I can only describe it as the poor +little Doll's Dressmaker in "Our Mutual Friend" described her angel +visitants, her "blessed children," who used to come and "take her up +and make her light." If my body had been composed of no grosser matter +than fire and air, I could not have felt more weightless, more buoyant, +more thoroughly exhilarated than when, at the end of the prescribed +five minutes, I got out of that marvellous bath of healing! As I +prepared for bed, I noticed that the bubbling of the water had entirely +ceased; but this was easy of comprehension, for if it had contained +electricity, as I supposed, my body had absorbed it by contact, which +would account for the movement being stilled. I now took the second +little phial, and prepared it as I had been told. This time the fluid +was motionless. I noticed it was very faintly tinged with amber. I +drank it off--it was perfectly tasteless. Once in bed, I seemed to have +no power to think any more--my eyes closed readily--the slumber of a +year-old child, as Heliobas had said, came upon me with resistless and +sudden force, and I remembered no more. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ZARA AND PRINCE IVAN. + + +The sun poured brilliantly into my room when I awoke the next morning. +I was free from all my customary aches and pains, and a delightful +sense of vigour and elasticity pervaded my frame. I rose at once, and, +looking at my watch, found to my amazement that it was twelve o'clock +in the day! Hastily throwing on my dressing-gown, I rang the bell, and +the servant appeared. + +"Is it actually mid-day?" I asked her. "Why did you not call me?" + +The girl smiled apologetically. + +"I did knock at mademoiselle's door, but she gave me no answer. Madame +Denise came up also, and entered the room; but seeing mademoiselle in +so sound a sleep, she said it was a pity to disturb mademoiselle." + +Which statement good Madame Denise, toiling upstairs just then with +difficulty, she being stout and short of breath, confirmed with many +smiling nods of her head. + +"Breakfast shall be served at the instant," she said, rubbing her fat +hands together; "but to disturb you when you slept--ah, Heaven! the +sleep of an infant--I could not do it! I should have been wicked!" + +I thanked her for her care of me; I could have kissed her, she looked +so motherly, and kind, and altogether lovable. And I felt so merry and +well! She and the servant retired to prepare my coffee, and I proceeded +to make my toilette. As I brushed out my hair I heard the sound of a +violin. Someone was playing next door. I listened, and recognised a +famous Beethoven Concerto. The unseen musician played brilliantly and +withal tenderly, both touch and tone reminding me of some beautiful +verses in a book of poems I had recently read, called "Love-Letters of +a Violinist," in which the poet [FOOTNOTE: Author of the equally +beautiful idyl, "Gladys the Singer," included in the new American +copyright edition just issued.] talks of his "loved Amati," and says: +"I prayed my prayer. I wove into my song + + Fervour, and joy, and mystery, and the bleak, + The wan despair that words could never speak. + I prayed as if my spirit did belong + To some old master who was wise and strong, + Because he lov'd and suffered, and was weak. + + "I trill'd the notes, and curb'd them to a sigh, + And when they falter'd most, I made them leap + Fierce from my bow, as from a summer sleep + A young she-devil. I was fired thereby + To bolder efforts--and a muffled cry + Came from the strings as if a saint did weep. + + "I changed the theme. I dallied with the bow + Just time enough to fit it to a mesh + Of merry tones, and drew it back afresh, + To talk of truth, and constancy, and woe, + And life, and love, and madness, and the glow + Of mine own soul which burns into my flesh." + +All my love for music welled freshly up in my heart; I, who had felt +disinclined to touch the piano for months, now longed to try my +strength again upon the familiar and responsive key-board. For a piano +has never been a mere piano to me; it is a friend who answers to my +thought, and whose notes meet my fingers with caressing readiness and +obedience. + +Breakfast came, and I took it with great relish. Then, to pass the day, +I went out and called on Mrs. Everard's friends, Mr. and Mrs. Challoner +and their daughters. I found them very agreeable, with that easy +bonhomie and lack of stiffness that distinguishes the best Americans. +Finding out through Mrs. Everard's letter that I was an "artiste" they +at once concluded I must need support and patronage, and with impulsive +large-heartedness were beginning to plan as to the best means of +organizing a concert for me. I was taken by surprise at this, for I had +generally found the exact reverse of this sympathy among English +patrons of art, who were never tired of murmuring the usual platitudes +about there being "so many musicians," "music was overdone," +"improvising was not understood or cared for," etc., etc. + +But these agreeable Americans, as soon as they discovered that I had +not come for any professional reason to Paris, but only to consult a +physician about my health, were actually disappointed. + +"Oh, we shall persuade you to give a recital some time!" persisted the +handsome smiling mother of the family. "I know lots of people in Paris. +We'll get it up for you!" + +I protested, half laughing, that I had no idea of the kind, but they +were incorrigibly generous. + +"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Challoner, arranging her diamond rings on her +pretty white hand with pardonable pride. "Brains don't go for nothing +in OUR country. As soon as you are fixed up in health, we'll give you a +grand soiree in Paris, and we'll work up all our folks in the place. +Don't tell me you are not as glad of dollars as any one of us." + +"Dollars are very good," I admitted, "but real appreciation is far +better." + +"Well, you shall have both from us," said Mrs. Challoner. "And now, +will you stop to luncheon?" + +I accepted this invitation, given as it was with the most friendly +affability, and enjoyed myself very much. + +"You don't look ill," said the eldest Miss Challoner to me, later on. +"I don't see that you want a physician." + +"Oh, I am getting much better now," I replied; "and I hope soon to be +quite well." + +"Who's your doctor?" + +I hesitated. Somehow the name of Heliobas would not come to my lips. +Fortunately Mrs. Challoner diverted her daughter's attention at this +moment by the announcement that a dressmaker was waiting to see her; +and in the face of such an important visit, no one remembered to ask me +again the name of my medical adviser. + +I left the Grand Hotel in good time to prepare for my second visit to +Heliobas. As I was going there to dinner I made a slightly dressy +toilette, if a black silk robe relieved with a cluster of pale pink +roses can be called dressy. This time I drove to the Hotel Mars, +dismissing the coachman, however, before ascending the steps. The door +opened and closed as usual, and the first person I saw in the hall was +Heliobas himself, seated in one of the easy-chairs, reading a volume of +Plato. He rose and greeted me cordially. Before I could speak a word, +he said: + +"You need not tell me that you slept well. I see it in your eyes and +face. You feel better?" + +My gratitude to him was so great that I found it difficult to express +my thanks. Tears rushed to my eyes, yet I tried to smile, though I +could not speak. He saw my emotion, and continued kindly: + +"I am as thankful as you can be for the cure which I see has begun, and +will soon be effected. My sister is waiting to see you. Will you come +to her room?" + +We ascended a flight of stairs thickly carpeted, and bordered on each +side by tropical ferns and flowers, placed in exquisitely painted china +pots and vases. I heard the distant singing of many birds mingled with +the ripple and plash of waters. We reached a landing where the +afterglow of the set sun streamed through a high oriel window of richly +stained glass. Turning towards the left, Heliobas drew aside the folds +of some azure satin hangings, and calling in a low voice "Zara!" +motioned me to enter. I stepped into a spacious and lofty apartment +where the light seemed to soften and merge into many shades of opaline +radiance and delicacy--a room the beauty of which would at any other +time have astonished and delighted me, but which now appeared as +nothing beside the surpassing loveliness of the woman who occupied it. +Never shall I behold again any face or form so divinely beautiful! She +was about the medium height of women, but her small finely-shaped head +was set upon so slender and proud a throat that she appeared taller +than she actually was. Her figure was most exquisitely rounded and +proportioned, and she came across the room to give me greeting with a +sort of gliding graceful movement, like that of a stately swan floating +on calm sunlit water. Her complexion was transparently clear--most +purely white, most delicately rosy, Her eyes--large, luminous and dark +as night, fringed with long silky black lashes--looked like + + "Fairy lakes, where tender thoughts + Swam softly to and fro." + +Her rich black hair was arranged a la Marguerite, and hung down in one +long loose thick braid that nearly reached the end of her dress, and +she was attired in a robe of deep old gold Indian silk as soft as +cashmere, which was gathered in round her waist by an antique belt of +curious jewel-work, in which rubies and turquoises seemed to be thickly +studded. On her bosom shone a strange gem, the colour and form of which +I could not determine. It was never the same for two minutes together. +It glowed with many various hues--now bright crimson, now +lightning-blue, sometimes deepening into a rich purple or tawny orange. +Its lustre was intense, almost dazzling to the eye. Its beautiful +wearer gave me welcome with a radiant smile and a few cordial words, +and drawing me by the hand to the low couch she had just vacated, made +me sit down beside her. Heliobas had disappeared. + +"And so," said Zara--how soft and full of music was her voice!--"so you +are one of Casimir's patients? I cannot help considering that you are +fortunate in this, for I know my brother's power. If he says he will +cure you, you may be sure he means it. And you are already better, are +you not?" + +"Much better," I said, looking earnestly into the lovely star-like eyes +that regarded me with such interest and friendliness. "Indeed, to-day I +have felt so well, that I cannot realize ever having been ill." + +"I am very glad," said Zara, "I know you are a musician, and I think +there can be no bitterer fate than for one belonging to your art to be +incapacitated from performance of work by some physical obstacle. Poor +grand old Beethoven! Can anything be more pitiful to think of than his +deafness? Yet how splendidly he bore up against it! And Chopin, too--so +delicate in health that he was too often morbid even in his music. +Strength is needed to accomplish great things--the double strength of +body and soul." + +"Are you, too, a musician?" I inquired. + +"No. I love music passionately, and I play a little on the organ in our +private chapel; but I follow a different art altogether. I am a mere +imitator of noble form--I am a sculptress." + +"You?" I said in some wonder, looking at the very small, beautifully +formed white hand that lay passively on the edge of the couch beside +me. "You make statues in marble like Michael Angelo?" + +"Like Angelo?" murmured Zara; and she lowered her brilliant eyes with a +reverential gravity. "No one in these modern days can approach the +immortal splendour of that great master. He must have known heroes and +talked with gods to be able to hew out of the rocks such perfection of +shape and attitude as his 'David.' Alas! my strength of brain and hand +is mere child's play compared to what HAS been done in sculpture, and +what WILL yet be done; still, I love the work for its own sake, and I +am always trying to render a resemblance of--" + +Here she broke off abruptly, and a deep blush suffused her cheeks. +Then, looking up suddenly, she took my hand impulsively, and pressed it. + +"Be my friend," she said, with a caressing inflection in her rich +voice, "I have no friends of my own sex, and I wish to love you. My +brother has always had so much distrust of the companionship of women +for me. You know his theories; and he has always asserted that the +sphere of thought in which I have lived all my life is so widely apart +from those in which other women exist--that nothing but unhappiness for +me could come out of associating us together. When he told me yesterday +that you were coming to see me to-day, I knew he must have discovered +something in your nature that was not antipathetic to mine; otherwise +he would not have brought you to me. Do you think you can like +me?--perhaps LOVE me after a little while?" + +It would have been a cold heart indeed that would not have responded to +such a speech as this, uttered with the pleading prettiness of a loving +child. Besides, I had warmed to her from the first moment I had touched +her hand; and I was overjoyed to think that she was willing to elect me +as a friend. I therefore replied to her words by putting my arm +affectionately round her waist and kissing her. My beautiful, tender +Zara! How innocently happy she seemed to be thus embraced! and how +gently her fragrant lips met mine in that sisterly caress! She leaned +her dark head for a moment on my shoulder, and the mysterious jewel on +her breast flashed into a weird red hue like the light of a stormy +sunset. + +"And now we have drawn up, signed, and sealed our compact of +friendship," she said gaily, "will you come and see my studio? There is +nothing in it that deserves to last, I think; still, one has patience +with a child when he builds his brick houses, and you must have equal +patience with me. Come!" + +And she led the way through her lovely room, which I now noticed was +full of delicate statuary, fine paintings, and exquisite embroidery, +while flowers were everywhere in abundance. Lifting the hangings at the +farther end of the apartment, she passed, I following, into a lofty +studio, filled with all the appurtenances of the sculptor's art. Here +and there were the usual spectral effects which are always suggested to +the mind by unfinished plaster models--an arm in one place, a head in +another; a torso, or a single hand, protruding ghost-like from a fold +of dark drapery. At the very end of the room stood a large erect +figure, the outlines of which could but dimly be seen through its linen +coverings; and to this work, whatever it was, Zara did not appear +desirous of attracting my attention. She led me to one particular +corner; and, throwing aside a small crimson velvet curtain, said: + +"This is the last thing I have finished in marble. I call it +'Approaching Evening.'" + +I stood silently before the statue, lost in admiration. I could not +conceive it possible that the fragile little hand of the woman who +stood beside me could have executed such a perfect work. She had +depicted "Evening" as a beautiful nude female figure in the act of +stepping forward on tip-toe; the eyes were half closed, and the sweet +mouth slightly parted in a dreamily serious smile. The right forefinger +was laid lightly on the lips, as though suggesting silence; and in the +left hand was loosely clasped a bunch of poppies. That was all. But the +poetry and force of the whole conception as carried out in the statue +was marvellous. + +"Do you like it?" asked Zara, half timidly. + +"Like it!" I exclaimed. "It is lovely--wonderful! It is worthy to rank +with the finest Italian masterpieces." + +"Oh, no!" remonstrated Zara; "no, indeed! When the great Italian +sculptors lived and worked--ah! one may say with the Scriptures, 'There +were giants in those days.' Giants--veritable ones; and we modernists +are the pigmies. We can only see Art now through the eyes of others who +came before us. We cannot create anything new. We look at painting +through Raphael; sculpture through Angelo; poetry through Shakespeare; +philosophy through Plato. It is all done for us; we are copyists. The +world is getting old--how glorious to have lived when it was young! But +nowadays the very children are blase." + +"And you--are not you blase to talk like that, with your genius and all +the world before you?" I asked laughingly, slipping my arm through +hers. "Come, confess!" + +Zara looked at me gravely. + +"I sincerely hope the world is NOT all before me," she said; "I should +be very sorry if I thought so. To have the world all before you in the +general acceptation of that term means to live long, to barter whatever +genius you have for gold, to hear the fulsome and unmeaning flatteries +of the ignorant, who are as ready with condemnation as praise--to be +envied and maligned by those less lucky than you are. Heaven defend me +from such a fate!" + +She spoke with earnestness and solemnity; then, dropping the curtain +before her statue, turned away. I was admiring the vine-wreathed head +of a young Bacchante that stood on a pedestal near me, and was about to +ask Zara what subject she had chosen for the large veiled figure at the +farthest end of her studio, when we were interrupted by the entrance of +the little Greek page whom I had seen on my first visit to the house. +He saluted us both, and addressing himself to Zara, said: + +"Monsieur le Comte desires me to tell you, madame, that Prince Ivan +will be present at dinner." + +Zara looked somewhat vexed; but the shade of annoyance flitted away +from her fair face like a passing shadow, as she replied quietly: + +"Tell Monsieur le Comte, my brother, that I shall be happy to receive +Prince Ivan." + +The page bowed deferentially and departed. Zara turned round, and I saw +the jewel on her breast flashing with a steely glitter like the blade +of a sharp sword. + +"I do not like Prince Ivan myself," she said; "but he is a singularly +brave and resolute man, and Casimir has some reason for admitting him +to our companionship. Though I greatly doubt if--" Here a flood of +music broke upon our ears like the sound of a distant orchestra. Zara +looked at me and smiled. "Dinner is ready!" she announced; "but you +must not imagine that we keep a band to play us to our table in +triumph. It is simply a musical instrument worked by electricity that +imitates the orchestra; both Casimir and I prefer it to a gong!" + +And slipping her arm affectionately through mine, she drew me from the +studio into the passage, and together we went down the staircase into a +large dining-room, rich with oil-paintings and carved oak, where +Heliobas awaited us. Close by him stood another gentleman, who was +introduced to me as Prince Ivan Petroffsky. He was a fine-looking, +handsome-featured young man, of about thirty, tall and +broad-shouldered, though beside the commanding stature of Heliobas, his +figure did not show to so much advantage as it might have done beside a +less imposing contrast. He bowed to me with easy and courteous grace; +but his deeply reverential salute to Zara had something in it of that +humility which a slave might render to a queen. She bent her head +slightly in answer, and still holding me by the hand, moved to her seat +at the bottom of the table, while her brother took the head. My seat +was at the right hand of Heliobas, Prince Ivan's at the left, so that +we directly faced each other. + +There were two men-servants in attendance, dressed in dark livery, who +waited upon us with noiseless alacrity. The dinner was exceedingly +choice; there was nothing coarse or vulgar in the dishes--no great +heavy joints swimming in thin gravy a la Anglaise; no tureens of +unpalatable sauce; no clumsy decanters filled with burning sherry or +drowsy port. The table itself was laid out in the most perfect taste, +with the finest Venetian glass and old Dresden ware, in which tempting +fruits gleamed amid clusters of glossy dark leaves. Flowers in tall +vases bloomed wherever they could be placed effectively; and in the +centre of the board a small fountain played, tinkling as it rose and +fell like a very faintly echoing fairy chime. The wines that were +served to us were most delicious, though their flavour was quite +unknown to me--one in especial, of a pale pink colour, that sparkled +slightly as it was poured into my glass, seemed to me a kind of nectar +of the gods, so soft it was to the palate. The conversation, at first +somewhat desultory, grew more concentrated as the time went on, though +Zara spoke little and seemed absorbed in her own thoughts more than +once. The Prince, warmed with the wine and the general good cheer, +became witty and amusing in his conversation; he was a man who had +evidently seen a good deal of the world, and who was accustomed to take +everything in life a la bagatelle. He told us gay stories of his life +in St. Petersburg; of the pranks he had played in the Florentine +Carnival; of his journey to the American States, and his narrow escape +from the matrimonial clutches of a Boston heiress. + +Heliobas listened to him with a sort of indulgent kindness, only +smiling now and then at the preposterous puns the young man would +insist on making at every opportunity that presented itself. + +"You are a lucky fellow, Ivan," he said at last. "You like the good +things of life, and you have got them all without any trouble on your +own part. You are one of those men who have absolutely nothing to wish +for." + +Prince Ivan frowned and pulled his dark moustache with no very +satisfied air. + +"I am not so sure about that," he returned. "No one is contented in +this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and +the last thing longed for always seems the most necessary to happiness." + +"The truest philosophy," said Heliobas, "is not to long for anything in +particular, but to accept everything as it comes, and find out the +reason of its coming." + +"What do you mean by 'the reason of its coming'?" questioned Prince +Ivan. "Do you know, Casimir, I find you sometimes as puzzling as +Socrates." + +"Socrates?--Socrates was as clear as a drop of morning dew, my dear +fellow," replied Heliobas. "There was nothing puzzling about him. His +remarks were all true and trenchant--hitting smartly home to the heart +like daggers plunged down to the hilt. That was the worst of him--he +was too clear--too honest--too disdainful of opinions. Society does not +love such men. What do I mean, you ask, by accepting everything as it +comes, and trying to find out the reason of its coming? Why, I mean +what I say. Each circumstance that happens to each one of us brings its +own special lesson and meaning--forms a link or part of a link in the +chain of our existence. It seems nothing to you that you walk down a +particular street at a particular hour, and yet that slight action of +yours may lead to a result you wot not of. 'Accept the hint of each new +experience,' says the American imitator of Plato--Emerson. If this +advice is faithfully followed, we all have enough to occupy us busily +from the cradle to the grave." + +Prince Ivan looked at Zara, who sat quietly thoughtful, only lifting +her bright eyes now and then to glance at her brother as he spoke. + +"I tell you," he said, with sudden moroseness, "there are some hints +that we cannot accept--some circumstances that we must not yield to. +Why should a man, for instance, be subjected to an undeserved and +bitter disappointment?" + +"Because," said Zara, joining in the conversation for the first time, +"he has most likely desired what he is not fated to obtain." + +The Prince bit his lips, and gave a forced laugh. + +"I know, madame, you are against me in all our arguments," he observed, +with some bitterness in his tone. "As Casimir suggests, I am a bad +philosopher. I do not pretend to more than the ordinary attributes of +an ordinary man; it is fortunate, if I may be permitted to say so, that +the rest of the word's inhabitants are very like me, for if everyone +reached to the sublime heights of science and knowledge that you and +your brother have attained---" + +"The course of human destiny would run out, and Paradise would be an +established fact," laughed Heliobas. "Come, Ivan! You are a true +Epicurean. Have some more wine, and a truce to discussions for the +present." And, beckoning to one of the servants, he ordered the +Prince's glass to be refilled. + +Dessert was now served, and luscious fruits in profusion, including +peaches, bananas, plantains, green figs, melons, pine-apples, and +magnificent grapes, were offered for our choice. As I made a selection +for my own plate, I became aware of something soft rubbing itself +gently against my dress; and looking down, I saw the noble head and +dark intelligent eyes of my old acquaintance Leo, whom I had last met +at Cannes. I gave an exclamation of pleasure, and the dog, encouraged, +stood up and laid a caressing paw on my arm. + +"You know Leo, of course," said Heliobas, turning to me. "He went to +see Raffaello while you were at Cannes. He is a wonderful animal--more +valuable to me than his weight in gold." + +Prince Ivan, whose transient moodiness had passed away like a bad devil +exorcised by the power of good wine, joined heartily in the praise +bestowed on this four-footed friend of the family. + +"It was really through Leo," he said, "that you were induced to follow +out your experiments in human electricity, Casimir, was it not?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas, calling the dog, who went to him immediately +to be fondled. "I should never have been much encouraged in my +researches, had he not been at hand. I feared to experimentalize much +on my sister, she being young at the time--and women are always frail +of construction--but Leo was willing and ready to be a victim to +science, if necessary. Instead of a martyr he is a living triumph--are +you not, old boy?" he continued, stroking the silky coat of the animal, +who responded with a short low bark of satisfaction. + +My curiosity was much excited by these remarks, and I said eagerly: + +"Will you tell me in what way Leo has been useful to you? I have a +great affection for dogs, and I never tire of hearing stories of their +wonderful intelligence." + +"I will certainly tell you," replied Heliobas. "To some people the +story might appear improbable, but it is perfectly true and at the same +time simple of comprehension. When I was a very young man, younger than +Prince Ivan, I absorbed myself in the study of electricity--its +wonderful powers, and its various capabilities. From the consideration +of electricity in the different forms by which it is known to civilized +Europe, I began to look back through history, to what are ignorantly +called 'the dark ages,' but which might more justly be termed the +enlightened youth of the world. I found that the force of electricity +was well understood by the ancients--better understood by them, in +fact, than it is by the scientists of our day. The 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, +UPHARSIN' that glittered in unearthly characters on the wall at +Belshazzar's feast, was written by electricity; and the Chaldean kings +and priests understood a great many secrets of another form of electric +force which the world to-day scoffs at and almost ignores--I mean human +electricity, which we all possess, but which we do not all cultivate +within us. When once I realized the existence of the fact of human +electric force, I applied the discovery to myself, and spared no pains +to foster and educate whatever germ of this power lay within me. I +succeeded with more ease and celerity than I had imagined possible. At +the time I pursued these studies, Leo here was quite a young dog, full +of the clumsy playfulness and untrained ignorance of a Newfoundland +puppy. One day I was very busy reading an interesting Sanskrit scroll +which treated of ancient medicines and remedies, and Leo was gambolling +in his awkward way about the room, playing with an old slipper and +worrying it with his teeth. The noise he made irritated and disturbed +me, and I rose in my chair and called him by name, somewhat angrily. He +paused in his game and looked up--his eyes met mine exactly. His head +drooped; he shivered uneasily, whined, and lay down motionless. He +never stirred once from the position he had taken, till I gave him +permission--and remember, he was untrained. This strange behaviour led +me to try other experiments with him, and all succeeded. I gradually +led him up to the point I desired--that is, _I_ FORCED HIM TO RECEIVE +MY THOUGHT AND ACT UPON IT, as far as his canine capabilities could do, +and he has never once failed. It is sufficient for me to strongly WILL +him to do a certain thing, and I can convey that command of mine to his +brain without uttering a single word, and he will obey me." + +I suppose I showed surprise and incredulity in my face, for Heliobas +smiled at me and continued: + +"I will put him to the proof at any time you like. If you wish him to +fetch anything that he is physically able to carry, and will write the +name of whatever it is on a slip of paper, just for me to know what you +require, I guarantee Leo's obedience." + +I looked at Zara, and she laughed. + +"It seems like magic to you, does it not?" she said; "but I assure you +it is quite true." + +"I am bound to admit," said Prince Ivan, "that I once doubted both Leo +and his master, but I am quite converted. Here, mademoiselle," he +continued, handing me a leaf from his pocket-book and a pencil--"write +down something that you want; only don't send the dog to Italy on an +errand just now, as we want him back before we adjourn to the +drawing-room." + +I remembered that I had left an embroidered handkerchief on the couch +in Zara's room, and I wrote this down on the paper, which I passed to +Heliobas. He glanced at it and tore it up. Leo was indulging himself +with a bone under the table, but came instantly to his master's call. +Heliobas took the dog's head between his two hands, and gazed steadily +into the grave brown eyes that regarded him with equal steadiness. This +interchange of looks lasted but a few seconds. Leo left the room, +walking with an unruffled and dignified pace, while we awaited his +return--Heliobas and Zara with indifference, Prince Ivan with +amusement, and I with interest and expectancy. Two or three minutes +elapsed, and the dog returned with the same majestic demeanour, +carrying between his teeth my handkerchief. He came straight to me and +placed it in my hand; shook himself, wagged his tail, and conveying a +perfectly human expression of satisfaction into his face, went under +the table again to his bone. I was utterly amazed, but at the same time +convinced. I had not seen the dog since my arrival in Paris, and it was +impossible for him to have known where to find my handkerchief, or to +recognize it as being mine, unless through the means Heliobas had +explained. + +"Can you command human beings so?" I asked, with a slight tremor of +nervousness. + +"Not all," returned Heliobas quietly. "In fact, I may say, very few. +Those who are on my own circle of power I can, naturally, draw to or +repel from me; but those who are not, have to be treated by different +means. Sometimes cases occur in which persons, at first NOT on my +circle, are irresistibly attracted to it by a force not mine. +Sometimes, in order to perform a cure, I establish a communication +between myself and a totally alien sphere of thought; and to do this is +a long and laborious effort. But it can be done." + +"Then, if it can be done," said Prince Ivan, "why do you not accomplish +it for me?" + +"Because you are being forcibly drawn towards me without any effort on +my part," replied Heliobas, with one of his steady, keen looks. "For +what motive I cannot at present determine; but I shall know as soon as +you touch the extreme edge of my circle. You are a long way off it yet, +but you are coming in spite of yourself, Ivan." + +The Prince fidgeted restlessly in his chair, and toyed with the fruit +on his plate in a nervous manner. + +"If I did not know you to be an absolutely truthful and honourable man, +Casimir," he said, "I should think you were trying to deceive me. But I +have seen what you can do, therefore I must believe you. Still I +confess I do not follow you in your circle theory." + +"To begin with," returned Heliobas, "the Universe is a circle. +Everything is circular, from the motion of planets down to the human +eye, or the cup of a flower, or a drop of dew. MY 'circle theory,' as +you call it, applied to human electric force, is very simple; but I +have proved it to be mathematically correct. Every human being is +provided INTERNALLY and EXTERNALLY with a certain amount of +electricity, which is as necessary to existence as the life-blood to +the heart or fresh air to the lungs. Internally it is the germ of a +soul or spirit, and is placed there to be either cultivated or +neglected as suits the WILL of man. It is indestructible; yet, if +neglected, it remains always a germ; and, at the death of the body it +inhabits, goes elsewhere to seek another chance of development. If, on +the contrary, its growth is fostered by a persevering, resolute WILL, +it becomes a spiritual creature, glorious and supremely powerful, for +which a new, brilliant, and endless existence commences when its clay +chrysalis perishes. So much for the INTERNAL electrical force. The +EXTERNAL binds us all by fixed laws, with which our wills have nothing +whatever to do. (Each one of us walks the earth encompassed by an +invisible electric ring--wide or narrow according to our capabilities. +Sometimes our rings meet and form one, as in the case of two absolutely +sympathetic souls, who labour and love together with perfect faith in +each other. Sometimes they clash, and storm ensues, as when a strong +antipathy between persons causes them almost to loathe each other's +presence.) All these human electric rings are capable of attraction and +repulsion. If a man, during his courtship of a woman, experiences once +or twice a sudden instinctive feeling that there is something in her +nature not altogether what he expected or desired, let him take warning +and break off the attachment; for the electric circles do not combine, +and nothing but unhappiness would come from forcing a union. I would +say the same thing to a woman. If my advice were followed, how many +unhappy marriages would be avoided! But you have tempted me to talk too +much, Ivan. I see the ladies wish to adjourn. Shall we go to the +smoking-room for a little, and join them in the drawing-room +afterwards?" + +We all rose. + +"Well," said the Prince gaily, as he prepared to follow his host, "I +realize one thing which gives me pleasure, Casimir. If in truth I am +being attracted towards your electric circle, I hope I shall reach it +soon, as I shall then, I suppose, be more en rapport with madame, your +sister." + +Zara's luminous eyes surveyed him with a sort of queenly pity and +forbearance. + +"By the time YOU arrive at that goal, Prince," she said calmly, "it is +most probable that _I_ shall have departed." + +And with one arm thrown round my waist, she saluted him gravely, and +left the room with me beside her. + +"Would you like to see the chapel on your way to the drawing-room?" she +asked, as we crossed the hall. + +I gladly accepted this proposition, and Zara took me down a flight of +marble steps, which terminated in a handsomely-carved oaken door. +Pushing this softly open, she made the sign of the cross and sank on +her knees. I did the same, and then looked with reverential wonder at +the loveliness and serenity of the place. It was small, but lofty, and +the painted dome-shaped roof was supported by eight light marble +columns, wreathed with minutely-carved garlands of vine-leaves. The +chapel was fitted up in accordance with the rites of the Catholic +religion, and before the High Altar and Tabernacle burned seven roseate +lamps, which were suspended from the roof by slender gilt chains. A +large crucifix, bearing a most sorrowful and pathetic figure of Christ, +was hung on one of the side walls; and from a corner altar, shining +with soft blue and silver, an exquisite statue of the Madonna and Child +was dimly seen from where we knelt. A few minutes passed, and Zara +rose. Looking towards the Tabernacle, her lips moved as though +murmuring a prayer, and then, taking me by the hand, she led me gently +out. The heavy oaken door swung softly behind us as we ascended the +chapel steps and re-entered the great hall. + +"You are a Catholic, are you not?" then said Zara to me. + +"Yes," I answered; "but--" + +"But you have doubts sometimes, you would say! Of course. One always +doubts when one sees the dissensions, the hypocrisies, the false +pretences and wickedness of many professing Christians. But Christ and +His religion are living facts, in spite of the suicide of souls He +would gladly save. You must ask Casimir some day about these things; he +will clear up all the knotty points for you. Here we are at the +drawing-room door." + +It was the same room into which I had first been shown. Zara seated +herself, and made me occupy a low chair beside her. + +"Tell me," she said, "can you not come here and stay with me while you +are under Casimir's treatment?" + +I thought of Madame Denise and her Pension. + +"I wish I could," I said; "but I fear my friends would want to know +where I am staying, and explanations would have to be given, which I do +not feel disposed to enter upon." + +"Why," went on Zara quietly, "you have only to say that you are being +attended by a Dr. Casimir who wishes to have you under his own +supervision, and that you are therefore staying in his house under the +chaperonage of his sister." + +I laughed at the idea of Zara playing the chaperon, and told her she +was far too young and beautiful to enact that character. + +"Do you know how old I am?" she asked, with a slight smile. + +I guessed seventeen, or at any rate not more than twenty. + +"I am thirty-eight," said Zara. + +Thirty-eight! Impossible! I would not believe it. I could not. I +laughed scornfully at such an absurdity, looking at her as she sat +there a perfect model of youthful grace and loveliness, with her +lustrous eyes and rose-tinted complexion. + +"You may doubt me if you choose," she said, still smiling; "but I have +told you the truth. I am thirty-eight years of age according to the +world's counting. What I am, measured by another standard of time, +matters not just now. You see I look young, and, what is more, I am +young. I enjoy my youth. I hear that women of society at thirty-eight +are often faded and blase--what a pity it is that they do not +understand the first laws of self-preservation! But to resume what I +was saying, you know now that I am quite old enough in the eyes of the +world to chaperon you or anybody. You had better arrange to stay here. +Casimir asked me to settle the matter with, you." + +As she spoke, Heliobas and Prince Ivan entered. The latter looked +flushed and excited--Heliobas was calm and stately as usual. He +addressed himself to me at once. + +"I have ordered my carriage, mademoiselle, to take you back this +evening to the Avenue du Midi. If you will do as Zara tells you, and +explain to your friends the necessity there is for your being under the +personal supervision of your doctor, you will find everything will +arrange itself very naturally. And the sooner you come here the +better--in fact, Zara will expect you here to-morrow early in the +afternoon. I may rely upon you?" + +He spoke with a certain air of command, evidently expecting no +resistance on my part. Indeed, why should I resist? Already I loved +Zara, and wished to be more in her company; and then, most probably, my +complete restoration to health would be more successfully and quickly +accomplished if I were actually in the house of the man who had +promised to cure me. Therefore I replied: + +"I will do as you wish, monsieur. Having placed myself in your hands, I +must obey. In this particular case," I added, looking at Zara, +"obedience is very agreeable to me." + +Heliobas smiled and seemed satisfied. He then took a small goblet from +a side-table and left the room. Returning, however, almost immediately +with the cup filled to the brim, he said, handing it to me: + +"Drink this--it is your dose for to-night; and then you will go home, +and straight to bed." + +I drank it off at once. It was delicious in flavour--like very fine +Chianti. + +"Have you no soothing draught for me?" said Prince Ivan, who had been +turning over a volume of photographs in a sullenly abstracted sort of +way. + +"No," replied Heliobas, with a keen glance at him; "the draught fitted +for your present condition might soothe you too thoroughly." + +The Prince looked at Zara, but she was mute. She had taken a piece of +silk embroidery from a workbasket near her, and was busily employed +with it. Heliobas advanced and laid his hand on the young man's arm. + +"Sing to us, Ivan," he said, in a kind tone. "Sing us one of your wild +Russian airs--Zara loves them, and this young lady would like to hear +your voice before she goes." + +The Prince hesitated, and then, with another glance at Zara's bent +head, went to the piano. He had a brilliant touch, and accompanied +himself with great taste and delicacy; but his voice was truly +magnificent--a baritone of deep and mellow quality, sonorous, and at +the same time tender. He sang a French rendering of a Slavonic +love-song, which, as nearly as I can translate it into English, ran as +follows: + + "As the billows fling shells on the shore, + As the sun poureth light on the sea, + As a lark on the wing scatters song to the spring, + So rushes my love to thee. + + "As the ivy clings close to the tower, + As the dew lieth deep in a flower, + As the shadow to light, as the day unto night, + So clings my wild soul to thee! + + "As the moon glitters coldly alone, + Above earth on her cloud-woven throne, + As the rocky-bound cave repulses a wave, + So thy anger repulseth me. + + "As the bitter black frost of a night + Slays the roses with pitiless might, + As a sharp dagger-thrust hurls a king to the dust, + So thy cruelty murdereth me. + + "Yet in spite of thy queenly disdain, + Thou art seared by my passion and pain; + Thou shalt hear me repeat, till I die for it, sweet! + 'I love thee! I dare to love THEE!'" + +He ended abruptly and with passion, and rose from the piano directly. + +I was enthusiastic in my admiration of the song and of the splendid +voice which had given it utterance, and the Prince seemed almost +grateful for the praise accorded him both by Heliobas and myself. + +The page entered to announce that "the carriage was waiting for +mademoiselle," and I prepared to leave. Zara kissed me affectionately, +and whispering, "Come early to-morrow," made a graceful salute to +Prince Ivan, and left the room immediately. + +Heliobas then offered me his arm to take me to the carriage. Prince +Ivan accompanied us. As the hall door opened in its usual noiseless +manner, I perceived an elegant light brougham drawn by a pair of black +horses, who were giving the coachman a great deal of trouble by the +fretting and spirited manner in which they pawed the stones and +pranced. Before descending the steps I shook hands with Heliobas, and +thanked him for the pleasant evening I had passed. + +"We will try to make all your time with us pass as pleasantly," he +returned. "Good-night! What, Ivan," as he perceived the Prince attiring +himself in his great-coat and hat, "are you also going?" + +"Yes, I am off," he replied, with a kind of forced gaiety; "I am bad +company for anyone to-night, and I won't inflict myself upon you, +Casimir. Au revoir! I will put mademoiselle into the carriage if she +will permit me." + +We went down the steps together, Heliobas watching us from the open +door. As the Prince assisted me into the brougham, he whispered: + +"Are you one of them!" + +I looked at him in bewilderment. + +"One of them!" I repeated. "What do you mean?" + +"Never mind," he muttered impatiently, as he made a pretence of +covering me with the fur rugs inside the carriage: "if you are not now, +you will be, or Zara would not have kissed you. If you ever have the +chance ask her to think of me at my best. Good-night." + +I was touched and a little sorry for him. I held out my hand in +silence. He pressed it hard, and calling to the coachman, "36, Avenue +du Midi," stood on the pavement bareheaded, looking singularly pale and +grave in the starlight, as the carriage rolled swiftly away, and the +door of the Hotel Mars closed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A SYMPHONY IN THE AIR. + + +Within a very short time I became a temporary resident in the house of +Heliobas, and felt myself to be perfectly at home there. I had +explained to Madame Denise the cause of my leaving her comfortable +Pension, and she had fully approved of my being under a physician's +personal care in order to ensure rapid recovery; but when she heard the +name of that physician, which I gave (in accordance with Zara's +instructions) as Dr. Casimir, she held up her fat hands in dismay. + +"Oh, mademoiselle," she exclaimed, "have you not dread of that terrible +man? Is it not he that is reported to be a cruel mesmerist who +sacrifices everybody--yes, even his own sister, to his medical +experiments? Ah, mon Dieu! it makes me to shudder!" + +And she shuddered directly, as a proof of her veracity. I was amused. I +saw in her an example of the common multitude, who are more ready to +believe in vulgar spirit-rapping and mesmerism than to accept an +established scientific fact. + +"Do you know Dr. Casimir and his sister?" I asked her. + +"I have seen them, mademoiselle; perhaps once--twice--three times! It +is true madame is lovely as an angel; but they say"--here she lowered +her voice mysteriously--"that she is wedded to a devil! It is true, +mademoiselle--all people say so. And Suzanne Michot--a very respectable +young person, mademoiselle, from Auteuil--she was employed at one time +as under-housemaid at Dr. Casimir's, and she had things to say--ah, to +make the blood like ice!" + +"What did she say?" I asked with a half smile. + +"Well," and Madame Denise came close to me and looked confidential, +"Suzanne--I assure you a most respectable girl--said that one evening +she was crossing the passage near Madame Casimir's boudoir, and she saw +a light like fire coming through the curtains of the portiere. And she +stopped to listen, and she heard a strange music like the sound of +harps. She ventured to go nearer--Suzanne is a brave girl, +mademoiselle, and most virtuous--and to raise the curtain the smallest +portion just to permit the glance of an eye. And--imagine what she saw." + +"Well!" I exclaimed impatiently. "WHAT did she see?" + +"Ah, mademoiselle, you will not believe me--but Suzanne Michot has +respectable parents, and would not tell a lie--well, Suzanne saw her +mistress, Madame Casimir, standing up near her couch with both arms +extended as to embrace the air. Round her there was--believe it or not, +mademoiselle, as you please--a ring of light like a red fire, which +seemed to grow larger and redder always. All suddenly, madame grew pale +and more pale, and then fell on her couch as one dead, and all the red +fire went out. Suzanne had fear, and she tried to call out--but now see +what happened to Suzanne! She was PUSHED from the spot, mademoiselle, +pushed along as though by some strong personage; yet she saw no one +till she reached her own door, and in her room she fainted from alarm. +The very next morning Dr. Casimir dismissed her, with her full wages +and a handsome present besides; but he LOOKED at her, Suzanne said, in +a manner to make her tremble from head to foot. Now, mademoiselle, +judge yourself whether it is fit for one who is suffering with nerves +to go to so strange a house!" + +I laughed. Her story had not the least effect upon me. In fact, I made +up my mind that the so respectable and virtuous Suzanne Michot had been +drinking some of her master's wine. I said: + +"Your words only make me more desirous to go, Madame Denise. Besides, +Dr. Casimir has already done me a great deal of good. You must have +heard things of him that are not altogether bad, surely?" + +The little woman reflected seriously, and then said, as with some +reluctance: + +"It is certainly true, mademoiselle, that in the quarter of the poor he +is much beloved. Jean Duclos--he is a chiffonnier--had his one child +dying of typhoid fever, and he was watching it struggling for breath; +it was at the point to die. Monsieur le Comte Casimir, or Dr. +Casimir--for he is called both--came in all suddenly, and in half an +hour had saved the little one's life. I do not deny that he may have +some good in him, and that he understands medicine; but there is +something wrong--" And Madame Denise shook her head forlornly a great +number of times. + +None of her statements deterred me from my intention, and I was +delighted when I found myself fairly installed at the Hotel Mars. Zara +gave me a beautiful room next to her own; she had taken pains to fit it +up herself with everything that was in accordance with my particular +tastes, such as a choice selection of books; music, including many of +the fascinating scores of Schubert and Wagner; writing materials; and a +pretty, full-toned pianette. My window looked out on a small courtyard, +which had been covered over with glass and transformed into a +conservatory. I could enter it by going down a few steps, and could +have the satisfaction of gathering roses and lilies of the valley, +while outside the east wind blew and the cold snowflakes fell over +Paris. I wrote to Mrs. Everard from my retreat, and I also informed the +Challoners where they could find me if they wanted me. These duties +done, I gave myself up to enjoyment. Zara and I became inseparables; we +worked together, read together, and together every morning gave those +finishing-touches to the ordering and arrangement of the household +which are essentially feminine, and which not the wisest philosopher in +all the world has been, or ever will be, able to accomplish +successfully. We grew to love each other dearly, with that ungrudging, +sympathizing, confiding friendship that is very rarely found between +two women. In the meantime my cure went on rapidly. Every night on +retiring to rest Heliobas prepared a medicinal dose for me, of the +qualities of which I was absolutely ignorant, but which I took +trustingly from his hand. Every morning a different little phial of +liquid was placed in the bathroom for me to empty into the water of my +daily bath, and every hour I grew better, brighter, and stronger. The +natural vivacity of my temperament returned to me; I suffered no pain, +no anxiety, no depression, and I slept as soundly as a child, unvisited +by a single dream. The mere fact of my being alive became a joy to me; +I felt grateful for everything--for my eyesight, my speech, my hearing, +my touch--because all my senses seemed to be sharpened and invigorated +and braced up to the keenest delight. This happy condition of my system +did not come suddenly--sudden cures mean sudden relapses; it was a +gradual, steady, ever-increasing, reliable recovery. + +I found the society of Heliobas and his sister very fascinating. Their +conversation was both thoughtful and brilliant, their manners were +evenly gracious and kindly, and the life they led was a model of +perfect household peace and harmony. There was never a fuss about +anything: the domestic arrangements seemed to work on smoothly oiled +wheels; the different repasts were served with quiet elegance and +regularity; the servants were few, but admirably trained; and we all +lived in an absolutely calm atmosphere, unruffled by so much as a +breath of worry. Nothing of a mysterious nature went on, as far as I +could see. + +Heliobas passed the greater part of the day in his study--a small, +plainly furnished room, the facsimile of the one I had beheld him in +when I had dreamed those three dreams at Cannes. Whether he received +many or few patients there I could not tell; but that some applied to +him for advice I knew, as I often met strangers crossing the hall on +their way in and out. He always joined us at dinner, and was invariably +cheerful, generally entertaining us with lively converse and sparkling +narrative, though now and then the thoughtful tendency of his mind +predominated, and gave a serious tone to his remarks. + +Zara was uniformly bright and even in her temperament. She was my very +ideal of the Greek Psyche, radiant yet calm, pensive yet mirthful. She +was full of beautiful ideas and poetical fancies, and so thoroughly +untouched by the world and its aims, that she seemed to me just to +poise on the earth like a delicate butterfly on a flower; and I should +have been scarcely surprised had I seen her unfold a pair of shining +wings and fly away to some other region. Yet in spite of this +spirituelle nature, she was physically stronger and more robust than +any other woman I ever saw. She was gay and active; she was never +tired, never ailing, and she enjoyed life with a keen zest such as is +unknown to the tired multitudes who toil on hopelessly and wearily, +wondering, as they work, why they were born. Zara evidently had no +doubts or speculations of this kind; she drank in every minute of her +existence as if it were a drop of honey-dew prepared specially for her +palate. I never could believe that her age was what she had declared it +to be. She seemed to look younger every day; sometimes her eyes had +that limpid, lustrous innocence that is seen in the eyes of a very +little child; and, again, they would change and glow with the earnest +and lofty thought of one who had lived through years of study, +research, and discovery. For the first few days of my visit she did not +work in her studio at all, but appeared to prefer reading or talking +with me. One afternoon, however, when we had returned from a short +drive in the Bois de Boulogne, she said half hesitatingly: + +"I think I will go to work again to-morrow morning, if you will not +think me unsociable." + +"Why, Zara dearest!" I replied. "Of course I shall not think you +unsociable. I would not interfere with any of your pursuits for the +world." + +She looked at me with a sort of wistful affection, and continued: + +"But you must know I like to work quite alone, and though it may look +churlish, still not even you must come into the studio. I never can do +anything before a witness; Casimir himself knows that, and keeps away +from me." + +"Well!" I said, "I should be an ungrateful wretch if I could not oblige +you in so small a request. I promise not to disturb you, Zara; and do +not think for one moment that I shall be dull. I have books, a piano, +flowers--what more do I want? And if I like I can go out; then I have +letters to write, and all sorts of things to occupy me. I shall be +quite happy, and I shall not come near you till you call me." + +Zara kissed me. + +"You are a dear girl," she said; "I hate to appear inhospitable, but I +know you are a real friend--that you will love me as much away from you +as near you, and that you have none of that vulgar curiosity which some +women give way to, when what they desire to see is hidden from them. +You are not inquisitive, are you?" + +I laughed. + +"The affairs of other people have never appeared so interesting to me +that I have cared to bother myself about them," I replied. +"Blue-Beard's Chamber would never have been unlocked had I been that +worthy man's wife." + +"What a fine moral lesson the old fairy-tale teaches!" said Zara. "I +always think those wives of Blue-Beard deserved their fate for not +being able to obey him in his one request. But in regard to your +pursuits, dear, while I am at work in my studio, you can use the grand +piano in the drawing-room when you please, as well as the little one in +your own room; and you can improvise on the chapel organ as much as you +like." + +I was delighted at this idea, and thanked her heartily. She smiled +thoughtfully. + +"What happiness it must be for you to love music so thoroughly!" she +said. "It fills you with enthusiasm. I used to dislike to read the +biographies of musical people; they all seemed to find so much fault +with one another, and grudged each other every little bit of praise +wrung from the world's cold, death-doomed lips. It is to me +pathetically absurd to see gifted persons all struggling along, and +rudely elbowing each other out of the way to win--what? A few stilted +commonplace words of approbation or fault-finding in the newspapers of +the day, and a little clapping and shouting from a gathering of +ordinary minded persons, who only clap and shout because it is possibly +the fashion to do so. It is really ludicrous. If the music the musician +offers to the public be really great, it will live by itself and defy +praise or blame. Because Schubert died of want and sorrow, that does +not interfere with the life of his creations. Because Wagner is voted +impossible and absurd by many who think themselves good judges of +musical art, that does not offer any obstacle to the steady spread of +his fame, which is destined to become as universal as that of +Shakespeare. Poor Joachim, the violinist, has got a picture in his +private house, in which Wagner is painted as suffering the tortures of +hell; can anything be more absurd, when we consider how soon the +learned fiddler, who has occupied his life in playing other people's +compositions, will be a handful of forgotten dust, while multitudes yet +to come will shout their admiration of 'Tristran' and 'Parsifal.' Yes, +as I said, I never cared for musical people much, till I met a friend +of my brother's--a man whose inner life was an exquisite harmony." + +"I know!" I interrupted her. "He wrote the 'Letters of a Dead +Musician.'" + +"Yes," said Zara. "I suppose you saw the book at Raffaello's studio. +Good Raffaello Cellini! his is another absolutely ungrudging and +unselfish spirit. But this musician that I speak of was like a child in +humility and reverence. Casimir told me he had never sounded so perfect +a nature. At one time he, too, was a little anxious for recognition and +praise, and Casimir saw that he was likely to wreck himself on that +fatal rock of poor ambition. So he took him in hand, and taught him the +meaning of his work, and why it was especially given him to do; and +that man's life became 'one grand sweet song.' But there are tears in +your eyes, dear! What have I said to grieve you?" + +And she caressed me tenderly. The tears were indeed thick in my eyes, +and a minute or two elapsed before I could master them. At last I +raised my head and endeavoured to smile. + +"They are not sad tears, Zara," I said; "I think they come from a +strong desire I have to be what you are, what your brother is, what +that dead musician must have been. Why, I have longed, and do long for +fame, for wealth, for the world's applause, for all the things which +you seem to think so petty and mean. How can I help it? Is not fame +power? Is not money a double power, strong to assist one's self and +those one loves? Is not the world's favour a necessary means to gain +these things?" + +Zara's eyes gleamed with a soft and pitying gentleness. + +"Do you understand what you mean by power?" she asked. "World's fame? +World's wealth? Will these things make you enjoy life? You will perhaps +say yes. I tell you no. Laurels of earth's growing fade; gold of +earth's getting is good for a time, but it palls quickly. Suppose a man +rich enough to purchase all the treasures of the world--what then? He +must die and leave them. Suppose a poet or musician so famous that all +nations know and love him: he too must die, and go where nations exist +no longer. And you actually would grasp ashes and drink wormwood, +little friend? Music, the heaven-born spirit of pure sound, does not +teach you so!" + +I was silent. The gleam of the strange jewel Zara always wore flashed +in my eyes like lightning, and anon changed to the similitude of a +crimson star. I watched it, dreamily fascinated by its unearthly +glitter. + +"Still," I said, "you yourself admit that such fame as that of +Shakespeare or Wagner becomes a universal monument to their memories. +That is something, surely?" + +"Not to them," replied Zara; "they have partly forgotten that they ever +were imprisoned in such a narrow gaol as this world. Perhaps they do +not care to remember it, though memory is part of immortality." + +"Ah!" I sighed restlessly; "your thoughts go beyond me, Zara. I cannot +follow your theories." + +Zara smiled. + +"We will not talk about them any more," she said; "you must tell +Casimir--he will teach you far better than I can." + +"What shall I tell him?" I asked; "and what will he teach me?" + +"You will tell him what a high opinion you have of the world and its +judgments," said Zara, "and he will teach you that the world is no more +than a grain of dust, measured by the standard of your own soul. This +is no mere platitude--no repetition of the poetical statement 'THE +MIND'S THE STANDARD OF THE MAN;' it is a fact, and can be proved as +completely as that two and two make four. Ask Casimir to set you free." + +"To set me free?" I asked, surprised. + +"Yes!" and Zara looked at me brightly. "He will know if you are strong +enough to travel!" And, nodding her head gaily to me, she left the room +to prepare for the dinner-hour which was fast approaching. + +I pondered over her words a good deal without arriving at any +satisfactory conclusion as to the meaning of them. I did not resume the +conversation with her, nor did I speak to Heliobas as yet, and the days +went on smoothly and pleasantly till I had been nearly a week in +residence at the Hotel Mars. I now felt perfectly well and strong, +though Heliobas continued to give me his remedies regularly night and +morning. I began an energetic routine of musical practice: the +beautiful piano in the drawing-room answered readily to my touch, and +many a delightful hour slipped by as I tried various new difficulties +on the key-board, or worked out different combinations of harmony. I +spent a great deal of my time at the organ in the little chapel, the +bellows of which were worked by electricity, in a manner that gave not +the least trouble, and was perfectly simple of management. + +The organ itself was peculiarly sweet in tone, the "vox humana" stop +especially producing an entrancingly rich and tender sound. The +silence, warmth, and beauty of the chapel, with the winter sunlight +streaming through its stained windows, and the unbroken solitude I +enjoyed there, all gave fresh impetus to the fancies of my brain, and a +succession of solemn and tender melodies wove themselves under my +fingers as a broidered carpet is woven on the loom. + +One particular afternoon, I was sitting at the instrument as usual, and +my thoughts began to busy themselves with the sublime tragedy of +Calvary. I mused, playing softly all the while, on the wonderful, +blameless, glorious life that had ended in the shame and cruelty of the +Cross, when suddenly, like a cloud swooping darkly across the heaven of +my thoughts, came the suggestive question: "Is it all true? Was Christ +indeed Divine--or is it all a myth, a fable--an imposture?" +Unconsciously I struck a discordant chord on the organ--a faint tremor +shook me, and I ceased playing. An uncomfortable sensation came over +me, as of some invisible presence being near me and approaching softly, +slowly, yet always more closely; and I hurriedly rose from my seat, +shut the organ, and prepared to leave the chapel, overcome by a strange +incomprehensible terror. I was glad when I found myself safely outside +the door, and I rushed into the hall as though I were being pursued; +yet the oddest part of my feeling was, that whoever thus pursued me, +did so out of love, not enmity, and that I was almost wrong in running +away. I leaned for a moment against one of the columns in the hall, +trying to calm the excited beating of my heart, when a deep voice +startled me: + +"So! you are agitated and alarmed! Unbelief is easily scared!" + +I looked up and met the calm eyes of Heliobas. He appeared to be +taller, statelier, more like a Chaldean prophet or king than I had ever +seen him before. There was something in his steady scrutiny of my face +that put me to a sort of shame, and when he spoke again it was in a +tone of mild reproof. + +"You have been led astray, my child, by the conflicting and vain +opinions of mankind. You, like many others in the world, delight to +question, to speculate, to weigh this, to measure that, with little or +no profit to yourself or your fellow-creatures. And you have come +freshly from a land where, in the great Senate-house, a poor perishable +lump of clay calling itself a man, dares to stand up boldly and deny +the existence of God, while his compeers, less bold than he, pretend a +holy displeasure, yet secretly support him--all blind worms denying the +existence of the sun; a land where so-called Religion is split into +hundreds of cold and narrow sects, gatherings assembled for the +practice of hypocrisy, lip-service and lies--where Self, not the +Creator, is the prime object of worship; a land, mighty once among the +mightiest, but which now, like an over-ripe pear, hangs loosely on its +tree, awaiting but a touch to make it fall! A land--let me not name +it;--where the wealthy, high-fed ministers of the nation slowly argue +away the lives of better men than themselves, with vain words of colder +and more cruel force than the whirling spears of untaught savages! What +have you, an ardent disciple of music, to do in such a land where +favouritism and backstair influence win the day over even the merits of +a Schubert? Supposing you were a second Beethoven, what could you do in +that land without faith or hope? that land which is like a +disappointed, churlish, and aged man with tottering feet and purblind +eyes, who has long ago exhausted all enjoyment and sees nothing new +under the sun. The world is wide--faith is yet extant--and the +teachings of Christ are true. 'Believe and live; doubt and die!' That +saying is true also." + +I had listened to these words in silence; but now I spoke eagerly and +impatiently, remembering what Zara had told me. + +"Then," I said, "if I have been misguided by modern opinions--if I have +unconsciously absorbed the doctrines of modern fashionable +atheism--lead me right. Teach me what you know. I am willing to learn. +Let me find out the reason of my life. SET ME FREE!" + +Heliobas regarded me with earnest solemnity. + +"Set you free!" he murmured, in a low tone. "Do you know what you ask?" + +"No," I answered, with reckless fervour. "I do not know what I ask; but +I feel that you have the power to show me the unseen things of another +world. Did you not yourself tell me in our first interview that you had +let Raffaello Cellini 'go on a voyage of discovery, and that he came +back perfectly satisfied?' Besides, he told me his history. From you he +has gained all that gives him peace and comfort. You possess electric +secrets undreamt of by the world. Prove your powers upon me; I am not +afraid." + +Heliobas smiled. "Not afraid! And you ran out of the chapel just now as +if you were pursued by a fiend! You must know that the only WOMAN I +ever tried my greatest experiment upon is my sister Zara. She was +trained and prepared for it in the most careful manner; and it +succeeded. Now"--and Heliobas looked half-sad, half-triumphant--"she +has passed beyond my power; she is dominated by one greater than I. But +she cannot use her force for others; she can only employ it to defend +herself. Therefore, I am willing to try you if you indeed desire it--to +see if the same thing will occur to you as to Zara; and I firmly +believe it will." + +A slight tremor came over me; but I said with an attempt at +indifference: + +"You mean that I shall be dominated also by some great force or +influence?" + +"I think so," replied Heliobas musingly. "Your nature is more prone to +love than to command. Try and follow me in the explanation I am going +to give you. Do you know some lines by Shelley that run-- + + "'Nothing in the world is single, + All things by a law divine + In one another's being mingle-- + Why not I with thine?'" + +"Yes," I said. "I know the lines well. I used to think them very +sentimental and pretty." + +"They contain," said Heliobas, "the germ of a great truth, as many of +the most fanciful verses of the poets do. As the 'image of a voice' +mentioned in the Book of Job hinted at the telephone, and as +Shakespeare's 'girdle round the earth' foretold the electric telegraph, +so the utterances of the inspired starvelings of the world, known as +poets, suggest many more wonders of the universe than may be at first +apparent. Poets must always be prophets, or their calling is in vain. +Put this standard of judgment to the verse-writers of the day, and +where would they be? The English Laureate is no seer: he is a mere +relater of pretty stories. Algernon Charles Swinburne has more fire in +him, and more wealth of expression, but he does not prophesy; he has a +clever way of combining Biblical similes with Provengal passion--et +voila tout! The prophets are always poor--the sackcloth and ashes of +the world are their portion; and their bodies moulder a hundred years +or more in the grave before the world finds out what they meant by +their ravings. But apropos of these lines of Shelley. He speaks of the +duality of existence. 'Nothing in the world is single.' He might have +gone further, and said nothing in the universe is single. Cold and +heat, storm and sunshine, good and evil, joy and sorrow--all go in +pairs. This double life extends to all the spheres and above the +spheres. Do you understand?" + +"I understand what you say," I said slowly; "but I cannot see your +meaning as applied to myself or yourself." + +"I will teach you in a few words," went on Heliobas. "You believe in +the soul?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. Now realize that there is no soul on this earth that is +complete, ALONE. Like everything else, it is dual. It is like half a +flame that seeks the other half, and is dissatisfied and restless till +it attains its object. Lovers, misled by the blinding light of Love, +think they have reached completeness when they are united to the person +beloved. Now, in very, very rare cases, perhaps one among a thousand, +this desirable result is effected; but the majority of people are +content with the union of bodies only, and care little or nothing about +the sympathy or attachment between souls. There are people, however, +who do care, and who never find their Twin-Flame or companion Spirit at +all on earth, and never will find it. And why? Because it is not +imprisoned in clay; it is elsewhere." + +"Well?" I asked eagerly. + +"Well, you seem to ask me by your eyes what this all means. I will +apply it at once to myself. By my researches into human electrical +science, I discovered that MY companion, MY other half of existence, +though not on earth, was near me, and could be commanded by me; and, on +being commanded, obeyed. With Zara it was different. She could not +COMMAND--she OBEYED; she was the weaker of the two. With you, I think +it will be the same thing. Men sacrifice everything to ambition; women +to love. It is natural. I see there is much of what I have said that +appears to have mystified you; it is no good puzzling your brain any +more about it. No doubt you think I am talking very wildly about +Twin-Flames and Spiritual Affinities that live for us in another +sphere. You do not believe, perhaps, in the existence of beings in the +very air that surrounds us, invisible to ordinary human eyes, yet +actually akin to us, with a closer relationship than any tie of blood +known on earth?" + +I hesitated. Heliobas saw my hesitation, and his eyes darkened with a +sombre wrath. + +"Are you one of those also who must see in order to believe?" he said, +half angrily. "Where do you suppose your music comes from? Where do you +suppose any music comes from that is not mere imitation? The greatest +composers of the world have been mere receptacles of sound; and the +emptier they were of self-love and vanity, the greater quantity of +heaven-born melody they held. The German Wagner--did he not himself say +that he walked up and down in the avenues, 'trying to catch the +harmonies as they floated in the air'? Come with me--come back to the +place you left, and I will see if you, like Wagner, are able to catch a +melody flying." + +He grasped my unresisting arm, and led me, half-frightened, +half-curious, into the little chapel, where he bade me seat myself at +the organ. + +"Do not play a single note," he said, "till you are compelled." + +And standing beside me, Heliobas laid his hands on my head, then +pressed them on my ears, and finally touched my hands, that rested +passively on the keyboard. + +He then raised his eyes, and uttered the name I had often thought of +but never mentioned--the name he had called upon in my dream. + +"Azul!" he said, in a low, penetrating voice, "open the gateways of the +Air that we may hear the sound of Song!" + +A soft rushing noise of wind answered his adjuration. This was followed +by a burst of music, transcendently lovely, but unlike any music I had +ever heard. There were sounds of delicate and entrancing tenderness +such as no instrument made by human hands could produce; there was +singing of clear and tender tone, and of infinite purity such as no +human voices could be capable of. I listened, perplexed, alarmed, yet +entranced. Suddenly I distinguished a melody running through the +wonderful air-symphonies--a melody like a flower, fresh and perfect. +Instinctively I touched the organ and began to play it; I found I could +produce it note for note. I forgot all fear in my delight, and I played +on and on in a sort of deepening rapture. Gradually I became aware that +the strange sounds about me were dying slowly away; fainter and fainter +they grew--softer--farther--and finally ceased. But the melody--that +one distinct passage of notes I had followed out--remained with me, and +I played it again and again with feverish eagerness lest it should +escape me. I had forgotten the presence of Heliobas. But a touch on my +shoulder roused me. I looked up and met his eyes fixed upon, me with a +steady and earnest regard. A shiver ran through, me, and I felt +bewildered. + +"Have I lost it?" I asked. + +"Lost what?" he demanded. + +"The tune I heard--the harmonies." + +"No," he replied; "at least I think not. But if you have, no matter. +You will hear others. Why do you look so distressed?" + +"It is lovely," I said wistfully, "all that music; but it is not MINE;" +and tears of regret filled my eyes. "Oh, if it were only mine--my very +own composition!" + +Heliobas smiled kindly. + +"It is as much yours as any thing belongs to anyone. Yours? why, what +can you really call your own? Every talent you have, every breath you +draw, every drop of blood flowing in your veins, is lent to you only; +you must pay it all back. And as far as the arts go, it is a bad sign +of poet, painter, or musician, who is arrogant enough to call his work +his own. It never was his, and never will be. It is planned by a higher +intelligence than his, only he happens to be the hired labourer chosen +to carry out the conception; a sort of mechanic in whom boastfulness +looks absurd; as absurd as if one of the stonemasons working at the +cornice of a cathedral were to vaunt himself as the designer of the +whole edifice. And when a work, any work, is completed, it passes out +of the labourer's hands; it belongs to the age and the people for whom +it was accomplished, and, if deserving, goes on belonging to future +ages and future peoples. So far, and only so far, music is your own. +But are you convinced? or do you think you have been dreaming all that +you heard just now?" + +I rose from the organ, closed it gently, and, moved by a sudden +impulse, held out both my hands to Heliobas. He took them and held them +in a friendly clasp, watching me intently as I spoke. + +"I believe in YOU," I said firmly; "and I know thoroughly well that I +was not dreaming; I certainly heard strange music, and entrancing +voices. But in acknowledging your powers over something unseen, I must +explain to you the incredulity I at first felt, which I believe annoyed +you. I was made sceptical on one occasion, by attending a so-called +spiritual seance, where they tried to convince me of the truth of +table-turning--" + +Heliobas laughed softly, still holding my hands. + +"Your reason will at once tell you that disembodied spirits never +become so undignified as to upset furniture or rap on tables. Neither +do they write letters in pen and ink and put them under doors. +Spiritual beings are purely spiritual; they cannot touch anything +human, much less deal in such vulgar display as the throwing about of +chairs, and the opening of locked sideboards. You were very rightly +sceptical in these matters. But in what I have endeavoured to prove to +you, you have no doubts, have you?" + +"None in the world," I said. "I only ask you to go on teaching me the +wonders that seem so familiar to you. Let me know all I may; and soon!" +I spoke with trembling eagerness. + +"You have been only eight days in the house, my child," said Heliobas, +loosening my hands, and signing me to come out of the chapel with him; +"and I do not consider you sufficiently strong as yet for the +experiment you wish me to try upon you. Even now you are agitated. Wait +one week more, and then you shall be--" + +"What?" I asked impatiently. + +"Lifted up," he replied. "Lifted up above this little speck called +earth. But now, no more of this. Go to Zara; keep your mind well +employed; study, read, and pray--pray much and often in few and simple +words, and with as utterly unselfish a heart as you can prepare. Think +that you are going to some high festival, and attire your soul in +readiness. I do not say to you 'Have faith;' I would not compel your +belief in anything against your own will. You wish to be convinced of a +future existence; you seek proofs; you shall have them. In the meantime +avoid all conversation with me on the subject. You can confide your +desires to Zara if you like; her experience may be of use to you. You +had best join her now. Au revoir!" and with a kind parting gesture, he +left me. + +I watched his stately figure disappear in the shadow of the passage +leading to his own study, and then I hastened to Zara's room. The +musical episode in the chapel had certainly startled me, and the words +of Heliobas were full of mysterious meaning; but, strange to say, I was +in no way rendered anxious or alarmed by the prospect I had before me +of being "lifted up," as my physician had expressed it. I thought of +Raffaello Cellini and his history, and I determined within myself that +no cowardly hesitation or fear should prevent me from making the +attempt to see what he professed to have seen. I found Zara reading. +She looked up as I entered, and greeted me with her usual bright smile. + +"You have had a long practice," she began; "I thought you were never +coming." + +I sat down beside her, and related at once all that had happened to me +that afternoon. Zara listened with deep and almost breathless interest. + +"You are quite resolved," she said, when I had concluded, "to let +Casimir exert his force upon you?" + +"I am quite resolved," I answered. + +"And you have no fear?" + +"None that I am just now conscious of." + +Zara's eyes became darker and deeper in the gravity of her intense +meditation. At last she said: + +"I can help you to keep your courage firmly to the point, by letting +you know at once what Casimir will do to you. Beyond that I cannot go. +You understand the nature of an electric shock?" + +"Yes," I replied. + +"Well, there are different kinds of electric shocks--some that are +remedial, some that are fatal. There are cures performed by a careful +use of the electric battery--again, people are struck dead by +lightning, which is the fatal result of electric force. But all this is +EXTERNAL electricity; now what Casimir will use on you will be INTERNAL +electricity." + +I begged her to explain more clearly. She went on: + +"You have internally a certain amount of electricity, which has been +increased recently by the remedies prescribed for you by Casimir. But, +however much you have, Casimir has more, and he will exert his force +over your force, the greater over the lesser. You will experience an +INTERNAL electric shock, which, like a sword, will separate in twain +body and spirit. The spiritual part of you will be lifted up above +material forces; the bodily part will remain inert and useless, till +the life, which is actually YOU, returns to put its machinery in motion +once more." + +"But shall I return at all?" I asked half doubtfully. + +"You must return, because God has fixed the limits of your life on +earth, and no human power can alter His decree. Casimir's will can set +you free for a time, but only for a time. You are bound to return, be +it never so reluctantly. Eternal liberty is given by Death alone, and +Death cannot be forced to come." + +"How about suicide?" I asked. + +"The suicide," replied Zara, "has no soul. He kills his body, and by +the very act proves that whatever germ of an immortal existence he may +have had once, has escaped from its unworthy habitation, and gone, like +a flying spark, to find a chance of growth elsewhere. Surely your own +reason proves this to you? The very animals have more soul than a man +who commits suicide. The beasts of prey slay each other for hunger or +in self-defence, but they do not slay themselves. That is a brutality +left to man alone, with its companion degradation, drunkenness." + +I mused awhile in silence. + +"In all the wickedness and cruelty of mankind," I said, "it is almost a +wonder that there is any spiritual existence left on earth at all. Why +should God trouble Himself to care for such few souls as thoroughly +believe in and love Him?--they can be but a mere handful." + +"Such a mere handful are worth more than the world to him," said Zara +gravely. "Oh, my dear, do not say such things as why should God trouble +Himself? Why do you trouble yourself for the safety and happiness of +anyone you love?" + +Her eyes grew soft and tender, and the jewel she wore glimmered like +moonlight on the sea. I felt a little abashed, and, to change the +subject, I said: + +"Tell me, Zara, what is that stone you always wear? Is it a talisman?" + +"It belonged to a king," said Zara,--"at least, it was found in a +king's coffin. It has been in our family for generations. Casimir says +it is an electric stone--there are such still to be found in remote +parts of the sea. Do you like it?" + +"It is very brilliant and lovely," I said. + +"When I die," went on Zara slowly, "I will leave it to you." + +"I hope I shall have to wait a long time before I get it, then," I +exclaimed, embracing her affectionately. "Indeed, I will pray never to +receive it." + +"You will pray wrongly," said Zara, smiling. "But tell me, do you quite +understand from my explanation what Casimir will do to you?" + +"I think I do." + +"And you are not afraid?" + +"Not at all. Shall I suffer any pain?" + +"No actual pang. You will feel giddy for a moment, and your body will +become unconscious. That is all." + +I meditated for a few moments, and then looking up, saw Zara's eyes +watching me with a wistful inquiring tenderness. I answered her look +with a smile, and said, half gaily: + +"L'audace, l'audace, et toujours l'audace! That must be my motto, Zara. +I have a chance now of proving how far a woman's bravery can go, and I +assure you I am proud of the opportunity. Your brother uttered some +very cutting remarks on the general inaptitude of the female sex when I +first made his acquaintance; so, for the honour of the thing, I must +follow the path I have begun to tread. A plunge into the unseen world +is surely a bold step for a woman, and I am determined to take it +courageously." + +"That is well," said Zara. "I do not think it possible for you ever to +regret it. It is growing late--shall we prepare for dinner?" + +I assented, and we separated to our different rooms. Before commencing +to dress I opened the pianette that stood near my window, and tried +very softly to play the melody I had heard in the chapel. To my joy it +came at once to my fingers, and I was able to remember every note. I +did not attempt to write it down--somehow I felt sure it would not +escape me now. A sense of profound gratitude filled my heart, and, +remembering the counsel given by Heliobas, I knelt reverently down and +thanked God for the joy and grace of music. As I did so, a faint breath +of sound, like a distant whisper of harps played in unison, floated +past my ears,--then appeared to sweep round in ever-widening circles, +till it gradually died away. But it was sweet and entrancing enough for +me to understand how glorious and full of rapture must have been the +star-symphony played on that winter's night long ago, when the angels +chanted together, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and +good-will to Man!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. + + +Prince Ivan Petroffsky was a constant visitor at the Hotel Mars, and I +began to take a certain interest in him, not unmingled with pity, for +it was evident that he was hopelessly in love with my beautiful friend +Zara. She received him always with courtesy and kindness; but her +behaviour to him was marked by a somewhat cold dignity, which, like a +barrier of ice, repelled the warmth of his admiration and attention. +Once or twice, remembering what he had said to me, I endeavoured to +speak to her concerning him and his devotion; but she so instantly and +decisively turned the conversation that I saw I should displease her if +I persisted in it. Heliobas appeared to be really attached to the +Prince, at which I secretly wondered; the worldly and frivolous young +nobleman was of so entirely different a temperament to that of the +thoughtful and studious Chaldean philosopher. Yet there was evidently +some mysterious attraction between them--the Prince appeared to be +profoundly interested in electric theories and experiments, and +Heliobas never wearied of expounding them to so attentive a listener. +The wonderful capabilities of the dog Leo also were brought into +constant requisition for Prince Ivan's benefit, and without doubt they +were most remarkable. This animal, commanded--or, I should say, +brain-electrified--by Heliobas, would fetch anything that was named to +him through his master's force, providing it was light enough for him +to carry; and he would go into the conservatory and pluck off with his +teeth any rare or common flower within his reach that was described to +him by the same means. Spoken to or commanded by others, he was simply +a good-natured intelligent Newfoundland; but under the authority of +Heliobas, he became more than human in ready wit and quick obedience, +and would have brought in a golden harvest to any great circus or +menagerie. + +He was a never-failing source of wonder and interest to me, and even +more so to the Prince, who made him the subject of many an abstruse and +difficult discussion with his friend Casimir. I noticed that Zara +seemed to regret the frequent companionship of Ivan Petroffsky and her +brother, and a shade of sorrow or vexation often crossed her fair face +when she saw them together absorbed in conversation or argument. + +One evening a strange circumstance occurred which startled and deeply +impressed me. Prince Ivan had dined with us; he was in extraordinarily +high spirits--his gaiety was almost boisterous, and his face was deeply +flushed. Zara glanced at him half indignantly more than once when his +laughter became unusually uproarious, and I saw that Heliobas watched +him closely and half-inquiringly, as if he thought there was something +amiss. + +The Prince, however, heedless of his host's observant eye, tossed off +glass after glass of wine, and talked incessantly. After dinner, when +we all assembled in the drawing-room, he seated himself at the piano +without being asked, and sang several songs. Whether he were influenced +by drink or strong excitement, his voice at any rate showed no sign of +weakness or deterioration. Never had I heard him sing so magnificently. +He seemed possessed not by an angel but by a demon of song. It was +impossible not to listen to him, and while listening, equally +impossible not to admire him. Even Zara, who was generally indifferent +to his music, became, on this particular night, fascinated into a sort +of dreamy attention. He perceived this, and suddenly addressed himself +to her in softened tones which bore no trace of their previous loudness. + +"Madame, you honour me to-night by listening to my poor efforts. It is +seldom I am thus rewarded!" + +Zara flushed deeply, and then grew very pale. + +"Indeed, Prince," she answered quietly, "you mistake me. I always +listen with pleasure to your singing--to-night, perhaps, my mood is +more fitted to music than is usual with me, and thus I may appear to +you to be more attentive. But your voice always delights me as it must +delight everybody who hears it." + +"While you are in a musical mood then," returned Prince Ivan, "let me +sing you an English song--one of the loveliest ever penned. I have set +it to music myself, as such words are not of the kind to suit ordinary +composers or publishers; they are too much in earnest, too passionate, +too full of real human love and sorrow. The songs that suit modern +drawing-rooms and concert-halls, as a rule, are those that are full of +sham sentiment--a real, strong, throbbing HEART pulsing through a song +is too terribly exciting for lackadaisical society. Listen!" And, +playing a dreamy, murmuring prelude like the sound of a brook flowing +through a hollow cavern, he sang Swinburne's "Leave-Taking," surely one +of the saddest and most beautiful poems in the English language. + +He subdued his voice to suit the melancholy hopelessness of the lines, +and rendered it with so much intensity of pathetic expression that it +was difficult to keep tears from filling the eyes. When he came to the +last verse, the anguish of a wasted life seemed to declare itself in +the complete despair of his low vibrating tones: + + "Let us go hence and rest; she will not love. + She shall not hear us if we sing hereof, + Nor see love's ways, how sore they are and steep. + Come hence, let be, lie still; it is enough. + Love is a barren sea, bitter and deep; + And though she saw all heaven in flower above, + She would not love!" + +The deep melancholy of the music and the quivering pathos of the deep +baritone voice were so affecting that it was almost a relief when the +song ceased. I had been looking out of the window at the fantastic +patterns of the moonlight on the garden walk, but now I turned to see +in Zara's face her appreciation of what we had just heard. To my +surprise she had left the room. Heliobas reclined in his easy-chair, +glancing up and down the columns of the Figaro; and the Prince still +sat at the piano, moving his fingers idly up and down the keys without +playing. The little page entered with a letter on a silver salver. It +was for his master. Heliobas read it quickly, and rose, saying: + +"I must leave you to entertain yourselves for ten minutes while I +answer this letter. Will you excuse me?" and with the ever-courteous +salute to us which was part of his manner, he left the room. + +I still remained at the window. Prince Ivan still dumbly played the +piano. There were a few minutes of absolute silence. Then the Prince +hastily got up, shut the piano, and approached me. + +"Do you know where Zara is?" he demanded in a low, fierce tone. + +I looked at him in surprise and a little alarm--he spoke with so much +suppressed anger, and his eyes glittered so strangely. + +"No," I answered frankly. "I never saw her leave the room." + +"I did," he said. "She slipped out like a ghost, or a witch, or an +angel, while I was singing the last verse of Swinburne's song. Do you +know Swinburne, mademoiselle?" + +"No," I replied, wondering at his manner more and more. "I only know +him, as you do, to be a poet." + +"Poet, madman, or lover--all three should be one and the same thing," +muttered the Prince, clenching and unclenching that strong right hand +of his on which sparkled a diamond like a star. "I have often wondered +if poets feel what they write--whether Swinburne, for instance, ever +felt the weight of a dead cold thing within him HERE," slightly +touching the region of his heart, "and realized that he had to drag +that corpse of unburied love with him everywhere--even to the grave, +and beyond--O God!--beyond the grave!" I touched him gently on the arm. +I was full of pity for him--his despair was so bitter and keen. + +"Prince Ivan," I said, "you are excited and overwrought. Zara meant no +slight to you in leaving the room before your song was finished. I am +quite sure of that. She is kindness itself--her nature is all sweetness +and gentleness. She would not willingly offend you--" + +"Offend me!" he exclaimed; "she could not offend me if she tried. She +could tread upon me, stab me, slay me, but never offend me. I see you +are sorry for me--and I thank you. I kiss your hand for your gentle +pity, mademoiselle." + +And he did so, with a knightly grace that became him well. I thought +his momentary anger was passing, but I was mistaken. Suddenly he raised +his arm with a fierce gesture, and exclaimed: + +"By heaven! I will wait no longer. I am a fool to hesitate. I may wait +a century before I draw out of Casimir the secret that would enable me +to measure swords with my rival. Listen!" and he grasped my shoulder +roughly. "Stay here, you! If Casimir returns, tell him I have gone for +a walk of half an hour. Play to him--keep him occupied--be my friend in +this one thing--I trust you. Let him not seek for Zara, or for me. I +shall not be long absent." + +"Stay!" I whispered hurriedly, "What are you going to do? Surely you +know the power of Heliobas. He is supreme here. He could find out +anything he chose. He could---" + +Prince Ivan looked at me fixedly. + +"Will you swear to me that you actually do not know?" + +"Know what?" I asked, perplexed. + +He laughed bitterly, sarcastically. + +"Did you ever hear that line of poetry which speaks of 'A woman wailing +for her demon-lover'? That is what Zara does. Of one thing I am +certain--she does not wail or wait long; he comes quickly." + +"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, utterly mystified. "Who comes quickly? +I am sure you do not know what you are talking about." + +"I DO know," he replied firmly; "and I am going to prove my knowledge. +Remember what I have asked you." And without another word or look, he +threw open the velvet curtains of the portiere, and disappeared behind +them. + +Left to myself, I felt very nervous and excited. All sorts of odd +fancies came into my head, and would not go away, but danced about like +Will-o'-the-wisps on a morass. What did Prince Ivan mean? Was he mad? +or had he drunk too much wine? What strange illusion had he in his mind +about Zara and a demon? Suddenly a thought flashed upon me that made me +tremble from head to foot. I remembered what Heliobas had said about +twin flames and dual affinities; and I also reflected that he had +declared Zara to be dominated by a more powerful force than his own. +But then, I had accepted it as a matter of course that, whatever the +force was, it must be for good, not evil, over a being so pure, so +lovely and so intelligent as Zara. + +I knew and felt that there were good and evil forces. Now, suppose Zara +were commanded by some strange evil thing, unguessed at, undreamt of in +the wildest night-mare? I shuddered as with icy cold. It could not be. +I resolutely refused to admit such a fearful conjecture. Why, I thought +to myself, with a faint smile, I was no better in my imaginings than +the so virtuous and ever-respectable Suzanne Michot of whom Madame +Denise had spoken. Still the hateful thought came back again and again, +and refused to go away. + +I went to my old place at the window and looked out. The moonlight fell +in cold slanting rays; but an army of dark clouds were hurrying up from +the horizon, looking in their weird shapes like the mounted Walkyres in +Wagner's "Niebelungen Ring," galloping to Walhalla with the bodies of +dead warriors slung before them. A low moaning wind had arisen, and was +beginning to sob round the house like the Banshee. Hark! what was that? +I started violently. Surely that was a faint shriek? I listened +intently. Nothing but the wind rustling among some creaking branches. + + "A woman wailing for her demon-lover." + +How that line haunted me! And with, it there slowly grew up in my mind +a black looming horror; an idea, vague and ghastly, that froze my blood +and turned me faint and giddy. Suppose, when I had consented to be +experimented upon by Heliobas--when my soul in the electric trance was +lifted up to the unseen world--suppose an evil force, terrible and +all-compelling, were to dominate ME and hold me forever and ever! I +gasped for breath! Oh, so much the more need of prayer! + +"Pray much and often, with as unselfish a heart as you can prepare." + +Thus Heliobas had said; and I thought to myself, if all those who were +on the brink of great sin or crime could only be brought to feel +beforehand what I felt when facing the spectral dread of unknown evil, +then surely sins would be fewer and crimes never committed. And I +murmured softly, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from +evil." + +The mere utterance of these words seemed to calm and encourage me; and +as I gazed up at the sky again, with its gathering clouds, one star, +like a bright consoling eye, looked at me, glittering cheerfully amid +the surrounding darkness. + +More than ten minutes had elapsed since Prince Ivan had left the room, +and there was no sound of returning footsteps. And where was Zara? I +determined to seek her. I was free to go anywhere in the house, only +avoiding her studio during her hours of work; and she never worked at +night. I would go to her and confide all my strange thoughts and +terrors to her friendly sympathy. I hurried through the hall and up the +staircase quickly, and should have gone straight into Zara's boudoir +had I not heard a sound of voices which caused me to stop precipitately +outside the door. Zara was speaking. Her low, musical accents fell like +a silver chime on the air. + +"I have told you," she said, "again and again that it is impossible. +You waste your life in the pursuit of a phantom; for a phantom I must +be to you always--a mere dream, not a woman such as your love would +satisfy. You are a strong man, in sound health and spirits; you care +for the world and the things that are in it. I do not. You would make +me happy, you say. No doubt you would do your best--your wealth and +influence, your good looks, your hospitable and friendly nature would +make most women happy. But what should _I_ care for your family +diamonds? for your surroundings? for your ambitions? The society of the +world fills me with disgust and prejudice. Marriage, as the world +considers it, shocks and outrages my self-respect; the idea of a bodily +union without that of souls is to me repulsive and loathsome. Why, +therefore, waste your time in seeking a love which does not exist, +which never will exist for you?" + +I heard the deep, passionate tones of Prince Ivan in answer: + +"One light kindles another, Zara! The sunlight melts the snow! I cannot +believe but that a long and faithful love may--nay, MUST--have its +reward at last. Even according to your brother's theories, the emotion +of love is capable of powerful attraction. Cannot I hope that my +passion--so strong, so great, so true, Zara!--will, with patience, draw +you, star of my life, closer and closer, till I at last call you mine?" + +I heard the faint rustle of Zara's silk robe, as though she were moving +farther from him. + +"You speak ignorantly, Prince. Your studies with Casimir appear to have +brought you little knowledge. Attraction! How can you attract what is +not in your sphere? As well ask for the Moons of Jupiter or the Ring of +Saturn! The laws of attraction and repulsion, Prince Ivan, are fixed by +a higher authority than yours, and you are as powerless to alter or +abate them by one iota, as a child is powerless to repel the advancing +waves of the sea." + +Prince Ivan spoke again, and his voice quivered, with suppressed anger. + +"You may talk as you will, beautiful Zara; but you shall never persuade +me against my reason. I am no dreamer; no speculator in aerial +nothings; no clever charlatan like Casimir, who, because he is able to +magnetize a dog, pretends to the same authority over human beings, and +dares to risk the health, perhaps the very sanity, of his own sister, +and that of the unfortunate young musician whom he has inveigled in +here, all for the sake of proving his dangerous, almost diabolical, +experiments. Oh, yes; I see you are indignant, but I speak truth. I am +a plain man;--and if I am deficient in electric germs, as Casimir would +say, I have plenty of common sense. I wish to rescue you, Zara. You are +becoming a prey to morbid fancies; your naturally healthy mind is full +of extravagant notions concerning angels and demons and what not; and +your entire belief in, and enthusiasm for, your brother is a splendid +advertisement for him. Let me tear the veil of credulity from your +eyes. Let me teach you how good a thing it is to live and love and +laugh like other people, and leave electricity to the telegraph-wires +and the lamp-posts." + +Again I heard the silken rustle of Zara's dress, and, impelled by a +strong curiosity and excitement, I raised a corner of the curtain +hanging over the door, and was able to see the room distinctly. The +Prince stood, or rather lounged, near the window, and opposite to him +was Zara; she had evidently retreated from him as far as possible, and +held herself proudly erect, her eyes flashing with unusual brilliancy +contrasted with the pallor of her face. + +"Your insults to my brother, Prince," she said calmly, "I suffer to +pass by me, knowing well to what a depth of wilful blind ignorance you +are fallen. I pity you--and--I despise you! You are indeed a plain man, +as you say--nothing more and nothing less. You can take advantage of +the hospitality of this house, and pretend friendship to the host, +while you slander him behind his back, and insult his sister in the +privacy of her own apartment. Very manlike, truly; and perfectly in +accordance with a reasonable being who likes to live and love and laugh +according to the rule of society--a puppet whose wires society pulls, +and he dances or dies as society pleases. I told you a gulf existed +between us--you have widened it, for which I thank you! As I do not +impose any of my wishes upon you, and therefore cannot request you to +leave the room, you must excuse me if _I_ retire elsewhere." + +And she approached the entrance of her studio, which was opposite to +where I stood; but the Prince reached it before her, and placed his +back against it. His face was deathly pale, and his dark eyes blazed +with wrath and love intermingled. + +"No, Zara!" he exclaimed in a sort of loud whisper. "If you think to +escape me so, you are in error. I came to you reckless and resolved! +You shall be mine if I die for it!" And he strove to seize her in his +arms. But she escaped him and stood at bay, her lips quivering, her +bosom heaving, and her hands clenched. + +"I warn you!" she exclaimed. "By the intense loathing I have for you; +by the force which makes my spirit rise in arms against you, I warn +you! Do not dare to touch me! If you care for your own life, leave me +while there is time!" + +Never had she looked so supremely, terribly beautiful. I gazed at her +from my corner of the doorway, awed, yet fascinated. The jewel on her +breast glowed with an angry red lustre, and shot forth dazzling opaline +rays, as though it were a sort of living, breathing star. Prince Ivan +paused--entranced no doubt, as I was, by her unearthly loveliness. His +face flushed--he gave a low laugh of admiration. Then he made two swift +strides forward and caught her fiercely in his embrace. His triumph was +brief. Scarcely had his strong arm clasped her waist, when it fell numb +and powerless--scarcely had his eager lips stooped towards hers, when +he reeled and sank heavily on the ground, senseless! The spell that had +held me a silent spectator of the scene was broken. Terrified, I rushed +into the room, crying out: + +"Zara, Zara! What have you done?" + +Zara turned her eyes gently upon me--they were soft and humid as though +recently filled with tears. All the burning scorn and indignation had +gone out of her face--she looked pityingly at the prostrate form of her +admirer. + +"He is not dead," she said quietly. "I will call Casimir." + +I knelt beside the Prince and raised his hand. It was cold and heavy. +His lips were blue, and his closed eyelids looked as though, in the +words of Homer, "Death's purple finger" had shut them fast forever. No +breath--no pulsation of the heart. I looked fearfully at Zara. She +smiled half sadly. + +"He is not dead," she repeated. + +"Are you sure?" I murmured. "What was it, Zara, that made him fall? I +was at the door--I saw and heard everything." + +"I know you did," said Zara gently; "and I am glad of it. I wished you +to see and hear all." + +"Is it a fit, do you think?" I asked again, looking sorrowfully at the +sad face of the unfortunate Ivan, which seemed to me to have already +graven upon it the stern sweet smile of those who have passed all +passion and pain forever. "Oh, Zara! do you believe he will recover?" +And tears choked my voice--tears of compassion and regret. + +Zara came and kissed me. + +"Yes, he will recover--do not fret, little one. I have rung my private +bell for Casimir; he will be here directly. The Prince has had a +shock--not a fatal one, as you will see. You look doubtful--are you +afraid of me, dear?" + +I gazed at her earnestly. Those clear childlike eyes--that frank +smile--that gentle and dignified mien--could they accompany evil +thoughts? No! I was sure Zara was good as she was lovely. + +"I am not afraid of you, Zara," I said gravely; "I love you too well +for that. But I am sorry for the poor Prince; and I cannot +understand---" + +"You cannot understand why those who trespass against fixed laws should +suffer?" observed Zara calmly. "Well, you will understand some day. You +will know that in one way or another it is the reason of all suffering, +both physical and mental, in the world." + +I said no more, but waited in silence till the sound of a firm +approaching footstep announced Heliobas. He entered the room +quickly--glanced at the motionless form of the Prince, then at me, and +lastly at his sister. + +"Has he been long thus?" he asked in a low tone. + +"Not five minutes," replied Zara. + +A pitying and affectionate gentleness of expression filled his keen +eyes. + +"Reckless boy!" he murmured softly, as he stooped and laid one hand +lightly on Ivan's breast. "He is the very type of misguided human +bravery. You were too hard upon him, Zara!" + +Zara sighed. + +"He spoke against you," she said. "Of course he did," returned her +brother with a smile. "And it was perfectly natural he should do so. +Have I not read his thoughts? Do not I know that he considers me a +false pretender and CHARLATAN? And have I not humoured him? In this he +is no worse than any one of his race. Every great scientific discovery +is voted impossible at the first start. Ivan is not to blame because he +is like the rest of the world. He will be wiser in time." + +"He attempted to force his desires," began Zara again, and her cheeks +flushed indignantly. + +"I know," answered her brother. "I foresaw how it would be, but was +powerless to prevent it. He was wrong--but bold! Such boldness compels +a certain admiration. This fellow would scale the stars, if he knew how +to do it, by physical force alone." + +I grew impatient, and interrupted these remarks. + +"Perhaps he is scaling the stars now," I said; "or at any rate he will +do so if death can show him the way." + +Heliobas gave me a friendly glance. + +"You also are growing courageous when you can speak to your physician +thus abruptly," he observed quietly. "Death has nothing to do with our +friend as yet, I assure you. Zara, you had better leave us. Your face +must not be the first for Ivan's eyes to rest upon. You," nodding to +me, "can stay." + +Zara pressed my hand gently as she passed me, and entered her studio, +the door of which closed behind her, and I heard the key turn in the +lock. I became absorbed in the proceedings of Heliobas. Stooping +towards the recumbent form of Prince Ivan, he took the heavy lifeless +hands firmly in his own, and then fixed his eyes fully and steadily on +the pale, set features with an expression of the most forcible calm and +absolutely undeniable authority. Not one word did he utter, but +remained motionless as a statue in the attitude thus assumed--he seemed +scarcely to breathe--not a muscle of his countenance moved. Perhaps +twenty or thirty seconds might have elapsed, when a warm tinge of +colour came back to the apparently dead face--the brows twitched--the +lips quivered and parted in a heavy sigh. The braised appearance of the +eyelids gave place to the natural tint--they opened, disclosing the +eyes, which stared directly into those of the compelling Master who +thus forced their obedience. A strong shudder shook the young man's +frame; his before nerveless hands grasped those of Heliobas with force +and fervour, and still meeting that steady look which seemed to pierce +the very centre of his system, Prince Ivan, like Lazarus of old, arose +and stood erect. As he did so, Heliobas withdrew his eyes, dropped his +hands and smiled. + +"You are better, Ivan?" he inquired kindly. + +The Prince looked about him, bewildered. He passed one hand across his +forehead without replying. Then he turned slightly and perceived me in +the window-embrasure, whither I had retreated in fear and wonderment at +the marvellous power of Heliobas, thus openly and plainly displayed. + +"Tell me," he said, addressing me, "have I been dreaming?" + +I could not answer him. I was glad to see him recover, yet I was a +little afraid. Heliobas pushed a chair gently towards him. + +"Sit down, Ivan," he said quietly. + +The Prince obeyed, and covered his face with his hand as though in deep +and earnest meditation. I looked on in silence and wonderment. Heliobas +spoke not another word, and together we watched the pensive figure in +the chair, so absorbed in serious thought. Some minutes passed. The +gentle tick of the clock in the outer hall grew almost obtrusive, so +loud did it seem in the utter stillness that surrounded us. I longed to +speak--to ask questions--to proffer sympathy--but dared not move or +utter a syllable. Suddenly the Prince rose; his manner was calm and +dignified, yet touched with a strange humility. He advanced to +Heliobas, holding out his hand. + +"Forgive me, Casimir!" he said simply. + +Heliobas at once grasped the proffered palm within his own, and looked +at the young man with an almost fatherly tenderness. + +"Say no more, Ivan," he returned, his rich voice sounding more than +usually mellow in its warmth and heartiness. "We must all learn before +we can know, and some of our lessons are sharp and difficult. Whatever +you have thought of me, remember I have not, and do not, blame you. To +be offended with unbelievers is to show that you are not yourself quite +sure of the faith to which you would compel them." + +"I would ask you one thing," went on the Prince, speaking in a low +tone. "Do not let me stay to fall into fresh errors. Teach me--guide +me, Casimir; I will be the most docile of your pupils. As for Zara--" + +He paused, as if overcome. + +"Come with me," said Heliobas, taking his arm; "a glass of good wine +will invigorate you. It is better to see Zara no more for a time. Let +me take charge of you. You, mademoiselle," turning to me, "will be kind +enough to tell Zara that the Prince has recovered, and sends her a +friendly good-night. Will that message suffice?" he inquired of Ivan, +with a smile. + +The Prince looked at me with a sort of wistful gravity as I came +forward to bid him farewell. + +"You will embrace her," he said slowly, "without fear. Her eyes will +rain sunshine upon you; they will not dart lightning. Her lips will +meet yours, and their touch will be warm--not cold, as sharp steel. +Yes; bid her good-night for me; tell her that an erring man kisses the +hem of her robe, and prays her for pardon. Tell her that I understand; +tell her I have seen her lover!" + +"With these words, uttered distinctly and emphatically, he turned away +with. Heliobas, who still held him by the arm in a friendly, +half-protecting manner. The tears stood in my eyes. I called softly: + +"Good-night, Prince Ivan!" + +He looked back with a faint smile. + +"Good-night, mademoiselle!" + +Heliobas also looked back and gave me an encouraging nod, which meant +several things at once, such as "Do not be anxious," "He will be all +right soon," and "Always believe the best." I watched their two figures +disappear through the doorway, and then, feeling almost cheerful again, +I knocked at the door of Zara's studio. She opened it at once, and came +out. I delivered the Prince's message, word for word, as he had given +it. She listened, and sighed deeply. + +"Are you sorry for him, Zara?" I asked. + +"Yes," she replied; "I am sorry for him as far as I can be sorry for +anything. I am never actually VERY sorry for any circumstances, however +grievous they may appear." + +I was surprised at this avowal. + +"Why, Zara," I said, "I thought you were so keenly sympathetic?" + +"So I am sympathetic, but only with suffering ignorance--a dying bird +that knows not why it should die--a withering rose that sees not the +reason for its withering; but for human beings who wilfully blind +themselves to the teachings of their own instincts, and are always +doing what they know they ought not to do in spite of warning, I cannot +say I am sorry. And for those who DO study the causes and ultimate +results of their existence, there is no occasion to be sorry, as they +are perfectly happy, knowing everything that happens to them to be for +their advancement and justification." + +"Tell me," I asked with a little hesitation, "what did Prince Ivan mean +by saying he had seen your lover, Zara?" + +"He meant what he said, I suppose," replied Zara, with sudden coldness. +"Excuse me, I thought you said you were not inquisitive." + +I could not bear this change of tone in her, and I clasped my arms +tight about her and smiled in her face. + +"You shall not get angry with ME, Zara. I am not going to be treated +like poor Ivan. I have found out what you are, and how dangerous it is +to admire you; but I do admire and love you. And I defy you to knock me +down as unceremoniously as you did the Prince--you beautiful living bit +of Lightning!" + +Zara moved restlessly in my embrace, but I held her fast. At the last +epithet I bestowed on her, she grew very pale; but her eyes resembled +the jewels on her breast in their sheeny glitter. + +"What have you found out?" she murmured. "What do you know?" + +"I cannot say I KNOW," I went on boldly, still keeping my arms round +her; "but I have made a guess which I think comes near the truth. Your +brother has had the care of you ever since you were a little child, and +I believe he has, by some method known only to himself, charged you +with electricity. Yes, Zara," for she had started and tried to loosen +my hold of her; "and it is that which keeps you young and fresh as a +girl of sixteen, at an age when other women lose their bloom and grow +wrinkles. It is that which gives you the power to impart a repelling +shock to people you dislike, as in the case of Prince Ivan. It is that +which gives you such an attractive force for those with whom you have a +little sympathy--such as myself, for instance; and you cannot, Zara, +with all your electric strength, unclasp my arms from your waist, +because you have not the sentiment of repulsion towards me which would +enable you to do it. Shall I go on guessing?" + +Zara made a sign of assent--the expression of her face had softened, +and a dimpling smile played round the corners of her mouth. + +"Your lover," I went on steadily and slowly, "is a native of some other +sphere--perhaps a creation of your own fancy--perhaps (for I will not +be sceptical any more) a beautiful and all-powerful angelic spirit. I +will not discuss this with you. I believe that when Prince Ivan fell +senseless, he saw, or fancied he saw, that nameless being. And now," I +added, loosening my clasp of her, "have I guessed well?" + +Zara looked meditative. + +"I do not know," she said, "why you should imagine--" + +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "there is no imagination in the case. I have +reasoned it out. Here is a book I found in the library on electric +organs as they are discovered to exist in certain fish. Listen: 'They +are nervous apparatuses which in the arrangement of their parts may be +compared to a Voltaic pile. They develop electricity and give +electrical discharges.'" + +"Well!" said Zara. + +"You say 'Well!' as if you did not know!" I exclaimed half-angrily, +half-laughingly. "These fish have helped me to understand a great deal, +I assure you. Your brother must have discovered the seed or +commencement of electrical organs like those described, in the human +body; and he has cultivated them in you and in himself, and has brought +them to a high state of perfection. He has cultivated them in Raffaello +Cellini, and he is beginning to cultivate them in me, and I hope most +sincerely he will succeed. I think his theory is a magnificent one!" + +Zara gazed seriously at me, and her large eyes seemed to grow darker +with the intensity of her thought. + +"Supposing you had reasoned out the matter correctly," she said--"and I +will not deny that you have done a great deal towards the comprehension +of it--have you no fear? do you not include some drawbacks in even +Casimir's learning such a secret, and being able to cultivate and +educate such a deadly force as that of electricity in the human being?" + +"If it is deadly, it is also life-giving," I answered. "Remedies are +also poisons. You laid the Prince senseless at your feet, but your +brother raised him up again. Both these things were done by +electricity. I can understand it all now; I see no obscurity, no +mystery. And oh, what a superb discovery it is!" + +Zara smiled. + +"You enthusiast!" she said, "it is nothing new. It was well known to +the ancient Chaldeans. It was known to Moses and his followers; it was +practised in perfection by Christ and His disciples. To modern +civilization it may seem a discovery, because the tendency Of all +so-called progress is to forget the past. The scent of the human savage +is extraordinarily keen--keener than that of any animal--he can follow +a track unerringly by some odour he is able to detect in the air. +Again, he can lay back his ears to the wind and catch a faint, far-off +sound with, certainty and precision, and tell you what it is. Civilized +beings have forgotten all this; they can neither smell nor hear with +actual keenness. Just in the same way, they have forgotten the use of +the electrical organs they all indubitably possess in large or minute +degree. As the muscles of the arm are developed by practice, so can the +wonderful internal electrical apparatus of man be strengthened and +enlarged by use. The world in its youth knew this; the world in its age +forgets, as an old man forgets or smiles disdainfully at the past +sports of his childhood. But do not let us talk any more to-night. If +you think your ideas of me are correct---" + +"I am sure they are!" I cried triumphantly. + +Zara held out her arms to me. + +"And you are sure you love me?" she asked. + +I nestled into her embrace and kissed her. + +"Sure!" I answered. "Zara, I love and honour you more than any woman I +ever met or ever shall meet. And you love me--I know you do!" + +"How can I help it?" she said. "Are you not one of us? Good-night, +dearest! Sleep well!" + +"Good-night!" I answered. "And remember Prince Ivan asked for your +pardon." + +"I remember!" she replied softly. "I have already pardoned him, and I +will pray for him." And a sort of radiant pity and forbearance +illumined her lovely features, as we parted for the night. So might an +angel look on some repentant sinner pleading for Heaven's forgiveness. + +I lay awake for some time that night, endeavouring to follow out the +track of thought I had entered upon in my conversation with Zara. With +such electricity as Heliobas practised, once admitting that human +electric force existed, a fact which no reasoning person could deny, +all things were possible. Even a knowledge of superhuman events might +be attained, if there were anything in the universe that WAS +superhuman; and surely it would be arrogant and ignorant to refuse to +contemplate such a probability. At one time people mocked at the wild +idea that a message could flash in a moment of time from one side of +the Atlantic to the other by means of a cable laid under the sea; now +that it is an established fact, the world has grown accustomed to it, +and has ceased to regard it as a wonder. Granting human electricity to +exist, why should not a communication be established, like a sort of +spiritual Atlantic cable, between man and the beings of other spheres +and other solar systems? The more I reflected on the subject the more +lost I became in daring speculations concerning that other world, to +which I was soon to be lifted. Then in a sort of half-doze, I fancied I +saw an interminable glittering chain of vivid light composed of circles +that were all looped one in another, which seemed to sweep round the +realms of space and to tie up the sun, moon, and stars like flowers in +a ribbon of fire. After much anxious and humble research, I found +myself to be one of the smallest links in this great chain. I do not +know whether I was grateful or afraid at this discovery, for sleep put +an end to my drowsy fancies, and dropped a dark curtain over my waking +dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MY STRANGE DEPARTURE. + + +The next morning brought me two letters; one from Mrs. Everard, telling +me that she and the Colonel had resolved on coming to Paris. + +"All the nice people are going away from here," she wrote. "Madame +Didier and her husband have started for Naples; and, to crown our +lonesomeness, Raffaello Cellini packed up all his traps, and left us +yesterday morning en route for Rome. The weather continues to be +delicious; but as you seem to be getting on so well in Paris, in spite +of the cold there, we have made up our minds to join you, the more +especially as I want to renovate my wardrobe. We shall go straight to +the Grand Hotel; and I am writing to Mrs. Challoner by this post, +asking her to get us rooms. We are so glad you are feeling nearly +recovered--of course, you must not leave your physician till you are +quite ready. At any rate, we shall not arrive till the end of next +week." + +I began to calculate. During that strange interview in the chapel, +Heliobas had said that in eight days more I should be strong enough to +undergo the transmigration he had promised to effect upon me. Those +eight days were now completed on this very morning. I was glad of this; +for I did not care to see Mrs. Everard or anyone till the experiment +was over. The other letter I received was from Mrs. Challoner, who +asked me to give an "Improvisation" at the Grand Hotel that day +fortnight. + +When I went down to breakfast, I mentioned both these letters, and +said, addressing myself to Heliobas: + +"Is it not rather a sudden freak of Raffaello Cellini's to leave +Cannes? We all thought he was settled for the winter there. Did you +know he was going to Rome?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas, as he stirred his coffee abstractedly. "I knew +he was going there some day this month; his presence is required there +on business." + +"And are you going to give the Improvisation this Mrs. Challoner asks +you for?" inquired Zara. + +I glanced at Heliobas. He answered for me. + +"I should certainly give it if I were you," he said quietly: "there +will be nothing to prevent your doing so at the date named." + +I was relieved. I had not been altogether able to divest myself of the +idea that I might possibly never come out alive from the electric +trance to which I had certainly consented; and this assurance on the +part of Heliobas was undoubtedly comforting. We were all very silent +that morning; we all wore grave and preoccupied expressions. Zara was +very pale, and appeared lost in thought. Heliobas, too, looked slightly +careworn, as though he had been up all night, engaged in some +brain-exhausting labour. No mention was made of Prince Ivan; we avoided +his name by a sort of secret mutual understanding. When the breakfast +was over, I looked with a fearless smile at the calm face of Heliobas, +which appeared nobler and more dignified than ever with that slight +touch of sadness upon it, and said softly: + +"The eight days are accomplished!" + +He met my gaze fully, with a steady and serious observation of my +features, and replied: + +"My child, I am aware of it. I expect you in my private room at noon. +In the meantime speak to no one--not even to Zara; read no books; touch +no note of music. The chapel has been prepared for you; go there and +pray. When you see a small point of light touch the extreme edge of the +cross upon the altar, it will be twelve o'clock, and you will then come +to me." + +With these words, uttered in a grave and earnest tone, he left me. A +sensation of sudden awe stole upon me. I looked at Zara. She laid her +finger on her lips and smiled, enjoining silence; then drawing my hand +close within her own, she led me to the door of the chapel. There she +took a soft veil of some white transparent fabric, and flung it over +me, embracing and kissing me tenderly as she did so, but uttering no +word. Taking my hand again, she entered the chapel with me, and +accompanied me through what seemed a blaze of light and colour to the +high altar, before which was placed a prie-dieu of crimson velvet. +Motioning me to kneel, she kissed me once more through the filmy veil +that covered me from head to foot; then turning noiselessly away she +disappeared, and I heard the heavy oaken door close behind her. Left +alone, I was able to quietly take note of everything around me. The +altar before which I knelt was ablaze with lighted candles, and a +wealth of the purest white flowers decorated it, mingling their +delicious fragrance with the faintly perceptible odour of incense. On +all sides of the chapel, in every little niche, and at every shrine, +tapers were burning like fireflies in a summer twilight. At the foot of +the large crucifix, which occupied a somewhat shadowy corner, lay a +wreath of magnificent crimson roses. It would seem as though some high +festival were about to be celebrated, and I gazed around me with a +beating heart, half expecting some invisible touch to awaken the notes +of the organ and a chorus of spirit-voices to respond with the "Gloria +in excelsis Deo!" But there was silence--absolute, beautiful, restful +silence. I strove to collect my thoughts, and turning my eyes towards +the jewelled cross that surmounted the high altar, I clasped my hands, +and began to wonder how and for what I should pray. Suddenly the idea +struck me that surely it was selfish to ask Heaven for anything; would +it not be better to reflect on all that had already been given to me, +and to offer up thanks? Scarcely had this thought entered my mind when +a sort of overwhelming sense of unworthiness came over me. Had I ever +been unhappy? I wondered. If so, why? I began to count up my blessings +and compare them with my misfortunes. Exhausted pleasure-seekers may be +surprised to hear that I proved the joys of my life to have far +exceeded my sorrows. I found that I had sight, hearing, youth, sound +limbs, an appreciation of the beautiful in art and nature, and an +intense power of enjoyment. For all these things, impossible of +purchase by mere wealth, should I not give thanks? For every golden ray +of sunshine, for every flower that blooms, for the harmonies of the +wind and sea, for the singing of birds and the shadows of trees, should +I not--should we not all give thanks? For is there any human sorrow so +great that the blessing of mere daylight on the earth does not far +exceed? We mortals are spoilt and petted children--the more gifts we +have the more we crave; and when we burn or wound ourselves by our own +obstinacy or carelessness, we are ungratefully prone to blame the +Supreme Benefactor for our own faults. We don black mourning robes as a +sort of sombre protest against Him for having removed some special +object of our choice and love, whereas, if we believed in Him and were +grateful to Him, we should wear dazzling white in sign of rejoicing +that our treasure is safe in the land of perfect joy where we ourselves +desire to be. Do we suffer from illness, loss of money, position, or +friends, we rail against Fate--another name for God--and complain like +babes who have broken their toys; yet the sun shines on, the seasons +come and go, the lovely panorama of Nature unrolls itself all for our +benefit, while we murmur and fret and turn our eyes away in anger. + +Thinking of these things and kneeling before the altar, my heart became +filled with gratitude; and no petition suggested itself to me save one, +and that was, "Let me believe and love!" I thought of the fair, strong, +stately figure of Christ, standing out in the world's history, like a +statue of pure white marble against a dark background; I mused on the +endurance, patience, forgiveness, and perfect innocence of that most +spotless life which was finished on the cross, and again I murmured, +"Let me believe and love!" And I became so absorbed in meditation that +the time fled fast, till a sudden sparkle of flame flashing across the +altar-steps caused me to look up. The jewelled cross had become a cross +of fire. The point of light I had been, told to watch for had not only +touched the extreme edge, but had crept down among all the precious +stones and lit them up like stars. I afterwards learned that this +effect was produced by means of a thin, electric wire, which, +communicating with a timepiece constructed on the same system, +illuminated the cross at sunrise, noon, and sunset. It was time for me +to join Heliobas. I rose gently, and left the chapel with a quiet and +reverent step, for I have always thought that to manifest hurry and +impatience in any place set apart for the worship of the Creator is to +prove yourself one of the unworthiest things created. Once outside the +door I laid aside my veil, and then, with a perfectly composed and +fearless mind, went straight to the Electrician's study. I shall never +forget the intense quiet of the house that morning. The very fountain +in the hall seemed to tinkle in a sort of subdued whisper. I found +Heliobas seated at his table, reading. How my dream came vividly back +to me, as I saw him in that attitude! I felt that I knew what he was +reading. He looked up as I entered, and greeted me with a kindly yet +grave smile. I broke silence abruptly. + +"Your book is open," I said, "at a passage commencing thus: 'The +universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic invisible +Protectorate governs the winds, the tides.' Is it not so?" + +"It is so," returned Heliobas. "Are you acquainted with the book?" + +"Only through the dream I had of you at Cannes," I answered. "I do +think Signor Cellini had some power over me." + +"Of course he had in your then weak state. But now that you are as +strong as he is, he could not influence you at all. Let us be brief in +our converse, my child. I have a few serious things to say to you +before you leave me, on your celestial journey." + +I trembled slightly, but took the chair he pointed out to me--a large +easy-chair in which one could recline and sleep. + +"Listen," continued Heliobas; "I told you, when you first came here, +that whatever I might do to restore you to health, you would have it in +your power to repay me amply. You ARE restored to health; will you give +me my reward?" + +"I would and will do anything to prove my gratitude to you," I said +earnestly. "Only tell me how." + +"You are aware," he went on, "of my theories respecting the Electric +Spirit or Soul in Man. It is progressive, as I have told you--it begins +as a germ--it goes on increasing in power and beauty for ever, till it +is great and pure enough to enter the last of all worlds--God's World. +But there are sometimes hindrances to its progression--obstacles in its +path, which cause it to recoil and retire a long way back--so far back +occasionally that it has to commence its journey over again. Now, by my +earnest researches, I am able to study and watch the progress of my own +inner force or soul. So far, all has been well--prayerfully and humbly +I may say I believe all has been well. But I foresee an approaching +shadow--a difficulty--a danger--which, if it cannot be repelled or +passed in some way, threatens to violently push back my advancing +spiritual nature, so that, with much grief and pain, I shall have to +re-commence the work that I had hoped was done. I cannot, with all my +best effort, discover WHAT this darkening obstacle is--but YOU, yes, +YOU"--for I had started up in surprise--"you, when you are lifted up +high enough to behold these things, may, being perfectly unselfish in +this research, attain to the knowledge of it and explain it to me, when +you return. In trying to probe the secret for myself, it is of course +purely for my own interest; and nothing clear, nothing satisfactory can +be spiritually obtained, in which selfishness has ever so slight a +share. You, if indeed I deserve your gratitude for the aid I have given +you--you will be able to search out the matter more certainly, being in +the position of one soul working for another. Still, I cannot compel +you to do this for me--I only ask, WILL you?" + +His entreating and anxious tone touched me keenly; but I was amazed and +perplexed, and could not yet realize what strange thing was going to +happen to me. But whatever occurred I was resolved to give a ready +consent to his request, therefore I said firmly: + +"I will do my best, I promise you. Remember that I do not know, I +cannot even guess where I am going, or what strange sensations will +overcome me; but if I am permitted to have any recollection of earth at +all, I will try to find out what you ask." + +Heliobas seemed satisfied, and rising from his chair, unlocked a +heavily-bound iron safe. From this he took a glass flask of a strange, +ever-moving, glittering fluid, the same in appearance as that which +Raffaello Cellini had forbidden me to drink. He then paused and looked +searchingly at me. + +"Tell me," he said in an authoritative tone, "tell me WHY you wish to +see what to mortals is unseen? What motive have you? What ulterior +plan?" + +I hesitated. Then I gathered my strength together and answered +decisively: + +"I desire to know why this world, this universe exists; and also wish +to prove, if possible, the truth and necessity of religion. And I think +I would give my life, if it were worth anything, to be certain of the +truth of Christianity." + +Heliobas gazed in my face with a sort of half-pity, half-censure. + +"You have a daring aim," he said slowly, "and you are a bold seeker. +But shame, repentance and sorrow await you where you are going, as well +as rapture and amazement. '_I_ WOULD GIVE MY LIFE IF IT WERE WORTH +ANYTHING.' That utterance has saved you--otherwise to soar into an +unexplored wilderness of spheres, weighted by your own doubts and +guided solely by your own wild desires, would be a fruitless journey." + +I felt abashed as I met his steady, scrutinizing eyes. + +"Surely it is well to wish to know the reason of things?" I asked, with +some timidity. + +"The desire of knowledge is a great virtue, certainly," he replied; "it +is not truly felt by one in a thousand. Most persons are content to +live and die, absorbed in their own petty commonplace affairs, without +troubling themselves as to the reasons of their existence. Yet it is +almost better, like these, to wallow in blind ignorance than wantonly +to doubt the Creator because He is unseen, or to put a self-opinionated +construction on His mysteries because He chooses to veil them from our +eyes." + +"I do not doubt!" I exclaimed earnestly. "I only want to make sure, and +then perhaps I may persuade others." + +"You can never compel faith," said Heliobas calmly. "You are going to +see wonderful things that no tongue or pen can adequately describe. +Well, when you return to earth again, do you suppose you can make +people believe the story of your experiences? Never! Be thankful if you +are the possessor of a secret joy yourself, and do not attempt to +impart it to others, who will only repel and mock you." + +"Not even to one other?" I asked hesitatingly. + +A warm, kindly smile seemed to illuminate his face as I put this +question. + +"Yes, to one other, the other half of yourself--you may tell all +things," he said. "But now, no more converse. If you are quite ready, +drink this." + +He held out to me a small tumbler filled with the sparkling volatile +liquid he had poured from the flask. For one moment my courage almost +forsook me, and an icy shiver ran through my veins. Then I bethought +myself of all my boasted bravery; was it possible that I should fail +now at this critical moment? I allowed myself no more time for +reflection, but took the glass from his hand and drained its contents +to the last drop. It was tasteless, but sparkling and warm on the +tongue. Scarcely had I swallowed it, when a curiously light, dizzy +sensation overcame me, and the figure of Heliobas standing before me +seemed to assume gigantic proportions. I saw his hands extend--his +eyes, like lamps of electric flame, burned through and through me--and +like a distant echo, I heard the deep vibrating tones of his voice +uttering the following words: + +"Azul! Azul! Lift up this light and daring spirit unto thyself; be its +pioneer upon the path it must pursue; suffer it to float untrammelled +through the wide and glorious Continents of Air; give it form and force +to alight on any of the vast and beautiful spheres it may desire to +behold; and if worthy, permit it to gaze, if only for a brief interval, +upon the supreme vision of the First and Last of worlds. By the force +thou givest unto me, I free this soul; do thou, Azul, quickly receive +it!" + +A dense darkness now grew thickly around me---I lost all power over my +limbs--I felt myself being lifted up forcibly and rapidly, up, up, into +some illimitable, terrible space of blackness and nothingness. I could +not think, move, or cry out--I could only feel that I was rising, +rising, steadily, swiftly, breathlessly ... when suddenly a long +quivering flash of radiance, like the fragment of a rainbow, struck +dazzlingly across my sight. Darkness? What had I to do with darkness? I +knew not the word--I was only conscious of light--light exquisitely +pure and brilliant--light through which I stepped as easily as a bird +flies in air. Perfectly awake to my sensations, I felt somehow that +there was nothing remarkable in them--I seemed to be at home in some +familiar element. Delicate hands held mine--a face far lovelier than +the loveliest face of woman ever dreamed by poet or painter, smiled +radiantly at me, and I smiled back again. A voice whispered in strange +musical murmurs, such as I well seemed to know and comprehend: + +"Gaze behind thee ere the picture fades." + +I obeyed, half reluctantly, and saw as a passing shadow in a glass, or +a sort of blurred miniature painting, the room where Heliobas stood, +watching some strange imperfect shape, which I seemed faintly to +recognise. It looked like a small cast in clay, very badly executed, of +the shape I at present wore; but it was incomplete, as though the +sculptor had given it up as a failure and gone away, leaving it +unfinished. + +"Did I dwell in that body?" I mused to myself, as I felt the perfection +of my then state of being. "How came I shut in such a prison? How poor +a form--how destitute of faculties--how full of infirmities--how +limited in capabilities--how narrow in all intelligence--how +ignorant--how mean!" + +And I turned for relief to the shining companion who held me, and +obeying an impulse suddenly imparted, I felt myself floating higher and +higher till the last limits of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth +were passed, and fields of pure and cloudless ether extended before us. +Here we met myriads of creatures like ourselves, all hastening in +various directions--all lovely and radiant as a dream of the fairies. +Some of these beings were quite tiny and delicate--some of lofty +stature and glorious appearance: their forms were human, yet so +refined, improved, and perfected, that they were unlike, while so like +humanity. + +"Askest thou nothing?" whispered the voice beside me. + +"Tell me," I answered, "what I must know." + +"These spirits that we behold," went on the voice, "are the guardians +of all the inhabitants of all the planets. Their labours are those of +love and penitence. Their work is to draw other souls to God--to +attract them by warnings, by pleading, by praying. They have all worn +the garb of mortality themselves, and they teach mortals by their own +experience. For these radiant creatures are expiating sins of their own +in thus striving to save others--the oftener they succeed the nearer +they approach to Heaven. This is what is vaguely understood on your +earth as purgatory; the sufferings of spirits who love and long for the +presence of their Creator, and who yet are not pure enough to approach +Him. Only by serving and saving others can they obtain at last their +own joy. Every act of ingratitude and forgetfulness and wickedness +committed by a mortal, detains one or another of these patient workers +longer away from Heaven--imagine then what a weary while many of them +have to wait." + +I made no answer, and we floated on. Higher and higher--higher and +higher--till at last my guide, whom I knew to be that being whom +Heliobas had called Azul, bade me pause. We were floating close +together in what seemed a sea of translucent light. From this point I +could learn something of the mighty workings of the Universe. I gazed +upon countless solar systems, that like wheels within wheels revolved +with such rapidity that they seemed all one wheel. I saw planets whirl +around and around with breathless swiftness, like glittering balls +flung through the air--burning comets flared fiercely past like torches +of alarm for God's wars against Evil--a marvellous procession of +indescribable wonders sweeping on for ever in circles, grand, huge, and +immeasurable. And as I watched the superb pageant, I was not startled +or confused--I looked upon it as anyone might look on any quiet +landscape scene in what we know of Nature. I scarcely could perceive +the Earth from whence I had come--so tiny a speck was it--nothing but a +mere pin's point in the burning whirl of immensities. I felt, however, +perfectly conscious of a superior force in myself to all these enormous +forces around me--I knew without needing any explanation that I was +formed of an indestructible essence, and that were all these stars and +systems suddenly to end in one fell burst of brilliant horror, I should +still exist--I should know and remember and feel--should be able to +watch the birth of a new Universe, and take my part in its growth and +design. + +"Remind me why these wonders exist," I said, turning to my guide, and +speaking in those dulcet sounds which were like music and yet like +speech; "and why amid them all the Earth is believed by its inhabitants +to have merited destruction, and yet to have been found worthy of +redemption?" + +"Thy last question shall be answered first," replied Azul. "Seest thou +yonder planet circled with a ring? It is known to the dwellers on +Earth, of whom when in clay thou art one, as Saturn. Descend with me!" + +And in a breath of time we floated downwards and alighted on a broad +and beautiful plain, where flowers of strange shape and colour grew in +profusion. Here we were met by creatures of lofty stature and dazzling +beauty, human in shape, yet angelic in countenance. They knelt to us +with reverence and joy, and then passed on to their toil or pleasure, +whichever invited them, and I looked to Azul for explanation. + +"To these children of the Creator," said that radiant guide, "is +granted the ability to see and to converse with the spirits of the air. +They know them and love them, and implore their protection. In this +planet sickness and old age are unknown, and death comes as a quiet +sleep. The period of existence is about two hundred years, according to +the Earth's standard of time; and the process of decay is no more +unlovely than the gentle withering of roses. The influence of the +electric belt around their world is a bar to pestilence and disease, +and scatters health with light. All sciences, arts, and inventions +known on Earth are known here, only to greater perfection. The three +important differences between the inhabitants of this planet and those +who dwell on Earth are these: first they have no rulers in authority, +as each one perfectly governs himself; second, they do not marry, as +the law of attraction which draws together any two of opposite sexes, +holds them fast in inviolable fidelity; thirdly, there is no creature +in all the immensity of this magnificent sphere who has ever doubted, +or who ever will doubt, the existence of the Creator." + +A thrill of fiery shame seemed to dart through my spiritual being as I +heard this, and I made no answer. Some fairy-like little creatures, the +children of the Saturnites, as I supposed, here came running towards us +and knelt down, reverently clasping their hands in prayer. They then +gathered flowers and flung them on that portion of ground where we +stood, and gazed at us fearlessly and lovingly, as they might have +gazed at some rare bird or butterfly. + +Azul signed to me, and we rose while yet in their sight, and soaring +through the radiance of the ring, which was like a sun woven into a +circle, we soon left Saturn far behind us, and alighted on Venus. Here +seas, mountains, forests, lakes, and meadows were one vast garden, in +which the bloom and verdure of all worlds seemed to find a home. Here +were realized the dreams of sculptors and painters, in the graceful +forms and exquisite faces of the women, and the splendid strength and +godlike beauty of the men. A brief glance was sufficient to show me +that the moving spring of all the civilization of this radiant planet +was the love of Nature and Art united. There were no wars--for there +were no different nations. All the inhabitants were like one vast +family; they worked for one another, and vied with each other in paying +homage to those of the loftiest genius among them. They had one supreme +Monarch to whom they all rendered glad obedience; and he was a Poet, +ready to sacrifice his throne with joy as soon as his people should +discover a greater than he. For they all loved not the artist but the +Art; and selfishness was a vice unknown. Here, none loved or were +wedded save those who had spiritual sympathies, and here, too, no +creature existed who did not believe in and worship the Creator. The +same state of things existed in Jupiter, the planet we next visited, +where everything was performed by electricity. Here persons living +hundreds of miles apart could yet converse together with perfect ease +through an electric medium; ships ploughed the seas by electricity; +printing, an art of which the dwellers on Earth are so proud, was +accomplished by electricity--in fact, everything in the way of science, +art, and invention known to us was also known in Jupiter, only to +greater perfection, because tempered and strengthened by an electric +force which never failed. From Jupiter, Azul guided me to many other +fair and splendid worlds--yet none of them were Paradise; all had some +slight drawback--some physical or spiritual ailment, as it were, which +had to be combated with and conquered. All the inhabitants of each star +longed for something they had not--something better, greater, and +higher--and therefore all had discontent. They could not realize their +best desires in the state of existence they then were, therefore they +all suffered disappointment. They were all compelled to work in some +way or another; they were all doomed to die. Yet, unlike the dwellers +on Earth, they did not, because their lives were more or less +constrained and painful, complain of or deny the goodness of God--on +the contrary, they believed in a future state which should be as +perfect as their present one was imperfect; and the chief aim and +object of all their labours was to become worthy of attaining that +final grand result--Eternal Happiness and Peace. + +"Readest thou the lesson in these glowing spheres, teeming with life +and learning?" murmured Azul to me, as we soared swiftly on together. +"Know that not one smallest world in all the myriad systems circling +before thee, holds a single human creature who doubts his Maker. Not +one! except thine own doomed star! Behold it yonder--sparkling feebly, +like a faint flame amid sunshine--how poor a speck it is--how like a +scarcely visible point in all the brilliancy of the ever-revolving +wheel of Life! Yet there dwell the dwarfs of clay--the men and women +who pretend to love while they secretly hate and despise one another. +There, wealth is a god, and the greed of gain a virtue. There, genius +starves, and heroism dies unrewarded. There, faith is martyred, and +unbelief elected sovereign monarch of the people. There, the sublime, +unreachable mysteries of the Universe are haggled over by poor finite +minds who cannot call their lives their own. There, nation wars against +nation, creed against creed, soul against soul. Alas, fated planet! how +soon shalt thou be extinct, and thy place shall know thee no more!" + +I gazed earnestly at my radiant guide. "If that is true," I said, "why +then should we have a legend that God, in the person of one called +Christ, came to die for so miserable and mean a race of beings?" + +Azul answered not, but turned her luminous eyes upon me with a sort of +wide dazzling wonder. Some strange impelling force bore me onward, and +before I could realize it I was alone. Alone, in a vast area of light +through which I floated, serene and conscious of power. A sound falling +from a great height reached me; it was first like a grand organ-chord, +and then like a voice, trumpet-clear and far-echoing. + +"Spirit that searchest for the Unseen," it said, "because I will not +that no atom of true worth should perish, unto thee shall be given a +vision--unto thee shall be taught a lesson thou dreamest not of. THOU +shalt create; THOU shalt design and plan; THOU shalt be worshipped, and +THOU shalt destroy! Rest therefore in the light and behold the things +that are in the light, for the tune cometh when all that seemeth clear +and visible now shall be but darkness. And they that love me not shall +have no place of abode in that hour!" + +The voice ceased. Awed, yet consoled, I listened for it again. There +was no more sound. Around me was illimitable light--illimitable +silence. But a strange scene unfolded itself swiftly before me--a sort +of shifting dream that was a reality, yet so wonderfully unreal--a +vision that impressed itself on every portion of my intelligence; a +kind of spirit-drama in which I was forced to enact the chief part, and +where a mystery that I had deemed impenetrable was made perfectly clear +and simple of comprehension. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A MINIATURE CREATION. + + +In my heaven-uplifted dream, I thought I saw a circular spacious garden +in which all the lovely landscapes of a superior world appeared to form +themselves by swift degrees. The longer I looked at it, the more +beautiful it became, and a little star shone above it like a sun. Trees +and flowers sprang up under my gaze, and all stretched themselves +towards me, as though for protection. Birds flew about and sang; some +of them tried to get as near as possible to the little sun they saw; +and other living creatures began to move about in the shadows of the +groves, and on the fresh green grass. All the wonderful workings of +Nature, as known to us in the world, took place over again in this +garden, which seemed somehow to belong to me; and I watched everything +with a certain satisfaction and delight. Then the idea came to me that +the place would be fairer if there were either men or angels to inhabit +it; and quick as light a whisper came to me: + + "CREATE!" + +And I thought in my dream that by the mere desire of my being, +expressed in waves of electric warmth that floated downwards from me to +the earth I possessed, my garden was suddenly filled with men, women +and children, each of whom had a small portion of myself in them, +inasmuch as it was I who made them move and talk and occupy themselves +in all manner of amusements. Many of them knelt down to me and prayed, +and offered thanksgivings for having been created; but some of them +went instead to the little star, which they called a sun, and thanked +that, and prayed to that instead. Then others went and cut down the +trees in the garden, and dug up stones, and built themselves little +cities, where they all dwelt together like flocks of sheep, and ate and +drank and made merry with the things I had given them. Then I thought +that I increased their intelligence and quickness of perception, and +by-and-by they grew so proud that they forgot everything but +themselves. They ceased to remember how they were created, and they +cared no more to offer praises to their little sun that through me gave +them light and heat. But because something of my essence still was in +them, they always instinctively sought to worship a superior creature +to themselves; and puzzling themselves in their folly, they made +hideous images of wood and clay, unlike anything in heaven or earth, +and offered sacrifices and prayer to these lifeless puppets instead of +to me. Then I turned away my eyes in sorrow and pity, but never in +anger; for I could not be wrathful with these children of my own +creation. And when I thus turned away my eyes, all manner of evil came +upon the once fair scene--pestilence and storm, disease and vice. A +dark shadow stole between my little world and me--the shadow of the +people's own wickedness. And as every delicate fibre of my spiritual +being repelled evil by the necessity of the pure light in which I dwelt +serene. I waited patiently for the mists to clear, so that I might +again behold the beauty of my garden. Suddenly a soft clamour smote +upon my sense of hearing, and a slender stream of light, like a +connecting ray, seemed to be flung upwards through the darkness that +hid me from the people I had created and loved. I knew the sound--it +was the mingled music of the prayers of children. An infinite pity and +pleasure touched me, my being thrilled with love and tenderness; and +yielding to these little ones who asked me for protection, I turned my +eyes again towards the garden I had designed for fairness and pleasure. +But alas! how changed it had become! No longer fresh and sweet, the +people had turned it into a wilderness; they had divided it into small +portions, and in so doing had divided themselves into separate +companies called nations, all of whom fought with each other fiercely +for their different little parterres or flower-beds. Some haggled and +talked incessantly over the mere possession of a stone which they +called a rock; others busied themselves in digging a little yellow +metal out of the earth, which, when once obtained, seemed to make the +owners of it mad, for they straightway forgot everything else. As I +looked, the darkness between me and my creation grew denser, and was +only pierced at last by those long wide shafts of radiance caused by +the innocent prayers of those who still remembered me. And I was full +of regret, for I saw my people wandering hither and thither, restless +and dissatisfied, perplexed by their own errors, and caring nothing for +the love I bore them. Then some of them advanced and began to question +why they had been created, forgetting completely how their lives had +been originally designed by me for happiness, love and wisdom. Then +they accused me of the existence of evil, refusing to see that where +there is light there is also darkness, and that darkness is the rival +force of the Universe, whence cometh silently the Unnamable Oblivion of +Souls. They could not see, my self-willed children, that they had of +their own desire sought the darkness and found it; and now, because it +gloomed above them like a pall, they refused to believe in the light +where still I was loving and striving to attract them still. Yet it was +not all darkness, and I knew that even what there was might be repelled +and cleared away if only my people would turn towards me once more. So +I sent down upon them all possible blessings--some they rejected +angrily, some they snatched at and threw away again, as though they +were poor and trivial--none of them were they thankful for, and none +did they desire to keep. And the darkness above them deepened, while my +anxious pity and love for them increased. For how could I turn +altogether away from them, as long as but a few remembered me? There +were some of these weak children of mine who loved and honoured me so +well that they absorbed some of my light into themselves, and became +heroes, poets, musicians, teachers of high and noble thought, and +unselfish, devoted martyrs for the sake of the reverence they bore me. +There were women pure and sweet, who wore their existence as innocently +as lilies, and who turned to me to seek protection, not for themselves, +but for those they loved. There were little children, whose asking +voices were like waves of delicious music to my being, and for whom I +had a surpassing tenderness. And yet all these were a mere handful +compared to the numbers who denied my existence, and who had wilfully +crushed out and repelled every spark of my essence in themselves. And +as I contemplated this, the voice I had heard at the commencement of my +dream rushed towards me like a mighty wind broken through by thunder: + + "DESTROY!" + +A great pity and love possessed me. In deep awe, yet solemn +earnestness, I pleaded with that vast commanding voice. + +"Bid me not destroy!" I implored. "Command me not to disperse into +nothingness these children of my fancy, some of whom yet love and trust +to me for safety. Let me strive once more to bring them out of their +darkness into the light--to bring them to the happiness I designed them +to enjoy. They have not all forgotten me--let me give them more time +for thought and recollection!" + +Again the great voice shook the air: + +"They love darkness rather than light; they love the perishable earth +of which they are in part composed, better than the germ of immortality +with which they were in the beginning endowed. This garden of thine is +but a caprice of thy intelligence; the creatures that inhabit it are +soulless and unworthy, and are an offence to that indestructible +radiance of which thou art one ray. Therefore I say unto thee +again--DESTROY!" + +My yearning love grew stronger, and I pleaded with renewed force. + +"Oh, thou Unseen Glory!" I cried; "thou who hast filled me with this +emotion of love and pity which permeates and supports my existence, how +canst thou bid me take this sudden revenge upon my frail creation! No +caprice was it that caused me to design it; nothing but a thought of +love and a desire of beauty. Even yet I will fulfil my plan--even yet +shall these erring children of mine return to me in time, with +patience. While one of them still lifts a hand in prayer to me, or +gratitude, I cannot destroy! Bid me rather sink into the darkness of +the uttermost deep of shadow; only let me save these feeble little ones +from destruction!" + +The voice replied not. A flashing opal brilliancy shot across the light +in which I rested, and I beheld an Angel, grand, lofty, majestic, with +a countenance in which shone the lustre of a myriad summer mornings. + +"Spirit that art escaped from the Sorrowful Star," it said in accents +clear and sonorous, "wouldst thou indeed be content to suffer the loss +of heavenly joy and peace, in order to rescue thy perishing creation?" + +"I would!" I answered; "if I understood death, I would die to save one +of those frail creatures, who seek to know me and yet cannot find me +through the darkness they have brought upon themselves." + +"To die," said the Angel, "to understand death, thou wouldst need to +become one of them, to take upon thyself their form--to imprison all +that brilliancy of which thou art now composed, into a mean and common +case of clay; and even if thou couldst accomplish this, would thy +children know thee or receive thee?" + +"Nay, but if I could suffer shame by them," I cried impetuously, "I +could not suffer sin. My being would be incapable of error, and I would +show these creatures of mine the bliss of purity, the joy of wisdom, +the ecstasy of light, the certainty of immortality, if they followed +me. And then I would die to show them death is easy, and that in dying +they would come to me and find their happiness for ever!" + +The stature of the Angel grew more lofty and magnificent, and its +star-like eyes flashed fire. + +"Then, oh thou wanderer from the Earth!" it said, "understandest thou +not the Christ?" + +A deep awe trembled through me. Meanwhile the garden I had thought a +world appeared to roll up like a cloudy scroll, and vanished, and I +knew that it had been a vision, and no more. + +"Oh doubting and foolish Spirit!" went on the Angel--"thou who art but +one point of living light in the Supreme Radiance, even THOU wouldst +consent to immure thyself in the darkness of mortality for sake of thy +fancied creation! Even THOU wouldst submit to suffer and to die, in +order to show the frail children of thy dream a purely sinless and +spiritual example! Even THOU hast had the courage to plead with the One +All-Sufficing Voice against the destruction of what to thee was but a +mirage floating in this ether! Even THOU hast had love, forgiveness, +pity! Even THOU wouldst be willing to dwell among the creatures of thy +fancy as one of them, knowing in thy inner self that by so doing, thy +spiritual presence would have marked thy little world for ever as +sanctified and impossible to destroy. Even THOU wouldst sacrifice a +glory to answer a child's prayer--even thou wouldst have patience! And +yet thou hast dared to deny to God those attributes which thou thyself +dost possess--He is so great and vast--thou so small and slight! For +the love thou feelest throbbing through thy being, He is the very +commencement and perfection of all love; if thou hast pity, He has ten +thousand times more pity; if THOU canst forgive, remember that from Him +flows all thy power of forgiveness! There is nothing thou canst do, +even at the highest height of spiritual perfection, that He cannot +surpass by a thousand million fold! Neither shalt thou refuse to +believe that He can also suffer. Know that nothing is more godlike than +unselfish sorrow--and the grief of the Creator over one erring human +soul is as vast as He Himself is vast. Why wouldst thou make of Him a +being destitute of the best emotions that He Himself bestows upon thee? +THOU wouldst have entered into thy dream-world and lived in it and died +in it, if by so doing thou couldst have drawn one of thy creatures back +to the love of thee; and wilt thou not receive the Christ?" + +I bowed my head, and a flood of joy rushed through me. + +"I believe--I believe and I love!" I murmured. "Desert me not, O +radiant Angel! I feel and know that all these wonders must soon pass +away from my sight; but wilt thou also go?" + +The Angel smiled and touched me. + +"I am thy guardian," it said. "I have been with thee always. I can +never leave thee so long as thy soul seeks spiritual things. Asleep or +awake on the Earth, wherever thou art, I also am. There have been times +when I have warned thee and thou wouldst not listen, when I have tried +to draw thee onward and thou wouldst not come; but now I fear no more +thy disobedience, for thy restlessness is past. Come with me; it is +permitted thee to see far off the vision of the Last Circle." + +The glorious figure raised me gently by the hand, and we floated on and +on, higher and higher, past little circles which my guide told me were +all solar systems, though they looked nothing but slender garlands of +fire, so rapidly did they revolve and so swiftly did we pass them. +Higher and higher we went, till even to my untiring spirit the way +seemed long. Beautiful creatures in human shape, but as delicate as +gossamer, passed us every now and then, some in bands of twos and +threes, some alone; and the higher we soared the more dazzlingly lovely +these inhabitants of the air seemed to be. + +"They are all born of the Great Circle," my guardian Angel explained to +me: "and to them is given the power of communicating high thought or +inspiration. Among them are the Spirits of Music, of Poesy, of +Prophecy, and of all Art ever known in all worlds. The success of their +teaching depends on how much purity and unselfishness there is in the +soul to which they whisper their divine messages--messages as brief as +telegrams which must be listened to with entire attention and acted +upon at once, or the lesson is lost and may never come again." + +Just then I saw a Shape coming towards me as of a lovely fair-haired +child, who seemed to be playing softly on a strange glittering +instrument like a broken cloud strung through with sunbeams. Heedless +of consequences, I caught at its misty robe in a wild effort to detain +it. It obeyed my touch, and turned its deeply luminous eyes first upon +me, and then upon the Angel who accompanied my flight. + +"What seekest thou?" it asked in a voice like the murmuring of the wind +among flowers. + +"Music!" I answered. "Sing me thy melodies--fill me with harmonies +divine and unreachable--and I will strive to be worthy of thy +teachings!" + +The young Shape smiled and drew closer towards me. + +"Thy wish is granted, Sister Spirit!" it replied. "The pity I shall +feel for thy fate when thou art again pent in clay, shall be taught +thee in minor music--thou shalt possess the secret of unwritten sound, +and I will sing to thee and bring thee comfort. On Earth, call but my +name--Aeon! and thou shalt behold me. For thy longing voice is known to +the Children of Music, and hath oft shaken the vibrating light wherein +they dwell. Fear not! As long as thou dost love me, I am thine." And +parting slowly, still smiling, the lovely vision, with its small +radiant hands ever wandering among the starry strings of its cloud-like +lyre, floated onward. + +Suddenly a clear voice said "Welcome!" and looking up I saw my first +friend, Azul. I smiled in glad recognition--I would have spoken--but +lo! a wide immensity of blazing glory broke like many-coloured +lightning around me--so dazzling, so overpowering, that I instinctively +drew back and paused--I felt I could go no further. + +"Here," said my guardian gently--"here ends thy journey. Would that it +were possible, poor Spirit, for thee to pass this boundary! But that +may not be--as yet. In the meanwhile thou mayest gaze for a brief space +upon the majestic sphere which mortals dream of as Heaven. Behold and +see how fair is the incorruptible perfection of God's World!" + +I looked and trembled--I should have sunk yet further backward, had not +Azul and my Angel-guide held me with their light yet forcible clasp. My +heart fails me now as I try to write of that tremendous, that sublime +scene--the Centre of the Universe--the Cause of all Creation. How +unlike Heaven such as we in our ignorance have tried to depict! though +it is far better we should have a mistaken idea than none at all. What +I beheld was a circle, so huge that no mortal measurements could +compass it--a wide Ring composed of seven colours, rainbow-like, but +flashing with perpetual motion and brilliancy, as though a thousand +million suns were for ever being woven into it to feed its transcendent +lustre. From every part of this Ring darted long broad shafts of light, +some of which stretched out so far that I could not see where they +ended; sometimes a bubbling shower of lightning sparks would be flung +out on the pure ether, and this would instantly form into circles, +small or great, and whirl round and round the enormous girdle of flame +from which they had been cast, with the most inconceivable rapidity. +But wonderful as the Ring was, it encompassed a Sphere yet more +marvellous and dazzling; a great Globe of opal-tinted light, revolving +as it were upon its own axis, and ever surrounded by that +scintillating, jewel-like wreath of electricity, whose only motion was +to shine and burn within itself for ever. I could not bear to look upon +the brightness of that magnificent central World--so large that +multiplying the size of the sun by a hundred thousand millions, no +adequate idea could be formed of its vast proportions. And ever it +revolved--and ever the Rainbow Ring around it glittered and cast forth +those other rings which I knew now were living solar systems cast forth +from that electric band as a volcano casts forth fire and lava. My +Angel-guide motioned me to look towards that side of the Ring which was +nearest to the position of the Earth. I looked, and perceived that +there the shafts of descending light formed themselves as they fell +into the shape of a Cross. At this, such sorrow, love, and shame +overcame me, that I knew not where to turn. I murmured: + +"Send me back again, dear Angel--send me back to that Star of Sorrow +and Error! Let me hasten to make amends there for all my folly--let me +try to teach others what now I know. I am unworthy to be here beside +thee--I am unfit to look on yonder splendid World--let me return to do +penance for my sins and shortcomings; for what am I that God should +bless me? and though I should consume myself in labour and suffering, +how can I ever hope to deserve the smallest place in that heavenly +glory I now partly behold?" And could spirits shed tears, I should have +wept with remorse and grief. + +Azul spoke, softly and tenderly: + +"Now thou dost believe--henceforth thou must love! Love alone can pass +yon flaming barrier--love alone can gain for thee eternal bliss. In +love and for love were all things made--God loveth His creatures, even +so let His creatures love Him, and so shall the twain be drawn +together." + +"Listen!" added my Angel-guide. "Thou hast not travelled so far as yet +to remain in ignorance. That burning Ring thou seest is the result of +the Creator's ever-working Intelligence; from it all the Universe hath +sprung. It is exhaustless and perpetually creative; it is pure and +perfect Light. The smallest spark of that fiery essence in a mortal +frame is sufficient to form a soul or spirit, such as mine, or that of +Azul, or thine, when thou art perfected. The huge world rolling within +the Ring is where God dwells. Dare not thou to question His shape, His +look, His mien! Know that He is the Supreme Spirit in which all Beauty, +all Perfection, all Love, find consummation. His breath is the fire of +the Ring; His look, His pleasure, cause the motion of His World and all +worlds. There where He dwells, dwell also all pure souls; there all +desires have fulfilment without satiety, and there all loveliness, +wisdom or pleasure known in any or all of the other spheres are also +known. Speak, Azul, and tell this wanderer from Earth what she will +gain in winning her place in Heaven." + +Azul looked tenderly upon me and said: + +"When thou hast slept the brief sleep of death, when thou art permitted +to throw off for ever thy garb of clay, and when by thine own ceaseless +love and longing thou hast won the right to pass the Great Circle, thou +shalt find thyself in a land where the glories of the natural scenery +alone shall overpower thee with joy--scenery that for ever changes into +new wonders and greater beauty. Thou shalt hear music such as thou +canst not dream of. Thou shalt find friends, beyond all imagination +fair and faithful. Thou shalt read and see the history of all the +planets, produced for thee in an ever-moving panorama. Thou shalt love +and be beloved for ever by thine own Twin Soul; wherever that spirit +may be now, it must join thee hereafter. The joys of learning, memory, +consciousness, sleep, waking, and exercise shall all be thine. Sin, +sorrow, pain, disease and death thou shalt know no more. Thou shalt be +able to remember happiness, to possess it, and to look forward to it. +Thou shalt have full and pleasant occupation without fatigue--thy food +and substance shall be light and air. Flowers, rare and imperishable, +shall bloom for thee; birds of exquisite form and tender voice shall +sing to thee; angels shall be thy companions. Thou shalt have fresh and +glad desires to offer to God with every portion of thy existence, and +each one shall be granted as soon as asked, for then thou wilt not be +able to ask anything that is displeasing to Him. But because it is a +joy to wish, thou shalt wish! and because it is a joy to grant, so also +will He grant. No delight, small or great, is wanting in that vast +sphere; only sorrow is lacking, and satiety and disappointment have no +place. Wilt thou seek for admittance there or wilt thou faint by the +way and grow weary?" + +I raised my eyes full of ecstasy and reverence. + +"My mere efforts must count as nothing," I said; "but if Love can help +me, I will love and long for God's World until I die!" + +My guardian Angel pointed to those rays of light I had before noticed, +that slanted downwards towards Earth in the form of a Cross. + +"That is the path by which THOU must travel. Mark it well! All pilgrims +from the Sorrowful Star must journey by that road. Woe to them that +turn aside to roam mid spheres they know not of, to lose themselves in +seas of light wherein they cannot steer! Remember my warning! And now, +Spirit who art commended to my watchful care, thy brief liberty is +ended. Thou hast been lifted up to the outer edge of the Electric +Circle, further we dare not take thee. Hast thou aught else to ask +before the veil of mortality again enshrouds thee?" + +I answered not, but within myself I formed a wild desire. The Electric +Ring flashed fiercely on my uplifted eyes, but I kept them fixed +hopefully and lovingly on its intensely deep brilliancy. + +"If Love and Faith can avail me," I murmured, "I shall see what I have +sought." + +I was not disappointed. The fiery waves of light parted on either side +of the spot where I with my companions rested; and a Figure,--majestic, +unutterably grand and beautiful,--approached me. At the same moment a +number of other faces and forms shone hoveringly out of the Ring; one I +noticed like an exquisitely lovely woman, with floating hair and clear, +earnest, unfathomable eyes. Azul and the Angel sank reverently down and +drooped their radiant heads like flowers in hot sunshine. I alone, +daringly, yet with inexpressible affection welling up within me, +watched with unshrinking gaze the swift advance of that supreme Figure, +upon whose broad brows rested the faint semblance of a Crown of Thorns. +A voice penetratingly sweet addressed me: + +"Mortal from the Star I saved from ruin, because thou hast desired Me, +I come! Even as thy former unbelief, shall be now thy faith. Because +thou lovest Me, I am with thee. For do I not know thee better than the +Angels can? Have I not dwelt in thy clay, suffered thy sorrows, wept +thy tears, died thy deaths? One with My Father, and yet one with thee, +I demand thy love, and so through Me shalt thou attain immortal life!" + +I felt a touch upon me like a scorching flame--a thrill rushed through +my being--and then I knew that I was sinking down, down, further and +further away. I saw that wondrous Figure standing serene and smiling +between the retiring waves of electric radiance. I saw the great inner +sphere revolve, and glitter as it rolled, like an enormous diamond +encircled with gold and sapphire, and then all suddenly the air grew +dim and cloudy, and the sensation of falling became more and more +rapid. Azul was beside me still, and I also perceived the outline of my +guardian Angel's form, though that was growing indistinct. I now +recalled the request of Heliobas, and spoke: + +"Azul, tell me what shadow rests upon the life of him to whom I am now +returning?" + +Azul looked at me earnestly, and replied: + +"Thou daring one! Seekest thou to pierce the future fate of others? Is +it not enough for thee to have heard the voice that maketh the Angel's +singing silent, and wouldst thou yet know more?" + +I was full of a strange unhesitating courage, therefore I said +fearlessly: + +"He is thy Beloved one, Azul--thy Twin Soul; and wilt thou let him fall +away from thee when a word or sign might save him?" + +"Even as he is my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice," +replied Azul, with a tinge of melancholy. "For though he has +accomplished much, he is as yet but mortal. Thou canst guide him thus +far; tell him, when death lies like a gift in his hand, let him +withhold it, and remember me. And now, my friend--farewell!" + +I would have spoken again, but could not. An oppressed sensation came +over me, and I seemed to plunge coldly into a depth of inextricable +blackness. I felt cramped for room, and struggled for existence, for +motion, for breath. What had happened to me? I wondered indignantly. +Was I a fettered prisoner? had I lost the use of my light aerial limbs +that had borne me so swiftly through the realms of space? What crushing +weight overpowered me? why such want of air and loss of delightful +ease? I sighed restlessly and impatiently at the narrow darkness in +which I found myself--a sorrowful, deep, shuddering sigh .... and WOKE! +That is to say, I languidly opened mortal eyes to find myself once more +pent up in mortal frame, though I retained a perfect remembrance and +consciousness of everything I had experienced during my +spirit-wanderings. Heliobas stood in front of me with outstretched +hands, and his eyes were fixed on mine with a mingled expression of +anxiety and authority, which changed into a look of relief and gladness +as I smiled at him and uttered his name aloud. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SECRETS OF THE SUN AND MOON. + + +"Have I been long away?" I asked, as I raised myself upright in the +chair where I had been resting. + +"I sent you from hence on Thursday morning at noon," replied Heliobas. +"It is now Friday evening, and within a few minutes of midnight. I was +growing alarmed. I have never known anyone stay absent for so long; and +you resisted my authority so powerfully, that I began to fear you would +never come back at all." + +"I wish I had not been compelled to do so!" I said regretfully. + +He smiled. + +"No doubt you do. It is the general complaint. Will you stand up now +and see how you feel?" + +I obeyed. There was still a slight sensation about me as of being +cramped for space; but this was passing, and otherwise I felt +singularly strong, bright and vigorous. I stretched out my hands in +unspeakable gratitude to him through whose scientific power I had +gained my recent experience. + +"I can never thank you enough!" I said earnestly. "I dare say you know +something of what I have seen on my journey?" + +"Something, but not all," he replied. "Of course I know what worlds and +systems you saw, but what was said to you, or what special lessons were +given you for your comfort, I cannot tell." "Then I will describe +everything while it is fresh upon me," I returned. "I feel that I must +do so in order that you may understand how glad I am,--how grateful I +am to you." + +I then related the different scenes through which I had passed, +omitting no detail. Heliobas listened with profound interest and +attention. When I had finished, he said: + +"Yours has been a most wonderful, I may say almost exceptional, +experience. It proves to me more than ever the omnipotence of WILL. +Most of those who have been placed by my means in the Uplifted or +Electric state of being, have consented to it simply to gratify a sense +of curiosity--few therefore have gone beyond the pure ether, where, as +in a sea, the planets swim. Cellini, for instance, never went farther +than Venus, because in the atmosphere of that planet he met the Spirit +that rules and divides his destiny. Zara--she was daring, and reached +the outer rim of the Great Circle; but even she never caught a glimpse +of the great Central Sphere. YOU, differing from these, started with a +daring aim which you never lost sight of till you had fulfilled it. How +true are those words: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye +shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you'! It is not +possible," and here he sighed, "that amid such wonders you could have +remembered me--it were foolish on my part to expect it." + +"I confess I thought nothing of you," I said frankly, "till I was +approaching Earth again; but then my memory prompted me in time, and I +did not forget your request." + +"And what did you learn?" he asked anxiously. + +"Simply this. Azul said that I might deliver you this message: When +death lies like a gift in your hand, withhold it, and remember her." + +"As if I did not always guide myself by her promptings!" exclaimed +Heliobas, with a tender smile. + +"You might forget to do so for once," I said. + +"Never!" he replied fervently. "It could not be. But I thank you, my +child, for having thought of me--the message you bring shall be +impressed strongly on my mind. Now, before you leave me to-night, I +must say a few necessary words." + +He paused, and appeared to consider profoundly for some minutes. At +last he spoke. + +"I have selected certain writings for your perusal," he said. "In them +you will find full and clear instructions how to cultivate and educate +the electric force within you, and thus continue the work I have begun. +With these you will also perceive that I have written out the receipt +for the volatile fluid which, if taken in a small quantity every day, +will keep you in health, strength, and intellectual vigour, while it +will preserve your youth and enjoyment of life to a very much longer +extent than that usually experienced by the majority. Understand me +well--this liquid of itself cannot put you into an uplifted state of +existence; you need HUMAN electric force applied strongly to your +system to compass this; and as it is dangerous to try the experiment +too often--dangerous to the body, I mean--it will be as well, as you +have work to do yet in this life, not to attempt it again. But if you +drink the fluid every morning of your life, and at the same time obey +my written manual as to the cultivation of your own inner force, which +is already existent in a large degree, you will attain to certain +advantages over the rest of the people you meet, which will give you +not only physical, but mental power." + +He paused a minute or two, and again went on: + +"When you have educated your Will to a certain height of electric +command, you can at your pleasure see at any time, and see plainly, the +spirits who inhabit the air; and also those who, descending to long +distances below the Great Circle, come within the range of human +electricity, or the attractive matter contained in the Earth's +atmosphere. You can converse with them, and they with you. You will +also be able, at your desire, to see the parted spirits of dead +persons, so long as they linger within Earth's radius, which they +seldom do, being always anxious to escape from it as soon as possible. +Love may sometimes detain them, or remorse; but even these have to +yield to the superior longings which possess them the instant they are +set free. You will, in your intercourse with your fellow-mortals, be +able to discern their motives quickly and unerringly--you will at once +discover where you are loved and where you are disliked; and not all +the learning and logic of so-called philosophers shall be able to cloud +your instinct. You will have a keener appreciation of good and +beautiful things--a delightful sense of humour, and invariable +cheerfulness; and whatever you do, unless you make some mistake by your +own folly, will carry with it its success. And, what is perhaps a +greater privilege, you will find that all who are brought into very +close contact with you will be beneficially influenced, or the reverse, +exactly as you choose to exert your power. I do not think, after what +you have seen, you will ever desire to exert a malign influence, +knowing that the Creator of your being is all love and forgiveness. At +any rate, the greatest force in the universe, electricity, is +yours--that is, it has begun to form itself in you--and you have +nothing to do but to encourage its growth, just as you would encourage +a taste for music or the fine arts. Now let me give you the writings." + +He unlocked a desk, and took from it two small rolls of parchment, one +tied with a gold ribbon, the other secured in a kind of case with a +clasp. This last he held up before my eyes, and said: + +"This contains my private instructions to you. Never make a single one +of them public. The world is not ready for wisdom, and the secrets of +science can only be explained to the few. Therefore keep this parchment +safely under lock and key, and never let any eye but your own look upon +its contents." + +I promised, and he handed it to me. Then taking the other roll, which +was tied with ribbon, he said, + +"Here is written out what I call the Electric Principle of +Christianity. This is for your own study and consideration; still, if +you ever desire to explain my theory to others, I do not forbid you. +But as I told you before, you can never compel belief--the goldfish in +a glass bowl will never understand the existence of the ocean. Be +satisfied if you can guide yourself by the compass you have found, but +do not grieve if you are unable to guide others. You may try, but it +will not be surprising if you fail. Nor will it be your fault. The only +sorrow that might happen to you in these efforts would be in case you +should love someone very dearly, and yet be unable to instil the truth +of what yon know into that particular soul. You would then have to make +a discovery, which is always more or less painful--namely, that your +love was misplaced, inasmuch as the nature you had selected as worthy +of love had no part with yours; and that separation utter and eternal +must therefore occur, if not in this life, then in the future. So I +would say beware of loving, lest you should not love rightly--though I +believe you will soon be able to discern clearly the spirit that is by +fate destined to complete and perfect your own. And now, though I know +you are scarcely fatigued enough to sleep, I will say good-night." + +I took the second roll of parchment from his hand, and opening it a +little way, I saw that it was covered with very fine small writing. +Then I said: + +"Does Zara know how long I have been absent?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas; "and she, like myself, was surprised and +anxious. I think she went to bed long ago; but you may look into her +room and see if she is awake, before you yourself retire to rest." + +As he spoke of Zara his eyes grew melancholy and his brow clouded. An +instinctive sense of fear came upon me. + +"Is she not well?" I asked. + +"She is perfectly well," he answered. "Why should you imagine her to be +otherwise?" + +"Pardon me," I said; "I fancied that you looked unhappy when I +mentioned her." + +Heliobas made no answer. He stepped to the window, and throwing back +the curtain, called me to his side. + +"Look out yonder." he said in low and earnest tones; "look at the dark +blue veil strewn with stars, through which so lately your daring soul +pierced its flight! See how the small Moon hangs like a lamp in Heaven, +apparently outshining the myriad worlds around her, that are so much +vaster and fairer! How deceptive is the human eye!--nearly as deceptive +as the human reason. Tell me--why did you not visit the Moon, or the +Sun, in your recent wanderings?" + +This question caused me some surprise. It was certainly very strange +that I had not thought of doing so. Yet, on pondering the matter in my +mind, I remembered that during my aerial journey suns and moons had +been no more to me than flowers strewn on a meadow. I now regretted +that I had not sought to know something of those two fair luminaries +which light and warm our earth. + +Heliobas, after watching my face intently, resumed: + +"You cannot guess the reason of your omission? I will tell you. There +is nothing to see in either Sun or Moon. They were both inhabited +worlds once; but the dwellers in the Sun have ages ago lived their +lives and passed to the Central Sphere. The Sun is nothing now but a +burning world, burning rapidly, and surely, away: or rather, IT IS +BEING ABSORBED BACK INTO THE ELECTRIC CIRCLE FROM WHICH IT ORIGINALLY +SPRANG, TO BE THROWN OUT AGAIN IN SOME NEW AND GRANDER FORM. And so +with all worlds, suns and systems, for ever and ever. Hundreds of +thousands of those brief time-breathings called years may pass before +this consummation of the Sun; but its destruction is going on now, or +rather its absorption--and we on our cold small star warm ourselves, +and are glad, in the light of an empty world on fire!" + +I listened with awe and interest. + +"And the Moon?" I asked eagerly. + +"The Moon does not exist. What we see is the reflection or the +electrograph of what she once was. Atmospherical electricity has +imprinted this picture of a long-ago living world upon the heavens, +just as Raphael drew his cartoons for the men of to-day to see." + +"But," I exclaimed in surprise, "how about the Moon's influence on the +tides? and what of eclipses?" + +"Not the Moon, but the electric photograph of a once living but now +absorbed world, has certainly an influence on the tides. The sea is +impregnated with electricity. Just as the Sun will absorb colours, so +the electricity in the sea is repelled or attracted by the electric +picture of the Moon in Heaven. Because, as a painting is full of +colour, so is that faithful sketch of a vanished sphere, drawn with a +pencil of pure light, full of immense electricity; and to carry the +simile further, just as a painting may be said to be formed of various +dark and light tints, so the electric portrait of the Moon contains +various degrees of electric force--which, coming in contact with the +electricity of the Earth's atmosphere, produces different effects on us +and on the natural scenes amid which we dwell. As for eclipses--if you +slowly pass a round screen between yourself and a blazing fire, you +will only see the edges of the fire. In the same way the electrograph +of the Moon passes at stated intervals between the Earth and the +burning world of the Sun." + +"Yet surely," I said, "the telescope has enabled us to see the Moon as +a solid globe--we have discerned mountains and valleys on its surface; +and then it revolves round us regularly--how do you account for these +facts?" + +"The telescope," returned Heliobas, "is merely an aid to the human eye; +and, as I told you before, nothing is so easily deceived as our sense +of vision, even when assisted by mechanical appliances. The telescope, +like the stereoscope, simply enables us to see the portrait of the Moon +more clearly; but all the same, the Moon, as a world, does not exist. +Her likeness, taken by electricity, may last some thousands of years, +and as long as it lasts it must revolve around us, because everything +in the universe moves, and moves in a circle. Besides which, this +portrait of the moon being composed of pure electricity, is attracted +and forced to follow the Earth by the compelling influence of the +Earth's own electric power. Therefore, till the picture fades, it must +attend the Earth like the haunting spectre of a dead joy. You can +understand now why we never see what we imagine to be the OTHER SIDE of +the Moon. It simply has NO other side, except space. Space is the +canvas--the Moon is a sketch. How interested we are when a discovery is +made of some rare old painting, of which the subject is a perfectly +beautiful woman! It bears no name--perhaps no date--but the face that +smiles at us is exquisite--the lips yet pout for kisses--the eyes brim +over, with love! And we admire it tenderly and reverently--we mark it +'Portrait of a lady,' and give it an honoured place among our art +collections. With how much more reverence and tenderness ought we to +look up at the 'Portrait of a Fair Lost Sphere,' circling yonder in +that dense ever-moving gallery of wonders where the hurrying throng of +spectators are living and dying worlds!" + +I had followed the speaker's words with fascinated attention, but now I +said: + +"Dying, Heliobas? There is no death." + +"True!" he answered, with hesitating slowness. "But there is what we +call death--transition--and it is always a parting." + +"But not for long!" I exclaimed, with all the gladness and eagerness of +my lately instructed soul. "As worlds are absorbed into the Electric +Circle and again thrown out in new and more glorious forms, so are we +absorbed and changed into shapes of perfect beauty, having eyes that +are strong and pure enough to look God in the face. The body +perishes--but what have WE to do with the body--our prison and place of +experience, except to rejoice when we shake off its weight for ever!" + +Heliobas smiled gravely. + +"You have learned your high lesson well," he said. "You speak with the +assurance and delight of a spirit satisfied. But when I talk of DEATH, +I mean by that word the parting asunder of two souls who love each +other; and though such separation may be brief, still it is always a +separation. For instance, suppose--" he hesitated: "suppose Zara were +to die?" + +"Well, you would soon meet her again," I answered. "For though you +might live many years after her, still you would know in yourself that +those years were but minutes in the realms of space--" + +"Minutes that decide our destinies," he interrupted with solemnity. +"And there is always this possibility to contemplate--suppose Zara were +to leave me now, how can I be sure that I shall be strong enough to +live out my remainder of life purely enough to deserve to meet her +again? And if not then Zara's death would mean utter and almost +hopeless separation for ever--though perhaps I might begin over again +in some other form, and so reach the goal." + +He spoke so musingly and seriously that I was surprised, for I had +thought him impervious to such a folly as the fear of death. + +"You are melancholy, Heliobas," I said. "In the first place, Zara is +not going to leave you yet; and secondly, if she did, you know your +strongest efforts would be brought to bear on your career, in order +that no shadow of obstinacy or error might obstruct your path. Why, the +very essence of our belief is in the strength of Will-power. What we +WILL to do, especially if it be any act of spiritual progress, we can +always accomplish." + +Heliobas took my hand and pressed it warmly. + +"You are so lately come from the high regions," he said, "that it warms +and invigorates me to hear your encouraging words. Pray do not think me +capable of yielding long to the weakness of foreboding. I am, in spite +of my advancement in electric science, nothing but a man, and am apt to +be hampered oftentimes by my mortal trappings. We have prolonged our +conversation further than I intended. I assure you it is better for you +to try to sleep, even though, as I know, you feel so wide awake. Let me +give you a soothing draught; it will have the effect of composing your +physical nerves into steady working order." + +He poured something from a small phial into a glass, and handed it to +me. I drank it at once, obediently, and with a smile. + +"Good-night, my Master!" I then said. "You need have no fear of your +own successful upward progress. For if there were the slightest chance +of your falling into fatal error, all those human souls you have +benefited would labour and pray for your rescue; and I know now that +prayers reach Heaven, so long as they are unselfish. I, though I am one +of the least of your disciples, out of the deep gratitude of my heart +towards you, will therefore pray unceasingly for you, both here and +hereafter." + +He bent his head. + +"I thank you!" he said simply. "More deeds are wrought by prayer than +this world dreams of! That is a true saying. God bless you, my child. +Good-night!" + +And he opened the door of his study for me to pass out. As I did so, he +laid his hand lightly on my head in a sort of unspoken +benediction--then he closed his door, and I found myself alone in the +great hall. A suspended lamp was burning brightly, and the fountain was +gurgling melodiously to itself in a subdued manner, as if it were +learning a new song for the morning. I sped across the mosaic pavement +with a light eager step, and hurried up the stairs, intent on finding +Zara to tell her how happy I felt, and how satisfied I was with my +wonderful experience. I reached the door of her bedroom--it was ajar. I +softly pushed it farther open, and looked in. A small but exquisitely +modelled statue of an "Eros" ornamented one corner. His uplifted torch +served as a light which glimmered faintly through a rose-coloured +glass, and shed a tender lustre over the room; but especially upon the +bed, ornamented with rich Oriental needlework, where Zara lay fast +asleep. How beautiful she looked! Almost as lovely as any one of the +radiant spirits I had met in my aerial journey! Her rich dark hair was +scattered loosely on the white pillows; her long silky lashes curled +softly on the delicately tinted cheeks; her lips, tenderly red, like +the colour on budding apple-blossoms in early spring, were slightly +parted, showing the glimmer of the small white teeth within; her +night-dress was slightly undone, and half displayed and half disguised +her neck and daintily rounded bosom, on which the electric jewel she +always wore glittered brilliantly as it rose and sank with her regular +and quiet breathing. One fair hand lay outside the coverlet, and the +reflection from the lamp of the "Eros" flickered on a ring which +adorned it, making its central diamond flash like a wandering star. + +I looked long and tenderly on this perfect ideal of a "Sleeping +Beauty," and then thought I would draw closer and see if I could kiss +her without awaking her. I advanced a few steps into the room--when +suddenly I was stopped. Within about a yard's distance from the bed a +SOMETHING opposed my approach! I could not move a foot forward--I tried +vigorously, but in vain! I could step backward, and that was all. +Between me and Zara there seemed to be an invisible barrier, strong, +and absolutely impregnable. There was nothing to be seen--nothing but +the softly-shaded room--the ever-smiling "Eros," and the exquisite +reposeful figure of my sleeping friend. Two steps, and I could have +touched her; but those two steps I was forcibly prevented from +making--as forcibly as though a deep ocean had rolled between her and +me. I did not stop long to consider this strange occurrence--I felt +sure it had something to do with her spiritual life and sympathy, +therefore it neither alarmed nor perplexed me. Kissing my hand tenderly +towards my darling, who lay so close to me, and who was yet so +jealously and invisibly guarded during her slumbers, I softly and +reverently withdrew. On reaching my own apartment, I was more than half +inclined to sit up reading and studying the parchments Heliobas had +given me; but on second thoughts I resolved to lock up these precious +manuscripts and go to bed. I did so, and before preparing to sleep I +remembered to kneel down and offer up praise and honour, with a loving +and believing heart, to that Supreme Glory, of which I had been +marvellously permitted to enjoy a brief but transcendent glimpse. And +as I knelt, absorbed and happy, I heard, like a soft echo falling +through the silence of my room, a sound like distant music, through +which these words floated towards me: "A new commandment give I unto +you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOCIABLE CONVERSE. + + +The next morning Zara came herself to awaken me, looking as fresh and +lovely as a summer morning. She embraced me very tenderly, and said: + +"I have been talking for more than an hour with Casimir. He has told me +everything. What wonders you have seen! And are you not happy, dearest? +Are you not strong and satisfied?" + +"Perfectly!" I replied. "But, O Zara! what a pity that all the world +should not know what we know!" + +"All have not a desire for knowledge," replied Zara. "Even in your +vision of the garden you possessed, there were only a few who still +sought you; for those few you would have done anything, but for the +others your best efforts were in vain." + +"They might not have been always in vain," I said musingly. + +"No, they might not," agreed Zara. "That is just the case of the world +to-day. While there is life in it, there is also hope. And talking of +the world, let me remind you that you are back in it now, and must +therefore be hampered with tiresome trivialities. Two of these are as +follows; First, here is a letter for you, which has just come; +secondly, breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes!" + +I looked at her smiling face attentively. She was the very embodiment +of vigorous physical health and beauty; it seemed like a dream to +remember her in the past night, guarded by that invincible barrier, the +work of no mortal hand. I uttered nothing, however, of these thoughts, +and responding to her evident gaiety of heart, I smiled also. + +"I will be down punctually at the expiration of the twenty minutes," I +said. "I assure you, Zara, I am quite sensible of the claims of earthly +existence upon me. For instance, I am very hungry, and I shall enjoy +breakfast immensely if you will make the coffee." + +Zara, who among her other accomplishments had the secret of making +coffee to perfection, promised laughingly to make it extra well, and +flitted from the room, singing softly as she went a fragment of the +Neapolitan Stornello: + + "Fior di mortelle + Queste manine tue son tanto belle! + Fior di limone + Ti voglio far morire di passione + Salta! lari--lira." + +The letter Zara had brought me was from Mrs. Everard, announcing that +she would arrive in Paris that very day, Sunday. + + +"By the time you get this note," so ran her words, "we shall have +landed at the Grand Hotel. Come and see us at once, if you can. The +Colonel is anxious to judge for himself how you are looking. If you are +really recovered sufficiently to leave your medical pension, we shall +be delighted to have you with us again. I, in particular, shall be +glad, for it is real lonesome when the Colonel is out, and I do hate to +go shopping by myself, So take pity upon your affectionate + +"AMY." + + +Seated at breakfast, I discussed this letter with Heliobas and Zara, +and decided that I would call at the Grand Hotel that morning. + +"I wish you would come with me, Zara," I said wistfully. + +To my surprise, she answered: + +"Certainly I will, if you like. But we will attend High Mass at Notre +Dame first. There will be plenty of time for the call afterwards." + +I gladly agreed to this, and Heliobas added with cheerful cordiality: + +"Why not ask your friends to dine here to-morrow? Zara's call will be a +sufficient opening formality; and you yourself have been long enough +with us now to know that any of your friends will be welcome here. We +might have a pleasant little party, especially if you add Mr. and Mrs. +Challoner and their daughters to the list. And I will ask Ivan." + +I glanced at Zara when the Prince's name was uttered, but she made no +sign of either offence or indifference. + +"You are very hospitable," I said, addressing Heliobas; "but I really +see no reason why you should throw open your doors to my friends, +unless, indeed, you specially desire to please me." + +"Why, of course I do!" he replied heartily; and Zara looked up and +smiled. + +"Then," I returned, "I will ask them to come. What am I to say about my +recovery, which I know is little short of miraculous?" + +"Say," replied Heliobas, "that you have been cured by electricity. +There is nothing surprising in such a statement nowadays. But say +nothing of the HUMAN electric force employed upon you--no one would +believe you, and the effort to persuade unpersuadable people is always +a waste of time." + +An hour after this conversation Zara and I were in the cathedral of +Notre Dame. I attended the service with very different feelings to +those I had hitherto experienced during the same ceremony. Formerly my +mind had been distracted by harassing doubts and perplexing +contradictions; now everything had a meaning for me--high, and solemn, +and sweet. As the incense rose, I thought of those rays of connecting +light I had seen, on which prayers travel exactly as sound travels +through the telephone. As the grand organ pealed sonorously through the +fragrant air, I remembered the ever youthful and gracious Spirits of +Music, one of whom, Aeon, had promised to be my friend. Just to try the +strength of my own electric force, I whispered the name and looked up. +There, on a wide slanting ray of sunlight that fell directly across the +altar was the angelic face I well remembered!--the delicate hands +holding the semblance of a harp in air! It was but for an instant I saw +it--one brief breathing-space in which its smile mingled with the +sunbeams and then it vanished. But I knew I was not forgotten, and the +deep satisfaction of my soul poured itself in unspoken praise on the +flood of the "Sanctus! Sanctus!" that just then rolled triumphantly +through the aisles of Notre Dame. Zara was absorbed in silent prayer +throughout the Mass; but at its conclusion, when we came out of the +cathedral, she was unusually gay and elate. She conversed vivaciously +with me concerning the social merits and accomplishments of the people +we were going to visit; while the brisk walk through the frosty air +brightened her eyes and cheeks into warmer lustre, so that on our +arrival at the Grand Hotel she looked to my fancy even lovelier than +usual. + +Mrs. Everard did not keep us waiting long in the private salon to which +we were shown. She fluttered down, arrayed in a wonderful "art" gown of +terra-cotta and pale blue hues cunningly intermixed, and proceeded to +hug me with demonstrative fervour. Then she held me a little distance +off, and examined me attentively. + +"Do you know," she said, "you are simply in lovely condition! I never +would have believed it. You are actually as plump and pink as a peach. +And you are the same creature that wailed and trembled, and had +palpitations and headaches and stupors! Your doctor must be a perfect +magician. I think I must consult him, for I am sure I don't look half +as well as you do." + +And indeed she did not. I thought she had a tired, dragged appearance, +but I would not say so. I knew her well, and I was perfectly aware that +though she was fascinating and elegant in every way, her life was too +much engrossed in trifles ever to yield her healthy satisfaction. + +After responding warmly to her affectionate greeting, I said: + +"Amy, you must allow me to introduce the sister of my doctor to you. +Madame Zara Casimir--Mrs. Everard." + +Zara, who had moved aside a little way out of delicacy, to avoid +intruding on our meeting, now turned, and with her own radiant smile +and exquisite grace, stretched out her little well-gloved hand. + +"I am delighted to know you!" she said, in those sweet penetrating +accents of hers which were like music. "YOUR friend," here indicating +me by a slight yet tender gesture, "has also become mine; but I do not +think we shall be jealous, shall we?" + +Mrs. Everard made some attempt at a suitable reply, but she was so +utterly lost in admiration of Zara's beauty, that her habitual +self-possession almost deserted her. Zara, however, had the most +perfect tact, and with it the ability of making herself at home +anywhere, and we were soon all three talking cheerfully and without +constraint. When the Colonel made his appearance, which he did very +shortly, he too was "taken off his feet," as the saying is, by Zara's +loveliness, and the same effect was produced on the Challoners, who +soon afterwards joined us in a body. Mrs. Challoner, in particular, +seemed incapable of moving her eyes from the contemplation of my +darling's sweet face, and I glowed with pride and pleasure as I noted +how greatly she was admired. Miss Effie Challoner alone, who was, by a +certain class of young men, considered "doocid pretty, with go in her," +opposed her stock of physical charms to those of Zara, with a certain +air of feminine opposition; but she was only able to keep this barrier +up for a little time. Zara's winning power of attraction was too much +for her, and she, like all present, fell a willing captive to the +enticing gentleness, the intellectual superiority, and the sympathetic +influence exercised by the evenly balanced temperament and character of +the beautiful woman I loved so well. + +After some desultory and pleasant chat, Zara, in the name of her +brother and herself, invited Colonel and Mrs. Everard and the Challoner +family to dine at the Hotel Mars next day--an invitation which was +accepted by all with eagerness. I perceived at once that every one of +them was anxious to know more of Zara and her surroundings--a curiosity +which I could not very well condemn. Mrs. Everard then wanted me to +remain with her for the rest of the afternoon; but an instinctive +feeling came upon me, that soon perhaps I should have to part from +Heliobas and Zara, and all the wonders and delights of their household, +in order to resume my own working life--therefore I determined I would +drain my present cup of pleasure to the last drop. So I refused Amy's +request, pleading as an excuse that I was still under my doctor's +authority, and could not indulge in such an excitement as an afternoon +in her society without his permission. Zara bore me out in this +assertion, and added for me to Mrs. Everard: + +"Indeed, I think it will be better for her to remain perfectly quiet +with us for a day or two longer; then she will be thoroughly cured, and +free to do as she likes." + +"Well!" said Mrs. Challoner; "I must say she doesn't look as if +anything were the matter with her. In fact, I never saw two more happy, +healthy-looking girls than you both. What secret do you possess to make +yourselves look so bright?" + +"No secret at all," replied Zara, laughing; "we simply follow the exact +laws of health, and they suffice." + +Colonel Everard, who had been examining me critically and asking me a +few questions, here turned to Zara and said: + +"Do you really mean to say, Madame Casimir, that your brother cured +this girl by electricity?" + +"Purely so!" she answered earnestly. + +"Then it's the most wonderful recovery _I_ ever saw. Why, at Cannes, +she was hollow-eyed, pale, and thin as a willow-wand; now she +looks--well, she knows how she is herself--but if she feels as spry as +she looks, she's in first-rate training!" + +I laughed. + +"I DO feel spry, Colonel," I said. "Life seems to me like summer +sunshine." + +"Brava!" exclaimed Mr. Challoner. He was a staid, rather slow +Kentuckian who seldom spoke; and when he did, seemed to find it rather +an exertion. "If there's one class of folk I detest more than another, +it is those all-possessed people who find life unsuited to their +fancies. Nobody asked them to come into it--nobody would miss them if +they went out of it. Being in it, it's barely civil to grumble at the +Deity who sent them along here. I never do it myself if I can help it." + +We laughed, and Mrs. Challoner's eyes twinkled. + +"In England, dear, for instance," she said, with a mischievous glance +at her spouse--"in England you never grumbled, did you?" + +Mr. Challoner looked volumes--his visage reddened, and he clenched his +broad fist with ominous vigour. + +"Why, by the Lord!" he said, with even more than his usual deliberate +utterance, "in England the liveliest flea that ever gave a triumphal +jump in air would find his spirits inclined to droop! I tell you, +ma'am," he continued, addressing himself to Zara, whose merry laugh +rang out like a peal of little golden bells at this last remark--"I +tell you that when I walked in the streets of London I used to feel as +if I were one of a band of criminals. Every person I met looked at me +as if the universe were about to be destroyed next minute, and they had +to build another up right away without God to help 'em!" + +"Well, I believe I agree with you," said Colonel Everard. "The English +take life too seriously. In their craze for business they manage to do +away with pleasure altogether. They seem afraid to laugh, and they even +approach the semblance of a smile with due caution." + +"I'm free to confess," added his wife, "that I'm not easily chilled +through. But an English 'at home' acts upon me like a patent +refrigerator--I get regularly frozen to the bone!" + +"Dear me!" laughed Zara; "you give very bad accounts of Shakespeare's +land! It must be very sad!" + +"I believe it wasn't always so," pursued Colonel Everard; "there are +legends which speak of it as Merrie England. I dare say it might have +been merry once, before it was governed by shopkeepers; but now, you +must get away from it if you want to enjoy life. At least such is my +opinion. But have you never been in England, Madame Casimir? You speak +English perfectly." + +"Oh, I am a fairly good linguist," replied Zara, "thanks to my brother. +But I have never crossed the Channel." + +The Misses Challoner looked politely surprised; their father's shrewd +face wore an expression of grim contentment. + +"Don't cross it, ma'am," he said emphatically, "unless you have a +special desire to be miserable. If you want to know how Christians love +one another and how to be made limply and uselessly wretched, spend a +Sunday in London." + +"I think I will not try the experiment, Mr. Challoner," returned Zara +gaily. "Life is short, and I prefer to enjoy it." + +"Say," interrupted Mrs. Challoner, turning to me at this juncture, "now +you are feeling so well, would it be asking you too much to play us a +piece of your own improvising?" + +I glanced at the grand piano, which occupied a corner of the salon +where we sat, and hesitated. But at a slight nod from Zara, I rose, +drew off my gloves, and seated myself at the instrument. Passing my +hands lightly over the keys, I wandered through a few running passages; +and as I did so, murmured a brief petition to my aerial friend Aeon. +Scarcely had I done this, when a flood of music seemed to rush to my +brain and thence to my fingers, and I played, hardly knowing what I +played, but merely absorbed in trying to give utterance to the sounds +which were falling softly upon my inner sense of hearing like drops of +summer rain on a thirsty soil. I was just aware that I was threading +the labyrinth of a minor key, and that the result was a network of +delicate and tender melody reminding me of Heinrich Heine's words: + +"Lady, did you not hear the nightingale sing? A beautiful silken +voice--a web of happy notes--and my soul was taken in its meshes, and +strangled and tortured thereby." + +A few minutes, and the inner voice that conversed with me so sweetly, +died away into silence, and at the same time my fingers found their way +to the closing chord. As one awaking from a dream, I looked up. The +little group of friendly listeners were rapt in the deepest attention; +and when I ceased, a murmur of admiration broke from them all, while +Zara's eyes glistened with sympathetic tears. + +"How can you do it?" asked Mrs. Challoner in good-natured amazement. +"It seems to me impossible to compose like that while seated at the +piano, and without taking previous thought!" + +"It is not MY doing," I began; "it seems to come to me from--" + +But I was checked by a look from Zara, that gently warned me not to +hastily betray the secret of my spiritual communion with the unseen +sources of harmony. So I smiled and said no more. Inwardly I was full +of a great rejoicing, for I knew that however well I had played in past +days, it was nothing compared to the vigour and ease which were now +given to me--a sort of unlocking of the storehouse of music, with +freedom to take my choice of all its vast treasures. + +"Well, it's what WE call inspiration," said Mr. Challoner, giving my +hand a friendly grasp; "and wherever it comes from, it must be a great +happiness to yourself as well as to others." + +"It is," I answered earnestly. "I believe few are so perfectly happy in +music as I am." + +Mrs. Everard looked thoughtful. + +"No amount of practice could make ME play like that," she said; "yet I +have had two or three masters who were supposed to be first-rate. One +of them was a German, who used to clutch his hair like a walking +tragedian whenever I played a wrong note. I believe he got up his +reputation entirely by that clutch, for he often played wrong notes +himself without minding it. But just because he worked himself into a +sort of frenzy when others went wrong, everybody praised him, and said +he had such an ear and was so sensitive that he must be a great +musician. He worried me nearly to death over Bach's 'Well-tempered +Klavier'--all to no purpose, for I can't play a note of it now, and +shouldn't care to if I could. I consider Bach a dreadful old bore, +though I know it is heresy to say so. Even Beethoven is occasionally +prosy, only no one will be courageous enough to admit it. People would +rather go to sleep over classical music than confess they don't like +it." + +"Schubert would have been a grander master than Beethoven, if he had +only lived long enough," said Zara; "but I dare say very few will agree +with me in such an assertion. Unfortunately most of my opinions differ +from those of everyone else." + +"You should say FORTUNATELY, madame," said Colonel Everard, bowing +gallantly; "as the circumstance has the happy result of making you +perfectly original as well as perfectly charming." + +Zara received this compliment with her usual sweet equanimity, and we +rose to take our leave. As we were passing out, Amy Everard drew me +back and crammed into the pocket of my cloak a newspaper. + +"Read it when you are alone," she whispered; "and you will see what +Raffaello Cellini has done with the sketch he made of you." + +We parted from these pleasant Americans with cordial expressions of +goodwill, Zara reminding them of their engagement to visit her at her +own home next day, and fixing the dinner-hour for half-past seven. + +On our return to the Hotel Mars, we found Heliobas in the drawing-room, +deep in converse with a Catholic priest--a fine-looking man of +venerable and noble features. Zara addressed him as "Father Paul," and +bent humbly before him to receive his blessing, which he gave her with +almost parental tenderness. He seemed, from his familiar manner with +them, to be a very old friend of the family. + +On my being introduced to him, he greeted me with gentle courtesy, and +gave me also his simple unaffected benediction. We all partook of a +light luncheon to-gether, after which repast Heliobas and Father Paul +withdrew together. Zara looked after their retreating figures with a +sort of meditative pathos in her large eyes; and then she told me she +had something to finish in her studio--would I excuse her for about an +hour? I readily consented, for I myself was desirous of passing a +little time in solitude, in order to read the manuscripts Heliobas had +given me. "For," thought I, "if there is anything in them not quite +clear to me, he will explain it, and I had better take advantage of his +instruction while I can." + +As Zara and I went upstairs together, we were followed by Leo--a most +unusual circumstance, as that faithful animal was generally in +attendance on his master. Now, however, he seemed to have something +oppressive on his mind, for he kept close to Zara, and his big brown +eyes, whenever he raised them to her face, were full of intense +melancholy. His tail drooped in a forlorn way, and all the vivacity of +his nature seemed to have gone out of him. + +"Leo does not seem well," I said, patting the dog's beautiful silky +coat, an attention to which he responded by a heavy sigh and a wistful +gaze approaching to tears. Zara looked at him. + +"Poor Leo!" she murmured caressingly. "Perhaps he feels lonely. Do you +want to come with your mistress to-day, old boy? So you shall. Come +along--cheer up, Leo!" + +And, nodding to me, she passed into her studio, the dog following her. +I turned into my own apartment, and then bethought myself of the +newspaper Mrs. Everard had thrust into my pocket. It was a Roman +journal, and the passage marked for my perusal ran as follows: + +"The picture of the Improvisatrice, painted by our countryman Signor +Raffaello Cellini, has been purchased by Prince N----for the sum of +forty thousand francs. The Prince generously permits it to remain on +view for a few days longer, so that those who have not yet enjoyed its +attraction, have still time to behold one of the most wonderful +pictures of the age. The colouring yet remains a marvel to both +students and connoisseurs, and the life-like appearance of the girl's +figure, robed in its clinging white draperies ornamented with lilies of +the valley, is so strong, that one imagines she will step out of the +canvas and confront the bystanders. Signor Cellini must now be +undoubtedly acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses of modern +times." + +I could see no reason, as I perused this, to be sure that _I_ had +served as the model for this successful work of art, unless the white +dress and the lilies of the valley, which I had certainly worn at +Cannes, were sufficient authority for forming such a conclusion. Still +I felt quite a curiosity about the picture--the more so as I could +foresee no possible chance of my ever beholding it. I certainly should +not go to Rome on purpose, and in a few days it would be in the +possession of Prince N----, a personage whom in all probability I +should never know. I put the newspaper carefully by, and then turned my +mind to the consideration of quite another subject--namely, the +contents of my parchment documents. The first one I opened was that +containing the private instructions of Heliobas to myself for the +preservation of my own health, and the cultivation of the electric +force within me. These were so exceedingly simple, and yet so wonderful +in their simplicity, that I was surprised. They were based upon the +plainest and most reasonable common-sense arguments--easy enough for a +child to understand. Having promised never to make them public, it is +impossible for me to give the slightest hint of their purport; but I +may say at once, without trespassing the bounds of my pledged word, +that if these few concise instructions were known and practised by +everyone, doctors would be entirely thrown out of employment, and +chemists' shops would no longer cumber the streets. Illness would be +very difficult of attainment--though in the event of its occurring each +individual would know how to treat him or herself--and life could be +prolonged easily and comfortably to more than a hundred years, barring, +of course, accidents by sea, rail and road, or by deeds of violence. +But it will take many generations before the world is UNIVERSALLY +self-restrained enough to follow such plain maxims as those laid down +for me in the writing of my benefactor, Heliobas--even if it be ever +self-restrained at all, which, judging from the present state of +society, is much to be doubted. Therefore, no more of the subject, on +which, indeed, I am forbidden to speak. + +The other document, called "The Electric Principle of Christianity," I +found so curious and original, suggesting so many new theories +concerning that religion which has civilized a great portion of +humanity, that, as I am not restrained by any promise on this point, I +have resolved to give it here in full. My readers must not be rash +enough to jump to the conclusion that I set it forward as an +explanation or confession of my own faith; my creed has nothing to do +with anyone save myself. I simply copy the manuscript I possess, as the +theory of a deeply read and widely intelligent man, such as Heliobas +undoubtedly WAS and IS; a man, too, in whose veins runs the blood of +the Chaldean kings--earnest and thoughtful Orientals, who were far +wiser in their generation perhaps than we, with all our boasted +progress, are in ours. The coincidences which have to do with +electrical science will, I believe, be generally admitted to be curious +if not convincing. To me, of course, they are only fresh proofs of WHAT +_I_ KNOW, because _I_ HAVE SEEN THE GREAT ELECTRIC CIRCLE, and know its +power (guided as it is by the Central Intelligence within) to be +capable of anything, from the sending down of a minute spark of +instinct into the heart of a flower, to the perpetual manufacture and +re-absorption of solar systems by the million million. And it is a +circle that ever widens without end. What more glorious manifestation +can there be of the Creator's splendour and wisdom! But as to how this +world of ours span round in its own light littleness farther and +farther from the Radiant Ring, till its very Sun began to be +re-absorbed, and till its Moon disappeared and became a mere +picture--till it became of itself like a small blot on the fair scroll +of the Universe, while its inhabitants grew to resent all heavenly +attraction; and how it was yet thought worth God's patience and tender +consideration, just for the sake of a few human souls upon it who still +remembered and loved Him, to give it one more chance before it should +be drawn back into the Central Circle like a spark within a fire--all +this is sufficiently set forth in the words of Heliobas, quoted in the +next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE ELECTRIC CREED. + + +The "Electric Principle of Christianity" opened as follows: + +"From all Eternity God, or the SUPREME SPIRIT OF LIGHT, existed, and to +all Eternity He will continue to exist. This is plainly stated in the +New Testament thus: 'God is a SPIRIT, and they that worship Him must +worship Him IN SPIRIT and in truth.' + +"He is a Shape of pure Electric Radiance. Those who may be inclined to +doubt this may search the Scriptures on which they pin their faith, and +they will find that all the visions and appearances of the Deity there +chronicled were electric in character. + +"As a poet forms poems, or a musician melodies, so God formed by a +Thought the Vast Central Sphere in which He dwells, and peopled it with +the pure creations of His glorious fancy. And why? Because, being pure +Light, He is also pure Love; the power or capacity of Love implies the +necessity of Loving; the necessity of loving points to the existence of +things to be loved--hence the secret of creation. From the ever-working +Intelligence of this Divine Love proceeded the Electric Circle of the +Universe, from whence are born all worlds. + +"This truth vaguely dawned upon the ancient poets of Scripture when +they wrote: 'Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of +God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be +light. And there was light.' + +"These words apply SOLELY to the creation or production of OUR OWN +EARTH, and in them we read nothing but a simple manifestation of +electricity, consisting in a HEATING PASSAGE OF RAYS from the Central +Circle to the planet newly propelled forth from it, which caused that +planet to produce and multiply the wonders of the animal, vegetable, +and mineral kingdoms which we call Nature. + +"Let us now turn again to the poet-prophets of Scripture: 'And God +said, Let us make man in our image.' The word 'OUR' here implies an +instinctive idea that God was never alone. This idea is correct. Love +cannot exist in a chaos; and God by the sheer necessity of His Being +has for ever been surrounded by radiant and immortal Spirits emanating +from His own creative glory--beings in whom all beauty and all purity +are found. In the IMAGES, therefore (only the IMAGES), of these +Children of Light and of Himself, He made Man--that is, He caused the +Earth to be inhabited and DOMINATED by beings composed of Earth's +component parts, animal, vegetable, and mineral, giving them their +superiority by placing within them His 'LIKENESS' in the form of an +ELECTRIC FLAME or GERM of spiritual existence combined with its +companion working-force of WILL-POWER. + +"Like all flames, this electric spark can either be fanned into a fire +or it can be allowed to escape in air--IT CAN NEVER BE DESTROYED. It +can be fostered and educated till it becomes a living Spiritual Form of +absolute beauty--an immortal creature of thought, memory, emotion, and +working intelligence. If, on the contrary, he is neglected or +forgotten, and its companion Will is drawn by the weight of Earth to +work for earthly aims alone, then it escapes and seeks other chances of +development in OTHER FORMS on OTHER PLANETS, while the body it leaves, +SUPPORTED ONLY BY PHYSICAL SUSTENANCE DRAWN FROM THE EARTH ON WHICH IT +DWELLS, becomes a mere lump of clay ANIMATED BY MERE ANIMAL LIFE +SOLELY, full of inward ignorance and corruption and outward incapacity. +Of such material are the majority of men composed BY THEIR OWN +FREE-WILL AND CHOICE, because they habitually deaden the voice of +conscience and refuse to believe in the existence of a spiritual +element within and around them. + +"To resume: the Earth is one of the smallest of planets; and not only +this, but, from its position in the Universe, receives a less amount of +direct influence from the Electric Circle than other worlds more +happily situated. Were men wise enough to accept this fact, they would +foster to the utmost the germs of electric sympathy within themselves, +in order to form a direct communication, or system of attraction, +between this planet and the ever-widening Ring, so that some spiritual +benefit might accrue to them thereby. But as the ages roll on, their +chances of doing this diminish. The time is swiftly approaching when +the invincible Law of Absorption shall extinguish Earth as easily as we +blow out the flame of a candle. True, it may be again reproduced, and +again thrown out on space; but then it will be in a new and grander +form, and will doubtless have more godlike inhabitants. + +"In the meantime--during those brief cycles of centuries which are as a +breath in the workings of the Infinite, and which must yet elapse +before this world, as we know it, comes to an end--God has taken pity +on the few, very few souls dwelling here, pent up in mortal clay, who +have blindly tried to reach Him, like plants straining up to the light, +and has established a broad stream of sympathetic electric +communication with Himself, which all who care to do so may avail +themselves of. + +"Here it may be asked: Why should God take pity? Because that Supreme +Shape of Light finds a portion of Himself in all pure souls that love +Him, and HE CANNOT DESPISE HIMSELF. Also because He is capable of all +the highest emotions known to man, in a far larger and grander degree, +besides possessing other sentiments and desires unimaginable to the +human mind. It is enough to say that all the attributes that accompany +perfect goodness He enjoys; therefore He can feel compassion, +tenderness, forgiveness, patience--all or any of the emotions that +produce pure, unselfish pleasure. + +"Granting Him, therefore, these attributes (and it is both blasphemous +and unreasonable to DENY HIM THOSE VIRTUES WHICH DISTINGUISH THE BEST +OF MEN), it is easily understood how He, the All-Fair Beneficent Ruler +of the Central Sphere, perceiving the long distance to which the Earth +was propelled, like a ball flung too far out, from the glory of His +Electric Ring, saw also that the creatures He had made in His image +were in danger of crushing that image completely out, and with it all +remembrance of Him, in the fatal attention they gave to their merely +earthly surroundings, lacking, as they did, and not possessing +sufficient energy to seek, electric attraction. In brief, this Earth +and God's World were like America and Europe before the Atlantic Cable +was laid. Now the messages of goodwill flash under the waves, heedless +of the storms. So also God's Cable is laid between us and His Heaven in +the person of Christ. + +"For ages (always remembering that our ages are with God a moment) the +idea of WORSHIP was in the mind of man. With this idea came also the +sentiment of PROPITIATION. The untamed savage has from time immemorial +instinctively felt the necessity of looking up to a Being greater than +Himself, and also of seeking a reconciliation with that Being for some +fault or loss in himself which he is aware of, yet cannot explain. This +double instinct--worship and propitiation--is the key-note of all the +creeds of the world, and may be called God's first thought of the cable +to be hereafter laid--a lightning-thought which He instilled into the +human race to prepare it, as one might test a telegraph-wire from house +to house, before stretching it across a continent. + +"All religions, as known to us, are mere types of Christianity. It is a +notable fact that some of the oldest and most learned races in the +world, such as the Armenians and Chaldeans, were the first to be +convinced of the truth of Christ's visitation. Buddhism, of which there +are so many million followers, is itself a type of Christ's teaching; +only it lacks the supernatural element. Buddha died a hermit at the age +of eighty, as any wise and ascetic man might do to-day. The death and +resurrection of Christ were widely different. Anyone can be a Buddha +again; anyone can NOT be a Christ. That there are stated to be more +followers of Buddhism than of Christianity is no proof of any efficacy +in the former or lack of power in the latter. Buddhists help to swell +that very large class of persons who prefer a flattering picture to a +plain original; or who, sheep-like by nature, finding themselves all +together in one meadow, are too lazy, as well as too indifferent, to +seek pastures fresher and fairer. + +"Through the divine influence of an Electric Thought, then, the world +unconsciously grew to expect SOMETHING--they knew not what. The old +creeds of the world, like sunflowers, turned towards that unknown Sun; +the poets, prophets, seers, all spoke of some approaching consolation +and glory; and to this day the fated Jews expect it, unwilling to +receive as their Messiah the Divine Martyr they slew, though their own +Scriptures testify to His identity. + +"Christ came, born of a Virgin; that is, a radiant angel from God's +Sphere was in the first place sent down to Earth to wear the form of +Mary of Bethlehem, in Judea. Within that vessel of absolute purity God +placed an Emanation of His own radiance--no germ or small flame such as +is given to us in our bodies to cultivate and foster, but a complete +immortal Spirit, a portion of God Himself, wise, sinless, and strong. +This Spirit, pent up in clay, was born as a helpless babe, grew up as +man--as man taught, comforted, was slain and buried; but as pure Spirit +rose again and returned in peace to Heaven, His mission done. + +"It was necessary, in order to establish what has been called an +electric communication between God's Sphere and this Earth, that an +actual immortal, untainted Spirit in the person of Christ should walk +this world, sharing with men sufferings, difficulties, danger, and +death. Why? In order that we might first completely confide in and +trust Him, afterwards realizing His spiritual strength and glory by His +resurrection. And here may be noted the main difference between the +Electric Theory of Christianity and other theories. CHRIST DID NOT DIE +BECAUSE GOD NEEDED A SACRIFICE. The idea of sacrifice is a relic of +heathen barbarism; God is too infinitely loving to desire the sacrifice +of the smallest flower. He is too patient to be ever wrathful; and +barbaric ignorance confronts us again in the notion that He should need +to be appeased. And the fancy that He should desire Himself or part of +Himself to become a sacrifice to Himself has arisen out of the absurd +and conflicting opinions of erring humanity, wherein right and wrong +are so jumbled together that it is difficult to distinguish one from +the other. Christ's death was not a sacrifice; it was simply a means of +confidence and communion with the Creator. A sinless Spirit suffered to +show us how to suffer; lived on earth to show us how to live; prayed to +show us how to pray; died to show us how to die; rose again to impress +strongly upon us that there was in truth a life beyond this one, for +which He strove to prepare our souls. Finally, by His re-ascension into +Heaven He established that much-needed electric communication between +us and the Central Sphere. + +"It can be proved from the statements of the New Testament that in +Christ was an Embodied Electric Spirit. From first to last His career +was attended by ELECTRIC PHENOMENA, of which eight examples are here +quoted; and earnest students of the matter can find many others if they +choose to examine for themselves. + +"1. The appearance of the Star and the Vision of Angels on the night of +His birth. The Chaldeans saw His 'star in the east,' and they came to +worship Him. The Chaldeans were always a learned people, and +electricity was an advanced science with them. They at once recognized +the star to be no new planet, but simply a star-shaped flame flitting +through space. They knew what this meant. Observe, too, that they had +no doubts upon the point; they came 'to worship him,' and provided +themselves with gifts to offer to this radiant Guest, the offspring of +pure Light. The vision of the angels appearing to the shepherds was +simply a joyous band of the Singing Children of the Electric Ring, who +out of pure interest and pleasure floated in sight of Earth, drawn +thither partly by the already strong attractive influence of the +Radiance that was imprisoned there in the form of the Babe of Bethlehem. + +"2. When Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, 'THE HEAVENS OPENED.' + +"3. The sympathetic influence of Christ was so powerful that when He +selected His disciples, He had but to speak to them, and at the sound +of His voice, though they were engaged in other business, 'THEY LEFT +ALL AND FOLLOWED HIM." + +"4. Christ's body was charged with electricity. Thus He was easily able +to heal sick and diseased persons by a touch or a look. The woman who +caught at His garment in the crowd was cured of her long-standing +ailment; and we see that Christ was aware of His own electric force by +the words He used on that occasion: 'WHO TOUCHED ME? FOR I FEEL THAT +SOME VIRTUE IS GONE OUT OF ME'--which is the exact feeling that a +physical electrician experiences at this day after employing his powers +on a subject. The raising of Jairus's daughter, of the widow's son at +Nain, and of Lazarus, were all accomplished by the same means. + +"5. The walking on the sea was a purely electric effort, AND CAN BE +ACCOMPLISHED NOW BY ANYONE who has cultivated sufficient inner force. +The sea being full of electric particles will support anybody +sufficiently and similarly charged--the two currents combining to +procure the necessary equilibrium. Peter, who was able to walk a little +way, lost his power directly his will became vanquished by +fear--because the sentiment of fear disperses electricity, and being +purely HUMAN emotion, does away with spiritual strength for the time. + +"6. The Death of Christ was attended by electric manifestations--by the +darkness over the land during the Crucifixion; the tearing of the +temple veil in twain; and the earthquake which finally ensued. + +"7. The Resurrection was a most powerful display of electric force. It +will be remembered that the angel who was found sitting at the entrance +of the empty sepulchre 'had a countenance like LIGHTNING,' i.e., like +electric flame. It must also be called to mind how the risen Christ +addressed Mary Magdalene: 'TOUCH ME NOT, for I am but newly risen!' Why +should she not have touched Him? Simply because His strength then was +the strength of concentrated in-rushing currents of electricity; and to +touch him at that moment would have been for Magdalene instant death by +lightning. This effect of embodied electric force has been shadowed +forth in the Greek legends of Apollo, whose glory consumed at a breath +the mortal who dared to look upon him. + +"8. The descent of the Holy Ghost, by which term is meant an +ever-flowing current of the inspired working Intelligence of the +Creator, was purely electric in character: 'Suddenly there came a sound +from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house +where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them CLOVEN TONGUES +LIKE AS OF FIRE, and sat upon each of them.' It may here be noted that +the natural electric flame is DUAL or 'cloven' in shape. + +"Let us now take the Creed as accepted to-day by the Christian Church, +and see how thoroughly it harmonizes with the discoveries of spiritual +electricity. 'I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven +and Earth, and of all things VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.' This is a brief +and simple description of the Creator as He exists--a Supreme Centre of +Light, out of whom MUST spring all life, all love, all wisdom. + +"'And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of +the Father before all ages.' This means that the only absolute +Emanation of His own PERSONAL Radiance that ever wore such mean garb as +our clay was found in Christ--who, as part of God, certainly existed +'BEFORE ALL AGES.' For as the Creed itself says, He was 'God of God, +LIGHT OF LIGHT. Then we go on through the circumstances of Christ's +birth, life, death, and resurrection, and our profession of faith +brings us to 'I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, +who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,' etc. This, as already +stated, means that we believe that since Christ ascended into Heaven, +our electric communication with the Creator has been established, and +an ever-flowing current of divine inspiration is turned beneficially in +the direction of our Earth, 'proceeding from the Father and the Son.' +We admit in the Creed that this inspiration manifested itself before +Christ came and 'SPAKE BY THE PROPHETS;' but, as before stated, this +only happened at rare and difficult intervals, while now Christ Himself +speaks through those who most strongly adhere to His teachings. + +"It may here be mentioned that few seem to grasp the fact of the +SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WOMEN intended to be conveyed in the person of the +Virgin Mary. She was actually one of the radiant Spirits of the Central +Sphere, imprisoned by God's will in woman's form. After the birth of +Christ, she was still kept on earth, to follow His career to the end. +There was a secret understanding between Himself and her. As for +instance, when she found Him among the doctors of the law, she for one +moment suffered her humanity to get the better of her in anxious +inquiries; and His reply, 'Why sought ye Me? Wist ye not that I must be +about My Father's business?' was a sort of reminder to her, which she +at once accepted. Again, at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, when +Christ turned the water into wine, He said to His mother, 'WOMAN, what +have I to do with thee?' which meant simply: What have I to do with +thee as WOMAN merely?--which was another reminder to her of her +spiritual origin, causing her at once to address the servants who stood +by as follows: 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' And why, it may +be asked, if Mary was really an imprisoned immortal Spirit, sinless and +joyous, should she be forced to suffer all the weaknesses, sorrows, and +anxieties of any ordinary woman and mother? SIMPLY AS AN EXAMPLE TO +WOMEN who are the mothers of the human race; and who, being thus laid +under a heavy responsibility, need sympathetic guidance. Mary's life +teaches women that the virtues they need are--obedience, purity, +meekness, patience, long-suffering, modesty, self-denial, and +endurance. She loved to hold a secondary position; she placed herself +in willing subjection to Joseph--a man of austere and simple life, +advanced in years, and weighted with the cares of a family by a +previous marriage--who wedded her by AN INFLUENCE WHICH COMPELLED HIM +to become her protector in the eyes of the world. Out of these facts, +simple as they are, can be drawn the secret of happiness for women--a +secret and a lesson that, if learned by heart, would bring them and +those they love out of storm and bewilderment into peace and safety. + +"FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ONCE BECOME AWARE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE CENTRAL +SPHERE AND OF THE ELECTRIC RING SURROUNDING IT, AND WHO ARE ABLE TO +REALISE TO THE FULL THE GIGANTIC AS WELL AS MINUTE WORK PERFORMED BY +THE ELECTRIC WAVES AROUND US AND WITHIN US, there can no longer be any +doubt as to all the facts of Christianity, as none of them, VIEWED BY +THE ELECTRIC THEORY, are otherwise than in accordance with the +Creator's love and sympathy with even the smallest portion of His +creation. + +"Why then, if Christianity be a Divine Truth, are not all people +Christians? As well ask, if music and poetry are good things, why all +men are not poets and musicians. Art seeks art; in like manner God +seeks God--that is, He seeks portions of His own essence among His +creatures. Christ Himself said, 'Many are called, but few are chosen;' +and it stands to reason that very few souls will succeed in becoming +pure enough to enter the Central Sphere without hindrance. Many, on +leaving Earth, will be detained in the Purgatory of Air, where +thousands of spirits work for ages, watching over others, helping and +warning others, and in this unselfish labour succeed in raising +themselves, little by little, higher and ever higher, till they at last +reach the longed-for goal. It must also be remembered that not only +from Earth, but from ALL WORLDS, released souls seek to attain final +happiness in the Central Sphere where God is; so that, however great +the number of those that are permitted to proceed thither from this +little planet, they can only form, as it were, one drop in a mighty +ocean. + +"It has been asked whether the Electric Theory of Christianity includes +the doctrine of Hell, or a place of perpetual punishment. Eternal +Punishment is merely a form of speech for what is really Eternal +Retrogression. For as there is a Forward, so there must be a Backward. +The electric germ of the Soul--delicate, fiery, and imperishable as it +is--can be forced by its companion Will to take refuge in a lower form +of material existence, dependent on the body it first inhabits. For +instance, a man who is obstinate in pursuing ACTIVE EVIL can so +retrograde the progress of any spiritual life within him, that it shall +lack the power to escape, as it might do, from merely lymphatic and +listless temperaments, to seek some other chance of development, but +shall sink into the form of quadrupeds, birds, and other creatures +dominated by purely physical needs. But there is one thing it can never +escape from--MEMORY. And in that faculty is constituted Hell. So that +if a man, by choice, forces his soul DOWNWARD to inhabit hereafter the +bodies of dogs, horses, and other like animals, he should know that he +does so at the cost of everything except Remembrance. Eternal +Retrogression means that the hopelessly tainted electric germ recoils +further and further from the Pure Centre whence it sprang, ALWAYS +BEARING WITHIN ITSELF the knowledge of WHAT IT WAS ONCE and WHAT IT +MIGHT HAVE BEEN. There is a pathetic meaning in the eyes of a dog or a +seal; in the melancholy, patient gaze of the oxen toiling at the +plough; there is an unuttered warning in the silent faces of flowers; +there is more tenderness of regret in the voice of the nightingale than +love; and in the wild upward soaring of the lark, with its throat full +of passionate, shouting prayer, there is shadowed forth the yearning +hope that dies away in despair as the bird sinks to earth again, his +instincts not half satisfied. There is no greater torture than to be +compelled to remember, in suffering, joys and glorious opportunities +gone for ever. + +"Regarding the Electric Theory of Religion, it is curious to observe +how the truth of it has again and again been dimly shadowed forth in +the prophecies of Art, Science, and Poesy. The old painters who +depicted a halo of light round the head of their Virgins and Saints did +so out of a correct impulse which they did not hesitate to obey. +[Footnote: An impulse which led them vaguely to foresee, though, not to +explain, the electric principle of spiritual life.] The astronomers +who, after years of profound study, have been enabled to measure the +flames of the burning sun, and to find out that these are from two to +four thousand miles high, are nearly arrived at the conclusion that it +is a world in a state of conflagration, in which they will be perfectly +right. Those who hold that this Earth of ours was once self-luminous +are also right; for it was indeed so when first projected from the +Electric Ring. The compilers or inventors of the 'Arabian Nights' also +hit upon a truth when they described human beings as forced through +evil influences to take the forms of lower animals--a truth just +explained in the Law of Retrogression. All art, all prophecy, all +poesy, should therefore be accepted eagerly and studied earnestly, for +in them we find ELECTRIC INSPIRATION out of which we are able to draw +lessons for our guidance hereafter. The great point that scientists and +artists have hitherto failed to discover, is the existence of the +Central Sphere and its Surrounding Electric Circle. Once realize these +two great facts, and all the wonders and mysteries of the Universe are +perfectly easy of comprehension. + +"In conclusion, I offer no opinion as to which is Christ's Church, or +the Fountain-head of spirituality in the world. In all Churches errors +have intruded through unworthy and hypocritical members. In a crowded +congregation of worshippers there may perhaps be only one or two who +are free from self-interest and personal vanity. In Sectarianism, for +instance, there is no shred of Christianity. Lovers of God and +followers of Christ must, in the first place, have perfect Unity; and +the bond uniting them must be an electric one of love and faith. No +true Christian should be able to hate, despise, or envy the other. Were +I called upon to select among the churches, I should choose that which +has most electricity working within it, and which is able to believe in +a positive electrical communication between Christ and herself taking +place daily on her altars--a Church which holds, as it were, the other +end of the telegraphic ray between Earth and the Central Sphere, and +which is, therefore, able to exist among the storms of modern opinions, +affording refuge and consolation to the few determined travellers who +are bound onward and upward. I shall not name the Church I mean, +because it is the duty of everyone to examine and find it out for +himself or herself. And even though this Church instinctively works in +the right direction, it is full of errors introduced by ignorant and +unworthy members--errors which must be carefully examined and cast +aside by degrees. But, as I said before, it is the only Church which +has Principles of Electricity within it, and is therefore destined to +live, because electricity is life. + +"Now I beseech the reader of this manuscript to which I, Heliobas, +append my hand and seal, to remember and realize earnestly the +following invincible facts: first that God and His Christ EXIST; +secondly, that while the little paltry affairs of our temporal state +are being built up as crazily as a child's house of cards, the huge +Central Sphere revolves, and the Electric Ring, strong and +indestructible, is ever at its work of production and re-absorption; +thirdly, that every thought and word of EVERY HABITANT ON EVERY PLANET +is reflected in lightning language before the Creator's eyes as easily +as we receive telegrams; fourthly, that this world is THE ONLY SPOT IN +THE UNIVERSE where His existence is actually questioned and doubted. +And the general spread of modern positivism, materialism and atheism is +one of the most terrific and meaning signs of the times. The work of +separating the wheat from the chaff is beginning. Those who love and +believe in God and Spiritual Beauty are about to be placed on one side; +the millions who worship Self are drawing together in vast opposing +ranks on the other; and the moment approaches which is prophesied to be +'as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, and +shineth even to the other part.' In other words, the fiery whirlpool of +the Ring is nearly ready to absorb our planet in its vortex; and out of +all who dwell upon its surface, how many shall reach the glorious +Central World of God? Of two men working in the same field, shall it +not be as Christ foretold--'the one shall be taken, and the other left'? + +"Friend, or Pupil, Reader! Whoever thou art, take heed and foster thine +own soul! For know that nothing can hinder the Immortal Germ within us +from taking the form imposed upon it by our WILLS. Through Love and +Faith, it can become an Angel, and perform wonders even while in its +habitation of clay; through indifference and apathy, it can desert us +altogether and for ever; through mockery and blasphemous disbelief, it +can sink into even a lower form than that of snake or toad. In our own +unfettered hand lies our eternal destiny. Wonderful and terrible +responsibility! Who shall dare to say we have no need of prayer?" + +This document was signed "Casimir Heliobas," and bore a seal on which +the impression seemed to consist of two Arabic or Sanskrit words, which +I could not understand. I put it carefully away with its companion MS. +under lock and key, and while I was yet pausing earnestly on its +contents, Zara came into my room. She had finished her task in the +studio, she said, and she now proposed a drive in the Bois as an +agreeable way of passing the rest of the afternoon. + +"I want to be as long as possible in your company," she added, with a +caressing sweetness in her manner; "for now your friends have come to +Paris, I expect you will soon be leaving us, so I must have as much of +you as I can." + +My heart sank at the thought of parting from her, and I looked +wistfully at her lovely face. Leo had followed her in from the studio, +and seemed still very melancholy. + +"We shall always be good friends, Zara dearest," I said, "shall we not? +Close, fond friends, like sisters?" + +"Sisters are not always fond of each other," remarked Zara, half gaily. +"And you know 'there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother'!" + +"And what friend is that in YOUR case?" I asked, half jestingly, half +curiously. + +"Death!" she replied with a strange smile, in which there was both +pathos and triumph. + +I started at her unexpected reply, and a kind of foreboding chilled my +blood. I endeavoured, however, to speak cheerfully as I said: + +"Why, of course, death sticks more closely to us than any friend or +relative. But you look fitter to receive the embraces of life than of +death, Zara." + +"They are both one and the same thing," she answered; "or rather, the +one leads to the other. But do not let us begin to philosophize. Put on +your things and come. The carriage is waiting." + +I readily obeyed her, and we enjoyed an exhilarating drive together. +The rest of the day passed with us all very pleasantly and our +conversation had principally to do with the progress of art and +literature in many lands, and maintained itself equably on the level of +mundane affairs. Among other things, we spoke of the Spanish violinist +Sarasate, and I amused Heliobas by quoting to him some of the +criticisms of the London daily papers on this great artist, such as, +"He plays pieces which, though adapted to show his wonderful skill, are +the veriest clap-trap;" "He lacks breadth and colour;" "A true type of +the artist virtuoso," etc., etc. + +"Half these people do not know in the least what they mean by 'breadth +and colour' or 'virtuosity,'" said Heliobas, with a smile. "They think +emotion, passion, all true sentiment combined with extraordinary +TECHNIQUE, must be 'clap-trap.' Now the Continent of Europe +acknowledges Pablo de Sarasate as the first violinist living, and +London would not be London unless it could thrust an obtuse opposing +opinion in the face of the Continent. England is the last country in +the world to accept anything new. Its people are tired and blase; like +highly trained circus-horses, they want to trot or gallop always in the +old grooves. It will always be so. Sarasate is like a brilliant meteor +streaming across their narrow bit of the heaven of music; they stare, +gape, and think it is an unnatural phenomenon--a 'virtuosity' in the +way of meteors, which they are afraid to accept lest it set them on +fire. What would you? The meteor shines and burns; it is always a +meteor!" + +So, talking lightly, and gliding from subject to subject, the hours +wore away, and we at last separated for the night. + +I shall always be glad to remember how tenderly Zara kissed me and +wished me good repose; and I recall now, with mingled pain, wonder, and +gratitude, how perfectly calm and contented I felt as, after my +prayers, I sank to sleep, unwarned, and therefore happily unconscious, +of what awaited me on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DEATH BY LIGHTNING. + + +The morning of the next day dawned rather gloomily. A yellowish fog +obscured the air, and there was a closeness and sultriness in the +atmosphere that was strange for that wintry season. I had slept well, +and rose with the general sense of ease and refreshment that I always +experienced since I had been under the treatment of Heliobas. Those +whose unhappy physical condition causes them to awake from uneasy +slumber feeling almost more fatigued than when they retired to rest, +can scarcely have any idea of the happiness it engenders to open +untired, glad eyes with the morning light; to feel the very air a +nourishment; to stand with lithe, rested limbs in the bath of cool, +pure water, finding that limpid element obediently adding its quota to +the vigour of perfect health; to tingle from head to foot with the warm +current of life running briskly through the veins, making the heart +merry, the brain clear, and all the powers of body and mind in active +working condition. This is indeed most absolute enjoyment. Add to it +the knowledge of the existence of one's own inner Immortal Spirit--the +beautiful germ of Light in the fostering of which no labour is ever +taken in vain--the living, wondrous thing that is destined to watch an +eternity of worlds bloom and fade to bloom again, like flowers, while +itself, superior to them all, shall become ever more strong and +radiant--with these surroundings and prospects, who shall say life is +not worth living? + +Dear Life! sweet Moment! gracious Opportunity! brief Journey so well +worth the taking! gentle Exile so well worth enduring!--thy bitterest +sorrows are but blessings in disguise; thy sharpest pains are brought +upon us by ourselves, and even then are turned to warnings for our +guidance; while above us, through us, and around us radiates the +Supreme Love, unalterably tender! + +These thoughts, and others like them, all more or less conducive to +cheerfulness, occupied me till I had finished dressing. Melancholy was +now no part of my nature, otherwise I might have been depressed by the +appearance of the weather and the murkiness of the air. But since I +learned the simple secrets of physical electricity, atmospheric +influences have had no effect upon the equable poise of my +temperament--a fact for which I cannot be too grateful, seeing how many +of my fellow-creatures permit themselves to be affected by changes in +the wind, intense heat, intense cold, or other things of the like +character. + +I went down to breakfast, singing softly on my way, and I found Zara +already seated at the head of her table, while Heliobas was occupied in +reading and sorting a pile of letters that lay beside his plate. Both +greeted me with their usual warmth and heartiness. + +During the repast, however, the brother and sister were strangely +silent, and once or twice I fancied that Zara's eyes filled with tears, +though she smiled again so quickly and radiantly that I felt I was +mistaken. + +A piece of behaviour on the part of Leo, too, filled me with dismay. He +had been lying quietly at his master's feet for some time, when he +suddenly arose, sat upright, and lifting his nose in air, uttered a +most prolonged and desolate howl. Anything more thoroughly heartbroken +and despairing than that cry I have never heard. After he had concluded +it, the poor animal seemed ashamed of what he had done, and creeping +meekly along, with drooping head and tail, he kissed his master's hand, +then mine, and lastly Zara's. Finally, he went into a distant corner +and lay down again, as if his feelings were altogether too much for him. + +"Is he ill?" I asked pityingly. + +"I think not," replied Heliobas. "The weather is peculiar +to-day--close, and almost thunderous; dogs are very susceptible to such +changes." + +At that moment the page entered bearing a silver salver, on which lay a +letter, which he handed to his master and immediately retired. + +Heliobas opened and read it. + +"Ivan regrets he cannot dine with us to-day," he said, glancing at his +sister; "he is otherwise engaged. He says, however, that he hopes to +have the pleasure of looking in during the latter part of the evening." + +Zara inclined her head gently, and made no other reply. + +A few seconds afterwards we rose from table, and Zara, linking her arm +through mine, said: + +"I want to have a talk with you while we can be alone. Come to my room." + +We went upstairs together, followed by the wise yet doleful Leo, who +seemed determined not to let his mistress out of his sight. When we +arrived at our destination, Zara pushed me gently into an easy-chair, +and seated herself in another one opposite. + +"I am going to ask a favour of you," she began; "because I know you +will do anything to please me or Casimir. Is it not so?" + +I assured her she might rely upon my observing; with the truest +fidelity any request of hers, small or great. + +She thanked me and resumed: + +"You know I have been working secretly in my studio for some time past. +I have been occupied in the execution of two designs--one is finished, +and is intended as a gift to Casimir. The other"--she hesitated--"is +incomplete. It is the colossal figure which was veiled when you first +came in to see my little statue of 'Evening'. I made an attempt beyond +my powers--in short, I cannot carry out the idea to my satisfaction. +Now, dear, pay great attention to what I say. I have reason to believe +that I shall be compelled to take a sudden journey--promise me that +when I am gone you will see that unfinished statue completely +destroyed--utterly demolished." + +I could not answer her for a minute or two, I was so surprised by her +words. + +"Going on a journey, Zara?" I said. "Well, if you are, I suppose you +will soon return home again; and why should your statue be destroyed in +the meantime? You may yet be able to bring it to final perfection." + +Zara shook her head and smiled half sadly. + +"I told you it was a favour I had to ask of you," she said; "and now +you are unwilling to grant it." + +"I am not unwilling--believe me, dearest, I would do anything to please +you," I assured her; "but it seems so strange to me that you should +wish the result of your labour destroyed, simply because you are going +on a journey." + +"Strange as it seems, I desire it most earnestly," said Zara; +"otherwise--but if you will not see it done for me, I must preside at +the work of demolition myself, though I frankly confess it would be +most painful to me." + +I interrupted her. + +"Say no more, Zara!" I exclaimed; "I will do as you wish. When you are +gone, you say--" + +"When I am gone," repeated Zara firmly, "and before you yourself leave +this house, you will see that particular statue destroyed. You will +thus do me a very great service." + +"Well," I said, "and when are you coming back again? Before I leave +Paris?" + +"I hope so--I think so," she replied evasively; "at any rate, we shall +meet again soon." + +"Where are you going?" I asked. + +She smiled. Such a lovely, glad, and triumphant smile! + +"You will know my destination before to-night has passed away," she +answered. "In the meanwhile I have your promise?" + +"Most certainly." + +She kissed me, and as she did so, a lurid flash caught my eyes and +almost dazzled them. It was a gleam of fiery lustre from the electric +jewel she wore. + +The day went on its usual course, and the weather seemed to grow +murkier every hour. The air was almost sultry, and when during the +afternoon I went into the conservatory to gather some of the glorious +Marechal Niel roses that grew there in such perfection, the intense +heat of the place was nearly insupportable. I saw nothing of Heliobas +all day, and, after the morning, very little of Zara. She disappeared +soon after luncheon, and I could not find her in her rooms nor in her +studio, though I knocked at the door several times. Leo, too, was +missing. After being alone for an hour or more, I thought I would pay a +visit to the chapel. But on attempting to carry out this intention I +found its doors locked--an unusual circumstance which rather surprised +me. Fancying that I heard the sound of voices within, I paused to +listen. But all was profoundly silent. Strolling into the hall, I took +up at random from a side-table a little volume of poems, unknown to me, +called "Pygmalion in Cyprus;" and seating myself in one of the +luxurious Oriental easy-chairs near the silvery sparkling fountain, I +began to read. I opened the book I held at "A Ballad of Kisses," which +ran as follows: + + "There are three kisses that I call to mind, + And I will sing their secrets as I go,-- + The first, a kiss too courteous to be kind, + Was such a kiss as monks and maidens know, + As sharp as frost, as blameless as the snow. + + "The second kiss, ah God! I feel it yet,-- + And evermore my soul will loathe the same,-- + The toys and joys of fate I may forget, + But not the touch of that divided shame; + It clove my lips--it burnt me like a flame. + + "The third, the final kiss, is one I use + Morning and noon and night, and not amiss. + Sorrow be mine if such I do refuse! + And when I die, be Love enrapt in bliss + Re-sanctified in heaven by such a kiss!" + +This little gem, which I read and re-read with pleasure, was only one +of many in the same collection, The author was assuredly a man of +genius. I studied his word-melodies with intense interest, and noted +with some surprise how original and beautiful were many of his fancies +and similes. I say I noted them with surprise, because he was evidently +a modern Englishman, and yet unlike any other of his writing species. +His name was not Alfred Tennyson, nor Edwin Arnold, nor Matthew Arnold, +nor Austin Dobson, nor Martin Tupper. He was neither plagiarist nor +translator--he was actually an original man. I do not give his name +here, as I consider it the duty of his own country to find him out and +acknowledge him, which, as it is so proud of its literary standing, of +course it will do in due season. On this, my first introduction to his +poems, I became speedily absorbed in them, and was repeating to myself +softly a verse which I remember now: + + "Hers was sweetest of sweet faces, + Hers the tenderest eyes of all; + In her hair she had the traces + Of a heavenly coronal, + Bringing sunshine to sad places + Where the sunlight could not fall." + +Then I was startled by the sound of a clock striking six. I bethought +myself of the people who were coming to dinner, and decided to go to my +room and dress. Replacing the "Pygmalion" book on the table whence I +had taken it, I made my way upstairs, thinking as I went of Zara and +her strange request, and wondering what journey she was going upon. + +I could not come to any satisfactory conclusion on this point, besides, +I had a curious disinclination to think about it very earnestly, though +the subject kept recurring to my mind. Yet always some inward monitor +seemed to assure me, as plainly as though the words were spoken in my +ear: + +"It is useless for you to consider the reason of this, or the meaning +of that. Take things as they come in due order: one circumstance +explains the other, and everything is always for the best." + +I prepared my Indian crepe dress for the evening, the same I had worn +for Madame Didier's party at Cannes; only, instead of having lilies of +the valley to ornament it with, I arranged some clusters of the +Marechal Niel roses I had gathered from the conservatory--lovely +blossoms, with their dewy pale-gold centres forming perfect cups of +delicious fragrance. These, relieved by a few delicate sprays of the +maiden-hair fern, formed a becoming finish to my simple costume. As I +arrayed myself, and looked at my own reflection in the long mirror, I +smiled out of sheer gratitude. For health, joyous and vigorous, +sparkled in my eyes, glowed on my cheeks, tinted my lips, and rounded +my figure. The face that looked back at me from the glass was a +perfectly happy one, ready to dimple into glad mirth or bright +laughter. No shadow of pain or care remained upon it to remind me of +past suffering, and I murmured half aloud: "Thank God!" + +"Amen!" said a soft voice, and, turning round, I saw Zara. + +But how shall I describe her? No words can adequately paint the +glorious beauty in which, that night, she seemed to move as in an +atmosphere of her own creating. She wore a clinging robe of the +richest, softest white satin, caught in at the waist by a zone of +pearls--pearls which, from their size and purity, must have been +priceless. Her beautiful neck and arms were bare, and twelve rows of +pearls were clasped round her slender throat, supporting in their +centre the electric stone, which shone with a soft, subdued radiance, +like the light of the young moon. Her rich, dark hair was arranged in +its usual fashion--that is, hanging down in one thick plait, which on +this occasion was braided in and out with small pearls. On her bosom +she wore a magnificent cluster of natural orange-blossoms; and of +these, while I gazed admiringly at her, I first spoke: + +"You look like a bride, Zara! You have all the outward signs of +one--white satin, pearls, and orange-blossoms!" + +She smiled. + +"They are the first cluster that has come out in our conservatory," she +said; "and I could not resist them. As to the pearls, they belonged to +my mother, and are my favourite ornaments; and white satin is now no +longer exclusively for brides. How soft and pretty that Indian crepe +is! Your toilette is charming, and suits you to perfection. Are you +quite ready?" + +"Quite," I answered. + +She hesitated and sighed. Then she raised her lovely eyes with a sort +of wistful tenderness. + +"Before we go down I should like you to kiss me once," she said. + +I embraced her fondly, and our lips met with a lingering sisterly +caress. + +"You will never forget me, will you?" she asked almost anxiously; +"never cease to think of me kindly?" + +"How fanciful you are to-night, Zara dear!" I said. "As if I COULD +forget you! I shall always think of you as the loveliest and sweetest +woman in the world." + +"And when I am out of the world--what then?" she pursued. + +Remembering her spiritual sympathies, I answered at once: + +"Even then I shall know you to be one of the fairest of the angels. So +you see, Zara darling, I shall always love you." + +"I think you will," she said meditatively; "you are one of us. But +come! I hear voices downstairs. I think our expected guests have +arrived, and we must be in the drawing-room to receive them. Good-bye, +little friend!" And she again kissed me. + +"Good-bye!" I repeated in astonishment; "why 'good-bye'?" + +"Because it is my fancy to say the word," she replied with quiet +firmness. "Again, dear little friend, good-bye!" + +I felt bewildered, but she would not give me time to utter another +syllable. She took my hand and hurried me with her downstairs, and in +another moment we were both in the drawing-room, receiving and saying +polite nothings to the Everards and Challoners, who had all arrived +together, resplendent in evening costume. Amy Everard, I thought, +looked a little tired and fagged, though she rejoiced in a superb +"arrangement" by Worth of ruby velvet and salmon-pink. But, though a +perfect dress is consoling to most women, there are times when even +that fails of its effect; and then Worth ceases to loom before the +feminine eye as a sort of demi-god, but dwindles insignificantly to the +level of a mere tailor, whose prices are ruinous. And this, I think, +was the state of mind in which Mrs. Everard found herself that evening; +or else she was a trifle jealous of Zara's harmonious grace and +loveliness. Be this as it may, she was irritable, and whisperingly +found fault with, me for being in such good health. + +"You will have too much colour if you don't take care," she said almost +pettishly, "and nothing is so unfashionable." + +"I know!" I replied with due meekness. "It is very bad style to be +quite well--it is almost improper." + +She looked at me, and a glimmering smile lighted her features. But she +would not permit herself to become good-humoured, and she furled and +unfurled her fan of pink ostrich feathers with some impatience. + +"Where did that child get all those pearls from?" she next inquired, +with a gesture of her head towards Zara. + +"They belonged to her mother," I answered, smiling as I heard Zara +called a CHILD, knowing, as I did, her real age. + +"She is actually wearing a small fortune on her person," went on Amy; +"I wonder her brother allows her. Girls never understand the value of +things of that sort. They should be kept for her till she is old enough +to appreciate them." + +I made no reply; I was absorbed in watching Heliobas, who at that +moment entered the room accompanied by Father Paul. He greeted his +guests with warmth and unaffected heartiness, and all present were, I +could see, at once fascinated by the dignity of his presence and the +charm of his manner. To an uninstructed eye there was nothing unusual +about him; but to me there was a change in his expression which, as it +were, warned and startled me. A deep shadow of anxiety in his eyes made +them look more sombre and less keen; his smile was not so sweet as it +was stern, and there was an undefinable SOMETHING in his very bearing +that suggested--what? Defiance? Yes, defiance; and it was this which, +when I had realized it, curiously alarmed me. For what had he, +Heliobas, to do with even the thought of defiance? Did not all his +power come from the knowledge of the necessity of obedience to the +spiritual powers within and without? Quick as light the words spoken to +me by Aztul regarding him came back to my remembrance: "Even as he is +my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice." What if he SHOULD +fail? A kind of instinct came upon me that some immediate danger of +this threatened him, and I braced myself up to a firm determination, +that, if this was so, I, out of my deep gratitude to him, would do my +utmost best to warn him in time. While these thoughts possessed me, the +hum of gay conversation went on, and Zara's bright laughter ever and +again broke like music on the air. Father Paul, too, proved himself to +be of quite a festive and jovial disposition, for he made himself +agreeable to Mrs. Challoner and her daughters, and entertained them +with the ease and bonhomie of an accomplished courtier and man of the +world. + +Dinner was announced in the usual way--that is, with the sound of music +played by the electric instrument devoted to that purpose, a +performance which elicited much admiration from all the guests. +Heliobas led the way into the dining-room with Mrs. Everard; Colonel +Everard followed, with Zara on one arm and the eldest Miss Challoner on +the other; Mr. Challoner and myself came next; and Father Paul, with +Mrs. Challoner and her other daughter Effie, brought up the rear. There +was a universal murmur of surprise and delight as the dinner-table came +in view; and its arrangement was indeed a triumph of art. In the centre +was placed a large round of crystal in imitation of a lake, and on this +apparently floated a beautiful gondola steered by the figure of a +gondolier, both exquisitely wrought in fine Venetian glass. The +gondolier was piled high with a cargo of roses; but the wonder of it +all was, that the whole design was lit up by electricity. Electric +sparkles, like drops of dew, shone on the leaves of the flowers; the +gondola was lit from end to end with electric stars, which were +reflected with prismatic brilliancy in the crystal below; the +gondolier's long pole glittered with what appeared to be drops of water +tinged by the moonlight, but which was really an electric wire, and in +his cap flashed an electric diamond. The whole ornament scintillated +and glowed like a marvellous piece of curiously contrived jewel-work. +And this was not all. Beside every guest at table a slender vase, +shaped like a long-stemmed Nile lily, held roses and ferns, in which +were hidden tiny electric stars, causing the blossoms to shine with a +transparent and almost fairy-like lustre. + +Four graceful youths, clad in the Armenian costume, stood waiting +silently round the table till all present were seated, and then they +commenced the business of serving the viands, with swift and noiseless +dexterity. As soon as the soup was handed round, tongues were loosened, +and the Challoners, who had been gazing at everything in almost +open-mouthed astonishment, began to relieve their feelings by warm +expressions of unqualified admiration, in which Colonel and Mrs. +Everard were not slow to join. + +"I do say, and I will say, this beats all I've ever seen," said good +Mrs. Challoner, as she bent to examine the glittering vase of flowers +near her plate. + +"And this is real electric light? And is it perfectly harmless?" + +Heliobas smilingly assured her of the safety of his table decorations. +"Electricity," he said, "though the most powerful of masters, is the +most docile of slaves. It is capable of the smallest as well as of the +greatest uses. It can give with equal certainty life or death; in fact, +it is the key-note of creation." + +"Is that your theory, sir?" asked Colonel Everard. + +"It is not only my theory," answered Heliobas, "it is a truth, +indisputable and unalterable, to those who have studied the mysteries +of electric science." + +"And do you base all your medical treatment on this principle?" pursued +the Colonel. + +"Certainly. Your young friend here, who came to me from Cannes, looking +as if she had but a few months to live, can bear witness to the +efficacy of my method." + +Every eye was now turned upon me, and I looked up and laughed. + +"Do you remember, Amy," I said, addressing Mrs. Everard, "how you told +me I looked like a sick nun at Cannes? What do I look like now?" + +"You look as if you had never been ill in your life," she replied. + +"I was going to say," remarked Mr. Challoner in his deliberate manner, +"that you remind me very much of a small painting of Diana that I saw +in the Louvre the other day. You have the same sort of elasticity in +your movements, and the same bright healthy eyes." + +I bowed, still smiling. "I did not know you were such a flatterer, Mr. +Challoner! Diana thanks you!" + +The conversation now became general, and turned, among other subjects, +upon the growing reputation of Raffaello Cellini. + +"What surprises me in that young man," said Colonel Everard, "is his +colouring. It is simply marvellous. He was amiable enough to present me +with a little landscape scene; and the effect of light upon it is so +powerfully done that you would swear the sun was actually shining +through it." + +The fine sensitive mouth of Heliobas curved in a somewhat sarcastic +smile. + +"Mere trickery, my dear sir--a piece of clap-trap," he said lightly. +"That is what would be said of such pictures--in England at least. And +it WILL be said by many oracular, long-established newspapers, while +Cellini lives. As soon as he is dead--ah! c'est autre chose!--he will +then most probably be acknowledged the greatest master of the age. +There may even be a Cellini 'School of Colouring,' where a select +company of daubers will profess to know the secret that has died with +him. It is the way of the world!" + +Mr. Challoner's rugged face showed signs of satisfaction, and his +shrewd eyes twinkled. + +"Right you are, sir!" he said, holding up his glass of wine. "I drink +to you! Sir, I agree with you! I calculate there's a good many worlds +flying round in space, but a more ridiculous, feeble-minded, contrary +sort of world than this one, I defy any archangel to find!" + +Heliobas laughed, nodded, and after a slight pause resumed: + +"It is astonishing to me that people do not see to what an infinite +number of uses they could put the little re-discovery they have made of +LUMINOUS PAINT. In that simple thing there is a secret, which as yet +they do not guess--a wonderful, beautiful, scientific secret, which may +perhaps take them a few hundred years to find out. In the meantime they +have got hold of one end of the thread; they can make luminous paint, +and with it they can paint light-houses, and, what is far more +important--ships. Vessels in mid-ocean will have no more need of +fog-signals and different-coloured lamps; their own coat of paint will +be sufficient to light them safely on their way. Even rooms can be so +painted as to be perfectly luminous at night. A friend of mine, +residing in Italy, has a luminous ballroom, where the ceiling is +decorated with a moon and stars in electric light. The effect is +exceedingly lovely; and though people think a great deal of money must +have been laid out upon it, it is perhaps the only great ballroom in +Italy that has been really cheaply fitted up. But, as I said before, +there is another secret behind the invention or discovery of luminous +paint--a secret which, when once unveiled, will revolutionize all the +schools of art in the world." + +"Do you know this secret?" asked Mrs. Challoner. + +"Yes, madame--perfectly." + +"Then why don't you disclose it for the benefit of everybody?" demanded +Erne Challoner. + +"Because, my dear young lady, no one would believe me if I did. The +time is not yet ripe for it. The world must wait till its people are +better educated." + +"Better educated!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard. "Why, there is nothing +talked of nowadays but education and progress! The very children are +wiser than their parents!" + +"The children!" returned Heliobas, half inquiringly, half indignantly. +"At the rate things are going, there will soon be no children left; +they will all be tired little old men and women before they are in +their teens. The very babes will be born old. Many of them are being +brought up without any faith in God or religion; the result will be an +increase of vice and crime. The purblind philosophers, miscalled wise +men, who teach the children by the light of poor human reason only, and +do away with faith in spiritual things, are bringing down upon the +generations to come an unlooked-for and most terrific curse. Childhood, +the happy, innocent, sweet, unthinking, almost angelic age, at which +Nature would have us believe in fairies and all the delicate aerial +fancies of poets, who are, after all, the only true sages--childhood, I +say, is being gradually stamped out under the cruel iron heel of the +Period--a period not of wisdom, health, or beauty, but one of drunken +delirium, in which the world rushes feverishly along, its eyes fixed on +one hard, glittering, stony-featured idol--Gold. Education! Is it +education to teach the young that their chances of happiness depend on +being richer than their neighbours? Yet that is what it all tends to. +Get on!--be successful! Trample on others, but push forward yourself! +Money, money!--let its chink be your music; let its yellow shine be +fairer than the eyes of love or friendship! Let its piles accumulate +and ever accumulate! There are beggars in the streets, but they are +impostors! There is poverty in many places, but why seek to relieve it? +Why lessen the sparkling heaps of gold by so much as a coin? Accumulate +and ever accumulate! Live so, and then--die! And then--who knows what +then?" + +His voice had been full of ringing eloquence as he spoke, but at these +last words it sank into a low, thrilling tone of solemnity and +earnestness. We all looked at him, fascinated by his manner, and were +silent. + +Mr. Challoner was the first to break the impressive pause. + +"I'm not a speaker, sir," he observed slowly, "but I've got a good deal +of feeling somewheres; and you'll allow me to say that I feel your +words--I think they're right true. I've often wanted to say what you've +said, but haven't seen my way clear to it. Anyhow, I've had a very +general impression about me that what we call Society has of late years +been going, per express service, direct to the devil--if the ladies +will excuse me for plain speaking. And as the journey is being taken by +choice and free-will, I suppose there's no hindrance or stoppage +possible. Besides, it's a downward line, and curiously free from +obstructions." + +"Bravo, John!" exclaimed Mrs. Challoner. "You are actually corning out! +I never heard you indulge in similes before." + +"Well, my dear," returned her husband, somewhat gratified, "better late +than never. A simile is a good thing if it isn't overcrowded. For +instance, Mr. Swinburne's similes are laid on too thick sometimes. +There is a verse of his, which, with all my admiration for him, I never +could quite fathom. It is where he earnestly desires to be as 'Any leaf +of any tree;' or, failing that, he wouldn't mind becoming 'As bones +under the deep, sharp sea.' I tried hard to see the point of that, but +couldn't fix it." + +We all laughed. Zara, I thought, was especially merry, and looked her +loveliest. She made an excellent hostess, and exerted herself to the +utmost to charm--an effort in which she easily succeeded. + +The shadow on the face of her brother had not disappeared, and once or +twice I noticed that Father Paul looked at him with a certain kindly +anxiety. + +The dinner approached its end. The dessert, with its luxurious dishes +of rare fruit, such as peaches, plantains, hothouse grapes, and even +strawberries, was served, and with it a delicious, sparkling, +topaz-tinted wine of Eastern origin called Krula, which was poured out +to us in Venetian glass goblets, wherein lay diamond-like lumps of ice. +The air was so exceedingly oppressive that evening that we found this +beverage most refreshing. When Zara's goblet was filled, she held it up +smiling, and said: + +"I have a toast to propose." + +"Hear, hear!" murmured the gentlemen, Heliobas excepted. + +"To our next merry meeting!" and as she said this she kissed the rim of +the cup, and made a sign as though wafting it towards her brother. + +He started as if from a reverie, seized his glass, and drained off its +contents to the last drop. + +Everyone responded with heartiness to Zara's toast and then Colonel +Everard proposed the health of the fair hostess, which was drunk with +enthusiasm. + +After this Zara gave the signal, and all the ladies rose to adjourn to +the drawing-room. As I passed Heliobas on my way out, he looked so +sombre and almost threatening of aspect, that I ventured to whisper: + +"Remember Azul!" + +"She has forgotten ME!" he muttered. + +"Never--never!" I said earnestly. "Oh, Heliobas! what is wrong with +you?" + +He made no answer, and there was no opportunity to say more, as I had +to follow Zara. But I felt very anxious, though I scarcely knew why, +and I lingered at the door and glanced back at him. As I did so, a low, +rumbling sound, like chariot-wheels rolling afar off, broke suddenly on +our ears. + +"Thunder," remarked Mr. Challoner quietly. "I thought we should have +it. It has been unnaturally warm all day. A good storm will clear the +air." + +In my brief backward look at Heliobas, I noted that when that +far-distant thunder sounded, he grew very pale. Why? He was certainly +not one to have any dread of a storm--he was absolutely destitute of +fear. I went into the drawing-room with a hesitating step--my instincts +were all awake and beginning to warn me, and I murmured softly a prayer +to that strong, invisible majestic spirit which I knew must be near +me--my guardian Angel. I was answered instantly--my foreboding grew +into a positive certainty that some danger menaced Heliobas, and that +if I desired to be his friend, I must be prepared for an emergency. +Receiving this, as all such impressions should be received, as a direct +message sent me for my guidance, I grew calmer, and braced up my +energies to oppose SOMETHING, though I knew not what. + +Zara was showing her lady-visitors a large album of Italian +photographs, and explaining them as she turned the leaves. As I entered +the room, she said eagerly to me: + +"Play to us, dear! Something soft and plaintive. We all delight in your +music, you know." + +"Did you hear the thunder just now?" I asked irrelevantly. + +"It WAS thunder? I thought so!" said Mrs. Everard. "Oh, I do hope there +is not going to be a storm! I am so afraid of a storm!" + +"You are nervous?" questioned Zara kindly, as she engaged her attention +with some very fine specimens among the photographs, consisting of +views from Venice. + +"Well, I suppose I am," returned Amy, half laughing. "Yet I am plucky +about most things, too. Still I don't like to hear the elements +quarrelling together--they are too much in earnest about it--and no +person can pacify them." + +Zara smiled, and gently repeated her request to me for some music--a +request in which Mrs. Challoner and her daughters eagerly joined. As I +went to the piano I thought of Edgar Allan Poe's exquisite poem: + + "In Heaven a spirit doth dwell, + Whose heart-strings are a lute; + None sing so wildly well + As the angel Israfel, + And the giddy stars, so legends tell, + Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell + Of his voice--all mute." + +As I poised my fingers above the keys of the instrument, another long, +low, ominous roll of thunder swept up from the distance and made the +room tremble. + +"Play--play, for goodness' sake!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard; "and then we +shall not be obliged to fix our attention on the approaching storm!" + +I played a few soft opening arpeggio passages, while Zara seated +herself in an easy-chair near the window, and the other ladies arranged +themselves on sofas and ottomans to their satisfaction. The room was +exceedingly close: and the scent of the flowers that were placed about +in profusion was almost too sweet and overpowering. + + "And they say (the starry choir + And the other listening things) + That Israfeli's fire + Is owing to that lyre, + By which lie sits and sings,-- + The trembling living wire + Of those unusual strings." + +How these verses haunted me! With them floating in my mind, I +played--losing myself in mazes of melody, and travelling harmoniously +in and out of the different keys with that sense of perfect joy known +only to those who can improvise with ease, and catch the unwritten +music of nature, which always appeals most strongly to emotions that +are unspoilt by contact with the world, and which are quick to respond +to what is purely instinctive art. I soon became thoroughly absorbed, +and forgot that there were any persons present. In fancy I imagined +myself again in view of the glory of the Electric Ring--again I seemed +to behold the opaline radiance of the Central Sphere: + + "Where Love's a grown-up God, + Where the Houri glances are + Imbued with all the beauty + Which we worship in a star." + +By-and-by I found my fingers at the work of tenderly unravelling a +little skein of major melody, as soft and childlike as the innocent +babble of a small brooklet flowing under ferns. I followed this airy +suggestion obediently, till it led me of itself to its fitting end, +when I ceased playing. I was greeted by a little burst of applause, and +looking up, saw that all the gentlemen had come in from the +dining-room, and were standing near me. The stately figure of Heliobas +was the most prominent in the group; he stood erect, one hand resting +lightly on the framework of the piano, and his eyes met mine fixedly. + +"You were inspired," he said with a grave smile, addressing me; "you +did not observe our entrance." + +I was about to reply, when a loud, appalling crash of thunder rattled +above us, as if some huge building had suddenly fallen into ruins. It +startled us all into silence for a moment, and we looked into each +other's faces with a certain degree of awe. + +"That was a good one," remarked Mr. Challoner. "There was nothing +undecided about that clap. Its mind was made up." + +Zara suddenly rose from her seat, and drew aside the window-curtains. + +"I wonder if it is raining," she said. + +Amy Everard uttered a little shriek of dismay. + +"Oh, don't open the blinds!" she exclaimed. "It is really dangerous!" + +Heliobas glanced at her with a little sarcastic smile. + +"Take a seat on the other side of the room, if you are alarmed, +madame," he said quietly, placing a chair in the position he suggested, +which Amy accepted eagerly. + +She would, I believe, have gladly taken refuge in the coal-cellar had +he offered it. Zara, in the meantime, who had not heard Mrs. Everard's +exclamation of fear, had drawn up one of the blinds, and stood silently +looking out upon the night. Instinctively we all joined her, with the +exception of Amy, and looked out also. The skies were very dark; a +faint moaning wind stirred the tops of the leafless trees; but there +was no rain. A dry volcanic heat pervaded the atmosphere--in fact we +all felt the air so stifling, that Heliobas threw open the window +altogether, saying, as he did so: + +"In a thunderstorm, it is safer to have the windows open than shut; +besides, one cannot suffocate." + +A brilliant glare of light flashed suddenly upon our vision. The +heavens seemed torn open from end to end, and a broad lake of pale blue +fire lay quivering in the heart of the mountainous black clouds--for a +second only. An on-rushing, ever-increasing, rattling roar of thunder +ensued, that seemed to shake the very earth, and all was again darkness. + +"This is magnificent!" cries Mrs. Challoner, who, with her family, had +travelled a great deal, and was quite accustomed to hurricanes and +other inconveniences caused by the unaccommodating behaviour of the +elements. "I don't think I ever saw anything like it, John dear, even +that storm we saw at Chamounix was not any better than this." + +"Well," returned her husband meditatively, "you see we had the snow +mountains there, and the effect was pretty lively. Then there were the +echoes--those cavernous echoes were grand! What was that passage in +Job, Effie, that I used to say they reminded me of?" + +"'The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His reproof ... +The thunder of His power, who can understand?'" replied Effie Challoner +reverently. + +"That's it!" he replied. "I opine that Job was pretty correct in his +ideas--don't you, reverend sir?" turning to Father Paul. + +The priest nodded, and held up his finger warningly. + +"That lady--Mrs. Everard--is going to sing or play, I think," he +observed. "Shall we not keep silence?" + +I looked towards Amy in some surprise. I knew she sang very prettily, +but I had thought she was rendered too nervous by the storm to do aught +but sit quiet in her chair. However, there she was at the piano, and in +another moment her fresh, sweet mezzo-soprano rang softly through the +room in Tosti's plaintive song, "Good-bye!" We listened, but none of us +moved from the open window where we still inhaled what air there was, +and watched the lowering sky. + + "Hush! a voice from the far-away, + 'Listen and learn,' it seems to say; + 'All the to-morrows shall be as to-day,'" + +sang Amy with pathetic sweetness. Zara suddenly moved, as if oppressed, +from her position among us as we stood clustered together, and stepped +out through the French window into the outside balcony, her head +uncovered to the night. + +"You will catch cold!" Mrs. Challoner and I both called to her +simultaneously. She shook her head, smiling back at us; and folding her +arms lightly on the stone balustrade, leaned there and looked up at the +clouds. + + "The link must break, and the lamp must die; + Good-bye to Hope! Good-bye--good-bye!" + +Amy's voice was a peculiarly thrilling one, and on this occasion +sounded with more than its usual tenderness. What with her singing and +the invisible presence of the storm, an utter silence possessed us--not +one of us cared to move. + +Heliobas once stepped to his sister's side in the open balcony, and +said something, as I thought, to warn her against taking cold; but it +was a very brief whisper, and he almost immediately returned to his +place amongst us. Zara looked very lovely out there; the light coming +from the interior of the room glistened softly on the sheen of her +satin dress and its ornaments of pearls; and the electric stone on her +bosom shone faintly, like a star on a rainy evening. Her beautiful +face, turned upwards to the angry sky, was half in light and half in +shade; a smile parted her lips, and her eyes were bright with a look of +interest and expectancy. Another sudden glare, and the clouds were +again broken asunder; but this time in a jagged and hasty manner, as +though a naked sword had been thrust through them and immediately +withdrawn. + +"That was a nasty flash," said Colonel Everard, with an observant +glance at the lovely Juliet-like figure on the balcony. "Mademoiselle, +had you not better come in?" + +"When it begins to rain I will come in," she said, without changing her +posture. "I hear the singing so well out here. Besides, I love the +storm." + +A tumultuous crash of thunder, tremendous for its uproar and the length +of time it was prolonged, made us look at each other again with anxious +faces. + + "What are we waiting for? Oh, my heart! + Kiss me straight on the brows and part! + Again! again, my heart, my heart! + What are we waiting for, you and I? + A pleading look--a stifled cry! + Good-bye for ever---" + +Horror! what was that? A lithe swift serpent of fire twisting +venomously through the dark heavens! Zara raised her arms, looked up, +smiled, and fell--senseless! With such appalling suddenness that we had +scarcely recovered from the blinding terror of that forked +lightning-flash, when we saw her lying prone before us on the balcony +where one instant before she had stood erect and smiling! With +exclamations of alarm and distress we lifted and bore her within the +room and laid her tenderly down upon the nearest sofa. At that moment a +deafening, terrific thunder-clap--one only--as if a huge bombshell had +burst in the air, shook the ground under our feet; and then with a +swish and swirl of long pent-up and suddenly-released wrath, down came +the rain. + +Amy's voice died away in a last "Good-bye!" and she rushed from the +piano, with pale face and trembling lips, gasping out: + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" + +"She has been stunned by a lightning-flash," I said, trying to speak +calmly, while I loosened Zara's dress and sprinkled her forehead with +eau-de-Cologne from a scent-bottle Mrs. Challoner had handed to me. +"She will recover in a few minutes." + +But my limbs trembled under me, and tears, in spite of myself, forced +their way into my eyes. + +Heliobas meanwhile--his countenance white and set as a marble +mask--shut the window fiercely, pulled down the blind, and drew the +heavy silken curtains close. He then approached his sister's senseless +form, and, taking her wrist tenderly, felt for her pulse. We looked on +in the deepest anxiety. The Challoner girls shivered with terror, and +began to cry. Mrs. Everard, with more self-possession, dipped a +handkerchief in cold water and laid it on Zara's temples; but no faint +sigh parted the set yet smiling lips--no sign of life was visible. All +this while the rain swept down in gusty torrents and rattled furiously +against the window-panes; while the wind, no longer a moan, had risen +into a shriek, as of baffled yet vindictive anger. At last Heliobas +spoke. + +"I should be glad of other medical skill than my own," he said, in low +and stifled accents. "This may be a long fainting-fit." + +Mr. Challoner at once proffered his services. + +"I'll go for you anywhere you like," he said cheerily; "and I think my +wife and daughters had better come with me. Our carriage is sure to be +in waiting. It will be necessary for the lady to have perfect quiet +when she recovers, and visitors are best away. You need not be alarmed, +I am sure. By her colour it is evident she is only in a swoon. What +doctor shall I send?" + +Heliobas named one Dr. Morini, 10, Avenue de l'Alma. + +"Right! He shall be here straight. Come, wife--come, girls! Mrs. +Everard, we'll send back our carriage for you and the Colonel. +Good-night! We'll call to-morrow and inquire after mademoiselle." + +Heliobas gratefully pressed his hand as he withdrew, and his wife and +daughters, with whispered farewells, followed him. We who were left +behind all remained near Zara, doing everything we could think of to +restore animation to that senseless form. + +Some of the servants, too, hearing what had happened, gathered in a +little cluster at the drawing-room door, looking with pale and alarmed +faces at the death-like figure of their beautiful mistress. Half an +hour or more must have passed in this manner; within the room there was +a dreadful silence--but outside the rain poured down in torrents, and +the savage wind howled and tore at the windows like a besieging army. +Suddenly Amy Everard, who had been quietly and skilfully assisting me +in rubbing Zara's hands and bathing her forehead, grew faint, +staggered, and would have fallen had not her husband caught her on his +arm. + +"I am frightened," she gasped. "I cannot bear it--she looks so still, +and she is growing--rigid, like a corpse! Oh, if she should be dead!" +And she hid her face on her husband's breast. + +At that moment we heard the grating of wheels on the gravel outside; it +was the Challoners' carriage returned. The coachman, after depositing +his master and family at the Grand Hotel, had driven rapidly back in +the teeth of the stinging sleet and rain to bring the message that Dr. +Morini would be with us as soon as possible. + +"Then," whispered Colonel Everard gently to me, "I'll take Amy home. +She is thoroughly upset, and it's no use having her going off into +hysterics. I'll call with Challoner to-morrow;" and with a kindly +parting nod of encouragement to us all, he slipped softly out of the +room, half leading, half carrying his trembling wife; and in a couple +of minutes we heard the carriage again drive away. + +Left alone at last with Heliobas and Father Paul, I, kneeling at the +side of my darling Zara, looked into their faces for comfort, but found +none. The dry-eyed despair on the countenance of Heliobas pierced me to +the heart; the pitying, solemn expression of the venerable priest +touched me as with icy cold. The lovely, marble-like whiteness and +stillness of the figure before me filled me with a vague terror. Making +a strong effort to control my voice, I called, in a low, clear tone: + +"Zara! Zara!" + +No sign--not the faintest flicker of an eyelash! Only the sound of the +falling rain and the moaning wind--the thunder had long ago ceased. +Suddenly a something attracted my gaze, which first surprised and then +horrified me. The jewel--the electric stone on Zara's bosom no longer +shone! It was like a piece of dull unpolished pebble. Grasping at the +meaning of this, with overwhelming instinctive rapidity, I sprang up +and caught the arm of Heliobas. + +"You--you!" I whispered hurriedly. "YOU can restore her! Do as you did +with Prince Ivan; you can--you must! That stone she wears--the light +has gone out of it. If that means--and I am sure it does--that life has +for a little while gone out of HER, YOU can bring it back. +Quick--Quick! You have the power!" + +He looked at me with burning grief-haunted eyes; and a sigh that was +almost a groan escaped his lips. + +"I have NO power," he said. "Not over her. I told you she was dominated +by a higher force than mine. What can _I_ do? Nothing--worse than +nothing--I am utterly helpless." + +I stared at him in a kind of desperate horror. + +"Do you mean to tell me," I said slowly, "that she is dead--really +dead?" + +He was about to answer, when one of the watching servants announced in +a low tone: "Dr. Morini." + +The new-comer was a wiry, keen-eyed little Italian; his movements were +quick, decisive, and all to the point of action. The first thing he did +was to scatter the little group of servants right and left, and send +them about their business. The next, to close the doors of the room +against all intrusion. He then came straight up to Heliobas, and +pressing his hand in a friendly manner, said briefly: + +"How and when did this happen?" + +Heliobas told him in as few words as possible. Dr. Morini then bent +over Zara's lifeless form, and examined her features attentively. He +laid his car against her heart and listened. Finally, he caught sight +of the round, lustreless pebble hanging at her neck suspended by its +strings of pearls. Very gently he moved this aside; looked, and +beckoned us to come and look also. Exactly on the spot where the +electric stone had rested, a small circular mark, like a black bruise, +tainted the fair soft skin--a mark no larger than a small finger-ring. + +"Death by electricity," said Dr. Morini quietly. "Must have been +instantaneous. The lightning-flash, or downward electric current, +lodged itself here, where this mark is, and passed directly through the +heart. Perfectly painless, but of course fatal. She has been dead some +time." + +And, replacing the stone ornament in its former position, he stepped +back with a suggestive glance at Father Paul. I listened and saw--but I +was in a state of stupefaction. Dead? My beautiful, gay, strong Zara +DEAD? Impossible! I knelt beside her; I called her again and again by +every endearing and tender name I could think of; I kissed her sweet +lips. Oh, they were cold as ice, and chilled my blood! As one in a +dream, I saw Heliobas advance; he kissed her forehead and mouth; he +reverently unclasped the pearls from about her throat, and with them +took off the electric stone. Then Father Paul stepped slowly forward, +and in place of that once brilliant gem, now so dim and destitute of +fire, he laid a crucifix upon the fair and gentle breast, motionless +for ever. + +At sight of this sacred symbol, some tense cord seemed to snap in my +brain, and I cried out wildly: + +"Oh, no, no! Not that! That is for the dead; Zara is not dead! It is +all a mistake--a mistake! She will be quite well presently; and she +will smile and tell you how foolish you were to think her dead! Dead? +She cannot be dead; it is impossible--quite impossible!" And I broke +into a passion of sobs and tears. + +Very gently and kindly Dr. Morini drew me away, and by dint of friendly +persuasion, in which there was also a good deal of firm determination, +led me into the hall, where he made me swallow a glass of wine. As I +could not control my sobs, he spoke with some sternness: + +"Mademoiselle, you can do no good by giving way in this manner. Death +is a very beautiful and solemn thing, and it is irreverent to show +unseemly passion in such a great Presence. You loved your friend--let +it be a comfort to you that she died painlessly. Control yourself, in +order to assist in rendering her the last few gentle services +necessary; and try to console the desolate brother, who looks in real +need of encouragement." + +These last words roused me. I forced back my tears, and dried my eyes. + +"I will, Dr. Morini," I said, in a trembling voice. "I am ashamed to be +so weak. I know what I ought to do, and I will do it. You may trust me." + +He looked at me approvingly. + +"That is well," he said briefly. "And now, as I am of no use here, I +will say good-night. Remember, excessive grief is mere selfishness; +resignation is heroism." + +He was gone. I nerved myself to the task I had before me, and within an +hour the fair casket of what had been Zara lay on an open bier in the +little chapel, lights burning round it, and flowers strewn above it in +mournful profusion. + +We left her body arrayed in its white satin garb; the cluster of +orange-blossoms she had gathered still bloomed upon the cold breast, +where the crucifix lay; but in the tresses of the long dark hair I wove +a wreath of lilies instead of the pearls we had undone. + +And now I knelt beside the bier absorbed in thought. Some of the +weeping servants had assembled, and knelt about in little groups. The +tall candles on the altar were lit, and Father Paul, clad in mourning +priestly vestments, prayed there in silence. The storm of rain and wind +still raged without, and the windows of the chapel shook and rattled +with the violence of the tempest. + +A distant clock struck ONE! with a deep clang that echoed throughout +the house. I shuddered. So short a time had elapsed since Zara had been +alive and well; now, I could not bear to think that she was gone from +me for ever. For ever, did I say? No, not for ever--not so long as love +exists--love that shall bring us together again in that far-off Sphere +where--- + +Hush! what was that? The sound of the organ? I looked around me in +startled wonderment. There was no one seated at the instrument; it was +shut close. The lights on the altar and round the bier burnt steadily; +the motionless figure of the priest before the tabernacle; the praying +servants of the household--all was unchanged. But certainly a flood of +music rolled grandly on the ear--music that drowned for a moment the +howling noise of the battering wind. I rose softly, and touched one of +the kneeling domestics on the shoulder. + +"Did you hear the organ?" I said. + +The woman looked up at me with tearful, alarmed eyes. + +"No, mademoiselle." + +I paused, listening. The music grew louder and louder, and surged round +me in waves of melody. Evidently no one in the chapel heard it but +myself. I looked about for Heliobas, but he had not entered. He was +most probably in his study, whither he had retired to grieve in secret +when we had borne Zara's body to its present couch of dreamless sleep. + +These sounds were meant for me alone, then? I waited, and the music +gradually died away; and as I resumed my kneeling position by the bier +all was again silence, save for the unabated raging of the storm. + +A strange calmness now fell on my spirits. Some invisible hand seemed +to hold me still and tearless. Zara was dead. I realized it now. I +began to consider that she must have known her fate beforehand. This +was what she had meant when she said she was going on a journey. The +more I thought of this the quieter I became, and I hid my face in my +hands and prayed earnestly. + +A touch roused me--an imperative, burning touch. An airy brightness, +like a light cloud with sunshine falling through it, hovered above +Zara's bier! I gazed breathlessly; I could not move my lips to utter a +sound. A face looked at me--a face angelically beautiful! It smiled. I +stretched out my hands; I struggled for speech, and managed to whisper: + +"Zara, Zara! you have come back!" + +Her voice, so sweetly familiar, answered me: "To life? Ah, never, never +again! I am too happy to return. But save him--save my brother! Go to +him; he is in danger; to you is given the rescue. Save him; and for me +rejoice, and grieve no more!" + +The face vanished, the brightness faded, and I sprang up from my knees +in haste. For one instant I looked at the beautiful dead body of the +friend I loved, with its set mouth and placid features, and then I +smiled. This was not Zara--SHE was alive and happy; this fair clay was +but clay doomed to perish, but SHE was imperishable. + +"Save him--save my brother!" These words rang in my ears. I hesitated +no longer--I determined to seek Heliobas at once. Swiftly and +noiselessly I slipped out of the chapel. As the door swung behind me I +heard a sound that first made me stop in sudden alarm, and then hurry +on with increased eagerness. There was no mistaking it--it was the +clash of steel! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY. + + +I rushed to the study-door, tore aside the velvet hangings, and faced +Heliobas and Prince Ivan Petroffsky. They held drawn weapons, which +they lowered at my sudden entrance, and paused irresolutely. + +"What are you doing?" I cried, addressing myself to Heliobas. "With the +dead body of your sister in the house you can fight! You, too!" and I +looked reproachfully at Prince Ivan; "you also can desecrate the +sanctity of death, and yet--you LOVED her!" + +The Prince spoke not, but clenched his sword-hilt with a fiercer grasp, +and glared wildly on his opponent. His eyes had a look of madness in +them--his dress was much disordered--his hair wet with drops of +rain--his face ghastly white, and his whole demeanour was that of a man +distraught with grief and passion. But he uttered no word. Heliobas +spoke; he was coldly calm, and balanced his sword lightly on his open +hand as if it were a toy. + +"This GENTLEMAN," he said, with deliberate emphasis, "happened, on his +way thither, to meet Dr. Morini, who informed him of the fatal +catastrophe which has caused my sister's death. Instead of respecting +the sacredness of my solitude under the circumstances, he thrust +himself rudely into my presence, and, before I could address him, +struck me violently in the face, and accused me of being my sister's +murderer. Such conduct can only meet with one reply. I gave him his +choice of weapons: he chose swords. Our combat has just begun--we are +anxious to resume it; therefore if you, mademoiselle, will have the +goodness to retire---" + +I interrupted him. + +"I shall certainly not retire," I said firmly. "This behaviour on both +your parts is positive madness. Prince Ivan, please to listen to me. +The circumstances of Zara's death were plainly witnessed by me and +others--her brother is as innocent of having caused it as I am." + +And I recounted to him quietly all that had happened during that fatal +and eventful evening. He listened moodily, tracing out the pattern of +the carpet with the point of his sword. When I had finished he looked +up, and a bitter smile crossed his features. + +"I wonder, mademoiselle," he said, "that your residence in this +accursed house has not taught you better. I quite believe all you say, +that Zara, unfortunate girl that she was, received her death by a +lightning-flash. But answer me this: Who made her capable of attracting +atmospheric electricity? Who charged her beautiful delicate body with a +vile compound of electrical fluid, so that she was as a living magnet, +bound to draw towards herself electricity in all its forms? Who +tampered with her fine brain and made her imagine herself allied to a +spirit of air? Who but HE--HE!--yonder unscrupulous wretch!--he who in +pursuit of his miserable science, practised his most dangerous +experiments on his sister, regardless of her health, her happiness, her +life! I say he is her murderer--her remorseless murderer, and a +thrice-damned villain!" + +And he sprang forward to renew the combat. I stepped quietly, +unflinchingly between him and Heliobas. + +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "this cannot go on. Zara herself forbids it!" + +The Prince paused, and looked at me in a sort of stupefaction. + +"Zara forbids it!" he muttered. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean," I went on, "that I have seen Zara since her death; I have +spoken to her. She herself sent me here." + +Prince Ivan stared, and then burst into a fit of wild laughter. + +"Little fool!" he cried to me; "he has maddened you too, then! You are +also a victim! Miserable girl! out of my path! Revenge--revenge! while +I am yet sane!" + +Then pushing me roughly aside, he cast away his sword, and shouted to +Heliobas: + +"Hand to hand, villain! No more of these toy-weapons! Hand to hand!" + +Heliobas instantly threw down his sword also, and rushing forward +simultaneously, they closed together in savage conflict. Heliobas was +the taller and more powerful of the two, but Prince Ivan seemed imbued +with the spirit of a hundred devils, and sprang at his opponent's +throat with the silent breathless ferocity of a tiger. At first +Heliobas appeared to be simply on the defensive, and his agile, skilful +movements were all used to parry and ward off the other's grappling +eagerness. But as I watched the struggle, myself speechless and +powerless, I saw his face change. Instead of its calm and almost +indifferent expression, there came a look which was completely foreign +to it--a look of savage determination bordering on positive cruelty. In +a moment I saw what was taking place in his mind. The animal passions +of the mere MAN were aroused--the spiritual force was utterly +forgotten. The excitement of the contest was beginning to tell, and the +desire of victory was dominant in the breast of him whose ideas were +generally--and should have been now--those of patient endurance and +large generosity. The fight grew closer, hotter, and more terrible. +Suddenly the Prince swerved aside and fell, and within a second +Heliobas held him down, pressing one knee firmly against his chest. +From my point of observation I noted with alarm that little by little +Ivan ceased his violent efforts to rise, and that he kept his eyes +fixed on the overshadowing face of his foe with an unnatural and +curious pertinacity. I stepped forward. Heliobas pressed his whole +weight heavily down on the young man's prostrate body, while with both +hands he held him by the shoulders, and gazed with terrific meaning +into his fast-paling countenance. Ivan's lips turned blue; his eyes +appeared to start from their sockets; his throat rattled. The spell +that held me silent was broken; a flash of light, a flood of memory +swept over my intelligence. I knew that Heliobas was exciting the whole +battery of his inner electric force, and that thus employed for the +purposes of vengeance, it must infallibly cause death. I found my +speech at last. + +"Heliobas!" I cried "Remember, remember Azul! When Death lies like a +gift in your hand, withhold it. Withhold it, Heliobas; and give Life +instead!" + +He started at the sound of my voice, and looked up. A strong shudder +shook his frame. Very slowly, very reluctantly, he relaxed his +position; he rose from his kneeling posture on the Prince's breast--he +left him and stood upright. Ivan at the same moment heaved a deep sigh, +and closed his eyes, apparently insensible. + +Gradually one by one the hard lines faded out of the face of Heliobas, +and his old expression of soft and grave beneficence came back to it as +graciously as sunlight after rain. He turned to me, and bent his head +in a sort of reverential salutation. + +"I thank and bless you," he said; "you reminded me in time! Another +moment and it would have been too late. You have saved me." + +"Give him his life," I said, pointing to Ivan. + +"He has it," returned Heliobas; "I have not taken it from him, thank +God! He provoked me; I regret it. I should have been more patient with +him. He will revive immediately. I leave him to your care. In dealing +with him, I ought to have remembered that human passion like his, +unguided by spiritual knowledge, was to be met with pity and +forbearance. As it is, however, he is safe. For me, I will go and pray +for Zara's pardon, and that of my wronged Azul." + +As he uttered the last words, he started, looked up, and smiled. + +"My beautiful one! Thou HAST pardoned me? Thou wilt love me still? Thou +art with me, Azul, my beloved? I have not lost thee, oh my best and +dearest! Wilt thou lead me? Whither? Nay--no matter whither--I come!" + +And as one walking in sleep, he went out of the room, and I heard his +footsteps echoing in the distance on the way to the chapel. + +Left alone with the Prince, I snatched a glass of cold water from the +table, and sprinkled some of it on his forehead and hands. This was +quite sufficient to revive him; and he drew a long breath, opened his +eyes, and stared wildly about him. Seeing no one but me he grew +bewildered, and asked: + +"What has happened?" + +Then catching sight of the drawn swords lying still on the ground where +they had been thrown, he sprang to his feet, and cried: + +"Where is the coward and murderer?" + +I made him sit down and hear with patience what I had to say. I +reminded him that Zara's health and happiness had always been perfect, +and that her brother would rather have slain himself than her. I told +him plainly that Zara had expected her death, and had prepared for +it--had even bade me good-bye, although then I had not understood the +meaning of her words. I recalled to his mind the day when Zara had used +her power to repulse him. + +"Disbelieve as you will in electric spiritual force," I said. "Your +message to her then through me was--TELL HER I HAVE SEEN HER LOVER." + +At these words a sombre shadow flitted over the Prince's face. + +"I tell you," he said slowly, "that I believe I was on that occasion +the victim of an hallucination. But I will explain to you what I saw. A +superb figure, like, and yet unlike, a man, but of a much larger and +grander form, appeared to me, as I thought, and spoke. 'Zara is mine,' +it said--'mine by choice; mine by freewill; mine till death; mine after +death; mine through eternity. With her thou hast naught in common; thy +way lies elsewhere. Follow the path allotted to thee, and presume no +more upon an angel's patience.' Then this Strange majestic-looking +creature, whose face, as I remember it, was extraordinarily beautiful, +and whose eyes were like self-luminous stars, vanished. But, after all, +what of it? The whole thing was a dream." + +"I am not so sure of that," I said quietly, "But, Prince Ivan, now that +you are calmer and more capable of resignation, will you tell me why +you loved Zara?" + +"Why!" he broke out impetuously. "Why, because it was impossible to +help loving her." + +"That is no answer," I replied. "Think! You can reason well if you +like--I have heard you hold your own in an argument. What made you love +Zara?" + +He looked at me in a sort of impatient surprise, but seeing I was very +much in earnest, he pondered a minute or so before replying. + +"She was the loveliest woman I have ever seen!" he said at last, and in +his voice there was a sound of yearning and regret. + +"Is THAT all?" I queried, with a gesture of contempt. "Because her body +was beautiful--because she had sweet kissing lips and a soft skin; +because her hand was like a white flower, and her dark hair clustering +over her brow reminded one of a misty evening cloud hiding moonlight; +because the glance of her glorious eyes made the blood leap through +your veins and sting you with passionate desire--are these the reasons +of your so-called love? Oh, give it some other and lower name! For the +worms shall feed on the fair flesh that won your admiration--their wet +and slimy bodies shall trail across the round white arms and tender +bosom--unsightly things shall crawl among the tresses of the glossy +hair; and nothing, nothing shall remain of what you loved, but dust. +Prince Ivan, you shudder; but I too loved Zara--I loved HER, not the +perishable casket in which, like a jewel, she was for a time enshrined. +I love her still--and for the being I love there is no such thing as +death." + +The Prince was silent, and seemed touched. I had spoken with real +feeling, and tears of emotion stood in my eyes. + +"I loved her as a man generally loves," he said, after a little pause. +"Nay--more than most men love most women!" + +"Most men are too often selfish in both their loves and hatreds," I +returned. "Tell me if there was anything in Zara's mind and +intelligence to attract you? Did you sympathize in her pursuits; did +you admire her tastes; had you any ideas in common with her?" + +"No, I confess I had not," he answered readily. "I considered her to be +entirely a victim to her brother's scientific experiments. I thought, +by making her my wife, to release her from such tyranny and give her +rescue and refuge. To this end I found out all I could from--HIM"--he +approached the name of Heliobas with reluctance--"and I made up my mind +that her delicate imagination had been morbidly excited; but that +marriage and a life like that led by other women would bring her to a +more healthy state of mind." + +I smiled with a little scorn. + +"Your presumption was almost greater than your folly, Prince," I said, +"that with such ideas as these in your mind you could dream of winning +Zara for a wife. Do you think she could have led a life like that of +other women? A frivolous round of gaiety, a few fine dresses and +jewels, small-talk, society scandal, stale compliments--you think such +things would have suited HER? And would she have contented herself with +a love like yours? Come! Come and see how well she has escaped you!" + +And I beckoned him towards the door. He hesitated. + +"Where would you take me?" he asked. + +"To the chapel. Zara's body lies there." + +He shuddered. + +"No, no--not there! I cannot bear to look upon her perished +loveliness--to see that face, once so animated, white and rigid--death +in such a form is too horrible!" + +And he covered his eyes with his hand--I saw tears slowly drop through +his fingers. I gazed at him, half in wonder, half in pity. + +"And yet you are a brave man!" I said. + +These words roused him. He met my gaze with such a haggard look of woe +that my heart ached for him. What comfort had he now? What joy could he +ever expect? All his happiness was centred in the fact of BEING +ALIVE--alive to the pleasures of living, and to the joys the world +could offer to a man who was strong, handsome, rich, and +accomplished--how could he look upon death as otherwise than a +loathsome thing--a thing not to be thought of in the heyday of youthful +blood and jollity--a doleful spectre, in whose bony hands the roses of +love must fall and wither! With a sense of deep commiseration in me, I +spoke again with great gentleness. + +"You need not look upon Zara's corpse unless you wish it, Prince," I +said. "To you, the mysteries of the Hereafter have not been unlocked, +because there is something in your nature that cannot and will not +believe in God. Therefore to you, death must be repellent. I know you +are one of those for whom the present alone exists--you easily forget +the past, and take no trouble for the future. Paris is your heaven, or +St. Petersburg, or Vienna, as the fancy takes you; and the modern +atheistical doctrines of French demoralization are in your blood. +Nothing but a heaven-sent miracle could make you other than you are, +and miracles do not exist for the materialist. But let me say two words +more before you go from this house. Seek no more to avenge yourself for +your love-disappointment on Heliobas--for you have really nothing to +avenge. By your own confession you only cared for Zara's body--that +body was always perishable, and it has perished by a sudden but natural +catastrophe. With her soul, you declare you had nothing in common--that +was herself--and she is alive to us who love her as she sought to be +loved. Heliobas is innocent of having slain her body; he but helped to +cultivate and foster that beautiful Spirit which he knew to be HER--for +that he is to be honored and commended. Promise me, therefore, Prince +Ivan, that you will never approach him again except in +friendship--indeed, you owe him an apology for your unjust accusation, +as also your gratitude for his sparing your life in the recent +struggle." + +The Prince kept his eyes steadily fixed upon me all the time I was +speaking, and as I finished, he sighed and moved restlessly. + +"Your words are compelling, mademoiselle," he said; "and you have a +strange attraction for me. I know I am not wrong in thinking that you +are a disciple of Heliobas, whose science I admit, though I doubt his +theories. I promise you willingly what you ask--nay, I will even offer +him my hand if he will accept it." + +Overjoyed at my success, I answered: "He is in the chapel, but I will +fetch him here." + +Over the Prince's face a shadow of doubt, mingled with dread, passed +swiftly, and he seemed to be forming a resolve in his own mind which +was more or less distasteful to him. Whatever the feeling was he +conquered it by a strong effort, and said with firmness: + +"No; I will go to him myself. And I will look again upon--upon the face +I loved. It is but one pang the more, and why should I not endure it?" + +Seeing him thus inclined, I made no effort to dissuade him, and without +another word I led the way to the chapel. I entered it reverently, he +following me closely, with slow hushed footsteps. All was the same as I +had left it, save that the servants of the household had gone to take +some needful rest before the morning light called them to their daily +routine of labour. Father Paul, too, had retired, and Heliobas alone +knelt beside all that remained of Zara, his figure as motionless as +though carved in bronze, his face hidden in his hands. As we +approached, he neither stirred nor looked up, therefore I softly led +the Prince to the opposite side of the bier, that he might look quietly +on the perished loveliness that lay there at rest for ever. Ivan +trembled, yet steadfastly gazed at the beautiful reposeful form, at the +calm features on which the smile with which death had been received, +still lingered--at the folded hands, the fading orange-blossoms--at the +crucifix that lay on the cold breast like the final seal on the letter +of life. Impulsively he stooped forward, and with a tender awe pressed +his lips on the pale forehead, but instantly started back with the +smothered, exclamation: + +"O God! how cold!" + +At the sound of his voice Heliobas rose up erect, and the two men faced +each other, Zara's dead body lying like a barrier betwixt them. + +A pause followed--a pause in which I heard my own heart beating loudly, +so great was my anxiety. Heliobas suffered a few moments to elapse, +then stretched his hand across his sister's bier. + +"In HER name, let there be peace between us, Ivan," he said in accents +that were both gentle and solemn. + +The Prince, touched to the quick, responded to these kindly words with +eager promptness, and they clasped hands over the quiet and lovely form +that lay there--a silent, binding witness of their reconciliation. + +"I have to ask your pardon, Casimir," then whispered Ivan. "I have also +to thank you for my life." + +"Thank the friend who stands beside you," returned Heliobas, in the +same low tone, with a slight gesture towards me. "She reminded me of a +duty in time. As for pardon, I know of no cause of offence on your part +save what was perfectly excusable. Say no more; wisdom comes with +years, and you are yet young." + +A long silence followed. We all remained looking wistfully down upon +the body of our lost darling, in thought too deep for words or weeping. +I then noticed that another humble mourner shared our watch--a mourner +whose very existence I had nearly forgotten. It was the faithful Leo. +He lay couchant on the stone floor at the foot of the bier, almost as +silent as a dog of marble; the only sign of animation he gave being a +deep sigh which broke from his honest heart now and then. I went to him +and softly patted his shaggy coat. He looked up at me with big brown +eyes full of tears, licked my hand meekly, and again laid his head down +upon his two fore-paws with a resignation that was most pathetic. + +The dawn began to peer faintly through the chapel windows--the dawn of +a misty, chilly morning. The storm of the past night had left a sting +in the air, and the rain still fell, though gently. The wind had almost +entirely sunk into silence. I re-arranged the flowers that were strewn +on Zara's corpse, taking away all those that had slightly faded. The +orange-blossom was almost dead, but I left that where it was--where the +living Zara had herself placed it. As I performed this slight service, +I thought, half mournfully, half gladly-- + + "Yes, Heaven is thine, but this + Is a world of sweets and sours-- + Our flowers are merely FLOWERS; + And the shadow of thy perfect bliss + Is the sunshine of ours." + +Prince Ivan at last roused himself as from a deep and melancholy +reverie, and, addressing himself to Heliobas, said softly: + +"I will intrude no longer on your privacy, Casimir. Farewell! I shall +leave Paris to-night." + +For all answer Heliobas beckoned him and me also out of the chapel. As +soon as its doors closed behind us, and we stood in the centre hall, he +spoke with affectionate and grave earnestness: + +"Ivan, something tells me that you and I shall not meet again for many +years, if ever. Therefore, when you say 'farewell,' the word falls upon +my ears with double meaning. We are friends--our friendship is +sanctified by the dead presence of one whom we both loved, in different +ways; therefore you will take in good part what I now say to you. You +know, you cannot disguise from yourself that the science I study is +fraught with terrible truth and marvellous discoveries; the theories I +deduce from it you disbelieve, because you are nearly a materialist. I +say NEARLY--not quite. That 'not quite' makes me love you, Ivan: I +would save the small bright spark that flickers within you from both +escape and extinction. But I cannot--at least, not as yet. Still, in +order that you may know that there is a power in me higher than +ordinary human reason, before you go from me to-night hear my prophecy +of your career. The world waits for you, Ivan--the world, all agape and +glittering with a thousand sparkling toys; it waits greedy for your +presence, ready to fawn upon you for a smile, willing to cringe to you +for a nod of approval. And why? Because wealth is yours--vast, +illimitable wealth. Aye--you need not start or look incredulous--you +will find it as I say. You, whose fortune up to now has barely reached +a poor four thousand per annum--you are at this moment the possessor of +millions. Only last night a relative of yours, whose name you scarcely +know, expired, leaving all his hoarded treasures to you. Before the +close of this present day, on whose threshold we now stand, you will +have the news. When you receive it remember me, and acknowledge that at +least for once I knew and spoke the truth. Follow the broad road, Ivan, +laid out before you--a road wide enough not only for you to walk in, +but for the crowd of toadies and flatterers also, who will push on +swiftly after you and jostle you on all sides; be strong of heart and +merry of countenance! Gather the roses; press the luscious grapes into +warm, red wine that, as you quaff it, shall make your blood dance a mad +waltz in your veins, and fair women's faces shall seem fairer to you +than ever, their embraces more tender, their kisses more tempting! Spin +the ball of Society like a toy in the palm of your hand! I see your +life stretching before me like a brilliant, thread-like ephemeral ray +of light! But in the far distance across it looms a shadow--a shadow +that your power alone can never lift. Mark me, Ivan! When the first +dread chill of that shadow makes itself felt, come to me--I shall yet +be living. Come; for then no wealth can aid you--at that dark hour no +boon companions can comfort. Come; and by our friendship so lately +sworn--by Zara's pure soul--by God's existence, I will not die till I +have changed that darkness over you into light eternal!--Fare you well!" + +He caught the Prince's hand, and wrung it hard; then, without further +word, look, or gesture, turned and disappeared again within the chapel. + +His words had evidently made a deep impression on the young nobleman, +who gazed after his retreating figure with a certain awe not unmingled +with fear. + +I held out my hand in silent farewell. Ivan took it gently, and kissed +it with graceful courtesy. + +"Casimir told me that your intercession saved my life, mademoiselle," +he said. "Accept my poor thanks. If his present prophet-like utterances +be true---" + +"Why should you doubt him?" I asked, with some impatience. "Can you +believe in NOTHING?" + +The Prince, still holding my hand, looked at me in a sort of grave +perplexity. + +"I think you have hit it," he observed quietly. "I doubt everything +except the fact of my own existence, and there are times when I am not +even sure of that. But if, as I said before, the prophecy of my +Chaldean friend, whom I cannot help admiring with all my heart, turns +out to be correct, then my life is more valuable to me than ever with +such wealth to balance it, and I thank you doubly for having saved it +by a word in time." + +I withdrew my hand gently from his. + +"You think the worth of your life increased by wealth?" Tasked. + +"Naturally! Money is power." + +"And what of the shadow also foretold as inseparable from your fate?" + +A faint smile crossed his features. + +"Ah, pardon me! That is the only portion of Casimir's fortune-telling +that I am inclined to disbelieve thoroughly." + +"But," I said, "if you are willing to accept the pleasant part of his +prophecy, why not admit the possibility of the unpleasant occurring +also?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"In these enlightened times, mademoiselle, we only believe what is +agreeable to us, and what suits our own wishes, tastes, and opinions. +Ca va sans dire. We cannot be forced to accept a Deity against our +reason. That is a grand result of modern education." + +"Is it?" and I looked at him with pity. "Poor human reason! It will +reel into madness sometimes for a mere trifle--an overdose of alcohol +will sometimes upset it altogether--what a noble omnipotent thing is +human reason! But let me not detain you. Good-bye, and--as the greeting +of olden times used to run--God save you!" + +He bent his head with a light reverence. + +"I believe you to be a good, sweet woman," he said, "therefore I am +grateful for your blessing. My mother," and here his eyes grew dreamy +and wistful--"poor soul! she died long ago--my mother would never let +me retire to rest without signing the cross on my brow. Ah well, that +is past! I should like, mademoiselle," and his voice sank very low, "to +send some flowers for--her--you understand?" + +I did understand, and readily promised to lay whatever blossoms he +selected tenderly above the sacred remains of that earthly beauty he +had loved, as he himself said, "more than most men love most women." + +He thanked me earnestly, and seemed relieved and satisfied. Casting a +look of farewell around the familiar hall, he wafted a parting kiss +towards the chapel--an action which, though light, was full of +tenderness and regret. Then, with a low salute, he left me. The +street-door opened and closed after him in its usual noiseless manner. +He was gone. + +The morning had now fairly dawned, and within the Hotel Mars the work +of the great mansion went on in its usual routine; but a sombre +melancholy was in the atmosphere--a melancholy that not all my best +efforts could dissipate. The domestics looked sullen and heavy-eyed; +the only ones in their number who preserved their usual equanimity were +the Armenian men-servants and the little Greek page. Preparations for +Zara's funeral went on apace; they were exceedingly simple, and the +ceremony was to be quite private in character. Heliobas issued his +orders, and saw to the carrying out of his most minute instructions in +his usual calm manner; but his eyes looked heavy, and his fine +countenance was rendered even more majestic by the sacred, resigned +sorrow that lay upon it like a deep shadow. His page served him with +breakfast in his private room: but he left the light meal untasted. One +of the women brought me coffee; but the very thought of eating and +drinking seemed repulsive, and I could not touch anything. My mind was +busy with the consideration of the duty I had to perform--namely, to +see the destruction of Zara's colossal statue, as she had requested. +After thinking about it for some time, I went to Heliobas and told him +what I had it in charge to do. He listened attentively. + +"Do it at once," he said decisively. "Take my Armenians; they are +discreet, obedient, and they ask no questions--with strong hammers they +will soon crush the clay. Stay! I will come with you." Then looking at +me scrutinizingly, he added kindly: "You have eaten nothing, my child? +You cannot? But your strength will give way--here, take this." And lie +held out a small glass of a fluid whose revivifying properties I well +knew to be greater than any sustenance provided by an ordinary meal. I +swallowed it obediently, and as I returned the empty glass to him he +said: "I also have a commission in charge from Zara. You know, I +suppose, that she was prepared for her death?" + +"I did not know; but I think she must have been," I answered. + +"She was. We both were. We remained together in the chapel all day, +saying what parting words we had to say to one another. We knew her +death, or rather her release, was to occur at some hour that night; but +in what way the end was destined to come, we knew not. Till I heard the +first peals of thunder, I was in suspense; but after that I was no +longer uncertain. You were a witness of the whole ensuing scene. No +death could have been more painless than hers. But let me not forget +the message she gave me for you." Here he took from a secret drawer the +electric stone Zara had always worn. "This jewel is yours," he said. +"You need not fear to accept it--it contains no harm! it will bring you +no ill-fortune. You see how all the sparkling brilliancy has gone out +of it? Wear it, and within a few minutes it will be as lustrous as +ever. The life throbbing in your veins warms the electricity contained +in it; and with the flowing of your blood, its hues change and glow. It +has no power to attract; it can simply absorb and shine. Take it as a +remembrance of her who loved you and who loves you still." + +I was still in my evening dress, and my neck was bare. I slipped the +chain, on which hung the stone, round my throat, and watched the +strange gem with some curiosity. In a few seconds a pale streak of +fiery topaz flashed through it, which deepened and glowed into a warm +crimson, like the heart of a red rose; and by the time it had become +thoroughly warmed against my flesh, it glittered as brilliantly as ever. + +"I will always wear it," I said earnestly. "I believe it will bring me +good fortune." + +"I believe it will," returned Heliobas simply. "And now let us fulfil +Zara's other commands." + +On our way across the hall we were stopped by the page, who brought us +a message of inquiry after Zara's health from Colonel Everard and his +wife, and also from the Challoners. Heliobas hastily wrote a few brief +words in pencil, explaining the fatal result of the accident, and +returned it to the messenger, giving orders at the same time that all +the blinds should be pulled down at the windows of the house, that +visitors might understand there was no admittance. We then proceeded to +the studio, accompanied by the Armenians carrying heavy hammers. +Reverently, and with my mind full of recollections of Zara's living +presence, I opened the familiar door. The first thing that greeted us +was a most exquisitely wrought statue in white marble of Zara herself, +full length, and arrayed in her customary graceful Eastern costume. The +head was slightly raised: a look of gladness lighted up the beautiful +features; and within the loosely clasped hands was a cluster of roses. +Bound the pedestal were carved the words, "Omnia vincit Amor," with +Zara's name and the dates of her birth and death. A little slip of +paper lay at the foot of the statue, which Heliobas perceived, and +taking it he read and passed it to me. The lines were in Zara's +handwriting, and ran as follows: + +"To my beloved Casimir--my brother, my friend, my guide and teacher, to +whom I owe the supreme happiness of my life in this world and the +next--let this poor figure of his grateful Zara be a memento of happy +days that are gone, only to be renewed with redoubled happiness +hereafter." + +I handed back the paper silently, with tears in my eyes, and we turned +our attention to the colossal figure we had come to destroy. It stood +at the extreme end of the studio, and was entirely hidden by white +linen drapery. Heliobas advanced, and by a sudden dexterous movement +succeeded in drawing off the coverings with a single effort, and then +we both fell back and gazed at the clay form disclosed in amazement. +What did it represent? A man? a god? an angel? or all three united in +one vast figure? + +It was an unfinished work. The features of the face were undeclared, +save the brow and eyes; and these were large, grand, and full of +absolute wisdom and tranquil consciousness of power. I could have gazed +on this wonderful piece of Zara's handiwork for hours, but Heliobas +called to the Armenian servants, who stood near the door awaiting +orders, and commanded them to break it down. For once these +well-trained domestics showed signs of surprise, and hesitated. Their +master frowned. Snatching a hammer from one of them, he himself +attacked the great statue as if it were a personal foe. The Armenians, +seeing he was in earnest, returned to their usual habits of passive +obedience, and aided him in his labour. Within a few minutes the great +and beautiful figure lay in fragments on the floor, and these fragments +were soon crushed into indistinguishable atoms. I had promised to +witness this work of destruction, and witness it I did, but it was with +pain and regret. When all was finished, Heliobas commanded his men to +carry the statue of Zara's self down to his own private room, and then +to summon all the domestics of the household in a body to the great +hall, as he wished to address them. I heard him give this order with +some surprise, and he saw it. As the Armenians slowly disappeared, +carrying with great care the marble figure of their late mistress, he +turned to me, as he locked up the door of the studio, and said quietly: + +"These ignorant folk, who serve me for money and food--money that they +have eagerly taken, and food that they have greedily devoured--they +think that I am the devil or one of the devil's agents, and I am going +to prove their theories entirely to their satisfaction. Come and see!" + +I followed him, somewhat mystified. On the way downstairs he said: + +"Do you know why Zara wished that statue destroyed?" + +"No," I said frankly; "unless for the reason that it was incomplete." + +"It always would have been incomplete," returned Heliobas; "even had +she lived to work at it for years. It was a daring attempt, and a +fruitless one. She was trying to make a clay figure of one who never +wore earthly form--the Being who is her Twin-Soul, who dominates her +entirely, and who is with her now. As well might she have tried to +represent in white marble the prismatic hues of the rainbow!" + +We had now reached the hall, and the servants were assembling by twos +and threes. They glanced at their master with looks of awe, as he took +up a commanding position near the fountain, and faced them with a +glance of calm scrutiny and attention. I drew a chair behind one of the +marble columns and seated myself, watching everything with interest. +Leo appeared from some corner or other, and laid his rough body down +close at his master's feet. + +In a few minutes all the domestics, some twenty in number, were +present, and Heliobas, raising his voice, spoke with a clear deliberate +enunciation: + +"I have sent for you all this morning, because I am perfectly aware +that you have all determined to give me notice." + +A stir of astonishment and dismay ensued on the part of the small +audience, and I heard one voice near me whisper: + +"He IS the devil, or how could he have known it?" + +The lips of Heliobas curled in a fine sarcastic smile. He went on: + +"I spare you this trouble. Knowing your intentions, I take upon myself +to dismiss you at once. Naturally, you cannot risk your characters by +remaining in the service of the devil. For my own part, I wonder the +devil's money has not burnt your hands, or his food turned to poison in +your mouths. My sister, your kind and ever-indulgent mistress, is dead. +You know this, and it is your opinion that I summoned up the +thunderstorm which caused her death. Be it so. Report it so, if you +will, through Paris; your words do not affect me. You have been +excellent machines, and for your services many thanks! As soon as my +sister's funeral is over, your wages, with an additional present, will +be sent to you. You can then leave my house when you please; and, +contrary to the usual custom of accepted devils, I am able to say, +without perishing in the effort--God speed you all!" + +The faces of those he addressed exhibited various emotions while he +spoke--fear contending with a good deal of shame. The little Greek page +stepped forward timidly. + +"The master knows that I will never leave him," he murmured, and his +large eyes were moist with tears. + +Heliobas laid a gentle hand on the boy's dark curls, but said nothing. +One of the four Armenians advanced, and with a graceful rapid gesture +of his right hand, touched his head and breast. + +"My lord will not surely dismiss US who desire to devote ourselves to +his service? We are willing to follow my lord to the death if need be, +for the sake of the love and honour we bear him." + +Heliobas looked at him very kindly. + +"I am richer in friends than I thought myself to be," he said quietly. +"Stay then, by all means, Afra, you and your companions, since you have +desired it. And you, my boy," he went on, addressing the tearful page, +"think you that I would turn adrift an orphan, whom a dying mother +trusted to my care? Nay, child, I am as much your servant as you are +mine, so long as your love turns towards me." + +For all answer the page kissed his hand in a sort of rapture, and +flinging back his clustering hair from his classic brows, surveyed the +domestics, who had taken their dismissal in silent acquiescence, with a +pretty scorn. + +"Go, all of you, scum of Paris!" he cried in his clear treble +tones--"you who know neither God nor devil! You will have your +money--more than your share--what else seek you? You have served one of +the noblest of men; and because he is so great and wise and true, you +judge him a fiend! Oh, so like the people of Paris--they who pervert +all things till they think good evil and evil good! Look you! you have +worked for your wages; but I have worked for HIM--I would starve with +him, I would die for him! For to me he is not fiend, but Angel!" + +Overcome by his own feelings the boy again kissed his master's hand, +and Heliobas gently bade him be silent. He himself looked round on the +still motionless group of servants with an air of calm surprise. + +"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Consider yourselves dismissed, +and at liberty to go where you please. Any one of you that chooses to +apply to me for a character shall not lack the suitable recommendation. +There is no more to say." + +A lively-looking woman with quick restless black eyes stepped forward. + +"I am sure," she said, with a mincing curtsey, "that we are very sorry +if we have unintentionally wronged monsieur; but monsieur, who is aware +of so many things, must know that many reports are circulated about +monsieur that make one to shudder; that madame his sister's death so +lamentable has given to all, what one would say, the horrors; and +monsieur must consider that poor servants of virtuous reputation--" + +"So, Jeanne Claudet!" interrupted Heliobas, in a thrilling low tone. +"And what of the child--the little waxen-faced helpless babe left to +die on the banks of the Loire? But it did not die, Jeanne--it was +rescued; and it shall yet live to loathe its mother!" + +The woman uttered a shriek, and fainted. + +In the feminine confusion and fuss that ensued, Heliobas, accompanied +by his little page and the dog Leo, left the hall and entered his own +private room, where for some time I left him undisturbed. + +In the early part of the afternoon a note was brought to me. It was +from Colonel Everard, entreating me to come as soon as possible to his +wife, who was very ill. + +"Since she heard of the death of that beautiful young lady, a death so +fearfully sudden and unexpected," wrote the Colonel, "she has been +quite unlike herself--nervous, hysterical, and thoroughly unstrung. It +will be a real kindness to her if you will come as soon as you can--she +has such, a strong desire for your company." + +I showed this note at once to Heliobas. He read it, and said: + +"Of course you must go. Wait till our simple funeral ceremony is over, +and then--we part. Not for ever; I shall see you often again. For now I +have lost Zara, you are my only female disciple, and I shall not +willingly lose sight of you. You will correspond with me?" + +"Gladly and gratefully," I replied. + +"You shall not lose by it. I can initiate you into many secrets that +will be useful to you in your career. As for your friend Mrs. Everard, +you will find that your presence will cure her. You have progressed +greatly in electric force: the mere touch of your hand will soothe her, +as you will find. But never be tempted to try any of the fluids of +which you have the recipes on her, or on anybody but yourself, unless +you write to me first about it, as Cellini did when he tried an +experiment on you. As for your own bodily and spiritual health, you +know thoroughly what to do--KEEP THE SECRET; and make a step in advance +every day. By-and-by you will have double work." + +"How so?" I asked. + +"In Zara's case, her soul became dominated by a Spirit whose destiny +was fulfilled and perfect, and who never could descend to imprisonment +in earthly clay. Now, you will not be dominated--you will be simply +EQUALIZED; that is, you will find the exact counterpart of your own +soul dwelling also in human form, and you will have to impart your own +force to that other soul, which will, in its turn, impart to yours a +corresponding electric impetus. There is no union so lovely as such an +one--no harmony so exquisite; it is like a perfect chord, complete and +indissoluble. There are sevenths and ninths in music, beautiful and +effective in their degrees; but perhaps none of them are so absolutely +satisfying to the ear as the perfect chord. And this is your lot in +life and in love, my child--be grateful for it night and morning on +your bended knees before the Giver of all good. And walk warily--your +own soul with that other shall need much thought and humble prayer. Aim +onward and upward--you know the road--you also know, and you have +partly seen, what awaits you at the end." + +After this conversation we spoke no more in private together. The rest +of the afternoon was entirely occupied with the final preparations for +Zara's funeral, which was to take place at Pere-la-Chaise early the +next morning. A large and beautiful wreath of white roses, lilies, and +maiden-hair arrived from Prince Ivan; and, remembering my promise to +him, I went myself to lay it in a conspicuous place on Zara's corpse. +That fair body was now laid in its coffin of polished oak, and a +delicate veil of filmy lace draped it from head to foot. The placid +expression of the features remained unchanged, save for a little extra +rigidity of the flesh; the hands, folded over the crucifix, were stiff, +and looked as though they were moulded in wax. I placed the wreath in +position and paused, looking wistfully at that still and solemn figure. +Father Paul, slowly entering from a side-door, came and stood beside me. + +"She is happy!" he said; and a cheerful expression irradiated his +venerable features. + +"Did you also know she would die that night?" I asked softly. + +"Her brother sent for me, and told me of her expected dissolution. She +herself told me, and made her last confession and communion. Therefore +I was prepared." + +"But did you not doubt--were you not inclined to think they might be +wrong?" I inquired, with some astonishment. + +"I knew Heliobas as a child," the priest returned. "I knew his father +and mother before him; and I have been always perfectly aware of the +immense extent of his knowledge, and the value of his discoveries. If I +were inclined to be sceptical on spiritual matters, I should not be of +the race I am; for I am also a Chaldean." + +I said no more, and Father Paul trimmed the tapers burning round the +coffin in devout silence. Again I looked at the fair dead form before +me; but somehow I could not feel sad again. All my impulses bade me +rejoice. Why should I be unhappy on Zara's account?--more especially +when the glories of the Central Sphere were yet fresh in my memory, and +when I knew as a positive fact that her happiness was now perfect. I +left the chapel with a light step and lighter heart, and went to my own +room to pack up my things that all might be in readiness for my +departure on the morrow. On my table I found a volume whose quaint +binding I at once recognised--"The Letters of a Dead Musician." A card +lay beside it, on which was written in pencil: + +"Knowing of your wish to possess this book, I herewith offer it for +your acceptance. It teaches you a cheerful devotion to Art, and an +indifference to the world's opinions--both of which are necessary to +you in your career.--HELIOBAS." + +Delighted with this gift, I opened the book, and found my name written +on the fly-leaf, with the date of the month and year, and the words: + +"La musica e il lamento dell' amore o la preghiera a gli Dei." (Music +is the lament of love, or a prayer to the Gods.) + +I placed this treasure carefully in a corner of my portmanteau, +together with the parchment scrolls containing "The Electric Principle +of Christianity," and the valuables recipes of Heliobas; and as I did +so, I caught sight of myself in the long mirror that directly faced me. +I was fascinated, not by my own reflection, but by the glitter of the +electric gem I wore. It flashed and glowed like a star, and was really +lovely--far more brilliant than the most brilliant cluster of fine +diamonds. I may here remark that I have been asked many questions +concerning this curious ornament whenever I have worn it in public, and +the general impression has been that it is some new arrangement of +ornamental electricity. It is, however, nothing of the kind; it is +simply a clear pebble, common enough on the shores of tropical +countries, which has the property of absorbing a small portion of the +electricity in a human body, sufficient to make it shine with prismatic +and powerful lustre--a property which has only as yet been discovered +by Heliobas, who asserts that the same capability exists in many other +apparently lustreless stones which have been untried, and are therefore +unknown. The "healing stones," or amulets, still in use in the East, +and also in the remote parts of the Highlands (see notes to Archibald +Clerk's translation of 'Ossian'), are also electric, but in a different +way--they have the property of absorbing DISEASE and destroying it in +certain cases; and these, after being worn a suitable length of time, +naturally exhaust what virtue they originally possessed, and are no +longer of any use. Stone amulets are considered nowadays as a mere +superstition of the vulgar and uneducated; but it must be remembered +that superstition itself has always had for it a foundation some grain, +however small and remote, of fact. I could give a very curious +explanation of the formation of ORCHIDS, those strange plants called +sometimes "Freaks of Nature," as if Nature ever indulged in a "freak" +of any kind! But I have neither time nor space to enter upon the +subject now; indeed, if I were once to begin to describe the wonderful, +amazing and beautiful vistas of knowledge that the wise Chaldean, who +is still my friend and guide, has opened up and continues to extend +before my admiring vision, a work of twenty volumes would scarce +contain all I should have to say. But I have written this book merely +to tell those who peruse it, about Heliobas, and what I myself +experienced in his house; beyond this I may not go. For, as, I observed +in my introduction, I am perfectly aware that few, if any, of my +readers will accept my narrative as more than a mere visionary +romance--or that they will admit the mysteries of life, death, +eternity, and all the wonders of the Universe to be simply the NATURAL +AND SCIENTIFIC OUTCOME OF A RING OF EVERLASTING ELECTRIC HEAT AND +LIGHT; but whether they agree to it or no, I can say with Galileo, "E +pur si muove!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +It was a very simple and quiet procession that moved next day from the +Hotel Mars to Pere-la-Chaise. Zara's coffin was carried in an open +hearse, and was covered with a pall of rich white velvet, on which lay +a royal profusion of flowers--Ivan's wreath, and a magnificent cross of +lilies sent by tender-hearted Mrs. Challoner, being most conspicuous +among them. The only thing a little unusual about it was that the +funeral car was drawn by two stately WHITE horses; and Heliobas told me +this had been ordered at Zara's special request, as she thought the +solemn pacing through the streets of dismal black steeds had a +depressing effect on the passers-by. + +"And why," she had said, "should anybody be sad, when _I_ in reality am +so thoroughly happy?" + +Prince Ivan Petroffsky had left Paris, but his carriage, drawn by two +prancing Russian steeds, followed the hearse at a respectful distance, +as also the carriage of Dr. Morini, and some other private persons +known to Heliobas. A few people attended it on foot, and these were +chiefly from among the very poor, some of whom had benefited by Zara's +charity or her brother's medical skill, and had heard of the calamity +through rumour, or through the columns of the Figaro, where it was +reported with graphic brevity. The weather was still misty, and the +fiery sun seemed to shine through tears as Father Paul, with his +assistants, read in solemn yet cheerful tones the service for the dead +according to the Catholic ritual. One of the chief mourners at the +grave was the faithful Leo; who, without obtruding himself in anyone's +way, sat at a little distance, and seemed, by the confiding look with +which he turned his eyes upon his master, to thoroughly understand that +he must henceforth devote his life entirely to him alone. The coffin +was lowered, the "Requiem aeternam" spoken--all was over. Those +assembled shook hands quietly with Heliobas, saluted each other, and +gradually dispersed. I entered a carriage and drove back to the Hotel +Mars, leaving Heliobas in the cemetery to give his final instructions +for the ornamentation and decoration of his sister's grave. + +The little page served me with some luncheon in my own apartment, and +by the time all was ready for my departure, Heliobas returned. I went +down to him in his study, and found him sitting pensively in his +arm-chair, absorbed in thought. He looked sad and solitary, and my +whole heart went out to him in gratitude and sympathy. I knelt beside +him as a daughter might have done, and softly kissed his hand. + +He started as though awakened suddenly from sleep, and seeing me, his +eyes softened, and he smiled gravely. + +"Are you come to say 'Good-bye,' my child?" he asked, in a kind tone. +"Well, your mission here is ended!" + +"Had I any mission at all," I replied, with a grateful look, "save the +very selfish one which was comprised in the natural desire to be +restored to health?" + +Heliobas surveyed me for a few moments in silence. + +"Were I to tell you," he said at last, "by what mystical authority and +influence you were compelled to come here, by what a marvellously +linked chain of circumstances you became known to me long before I saw +you; how I was made aware that you were the only woman living to whose +companionship I could trust my sister at a time when the society of one +of her own sex became absolutely necessary to her; how you were marked +out to me as a small point of light by which possibly I might steer my +course clear of the darkness which threatened me--I say, were I to tell +you all this, you would no longer doubt the urgent need of your +presence here. It is, however, enough to tell you that you have +fulfilled all that was expected of you, even beyond my best hopes; and +in return for your services, the worth of which you cannot realize, +whatever guidance I can give you in the future for your physical and +spiritual life, is yours. I have done something for you, but not +much--I will do more. Only, in communicating with me, I ask you to +honour me with your full confidence in all matters pertaining to +yourself and your surroundings--then I shall not be liable to errors of +judgment in the opinions I form or the advice I give." + +"I promise most readily," I replied gladly, for it seemed to me that I +was rich in possessing as a friend and counsellor such a man as this +student of the loftiest sciences. + +"And now one thing more," he resumed, opening a drawer in the table +near which he sat. "Here is a pencil for you to write your letters to +me with. It will last about ten years, and at the expiration of that +time you can have another. Write with it on any paper, and the marks +will be like those of an ordinary drawing-pencil; but as fast as they +are written they disappear. Trouble not about this circumstance--write +all you have to say, and when you have finished your letter your +closely covered pages shall seem blank. Therefore, were the eye of a +stranger to look at them, nothing could be learned therefrom. But when +they reach me, I can make the writing appear and stand out on these +apparently unsullied pages as distinctly as though your words had been +printed. My letters to you will also, when you receive them, appear +blank; but you will only have to press them for about ten minutes in +this"--and he handed me what looked like an ordinary +blotting-book--"and they will be perfectly legible. Cellini has these +little writing implements; he uses them whenever the distances are too +great for us to amuse ourselves with the sagacity of Leo--in fact the +journeys of that faithful animal have principally been to keep him in +training." + +"But," I said, as I took the pencil and book from his hand, "why do you +not make these convenient writing materials public property? They would +be so useful." + +"Why should I build up a fortune for some needy stationer?" he asked, +with a half-smile. "Besides, they are not new things. They were known +to the ancients, and many secret letters, laws, histories, and poems +were written with instruments such as these. In an old library, +destroyed more than two centuries ago, there was a goodly pile of +apparently blank parchment. Had I lived then and known what I know now, +I could have made the white pages declare their mystery." + +"Has this also to do with electricity?" I asked. + +"Certainly--with what is called vegetable electricity. There is not a +plant or herb in existence, but has almost a miracle hidden away in its +tiny cup or spreading leaves--do you doubt it?" + +"Not I!" I answered quickly. "I doubt nothing!" + +Heliobas smiled gravely. + +"You are right!" he said. "Doubt is the destroyer of beauty--the poison +in the sweet cup of existence--the curse which mankind have brought on +themselves. Avoid it as you would the plague. Believe in anything or +everything miraculous and glorious--the utmost reach of your faith can +with difficulty grasp the majestic reality and perfection of everything +you can see, desire, or imagine. Mistrust that volatile thing called +Human Reason, which is merely a name for whatever opinion we happen to +adopt for the time--it is a thing which totters on its throne in a fit +of rage or despair--there is nothing infinite about it. Guide yourself +by the delicate Spiritual Instinct within you, which tells you that +with God all things are possible, save that He cannot destroy Himself +or lessen by one spark the fiery brilliancy of his ever-widening circle +of productive Intelligence. But make no attempt to convert the world to +your way of thinking--it would be mere waste of time." + +"May I never try to instruct anyone in these things?" I asked. + +"You can try, if you choose; but you will find most human beings like +the herd of swine in the Gospel, possessed by devils that drive them +headlong into the sea. You know, for instance, that angels and aerial +spirits actually exist; but were you to assert your belief in them, +philosophers (so-called) would scout your theories as absurd,--though +their idea of a LONELY God, who yet is Love, is the very acme of +absurdity. For Love MUST have somewhat to love, and MUST create the +beauty and happiness round itself and the things beloved. But why point +out these simple things to those who have no desire to see? Be content, +child, that YOU have been deemed worthy of instruction--it is a higher +fate for you than if you had been made a Queen." + +The little page now entered, and told me that the carriage was at the +door in waiting. As he disappeared again after delivering this message, +Heliobas rose from his chair, and taking my two hands in his, pressed +them kindly. + +"One word more, little friend, on the subject of your career. I think +the time will come when you will feel that music is almost too sacred a +thing to be given away for money to a careless and promiscuous public. +However this may be, remember that scarce one of the self-styled +artists who cater for the crowd deserves to be called MUSICIAN in the +highest sense of the word. Most of them seek not music, but money and +applause; and therefore the art they profess is degraded by them into a +mere trade. But you, when you play in public, must forget that PERSONS +with little vanities and lesser opinions exist. Think of what you saw +in your journey with Azul; and by a strong effort of your will, you +can, if you choose, COMPEL certain harmonies to sound in your +ears--fragments of what is common breathing air to the Children of the +Ring, some of whom you saw--and you will be able to reproduce them in +part, if not in entirety. But if you once admit a thought of Self to +enter your brain, those aerial sounds will be silenced instantly. By +this means, too, you can judge who are the true disciples of music in +this world--those who, like Schubert and Chopin, suffered the +heaven-born melodies to descend THROUGH them as though they were mere +conductors of sound; or those who, feebly imitating other composers, +measure out crotchets and quavers by rule and line, and flood the world +with inane and perishable, and therefore useless, productions. And +now,--farewell." + +"Do you remain in Paris?" I asked. + +"For a few days only. I shall go to Egypt, and in travelling accustom +myself to the solitude in which I must dwell, now Zara has left me." + +"You have Azul," I ventured to remark. + +"Ah! but how often do I see her? Only when my soul for an instant is +clear from all earthly and gross obstruction; and how seldom I can +attain to this result while weighted with my body! But she is near +me--that I know--faithful as the star to the mariner's compass!" + +He raised his head as he spoke, and his eyes flashed. Never had I seen +him look more noble or kingly. The inspired radiance of his face +softened down into his usual expression of gentleness and courtesy, and +he said, offering me his arm: + +"Let me see you to the carriage. You know, it is not an actual parting +with us--I intend that we shall meet frequently. For instance, the next +time we exchange pleasant greetings will be in Italy." + +I suppose I looked surprised; I certainly felt so, for nothing was +further from my thoughts than a visit to Italy. + +Heliobas smiled, and said in a tone that was almost gay: + +"Shall I draw the picture for you? I see a fair city, deep embowered in +hills and sheltered by olive-groves. Over it beams a broad sky, deeply +blue; many soft bells caress the summer air. Away in the Cascine Woods +a gay party of people are seated on the velvety moss; they have +mandolins, and they sing for pure gaiety of heart. One of them, a woman +with fair hair, arrayed in white, with a red rose at her bosom, is +gathering the wild flowers that bloom around her, and weaving them into +posies for her companions. A stranger, pacing slowly, book in hand, +through the shady avenue, sees her--her eyes meet his. She springs up +to greet him; he takes her hand. The woman is yourself; the stranger no +other than your poor friend, who now, for a brief space, takes leave of +you!" + +So rapidly had he drawn up this picture, that the impression made on me +was as though a sudden vision had been shown to me in a magic glass. I +looked at him earnestly. + +"Then our next meeting will be happy?" I said inquiringly. + +"Of course. Why not? And the next--and the next after that also!" he +answered. + +At this reply, so frankly given, I was relieved, and accompanied him +readily through the hall towards the street-door. Leo met us here, and +intimated, as plainly as a human being could have done, his wish to bid +me good-bye. I stooped and kissed his broad head and patted him +affectionately, and was rewarded for these attentions by seeing his +plume-like tail wave slowly to and fro--a sign of pleasure the poor +animal had not betrayed since Zara's departure from the scene of her +earthly imprisonment. + +At the door the pretty Greek boy handed me a huge basket of the +loveliest flowers. + +"The last from the conservatory," said Heliobas. "I shall need no more +of these luxuries." + +As I entered the carriage he placed the flowers beside me, and again +took my hand. + +"Good-bye, my child!" he said, in earnest and kindly tones. "I have +your address, and will write you all my movements. In any trouble, +small or great, of your own, send to me for advice without hesitation. +I can tell you already that I foresee the time when you will resign +altogether the precarious and unsatisfactory life of a mere +professional musician. You think no other career would be possible to +you? Well, you will see! A few months will decide all. Good-bye again; +God bless you!" + +The carriage moved off, and Heliobas stood on the steps of his mansion +watching it out of sight. To the last I saw his stately figure erect in +the light of the winter sunshine--a figure destined from henceforth to +occupy a prominent position in my life and memory. The regret I felt at +parting from him was greatly mitigated by the assurance he gave me of +our future meeting, a promise which has since been fulfilled, and is +likely soon to be fulfilled again. That I have such a friend is an +advantageous circumstance for me, for through his guidance I am able to +judge accurately of many things occurring in the course of the daily +life around me--things which, seemingly trivial, are the hints of +serious results to come, which, I am thus permitted in part to foresee. +There is a drawback, of course, and the one bitter drop in the cup of +knowledge is, that the more I progress under the tuition of Heliobas, +the less am I deceived by graceful appearances. I perceive with almost +cruel suddenness the true characters of all those whom I meet. No smile +of lip or eye can delude me into accepting mere surface-matter for real +depth, and it is intensely painful for me to be forced to behold +hypocrisy in the expression of the apparently devout--sensuality in the +face of some radiantly beautiful and popular woman--vice under the mask +of virtue--self-interest in the guise of friendship, and spite and +malice springing up like a poisonous undergrowth beneath the words of +elegant flattery or dainty compliment. I often wish I could throw a +rose-coloured mist of illusion over all these things and still more +earnestly do I wish I could in a single instance find myself mistaken. +But alas! the fatal finger of the electric instinct within me points +out unerringly the flaw in every human diamond, and writes "SHAM" +across many a cunningly contrived imitation of intelligence and +goodness. Still, the grief I feel at this is counterbalanced in part by +the joy with which I quickly recognize real virtue, real nobility, real +love; and when these attributes flash out upon me from the faces of +human beings, my own soul warms, and I know I have seen a vision as of +angels. The capability of Heliobas to foretell future events proved +itself in his knowledge of the fate of the famous English hero, Gordon, +long before that brave soldier met his doom. At the time the English +Government sent him out on his last fatal mission, a letter from +Heliobas to me contained the following passage: + +"I see Gordon has chosen his destiny and the manner of his death. Two +ways of dying have been offered him--one that is slow, painful, and +inglorious; the other sudden, and therefore sweeter to a man of his +temperament. He himself is perfectly aware of the approaching end of +his career; he will receive his release at Khartoum. England will +lament over him for a little while, and then he will be declared an +inspired madman, who rushed recklessly on his own doom; while those who +allowed him to be slain will be voted the wisest, the most just and +virtuous in the realm." + +This prophecy was carried out to the letter, as I fully believe certain +things of which I am now informed will also be fulfilled. But though +there are persons who pin their faith on "Zadkiel," I doubt if there +are any who will believe in such a thing as ELECTRIC DIVINATION. The +one is mere vulgar imposture, the other is performed on a purely +scientific basis in accordance with certain existing rules and +principles; yet I think there can be no question as to which of the two +the public en masse is likely to prefer. On the whole, people do not +mind being deceived; they hate being instructed, and the trouble of +thinking for themselves is almost too much for them. Therefore +"Zadkiel" is certain to flourish for many and many a long day, while +the lightning instinct of prophecy dormant in every human being remains +unused and utterly forgotten except by the rare few. + + * * * * * + +I have little more to say. I feel that those among my readers who idly +turn over these pages, expecting to find a "NOVEL" in the true +acceptation of the term, may be disappointed. My narrative is simply an +"experience:" but I have no wish to persuade others of the central +truth contained in it--namely, THE EXISTENCE OF POWERFUL ELECTRIC +ORGANS IN EVERY HUMAN BEING, WHICH WITH PROPER CULTIVATION ARE CAPABLE +OF MARVELLOUS SPIRITUAL FORCE. The time is not yet ripe for this fact +to be accepted. + +The persons connected with this story may be dismissed in a few words. +When I joined my friend Mrs. Everard, she was suffering from nervous +hysteria. My presence had the soothing effect Heliobas had assured me +of, and in a very few days we started from Paris in company for +England. She, with her amiable and accomplished husband, went back to +the States a few months since to claim an immense fortune, which they +are now enjoying as most Americans enjoy wealth. Amy has diamonds to +her heart's content, and toilettes galore from Worth's; but she has no +children, and from the tone of her letters to me, I fancy she would +part with one at least of her valuable necklaces to have a small pair +of chubby arms round her neck, and a soft little head nestling against +her bosom. + +Raffaello Cellini still lives and works; his paintings are among the +marvels of modern Italy for their richness and warmth of colour--colour +which, in spite of his envious detractors, is destined to last through +ages. He is not very rich, for he is one of those who give away their +substance to the poor and the distressed; but where he is known he is +universally beloved. None of his pictures have yet been exhibited in +England, and he is in no hurry to call upon the London critics for +their judgment. He has been asked several times to sell his large +picture, "Lords of our Life and Death," but he will not. I have never +met him since our intercourse at Cannes, but I hear of him frequently +through Heliobas, who has recently forwarded me a proof engraving of +the picture "L'Improvisatrice," for which I sat as model. It is a +beautiful work of art, but that it is like ME I am not vain enough to +admit. I keep it, not as a portrait of myself, but as a souvenir of the +man through whose introduction I gained the best friend I have. + +News of Prince Ivan Petroffsky reaches me frequently. He is possessor +of the immense wealth foretold by Heliobas; the eyes of Society +greedily follows his movements; his name figures conspicuously in the +"Fashionable Intelligence;" and the magnificence of his recent marriage +festivities was for some time the talk of the Continent. He has married +the only daughter of a French Duke--a lovely creature, as soulless and +heartless as a dressmaker's stuffed model; but she carries his jewels +well on her white bosom, and receives his guests with as much dignity +as a well-trained major-domo. These qualities suffice to satisfy her +husband at present; how long his satisfaction will last is another +matter. He has not quite forgotten Zara; for on every recurring Jour +des Morts, or Feast of the Dead, he sends a garland or cross of flowers +to the simple grave in Pere-la-Chaise. Heliobas watches his career with +untiring vigilance; nor can I myself avoid taking a certain interest in +the progress of his fate. At the moment I write he is one of the most +envied and popular noblemen in all the Royal Courts of Europe; and no +one thinks of asking him whether he is happy. He MUST be happy, says +the world; he has everything that is needed to make him so. Everything? +yes--all except one thing, for which he will long when the shadow of +the end draws near. + +And now what else remains? A brief farewell to those who have perused +this narrative, or a lingering parting word? + +In these days of haste and scramble, when there is no time for faith, +is there time for sentiment? I think not. And therefore there shall be +none between my readers and me, save this--a friendly warning. +Belief--belief in God--belief in all things noble, unworldly, lofty, +and beautiful, is rapidly being crushed underfoot by--what? By mere +lust of gain! Be sure, good people, be very sure that you are RIGHT in +denying God for the sake of man--in abjuring the spiritual for the +material--before you rush recklessly onward. The end for all of you can +be but death; and are you quite positive after all that there is NO +Hereafter? Is it sense to imagine that the immense machinery of the +Universe has been set in motion for nothing? Is it even common reason +to consider that the Soul of man, with all its high musings, its dreams +of unseen glory, its longings after the Infinite, is a mere useless +vapour, or a set of shifting molecules in a perishable brain? The mere +fact of the EXISTENCE OF A DESIRE clearly indicates an EQUALLY EXISTING +CAPACITY for the GRATIFICATION of that desire; therefore, I ask, would +the WISH for a future state of being, which is secretly felt by every +one of us, have been permitted to find a place in our natures, IF THERE +WERE NO POSSIBLE MEANS OF GRANTING IT? Why all this discontent with the +present--why all this universal complaint and despair and +world-weariness, if there be NO HEREAFTER? For my own part, I have told +you frankly WHAT I HAVE SEEN and WHAT I KNOW; but I do not ask you to +believe me. I only say, IF--IF you admit to yourselves the possibility +of a future and eternal state of existence, would it not be well for +you to inquire seriously how you are preparing for it in these wild +days? Look at society around you, and ask yourselves: Whither is our +"PROGRESS" tending--Forward or Backward--Upward or Downward? Which way? +Fight the problem out. Do not glance at it casually, or put it away as +an unpleasant thought, or a consideration involving too much +trouble--struggle with it bravely till you resolve it, and whatever the +answer may be, ABIDE BY IT. If it leads you to deny God and the +immortal destinies of your own souls, and you find hereafter, when it +is too late, that both God and immortality exist, you have only +yourselves to blame. We are the arbiters of our own fate, and that fact +is the most important one of our lives. Our WILL is positively +unfettered; it is a rudder put freely into our hands, and with it we +can steer WHEREVER WE CHOOSE. God will not COMPEL our love or +obedience. We must ourselves DESIRE to love and obey--DESIRE IT ABOVE +ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD. + +As for the Electric Origin of the Universe, a time is coming when +scientific men will acknowledge it to be the only theory of Creation +worthy of acceptance. All the wonders of Nature are the result of LIGHT +AND HEAT ALONE--i.e., are the work of the Electric Ring I have +endeavoured to describe, which MUST go on producing, absorbing and +reproducing worlds, suns and systems for ever and ever. The Ring, in +its turn, is merely the outcome of God's own personality--the +atmosphere surrounding the World in which He has His existence--a World +created by Love and for Love alone. I cannot force this theory on +public attention, which is at present claimed by various learned +professors, who give ingenious explanations of "atoms" and "molecules;" +yet, even regarding these same "atoms," the mild question may be put: +Where did the FIRST "atom" come from? Some may answer: "We call the +first atom GOD." Surely it is as well to call Him a Spirit of pure +Light as an atom? However, the fact of one person's being convinced of +a truth will not, I am aware, go very far to convince others. I have +related my "experience" exactly as it happened at the time, and my +readers can accept or deny the theories of Heliobas as they please. +Neither denial, acceptance, criticism, nor incredulity can affect ME +personally, inasmuch as I am not Heliobas, but simply the narrator of +an episode connected with him; and as such, my task is finished. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +[In publishing these selections from letters received concerning the +"Romance," I am in honour bound not to disclose the names of my +correspondents, and this necessary reticence will no doubt induce the +incredulous to declare that they are not genuine epistles, but mere +inventions of my own. I am quite prepared for such a possible +aspersion, and in reply, I can but say that I hold the originals in my +possession, and that some of them have been read by my friend Mr. +George Bentley, under whose auspices this book has been successfully +launched on the sea of public favour. I may add that my correspondents +are all strangers to me personally--not one of them have I ever met. A +few have indeed asked me to accord them interviews, but this request I +invariably deny, not wishing to set myself forward in any way as an +exponent of high doctrine in which I am as yet but a beginner and +student.--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER I. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"You must receive so many letters that I feel it is almost a shame to +add to the number, but I cannot resist writing to tell you how very +much your book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds,' has helped me. My dear +friend Miss F----, who has written to you lately I believe, first read +it to me, and I cannot tell you what a want in my life it seemed to +fill up. I have been always interested in the so-called Supernatural, +feeling very conscious of depths in my own self and in others that are +usually ignored. ... I have been reading as many books as I could +obtain upon Theosophy, but though thankful for the high thoughts I +found in them, I still felt a great want--that of combining this occult +knowledge with my own firm belief in the Christian religion. Your book +seemed to give me just what I wanted--IT HAS DEEPENED AND STRENGTHENED +MY BELIEF IN AND LOVE TO GOD AND HAS MADE THE NEW TESTAMENT A NEW BOOK +TO ME. Things which I could not understand before seem clear in the +light which your 'Vision' has thrown upon them, and I cannot remain +satisfied without expressing to you my sincere gratitude. May your book +be read by all who are ready to receive the high truths that it +contains! With thanks, I remain, dear Madam, + +"Yours sincerely, + M. S." + + + +LETTER II. + +"MADAM, + +"I am afraid you will think it very presumptuous of a stranger to +address you, but I have lately read your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and have been much struck with it. It has opened my mind to +such new impressions, and seems to be so much what I have been groping +for so long, that I thought if you would be kind enough to answer this, +I might get a firmer hold on those higher things and be at anchor at +last. If you have patience to read so far, you will imagine I must be +very much in earnest to intrude myself on you like this, but from the +tone of your book I do not believe you would withdraw your hand where +you could do good. ... I never thought of or read of the electric force +(or spirit) in every human being before, but I do believe in it after +reading your book, and YOU HAVE MADE THE NEXT WORLD A LIVING THING TO +ME, and raised my feelings above the disappointments and trials of this +life. ... Your book was put into my hands at a time when I was deeply +distressed and in trouble about my future; but you have shown me how +small a thing this future of OUR life is. ... Would it be asking too +much of you to name any books you think might help me in this new vein +of thought you have given me? Apologizing for having written, believe +me yours sincerely, + +"B. W. L." + +[I answered to the best of my ability the writer of the above, and +later on received another letter as follows:] + +"Forgive my writing to you again on the subject of your 'Romance,' but +I read it so often and think of it so much. I cannot say the wonderful +change your book has wrought in my life, and though very likely you are +constantly hearing of the good it has done, yet it cannot but be the +sweetest thing you can hear--that the seed you have planted is bringing +forth so much fruit. ... The Bible is a new book to me since your work +came into my hands." + + + +LETTER III. + +[The following terribly pathetic avowal is from a clergyman of the +Church of England: ] + +"MADAM, + +"Your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds,' has stopped me on the brink of +what is doubtless a crime, and yet I had come to think it the only way +out of impending madness. I speak of self-destruction--suicide. And +while writing the word, I beg of you to accept my gratitude for the +timely rescue of my soul. Once I believed in the goodness of God--but +of late years the cry of modern scientific atheism, 'There is NO God,' +has rung in my ears till my brain has reeled at the desolation and +nothingness of the Universe. No good, no hope, no satisfaction in +anything--this world only with all its mockery and failure--and +afterwards annihilation! Could a God design and create so poor and +cruel a jest? So I thought--and the misery of the thought was more than +I could bear. I had resolved to make an end. No one knew, no one +guessed my intent, till one Sunday afternoon a friend lent me your +book. I began to read, and never left it till I had finished the last +page--then I knew I was saved. Life smiled again upon me in consoling +colours, and I write to tell you that whatever other good your work may +do and is no doubt doing, you have saved both the life and reason of +one grateful human being. If you will write to me a few lines I shall +be still more grateful, for I feel you can help me. I seem to have read +Christ's mission wrong--but with patience and prayer it is possible to +redeem my error. Once more thanking you, I am, + +"Yours with more thankfulness than I can write, + +"L. E. F." + +[I lost no time in replying to this letter, and since then have +frequently corresponded with the writer, from whose troubled mind the +dark cloud has now entirely departed. And I may here venture to remark +that the evils of "modern scientific atheism" are far more widely +spread and deeply rooted than the majority of persons are aware of, and +that many of the apparently inexplicable cases of self-slaughter on +which the formal verdict, "Suicide during a state of temporary +insanity," is passed, have been caused by long and hopeless brooding on +the "nothingness of the Universe"--which, if it were a true theory, +would indeed make of Creation a bitter, nay, even a senseless jest. The +cruel preachers of such a creed have much to answer for. The murderer +who destroys human life for wicked passion and wantonness is less +criminal than the proudly learned, yet egotistical, and therefore +densely ignorant scientist, who, seeking to crush the soul by his +feeble, narrow-minded arguments, and deny its imperishable nature, +dares to spread his poisonous and corroding doctrines of despair +through the world, draining existence of all its brightness, and +striving to erect barriers of distrust between the creature and the +Creator. No sin can be greater than this; for it is impossible to +estimate the measure of evil that may thus be brought into otherwise +innocent and happy lives. The attitude of devotion and faith is natural +to Humanity, while nothing can be more UNnatural and disastrous to +civilization, morality and law, than deliberate and determined +Atheism.--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER IV. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I dare say you have had many letters, but I must add mine to the +number to thank you for your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds.' I am +deeply interested in the wonderful force we possess, all in a greater +or lesser degree--call it influence, electricity, or what you will. I +have thought much on Theosophy and Psychical Research--but what struck +me in your book was the glorious selflessness inculcated and the +perfect Majesty of the Divinity clear throughout--no sweeping away of +the Crucified One. I felt a better woman for the reading of it twice: +and I know others, too, who are higher and better women for such noble +thoughts and teaching. ... People for the most part dream away their +lives; one meets so few who really believe in electrical affinity, and +I have felt it so often and for so long. Forgive my troubling you with +this letter, but I am grateful for your labour of love towards raising +men and women. + +"Sincerely yours, + +"R. H." + + + +LETTER V. + +"I should like to know if Marie Corelli honestly believes the theory +which she enunciates in her book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds:' and also +if she has any proof on which to found that same theory?--if so, the +authoress will greatly oblige an earnest seeker after Truth if she will +give the information sought to + +"A. S." + +[I sent a brief affirmative answer to the above note; the "proof" of +the theories set forth in the "Romance" is, as I have already stated, +easily to be found in the New Testament. But there are those who do not +and will not believe the New Testament, and for them there are no +"proofs" of any existing spirituality in earth or heaven. "Having eyes +they see not, and hearing they do not understand."--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER VI. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I have lately been reading with intense pleasure your 'Romance of Two +Worlds,' and I must crave your forbearance towards me when I tell you +that it has filled me with envy and wonder. I feel sure that many +people must have plied you with questions on the subject already, but I +am certain that you are too earnest and too sympathetic to feel bored +by what is in no sense idle curiosity, but rather a deep and genuine +longing to know the truth. ... To some minds it would prove such a +comfort and such, a relief to have their vague longings and beliefs +confirmed and made tangible, and, as you know, at the present day +so-called Religion, which is often a mere mixture of dogma and +superstition, is scarcely sufficient to do this. ... I might say a +great deal more and weary your patience, which has already been tried, +I fear. But may I venture to hope that you have some words of comfort +and assurance out of your own experience to give me? With your +expressed belief in the good influence which each may exert over the +other, not to speak of a higher and holier incentive in the example of +One (in whom you also believe) who bids us for His sake to 'Bear one +another's burdens,' you cannot, I think, turn away in impatience from +the seeking of a very earnest soul. + +"Yours sincerely, + +"B. D." + +[I have received about fifty letters written in precisely the same tone +as the above--all more or less complaining of the insufficiency of +"so-called Religion, which is often a mere mixture of dogma and +superstition"--and I ask--What are the preachers of Christ's clear +message about that there should be such plaintively eager anxious souls +as these, who are evidently ready and willing to live noble lives if +helped and encouraged ever so little? Shame on those men who presume to +take up the high vocation of the priesthood for the sake of self-love, +self-interest, worldly advancement, money or position! These things are +not among Christ's teachings. If there are members of the clergy who +can neither plant faith, nor consolation, nor proper comprehension of +God's infinite Beauty and Goodness in the hearts of their hearers, I +say that their continuance in such sacred office is an offence to the +Master whom they profess to serve. "It must needs be that offences +come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" To such may be +addressed the words, "Hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven +against men; ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that +are entering to go in."--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER VII. + +"MADAM, + +"I hope you will not think it great presumption my writing to you. My +excuse must be that I so much want to believe in he great Spirit that +'makes for righteousness,' and I cannot! Your book puts it all so +clearly that if I can only know it to be a true experience of your own, +it will go a long way in dispersing the fog that modern writings +surround one with. ... + +"Apologizing for troubling you, I am faithfully yours, + +"C.M.E." + + + +LETTER VIII. + +"MADAM, + +"I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in writing to you. My +excuse must be the very deep interest your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' has excited in me. I, of course, understand that the STORY +itself is a romance, but in reading it carefully it seems to me that it +is a book written with a purpose. ... The Electric Creed respecting +Religion seems to explain so much in Scripture which has always seemed +to me impossible to accept blindly without explanation of any kind; and +the theory that Christ came to die and to suffer for us as an Example +and a means of communication with God, and not as a SACRIFICE, clears +up a point which has always been to me personally a stumbling-block. I +cannot say how grateful I shall be if you can tell me any means of +studying this subject further; and trusting you will excuse me for +troubling you, I am, Madam, + +"Yours truly, + +"H. B." + +[Once more I may repeat that the idea of a sacrifice to appease God's +anger is purely JEWISH, and has nothing whatever to do with +Christianity according to Christ. He Himself says, "I am the WAY, the +Truth, and the Life; no man cometh to the Father but BY ME." Surely +these words are plain enough, and point unmistakably to a MEANS OF +COMMUNICATION through Christ between the Creator and this world. +Nowhere does the Divine Master say that God is so furiously angry that +he must have the bleeding body of his own messenger, Christ, hung up +before Him as a human sacrifice, as though He could only be pacified by +the scent of blood! Horrible and profane idea! and one utterly at +variance with the tenderness and goodness of "Our Father" as pictured +by Christ in these gentle words--"Fear not, little flock; it is your +Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Whereas that Christ +should come to draw us closer to God by the strong force of His own +Divinity, and by His Resurrection prove to us the reality of the next +life, is not at all a strange or ungodlike mission, and ought to make +us understand more surely than ever how infinitely pitying and +forbearing is the All-Loving One, that He should, as it were, with such +extreme affection show us a way by which to travel through darkness +unto light. To those who cannot see this perfection of goodness +depicted in Christ's own words, I would say in the terse Oriental maxim: + + "Diving, and finding no pearls in the sea, + Blame not the ocean, the fault is in THEE." + AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER IX. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I have lately been reading your remarkable book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and I feel that I must write to you about it. I have never +viewed Christianity in the broadly transfigured light you throw upon +it, and I have since been studying carefully the four Gospels and +comparing them with the theories in your book. The result has been a +complete and happy change in my ideas of religion, and I feel now as if +I had, like a leper of old, touched the robe of Christ and been healed +of a long-standing infirmity. Will you permit me to ask if you have +evolved this new and beneficent lustre from the Gospel yourself? or +whether some experienced student in mystic matters has been your +instructor? I hear from persons who have seen you that you are quite +young, and I cannot understand how one of your sex and age seems able +so easily to throw light on what to many has been, and is still, +impenetrable darkness. I have been a preacher for some years, and I +thought the Testament was old and familiar to me; but you have made it +a new and marvellous book full of most precious meanings, and I hope I +may be able to impart to those whom it is my duty to instruct, +something of the great consolation and hope your writing has filled me +with. + +"Believe me, + +"Gratefully yours, + +"T.M." + + + +LETTER X. + +"MADAM, + +"Will you tell me what ground you have for the foundation of the +religious theory contained in your book, 'A Romance of Two Worlds'? Is +it a part of your own belief? I am MOST anxious to know this, and I am +sure you will be kind enough to answer me. Till I read your book I +thought myself an Agnostic, but now I am not quite sure of this. I do +not believe in the Deity as depicted by the Churches. I CANNOT. Over +and over again I have asked myself--If there is a God, why should He be +angry? It would surely be easy for Him to destroy this world entirely +as one would blow away an offending speck of dust, and it would be much +better and BRAVER for Him to do this than to torture His creation. For +I call life a torture and certainly a useless and cruel torture if it +is to end in annihilation. I know I seem to be blasphemous in these +remarks, yet if you only knew what I suffer sometimes! I desire, I LONG +to believe. YOU seem so certain of your Creed--a Creed so noble, +reasonable and humane--the God you depict so worthy of the adoration of +a Universe. I BEG of you to tell me--DO you feel sure of this +beneficent all-pervading Love concerning which you write so eloquently? +I do not wish to seem an intruder on your most secret thought. I want +to believe that YOU believe--and if I felt this, the tenor of my whole +life might change. Help me if you can--I stand in real need of help. +You may judge I am very deeply in earnest, or I should not have written +to you. + +"Yours faithfully, + +"A. W. L." + + * * * * * + +Of such letters as these I have received enough to make a volume of +themselves; but I think the ten I have selected are sufficient to show +how ardent and inextinguishable is the desire or STRAINING UPWARD, like +a flower to the light, of the human Soul for those divine things which +nourish it. Scarcely a day passes without my receiving more of these +earnest and often pathetic appeals for a little help, a little comfort, +a little guidance, enough to make one's heart ache at the thought of so +much doubt and desolation looming cloud-like over the troubled minds of +many who would otherwise lead not only happy but noble and useful +lives. When will the preachers learn to preach Christ simply--Christ +without human dogmas or differences? When shall we be able to enter a +building set apart for sacred worship--a building of finest +architectural beauty, "glorious without and within," like the "King's +Daughter" of David's psalm--glorious with, light, music, flowers, and +art of the noblest kind (for Art is God's own inspiration to men, and +through it He should be served), there to hear the pure, unselfish +doctrine of Christ as He Himself preached it? For such a temple, the +time has surely come--a nook sacred to God, and untainted by the breath +of Mammon, where we could adore our Creator "in spirit and in truth." +The evils of nineteenth-century cynicism and general flippancy of +thought--great evils as they are and sure prognostications of worse +evils to come--cannot altogether crush out the Divine flame burning in +the "few" that are "chosen," though these few are counted as fools and +dreamers. Yet they shall be proved wise and watchful ere long. The +signs of the times are those that indicate an approaching great +upheaval and change in human destinies. This planet we call ours is in +some respects like ourselves: it was born; it has had its infancy, its +youth, its full prime; and now its age has set in, and with age the +first beginnings of decay. Absorbed once more into the Creative Circle +IT MUST BE; and when again thrown forth among its companion-stars, our +race will no more inhabit it. We shall have had our day--our little +chance--we shall have lost or won. Christ said, "This generation shall +not pass away till all My words be fulfilled," the word "generation" +thus used meaning simply the human race. We put a very narrow limit to +the significance of the Saviour's utterance when we imagine that the +generation He alluded to implied merely the people living in His own +day. In the depths of His Divine wisdom He was acquainted with all the +secrets of the Past and Future; He had no doubt seen this very world +peopled by widely different beings to ourselves, and knew that what we +call the human race is only a passing tribe permitted for a time to +sojourn here. What a strangely presumptuous idea is that which pervades +the minds of the majority of persons--namely, that Mankind, as we know +it, must be the highest form of creation, simply because it is the +highest form WE can see! How absurd it is to be so controlled by our +limited vision, when we cannot even perceive the minute wonders that a +butterfly beholds, or pierce the sunlit air with anything like the +facility possessed by the undazzled eyes of an upward-soaring bird! +Nay, we cannot examine the wing of a common house-fly without the aid +of a microscope--to observe the facial expression of our own actors on +the stage we look through opera-glasses--to form any idea of the +wonders of the stars we construct telescopes to assist our feeble and +easily deluded sight; and yet--yet we continue to parcel out the +infinite gradations of creative Force and Beauty entirely to suit our +own private opinions, and conclude that WE are the final triumph of the +Divine Artist's Supreme Intelligence! Alas! in very truth we are a +sorry spectacle both to our soberly thinking selves and the Higher +Powers, invited, as it were, to spend our life's brief day in one of +God's gardens as His friends and guests, who certainly are not expected +to abuse their Host's hospitality, and, ignoring Him, call themselves +the owners and masters of the ground! For we are but wanderers beneath +the sun; a "generation" which must most surely and rapidly "pass away" +to make room for another; and as the work of the Universe is always +progressive, that other will be of nobler capacity and larger +accomplishment. So while we are here, let us think earnestly of the few +brief chances remaining to us--they grow fewer every hour. On one side +is the endless, glorious heritage of the purely aspiring, Immortal +Spirit; on the other the fleeting Mirage of this our present Existence; +and, midway between the two, the swinging pendulum of HUMAN WILL, which +decides our fate. God does not choose for us, or compel our love--we +are free to fashion out our own futures; but in making our final choice +we cannot afford to waste one moment of our precious, unreturning time. + +MARIE CORELLI. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance of Two Worlds, by Marie Corelli + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS *** + +***** This file should be named 4394.txt or 4394.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/9/4394/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +A Romance of Two Worlds + +A NOVEL. + +BY MARIE CORELLI, + +Author of "Thelma," "Ardath," "Vendetta," Etc. + + + + + +A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. + +PROLOGUE. + + +We live in an age of universal inquiry, ergo of universal +scepticism. The prophecies of the poet, the dreams of the +philosopher and scientist, are being daily realized--things formerly +considered mere fairy-tales have become facts--yet, in spite of the +marvels of learning and science that are hourly accomplished among +us, the attitude of mankind is one of disbelief. "There is no God!" +cries one theorist; "or if there be one, _I_ can obtain no proof of +His existence!" "There is no Creator!" exclaims another. "The +Universe is simply a rushing together of atoms." "There can be no +immortality," asserts a third. "We are but dust, and to dust we +shall return." "What is called by idealists the SOUL," argues +another, "is simply the vital principle composed of heat and air, +which escapes from the body at death, and mingles again with its +native element. A candle when lit emits flame; blow out the light, +the flame vanishes--where? Would it not be madness to assert the +flame immortal? Yet the soul, or vital principle of human existence, +is no more than the flame of a candle." + +If you propound to these theorists the eternal question WHY?--why is +the world in existence? why is there a universe? why do we live? why +do we think and plan? why do we perish at the last?--their grandiose +reply is, "Because of the Law of Universal Necessity." They cannot +explain this mysterious Law to themselves, nor can they probe deep +enough to find the answer to a still more tremendous WHY--namely, +WHY, is there a Law of Universal Necessity?--but they are satisfied +with the result of their reasonings, if not wholly, yet in part, and +seldom try to search beyond that great vague vast Necessity, lest +their finite brains should reel into madness worse than death. +Recognizing, therefore, that in this cultivated age a wall of +scepticism and cynicism is gradually being built up by intellectual +thinkers of every nation against all that treats of the Supernatural +and Unseen, I am aware that my narration of the events I have +recently experienced will be read with incredulity. At a time when +the great empire of the Christian Religion is being assailed, or +politely ignored by governments and public speakers and teachers, I +realize to the fullest extent how daring is any attempt to prove, +even by a plain history of strange occurrences happening to one's +self, the actual existence of the Supernatural around us; and the +absolute certainty of a future state of being, after the passage +through that brief soul-torpor in which the body perishes, known to +us as Death. + +In the present narration, which I have purposely called a "romance," +I do not expect to be believed, as I can only relate what I myself +have experienced. I know that men and women of to-day must have +proofs, or what they are willing to accept as proofs, before they +will credit anything that purports to be of a spiritual tendency;-- +something startling--some miracle of a stupendous nature, such as +according to prophecy they are all unfit to receive. Few will admit +the subtle influence and incontestable, though mysterious, authority +exercised upon their lives by higher intelligences than their own-- +intelligences unseen, unknown, but felt. Yes! felt by the most +careless, the most cynical; in the uncomfortable prescience of +danger, the inner forebodings of guilt--the moral and mental torture +endured by those who fight a protracted battle to gain the hardly- +won victory in themselves of right over wrong--in the thousand and +one sudden appeals made without warning to that compass of a man's +life, Conscience--and in those brilliant and startling impulses of +generosity, bravery, and self-sacrifice which carry us on, heedless +of consequences, to the performance of great and noble deeds, whose +fame makes the whole world one resounding echo of glory--deeds that +we wonder at ourselves even in the performance of them--acts of +heroism in which mere life goes for nothing, and the Soul for a +brief space is pre-eminent, obeying blindly the guiding influence of +a something akin to itself, yet higher in the realms of Thought. + +There are no proofs as to why such things should be; but that they +are, is indubitable. The miracles enacted now are silent ones, and +are worked in the heart and mind of man alone. Unbelief is nearly +supreme in the world to-day. Were an angel to descend from heaven in +the middle of a great square, the crowd would think he had got +himself up on pulleys and wires, and would try to discover his +apparatus. Were he, in wrath, to cast destruction upon them, and +with fire blazing from his wings, slay a thousand of them with the +mere shaking of a pinion, those who were left alive would either say +that a tremendous dynamite explosion had occurred, or that the +square was built on an extinct volcano which had suddenly broken out +into frightful activity. Anything rather than believe in angels--the +nineteenth century protests against the possibility of their +existence. It sees no miracle--it pooh-poohs the very enthusiasm +that might work them. + +"Give a positive sign," it says; "prove clearly that what you say is +true, and I, in spite of my Progress and Atom Theory, will believe." +The answer to such a request was spoken eighteen hundred years and +more ago. "A faithless and perverse generation asketh for a sign, +and no sign shall be given unto them." + +Were I now to assert that a sign had been given to ME--to me, as one +out of the thousands who demand it--such daring assurance on my part +would meet with the most strenuous opposition from all who peruse +the following pages; each person who reads having his own ideas on +all subjects, and naturally considering them to be the best if not +the only ideas worth anything. Therefore I wish it to be plainly +understood that in this book I personally advocate no new theory of +either religion or philosophy; nor do I hold myself answerable for +the opinions expressed by any of my characters. My aim throughout is +to let facts speak for themselves. If they seem strange, unreal, +even impossible, I can only say that the things of the invisible +world must always appear so to those whose thoughts and desires are +centred on this life only. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AN ARTIST'S STUDIO. + + +In the winter of 188--, I was afflicted by a series of nervous +ailments, brought on by overwork and overworry. Chief among these +was a protracted and terrible insomnia, accompanied by the utmost +depression of spirits and anxiety of mind. I became filled with the +gloomiest anticipations of evil; and my system was strung up by slow +degrees to such a high tension of physical and mental excitement, +that the quietest and most soothing of friendly voices had no other +effect upon me than to jar and irritate. Work was impossible; music, +my one passion, intolerable; books became wearisome to my sight; and +even a short walk in the open air brought with it such lassitude and +exhaustion, that I soon grew to dislike the very thought of moving +out of doors. In such a condition of health, medical aid became +necessary; and a skilful and amiable physician, Dr. R----, of great +repute in nervous ailments, attended me for many weeks, with but +slight success. He was not to blame, poor man, for his failure to +effect a cure. He had only one way of treatment, and he applied it +to all his patients with more or less happy results. Some died, some +recovered; it was a lottery on which my medical friend staked his +reputation, and won. The patients who died were never heard of more-- +those who recovered sang the praises of their physician everywhere, +and sent him gifts of silver plate and hampers of wine, to testify +their gratitude. His popularity was very great; his skill considered +marvellous; and his inability to do ME any good arose, I must +perforce imagine, out of some defect or hidden obstinacy in my +constitution, which was to him a new experience, and for which he +was unprepared. Poor Dr. R----! How many bottles of your tastily +prepared and expensive medicines have I not swallowed, in blind +confidence and blinder ignorance of the offences I thus committed +against all the principles of that Nature within me, which, if left +to itself, always heroically struggles to recover its own proper +balance and effect its own cure; but which, if subjected to the +experimental tests of various poisons or drugs, often loses strength +in the unnatural contest and sinks exhausted, perhaps never to rise +with actual vigour again. Baffled in his attempts to remedy my +ailments, Dr, R----at last resorted to the usual plan adopted by all +physicians when their medicines have no power. He recommended change +of air and scene, and urged my leaving London, then dark with the +fogs of a dreary winter, for the gaiety and sunshine and roses of +the Riviera. The idea was not unpleasant to me, and I determined to +take the advice proffered. Hearing of my intention, some American +friends of mine, Colonel Everard and his charming young wife, +decided to accompany me, sharing with me the expenses of the journey +and hotel accommodation. We left London all together on a damp foggy +evening, when the cold was so intense that it seemed to bite the +flesh like the sharp teeth of an animal, and after two days' rapid +journey, during which I felt my spirits gradually rising, and my +gloomy forebodings vanishing slowly one by one, we arrived at +Cannes, and put up at the Hotel de L----. It was a lovely place, and +most beautifully situated; the garden was a perfect wilderness of +roses in full bloom, and an avenue of orange-trees beginning to +flower cast a delicate fragrance on the warm delicious air. + +Mrs. Everard was delighted. + +"If you do not recover your health here," she said half laughingly +to me on the second morning after our arrival, "I am afraid your +case is hopeless. What sunshine! What a balmy wind! It is enough to +make a cripple cast away his crutches and forget he was ever lame. +Don't you think so?" + +I smiled in answer, but inwardly I sighed. Beautiful as the scenery, +the air, and the general surroundings were, I could not disguise +from myself that the temporary exhilaration of my feelings, caused +by the novelty and excitement of my journey to Cannes, was slowly +but surely passing away. The terrible apathy, against which I had +fought for so many months, was again creeping over me with its cruel +and resistless force. I did my best to struggle against it; I +walked, I rode, I laughed and chatted with Mrs. Everard and her +husband, and forced myself into sociability with some of the +visitors at the hotel, who were disposed to show us friendly +attention. I summoned all my stock of will-power to beat back the +insidious physical and mental misery that threatened to sap the very +spring of my life; and in some of these efforts I partially +succeeded. But it was at night that the terrors of my condition +manifested themselves. Then sleep forsook my eyes; a dull throbbing +weight of pain encircled my head like a crown of thorns; nervous +terrors shook me from head to foot; fragments of my own musical +compositions hummed in my ears with wearying persistence--fragments +that always left me in a state of distressed conjecture; for I never +could remember how they ended, and I puzzled myself vainly over +crotchets and quavers that never would consent to arrange themselves +in any sort of finale. So the days went on; for Colonel Everard and +his wife, those days were full of merriment, sight-seeing, and +enjoyment. For me, though outwardly I appeared to share in the +universal gaiety, they were laden with increasing despair and +wretchedness; for I began to lose hope of ever recovering my once +buoyant health and strength, and, what was even worse, I seemed to +have utterly parted with all working ability. I was young, and up to +within a few months life had stretched brightly before me, with the +prospect of a brilliant career. And now what was I? A wretched +invalid--a burden to myself and to others--a broken spar flung with +other fragments of ship wrecked lives on the great ocean of Time, +there to be whirled away and forgotten. But a rescue was +approaching; a rescue sudden and marvellous, of which, in my wildest +fancies, I had never dreamed. + +Staying in the same hotel with us was a young Italian artist, +Raffaello Cellini by name. His pictures were beginning to attract a +great deal of notice, both in Paris and Rome: not only for their +faultless drawing, but for their wonderfully exquisite colouring. So +deep and warm and rich were the hues he transferred to his canvases, +that others of his art, less fortunate in the management of the +palette, declared he must have invented some foreign compound +whereby he was enabled to deepen and brighten his colours for the +time being; but that the effect was only temporary, and that his +pictures, exposed to the air for some eight or ten years, would fade +away rapidly, leaving only the traces of an indistinct blur. Others, +more generous, congratulated him on having discovered the secrets of +the old masters. In short, he was admired, condemned, envied, and +flattered, all in a breath; while he himself, being of a singularly +serene and unruffled disposition, worked away incessantly, caring +little or nothing for the world's praise or blame. + +Cellini had a pretty suite of rooms in the Hotel de L----, and my +friends Colonel and Mrs. Everard fraternized with him very warmly. +He was by no means slow to respond to their overtures of friendship, +and so it happened that his studio became a sort of lounge for us, +where we would meet to have tea, to chat, to look at the pictures, +or to discuss our plans for future enjoyment. These visits to +Cellini's studio, strange to say, had a remarkably soothing and +calming effect upon my suffering nerves. The lofty and elegant room, +furnished with that "admired disorder" and mixed luxuriousness +peculiar to artists, with its heavily drooping velvet curtains, its +glimpses of white marble busts and broken columns, its flash and +fragrance of flowers that bloomed in a tiny conservatory opening out +from the studio and leading to the garden, where a fountain bubbled +melodiously--all this pleased me and gave me a curious, yet most +welcome, sense of absolute rest. Cellini himself had a fascination +for me, for exactly the same reason. As an example of this, I +remember escaping from Mrs. Everard on one occasion, and hurrying to +the most secluded part of the garden, in order to walk up and down +alone in an endeavour to calm an attack of nervous agitation which +had suddenly seized me. While thus pacing about in feverish +restlessness, I saw Cellini approaching, his head bent as if in +thought, and his hands clasped behind his back. As he drew near me, +he raised his eyes--they were clear and darkly brilliant--he +regarded me steadfastly with a kindly smile. Then lifting his hat +with the graceful reverence peculiar to an Italian, he passed on, +saying no word. But the effect of his momentary presence upon me was +remarkable--it was ELECTRIC. I was no longer agitated. Calmed, +soothed and almost happy, I returned to Mrs. Everard, and entered +into her plans for the day with so much alacrity that she was +surprised and delighted. + +"If you go on like this," she said, "you will be perfectly well in a +month." + +I was utterly unable to account for the remedial influence Raffaello +Cellini's presence had upon me; but such as it was I could not but +be grateful for the respite it gave me from nervous suffering, and +my now daily visits to the artist's studio were a pleasure and a +privilege not to be foregone. Moreover, I was never tired of looking +at his pictures. His subjects were all original, and some of them +were very weird and fantastic. One large picture particularly +attracted me. It was entitled "Lords of our Life and Death." +Surrounded by rolling masses of cloud, some silver-crested, some +shot through with red flame, was depicted the World, as a globe half +in light, half in shade. Poised above it was a great Angel, upon +whose calm and noble face rested a mingled expression of deep +sorrow, yearning pity, and infinite regret. Tears seemed to glitter +on the drooping lashes of this sweet yet stern Spirit; and in his +strong right hand he held a drawn sword--the sword of destruction-- +pointed forever downwards to the fated globe at his feet. Beneath +this Angel and the world he dominated was darkness--utter +illimitable darkness. But above him the clouds were torn asunder, +and through a transparent veil of light golden mist, a face of +surpassing beauty was seen--a face on which youth, health, hope, +love, and ecstatic joy all shone with ineffable radiance. It was the +personification of Life--not life as we know it, brief and full of +care--but Life Immortal and Love Triumphant. Often and often I found +myself standing before this masterpiece of Cellini's genius, gazing +at it, not only with admiration, but with a sense of actual comfort. +One afternoon, while resting in my favourite low chair opposite the +picture, I roused myself from a reverie, and turning to the artist, +who was showing some water-colour sketches to Mrs. Everard, I said +abruptly: + +"Did you imagine that face of the Angel of Life, Signor Cellini, or +had you a model to copy from?" + +He looked at me and smiled. + +"It is a moderately good portrait of an existing original," he said. + +"A woman's face then, I suppose? How very beautiful she must be!" + +"Actual beauty is sexless," he replied, and was silent. The +expression of his face had become abstracted and dreamy, and he +turned over the sketches for Mrs. Everard with an air which showed +his thoughts to be far away from his occupation. + +"And the Death Angel?" I went on. "Had you a model for that also?" + +This time a look of relief, almost of gladness, passed over his +features. + +"No indeed," he answered with ready frankness; "that is entirely my +own creation." + +I was about to compliment him on the grandeur and force of his +poetical fancy, when he stopped me by a slight gesture of his hand. + +"If you really admire the picture," he said, "pray do not say so. If +it is in truth a work of art, let it speak to you as art only, and +spare the poor workman who has called it into existence the shame of +having to confess that it is not above human praise. The only true +criticism of high art is silence--silence as grand as heaven +itself." + +He spoke with energy, and his dark eyes flashed. Amy (Mrs. Everard) +looked at him curiously. + +"Say now!" she exclaimed, with a ringing laugh, "aren't you a little +bit eccentric, signor? You talk like a long-haired prophet! I never +met an artist before who couldn't stand praise; it is generally a +matter of wonder to me to notice how much of that intoxicating sweet +they can swallow without reeling. But you're an exception, I must +admit. I congratulate you!" + +Cellini bowed gaily in response to the half-friendly, half-mocking +curtsey she gave him, and, turning to me again, said: + +"I have a favour to ask of you, mademoiselle. Will you sit to me for +your portrait?" + +"I!" I exclaimed, with astonishment. "Signor Cellini, I cannot +imagine why you should wish so to waste your valuable time. There is +nothing in my poor physiognomy worthy of your briefest attention." + +"You must pardon me, mademoiselle," he replied gravely, "if I +presume to differ from you. I am exceedingly anxious to transfer +your features to my canvas. I am aware that you are not in strong +health, and that your face has not that roundness and colour +formerly habitual to it. But I am not an admirer of the milkmaid +type of beauty. Everywhere I seek for intelligence, for thought, for +inward refinement--in short, mademoiselle, you have the face of one +whom the inner soul consumes, and, as such, may I plead again with +you to give me a little of your spare time? YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, +I ASSURE YOU." + +These last words were uttered in a lower tone and with singular +impressiveness. I rose from my seat and looked at him steadily; he +returned me glance for glance, A strange thrill ran through me, +followed by that inexplicable sensation of absolute calm that I had +before experienced. I smiled--I could, not help smiling. + +"I will come to-morrow," I said. + +"A thousand thanks, mademoiselle! Can you be here at noon?" + +I looked inquiringly at Amy, who clapped her hands with delighted +enthusiasm. + +"Of course! Any time you like, signor. We will arrange our +excursions so that they shall not interfere with the sittings. It +will be most interesting to watch the picture growing day by day. +What will you call it, signor? By some fancy title?" + +"It will depend on its appearance when completed," he replied, as he +threw open the doors of the studio and bowed us out with his usual +ceremonious politeness. + +"Au revoir, madame! A demain, mademoiselle!" and the violet velvet +curtains of the portiere fell softly behind us as we made our exit. + +"Is there not something strange about that young man?" said Mrs. +Everard, as we walked through the long gallery of the Hotel de L---- +back to our own rooms. "Something fiendish or angelic, or a little +of both qualities mixed up?" + +"I think he is what people term PECULIAR, when they fail to +understand the poetical vagaries of genius," I replied. "He is +certainly very uncommon." + +"Well!" continued my friend meditatively, as she contemplated her +pretty mignonne face and graceful figure in a long mirror placed +attractively in a corner of the hall through which we were passing; +"all I can say is that I wouldn't let him paint MY portrait if he +were to ask ever so! I should be scared to death. I wonder you, +being so nervous, were not afraid of him." + +"I thought you liked him," I said. + +"So I do. So does my husband. He's awfully handsome and clever, and +all that--but his conversation! There now, my dear, you must own he +is slightly QUEER. Why, who but a lunatic would say that the only +criticism of art is silence? Isn't that utter rubbish?" + +"The only TRUE criticism," I corrected her gently. + +"Well, it's all the same. How can there be any criticism at all in +silence? According to his idea when we admire anything very much we +ought to go round with long faces and gags on our mouths. That would +be entirely ridiculous! And what was that dreadful thing he said to +you?" + +"I don't quite understand you," I answered; "I cannot remember his +saying anything dreadful." + +"Oh, I have it now," continued Amy with rapidity; "it was awful! He +said you had the FACE OF ONE WHOM THE SOUL CONSUMES. You know that +was most horribly mystical! And when he said it he looked--ghastly! +What did he mean by it, I wonder?" + +I made no answer; but I thought I knew. I changed the conversation +as soon as possible, and my volatile American friend was soon +absorbed in a discussion on dress and jewellery. That night was a +blessed one for me; I was free from all suffering, and slept as +calmly as a child, while in my dreams the face of Cellini's "Angel +of life" smiled at me, and seemed to suggest peace. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MYSTERIOUS POTION. + + +The next day, punctually at noon, according to my promise, I entered +the studio. I was alone, for Amy, after some qualms of conscience +respecting chaperonage, propriety, and Mrs. Grundy, had yielded to +my entreaties and gone for a drive with some friends. In spite of +the fears she began to entertain concerning the Mephistophelian +character of Raffaello Cellini, there was one thing of which both +she and I felt morally certain: namely, that no truer or more +honourable gentleman than he ever walked on the earth. Under his +protection the loveliest and loneliest woman that ever lived would +have been perfectly safe--as safe as though she were shut up, like +the princess in the fairy-tale, in a brazen tower, of which only an +undiscoverable serpent possessed the key. When I arrived, the rooms +were deserted, save for the presence of a magnificent Newfoundland +dog, who, as I entered, rose, and shaking his shaggy body, sat down +before me and offered me his huge paw, wagging his tail in the most +friendly manner all the while, I at once responded to his cordial +greeting, and as I stroked his noble head, I wondered where the +animal had come from; for though--we had visited Signor Cellini's +studio every day, there had been no sign or mention of this stately, +brown-eyed, four-footed companion. I seated myself, and the dog +immediately lay down at my feet, every now and then looking up at me +with an affectionate glance and a renewed wagging of his tail. +Glancing round the well-known room, I noticed that the picture I +admired so much was veiled by a curtain of Oriental stuff, in which +were embroidered threads of gold mingled with silks of various +brilliant hues. On the working easel was a large square canvas, +already prepared, as I supposed, for my features to be traced +thereon. It was an exceedingly warm morning, and though the windows +as well as the glass doors of the conservatory were wide open, I +found the air of the studio very oppressive. I perceived on the +table a finely-wrought decanter of Venetian glass, in which clear +water sparkled temptingly. Rising from my chair, I took an antique +silver goblet from the mantelpiece, filled it with the cool fluid, +and was about to drink, when the cup was suddenly snatched from my +hands, and the voice of Cellini, changed from its usual softness to +a tone both imperious and commanding, startled me. + +"Do not drink that," he said; "you must not! You dare not! I forbid +you!" + +I looked up at him in mute astonishment. His face was very pale, and +his large dark eyes shone with suppressed excitement. Slowly my +self-possession returned to me, and I said calmly: + +"YOU forbid me, signor? Surely you forget yourself. What harm have I +done in helping myself to a simple glass of water in your studio? +You are not usually so inhospitable." + +While I spoke his manner changed, the colour returned to his face, +and his eyes softened--he smiled. + +"Forgive me, mademoiselle, for my brusquerie. It is true I forgot +myself for a moment. But you were in danger, and----" + +"In danger!" I exclaimed incredulously. + +"Yes, mademoiselle. This," and he held up the Venetian decanter to +the light, "is not water simply. If you will observe it now with the +sunshine beating full against it, I think you will perceive +peculiarities in it that will assure you of my veracity." + +I looked as he bade me, and saw, to my surprise, that the fluid was +never actually still for a second. A sort of internal bubbling +seemed to work in its centre, and curious specks and lines of +crimson and gold flashed through it from time to time. + +"What is it?" I asked; adding with a half-smile, "Are you the +possessor of a specimen of the far-famed Aqua Tofana?" + +Cellini placed the decanter carefully on a shelf, and I noticed that +he chose a particular spot for it, where the rays of the sun could +fall perpendicularly upon the vessel containing it. Then turning to +me, he replied: + +"Aqua Tofana, mademoiselle, is a deadly poison, known to the +ancients and also to many learned chemists of our day. It is a clear +and colourless liquid, but it is absolutely still--as still as a +stagnant pool. What I have just shown you is not poison, but quite +the reverse. I will prove this to you at once." And taking a tiny +liqueur glass from a side table, he filled it with the strange fluid +and drank it off, carefully replacing the stopper in the decanter. + +"But, Signor Cellini," I urged, "if it is so harmless, why did you +forbid my tasting it? Why did you say there was danger for me when I +was about to drink it?" + +"Because, mademoiselle, for YOU it would be dangerous. Your health +is weak, your nerves unstrung. That elixir is a powerful vivifying +tonic, acting with great rapidity on the entire system, and rushing +through the veins with the swiftness of ELECTRICITY. I am accustomed +to it; it is my daily medicine. But I was brought to it by slow, and +almost imperceptible degrees. A single teaspoonful of that fluid, +mademoiselle, administered to anyone not prepared to receive it, +would be instant death, though its actual use is to vivify and +strengthen human life. You understand now why I said you were in +danger?" + +"I understand," I replied, though in sober truth I was mystified and +puzzled. + +"And you forgive my seeming rudeness?" + +"Oh, certainly! But you have aroused my curiosity. I should like to +know more about this strange medicine of yours." + +"You shall know more if you wish," said Cellini, his usual equable +humour and good spirits now quite restored. "You shall know +everything; but not to-day. We have too little time. I have not yet +commenced your picture. And I forgot--you were thirsty, and I was, +as you said, inhospitable. You must permit me to repair my fault." + +And with a courteous salute he left the room, to return almost +immediately with a tumbler full of some fragrant, golden-coloured +liquid, in which lumps of ice glittered refreshingly. A few loose +rose-leaves were scattered on the top of this dainty-looking +beverage. + +"You may enjoy this without fear," said he, smiling; "it will do you +good. It is an Eastern wine, unknown to trade, and therefore +untampered with. I see you are looking at the rose-leaves on the +surface. That is a Persian custom, and I think a pretty one. They +float away from your lips in the action of drinking, and therefore +they are no obstacle." + +I tasted the wine and found it delicious, soft and mellow as summer +moonlight. While I sipped it the big Newfoundland, who had stretched +himself in a couchant posture on the hearth-rug ever since Cellini +had first entered the room, rose and walked majestically to my side +and rubbed his head caressingly against the folds of my dress. + +"Leo has made friends with you, I see," said Cellini. "You should +take that as a great compliment, for he is most particular in his +choice of acquaintance, and most steadfast when he has once made up +his mind. He has more decision of character than many a statesman." + +"How is it we have never seen him before?" I inquired. "You never +told us you had such a splendid companion." + +"I am not his master," replied the artist. "He only favours me with +a visit occasionally. He arrived from Paris last night, and came +straight here, sure of his welcome. He does not confide his plans to +me, but I suppose he will return to his home when he thinks it +advisable. He knows his own business best." + +I laughed. + +"What a clever dog! Does he journey on foot, or does he take the +train?" + +"I believe he generally patronizes the railway. All the officials +know him, and he gets into the guard's van as a matter of course. +Sometimes he will alight at a station en route, and walk the rest of +the way. But if he is lazily inclined, he does not stir till the +train reaches its destination. At the end of every six months or so, +the railway authorities send the bill of Leo's journeyings in to his +master, when it is always settled without difficulty." + +"And who IS his master?" I ventured to ask. + +Cellini's face grew serious and absorbed, and his eyes were full of +grave contemplation as he answered: + +"His master, mademoiselle, is MY master--one who among men, is +supremely intelligent; among teachers, absolutely unselfish; among +thinkers, purely impersonal; among friends, inflexibly faithful. To +him I owe everything--even life itself. For him no sacrifice, no +extreme devotion would be too great, could I hope thereby to show my +gratitude. But he is as far above human thanks or human rewards as +the sun is above the sea. Not here, not now, dare I say to him, MY +FRIEND, BEHOLD HOW MUCH I LOVE THEE! such language would be all too +poor and unmeaning; but hereafter--who knows?----" and he broke off +abruptly with a half-sigh. Then, as if forcing himself to change the +tenor of his thoughts, he continued in a kind tone: "But, +mademoiselle, I am wasting your time, and am taking no advantage of +the favour you have shown me by your presence to-day. Will you seat +yourself here?" and he placed an elaborately carved oaken settee in +one corner of the studio, opposite his own easel. "I should be sorry +to fatigue you at all," he went on; "do you care for reading?" + +I answered eagerly in the affirmative, and he handed me a volume +bound in curiously embossed leather, and ornamented with silver +clasps. It was entitled "Letters of a Dead Musician." + +"You will find clear gems of thought, passion, and feeling in this +book," said Cellini; "and being a musician yourself, you will know +how to appreciate them. The writer was one of those geniuses whose +work the world repays with ridicule and contempt. There is no fate +more enviable!" + +I looked at the artist with some surprise as I took the volume he +recommended, and seated myself in the position he indicated; and +while he busied himself in arranging the velvet curtains behind me +as a background, I said: + +"Do you really consider it enviable, Signor Cellini, to receive the +world's ridicule and contempt?" + +"I do indeed," he replied, "since it is a certain proof that the +world does not understand you. To achieve something that is above +human comprehension, THAT is greatness. To have the serene sublimity +of the God-man Christ, and consent to be crucified by a gibing world +that was fated to be afterwards civilized and dominated by His +teachings, what can be more glorious? To have the magnificent +versatility of a Shakespeare, who was scarcely recognized in his own +day, but whose gifts were so vast and various that the silly +multitudes wrangle over his very identity and the authenticity of +his plays to this hour--what can be more triumphant? To know that +one's own soul can, if strengthened and encouraged by the force of +will, rise to a supreme altitude of power--is not that sufficient to +compensate for the little whining cries of the common herd of men +and women who have forgotten whether they ever had a spiritual spark +in them, and who, straining up to see the light of genius that burns +too fiercely for their earth-dimmed eyes, exclaim: 'WE see nothing, +therefore there CAN be nothing.' Ah, mademoiselle, the knowledge of +one's own inner Self-Existence is a knowledge surpassing all the +marvels of art and science!" + +Cellini spoke with enthusiasm, and his countenance seemed illumined +by the eloquence that warmed his speech. I listened with a sort of +dreamy satisfaction; the visual sensation of utter rest that I +always experienced in this man's presence was upon me, and I watched +him with interest as he drew with quick and facile touch the outline +of my features on his canvas. + +Gradually he became more and more absorbed in his work; he glanced +at me from time to time, but did not speak, and his pencil worked +rapidly. I turned over the "Letters of a Dead Musician" with some +curiosity. Several passages struck me as being remarkable for their +originality and depth of thought; but what particularly impressed me +as I read on, was the tone of absolute joy and contentment that +seemed to light up every page. There were no wailings over +disappointed ambition, no regrets for the past, no complaints, no +criticism, no word for or against the brothers of his art; +everything was treated from a lofty standpoint of splendid equality, +save when the writer spoke of himself, and then he became the +humblest of the humble, yet never abject, and always happy. + +"O Music!" he wrote, "Music, thou Sweetest Spirit of all that serve +God, what have I done that thou shouldst so often visit me? It is +not well, O thou Lofty and Divine One, that thou shouldst stoop so +low as to console him who is the unworthiest of all thy servants. +For I am too feeble to tell the world how soft is the sound of thy +rustling pinions, how tender is the sighing breath of thy lips, how +beyond all things glorious is the vibration of thy lightest whisper! +Remain aloft, thou Choicest Essence of the Creator's Voice, remain +in that pure and cloudless ether, where alone thou art fitted to +dwell. My touch must desecrate thee, my voice affright thee. Suffice +it to thy servant, O Beloved, to dream of thee and die!" + +Meeting Cellini's glance as I finished reading these lines, I asked: + +"Did you know the author of this book, signor?" + +"I knew him well," he replied; "he was one of the gentlest souls +that ever dwelt in human clay. As ethereal in his music as John +Keats in his poetry, he was one of those creatures born of dreams +and rapture that rarely visit this planet. Happy fellow! What a +death was his!" + +"How did he die?" I inquired. + +"He was playing the organ in one of the great churches of Rome on +the day of the Feast of the Virgin. A choir of finely trained voices +sang to his accompaniment his own glorious setting of the "Regina +Coeli." The music was wonderful, startling, triumphant--ever rising +in power and majesty to a magnificent finale, when suddenly a slight +crash was heard; the organ ceased abruptly, the singers broke off. +The musician was dead. He had fallen forward on the keys of the +instrument, and when they raised him, his face was fairer than the +face of any sculptured angel, so serene was its expression, so rapt +was its smile. No one could tell exactly the cause of his death--he +had always been remarkably strong and healthy. Everyone said it was +heart-disease--it is the usual reason assigned by medical savants +for these sudden departures out of the world. His loss was regretted +by all, save myself and one other who loved him. We rejoiced, and +still do rejoice, at his release." + +I speculated vaguely on the meaning of these last words, but I felt +disinclined to ask any more questions, and Cellini, probably seeing +this, worked on at his sketch without further converse. My eyes were +growing heavy, and the printed words in the "Dead Musician's +Letters" danced before my sight like active little black demons with +thin waving arms and legs. A curious yet not unpleasant drowsiness +stole over me, in which I heard the humming of the bees at the open +window, the singing of the birds, and the voices of people in the +hotel gardens, all united in one continuous murmur that seemed a +long way off. I saw the sunshine and the shadow--I saw the majestic +Leo stretched full length near the easel, and the slight supple form +of Raffaello Cellini standing out in bold outline against the light; +yet all seemed shifting and mingling strangely into a sort of wide +radiance in which there was nothing but varying tints of colour. And +could it have been my fancy, or did I actually SEE the curtain fall +gradually away from my favourite picture, just enough for the face +of the "Angel of Life" to be seen smiling down upon me? I rubbed my +eyes violently, and started to my feet at the sound of the artist's +voice. + +"I have tried your patience enough for to-day," he said, and his +words sounded muffled, as though they were being spoken through, a +thick wall. "You can leave me now if you like." + +I stood before him mechanically, still holding the book he had lent +me clasped in my hand. Irresolutely I raised my eyes towards the +"Lords of our Life and Death." It was closely veiled. I had then +experienced an optical illusion. I forced myself to speak--to smile +--to put back the novel sensations that were overwhelming me. + +"I think," I said, and I heard myself speak as though I were +somebody else at a great distance off--"I think, Signor Cellini, +your Eastern wine has been too potent for me. My head is quite +heavy, and I feel dazed." + +"It is mere fatigue and the heat of the day," he replied quietly. "I +am sure you are not too DAZED, as you call it, to see your favourite +picture, are you?" + +I trembled. Was not that picture veiled? I looked--there was no +curtain at all, and the faces of the two Angels shone out of the +canvas with intense brilliancy! Strange to say, I felt no surprise +at this circumstance, which, had it occurred a moment previously, +would have unquestionably astonished and perhaps alarmed me. The +mistiness of my brain suddenly cleared; I saw everything plainly; I +heard distinctly; and when I spoke, the tone of my voice sounded as +full and ringing as it had previously seemed low and muffled. I +gazed steadfastly at the painting, and replied, half smiling: + +"I should be indeed 'far gone,' as the saying is, if I could not see +that, signor! It is truly your masterpiece. Why have you never +exhibited it?" + +"Can YOU ask that?" he said with impressive emphasis, at the same +time drawing nearer and fixing upon me the penetrating glance of his +dark fathomless eyes. It then seemed to me that some great inner +force compelled me to answer this half-inquiry, in words of which I +had taken no previous thought, and which, as I uttered them, +conveyed no special meaning to my own ears. + +"Of course," I said slowly, as if I were repeating a lesson, "you +would not so betray the high trust committed to your charge." + +"Well said!" replied Cellini; "you are fatigued, mademoiselle. Au +revoir! Till to-morrow!" And, throwing open the door of his studio, +he stood aside for me to pass out. I looked at him inquiringly. + +"Must I come at the same time to-morrow?" I asked. + +"If you please." + +I passed my hand across my forehead perplexedly, I felt I had +something else to say before I left him. He waited patiently, +holding back with one hand the curtains of the portiere. + +"I think I had a parting word to give you," I said at last, meeting +his gaze frankly; "but I seem to have forgotten what it was." +Cellini smiled gravely. + +"Do not trouble to think about it, mademoiselle. I am unworthy the +effort on your part." + +A flash of vivid light crossed my eyes for a second, and I exclaimed +eagerly: + +"I remember now! It was 'Dieu vous garde' signor!" + +He bent his head reverentially. + +"Merci mille fois, mademoiselle! Dieu vous garde--vous aussi. Au +revoir." + +And clasping my hand with a light yet friendly pressure, he closed +the door of his room behind me. Once alone in the passage, the sense +of high elation and contentment that had just possessed me began +gradually to decrease. I had not become actually dispirited, but a +languid feeling of weariness oppressed me, and my limbs ached as +though I had walked incessantly for many miles. I went straight to +my own room. I consulted my watch; it was half-past one, the hour at +which the hotel luncheon was usually served. Mrs. Everard had +evidently not returned from her drive. I did not care to attend the +table d'hote alone; besides, I had no inclination to eat. I drew +down the window-blinds to shut out the brilliancy of the beautiful +Southern sunlight, and throwing myself on my bed I determined to +rest quietly till Amy came back. I had brought the "Letters of a +Dead Musician" away with me from Cellini's studio, and I began to +read, intending to keep myself awake by this means. But I found I +could not fix my attention on the page, nor could I think at all +connectedly. Little by little my eyelids closed; the book dropped +from my nerveless hand; and in a few minutes I was in a deep and +tranquil slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THREE VISIONS. + + +Roses, roses! An interminable chain of these royal blossoms, red and +white, wreathed by the radiant fingers of small rainbow-winged +creatures as airy as moonlight mist, as delicate as thistledown! +They cluster round me with smiling faces and eager eyes; they place +the end of their rose-garland in my hand, and whisper, "FOLLOW!" +Gladly I obey, and hasten onward. Guiding myself by the fragrant +chain I hold, I pass through a labyrinth of trees, whose luxuriant +branches quiver with the flight and song of birds. Then comes a +sound of waters; the riotous rushing of a torrent unchecked, that +leaps sheer down from rocks a thousand feet high, thundering forth +the praise of its own beauty as it tosses in the air triumphant +crowns of silver spray. How the living diamonds within it shift, and +change, and sparkle! Fain would I linger to watch this magnificence; +but the coil of roses still unwinds before me, and the fairy voices +still cry, "FOLLOW!" I press on. The trees grow thicker; the songs +of the birds cease; the light around me grows pale and subdued. In +the far distance I see a golden crescent that seems suspended by +some invisible thread in the air. Is it the young moon? No; for as I +gaze it breaks apart into a thousand points of vivid light like +wandering stars. These meet; they blaze into letters of fire. I +strain my dazzled eyes to spell out their meaning. They form one +word--HELIOBAS. I read it. I utter it aloud. The rose-chain breaks +at my feet, and disappears. The fairy voices die away on my ear. +There is utter silence, utter darkness,--save where that one NAME +writes itself in burning gold on the blackness of the heavens. + +* * * * + +The interior of a vast cathedral is opened before my gaze. The lofty +white marble columns support a vaulted roof painted in fresco, from +which are suspended a thousand lamps that emit a mild and steady +effulgence. The great altar is illuminated; the priests, in +glittering raiment, pace slowly to and fro. The large voice of the +organ, murmuring to itself awhile, breaks forth in a shout of +melody; and a boy's clear, sonorous treble tones pierce the incense- +laden air. "Credo!"--and the silver, trumpet-like notes fall from +the immense height of the building like a bell ringing in a pure +atmosphere--"Credo in unum Deum; Patrem omni-potentum, factorem +coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium." + +The cathedral echoes with answering voices; and, involuntarily +kneeling, I follow the words of the grand chant. I hear the music +slacken; the notes of rejoicing change to a sobbing and remorseful +wail; the organ shudders like a forest of pines in a tempest, +"Crucifixus etiam pro nobis; passus et sepultus est." A darkness +grows up around me; my senses swim. The music altogether ceases; but +a brilliant radiance streams through a side-door of the church, and +twenty maidens, clad in white and crowned with myrtle, pacing two by +two, approach me. They gaze at me with joyous eyes. "Art thou also +one of us?" they murmur; then they pass onward to the altar, where +again the lights are glimmering. I watch them with eager interest; I +hear them uplift their fresh young voices in prayer and praise. One +of them, whose deep blue eyes are full of lustrous tenderness, +leaves her companions, and softly approaches me. She holds a pencil +and tablet in her hand. + +"Write!" she says, in a thrilling whisper; "and write quickly! for +whatsoever thou shalt now inscribe is the clue to thy destiny." + +I obey her mechanically, impelled not by my own will, but by some +unknown powerful force acting within and around me. I trace upon the +tablet one word only; it is a name that startles me even while I +myself write it down--HELIOBAS. Scarcely have I written it when a +thick white cloud veils the cathedral from my sight; the fair maiden +vanishes, and all is again still. + +* * * * + +I am listening to the accents of a grave melodious voice, which, +from its slow and measured tones, would seem to be in the action of +reading or reciting aloud. I see a small room sparely furnished, and +at a table covered with books and manuscripts is seated a man of +noble features and commanding presence. He is in the full prime of +life; his dark hair has no thread of silver to mar its luxuriance; +his face is unwrinkled; his forehead unfurrowed by care; his eyes, +deeply sunk beneath his shelving brows, are of a singularly clear +and penetrating blue, with an absorbed and watchful look in them, +like the eyes of one accustomed to gaze far out at sea. His hand +rests on the open pages of a massive volume; he is reading, and his +expression is intent and earnest--as if he were littering his own +thoughts aloud, with the conviction and force of an orator who knows +the truth of which he speaks: + +"The Universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic +invisible Protectorate governs the winds, the tides, the incoming +and outgoing of the seasons, the birth of the flowers, the growth of +forests, the outpourings of the sunlight, the silent glittering of +the stars. A wide illimitable Beneficence embraces all creation. A +vast Eternal Pity exists for all sorrow, all sin. He who first swung +the planets in the air, and bade them revolve till Time shall be no +more--He, the Fountain-Head of Absolute Perfection, is no deaf, +blind, capricious, or remorseless Being. To Him the death of the +smallest singing-bird is as great or as little as the death of a +world's emperor. For Him the timeless withering of an innocent +flower is as pitiful as the decay of a mighty nation. An infant's +first prayer to Him is heard with as tender a patience as the united +petitions of thousands of worshippers. For in everything and around +everything, from the sun to a grain of sand, He hath a portion, +small or great, of His own most Perfect Existence. Should He hate +His Creation, He must perforce hate Himself; and that Love should +hate Love is an impossibility. Therefore He loves all His work; and +as Love, to be perfect, must contain Pity, Forgiveness, and +Forbearance, so doth He pity, forgive, and forbear. Shall a mere man +deny himself for the sake of his child or friend? and shall the +Infinite Love refuse to sacrifice itself--yea, even to as immense a +humility as its greatness is immeasurable? Shall we deny those +merciful attributes to God which we acknowledge in His creature, +Man? O my Soul, rejoice that thou hast pierced the veil of the +Beyond; that thou hast seen and known the Truth! that to thee is +made clear the Reason of Life, and the Recompense of Death: yet +while rejoicing, grieve that thou art not fated to draw more than a +few souls to the comfort thou hast thyself attained!" + +Fascinated by the speaker's voice and countenance, I listen, +straining my ears to catch every word that falls from his lips. He +rises; he stands erect; he stretches out his hands as though in +solemn entreaty. + +"Azul!" he exclaims. "Messenger of my fate; thou who art a guiding +spirit of the elements, thou who ridest the storm-cloud and sittest +throned on the edge of the lightning! By that electric spark within +me, of which thou art the Twin Flame, I ask of thee to send me this +one more poor human soul; let me change its unrestfulness into +repose, its hesitation to certainty, its weakness to strength, its +weary imprisonment to the light of liberty! Azul!" + +His voice ceases, his extended hands fall slowly, and gradually, +gradually he turns his whole figure towards ME. He faces me--his +intense eyes burn through me--his strange yet tender smile absorbs +me. Yet I am full of unreasoning terror; I tremble--I strive to turn +away from that searching and magnetic gaze. His deep, melodious +tones again ring softly on the silence. He addresses me. + +"Fearest thou me, my child? Am I not thy friend? Knowest thou not +the name of HELIOBAS?" + +At this word I start and gasp for breath; I would shriek, but +cannot, for a heavy hand seems to close my mouth, and an immense +weight presses me down. I struggle violently with this unseen Power-- +little by little I gain the advantage. One effort more! I win the +victory--I wake! + +*** + +"Sakes alive!" says a familiar voice; "you HAVE had a spell of +sleep! I got home about two, nearly starving, and I found you here +curled up 'in a rosy infant slumber,' as the song says. So I hunted +up the Colonel and had lunch, for it seemed a sin to disturb you. +It's just struck four. Shall we have some tea up here?" + +I looked at Mrs. Everard, and smiled assent. So I had been sleeping +for two hours and a half, and I had evidently been dreaming all the +time; but my dreams had been as vivid as realities. I felt still +rather drowsy, but I was thoroughly rested and in a state of +delicious tranquillity. My friend rang the bell for the tea, and +then turned round and surveyed me with a sort of wonder. + +"What have you done to yourself, child?" she said at last, +approaching the bed where I lay, and staring fixedly at me. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, you look a different creature. When I left you this morning +you were pale and haggard, a sort of die-away delicate invalid; now +your eyes are bright; and your cheeks have quite a lovely colour in +them; your lips, too, are the right tint. But perhaps," and here she +looked alarmed--"perhaps you've got the fever?" + +"I don't think so," I said amusedly, and I stretched out my hand for +her to feel. + +"No, you haven't," she continued, evidently reassured; "your palm is +moist and cool, and your pulse is regular. Well, you look spry, +anyhow. I shouldn't wonder if you made up your mind to have a dance +to-night." + +"Dance?" I queried. "What dance, and where?" + +"Well, Madame Didier, that jolly little furbelowed Frenchwoman with +whom I was driving just now, has got up a regular party to-night--" + +"Hans Breitmann gib a barty?" I interposed, with a mock solemn air +of inquiry. + +Amy laughed. + +"Well, yes, it MAY be that kind of thing, for all I know to the +contrary. Anyhow, she's hired the band and ordered a right-down +elegant supper. Half the folks in the hotel are going, and a lot of +outsiders have got invitations. She asked if we couldn't come-- +myself, the Colonel, and you. I said I could answer for myself and +the Colonel, but not for you, as you were an invalid. But if you +keep on looking as you do at present, no one will believe that +there's anything the matter with you.--Tea, Alphonse!" + +This to a polite waiter, who was our special attendant, and who just +then knocked at the door to know "madame's" orders. + +Utterly disbelieving what my friend said in regard to my improved +appearance, I rose from the bed and went to the dressing-table to +look in the mirror and judge for myself. I almost recoiled from my +own reflection, so great was my surprise. The heavy marks under my +eyes, the lines of pain that had been for months deepening in my +forehead, the plaintive droop of the mouth that had given me such an +air of ill-health and anxiety--all were gone as if by magic. I saw a +rose-tinted complexion, a pair of laughing, lustrous eyes, and, +altogether, such a happy, mirthful young face smiled back at me, +that I half doubted whether it was indeed myself I saw. + +"There now!" cried Amy in triumph, watching me as I pushed my +clustering hair from my brows, and examined myself more intently. +"Did I not tell you so? The change in you is marvellous! I know what +it is. You have been getting better unconsciously to yourself in +this lovely air and scene, and the long afternoon sleep you've just +had has completed the cure." + +I smiled at her enthusiasm, but was forced to admit that she was +right as far as my actual looks went. No one would believe that I +was, or ever had been, ill. In silence I loosened my hair and began +to brush it and put it in order before the mirror, and as I did so +my thoughts were very busy. I remembered distinctly all that had +happened in the studio of Raffaello Cellini, and still more +distinctly was I able to recall every detail of the three dreams +that had visited me in my slumber. The NAME, too, that had been the +key-note of them all I also remembered, but some instinct forbade me +to utter it aloud. Once I thought, "Shall I take a pencil and write +it down lest I forget it?" and the same instinct said "No." Amy's +voluble chatter ran on like the sound of a rippling brook all the +time I thus meditated over the occurrences of the day. + +"Say, child!" she exclaimed; "will you go to the dance?" + +"Certainly I will, with pleasure," I answered, and indeed I felt as +if I should thoroughly enjoy it. + +"Brava! It will be real fun. There are no end of foreign titles +coming, I believe. The Colonel's a bit grumpy about it,--he always +is when he has to wear his dress suit. He just hates it. That man +hasn't a particle of vanity. He looks handsomer in his evening +clothes than in anything else, and yet he doesn't see it. But tell +me," and her pretty face became serious with a true feminine +anxiety, "whatever will you wear? You've brought no ball fixings, +have you?" + +I finished twisting up the last coil of my hair, and turned and +kissed her affectionately. She was the most sweet-tempered and +generous of women, and she would have placed any one of her +elaborate costumes at my disposal had I expressed the least desire +in that direction. I answered: + +"No, dear; I certainly have no regular ball 'fixings,' for I never +expected to dance here, or anywhere for that matter. I did not bring +the big trunks full of Parisian toilettes that you indulge in, you +spoilt bride! Still I have something that may do. In fact it will +have to do." + +"What is it? Have I seen it? Do show!" and her curiosity was +unappeasable. + +The discreet Alphonse tapped at the door again just at this moment. + +"Entrez!" I answered; and our tea, prepared with the tempting nicety +peculiar to the Hotel de L----, appeared. Alphonse set the tray down +with his usual artistic nourish, and produced a small note from his +vest-pocket. + +"For mademoiselle," he said with a bow; and as he handed it to me, +his eyes opened wide in surprise. He, too, perceived the change in +my appearance. But he was dignity itself, and instantly suppressed +his astonishment into the polite impassiveness of a truly +accomplished waiter, and gliding from the room on the points of his +toes, as was his usual custom, he disappeared. The note was from +Cellini, and ran as follows: + +"If mademoiselle will be so good as to refrain from choosing any +flowers for her toilette this evening, she will confer a favour on +her humble friend and servant, + +"RAFFAELLO CELLINI." + +I handed it to Amy, who was evidently burning with inquisitiveness +to know its contents. + +"Didn't I say he was a queer young man?" she exclaimed, as she +perused the missive attentively. "This is only his way of saying +that he means to send you some flowers himself. But what puzzles me +is to think how he could possibly know you were going to make any +special 'toilette' this evening. It is really very mysterious when I +come to think of it, for Madame Didier said plainly that she would +not ask Cellini to the dance till she saw him at the table d'hote +to-night." + +"Perhaps Alphonse has told him all about it," I suggested. + +My friend's countenance brightened. + +"Of course! That is it; and Mr. Cellini takes it for granted that a +girl of your age would not be likely to refuse a dance. Still there +is something odd about it, too. By-the-bye, I forgot to ask you how +the picture got on?" + +"Oh, very well, I believe," I replied evasively. "Signor Cellini +only made a slight outline sketch as a beginning." + +"And was it like you?--a really good resemblance?" + +"I really did not examine it closely enough to be able to judge." + +"What a demure young person you are!" laughed Mrs. Everard. "Now, +_I_ should have rushed straight up to the easel and examined every +line of what he was doing. You are a model of discretion, really! I +shan't be anxious about leaving you alone any more. But about your +dress for to-night. Let me see it, there's a good girl." + +I opened my trunk and took out a robe of ivory-tinted crepe. It was +made with almost severe simplicity, and was unadorned, save by a +soft ruffle of old Mechlin lace round the neck and sleeves. Amy +examined it critically. + +"Now, you would have looked perfectly ghastly in this last night, +when you were as pale and hollow-eyed as a sick nun; but to-night," +and she raised her eyes to my face, "I believe you will do. Don't +you want the bodice cut lower?" + +"No, thanks!" I said, smiling. "I will leave that to the portly +dowagers--they will expose neck enough for half-a-dozen other +women," + +My friend laughed. + +"Do as you like," she returned; "only I see your gown has short +sleeves, and I thought you might like a square neck instead of that +little simple Greek round. But perhaps it's better as it is. The +stuff is lovely; where did you get it?" + +"At one of the London emporiums of Eastern art," I answered. "My +dear, your tea is getting cold." + +She laid the dress on the bed, and in doing so, perceived the +antique-looking book with the silver clasps which I had left there. + +"What's this?" she asked, turning it round to discover its name. +"'Letters of a Dead Musician!' What a shivery title! Is it morbid +reading?" "Not at all," I replied, as I leaned comfortably back in +an easy-chair and sipped my tea. "It is a very scholarly, poetical, +and picturesque work. Signor Cellini lent it to me; the author was a +friend of his." + +Amy looked at me with a knowing and half-serious expression. + +"Say now--take care, take care! Aren't you and Cellini getting to be +rather particular friends--something a little beyond the Platonic, +eh?" + +This notion struck me as so absurd that I laughed heartily. Then, +without pausing for one instant to think what I was saying, I +answered with amazing readiness and frankness, considering that I +really knew nothing about it: + +"Why, my dear, Raffaello Cellini is betrothed, and he is a most +devoted lover." + +A moment after I had uttered this assertion I was surprised at +myself. What authority had I for saying that Cellini was betrothed? +What did I know about it? Confused, I endeavoured to find some means +of retracting this unfounded and rash remark, but no words of +explanation would come to my lips that had been so ready and primed +to deliver what might be, for all I knew, a falsehood. Amy did not +perceive my embarrassment. She was pleased and interested at the +idea of Cellini's being in love. + +"Really!" she exclaimed, "it makes him a more romantic character +than ever! Fancy his telling you that he was betrothed! How +delightful! I must ask him all about his chosen fair one. But I'm +positively thankful it isn't you, for I'm sure he's just a little +bit off his head. Even this book he has lent you looks like a +wizard's property;" and she fluttered the leaves of the "Dead +Musician's" volume, turning them rapidly over in search of something +attractive. Suddenly she paused and cried out: "Why, this is right- +down awful! He must have been a regular madman! Just listen!" and +she read aloud: + +"'How mighty are the Kingdoms of the Air! How vast they are--how +densely populated--how glorious are their destinies--how all- +powerful and wise are their inhabitants! They possess everlasting +health and beauty--their movements are music--their glances are +light--they cannot err in their laws or judgments, for their +existence is love. Thrones, principalities, and powers are among +them, yet all are equal. Each one has a different duty to perform, +yet all their labours are lofty. But what a fate is ours on this low +earth! For, from the cradle to the grave, we are watched by these +spiritual spectators--watched with unflinching interest, +unhesitating regard. O Angelic Spirits, what is there in the poor +and shabby spectacle of human life to attract your mighty +Intelligences? Sorrow, sin, pride, shame, ambition, failure, +obstinacy, ignorance, selfishness, forgetfulness--enough to make ye +veil your radiant faces in unpierceable clouds to hide forever the +sight of so much crime and misery. Yet if there be the faintest, +feeblest effort in our souls to answer to the call of your voices, +to rise above the earth by force of the same will that pervades your +destinies, how the sound of great rejoicing permeates those wide +continents ye inhabit, like a wave of thunderous music; and ye are +glad, Blessed Spirits!--glad with a gladness beyond that of your own +lives, to feel and to know that some vestige, however fragile, is +spared from the general wreck of selfish and unbelieving Humanity. +Truly we work under the shadow of a "cloud of Witnesses." Disperse, +disperse, O dense yet brilliant multitudes! turn away from me your +burning, truthful, immutable eyes, filled with that look of divine, +perpetual regret and pity! Lo, how unworthy am I to behold your +glory! and yet I must see and know and love you all, while the mad +blind world rushes on to its own destruction, and none can avert its +doom.'" + +Here Amy threw down the book with a sort of contempt, and said to +me: + +"If you are going to muddle your mind with the ravings of a lunatic, +you are not what I took you for. Why, it's regular spiritualism! +Kingdoms of the air indeed! And his cloud of witnesses! Rubbish!" + +"He quotes the CLOUD OF WITNESSES from St. Paul," I remarked. + +"More shame for him!" replied my friend, with the usual inconsistent +indignation that good Protestants invariably display when their pet +corn, the Bible, is accidentally trodden on. "It has been very well +said that the devil can quote Scripture, and this musician (a good +job he IS dead, I'm sure) is perfectly blasphemous to quote the +Testament in support of his ridiculous ideas! St. Paul did not mean +by 'a cloud of witnesses,' a lot of 'air multitudes' and 'burning, +immutable eyes,' and all that nonsense." + +"Well, what DID he mean?" I gently persisted. + +"Oh, he meant--why, you know very well what he meant," said Amy, in +a tone of reproachful solemnity. "And I wonder at your asking me +such a question! Surely you know your Bible, and you must be aware +that St. Paul could never have approved of spiritualism." + +"'And there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, but one is +the glory of the celestial?" I quoted with, a slight smile. + +Mrs. Everard looked shocked and almost angry. + +"My dear, I am ashamed of you! You are a believer in spirits, I do +declare! Why, I thought Maskelyne and Cook had cured everybody of +such notions; and now here's this horrid book going to make you more +nervous than ever. I shall have you getting up one night and +shrieking about burning, immutable eyes looking at you." + +I laughed merrily as I rose to pick up the discarded volume from the +floor. + +"Don't be afraid," I said; "I'll give back the book to Signor +Cellini to-morrow, and I will tell him that you do not like the idea +of my reading it, and that I am going to study the Bible instead. +Come now, dear, don't look cross!" and I embraced her warmly, for I +liked her far too well to wish to offend her. "Let us concentrate +our attention on our finery for to-night, when a 'dense and +brilliant multitude,' not of air, but of the 'earth earthy,' will +pass us under critical survey. I assure you I mean to make the best +of my improved looks, as I don't believe they will last. I dare say +I shall be the 'sick nun' that you termed me again to-morrow." + +"I hope not, dearest," said my friend kindly, returning my caress +and forgetting her momentary ill-humour. "A jolly dance will do you +good if you are careful to avoid over-exertion. But you are quite +right, we must really fix our things ready for the evening, else we +shall be all in a flurry at the last moment, and nothing riles the +Colonel so much as to see women in a fuss. I shall wear my lace +dress; but it wants seeing to. Will you help me?" + +Readily assenting, we were soon deep in the arrangement of the +numberless little mysteries that make up a woman's toilette; and +nothing but the most frivolous conversation ensued. But as I +assisted in the sorting of laces, jewels, and other dainty +appendages of evening costume, I was deep in earnest meditation. +Reviewing in my own mind the various sensations I had experienced +since I had tasted that Eastern wine in Cellini's studio, I came to +the conclusion that he must have tried an experiment on me with some +foreign drug, of which he alone knew the properties. Why he should +do this I could not determine; but that he had done it I was +certain. Besides this, I felt sure that he personally exerted some +influence upon me--a soothing and calming influence I was forced to +admit--still, it could hardly be allowed to continue. To be under +the control, however slight, of one who was almost a stranger to me, +was, at the least, unnatural and unpleasant. I was bound to ask him +a few plain questions. And, supposing Mrs. Everard were to speak to +him about his being betrothed, and he were to deny it, and +afterwards were to turn round upon me and ask what authority I had +for making such a statement, what should I say? Convict myself of +falsehood? However, it was no use to puzzle over the solution of +this difficulty till it positively presented itself. At any rate, I +determined I would ask him frankly, face to face, for some +explanation of the strange emotions I had felt ever since meeting +him; and thus resolved, I waited patiently for the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A DANCE AND A PROMISE. + + +Our little French friend, Madame Didier, was not a woman to do +things by halves. She was one of those rare exceptions among +Parisian ladies--she was a perfectly happy wife; nay, more, she was +in love with her own husband, a fact which, considering the present +state of society both in France and England, rendered her almost +contemptible in the eyes of all advanced thinkers. She was plump and +jolly in appearance; round-eyed and brisk as a lively robin. Her +husband, a large, mild-faced placid man--"mon petit mari," as she +called him--permitted her to have her own way in everything, and +considered all she did as perfectly well done. Therefore, when she +had proposed this informal dance at the Hotel de L----, he made no +objection, but entered into her plans with spirit; and, what was far +more important, opened his purse readily to her demands for the +necessary expenses. So nothing was stinted; the beautiful ballroom +attached to the hotel was thrown open, and lavishly decorated with +flowers, fountains, and twinkling lights; an awning extended from +its windows right down the avenue of dark ilex-trees, which were +ornamented with Chinese lanterns; an elegant supper was laid out in +the large dining-room, and the whole establishment was en fete. The +delicious strains of a Viennese band floated to our ears as Colonel +Everard, his wife, and myself descended the staircase on our way to +the scene of revelry; and suggestions of fairyland were presented to +us in the graceful girlish forms, clad in light, diaphanous attire, +that flitted here and there, or occasionally passed us. Colonel +Everard marched proudly along with the military bearing that always +distinguished him, now and then glancing admiringly at his wife, +who, indeed, looked her very best. Her dress was of the finest +Brussels lace, looped over a skirt of the palest shell-pink satin; +deep crimson velvet roses clustered on her breast, and nestled in +her rich hair; a necklace of magnificent rubies clasped her neck, +and the same jewels glittered on her round white arms. Her eyes +shone with pleasurable excitement, and the prettiest colour +imaginable tinted her delicate cheeks. + +"When an American woman is lovely, she is very lovely," I said. "You +will be the belle of the room to-night, Amy!" + +"Nonsense!" she replied, well pleased, though, at my remark. "You +must remember I have a rival in yourself." + +I shrugged my shoulders incredulously. + +"It is not like you to be sarcastic," I said. "You know very well I +have the air of a resuscitated corpse." + +The Colonel wheeled round suddenly, and brought us all up to a +standstill before a great mirror. + +"If YOU are like a resuscitated corpse, I'll throw a hundred dollars +into the next mud-pond," he observed. "Look at yourself." + +I looked, at first indifferently, and then with searching scrutiny. +I saw a small, slender girl, clad in white, with a mass of gold hair +twisted loosely up from her neck, and fastened with a single star of +diamonds. A superb garniture of natural lilies of the valley was +fastened on this girl's shoulder; and, falling loosely across her +breast, lost itself in the trailing folds of her gown. She held a +palm-leaf fan entirely covered with lilies of the valley, and a +girdle of the same flowers encircled her waist. Her face was +serious, but contented; her eyes were bright, but with an intense +and thoughtful lustre; and her cheeks were softly coloured, as +though a west wind had blown freshly against them. There was nothing +either attractive or repulsive about her that I could see; and yet-- +I turned away from the mirror hastily with a faint smile. + +"The lilies form the best part of my toilette," I said. + +"That they do," asserted Amy, with emphasis. "They are the finest +specimens I ever saw. It was real elegant of Mr. Cellini to send +them all fixed up ready like that, fan and all. You must be a +favourite of his!" + +"Come, let us proceed," I answered, with some abruptness. "We are +losing time." + +In a few seconds more we entered the ballroom, and were met at once +by Madame Didier, who, resplendent in black lace and diamonds, gave +us hearty greeting. She stared at me with unaffected amazement. + +"Mon dieu!" she exclaimed--her conversation with us was always a +mixture of French and broken English--"I should not 'ave know zis +young lady again! She 'ave si bonne mine. You veel dance, sans +doute?" + +We readily assented, and the usual assortment of dancing-men of all +ages and sizes was brought forward for our inspection; while the +Colonel, being introduced to a beaming English girl of some +seventeen summers, whirled her at once into the merry maze of +dancers, who were spinning easily round to the lively melody of one +of Strauss's most fascinating waltzes. Presently I also found myself +circling the room with an amiable young German, who ambled round +with a certain amount of cleverness, considering that he was +evidently ignorant of the actual waltz step; and I caught a glimpse +now and then of Amy's rubies as they flashed past me in the dance-- +she was footing it merrily with a handsome Austrian Hussar. The room +was pleasantly full--not too crowded for the movements of the +dancers; and the whole scene was exceedingly pretty and animated. I +had no lack of partners, and I was surprised to find myself so +keenly alive to enjoyment, and so completely free from my usual +preoccupied condition of nervous misery I looked everywhere for +Raffaello Cellini, but he was not to be seen. The lilies that I +wore, which he had sent me, seemed quite unaffected by the heat and +glare of the gaslight--not a leaf drooped, not a petal withered; and +their remarkable whiteness and fragrance elicited many admiring +remarks from those with whom I conversed. It was growing very late; +there were only two more waltzes before the final cotillon. I was +standing near the large open window of the ballroom, conversing with +one of my recent partners, when a sudden inexplicable thrill shot +through me from head to foot. Instinctively I turned, and saw +Cellini approaching. He looked remarkably handsome, though his face +was pale and somewhat wearied in expression. He was laughing and +conversing gaily with two ladies, one of whom was Mrs. Everard; and +as he came towards me he bowed courteously, saying: + +"I am too much honoured by the kindness mademoiselle has shown in +not discarding my poor flowers." + +"They are lovely," I replied simply; "and I am very much obliged to +you, signor, for sending them to me." + +"And how fresh they keep!" said Amy, burying her little nose in the +fragrance of my fan; "yet they have been in the heat of the room all +the evening." + +"They cannot perish while mademoiselle wears them," said Cellini +gallantly. "Her breath is their life." + +"Bravo!" cried Amy, clapping her hands. "That is very prettily said, +isn't it?" + +I was silent. I never could endure compliments. They are seldom +sincere, and it gives me no pleasure to be told lies, however +prettily they may be worded. Signor Cellini appeared to divine my +thoughts, for he said in a lower tone: + +"Pardon me, mademoiselle; I see my observation displeased you; but +there is more truth in it than you perhaps know." + +"Oh, say!" interrupted Mrs. Everard at this juncture; "I am SO +interested, signor, to hear you are engaged! I suppose she is a +dream of beauty?" + +The hot colour rushed to my cheeks, and I bit my lips in confusion +and inquietude. What WOULD he answer? My anxiety was not of long +duration. Cellini smiled, and seemed in no way surprised. He said +quietly: + +"Who told you, madame, that I am engaged?" + +"Why, she did, of course!" went on my friend, nodding towards me, +regardless of an imploring look I cast at her. "And said you were +perfectly devoted!" + +"She is quite right," replied Cellini, with another of those rare +sweet smiles of his; "and you also are right, madame, in your +supposition: my betrothed is a Dream of Beauty." + +I was infinitely relieved. I had not, then, been guilty of a +falsehood. But the mystery remained: how had I discovered the truth +of the matter at all? While I puzzled my mind over this question, +the other lady who had accompanied Mrs. Everard spoke. She was an +Austrian of brilliant position and attainments. + +"You quite interest me, signor!" she said. "Is your fair fiancee +here to-night?" + +"No, madame," replied Cellini; "she is not in this country." + +"What a pity!" exclaimed Amy. "I want to see her real bad. Don't +you?" she asked, turning to me. + +I raised my eyes and met the dark clear ones of the artist fixed +full upon me. + +"Yes," I said hesitatingly; "I should like to meet her. Perhaps the +chance will occur at some future time." + +"There is not the slightest doubt about that," said Cellini. "And +now, mademoiselle, will you give me the pleasure of this waltz with +you? or are you promised to another partner?" + +I was not engaged, and I at once accepted his proffered arm. Two +gentlemen came hurriedly up to claim Amy and her Austrian friend; +and for one brief moment Signor Cellini and I stood alone in a +comparatively quiet corner of the ballroom, waiting for the music to +begin. I opened my lips to ask him a question, when he stopped me by +a slight gesture of his hand. + +"Patience!" he said in a low and earnest tone. "In a few moments you +shall have the opportunity you seek." + +The band burst forth just then in the voluptuous strains of a waltz +by Gung'l, and together we floated away to its exquisite gliding +measure. I use the word FLOATED, advisedly, for no other term could +express the delightful sensation I enjoyed. Cellini was a superb +dancer. It seemed to me that our feet scarcely touched the floor, so +swiftly, so easily and lightly we sped along. A few rapid turns, and +I noticed we were nearing the open French windows, and, before I +well realized it, we had stopped dancing and were pacing quietly +side by side down the ilex avenue, where the little lanterns +twinkled like red fireflies and green glow-worms among the dark and +leafy branches. + +We walked along in silence till we reached the end of the path. +There, before us, lay the open garden, with its broad green lawn, +bathed in the lovely light of the full moon, sailing aloft in a +cloudless sky. The night was very warm, but, regardless of this +fact, Cellini wrapped carefully round me a large fleecy white +burnous that he had taken from a chair where it was lying, on his +way through the avenue. + +"I am not cold," I said, smiling. + +"No; but you will be, perhaps. It is not wise to run any useless +risks." + +I was again silent. A low breeze rustled in the tree-tops near us; +the music of the ballroom reached us only in faint and far echoes; +the scent of roses and myrtle was wafted delicately on the balmy +air; the radiance of the moon softened the outlines of the landscape +into a dreamy suggestiveness of its reality. Suddenly a sound broke +on our ears--a delicious, long, plaintive trill; then a wonderful +shower of sparkling roulades; and finally, a clear, imploring, +passionate note repeated many times. It was a nightingale, singing +as only the nightingales of the South can sing. I listened +entranced. + + "'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! + No hungry generations tread thee down; + The voice I hear this passing night was heard + In ancient days by emperor and clown,'" + +quoted Cellini in earnest tones. + +"You admire Keats?" I asked eagerly. + +"More than any other poet that has lived," he replied. "His was the +most ethereal and delicate muse that ever consented to be tied down +to earth. But, mademoiselle, you do not wish to examine me as to my +taste in poetry. You have some other questions to put to me, have +you not?" + +For one instant I hesitated. Then I spoke out frankly, and answered: + +"Yes, signor. What was there in that wine you gave me this morning?" + +He met my searching gaze unflinchingly. + +"A medicine," he said. "An excellent and perfectly simple remedy +made of the juice of plants, and absolutely harmless." + +"But why," I demanded, "why did you give me this medicine? Was it +not wrong to take so much responsibility upon yourself?" + +He smiled. + +"I think not. If you are injured or offended, then I was wrong; but +if, on the contrary, your health and spirits are ever so little +improved, as I see they are, I deserve your thanks, mademoiselle." + +And he waited with an air of satisfaction and expectancy. I was +puzzled and half-angry, yet I could not help acknowledging to myself +that I felt better and more cheerful than I had done for many +months. I looked up at the artist's dark, intelligent face, and said +almost humbly: + +"I DO thank you, signor. But surely you will tell me your reasons +for constituting yourself my physician without even asking my +leave." + +He laughed, and his eyes looked very friendly. + +"Mademoiselle, I am one of those strangely constituted beings who +cannot bear to see any innocent thing suffer. It matters not whether +it be a worm in the dust, a butterfly in the air, a bird, a flower, +or a human creature. The first time I saw you I knew that your state +of health precluded you from the enjoyment of life natural to your +sex and age. I also perceived that the physicians had been at work +upon you trying to probe into the causes of your ailment, and that they +had signally failed. Physicians, mademoiselle, are very clever and +estimable men, and there are a few things which come within the limit +of their treatment; but there are also other things which baffle their +utmost profundity of knowledge. One of these is that wondrous +piece of human machinery, the nervous system; that intricate and +delicate network of fine threads--electric wires on which run the +messages of thought, impulse, affection, emotion. If these threads +or wires become, from any subtle cause, entangled, the skill of the +mere medical practitioner is of no avail to undo the injurious knot, or +to unravel the confused skein. The drugs generally used in such +cases are, for the most part, repellent to the human blood and +natural instinct, therefore they are always dangerous, and often +deadly. I knew, by studying your face, mademoiselle, that you were +suffering as acutely as I, too, suffered some five years ago, and I +ventured to try upon you a simple vegetable essence, merely to see +if you were capable of benefiting by it. The experiment has been so +far successful; but----" + +He paused, and his face became graver and more abstracted. + +"But what?" I queried eagerly. + +"I was about to say," he continued, "that the effect is only +transitory. Within forty-eight hours you must naturally relapse into +your former prostrate condition, and I, unfortunately, am powerless +to prevent it." + +I sighed wearily, and a feeling of disappointment oppressed me. Was +it possible that I must again be the victim of miserable dejection, +pain, and stupor? + +"You can give me another dose of your remedy," I said. + +"That I cannot, mademoiselle," he answered regretfully; "I dare not, +without further advice and guidance." + +"Advice and guidance from whom?" I inquired. + +"From the friend who cured me of my long and almost hopeless +illness," said Cellini. "He alone can tell me whether I am right in +my theories respecting your nature and constitution." + +"And what are those theories?" I asked, becoming deeply interested +in the conversation. + +Cellini was silent for a minute or so; he seemed absorbed in a sort +of inward communion with himself. Then he spoke with impressiveness +and gravity: + +"In this world, mademoiselle, there are no two natures alike, yet +all are born with a small portion of Divinity within them, which we +call the Soul. It is a mere spark smouldering in the centre of the +weight of clay with which we are encumbered, yet it is there. Now +this particular germ or seed can be cultivated if we will--that is, +if we desire and insist on its growth. As a child's taste for art or +learning can be educated into high capabilities for the future, so +can the human Soul be educated into so high, so supreme an +attainment, that no merely mortal standard of measurement can reach +its magnificence. With much more than half the inhabitants of the +globe, this germ of immortality remains always a germ, never +sprouting, overlaid and weighted down by the lymphatic laziness and +materialistic propensities of its shell or husk--the body. But I +must put aside the forlorn prospect of the multitudes in whom the +Divine Essence attains to no larger quantity than that proportioned +out to a dog or bird--I have only to speak of the rare few with whom +the soul is everything--those who, perceiving and admitting its +existence within them, devote all their powers to fanning up their +spark of light till it becomes a radiant, burning, inextinguishable +flame. The mistake made by these examples of beatified Humanity is +that they too often sacrifice the body to the demands of the spirit. +It is difficult to find the medium path, but it can be found; and +the claims of both body and soul can be satisfied without +sacrificing the one to the other. I beg your earnest attention, +mademoiselle, for what I say concerning THE RARE FEW WITH WHOM THE +SOUL IS EVERYTHING. YOU are one of those few, unless I am greatly in +error. And you have sacrificed your body so utterly to your spirit +that the flesh rebels and suffers. This will not do. You have work +before you in the world, and you cannot perform it unless you have +bodily health as well as spiritual desire. And why? Because you are +a prisoner here on earth, and you must obey the laws of the prison, +however unpleasant they may be to you. Were you free as you have +been in ages past and as you will be in ages to come, things would +be different; but at present you must comply with the orders of your +gaolers--the Lords of Life and Death." + +I heard him, half awed, half fascinated. His words were full of +mysterious suggestions. + +"How do you know I am of the temperament you describe?" I asked in a +low voice. + +"I do not know, mademoiselle; I can only guess. There is but one +person who can perhaps judge of you correctly,--a man older than +myself by many years--whose life is the very acme of spiritual +perfection--whose learning is vast and unprejudiced. I must see and +speak to him before I try any more of my, or rather his, remedies. +But we have lingered long enough out here, and unless you have +something more to say to me, we will return to the ballroom. You +will otherwise miss the cotillon;" and he turned to retrace the way +through the illuminated grove. + +But a sudden thought had struck me, and I resolved to utter it +aloud. Laying my hand on his arm and looking him full in the face, I +said slowly and distinctly: + +"This friend of yours that you speak of--is not his name HELIOBAS?" + +Cellini started violently; the blood rushed up to his brows and as +quickly receded, leaving him paler than before. His dark eyes glowed +with suppressed excitement--his hand trembled. Recovering himself +slowly, he met my gaze fixedly; his glance softened, and he bent his +head with an air of respect and reverence. + +"Mademoiselle, I see that you must know all. It is your fate. You +are greatly to be envied. Come to me to-morrow, and I will tell you +everything that is to be told. Afterwards your destiny rests in your +own hands. Ask nothing more of me just now." + +He escorted me without further words back to the ballroom, where the +merriment of the cotillon was then at its height. Whispering to Mrs. +Everard as I passed her that I was tired and was going to bed, I +reached the outside passage, and there, turning to Cellini, I said +gently: + +"Good-night, signor. To-morrow at noon I will come." + +He replied: + +"Good-night, mademoiselle! To-morrow at noon you will find me +ready." + +With that he saluted me courteously and turned away. I hurried up to +my own room, and on arriving there I could not help observing the +remarkable freshness of the lilies I wore. They looked as if they +had just been gathered. I unfastened them all from my dress, and +placed them carefully in water; then quickly disrobing, I was soon +in bed. I meditated for a few minutes on the various odd occurrences +of the day; but my thoughts soon grew misty and confused, and I +travelled quickly off into the Land of Nod, and thence into the +region of sleep, where I remained undisturbed by so much as the +shadow of a dream. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CELLINI'S STORY. + + +The following morning at the appointed hour, I went to Cellini's +studio, and was received by him with a sort of gentle courtesy and +kindliness that became him very well. I was already beginning to +experience an increasing languor and weariness, the sure forerunner +of what the artist had prophesied--namely, a return of all my old +sufferings. Amy, tired out by the dancing of the previous night, was +still in bed, as were many of those who had enjoyed Madame Didier's +fete; and the hotel was unusually quiet, almost seeming as though +half the visitors had departed during the night. It was a lovely +morning, sunny and calm; and Cellini, observing that I looked +listless and fatigued, placed a comfortable easy-chair for me near +the window, from whence I could see one of the prettiest parterres +of the garden, gay with flowers of every colour and perfume. He +himself remained standing, one hand resting lightly on his writing- +table, which was strewn with a confusion of letters and newspapers. + +"Where is Leo?" I asked, as I glanced round the room in search of +that noble animal. + +"Leo left for Paris last night," replied Cellini; "he carried an +important despatch for me, which I feared to trust to the post- +office." + +"Is it safer in Leo's charge?" I inquired, smiling, for the sagacity +of the dog amused as well as interested me. + +"Much safer! Leo carries on his collar a small tin case, just large +enough to contain several folded sheets of paper. When he knows he +has that box to guard during his journeys, he is simply +unapproachable. He would fight any one who attempted to touch it +with the ferocity of a hungry tiger, and there is no edible dainty +yet invented that could tempt his appetite or coax him into any +momentary oblivion of his duty. There is no more trustworthy or +faithful messenger." + +"I suppose you have sent him to your friend--his master," I said. + +"Yes. He has gone straight home to--Heliobas." + +This name now awakened in me no surprise or even curiosity. It +simply sounded homelike and familiar. I gazed abstractedly out of +the window at the brilliant blossoms in the garden, that nodded +their heads at me like so many little elves with coloured caps on, +but I said nothing. I felt that Cellini watched me keenly and +closely. Presently he continued: + +"Shall I tell you everything now, mademoiselle?" + +I turned towards him eagerly. + +"If you please," I answered. + +"May I ask you one question?" + +"Certainly." + +"How and where did you hear the name of Heliobas?" + +I looked up hesitatingly. + +"In a dream, signor, strange to say; or rather in three dreams. I +will relate them to you." + +And I described the visions I had seen, being careful to omit no +detail, for, indeed, I remembered everything with curious +distinctness. + +The artist listened with grave and fixed attention. When I had +concluded he said: + +"The elixir I gave you acted more potently than even I imagined it +would. You are more sensitive than I thought. Do not fatigue +yourself any more, mademoiselle, by talking. With your permission I +will sit down here opposite to you and tell you my story. Afterwards +you must decide for yourself whether you will adopt the method of +treatment to which I owe my life, and something more than my life-- +my reason." + +He turned his own library-chair towards me, and seated himself. A +few moments passed in silence; his expression was very earnest and +absorbed, and he regarded my face with a sympathetic interest which +touched me profoundly. Though I felt myself becoming more and more +enervated and apathetic as the time went on, and though I knew I was +gradually sinking down again into my old Slough of Despond, yet I +felt instinctively that I was somehow actively concerned in what was +about to be said, therefore I forced myself to attend closely to +every word uttered. Cellini began to speak in low and quiet tones as +follows: + +"You must be aware, mademoiselle, that those who adopt any art as a +means of livelihood begin the world heavily handicapped--weighted +down, as it were, in the race for fortune. The following of art is a +very different thing to the following of trade or mercantile +business. In buying or selling, in undertaking the work of import or +export, a good head for figures, and an average quantity of shrewd +common sense, are all that is necessary in order to win a fair share +of success. But in the finer occupations, whose results are found in +sculpture, painting, music and poetry, demands are made upon the +imagination, the emotions, the entire spiritual susceptibility of +man. The most delicate fibres of the brain are taxed; the subtle +inner workings of thought are brought into active play; and the +temperament becomes daily and hourly more finely strung, more +sensitive, more keenly alive to every passing sensation. Of course +there are many so-called 'ARTISTS' who are mere shams of the real +thing; persons who, having a little surface-education in one or the +other branch of the arts, play idly with the paint-brush, or dabble +carelessly in the deep waters of literature,--or borrow a few +crotchets and quavers from other composers, and putting them +together in haste, call it ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. Among these are to +be found the self-called 'professors' of painting; the sculptors who +allow the work of their 'ghosts' to be admired as their own; the +magazine-scribblers; the 'smart' young leader-writers and critics; +the half-hearted performers on piano or violin who object to any +innovation, and prefer to grind on in the unemotional, coldly +correct manner which they are pleased to term the 'classical'--such +persons exist, and will exist, so long as good and evil are leading +forces of life. They are the aphides on the rose of art. But the men +and women I speak of as ARTISTS are those who work day and night to +attain even a small degree of perfection, and who are never +satisfied with their own best efforts. I was one of these some years +ago, and I humbly assert myself still to be of the same disposition; +only the difference between myself then and myself now is, that THEN +I struggled blindly and despairingly, and NOW I labour patiently and +with calmness, knowing positively that I shall obtain what I seek at +the duly appointed hour. I was educated as a painter, mademoiselle, +by my father, a good, simple-hearted man, whose little landscapes +looked like bits cut out of the actual field and woodland, so fresh +and pure were they. But I was not content to follow in the plain +path he first taught me to tread. Merely correct drawing, merely +correct colouring, were not sufficient for my ambition. I had +dazzled my eyes with the loveliness of Correggio's 'Madonna,' and +had marvelled at the wondrous blue of her robe--a blue so deep and +intense that I used to think one might scrape away the paint till a +hole was bored in the canvas and yet not reach the end of that +fathomless azure tint; I had studied the warm hues of Titian; I had +felt ready to float away in the air with the marvellous 'Angel of +the Annunciation'--and with all these thoughts in me, how could I +content myself with the ordinary aspiration of modern artists? I +grew absorbed in one subject--Colour. I noted how lifeless and pale +the colouring of to-day appeared beside that of the old masters, and +I meditated deeply on the problem thus presented to me. What was the +secret of Correggio--of Fra Angelico--of Raphael? I tried various +experiments; I bought the most expensive and highly guaranteed +pigments. In vain, for they were all adulterated by the dealers! +Then I obtained colours in the rough, and ground and mixed them +myself; still, though a little better result was obtained, I found +trade adulteration still at work with the oils, the varnishes, the +mediums--in fact, with everything that painters use to gain effect +in their works. I could nowhere escape from vicious dealers, who, to +gain a miserable percentage on every article sold, are content to be +among the most dishonest men in this dishonest age. + +"I assure you, mademoiselle, that not one of the pictures which are +now being painted for the salons of Paris and London can possibly +last a hundred years. I recently visited that Palace of Art, the +South Kensington Museum, in London, and saw there a large fresco by +Sir Frederick Leighton. It had just been completed, I was informed. +It was already fading! Within a few years it will be a blur of +indistinct outlines. I compared its condition with the cartoons of +Raphael, and a superb Giorgione in the same building; these were as +warm and bright as though recently painted. It is not Leighton's +fault that his works are doomed to perish as completely off the +canvas as though he had never traced them; it is his dire +misfortune, and that of every other nineteenth-century painter, +thanks to the magnificent institution of free trade, which has +resulted in a vulgar competition of all countries and all classes to +see which can most quickly jostle the other out of existence. But I +am wearying you, mademoiselle--pardon me! To resume my own story. As +I told you, I could think of nothing but the one subject of Colour; +it haunted me incessantly. I saw in my dreams visions, of exquisite +forms and faces that I longed to transfer to my canvas, but I could +never succeed in the attempt. My hand seemed to have lost all skill. +About this time my father died, and I, having no other relation in +the world, and no ties of home to cling to, lived in utter solitude, +and tortured my brain more and more with the one question that +baffled and perplexed me. I became moody and irritable; I avoided +intercourse with everyone, and at last sleep forsook my eyes. Then +came a terrible season of feverish trouble, nervous dejection and +despair. At times I would sit silently brooding; at others I started +up and walked rapidly for hours, in the hope to calm the wild unrest +that took possession of my brain. I was then living in Rome, in the +studio that had been my father's. One evening--how well I remember +it!--I was attacked by one of those fierce impulses that forbade me +to rest or think or sleep, and, as usual, I hurried out for one of +those long aimless excursions I had latterly grown accustomed to. At +the open street-door stood the proprietress of the house, a stout, +good-natured contadina, with her youngest child Pippa holding to her +skirt. As she saw me approaching, she started back with an +exclamation of alarm, and catching the little girl up in her arms, +she made the sign of the cross rapidly. Astonished at this, I paused +in my hasty walk, and said with as much calmness as I could muster: + +"'What do you mean by that? Have I the evil-eye, think you?' + +"Curly-haired Pippa stretched out her arms to me--I had often +caressed the little one, and given her sweetmeats and toys--but her +mother held her back with a sort of smothered scream, and muttered: + +"'Holy Virgin! Pippa must not touch him; he is mad.' + +"Mad? I looked at the woman and child in scornful amazement. Then +without further words I turned, and went swiftly away down the +street out of their sight. Mad! Was I indeed losing my reason? Was +this the terrific meaning of my sleepless nights, my troubled +thoughts, my strange inquietude? Fiercely I strode along, heedless +whither I was going, till I found myself suddenly on the borders of +the desolate Campagna. A young moon gleamed aloft, looking like a +slender sickle thrust into the heavens to reap an over-abundant +harvest of stars. I paused irresolutely. There was a deep silence +everywhere. I felt faint and giddy: curious flashes of light danced +past my eyes, and my limbs shook like those of a palsied old man. I +sank upon a stone to rest, to try and arrange my scattered ideas +into some sort of connection and order. Mad! I clasped my aching +head between my hands, and brooded on the fearful prospect looming +before me, and in the words of poor King Lear, I prayed in my heart: + + "'O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heavens!' + +"PRAYER! There was another thought. How could _I_ pray? For I was a +sceptic. My father had educated me with broadly materialistic views; +he himself was a follower of Voltaire, and with his finite rod he +took the measure of Divinity, greatly to his own satisfaction. He +was a good man, too, and he died with exemplary calmness in the +absolute certainty of there being nothing in his composition but +dust, to which he was as bound to return. He had not a shred of +belief in anything but what he called the Universal Law of +Necessity; perhaps this was why all his pictures lacked inspiration. +I accepted his theories without thinking much about them, and I had +managed to live respectably without any religious belief. But NOW-- +now with the horrible phantom of madness rising before me--my firm +nerves quailed. I tried, I longed to PRAY. Yet to whom? To what? To +the Universal Law of Necessity? In that there could be no hearing or +answering of human petitions. I meditated on this with a kind of +sombre ferocity. Who portioned out this Law of Necessity? What +brutal Code compels us to be born, to live, to suffer, and to die +without recompense or reason? Why should this Universe be an ever- +circling Wheel of Torture? Then a fresh impetus came to me. I rose +from my recumbent posture and stood erect; I trembled no more. A +curious sensation of defiant amusement possessed me so violently +that I laughed aloud. Such a laugh, too! I recoiled from the sound, +as from a blow, with a shudder. It was the laugh of--a madman! I +thought no more; I was resolved. I would fulfil the grim Law of +Necessity to its letter. If Necessity caused my birth, it also +demanded my death. Necessity could not force me to live against my +will. Better eternal nothingness than madness. Slowly and +deliberately I took from my vest a Milanese dagger of thin sharp +steel--one that I always carried with me as a means of self-defence +--I drew it from its sheath, and looked at the fine edge glittering +coldly in the pallid moon-rays. I kissed it joyously; it was my +final remedy! I poised it aloft with firm fingers--another instant +and it would have been buried deep in my heart, when I felt a +powerful grasp on my wrist, and a strong arm struggling with mine +forced the dagger from my hand. Savagely angry at being thus foiled +in my desperate intent, I staggered back a few paces and sullenly +stared at my rescuer. He was a tall man, clad in a dark overcoat +bordered with fur; he looked like a wealthy Englishman or American +travelling for pleasure. His features were fine and commanding; his +eyes gleamed with a gentle disdain as he coolly met my resentful +gaze. When he spoke his voice was rich and mellifluous, though his +accents had a touch in them of grave scorn. + +"'So you are tired of your life, young man! All the more reason have +you to live. Anyone can die. A murderer has moral force enough to +jeer at his hangman. It is very easy to draw the last breath. It can +be accomplished successfully by a child or a warrior. One pang of +far less anguish than the toothache, and all is over. There is +nothing heroic about it, I assure you! It is as common as going to +bed; it is almost prosy. LIFE is heroism, if you like; but death is +a mere cessation of business. And to make a rapid and rude exit off +the stage before the prompter gives the sign is always, to say the +least of it, ungraceful. Act the part out, no matter how bad the +play. What say you?' + +"And, balancing the dagger lightly on one finger, as though it were +a paper-knife, he smiled at me with so much frank kindliness that it +was impossible to resist him. I advanced and held out my hand. + +"'Whoever you are,' I said, 'you speak like a true man. But you are +ignorant of the causes which compelled me to---' and a hard sob +choked my utterance. My new acquaintance pressed my proffered hand +cordially, but the gravity of his tone did not vary as he replied: + +"'There is no cause, my friend, which compels us to take violent +leave of existence, unless it be madness or cowardice.' + +"'Aye, and what if it were madness?' I asked him eagerly. He scanned +me attentively, and laying his fingers lightly on my wrist, felt my +pulse. + +"'Pooh, my dear sir!' he said; 'you are no more mad than I am. You +are a little overwrought and excited--that I admit. You have some +mental worry that consumes you. You shall tell me all about it. I +have no doubt I can cure you in a few days.' + +"Cure me? I looked at him in wonderment and doubt. + +"'Are you a physician?' I asked. + +"He laughed. 'Not I! I should be sorry to belong to the profession. +Yet I administer medicines and give advice in certain cases. I am +simply a remedial agent--not a doctor. But why do we stand here in +this bleak place, which must be peopled by the ghosts of olden +heroes? Come with me, will you? I am going to the Hotel Costanza, +and we can talk there. As for this pretty toy, permit me to return +it to you. You will not force it again to the unpleasant task of +despatching its owner.' + +"And he handed the dagger back to me with a slight bow. I sheathed +it at once, feeling somewhat like a chidden child, as I met the +slightly satirical gleam of the clear blue eyes that watched me. + +"'Will you give me your name, signor?' I asked, as we turned from +the Campagna towards the city. + +"'With pleasure. I am called Heliobas. A strange name? Oh, not at +all! It is pure Chaldee. My mother--as lovely an Eastern houri as +Murillo's Madonna, and as devout as Santa Teresa--gave me the +Christian saint's name of Casimir also, but Heliobas pur et simple +suits me best, and by it I am generally known.' + +"'You are a Chaldean?' I inquired. + +"'Exactly so. I am descended directly from one of those "wise men of +the East" (and, by the way, there were more than three, and they +were not all kings), who, being wide awake, happened to notice the +birth-star of Christ on the horizon before the rest of the world's +inhabitants had so much as rubbed their sleepy eyes. The Chaldeans +have been always quick of observation from time immemorial. But in +return for my name, you will favour me with yours?' + +"I gave it readily, and we walked on together. I felt wonderfully +calmed and cheered--as soothed, mademoiselle, as I have noticed you +yourself have felt when in MY company." + +Here Cellini paused, and looked at me as though expecting a +question; but I preferred to remain silent till I had heard all he +had to say. He therefore resumed: + +"We reached the Hotel Costanza, where Heliobas was evidently well +known. The waiters addressed him as Monsieur le Comte; but he gave +me no information as to this title. He had a superb suite of rooms +in the hotel, furnished with every modern luxury; and as soon as we +entered a light supper was served. He invited me to partake, and +within the space of half an hour I had told him all my history--my +ambition--my strivings after the perfection of colour--my +disappointment, dejection, and despair--and, finally, the fearful +dread of coming madness that had driven me to attempt my own life. +He listened patiently and with unbroken attention. When I had +finished, he laid one hand on my shoulder, and said gently: + +"'Young man, pardon me if I say that up to the present your career +has been an inactive, useless, selfish "kicking against the pricks," +as St. Paul says. You set before yourself a task of noble effort, +namely, to discover the secret of colouring as known to the old +masters; and because you meet with the petty difficulty of modern +trade adulteration in your materials, you think that there is no +chance--that all is lost. Fie! Do you think Nature is overcome by a +few dishonest traders? She can still give you in abundance the +unspoilt colours she gave to Raphael and Titian; but not in haste-- +not if you vulgarly scramble for her gifts in a mood that is +impatient of obstacle and delay. "Ohne hast, ohne rast," is the +motto of the stars. Learn it well. You have injured your bodily +health by useless fretfulness and peevish discontent, and with that +we have first to deal. In a week's time, I will make a sound, sane +man of you; and then I will teach you how to get the colours you +seek--yes!' he added, smiling, 'even to the compassing of +Correggio's blue.' + +"I could not speak for joy and gratitude; I grasped my friend and +preserver by the hand. We stood thus together for a brief interval, +when suddenly Heliobas drew himself up to the full stateliness of +his height and bent his calm eyes deliberately upon me. A strange +thrill ran through me; I still held his hand. + +"'Rest!' he said in slow and emphatic tones, 'Weary and overwrought +frame, take thy full and needful measure of repose! Struggling and +deeply injured spirit, be free of thy narrow prison! By that Force +which I acknowledge within me and thee and in all created things, I +command thee, REST!' + +"Fascinated, awed, overcome by his manner, I gazed at him and would +have spoken, but my tongue refused its office--my senses swam--my +eyes closed--my limbs gave way--I fell senseless." + +Cellini again paused and looked at me. Intent on his words, I would +not interrupt him. He went on: + +"When I say senseless, mademoiselle, I allude of course to my body. +But I, myself--that is, my soul--was conscious; I lived, I moved, I +heard, I saw. Of that experience I am forbidden to speak. When I +returned to mortal existence I found myself lying on a couch in the +same room where I had supped with Heliobas, and Heliobas himself sat +near me reading. It was broad noonday. A delicious sense of +tranquillity and youthful buoyancy was upon me, and without speaking +I sprang up from my recumbent position and touched him on the arm. +He looked up. + +"'Well?' he asked, and his eyes smiled. + +"I seized his hand, and pressed it reverently to my lips. + +"'My best friend!' I exclaimed. 'What wonders have I not seen--what +truths have I not learned--what mysteries!' + +"'On all these things be silent,' replied Heliobas. 'They must not +be lightly spoken of. And of the questions you naturally desire to +ask me, you shall have the answers in due time. What has happened to +you is not wonderful; you have simply been acted upon by scientific +means. But your cure is not yet complete. A few days more passed +with me will restore you thoroughly. Will you consent to remain so +long in my company?' + +"Gladly and gratefully I consented, and we spent the next ten days +together, during which Heliobas administered to me certain remedies, +external and internal, which had a marvellous effect in renovating +and invigorating my system. By the expiration of that time I was +strong and well--a sound and sane man, as my rescuer had promised I +should be--my brain was fresh and eager for work, and my mind was +filled with new and grand ideas of art. And I had gained through +Heliobas two inestimable things--a full comprehension of the truth +of religion, and the secret of human destiny; and I had won a LOVE +so exquisite!" + +Here Cellini paused, and his eyes were uplifted in a sort of +wondering rapture. He continued after a pause: + +"Yes, mademoiselle, I discovered that I was loved, and watched over +and guided by ONE so divinely beautiful, so gloriously faithful, +that mortal language fails before the description of such +perfection!" + +He paused again, and again continued: + +"When he found me perfectly healthy again in mind and body, Heliobas +showed me his art of mixing colours. From that hour all my works +were successful. You know that my pictures are eagerly purchased as +soon as completed, and that the colour I obtain in them is to the +world a mystery almost magical. Yet there is not one among the +humblest of artists who could not, if he chose, make use of the same +means as I have done to gain the nearly imperishable hues that still +glow on the canvases of Raphael. But of this there is no need to +speak just now. I have told you my story, mademoiselle, and it now +rests with me to apply its meaning to yourself. You are attending?" + +"Perfectly," I replied; and, indeed, my interest at this point was +so strong that I could almost hear the expectant beating of my +heart. Cellini resumed: + +"Electricity, mademoiselle, is, as you are aware, the wonder of our +age. No end can be foreseen to the marvels it is capable of +accomplishing. But one of the most important branches of this great +science is ignorantly derided just now by the larger portion of +society--I mean the use of human electricity; that force which is in +each one of us--in you and in me--and, to a very large extent, in +Heliobas. He has cultivated the electricity in his own system to +such an extent that his mere touch, his lightest glance, have +healing in them, or the reverse, as he chooses to exert his power--I +may say it is never the reverse, for he is full of kindness, +sympathy, and pity for all humanity. His influence is so great that +he can, without speaking, by his mere presence suggest his own +thoughts to other people who are perfect strangers, and cause them +to design and carry out certain actions in accordance with his +plans. You are incredulous? Mademoiselle, this power is in every one +of us; only we do not cultivate it, because our education is yet so +imperfect. To prove the truth of what I say, _I_, though I have only +advanced a little way in the cultivation of my own electric force, +even _I_ have influenced YOU. You cannot deny it. By my thought, +impelled to you, you saw clearly my picture that was actually +veiled. By MY force, you replied correctly to a question I asked you +concerning that same picture. By MY desire, you gave me, without +being aware of it, a message from one I love when you said, 'Dieu +vous garde!' You remember? And the elixir I gave you, which is one +of the simplest remedies discovered by Heliobas, had the effect of +making you learn what he intended you to learn--his name." + +"He!" I exclaimed. "Why, he does not know me--he can have no +intentions towards me!" + +"Mademoiselle," replied Cellini gravely, "if you will think again of +the last of your three dreams, you will not doubt that he HAS +intentions towards you. As I told you, he is a PHYSICAL ELECTRICIAN. +By that is meant a great deal. He knows by instinct whether he is or +will be needed sooner or later. Let me finish what I have to say. +You are ill, mademoiselle--ill from over-work. You are an +improvisatrice--that is, you have the emotional genius of music, a +spiritual thing unfettered by rules, and utterly misunderstood by +the world. You cultivate this faculty, regardless of cost; you +suffer, and you will suffer more. In proportion as your powers in +music grow, so will your health decline. Go to Heliobas; he will do +for you what he did for me. Surely you will not hesitate? Between +years of weak invalidism and perfect health, in less than a +fortnight, there can be no question of choice." + +I rose from my seat slowly. + +"Where is this Heliobas?" I asked. "In Paris?" + +"Yes, in Paris. If you decide to go there, take my advice, and go +alone. You can easily make some excuse to your friends. I will give +you the address of a ladies' Pension, where you will be made at home +and comfortable. May I do this?" + +"If you please," I answered. + +He wrote rapidly in pencil on a card of his own: + + "MADAME DENISE, + "36, Avenue du Midi, + "Paris," + +and handed it to me. I stood still where I had risen, thinking +deeply. I had been impressed and somewhat startled by Cellini's +story; but I was in no way alarmed at the idea of trusting myself to +the hands of a physical electrician such as Heliobas professed to +be. I knew that there were many cases of serious illnesses being +cured by means of electricity--that electric baths and electric +appliances of all descriptions were in ordinary use; and I saw no +reason to be surprised at the fact of a man being in existence who +had cultivated electric force within himself to such an extent that +he was able to use it as a healing power. There seemed to me to be +really nothing extraordinary in it. The only part of Cellini's +narration I did not credit was the soul-transmigration he professed +to have experienced; and I put that down to the over-excitement of +his imagination at the time of his first interview with Heliobas. +But I kept this thought to myself. In any case, I resolved to go to +Paris. The great desire of my life was to be in perfect health, and +I determined to omit no means of obtaining this inestimable +blessing. Cellini watched me as I remained standing before him in +silent abstraction. + +"Will you go?" he inquired at last. + +"Yes; I will go," I replied. "But will you give me a letter to your +friend?" + +"Leo has taken it and all necessary explanations already," said +Cellini, smiling; "I knew you would go. Heliobas expects you the day +after to-morrow. His residence is Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. You +are not angry with me, mademoiselle? I could not help knowing that +you would go." + +I smiled faintly. + +"Electricity again, I suppose! No, I am not angry. Why should I be? +I thank you very much, signor, and I shall thank you more if +Heliobas indeed effects my cure." + +"Oh, that is certain, positively certain," answered Cellini; "you +can indulge that hope as much as you like, mademoiselle, for it is +one that cannot be disappointed. Before you leave me, you will look +at your own picture, will you not?" and, advancing to his easel, he +uncovered it. + +I was greatly surprised. I thought he had but traced the outline of +my features, whereas the head was almost completed. I looked at it +as I would look at the portrait of a stranger. It was a wistful, +sad-eyed, plaintive face, and on the pale gold of the hair rested a +coronal of lilies. + +"It will soon be finished," said Cellini, covering the easel again; +"I shall not need another sitting, which is fortunate, as it is so +necessary for you to go away. And now will you look at the 'Life and +Death' once more?" + +I raised my eyes to the grand picture, unveiled that day in all its +beauty. + +"The face of the Life-Angel there," went on Cellini quietly, "is a +poor and feeble resemblance of the One I love. You knew I was +betrothed, mademoiselle?" + +I felt confused, and was endeavouring to find an answer to this when +he continued: + +"Do not trouble to explain, for _I_ know how YOU knew. But no more +of this. Will you leave Cannes to-morrow?" + +"Yes. In the morning." + +"Then good-bye, mademoiselle. Should I never see you again---" + +"Never see me again!" I interrupted. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"I do not allude to your destinies, but to mine," he said, with a +kindly look. "My business may call me away from here before you come +back--our paths may lie apart--many circumstances may occur to +prevent our meeting--so that, I repeat, should I never see you +again, you will, I hope, bear me in your friendly remembrance as one +who was sorry to see you suffer, and who was the humble means of +guiding you to renewed health and happiness." + +I held out my hand, and my eyes filled with tears. There was +something so gentle and chivalrous about him, and withal so warm and +sympathetic, that I felt indeed as if I were bidding adieu to one of +the truest friends I should ever have in my life. + +"I hope nothing will cause you to leave Cannes till I return to it," +I said with real earnestness. "I should like you to judge of my +restoration to health." + +"There will be no need for that," he replied; "I shall know when you +are quite recovered through Heliobas." + +He pressed my hand warmly. + +"I brought back the book you lent me," I went on; "but I should like +a copy of it for myself. Can I get it anywhere?" + +"Heliobas will give you one with pleasure," replied Cellini; "you +have only to make the request. The book is not on sale. It was +printed for private circulation only. And now, mademoiselle, we +part. I congratulate you on the comfort and joy awaiting you in +Paris. Do not forget the address--Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. +Farewell!" + +And again shaking my hand cordially, he stood at his door watching +me as I passed out and began to ascend the stairs leading to my +room. On the landing I paused, and, looking round, saw him still +there. I smiled and waved my hand. He did the same in response, +once--twice; then turning abruptly, disappeared. + +That afternoon I explained to Colonel and Mrs. Everard that I had +resolved to consult a celebrated physician in Paris (whose name, +however, I did not mention), and should go there alone for a few +days. On hearing that I knew of a well-recommended ladies' Pension, +they made no objection to my arrangements, and they agreed to remain +at the Hotel de L---till I returned. I gave them no details of my +plans, and of course never mentioned Raffaello Cellini in connection +with the matter. A nervous and wretchedly agitated night made me +more than ever determined to try the means of cure proposed to me. +At ten o'clock the following morning I left Cannes by express train +for Paris. Just before starting I noticed that the lilies of the +valley Cellini had given me for the dance had, in spite of my care, +entirely withered, and were already black with decay--so black that +they looked as though they had been scorched by a flash of +lightning. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE HOTEL MARS AND ITS OWNER. + + +It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the day +succeeding the night of my arrival in Paris, when I found myself +standing at the door of the Hotel Mars, Champs Elysees. I had proved +the Pension kept by Madame Denise to be everything that could be +desired; and on my presentation of Raffaello Cellini's card of +introduction, I had been welcomed by the maitresse de la maison with +a cordial effusiveness that amounted almost to enthusiasm. + +"Ce cher Cellini!" the cheery and pleasant little woman had +exclaimed, as she set before me a deliciously prepared breakfast. +"Je l'aime tant! Il a si bon coeur! et ses beaux yeux! Mon Dieu, +comme un ange!" + +As soon as I had settled the various little details respecting my +room and attendance, and had changed my travelling-dress for a quiet +visiting toilette, I started for the abode of Heliobas. + +The weather was very cold; I had left the summer behind me at +Cannes, to find winter reigning supreme in Paris. A bitter east wind +blew, and a few flakes of snow fell now and then from the frowning +sky. The house to which I betook myself was situated at a commanding +corner of a road facing the Champs Elysees. It was a noble-looking +building. The broad steps leading to the entrance were guarded on +either side by a sculptured Sphinx, each of whom held, in its +massive stone paws, a plain shield, inscribed with the old Roman +greeting to strangers, "Salve!" Over the portico was designed a +scroll which bore the name "Hotel Mars" in clearly cut capitals, and +the monogram "C. H." + +I ascended the steps with some hesitation, and twice I extended my +hand towards the bell, desiring yet fearing to awaken its summons. I +noticed it was an electric bell, not needing to be pulled but +pressed; and at last, after many doubts and anxious suppositions, I +very gently laid my fingers on the little button which formed its +handle. Scarcely had I done this than the great door slid open +rapidly without the least noise. I looked for the servant in +attendance--there was none. I paused an instant; the door remained +invitingly open, and through it I caught a glimpse of flowers. +Resolving to be bold, and to hesitate no longer, I entered. As I +crossed the threshold, the door closed behind me instantly with its +previous swiftness and silence. + +I found myself in a spacious hall, light and lofty, surrounded with +fluted pillars of white marble. In the centre a fountain bubbled +melodiously, and tossed up every now and then a high jet of +sparkling spray, while round its basin grew the rarest ferns and +exotics, which emitted a subtle and delicate perfume. No cold air +penetrated here; it was as warm and balmy as a spring day in +Southern Italy. Light Indian bamboo chairs provided with luxurious +velvet cushions were placed in various corners between the marble +columns, and on one of these I seated myself to rest a minute, +wondering what I should do next, and whether anyone would come to +ask me the cause of my intrusion. My meditations were soon put to +flight by the appearance of a young lad, who crossed the hall from +the left-hand side and approached me. He was a handsome boy of +twelve or thirteen years of age, and he was attired in a simple +Greek costume of white linen, relieved with a broad crimson silk +sash. A small flat crimson cap rested on his thick black curls; this +he lifted with deferential grace, and, saluting me, said +respectfully: + +"My master is ready to receive you, mademoiselle." + +I rose without a word and followed him, scarcely permitting myself +to speculate as to how his master knew I was there at all. + +The hall was soon traversed, and the lad paused before a magnificent +curtain of deep crimson velvet, heavily bordered with gold. Pulling +a twisted cord that hung beside it, the heavy, regal folds parted in +twain with noiseless regularity, and displayed an octagon room, so +exquisitely designed and ornamented that I gazed upon it as upon +some rare and beautiful picture. It was unoccupied, and my young +escort placed a chair for me near the central window, informing me +as he did so that "Monsieur le Comte" would be with me instantly; +whereupon he departed. + +Left alone, I gazed in bewilderment at the loveliness round me. The +walls and ceiling were painted in fresco. I could not make out the +subjects, but I could see faces of surpassing beauty smiling from +clouds, and peering between stars and crescents. The furniture +appeared to be of very ancient Arabian design; each chair was a +perfect masterpiece of wood-carving, picked out and inlaid with +gold. The sight of a semi-grand piano, which stood open, brought me +back to the realization that I was living in modern times, and not +in a dream of the Arabian Nights; while the Paris Figaro and the +London Times--both of that day's issue--lying on a side-table, +demonstrated the nineteenth century to me with every possible +clearness. There were flowers everywhere in this apartment--in +graceful vases and in gilded osier baskets--and a queer lop-sided +Oriental jar stood quite near me, filled almost to overflowing with +Neapolitan violets. Yet it was winter in Paris, and flowers were +rare and costly. + +Looking about me, I perceived an excellent cabinet photograph of +Raffaello Cellini, framed in antique silver; and I rose to examine +it more closely, as being the face of a friend. While I looked at +it, I heard the sound of an organ in the distance playing softly an +old familiar church chant. I listened. Suddenly I bethought myself +of the three dreams that had visited me, and a kind of nervous dread +came upon me. This Heliobas,--was I right after all in coming to +consult him? Was he not perhaps a mere charlatan? and might not his +experiments upon me prove fruitless, and possibly fatal? An idea +seized me that I would escape while there was yet time. Yes! ... I +would not see him to-day, at any rate; I would write and explain. +These and other disjointed thoughts crossed my mind; and yielding to +the unreasoning impulse of fear that possessed me, I actually turned +to leave the room, when I saw the crimson velvet portiere dividing +again in its regular and graceful folds, and Heliobas himself +entered. + +I stood mute and motionless. I knew him well; he was the very man I +had seen in my third and last dream; the same noble, calm features; +the same commanding presence; the same keen, clear eyes; the same +compelling smile. There was nothing extraordinary about his +appearance except his stately bearing and handsome countenance; his +dress was that of any well-to-do gentleman of the present day, and +there was no affectation of mystery in his manner. He advanced and +bowed courteously; then, with a friendly look, held out his hand. I +gave him mine at once. + +"So you are the young musician?" he said, in those warm mellifluous +accents that I had heard before and that I so well remembered. "My +friend Raffaello Cellini has written to me about you. I hear you +have been suffering from physical depression?" + +He spoke as any physician might do who inquired after a patient's +health. I was surprised and relieved. I had prepared myself for +something darkly mystical, almost cabalistic; but there was nothing +unusual in the demeanour of this pleasant and good-looking gentleman +who, bidding me be seated, took a chair himself opposite to me, and +observed me with that sympathetic and kindly interest which any +well-bred doctor would esteem it his duty to exhibit. I became quite +at ease, and answered all his questions fully and frankly. He felt +my pulse in the customary way, and studied my face attentively. I +described all my symptoms, and he listened with the utmost patience. +When I had concluded, he leaned back in his chair and appeared to +ponder deeply for some moments. Then he spoke. + +"You know, of course, that I am not a doctor?" + +"I know," I said; "Signer Cellini explained to me." + +"Ah!" and Heliobas smiled. "Raffaello explained as much as he might; +but not everything. I must tell you I have a simple pharmacopoeia of +my own--it contains twelve remedies, and only twelve. In fact there +me no more that are of any use to the human mechanism. All are made +of the juice of plants, and six of them are electric. Raffaello +tried you with one of them, did he not?" + +As he put this question, I was aware of a keenly inquiring look sent +from the eyes of my interrogator into mine. + +"Yes," I answered frankly, "and it made me dream, and I dreamt of +YOU." + +Heliobas laughed lightly. + +"So!--that is well. Now I am going in the first place to give you +what I am sure will be satisfactory information. If you agree to +trust yourself to my care, you will be in perfect health in a little +less than a fortnight--but you must follow my rules exactly." + +I started up from my seat. + +"Of course!" I exclaimed eagerly, forgetting all my previous fear of +him; "I will do all you advise, even if you wish to magnetize me as +you magnetized Signor Cellini!" + +"I never MAGNETIZED Raffaello," he said gravely; "he was on the +verge of madness, and he had no faith whereby to save himself. I +simply set him free for a time, knowing that his was a genius which +would find out things for itself or perish in the effort. I let him +go on a voyage of discovery, and he came back perfectly satisfied. +That is all. You do not need his experience." + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +"You are a woman--your desire is to be well and strong, health being +beauty--to love and to be beloved--to wear pretty toilettes and to +be admired; and you have a creed which satisfies you, and which you +believe in without proofs." + +There was the slightest possible tinge of mockery in his voice as +he said these words. A tumultuous rush of feelings overcame me. My +high dreams of ambition, my innate scorn of the trite and +commonplace, my deep love of art, my desires of fame--all these +things bore down upon my heart and overcame it, and a pride too deep +for tears arose in me and found utterance. + +"You think I am so slight and weak a thing!" I exclaimed. "YOU, who +profess to understand the secrets of electricity--you have no better +instinctive knowledge of me than that! Do you deem women all alike-- +all on one common level, fit for nothing but to be the toys or +drudges of men? Can you not realize that there are some among them +who despise the inanities of everyday life--who care nothing for the +routine of society, and whose hearts are filled with cravings that +no mere human love or life can satisfy? Yes--even weak women are +capable of greatness; and if we do sometimes dream of what we cannot +accomplish through lack of the physical force necessary for large +achievements, that is not our fault but our misfortune. We did not +create ourselves. We did not ask to be born with the over- +sensitiveness, the fatal delicacy, the highly-strung nervousness of +the feminine nature. Monsieur Heliobas, you are a learned and far- +seeing man, I have no doubt; but you do not read me aright if you +judge me as a mere woman who is perfectly contented with the petty +commonplaces of ordinary living. And as for my creed, what is it to +you whether I kneel in the silence of my own room or in the glory of +a lighted cathedral to pour out my very soul to ONE whom I know +exists, and whom I am satisfied to believe in, as you say, without +proofs, save such proofs as I obtain from my own inner +consciousness? I tell you, though, in your opinion it is evident my +sex is against me, I would rather die than sink into the miserable +nonentity of such lives as are lived by the majority of women." + +I paused, overcome by my own feelings. Heliobas smiled. + +"So! You are stung!" he said quietly; "stung into action. That is as +it should be. Resume your seat, mademoiselle, and do not be angry +with me. I am studying you for your own good. In the meantime permit +me to analyze your words a little. You are young and inexperienced. +You speak of the 'over-sensitiveness, the fatal delicacy, the +highly-strung nervousness of the feminine nature.' My dear lady, if +you had lived as long as I have, you would know that these are mere +stock phrases--for the most part meaningless. As a rule, women are +less sensitive than men. There are many of your sex who are nothing +but lumps of lymph and fatty matter--women with less instinct than +the dumb beasts, and with more brutality. There are others who,-- +adding the low cunning of the monkey to the vanity of the peacock,-- +seek no other object but the furtherance of their own designs, which +are always petty even when not absolutely mean. There are obese +women whose existence is a doze between dinner and tea. There are +women with thin lips and pointed noses, who only live to squabble +over domestic grievances and interfere in their neighbours' +business. There are your murderous women with large almond eyes, +fair white hands, and voluptuous red lips, who, deprived of the +dagger or the poison-bowl, will slay a reputation in a few lazily +enunciated words, delivered with a perfectly high-bred accent. There +are the miserly woman, who look after cheese-parings and candle- +ends, and lock up the soap. There are the spiteful women whose very +breath is acidity and venom. There are the frivolous women whose +chitter-chatter and senseless giggle are as empty as the rattling of +dry peas on a drum. In fact, the delicacy of women is extremely +overrated--their coarseness is never done full justice to. I have +heard them recite in public selections of a kind that no man would +dare to undertake--such as Tennyson's 'Rizpah,' for instance. I know +a woman who utters every line of it, with all its questionable +allusions, boldly before any and everybody, without so much as an +attempt at blushing. I assure you men are far more delicate than +women--far more chivalrous--far larger in their views, and more +generous in their sentiments. But I will not deny the existence of +about four women in every two hundred and fifty, who may be, and +possibly are, examples of what the female sex was originally +intended to be--pure-hearted, self-denying, gentle and truthful-- +filled with tenderness and inspiration. Heaven knows my own mother +was all this and more! And my sister is--. But let me speak to you +of yourself. You love music, I understand--you are a professional +artist?" + +"I was," I answered, "till my state of health stopped me from +working." + +Heliobas bent his eyes upon me in friendly sympathy. + +"You were, and you will be again, an improvisatrice" he went on. "Do +you not find it difficult to make your audiences understand your +aims?" + +I smiled as the remembrance of some of my experiences in public came +to my mind. + +"Yes," I said, half laughing. "In England, at least, people do not +know what is meant by IMPROVISING. They think it is to take a little +theme and compose variations on it--the mere ABC of the art. But to +sit down to the piano and plan a whole sonata or symphony in your +head, and play it while planning it, is a thing they do not and will +not understand. They come to hear, and they wonder and go away, and +the critics declare it to be CLAP-TRAP." + +"Exactly!" replied Heliobas. "But you are to be congratulated on +having attained this verdict. Everything that people cannot quite +understand is called CLAP-TRAP in England; as for instance the +matchless violin-playing of Sarasate; the tempestuous splendor of +Rubinstein; the wailing throb of passion in Hollmann's violoncello-- +this is, according to the London press, CLAP-TRAP; while the coldly +correct performances of Joachim and the 'icily-null' renderings of +Charles Halle are voted 'magnificent' and 'full of colour.' But to +return to yourself. Will you play to me?" + +"I have not touched the instrument for two months," I said; "I am +afraid I am out of practice." + +"Then you shall not exert yourself to-day," returned Heliobas +kindly. "But I believe I can help you with your improvisations. You +compose the music as you play, you tell me. Well, have you any idea +how the melodies or the harmonies form themselves in your brain?" + +"Not the least in the world," I replied. + +"Is the act of thinking them out an effort to you?" he asked. + +"Not at all. They come as though someone else were planning them for +me." + +"Well, well! I think I can certainly be of use to you in this matter +as in others. I understand your temperament thoroughly. And now let +me give you my first prescription." + +He went to a corner of the room and lifted from the floor an ebony +casket, curiously carved and ornamented with silver. This he +unlocked. It contained twelve flasks of cut glass, stoppered with +gold and numbered in order. He next pulled out a side drawer in this +casket, and in it I saw several little thin empty glass tubes, about +the size of a cigarette-holder. Taking two of these he filled them +from two of the larger flasks, corked them tightly, and then turning +to me, said: + +"To-night, on going to bed, have a warm bath, empty the contents of +the tube marked No. 1 into it, and then immerse yourself thoroughly +for about five minutes. After the bath, put the fluid in this other +tube marked 2, into a tumbler of fresh spring water, and drink it +off. Then go straight to bed." + +"Shall I have any dreams?" I inquired with a little anxiety. + +"Certainly not," replied Heliobas, smiling. "I wish you to sleep as +soundly as a year-old child. Dreams are not for you to-night. Can +you come to me tomorrow afternoon at five o'clock? If you can +arrange to stay to dinner, my sister will be pleased to meet you; +but perhaps you are otherwise engaged?" + +I told him I was not, and explained where I had taken rooms, adding +that I had come to Paris expressly to put myself under his +treatment. + +"You shall have no cause to regret this journey," he said earnestly. +"I can cure you thoroughly, and I will. I forget your nationality-- +you are not English?" + +"No, not entirely. I am half Italian." + +"Ah, yes! I remember now. But you have been educated in England?" + +"Partly." + +"I am glad it is only partly," remarked Heliobas. "If it had been +entirely, your improvisations would have had no chance. In fact you +never would have improvised. You would have played the piano like +poor mechanical Arabella Goddard. As it is, there is some hope of +originality in you--you need not be one of the rank and file unless +you choose." + +"I do not choose," I said. + +"Well, but you must take the consequences, and they are bitter. A +woman who does not go with her time is voted eccentric; a woman who +prefers music to tea and scandal is an undesirable acquaintance; and +a woman who prefers Byron to Austin Dobson is--in fact, no measure +can gauge her general impossibility!" I laughed gaily. "I will take +all the consequences as willingly as I will take your medicines," I +said, stretching out my hand for the little vases which he gave me +wrapped in paper. "And I thank you very much, monsieur. And"--here I +hesitated. Ought I not to ask him his fee? Surely the medicines +ought to be paid for? + +Heliobas appeared to read my thoughts, for he said, as though +answering my unuttered question: + +"I do not accept fees, mademoiselle. To relieve your mind from any +responsibility of gratitude to me, I will tell you at once that I +never promise to effect a cure unless I see that the person who +comes to be cured has a certain connection with myself. If the +connection exists I am bound by fixed laws to serve him or her. Of +course I am able also to cure those who are NOT by nature connected +with me; but then I have to ESTABLISH a connection, and this takes +time, and is sometimes very difficult to accomplish, almost as +tremendous a task as the laying down of the Atlantic cable. But in +your case I am actually COMPELLED to do my best for you, so you need +be under no sense of obligation." + +Here was a strange speech--the first really inexplicable one I had +heard from his lips. + +"I am connected with you?" I asked, surprised. "How? In what way?" + +"It would take too long to explain to you just now," said Heliobas +gently; "but I can prove to you in a moment that a connection DOES +exist between YOUR inner self, and MY inner self, if you wish it." + +"I do wish it very much," I answered. + +"Then take my hand," continued Heliobas, stretching it out, "and +look steadily at me." + +I obeyed, half trembling. As I gazed, a veil appeared to fall from +my eyes. A sense of security, of comfort, and of absolute confidence +came upon me, and I saw what might be termed THE IMAGE OF ANOTHER +FACE looking at me THROUGH or BEHIND the actual form and face of +Heliobas. And that other face was his, and yet not his; but whatever +it appeared to be, it was the face of a friend to ME, one that I was +certain I had known long, long ago, and moreover one that I must +have loved in some distant time, for my whole soul seemed to yearn +towards that indistinct haze where smiled the fully recognised yet +unfamiliar countenance. This strange sensation lasted but a few +seconds, for Heliobas suddenly dropped my hand. The room swam round +me; the walls seemed to rock; then everything steadied and came +right again, and all was as usual, only I was amazed and bewildered. + +"What does it mean?" I murmured. + +"It means the simplest thing in nature," replied Heliobas quietly, +"namely, that your soul and mine are for some reason or other placed +on the same circle of electricity. Nothing more nor less. Therefore +we must serve each other. Whatever I do for you, you have it in your +power to repay me amply for hereafter." + +I met the steady glance of his keen eyes, and a sense of some +indestructible force within me gave me a sudden courage. + +"Decide for me as you please," I answered fearlessly. "I trust you +completely, though I do not know why I do so." + +"You will know before long. You are satisfied of the fact that my +touch can influence you?" + +"Yes; most thoroughly." + +"Very well. All other explanations, if you desire them, shall be +given you in due time. In the power I possess over you and some +others, there is neither mesmerism nor magnetism--nothing but a +purely scientific fact which can be clearly and reasonably proved +and demonstrated. But till you are thoroughly restored to health, we +will defer all discussion. And now, mademoiselle, permit me to +escort you to the door. I shall expect you to-morrow." + +Together we left the beautiful room in which this interview had +taken place, and crossed the hall. As we approached the entrance, +Heliobas turned towards me and said with a smile: + +"Did not the manoeuvres of my street-door astonish you?" + +"A little," I confessed. + +"It is very simple. The button you touch outside is electric; it +opens the door and at the same time rings the bell in my study, thus +informing me of a visitor. When the visitor steps across the +threshold he treads, whether he will or no, on another apparatus, +which closes the door behind him and rings another bell in my page's +room, who immediately comes to me for orders. You see how easy? And +from within it is managed in almost the same manner." + +And he touched a handle similar to the one outside, and the door +opened instantly. Heliobas held out his hand--that hand which a few +minutes previously had exercised such strange authority over me. + +"Good-bye, mademoiselle. You are not afraid of me now?" + +I laughed. "I do not think I was ever really afraid of you," I said. +"If I was, I am not so any longer. You have promised me health, and +that promise is sufficient to give me entire courage." + +"That is well," said Heliobas. "Courage and hope in themselves are +the precursors of physical and mental energy. Remember to-morrow at +five, and do not keep late hours to-night. I should advise you to be +in bed by ten at the latest." + +I agreed to this, and we shook hands and parted. I walked blithely +along, back to the Avenue du Midi, where, on my arrival indoors, I +found a letter from Mrs. Everard. She wrote "in haste" to give me +the names of some friends of hers whom she had discovered, through +the "American Register," to be staying at the Grand Hotel. She +begged me to call upon them, and enclosed two letters of +introduction for the purpose. She concluded her epistle by saying: + +"Raffaello Cellini has been invisible ever since your departure, but +our inimitable waiter, Alphonse, says he is very busy finishing a +picture for the Salon--something that we have never seen. I shall +intrude myself into his studio soon on some pretence or other, and +will then let you know all about it. In the meantime, believe me, + +"Your ever devoted friend, AMY." + +I answered this letter, and then spent a pleasant evening at the +Pension, chatting sociably with Madame Denise and another cheery +little Frenchwoman, a day governess, who boarded there, and who had +no end of droll experiences to relate, her enviable temperament +being to always see the humorous side of life. I thoroughly enjoyed +her sparkling chatter and her expressive gesticulations, and we all +three made ourselves merry till bedtime. Acting on the advice of +Heliobas, I retired early to my room, where a warm bath had been +prepared in compliance with my orders. I uncorked the glass tube No. +1, and poured the colourless fluid it contained into the water, +which immediately bubbled gently, as though beginning to boil. After +watching it for a minute or two, and observing that this seething +movement steadily continued, I undressed quickly and stepped in. +Never shall I forget the exquisite sensation I experienced! I can +only describe it as the poor little Doll's Dressmaker in "Our Mutual +Friend" described her angel visitants, her "blessed children," who +used to come and "take her up and make her light." If my body had +been composed of no grosser matter than fire and air, I could not +have felt more weightless, more buoyant, more thoroughly exhilarated +than when, at the end of the prescribed five minutes, I got out of +that marvellous bath of healing! As I prepared for bed, I noticed +that the bubbling of the water had entirely ceased; but this was +easy of comprehension, for if it had contained electricity, as I +supposed, my body had absorbed it by contact, which would account +for the movement being stilled. I now took the second little phial, +and prepared it as I had been told. This time the fluid was +motionless. I noticed it was very faintly tinged with amber. I drank +it off--it was perfectly tasteless. Once in bed, I seemed to have no +power to think any more--my eyes closed readily--the slumber of a +year-old child, as Heliobas had said, came upon me with resistless +and sudden force, and I remembered no more. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ZARA AND PRINCE IVAN. + + +The sun poured brilliantly into my room when I awoke the next +morning. I was free from all my customary aches and pains, and a +delightful sense of vigour and elasticity pervaded my frame. I rose +at once, and, looking at my watch, found to my amazement that it was +twelve o'clock in the day! Hastily throwing on my dressing-gown, I +rang the bell, and the servant appeared. + +"Is it actually mid-day?" I asked her. "Why did you not call me?" + +The girl smiled apologetically. + +"I did knock at mademoiselle's door, but she gave me no answer. +Madame Denise came up also, and entered the room; but seeing +mademoiselle in so sound a sleep, she said it was a pity to disturb +mademoiselle." + +Which statement good Madame Denise, toiling upstairs just then with +difficulty, she being stout and short of breath, confirmed with many +smiling nods of her head. + +"Breakfast shall be served at the instant," she said, rubbing her +fat hands together; "but to disturb you when you slept--ah, Heaven! +the sleep of an infant--I could not do it! I should have been +wicked!" + +I thanked her for her care of me; I could have kissed her, she +looked so motherly, and kind, and altogether lovable. And I felt so +merry and well! She and the servant retired to prepare my coffee, +and I proceeded to make my toilette. As I brushed out my hair I +heard the sound of a violin. Someone was playing next door. I +listened, and recognised a famous Beethoven Concerto. The unseen +musician played brilliantly and withal tenderly, both touch and tone +reminding me of some beautiful verses in a book of poems I had +recently read, called "Love-Letters of a Violinist," in which the +poet [FOOTNOTE: Author of the equally beautiful idyl, "Gladys the +Singer," included in the new American copyright edition just +issued.] talks of his "loved Amati," and says: "I prayed my +prayer. I wove into my song + + Fervour, and joy, and mystery, and the bleak, + The wan despair that words could never speak. + I prayed as if my spirit did belong + To some old master who was wise and strong, + Because he lov'd and suffered, and was weak. + + "I trill'd the notes, and curb'd them to a sigh, + And when they falter'd most, I made them leap + Fierce from my bow, as from a summer sleep + A young she-devil. I was fired thereby + To bolder efforts--and a muffled cry + Came from the strings as if a saint did weep. + + "I changed the theme. I dallied with the bow + Just time enough to fit it to a mesh + Of merry tones, and drew it back afresh, + To talk of truth, and constancy, and woe, + And life, and love, and madness, and the glow + Of mine own soul which burns into my flesh." + +All my love for music welled freshly up in my heart; I, who had felt +disinclined to touch the piano for months, now longed to try my +strength again upon the familiar and responsive key-board. For a +piano has never been a mere piano to me; it is a friend who answers +to my thought, and whose notes meet my fingers with caressing +readiness and obedience. + +Breakfast came, and I took it with great relish. Then, to pass the +day, I went out and called on Mrs. Everard's friends, Mr. and Mrs. +Challoner and their daughters. I found them very agreeable, with +that easy bonhomie and lack of stiffness that distinguishes the best +Americans. Finding out through Mrs. Everard's letter that I was an +"artiste" they at once concluded I must need support and patronage, +and with impulsive large-heartedness were beginning to plan as to +the best means of organizing a concert for me. I was taken by +surprise at this, for I had generally found the exact reverse of +this sympathy among English patrons of art, who were never tired of +murmuring the usual platitudes about there being "so many +musicians," "music was overdone," "improvising was not understood or +cared for," etc., etc. + +But these agreeable Americans, as soon as they discovered that I had +not come for any professional reason to Paris, but only to consult a +physician about my health, were actually disappointed. + +"Oh, we shall persuade you to give a recital some time!" persisted +the handsome smiling mother of the family. "I know lots of people in +Paris. We'll get it up for you!" + +I protested, half laughing, that I had no idea of the kind, but they +were incorrigibly generous. + +"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Challoner, arranging her diamond rings on her +pretty white hand with pardonable pride. "Brains don't go for +nothing in OUR country. As soon as you are fixed up in health, we'll +give you a grand soiree in Paris, and we'll work up all our folks in +the place. Don't tell me you are not as glad of dollars as any one +of us." + +"Dollars are very good," I admitted, "but real appreciation is far +better." + +"Well, you shall have both from us," said Mrs. Challoner. "And now, +will you stop to luncheon?" + +I accepted this invitation, given as it was with the most friendly +affability, and enjoyed myself very much. + +"You don't look ill," said the eldest Miss Challoner to me, later +on. "I don't see that you want a physician." + +"Oh, I am getting much better now," I replied; "and I hope soon to +be quite well." + +"Who's your doctor?" + +I hesitated. Somehow the name of Heliobas would not come to my lips. +Fortunately Mrs. Challoner diverted her daughter's attention at this +moment by the announcement that a dressmaker was waiting to see her; +and in the face of such an important visit, no one remembered to ask +me again the name of my medical adviser. + +I left the Grand Hotel in good time to prepare for my second visit +to Heliobas. As I was going there to dinner I made a slightly dressy +toilette, if a black silk robe relieved with a cluster of pale pink +roses can be called dressy. This time I drove to the Hotel Mars, +dismissing the coachman, however, before ascending the steps. The +door opened and closed as usual, and the first person I saw in the +hall was Heliobas himself, seated in one of the easy-chairs, reading +a volume of Plato. He rose and greeted me cordially. Before I could +speak a word, he said: + +"You need not tell me that you slept well. I see it in your eyes and +face. You feel better?" + +My gratitude to him was so great that I found it difficult to +express my thanks. Tears rushed to my eyes, yet I tried to smile, +though I could not speak. He saw my emotion, and continued kindly: + +"I am as thankful as you can be for the cure which I see has begun, +and will soon be effected. My sister is waiting to see you. Will you +come to her room?" + +We ascended a flight of stairs thickly carpeted, and bordered on +each side by tropical ferns and flowers, placed in exquisitely +painted china pots and vases. I heard the distant singing of many +birds mingled with the ripple and plash of waters. We reached a +landing where the afterglow of the set sun streamed through a high +oriel window of richly stained glass. Turning towards the left, +Heliobas drew aside the folds of some azure satin hangings, and +calling in a low voice "Zara!" motioned me to enter. I stepped into +a spacious and lofty apartment where the light seemed to soften and +merge into many shades of opaline radiance and delicacy--a room the +beauty of which would at any other time have astonished and +delighted me, but which now appeared as nothing beside the +surpassing loveliness of the woman who occupied it. Never shall I +behold again any face or form so divinely beautiful! She was about +the medium height of women, but her small finely-shaped head was set +upon so slender and proud a throat that she appeared taller than she +actually was. Her figure was most exquisitely rounded and +proportioned, and she came across the room to give me greeting with +a sort of gliding graceful movement, like that of a stately swan +floating on calm sunlit water. Her complexion was transparently +clear--most purely white, most delicately rosy, Her eyes--large, +luminous and dark as night, fringed with long silky black lashes-- +looked like + + "Fairy lakes, where tender thoughts + Swam softly to and fro." + +Her rich black hair was arranged a la Marguerite, and hung down in +one long loose thick braid that nearly reached the end of her dress, +and she was attired in a robe of deep old gold Indian silk as soft +as cashmere, which was gathered in round her waist by an antique +belt of curious jewel-work, in which rubies and turquoises seemed to +be thickly studded. On her bosom shone a strange gem, the colour and +form of which I could not determine. It was never the same for two +minutes together. It glowed with many various hues--now bright +crimson, now lightning-blue, sometimes deepening into a rich purple +or tawny orange. Its lustre was intense, almost dazzling to the eye. +Its beautiful wearer gave me welcome with a radiant smile and a few +cordial words, and drawing me by the hand to the low couch she had +just vacated, made me sit down beside her. Heliobas had disappeared. + +"And so," said Zara--how soft and full of music was her voice!--"so +you are one of Casimir's patients? I cannot help considering that +you are fortunate in this, for I know my brother's power. If he says +he will cure you, you may be sure he means it. And you are already +better, are you not?" + +"Much better," I said, looking earnestly into the lovely star-like +eyes that regarded me with such interest and friendliness. "Indeed, +to-day I have felt so well, that I cannot realize ever having been +ill." + +"I am very glad," said Zara, "I know you are a musician, and I think +there can be no bitterer fate than for one belonging to your art to +be incapacitated from performance of work by some physical obstacle. +Poor grand old Beethoven! Can anything be more pitiful to think of +than his deafness? Yet how splendidly he bore up against it! And +Chopin, too--so delicate in health that he was too often morbid even +in his music. Strength is needed to accomplish great things--the +double strength of body and soul." + +"Are you, too, a musician?" I inquired. + +"No. I love music passionately, and I play a little on the organ in +our private chapel; but I follow a different art altogether. I am a +mere imitator of noble form--I am a sculptress." + +"You?" I said in some wonder, looking at the very small, beautifully +formed white hand that lay passively on the edge of the couch beside +me. "You make statues in marble like Michael Angelo?" + +"Like Angelo?" murmured Zara; and she lowered her brilliant eyes +with a reverential gravity. "No one in these modern days can +approach the immortal splendour of that great master. He must have +known heroes and talked with gods to be able to hew out of the rocks +such perfection of shape and attitude as his 'David.' Alas! my +strength of brain and hand is mere child's play compared to what HAS +been done in sculpture, and what WILL yet be done; still, I love the +work for its own sake, and I am always trying to render a +resemblance of--" + +Here she broke off abruptly, and a deep blush suffused her cheeks. +Then, looking up suddenly, she took my hand impulsively, and pressed +it. + +"Be my friend," she said, with a caressing inflection in her rich +voice, "I have no friends of my own sex, and I wish to love you. My +brother has always had so much distrust of the companionship of +women for me. You know his theories; and he has always asserted that +the sphere of thought in which I have lived all my life is so widely +apart from those in which other women exist--that nothing but +unhappiness for me could come out of associating us together. When +he told me yesterday that you were coming to see me to-day, I knew +he must have discovered something in your nature that was not +antipathetic to mine; otherwise he would not have brought you to me. +Do you think you can like me?--perhaps LOVE me after a little +while?" + +It would have been a cold heart indeed that would not have responded +to such a speech as this, uttered with the pleading prettiness of a +loving child. Besides, I had warmed to her from the first moment I +had touched her hand; and I was overjoyed to think that she was +willing to elect me as a friend. I therefore replied to her words by +putting my arm affectionately round her waist and kissing her. My +beautiful, tender Zara! How innocently happy she seemed to be thus +embraced! and how gently her fragrant lips met mine in that sisterly +caress! She leaned her dark head for a moment on my shoulder, and +the mysterious jewel on her breast flashed into a weird red hue like +the light of a stormy sunset. + +"And now we have drawn up, signed, and sealed our compact of +friendship," she said gaily, "will you come and see my studio? There +is nothing in it that deserves to last, I think; still, one has +patience with a child when he builds his brick houses, and you must +have equal patience with me. Come!" + +And she led the way through her lovely room, which I now noticed was +full of delicate statuary, fine paintings, and exquisite embroidery, +while flowers were everywhere in abundance. Lifting the hangings at +the farther end of the apartment, she passed, I following, into a +lofty studio, filled with all the appurtenances of the sculptor's +art. Here and there were the usual spectral effects which are always +suggested to the mind by unfinished plaster models--an arm in one +place, a head in another; a torso, or a single hand, protruding +ghost-like from a fold of dark drapery. At the very end of the room +stood a large erect figure, the outlines of which could but dimly be +seen through its linen coverings; and to this work, whatever it was, +Zara did not appear desirous of attracting my attention. She led me +to one particular corner; and, throwing aside a small crimson velvet +curtain, said: + +"This is the last thing I have finished in marble. I call it +'Approaching Evening.'" + +I stood silently before the statue, lost in admiration. I could not +conceive it possible that the fragile little hand of the woman who +stood beside me could have executed such a perfect work. She had +depicted "Evening" as a beautiful nude female figure in the act of +stepping forward on tip-toe; the eyes were half closed, and the +sweet mouth slightly parted in a dreamily serious smile. The right +forefinger was laid lightly on the lips, as though suggesting +silence; and in the left hand was loosely clasped a bunch of +poppies. That was all. But the poetry and force of the whole +conception as carried out in the statue was marvellous. + +"Do you like it?" asked Zara, half timidly. + +"Like it!" I exclaimed. "It is lovely--wonderful! It is worthy to +rank with the finest Italian masterpieces." + +"Oh, no!" remonstrated Zara; "no, indeed! When the great Italian +sculptors lived and worked--ah! one may say with the Scriptures, +'There were giants in those days.' Giants--veritable ones; and we +modernists are the pigmies. We can only see Art now through the eyes +of others who came before us. We cannot create anything new. We look +at painting through Raphael; sculpture through Angelo; poetry +through Shakespeare; philosophy through Plato. It is all done for +us; we are copyists. The world is getting old--how glorious to have +lived when it was young! But nowadays the very children are blase." + +"And you--are not you blase to talk like that, with your genius and +all the world before you?" I asked laughingly, slipping my arm +through hers. "Come, confess!" + +Zara looked at me gravely. + +"I sincerely hope the world is NOT all before me," she said; "I +should be very sorry if I thought so. To have the world all before +you in the general acceptation of that term means to live long, to +barter whatever genius you have for gold, to hear the fulsome and +unmeaning flatteries of the ignorant, who are as ready with +condemnation as praise--to be envied and maligned by those less +lucky than you are. Heaven defend me from such a fate!" + +She spoke with earnestness and solemnity; then, dropping the curtain +before her statue, turned away. I was admiring the vine-wreathed +head of a young Bacchante that stood on a pedestal near me, and was +about to ask Zara what subject she had chosen for the large veiled +figure at the farthest end of her studio, when we were interrupted +by the entrance of the little Greek page whom I had seen on my first +visit to the house. He saluted us both, and addressing himself to +Zara, said: + +"Monsieur le Comte desires me to tell you, madame, that Prince Ivan +will be present at dinner." + +Zara looked somewhat vexed; but the shade of annoyance flitted away +from her fair face like a passing shadow, as she replied quietly: + +"Tell Monsieur le Comte, my brother, that I shall be happy to +receive Prince Ivan." + +The page bowed deferentially and departed. Zara turned round, and I +saw the jewel on her breast flashing with a steely glitter like the +blade of a sharp sword. + +"I do not like Prince Ivan myself," she said; "but he is a +singularly brave and resolute man, and Casimir has some reason for +admitting him to our companionship. Though I greatly doubt if--" +Here a flood of music broke upon our ears like the sound of a +distant orchestra. Zara looked at me and smiled. "Dinner is ready!" +she announced; "but you must not imagine that we keep a band to play +us to our table in triumph. It is simply a musical instrument worked +by electricity that imitates the orchestra; both Casimir and I +prefer it to a gong!" + +And slipping her arm affectionately through mine, she drew me from +the studio into the passage, and together we went down the staircase +into a large dining-room, rich with oil-paintings and carved oak, +where Heliobas awaited us. Close by him stood another gentleman, who +was introduced to me as Prince Ivan Petroffsky. He was a fine- +looking, handsome-featured young man, of about thirty, tall and +broad-shouldered, though beside the commanding stature of Heliobas, +his figure did not show to so much advantage as it might have done +beside a less imposing contrast. He bowed to me with easy and +courteous grace; but his deeply reverential salute to Zara had +something in it of that humility which a slave might render to a +queen. She bent her head slightly in answer, and still holding me by +the hand, moved to her seat at the bottom of the table, while her +brother took the head. My seat was at the right hand of Heliobas, +Prince Ivan's at the left, so that we directly faced each other. + +There were two men-servants in attendance, dressed in dark livery, +who waited upon us with noiseless alacrity. The dinner was +exceedingly choice; there was nothing coarse or vulgar in the +dishes--no great heavy joints swimming in thin gravy a la Anglaise; +no tureens of unpalatable sauce; no clumsy decanters filled with +burning sherry or drowsy port. The table itself was laid out in the +most perfect taste, with the finest Venetian glass and old Dresden +ware, in which tempting fruits gleamed amid clusters of glossy dark +leaves. Flowers in tall vases bloomed wherever they could be placed +effectively; and in the centre of the board a small fountain played, +tinkling as it rose and fell like a very faintly echoing fairy +chime. The wines that were served to us were most delicious, though +their flavour was quite unknown to me--one in especial, of a pale +pink colour, that sparkled slightly as it was poured into my glass, +seemed to me a kind of nectar of the gods, so soft it was to the +palate. The conversation, at first somewhat desultory, grew more +concentrated as the time went on, though Zara spoke little and +seemed absorbed in her own thoughts more than once. The Prince, +warmed with the wine and the general good cheer, became witty and +amusing in his conversation; he was a man who had evidently seen a +good deal of the world, and who was accustomed to take everything in +life a la bagatelle. He told us gay stories of his life in St. +Petersburg; of the pranks he had played in the Florentine Carnival; +of his journey to the American States, and his narrow escape from +the matrimonial clutches of a Boston heiress. + +Heliobas listened to him with a sort of indulgent kindness, only +smiling now and then at the preposterous puns the young man would +insist on making at every opportunity that presented itself. + +"You are a lucky fellow, Ivan," he said at last. "You like the good +things of life, and you have got them all without any trouble on +your own part. You are one of those men who have absolutely nothing +to wish for." + +Prince Ivan frowned and pulled his dark moustache with no very +satisfied air. + +"I am not so sure about that," he returned. "No one is contented in +this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and +the last thing longed for always seems the most necessary to +happiness." + +"The truest philosophy," said Heliobas, "is not to long for anything +in particular, but to accept everything as it comes, and find out +the reason of its coming." + +"What do you mean by 'the reason of its coming'?" questioned Prince +Ivan. "Do you know, Casimir, I find you sometimes as puzzling as +Socrates." + +"Socrates?--Socrates was as clear as a drop of morning dew, my dear +fellow," replied Heliobas. "There was nothing puzzling about him. +His remarks were all true and trenchant--hitting smartly home to the +heart like daggers plunged down to the hilt. That was the worst of +him--he was too clear--too honest--too disdainful of opinions. +Society does not love such men. What do I mean, you ask, by +accepting everything as it comes, and trying to find out the reason +of its coming? Why, I mean what I say. Each circumstance that +happens to each one of us brings its own special lesson and meaning +--forms a link or part of a link in the chain of our existence. It +seems nothing to you that you walk down a particular street at a +particular hour, and yet that slight action of yours may lead to a +result you wot not of. 'Accept the hint of each new experience,' +says the American imitator of Plato--Emerson. If this advice is +faithfully followed, we all have enough to occupy us busily from the +cradle to the grave." + +Prince Ivan looked at Zara, who sat quietly thoughtful, only lifting +her bright eyes now and then to glance at her brother as he spoke. + +"I tell you," he said, with sudden moroseness, "there are some hints +that we cannot accept--some circumstances that we must not yield to. +Why should a man, for instance, be subjected to an undeserved and +bitter disappointment?" + +"Because," said Zara, joining in the conversation for the first +time, "he has most likely desired what he is not fated to obtain." + +The Prince bit his lips, and gave a forced laugh. + +"I know, madame, you are against me in all our arguments," he +observed, with some bitterness in his tone. "As Casimir suggests, I +am a bad philosopher. I do not pretend to more than the ordinary +attributes of an ordinary man; it is fortunate, if I may be +permitted to say so, that the rest of the word's inhabitants are +very like me, for if everyone reached to the sublime heights of +science and knowledge that you and your brother have attained---" + +"The course of human destiny would run out, and Paradise would be an +established fact," laughed Heliobas. "Come, Ivan! You are a true +Epicurean. Have some more wine, and a truce to discussions for the +present." And, beckoning to one of the servants, he ordered the +Prince's glass to be refilled. + +Dessert was now served, and luscious fruits in profusion, including +peaches, bananas, plantains, green figs, melons, pine-apples, and +magnificent grapes, were offered for our choice. As I made a +selection for my own plate, I became aware of something soft rubbing +itself gently against my dress; and looking down, I saw the noble +head and dark intelligent eyes of my old acquaintance Leo, whom I +had last met at Cannes. I gave an exclamation of pleasure, and the +dog, encouraged, stood up and laid a caressing paw on my arm. + +"You know Leo, of course," said Heliobas, turning to me. "He went to +see Raffaello while you were at Cannes. He is a wonderful animal-- +more valuable to me than his weight in gold." + +Prince Ivan, whose transient moodiness had passed away like a bad +devil exorcised by the power of good wine, joined heartily in the +praise bestowed on this four-footed friend of the family. + +"It was really through Leo," he said, "that you were induced to +follow out your experiments in human electricity, Casimir, was it +not?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas, calling the dog, who went to him +immediately to be fondled. "I should never have been much encouraged +in my researches, had he not been at hand. I feared to +experimentalize much on my sister, she being young at the time--and +women are always frail of construction--but Leo was willing and +ready to be a victim to science, if necessary. Instead of a martyr +he is a living triumph--are you not, old boy?" he continued, +stroking the silky coat of the animal, who responded with a short +low bark of satisfaction. + +My curiosity was much excited by these remarks, and I said eagerly: + +"Will you tell me in what way Leo has been useful to you? I have a +great affection for dogs, and I never tire of hearing stories of +their wonderful intelligence." + +"I will certainly tell you," replied Heliobas. "To some people the +story might appear improbable, but it is perfectly true and at the +same time simple of comprehension. When I was a very young man, +younger than Prince Ivan, I absorbed myself in the study of +electricity--its wonderful powers, and its various capabilities. +From the consideration of electricity in the different forms by +which it is known to civilized Europe, I began to look back through +history, to what are ignorantly called 'the dark ages,' but which +might more justly be termed the enlightened youth of the world. I +found that the force of electricity was well understood by the +ancients--better understood by them, in fact, than it is by the +scientists of our day. The 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN' that +glittered in unearthly characters on the wall at Belshazzar's feast, +was written by electricity; and the Chaldean kings and priests +understood a great many secrets of another form of electric force +which the world to-day scoffs at and almost ignores--I mean human +electricity, which we all possess, but which we do not all cultivate +within us. When once I realized the existence of the fact of human +electric force, I applied the discovery to myself, and spared no +pains to foster and educate whatever germ of this power lay within +me. I succeeded with more ease and celerity than I had imagined +possible. At the time I pursued these studies, Leo here was quite a +young dog, full of the clumsy playfulness and untrained ignorance of +a Newfoundland puppy. One day I was very busy reading an interesting +Sanskrit scroll which treated of ancient medicines and remedies, and +Leo was gambolling in his awkward way about the room, playing with +an old slipper and worrying it with his teeth. The noise he made +irritated and disturbed me, and I rose in my chair and called him by +name, somewhat angrily. He paused in his game and looked up--his +eyes met mine exactly. His head drooped; he shivered uneasily, +whined, and lay down motionless. He never stirred once from the +position he had taken, till I gave him permission--and remember, he +was untrained. This strange behaviour led me to try other +experiments with him, and all succeeded. I gradually led him up to +the point I desired--that is, _I_ FORCED HIM TO RECEIVE MY THOUGHT +AND ACT UPON IT, as far as his canine capabilities could do, and he +has never once failed. It is sufficient for me to strongly WILL him +to do a certain thing, and I can convey that command of mine to his +brain without uttering a single word, and he will obey me." + +I suppose I showed surprise and incredulity in my face, for Heliobas +smiled at me and continued: + +"I will put him to the proof at any time you like. If you wish him +to fetch anything that he is physically able to carry, and will +write the name of whatever it is on a slip of paper, just for me to +know what you require, I guarantee Leo's obedience." + +I looked at Zara, and she laughed. + +"It seems like magic to you, does it not?" she said; "but I assure +you it is quite true." + +"I am bound to admit," said Prince Ivan, "that I once doubted both +Leo and his master, but I am quite converted. Here, mademoiselle," +he continued, handing me a leaf from his pocket-book and a pencil-- +"write down something that you want; only don't send the dog to +Italy on an errand just now, as we want him back before we adjourn +to the drawing-room." + +I remembered that I had left an embroidered handkerchief on the +couch in Zara's room, and I wrote this down on the paper, which I +passed to Heliobas. He glanced at it and tore it up. Leo was +indulging himself with a bone under the table, but came instantly to +his master's call. Heliobas took the dog's head between his two +hands, and gazed steadily into the grave brown eyes that regarded +him with equal steadiness. This interchange of looks lasted but a +few seconds. Leo left the room, walking with an unruffled and +dignified pace, while we awaited his return--Heliobas and Zara with +indifference, Prince Ivan with amusement, and I with interest and +expectancy. Two or three minutes elapsed, and the dog returned with +the same majestic demeanour, carrying between his teeth my +handkerchief. He came straight to me and placed it in my hand; shook +himself, wagged his tail, and conveying a perfectly human expression +of satisfaction into his face, went under the table again to his +bone. I was utterly amazed, but at the same time convinced. I had +not seen the dog since my arrival in Paris, and it was impossible +for him to have known where to find my handkerchief, or to recognize +it as being mine, unless through the means Heliobas had explained. + +"Can you command human beings so?" I asked, with a slight tremor of +nervousness. + +"Not all," returned Heliobas quietly. "In fact, I may say, very few. +Those who are on my own circle of power I can, naturally, draw to or +repel from me; but those who are not, have to be treated by +different means. Sometimes cases occur in which persons, at first +NOT on my circle, are irresistibly attracted to it by a force not +mine. Sometimes, in order to perform a cure, I establish a +communication between myself and a totally alien sphere of thought; +and to do this is a long and laborious effort. But it can be done." + +"Then, if it can be done," said Prince Ivan, "why do you not +accomplish it for me?" + +"Because you are being forcibly drawn towards me without any effort +on my part," replied Heliobas, with one of his steady, keen looks. +"For what motive I cannot at present determine; but I shall know as +soon as you touch the extreme edge of my circle. You are a long way +off it yet, but you are coming in spite of yourself, Ivan." + +The Prince fidgeted restlessly in his chair, and toyed with the +fruit on his plate in a nervous manner. + +"If I did not know you to be an absolutely truthful and honourable +man, Casimir," he said, "I should think you were trying to deceive +me. But I have seen what you can do, therefore I must believe you. +Still I confess I do not follow you in your circle theory." + +"To begin with," returned Heliobas, "the Universe is a circle. +Everything is circular, from the motion of planets down to the human +eye, or the cup of a flower, or a drop of dew. MY 'circle theory,' +as you call it, applied to human electric force, is very simple; but +I have proved it to be mathematically correct. Every human being is +provided INTERNALLY and EXTERNALLY with a certain amount of +electricity, which is as necessary to existence as the life-blood to +the heart or fresh air to the lungs. Internally it is the germ of a +soul or spirit, and is placed there to be either cultivated or +neglected as suits the WILL of man. It is indestructible; yet, if +neglected, it remains always a germ; and, at the death of the body +it inhabits, goes elsewhere to seek another chance of development. +If, on the contrary, its growth is fostered by a persevering, +resolute WILL, it becomes a spiritual creature, glorious and +supremely powerful, for which a new, brilliant, and endless +existence commences when its clay chrysalis perishes. So much for +the INTERNAL electrical force. The EXTERNAL binds us all by fixed +laws, with which our wills have nothing whatever to do. (Each one of +us walks the earth encompassed by an invisible electric ring--wide +or narrow according to our capabilities. Sometimes our rings meet +and form one, as in the case of two absolutely sympathetic souls, +who labour and love together with perfect faith in each other. +Sometimes they clash, and storm ensues, as when a strong antipathy +between persons causes them almost to loathe each other's presence.) +All these human electric rings are capable of attraction and +repulsion. If a man, during his courtship of a woman, experiences +once or twice a sudden instinctive feeling that there is something +in her nature not altogether what he expected or desired, let him +take warning and break off the attachment; for the electric circles +do not combine, and nothing but unhappiness would come from forcing +a union. I would say the same thing to a woman. If my advice were +followed, how many unhappy marriages would be avoided! But you have +tempted me to talk too much, Ivan. I see the ladies wish to adjourn. +Shall we go to the smoking-room for a little, and join them in the +drawing-room afterwards?" + +We all rose. + +"Well," said the Prince gaily, as he prepared to follow his host, "I +realize one thing which gives me pleasure, Casimir. If in truth I am +being attracted towards your electric circle, I hope I shall reach +it soon, as I shall then, I suppose, be more en rapport with madame, +your sister." + +Zara's luminous eyes surveyed him with a sort of queenly pity and +forbearance. + +"By the time YOU arrive at that goal, Prince," she said calmly, "it +is most probable that _I_ shall have departed." + +And with one arm thrown round my waist, she saluted him gravely, and +left the room with me beside her. + +"Would you like to see the chapel on your way to the drawing-room?" +she asked, as we crossed the hall. + +I gladly accepted this proposition, and Zara took me down a flight +of marble steps, which terminated in a handsomely-carved oaken door. +Pushing this softly open, she made the sign of the cross and sank on +her knees. I did the same, and then looked with reverential wonder +at the loveliness and serenity of the place. It was small, but +lofty, and the painted dome-shaped roof was supported by eight light +marble columns, wreathed with minutely-carved garlands of vine- +leaves. The chapel was fitted up in accordance with the rites of the +Catholic religion, and before the High Altar and Tabernacle burned +seven roseate lamps, which were suspended from the roof by slender +gilt chains. A large crucifix, bearing a most sorrowful and pathetic +figure of Christ, was hung on one of the side walls; and from a +corner altar, shining with soft blue and silver, an exquisite statue +of the Madonna and Child was dimly seen from where we knelt. A few +minutes passed, and Zara rose. Looking towards the Tabernacle, her +lips moved as though murmuring a prayer, and then, taking me by the +hand, she led me gently out. The heavy oaken door swung softly +behind us as we ascended the chapel steps and re-entered the great +hall. + +"You are a Catholic, are you not?" then said Zara to me. + +"Yes," I answered; "but--" + +"But you have doubts sometimes, you would say! Of course. One always +doubts when one sees the dissensions, the hypocrisies, the false +pretences and wickedness of many professing Christians. But Christ +and His religion are living facts, in spite of the suicide of souls +He would gladly save. You must ask Casimir some day about these +things; he will clear up all the knotty points for you. Here we are +at the drawing-room door." + +It was the same room into which I had first been shown. Zara seated +herself, and made me occupy a low chair beside her. + +"Tell me," she said, "can you not come here and stay with me while +you are under Casimir's treatment?" + +I thought of Madame Denise and her Pension. + +"I wish I could," I said; "but I fear my friends would want to know +where I am staying, and explanations would have to be given, which I +do not feel disposed to enter upon." + +"Why," went on Zara quietly, "you have only to say that you are +being attended by a Dr. Casimir who wishes to have you under his own +supervision, and that you are therefore staying in his house under +the chaperonage of his sister." + +I laughed at the idea of Zara playing the chaperon, and told her she +was far too young and beautiful to enact that character. + +"Do you know how old I am?" she asked, with a slight smile. + +I guessed seventeen, or at any rate not more than twenty. + +"I am thirty-eight," said Zara. + +Thirty-eight! Impossible! I would not believe it. I could not. I +laughed scornfully at such an absurdity, looking at her as she sat +there a perfect model of youthful grace and loveliness, with her +lustrous eyes and rose-tinted complexion. + +"You may doubt me if you choose," she said, still smiling; "but I +have told you the truth. I am thirty-eight years of age according to +the world's counting. What I am, measured by another standard of +time, matters not just now. You see I look young, and, what is more, +I am young. I enjoy my youth. I hear that women of society at +thirty-eight are often faded and blase--what a pity it is that they +do not understand the first laws of self-preservation! But to resume +what I was saying, you know now that I am quite old enough in the +eyes of the world to chaperon you or anybody. You had better arrange +to stay here. Casimir asked me to settle the matter with, you." + +As she spoke, Heliobas and Prince Ivan entered. The latter looked +flushed and excited--Heliobas was calm and stately as usual. He +addressed himself to me at once. + +"I have ordered my carriage, mademoiselle, to take you back this +evening to the Avenue du Midi. If you will do as Zara tells you, and +explain to your friends the necessity there is for your being under +the personal supervision of your doctor, you will find everything +will arrange itself very naturally. And the sooner you come here the +better--in fact, Zara will expect you here to-morrow early in the +afternoon. I may rely upon you?" + +He spoke with a certain air of command, evidently expecting no +resistance on my part. Indeed, why should I resist? Already I loved +Zara, and wished to be more in her company; and then, most probably, +my complete restoration to health would be more successfully and +quickly accomplished if I were actually in the house of the man who +had promised to cure me. Therefore I replied: + +"I will do as you wish, monsieur. Having placed myself in your +hands, I must obey. In this particular case," I added, looking at +Zara, "obedience is very agreeable to me." + +Heliobas smiled and seemed satisfied. He then took a small goblet +from a side-table and left the room. Returning, however, almost +immediately with the cup filled to the brim, he said, handing it to +me: + +"Drink this--it is your dose for to-night; and then you will go +home, and straight to bed." + +I drank it off at once. It was delicious in flavour--like very fine +Chianti. + +"Have you no soothing draught for me?" said Prince Ivan, who had +been turning over a volume of photographs in a sullenly abstracted +sort of way. + +"No," replied Heliobas, with a keen glance at him; "the draught +fitted for your present condition might soothe you too thoroughly." + +The Prince looked at Zara, but she was mute. She had taken a piece +of silk embroidery from a workbasket near her, and was busily +employed with it. Heliobas advanced and laid his hand on the young +man's arm. + +"Sing to us, Ivan," he said, in a kind tone. "Sing us one of your +wild Russian airs--Zara loves them, and this young lady would like +to hear your voice before she goes." + +The Prince hesitated, and then, with another glance at Zara's bent +head, went to the piano. He had a brilliant touch, and accompanied +himself with great taste and delicacy; but his voice was truly +magnificent--a baritone of deep and mellow quality, sonorous, and at +the same time tender. He sang a French rendering of a Slavonic love- +song, which, as nearly as I can translate it into English, ran as +follows: + + "As the billows fling shells on the shore, + As the sun poureth light on the sea, + As a lark on the wing scatters song to the spring, + So rushes my love to thee. + + "As the ivy clings close to the tower, + As the dew lieth deep in a flower, + As the shadow to light, as the day unto night, + So clings my wild soul to thee! + + "As the moon glitters coldly alone, + Above earth on her cloud-woven throne, + As the rocky-bound cave repulses a wave, + So thy anger repulseth me. + + "As the bitter black frost of a night + Slays the roses with pitiless might, + As a sharp dagger-thrust hurls a king to the dust, + So thy cruelty murdereth me. + + "Yet in spite of thy queenly disdain, + Thou art seared by my passion and pain; + Thou shalt hear me repeat, till I die for it, sweet! + 'I love thee! I dare to love THEE!'" + +He ended abruptly and with passion, and rose from the piano +directly. + +I was enthusiastic in my admiration of the song and of the splendid +voice which had given it utterance, and the Prince seemed almost +grateful for the praise accorded him both by Heliobas and myself. + +The page entered to announce that "the carriage was waiting for +mademoiselle," and I prepared to leave. Zara kissed me +affectionately, and whispering, "Come early to-morrow," made a +graceful salute to Prince Ivan, and left the room immediately. + +Heliobas then offered me his arm to take me to the carriage. Prince +Ivan accompanied us. As the hall door opened in its usual noiseless +manner, I perceived an elegant light brougham drawn by a pair of +black horses, who were giving the coachman a great deal of trouble +by the fretting and spirited manner in which they pawed the stones +and pranced. Before descending the steps I shook hands with +Heliobas, and thanked him for the pleasant evening I had passed. + +"We will try to make all your time with us pass as pleasantly," he +returned. "Good-night! What, Ivan," as he perceived the Prince +attiring himself in his great-coat and hat, "are you also going?" + +"Yes, I am off," he replied, with a kind of forced gaiety; "I am bad +company for anyone to-night, and I won't inflict myself upon you, +Casimir. Au revoir! I will put mademoiselle into the carriage if she +will permit me." + +We went down the steps together, Heliobas watching us from the open +door. As the Prince assisted me into the brougham, he whispered: + +"Are you one of them!" + +I looked at him in bewilderment. + +"One of them!" I repeated. "What do you mean?" + +"Never mind," he muttered impatiently, as he made a pretence of +covering me with the fur rugs inside the carriage: "if you are not +now, you will be, or Zara would not have kissed you. If you ever +have the chance ask her to think of me at my best. Good-night." + +I was touched and a little sorry for him. I held out my hand in +silence. He pressed it hard, and calling to the coachman, "36, +Avenue du Midi," stood on the pavement bareheaded, looking +singularly pale and grave in the starlight, as the carriage rolled +swiftly away, and the door of the Hotel Mars closed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A SYMPHONY IN THE AIR. + + +Within a very short time I became a temporary resident in the house +of Heliobas, and felt myself to be perfectly at home there. I had +explained to Madame Denise the cause of my leaving her comfortable +Pension, and she had fully approved of my being under a physician's +personal care in order to ensure rapid recovery; but when she heard +the name of that physician, which I gave (in accordance with Zara's +instructions) as Dr. Casimir, she held up her fat hands in dismay. + +"Oh, mademoiselle," she exclaimed, "have you not dread of that +terrible man? Is it not he that is reported to be a cruel mesmerist +who sacrifices everybody--yes, even his own sister, to his medical +experiments? Ah, mon Dieu! it makes me to shudder!" + +And she shuddered directly, as a proof of her veracity. I was +amused. I saw in her an example of the common multitude, who are +more ready to believe in vulgar spirit-rapping and mesmerism than to +accept an established scientific fact. + +"Do you know Dr. Casimir and his sister?" I asked her. + +"I have seen them, mademoiselle; perhaps once--twice--three times! +It is true madame is lovely as an angel; but they say"--here she +lowered her voice mysteriously--"that she is wedded to a devil! It +is true, mademoiselle--all people say so. And Suzanne Michot--a very +respectable young person, mademoiselle, from Auteuil--she was +employed at one time as under-housemaid at Dr. Casimir's, and she +had things to say--ah, to make the blood like ice!" + +"What did she say?" I asked with a half smile. + +"Well," and Madame Denise came close to me and looked confidential, +"Suzanne--I assure you a most respectable girl--said that one +evening she was crossing the passage near Madame Casimir's boudoir, +and she saw a light like fire coming through the curtains of the +portiere. And she stopped to listen, and she heard a strange music +like the sound of harps. She ventured to go nearer--Suzanne is a +brave girl, mademoiselle, and most virtuous--and to raise the +curtain the smallest portion just to permit the glance of an eye. +And--imagine what she saw." + +"Well!" I exclaimed impatiently. "WHAT did she see?" + +"Ah, mademoiselle, you will not believe me--but Suzanne Michot has +respectable parents, and would not tell a lie--well, Suzanne saw her +mistress, Madame Casimir, standing up near her couch with both arms +extended as to embrace the air. Round her there was--believe it or +not, mademoiselle, as you please--a ring of light like a red fire, +which seemed to grow larger and redder always. All suddenly, madame +grew pale and more pale, and then fell on her couch as one dead, and +all the red fire went out. Suzanne had fear, and she tried to call +out--but now see what happened to Suzanne! She was PUSHED from the +spot, mademoiselle, pushed along as though by some strong personage; +yet she saw no one till she reached her own door, and in her room +she fainted from alarm. The very next morning Dr. Casimir dismissed +her, with her full wages and a handsome present besides; but he +LOOKED at her, Suzanne said, in a manner to make her tremble from +head to foot. Now, mademoiselle, judge yourself whether it is fit +for one who is suffering with nerves to go to so strange a house!" + +I laughed. Her story had not the least effect upon me. In fact, I +made up my mind that the so respectable and virtuous Suzanne Michot +had been drinking some of her master's wine. I said: + +"Your words only make me more desirous to go, Madame Denise. +Besides, Dr. Casimir has already done me a great deal of good. You +must have heard things of him that are not altogether bad, surely?" + +The little woman reflected seriously, and then said, as with some +reluctance: + +"It is certainly true, mademoiselle, that in the quarter of the poor +he is much beloved. Jean Duclos--he is a chiffonnier--had his one +child dying of typhoid fever, and he was watching it struggling for +breath; it was at the point to die. Monsieur le Comte Casimir, or +Dr. Casimir--for he is called both--came in all suddenly, and in +half an hour had saved the little one's life. I do not deny that he +may have some good in him, and that he understands medicine; but +there is something wrong--" And Madame Denise shook her head +forlornly a great number of times. + +None of her statements deterred me from my intention, and I was +delighted when I found myself fairly installed at the Hotel Mars. +Zara gave me a beautiful room next to her own; she had taken pains +to fit it up herself with everything that was in accordance with my +particular tastes, such as a choice selection of books; music, +including many of the fascinating scores of Schubert and Wagner; +writing materials; and a pretty, full-toned pianette. My window +looked out on a small courtyard, which had been covered over with +glass and transformed into a conservatory. I could enter it by going +down a few steps, and could have the satisfaction of gathering roses +and lilies of the valley, while outside the east wind blew and the +cold snowflakes fell over Paris. I wrote to Mrs. Everard from my +retreat, and I also informed the Challoners where they could find me +if they wanted me. These duties done, I gave myself up to enjoyment. +Zara and I became inseparables; we worked together, read together, +and together every morning gave those finishing-touches to the +ordering and arrangement of the household which are essentially +feminine, and which not the wisest philosopher in all the world has +been, or ever will be, able to accomplish successfully. We grew to +love each other dearly, with that ungrudging, sympathizing, +confiding friendship that is very rarely found between two women. In +the meantime my cure went on rapidly. Every night on retiring to +rest Heliobas prepared a medicinal dose for me, of the qualities of +which I was absolutely ignorant, but which I took trustingly from +his hand. Every morning a different little phial of liquid was +placed in the bathroom for me to empty into the water of my daily +bath, and every hour I grew better, brighter, and stronger. The +natural vivacity of my temperament returned to me; I suffered no +pain, no anxiety, no depression, and I slept as soundly as a child, +unvisited by a single dream. The mere fact of my being alive became +a joy to me; I felt grateful for everything--for my eyesight, my +speech, my hearing, my touch--because all my senses seemed to be +sharpened and invigorated and braced up to the keenest delight. This +happy condition of my system did not come suddenly--sudden cures +mean sudden relapses; it was a gradual, steady, ever-increasing, +reliable recovery. + +I found the society of Heliobas and his sister very fascinating. +Their conversation was both thoughtful and brilliant, their manners +were evenly gracious and kindly, and the life they led was a model +of perfect household peace and harmony. There was never a fuss about +anything: the domestic arrangements seemed to work on smoothly oiled +wheels; the different repasts were served with quiet elegance and +regularity; the servants were few, but admirably trained; and we all +lived in an absolutely calm atmosphere, unruffled by so much as a +breath of worry. Nothing of a mysterious nature went on, as far as I +could see. + +Heliobas passed the greater part of the day in his study--a small, +plainly furnished room, the facsimile of the one I had beheld him in +when I had dreamed those three dreams at Cannes. Whether he received +many or few patients there I could not tell; but that some applied +to him for advice I knew, as I often met strangers crossing the hall +on their way in and out. He always joined us at dinner, and was +invariably cheerful, generally entertaining us with lively converse +and sparkling narrative, though now and then the thoughtful tendency +of his mind predominated, and gave a serious tone to his remarks. + +Zara was uniformly bright and even in her temperament. She was my +very ideal of the Greek Psyche, radiant yet calm, pensive yet +mirthful. She was full of beautiful ideas and poetical fancies, and +so thoroughly untouched by the world and its aims, that she seemed +to me just to poise on the earth like a delicate butterfly on a +flower; and I should have been scarcely surprised had I seen her +unfold a pair of shining wings and fly away to some other region. +Yet in spite of this spirituelle nature, she was physically stronger +and more robust than any other woman I ever saw. She was gay and +active; she was never tired, never ailing, and she enjoyed life with +a keen zest such as is unknown to the tired multitudes who toil on +hopelessly and wearily, wondering, as they work, why they were born. +Zara evidently had no doubts or speculations of this kind; she drank +in every minute of her existence as if it were a drop of honey-dew +prepared specially for her palate. I never could believe that her +age was what she had declared it to be. She seemed to look younger +every day; sometimes her eyes had that limpid, lustrous innocence +that is seen in the eyes of a very little child; and, again, they +would change and glow with the earnest and lofty thought of one who +had lived through years of study, research, and discovery. For the +first few days of my visit she did not work in her studio at all, +but appeared to prefer reading or talking with me. One afternoon, +however, when we had returned from a short drive in the Bois de +Boulogne, she said half hesitatingly: + +"I think I will go to work again to-morrow morning, if you will not +think me unsociable." + +"Why, Zara dearest!" I replied. "Of course I shall not think you +unsociable. I would not interfere with any of your pursuits for the +world." + +She looked at me with a sort of wistful affection, and continued: + +"But you must know I like to work quite alone, and though it may +look churlish, still not even you must come into the studio. I never +can do anything before a witness; Casimir himself knows that, and +keeps away from me." + +"Well!" I said, "I should be an ungrateful wretch if I could not +oblige you in so small a request. I promise not to disturb you, +Zara; and do not think for one moment that I shall be dull. I have +books, a piano, flowers--what more do I want? And if I like I can go +out; then I have letters to write, and all sorts of things to occupy +me. I shall be quite happy, and I shall not come near you till you +call me." + +Zara kissed me. + +"You are a dear girl," she said; "I hate to appear inhospitable, but +I know you are a real friend--that you will love me as much away +from you as near you, and that you have none of that vulgar +curiosity which some women give way to, when what they desire to see +is hidden from them. You are not inquisitive, are you?" + +I laughed. + +"The affairs of other people have never appeared so interesting to +me that I have cared to bother myself about them," I replied. "Blue- +Beard's Chamber would never have been unlocked had I been that +worthy man's wife." + +"What a fine moral lesson the old fairy-tale teaches!" said Zara. "I +always think those wives of Blue-Beard deserved their fate for not +being able to obey him in his one request. But in regard to your +pursuits, dear, while I am at work in my studio, you can use the +grand piano in the drawing-room when you please, as well as the +little one in your own room; and you can improvise on the chapel +organ as much as you like." + +I was delighted at this idea, and thanked her heartily. She smiled +thoughtfully. + +"What happiness it must be for you to love music so thoroughly!" she +said. "It fills you with enthusiasm. I used to dislike to read the +biographies of musical people; they all seemed to find so much fault +with one another, and grudged each other every little bit of praise +wrung from the world's cold, death-doomed lips. It is to me +pathetically absurd to see gifted persons all struggling along, and +rudely elbowing each other out of the way to win--what? A few +stilted commonplace words of approbation or fault-finding in the +newspapers of the day, and a little clapping and shouting from a +gathering of ordinary minded persons, who only clap and shout +because it is possibly the fashion to do so. It is really ludicrous. +If the music the musician offers to the public be really great, it +will live by itself and defy praise or blame. Because Schubert died +of want and sorrow, that does not interfere with the life of his +creations. Because Wagner is voted impossible and absurd by many who +think themselves good judges of musical art, that does not offer any +obstacle to the steady spread of his fame, which is destined to +become as universal as that of Shakespeare. Poor Joachim, the +violinist, has got a picture in his private house, in which Wagner +is painted as suffering the tortures of hell; can anything be more +absurd, when we consider how soon the learned fiddler, who has +occupied his life in playing other people's compositions, will be a +handful of forgotten dust, while multitudes yet to come will shout +their admiration of 'Tristran' and 'Parsifal.' Yes, as I said, I +never cared for musical people much, till I met a friend of my +brother's--a man whose inner life was an exquisite harmony." + +"I know!" I interrupted her. "He wrote the 'Letters of a Dead +Musician.'" + +"Yes," said Zara. "I suppose you saw the book at Raffaello's studio. +Good Raffaello Cellini! his is another absolutely ungrudging and +unselfish spirit. But this musician that I speak of was like a child +in humility and reverence. Casimir told me he had never sounded so +perfect a nature. At one time he, too, was a little anxious for +recognition and praise, and Casimir saw that he was likely to wreck +himself on that fatal rock of poor ambition. So he took him in hand, +and taught him the meaning of his work, and why it was especially +given him to do; and that man's life became 'one grand sweet song.' +But there are tears in your eyes, dear! What have I said to grieve +you?" + +And she caressed me tenderly. The tears were indeed thick in my +eyes, and a minute or two elapsed before I could master them. At +last I raised my head and endeavoured to smile. + +"They are not sad tears, Zara," I said; "I think they come from a +strong desire I have to be what you are, what your brother is, what +that dead musician must have been. Why, I have longed, and do long +for fame, for wealth, for the world's applause, for all the things +which you seem to think so petty and mean. How can I help it? Is not +fame power? Is not money a double power, strong to assist one's self +and those one loves? Is not the world's favour a necessary means to +gain these things?" + +Zara's eyes gleamed with a soft and pitying gentleness. + +"Do you understand what you mean by power?" she asked. "World's +fame? World's wealth? Will these things make you enjoy life? You +will perhaps say yes. I tell you no. Laurels of earth's growing +fade; gold of earth's getting is good for a time, but it palls +quickly. Suppose a man rich enough to purchase all the treasures of +the world--what then? He must die and leave them. Suppose a poet or +musician so famous that all nations know and love him: he too must +die, and go where nations exist no longer. And you actually would +grasp ashes and drink wormwood, little friend? Music, the heaven- +born spirit of pure sound, does not teach you so!" + +I was silent. The gleam of the strange jewel Zara always wore +flashed in my eyes like lightning, and anon changed to the +similitude of a crimson star. I watched it, dreamily fascinated by +its unearthly glitter. + +"Still," I said, "you yourself admit that such fame as that of +Shakespeare or Wagner becomes a universal monument to their +memories. That is something, surely?" + +"Not to them," replied Zara; "they have partly forgotten that they +ever were imprisoned in such a narrow gaol as this world. Perhaps +they do not care to remember it, though memory is part of +immortality." + +"Ah!" I sighed restlessly; "your thoughts go beyond me, Zara. I +cannot follow your theories." + +Zara smiled. + +"We will not talk about them any more," she said; "you must tell +Casimir--he will teach you far better than I can." + +"What shall I tell him?" I asked; "and what will he teach me?" + +"You will tell him what a high opinion you have of the world and its +judgments," said Zara, "and he will teach you that the world is no +more than a grain of dust, measured by the standard of your own +soul. This is no mere platitude--no repetition of the poetical +statement 'THE MIND'S THE STANDARD OF THE MAN;' it is a fact, and +can be proved as completely as that two and two make four. Ask +Casimir to set you free." + +"To set me free?" I asked, surprised. + +"Yes!" and Zara looked at me brightly. "He will know if you are +strong enough to travel!" And, nodding her head gaily to me, she +left the room to prepare for the dinner-hour which was fast +approaching. + +I pondered over her words a good deal without arriving at any +satisfactory conclusion as to the meaning of them. I did not resume +the conversation with her, nor did I speak to Heliobas as yet, and +the days went on smoothly and pleasantly till I had been nearly a +week in residence at the Hotel Mars. I now felt perfectly well and +strong, though Heliobas continued to give me his remedies regularly +night and morning. I began an energetic routine of musical practice: +the beautiful piano in the drawing-room answered readily to my +touch, and many a delightful hour slipped by as I tried various new +difficulties on the key-board, or worked out different combinations +of harmony. I spent a great deal of my time at the organ in the +little chapel, the bellows of which were worked by electricity, in a +manner that gave not the least trouble, and was perfectly simple of +management. + +The organ itself was peculiarly sweet in tone, the "vox humana" stop +especially producing an entrancingly rich and tender sound. The +silence, warmth, and beauty of the chapel, with the winter sunlight +streaming through its stained windows, and the unbroken solitude I +enjoyed there, all gave fresh impetus to the fancies of my brain, +and a succession of solemn and tender melodies wove themselves under +my fingers as a broidered carpet is woven on the loom. + +One particular afternoon, I was sitting at the instrument as usual, +and my thoughts began to busy themselves with the sublime tragedy of +Calvary. I mused, playing softly all the while, on the wonderful, +blameless, glorious life that had ended in the shame and cruelty of +the Cross, when suddenly, like a cloud swooping darkly across the +heaven of my thoughts, came the suggestive question: "Is it all +true? Was Christ indeed Divine--or is it all a myth, a fable--an +imposture?" Unconsciously I struck a discordant chord on the organ-- +a faint tremor shook me, and I ceased playing. An uncomfortable +sensation came over me, as of some invisible presence being near me +and approaching softly, slowly, yet always more closely; and I +hurriedly rose from my seat, shut the organ, and prepared to leave +the chapel, overcome by a strange incomprehensible terror. I was +glad when I found myself safely outside the door, and I rushed into +the hall as though I were being pursued; yet the oddest part of my +feeling was, that whoever thus pursued me, did so out of love, not +enmity, and that I was almost wrong in running away. I leaned for a +moment against one of the columns in the hall, trying to calm the +excited beating of my heart, when a deep voice startled me: + +"So! you are agitated and alarmed! Unbelief is easily scared!" + +I looked up and met the calm eyes of Heliobas. He appeared to be +taller, statelier, more like a Chaldean prophet or king than I had +ever seen him before. There was something in his steady scrutiny of +my face that put me to a sort of shame, and when he spoke again it +was in a tone of mild reproof. + +"You have been led astray, my child, by the conflicting and vain +opinions of mankind. You, like many others in the world, delight to +question, to speculate, to weigh this, to measure that, with little +or no profit to yourself or your fellow-creatures. And you have come +freshly from a land where, in the great Senate-house, a poor +perishable lump of clay calling itself a man, dares to stand up +boldly and deny the existence of God, while his compeers, less bold +than he, pretend a holy displeasure, yet secretly support him--all +blind worms denying the existence of the sun; a land where so-called +Religion is split into hundreds of cold and narrow sects, gatherings +assembled for the practice of hypocrisy, lip-service and lies--where +Self, not the Creator, is the prime object of worship; a land, +mighty once among the mightiest, but which now, like an over-ripe +pear, hangs loosely on its tree, awaiting but a touch to make it +fall! A land--let me not name it;--where the wealthy, high-fed +ministers of the nation slowly argue away the lives of better men +than themselves, with vain words of colder and more cruel force than +the whirling spears of untaught savages! What have you, an ardent +disciple of music, to do in such a land where favouritism and +backstair influence win the day over even the merits of a Schubert? +Supposing you were a second Beethoven, what could you do in that +land without faith or hope? that land which is like a disappointed, +churlish, and aged man with tottering feet and purblind eyes, who +has long ago exhausted all enjoyment and sees nothing new under the +sun. The world is wide--faith is yet extant--and the teachings of +Christ are true. 'Believe and live; doubt and die!' That saying is +true also." + +I had listened to these words in silence; but now I spoke eagerly +and impatiently, remembering what Zara had told me. + +"Then," I said, "if I have been misguided by modern opinions--if I +have unconsciously absorbed the doctrines of modern fashionable +atheism--lead me right. Teach me what you know. I am willing to +learn. Let me find out the reason of my life. SET ME FREE!" + +Heliobas regarded me with earnest solemnity. + +"Set you free!" he murmured, in a low tone. "Do you know what you +ask?" + +"No," I answered, with reckless fervour. "I do not know what I ask; +but I feel that you have the power to show me the unseen things of +another world. Did you not yourself tell me in our first interview +that you had let Raffaello Cellini 'go on a voyage of discovery, and +that he came back perfectly satisfied?' Besides, he told me his +history. From you he has gained all that gives him peace and +comfort. You possess electric secrets undreamt of by the world. +Prove your powers upon me; I am not afraid." + +Heliobas smiled. "Not afraid! And you ran out of the chapel just now +as if you were pursued by a fiend! You must know that the only WOMAN +I ever tried my greatest experiment upon is my sister Zara. She was +trained and prepared for it in the most careful manner; and it +succeeded. Now"--and Heliobas looked half-sad, half-triumphant--"she +has passed beyond my power; she is dominated by one greater than I. +But she cannot use her force for others; she can only employ it to +defend herself. Therefore, I am willing to try you if you indeed +desire it--to see if the same thing will occur to you as to Zara; +and I firmly believe it will." + +A slight tremor came over me; but I said with an attempt at +indifference: + +"You mean that I shall be dominated also by some great force or +influence?" + +"I think so," replied Heliobas musingly. "Your nature is more prone +to love than to command. Try and follow me in the explanation I am +going to give you. Do you know some lines by Shelley that run-- + + "'Nothing in the world is single, + All things by a law divine + In one another's being mingle-- + Why not I with thine?'" + +"Yes," I said. "I know the lines well. I used to think them very +sentimental and pretty." + +"They contain," said Heliobas, "the germ of a great truth, as many +of the most fanciful verses of the poets do. As the 'image of a +voice' mentioned in the Book of Job hinted at the telephone, and as +Shakespeare's 'girdle round the earth' foretold the electric +telegraph, so the utterances of the inspired starvelings of the +world, known as poets, suggest many more wonders of the universe +than may be at first apparent. Poets must always be prophets, or +their calling is in vain. Put this standard of judgment to the +verse-writers of the day, and where would they be? The English +Laureate is no seer: he is a mere relater of pretty stories. +Algernon Charles Swinburne has more fire in him, and more wealth of +expression, but he does not prophesy; he has a clever way of +combining Biblical similes with Provengal passion--et voila tout! +The prophets are always poor--the sackcloth and ashes of the world +are their portion; and their bodies moulder a hundred years or more +in the grave before the world finds out what they meant by their +ravings. But apropos of these lines of Shelley. He speaks of the +duality of existence. 'Nothing in the world is single.' He might +have gone further, and said nothing in the universe is single. Cold +and heat, storm and sunshine, good and evil, joy and sorrow--all go +in pairs. This double life extends to all the spheres and above the +spheres. Do you understand?" + +"I understand what you say," I said slowly; "but I cannot see your +meaning as applied to myself or yourself." + +"I will teach you in a few words," went on Heliobas. "You believe in +the soul?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. Now realize that there is no soul on this earth that is +complete, ALONE. Like everything else, it is dual. It is like half a +flame that seeks the other half, and is dissatisfied and restless +till it attains its object. Lovers, misled by the blinding light of +Love, think they have reached completeness when they are united to +the person beloved. Now, in very, very rare cases, perhaps one among +a thousand, this desirable result is effected; but the majority of +people are content with the union of bodies only, and care little or +nothing about the sympathy or attachment between souls. There are +people, however, who do care, and who never find their Twin-Flame or +companion Spirit at all on earth, and never will find it. And why? +Because it is not imprisoned in clay; it is elsewhere." + +"Well?" I asked eagerly. + +"Well, you seem to ask me by your eyes what this all means. I will +apply it at once to myself. By my researches into human electrical +science, I discovered that MY companion, MY other half of existence, +though not on earth, was near me, and could be commanded by me; and, +on being commanded, obeyed. With Zara it was different. She could +not COMMAND--she OBEYED; she was the weaker of the two. With you, I +think it will be the same thing. Men sacrifice everything to +ambition; women to love. It is natural. I see there is much of what +I have said that appears to have mystified you; it is no good +puzzling your brain any more about it. No doubt you think I am +talking very wildly about Twin-Flames and Spiritual Affinities that +live for us in another sphere. You do not believe, perhaps, in the +existence of beings in the very air that surrounds us, invisible to +ordinary human eyes, yet actually akin to us, with a closer +relationship than any tie of blood known on earth?" + +I hesitated. Heliobas saw my hesitation, and his eyes darkened with +a sombre wrath. + +"Are you one of those also who must see in order to believe?" he +said, half angrily. "Where do you suppose your music comes from? +Where do you suppose any music comes from that is not mere +imitation? The greatest composers of the world have been mere +receptacles of sound; and the emptier they were of self-love and +vanity, the greater quantity of heaven-born melody they held. The +German Wagner--did he not himself say that he walked up and down in +the avenues, 'trying to catch the harmonies as they floated in the +air'? Come with me--come back to the place you left, and I will see +if you, like Wagner, are able to catch a melody flying." + +He grasped my unresisting arm, and led me, half-frightened, half- +curious, into the little chapel, where he bade me seat myself at the +organ. + +"Do not play a single note," he said, "till you are compelled." + +And standing beside me, Heliobas laid his hands on my head, then +pressed them on my ears, and finally touched my hands, that rested +passively on the keyboard. + +He then raised his eyes, and uttered the name I had often thought of +but never mentioned--the name he had called upon in my dream. + +"Azul!" he said, in a low, penetrating voice, "open the gateways of +the Air that we may hear the sound of Song!" + +A soft rushing noise of wind answered his adjuration. This was +followed by a burst of music, transcendently lovely, but unlike any +music I had ever heard. There were sounds of delicate and entrancing +tenderness such as no instrument made by human hands could produce; +there was singing of clear and tender tone, and of infinite purity +such as no human voices could be capable of. I listened, perplexed, +alarmed, yet entranced. Suddenly I distinguished a melody running +through the wonderful air-symphonies--a melody like a flower, fresh +and perfect. Instinctively I touched the organ and began to play it; +I found I could produce it note for note. I forgot all fear in my +delight, and I played on and on in a sort of deepening rapture. +Gradually I became aware that the strange sounds about me were dying +slowly away; fainter and fainter they grew--softer--farther--and +finally ceased. But the melody--that one distinct passage of notes I +had followed out--remained with me, and I played it again and again +with feverish eagerness lest it should escape me. I had forgotten +the presence of Heliobas. But a touch on my shoulder roused me. I +looked up and met his eyes fixed upon, me with a steady and earnest +regard. A shiver ran through, me, and I felt bewildered. + +"Have I lost it?" I asked. + +"Lost what?" he demanded. + +"The tune I heard--the harmonies." + +"No," he replied; "at least I think not. But if you have, no matter. +You will hear others. Why do you look so distressed?" + +"It is lovely," I said wistfully, "all that music; but it is not +MINE;" and tears of regret filled my eyes. "Oh, if it were only +mine--my very own composition!" + +Heliobas smiled kindly. + +"It is as much yours as any thing belongs to anyone. Yours? why, +what can you really call your own? Every talent you have, every +breath you draw, every drop of blood flowing in your veins, is lent +to you only; you must pay it all back. And as far as the arts go, it +is a bad sign of poet, painter, or musician, who is arrogant enough +to call his work his own. It never was his, and never will be. It is +planned by a higher intelligence than his, only he happens to be the +hired labourer chosen to carry out the conception; a sort of +mechanic in whom boastfulness looks absurd; as absurd as if one of +the stonemasons working at the cornice of a cathedral were to vaunt +himself as the designer of the whole edifice. And when a work, any +work, is completed, it passes out of the labourer's hands; it +belongs to the age and the people for whom it was accomplished, and, +if deserving, goes on belonging to future ages and future peoples. +So far, and only so far, music is your own. But are you convinced? +or do you think you have been dreaming all that you heard just now?" + +I rose from the organ, closed it gently, and, moved by a sudden +impulse, held out both my hands to Heliobas. He took them and held +them in a friendly clasp, watching me intently as I spoke. + +"I believe in YOU," I said firmly; "and I know thoroughly well that +I was not dreaming; I certainly heard strange music, and entrancing +voices. But in acknowledging your powers over something unseen, I +must explain to you the incredulity I at first felt, which I believe +annoyed you. I was made sceptical on one occasion, by attending a +so-called spiritual seance, where they tried to convince me of the +truth of table-turning--" + +Heliobas laughed softly, still holding my hands. + +"Your reason will at once tell you that disembodied spirits never +become so undignified as to upset furniture or rap on tables. +Neither do they write letters in pen and ink and put them under +doors. Spiritual beings are purely spiritual; they cannot touch +anything human, much less deal in such vulgar display as the +throwing about of chairs, and the opening of locked sideboards. You +were very rightly sceptical in these matters. But in what I have +endeavoured to prove to you, you have no doubts, have you?" + +"None in the world," I said. "I only ask you to go on teaching me +the wonders that seem so familiar to you. Let me know all I may; and +soon!" I spoke with trembling eagerness. + +"You have been only eight days in the house, my child," said +Heliobas, loosening my hands, and signing me to come out of the +chapel with him; "and I do not consider you sufficiently strong as +yet for the experiment you wish me to try upon you. Even now you are +agitated. Wait one week more, and then you shall be--" + +"What?" I asked impatiently. + +"Lifted up," he replied. "Lifted up above this little speck called +earth. But now, no more of this. Go to Zara; keep your mind well +employed; study, read, and pray--pray much and often in few and +simple words, and with as utterly unselfish a heart as you can +prepare. Think that you are going to some high festival, and attire +your soul in readiness. I do not say to you 'Have faith;' I would +not compel your belief in anything against your own will. You wish +to be convinced of a future existence; you seek proofs; you shall +have them. In the meantime avoid all conversation with me on the +subject. You can confide your desires to Zara if you like; her +experience may be of use to you. You had best join her now. Au +revoir!" and with a kind parting gesture, he left me. + +I watched his stately figure disappear in the shadow of the passage +leading to his own study, and then I hastened to Zara's room. The +musical episode in the chapel had certainly startled me, and the +words of Heliobas were full of mysterious meaning; but, strange to +say, I was in no way rendered anxious or alarmed by the prospect I +had before me of being "lifted up," as my physician had expressed +it. I thought of Raffaello Cellini and his history, and I determined +within myself that no cowardly hesitation or fear should prevent me +from making the attempt to see what he professed to have seen. I +found Zara reading. She looked up as I entered, and greeted me with +her usual bright smile. + +"You have had a long practice," she began; "I thought you were never +coming." + +I sat down beside her, and related at once all that had happened to +me that afternoon. Zara listened with deep and almost breathless +interest. + +"You are quite resolved," she said, when I had concluded, "to let +Casimir exert his force upon you?" + +"I am quite resolved," I answered. + +"And you have no fear?" + +"None that I am just now conscious of." + +Zara's eyes became darker and deeper in the gravity of her intense +meditation. At last she said: + +"I can help you to keep your courage firmly to the point, by letting +you know at once what Casimir will do to you. Beyond that I cannot +go. You understand the nature of an electric shock?" + +"Yes," I replied. + +"Well, there are different kinds of electric shocks--some that are +remedial, some that are fatal. There are cures performed by a +careful use of the electric battery--again, people are struck dead +by lightning, which is the fatal result of electric force. But all +this is EXTERNAL electricity; now what Casimir will use on you will +be INTERNAL electricity." + +I begged her to explain more clearly. She went on: + +"You have internally a certain amount of electricity, which has been +increased recently by the remedies prescribed for you by Casimir. +But, however much you have, Casimir has more, and he will exert his +force over your force, the greater over the lesser. You will +experience an INTERNAL electric shock, which, like a sword, will +separate in twain body and spirit. The spiritual part of you will be +lifted up above material forces; the bodily part will remain inert +and useless, till the life, which is actually YOU, returns to put +its machinery in motion once more." + +"But shall I return at all?" I asked half doubtfully. + +"You must return, because God has fixed the limits of your life on +earth, and no human power can alter His decree. Casimir's will can +set you free for a time, but only for a time. You are bound to +return, be it never so reluctantly. Eternal liberty is given by +Death alone, and Death cannot be forced to come." + +"How about suicide?" I asked. + +"The suicide," replied Zara, "has no soul. He kills his body, and by +the very act proves that whatever germ of an immortal existence he +may have had once, has escaped from its unworthy habitation, and +gone, like a flying spark, to find a chance of growth elsewhere. +Surely your own reason proves this to you? The very animals have +more soul than a man who commits suicide. The beasts of prey slay +each other for hunger or in self-defence, but they do not slay +themselves. That is a brutality left to man alone, with its +companion degradation, drunkenness." + +I mused awhile in silence. + +"In all the wickedness and cruelty of mankind," I said, "it is +almost a wonder that there is any spiritual existence left on earth +at all. Why should God trouble Himself to care for such few souls as +thoroughly believe in and love Him?--they can be but a mere +handful." + +"Such a mere handful are worth more than the world to him," said +Zara gravely. "Oh, my dear, do not say such things as why should God +trouble Himself? Why do you trouble yourself for the safety and +happiness of anyone you love?" + +Her eyes grew soft and tender, and the jewel she wore glimmered like +moonlight on the sea. I felt a little abashed, and, to change the +subject, I said: + +"Tell me, Zara, what is that stone you always wear? Is it a +talisman?" + +"It belonged to a king," said Zara,--"at least, it was found in a +king's coffin. It has been in our family for generations. Casimir +says it is an electric stone--there are such still to be found in +remote parts of the sea. Do you like it?" + +"It is very brilliant and lovely," I said. + +"When I die," went on Zara slowly, "I will leave it to you." + +"I hope I shall have to wait a long time before I get it, then," I +exclaimed, embracing her affectionately. "Indeed, I will pray never +to receive it." + +"You will pray wrongly," said Zara, smiling. "But tell me, do you +quite understand from my explanation what Casimir will do to you?" + +"I think I do." + +"And you are not afraid?" + +"Not at all. Shall I suffer any pain?" + +"No actual pang. You will feel giddy for a moment, and your body +will become unconscious. That is all." + +I meditated for a few moments, and then looking up, saw Zara's eyes +watching me with a wistful inquiring tenderness. I answered her look +with a smile, and said, half gaily: + +"L'audace, l'audace, et toujours l'audace! That must be my motto, +Zara. I have a chance now of proving how far a woman's bravery can +go, and I assure you I am proud of the opportunity. Your brother +uttered some very cutting remarks on the general inaptitude of the +female sex when I first made his acquaintance; so, for the honour of +the thing, I must follow the path I have begun to tread. A plunge +into the unseen world is surely a bold step for a woman, and I am +determined to take it courageously." + +"That is well," said Zara. "I do not think it possible for you ever +to regret it. It is growing late--shall we prepare for dinner?" + +I assented, and we separated to our different rooms. Before +commencing to dress I opened the pianette that stood near my window, +and tried very softly to play the melody I had heard in the chapel. +To my joy it came at once to my fingers, and I was able to remember +every note. I did not attempt to write it down--somehow I felt sure +it would not escape me now. A sense of profound gratitude filled my +heart, and, remembering the counsel given by Heliobas, I knelt +reverently down and thanked God for the joy and grace of music. As I +did so, a faint breath of sound, like a distant whisper of harps +played in unison, floated past my ears,--then appeared to sweep +round in ever-widening circles, till it gradually died away. But it +was sweet and entrancing enough for me to understand how glorious +and full of rapture must have been the star-symphony played on that +winter's night long ago, when the angels chanted together, "Glory to +God in the highest, and on earth peace and good-will to Man!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. + + +Prince Ivan Petroffsky was a constant visitor at the Hotel Mars, and +I began to take a certain interest in him, not unmingled with pity, +for it was evident that he was hopelessly in love with my beautiful +friend Zara. She received him always with courtesy and kindness; but +her behaviour to him was marked by a somewhat cold dignity, which, +like a barrier of ice, repelled the warmth of his admiration and +attention. Once or twice, remembering what he had said to me, I +endeavoured to speak to her concerning him and his devotion; but she +so instantly and decisively turned the conversation that I saw I +should displease her if I persisted in it. Heliobas appeared to be +really attached to the Prince, at which I secretly wondered; the +worldly and frivolous young nobleman was of so entirely different a +temperament to that of the thoughtful and studious Chaldean +philosopher. Yet there was evidently some mysterious attraction +between them--the Prince appeared to be profoundly interested in +electric theories and experiments, and Heliobas never wearied of +expounding them to so attentive a listener. The wonderful +capabilities of the dog Leo also were brought into constant +requisition for Prince Ivan's benefit, and without doubt they were +most remarkable. This animal, commanded--or, I should say, brain- +electrified--by Heliobas, would fetch anything that was named to him +through his master's force, providing it was light enough for him to +carry; and he would go into the conservatory and pluck off with his +teeth any rare or common flower within his reach that was described +to him by the same means. Spoken to or commanded by others, he was +simply a good-natured intelligent Newfoundland; but under the +authority of Heliobas, he became more than human in ready wit and +quick obedience, and would have brought in a golden harvest to any +great circus or menagerie. + +He was a never-failing source of wonder and interest to me, and even +more so to the Prince, who made him the subject of many an abstruse +and difficult discussion with his friend Casimir. I noticed that +Zara seemed to regret the frequent companionship of Ivan Petroffsky +and her brother, and a shade of sorrow or vexation often crossed her +fair face when she saw them together absorbed in conversation or +argument. + +One evening a strange circumstance occurred which startled and +deeply impressed me. Prince Ivan had dined with us; he was in +extraordinarily high spirits--his gaiety was almost boisterous, and +his face was deeply flushed. Zara glanced at him half indignantly +more than once when his laughter became unusually uproarious, and I +saw that Heliobas watched him closely and half-inquiringly, as if he +thought there was something amiss. + +The Prince, however, heedless of his host's observant eye, tossed +off glass after glass of wine, and talked incessantly. After dinner, +when we all assembled in the drawing-room, he seated himself at the +piano without being asked, and sang several songs. Whether he were +influenced by drink or strong excitement, his voice at any rate +showed no sign of weakness or deterioration. Never had I heard him +sing so magnificently. He seemed possessed not by an angel but by a +demon of song. It was impossible not to listen to him, and while +listening, equally impossible not to admire him. Even Zara, who was +generally indifferent to his music, became, on this particular +night, fascinated into a sort of dreamy attention. He perceived +this, and suddenly addressed himself to her in softened tones which +bore no trace of their previous loudness. + +"Madame, you honour me to-night by listening to my poor efforts. It +is seldom I am thus rewarded!" + +Zara flushed deeply, and then grew very pale. + +"Indeed, Prince," she answered quietly, "you mistake me. I always +listen with pleasure to your singing--to-night, perhaps, my mood is +more fitted to music than is usual with me, and thus I may appear to +you to be more attentive. But your voice always delights me as it +must delight everybody who hears it." + +"While you are in a musical mood then," returned Prince Ivan, "let +me sing you an English song--one of the loveliest ever penned. I +have set it to music myself, as such words are not of the kind to +suit ordinary composers or publishers; they are too much in earnest, +too passionate, too full of real human love and sorrow. The songs +that suit modern drawing-rooms and concert-halls, as a rule, are +those that are full of sham sentiment--a real, strong, throbbing +HEART pulsing through a song is too terribly exciting for +lackadaisical society. Listen!" And, playing a dreamy, murmuring +prelude like the sound of a brook flowing through a hollow cavern, +he sang Swinburne's "Leave-Taking," surely one of the saddest and +most beautiful poems in the English language. + +He subdued his voice to suit the melancholy hopelessness of the +lines, and rendered it with so much intensity of pathetic expression +that it was difficult to keep tears from filling the eyes. When he +came to the last verse, the anguish of a wasted life seemed to +declare itself in the complete despair of his low vibrating tones: + + "Let us go hence and rest; she will not love. + She shall not hear us if we sing hereof, + Nor see love's ways, how sore they are and steep. + Come hence, let be, lie still; it is enough. + Love is a barren sea, bitter and deep; + And though she saw all heaven in flower above, + She would not love!" + +The deep melancholy of the music and the quivering pathos of the +deep baritone voice were so affecting that it was almost a relief +when the song ceased. I had been looking out of the window at the +fantastic patterns of the moonlight on the garden walk, but now I +turned to see in Zara's face her appreciation of what we had just +heard. To my surprise she had left the room. Heliobas reclined in +his easy-chair, glancing up and down the columns of the Figaro; and +the Prince still sat at the piano, moving his fingers idly up and +down the keys without playing. The little page entered with a letter +on a silver salver. It was for his master. Heliobas read it quickly, +and rose, saying: + +"I must leave you to entertain yourselves for ten minutes while I +answer this letter. Will you excuse me?" and with the ever-courteous +salute to us which was part of his manner, he left the room. + +I still remained at the window. Prince Ivan still dumbly played the +piano. There were a few minutes of absolute silence. Then the Prince +hastily got up, shut the piano, and approached me. + +"Do you know where Zara is?" he demanded in a low, fierce tone. + +I looked at him in surprise and a little alarm--he spoke with so +much suppressed anger, and his eyes glittered so strangely. + +"No," I answered frankly. "I never saw her leave the room." + +"I did," he said. "She slipped out like a ghost, or a witch, or an +angel, while I was singing the last verse of Swinburne's song. Do +you know Swinburne, mademoiselle?" + +"No," I replied, wondering at his manner more and more. "I only know +him, as you do, to be a poet." + +"Poet, madman, or lover--all three should be one and the same +thing," muttered the Prince, clenching and unclenching that strong +right hand of his on which sparkled a diamond like a star. "I have +often wondered if poets feel what they write--whether Swinburne, for +instance, ever felt the weight of a dead cold thing within him +HERE," slightly touching the region of his heart, "and realized that +he had to drag that corpse of unburied love with him everywhere-- +even to the grave, and beyond--O God!--beyond the grave!" I touched +him gently on the arm. I was full of pity for him--his despair was +so bitter and keen. + +"Prince Ivan," I said, "you are excited and overwrought. Zara meant +no slight to you in leaving the room before your song was finished. +I am quite sure of that. She is kindness itself--her nature is all +sweetness and gentleness. She would not willingly offend you--" + +"Offend me!" he exclaimed; "she could not offend me if she tried. +She could tread upon me, stab me, slay me, but never offend me. I +see you are sorry for me--and I thank you. I kiss your hand for your +gentle pity, mademoiselle." + +And he did so, with a knightly grace that became him well. I thought +his momentary anger was passing, but I was mistaken. Suddenly he +raised his arm with a fierce gesture, and exclaimed: + +"By heaven! I will wait no longer. I am a fool to hesitate. I may +wait a century before I draw out of Casimir the secret that would +enable me to measure swords with my rival. Listen!" and he grasped +my shoulder roughly. "Stay here, you! If Casimir returns, tell him I +have gone for a walk of half an hour. Play to him--keep him +occupied--be my friend in this one thing--I trust you. Let him not +seek for Zara, or for me. I shall not be long absent." + +"Stay!" I whispered hurriedly, "What are you going to do? Surely you +know the power of Heliobas. He is supreme here. He could find out +anything he chose. He could---" + +Prince Ivan looked at me fixedly. + +"Will you swear to me that you actually do not know?" + +"Know what?" I asked, perplexed. + +He laughed bitterly, sarcastically. + +"Did you ever hear that line of poetry which speaks of 'A woman +wailing for her demon-lover'? That is what Zara does. Of one thing I +am certain--she does not wail or wait long; he comes quickly." + +"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, utterly mystified. "Who comes +quickly? I am sure you do not know what you are talking about." + +"I DO know," he replied firmly; "and I am going to prove my +knowledge. Remember what I have asked you." And without another word +or look, he threw open the velvet curtains of the portiere, and +disappeared behind them. + +Left to myself, I felt very nervous and excited. All sorts of odd +fancies came into my head, and would not go away, but danced about +like Will-o'-the-wisps on a morass. What did Prince Ivan mean? Was +he mad? or had he drunk too much wine? What strange illusion had he +in his mind about Zara and a demon? Suddenly a thought flashed upon +me that made me tremble from head to foot. I remembered what +Heliobas had said about twin flames and dual affinities; and I also +reflected that he had declared Zara to be dominated by a more +powerful force than his own. But then, I had accepted it as a matter +of course that, whatever the force was, it must be for good, not +evil, over a being so pure, so lovely and so intelligent as Zara. + +I knew and felt that there were good and evil forces. Now, suppose +Zara were commanded by some strange evil thing, unguessed at, +undreamt of in the wildest night-mare? I shuddered as with icy cold. +It could not be. I resolutely refused to admit such a fearful +conjecture. Why, I thought to myself, with a faint smile, I was no +better in my imaginings than the so virtuous and ever-respectable +Suzanne Michot of whom Madame Denise had spoken. Still the hateful +thought came back again and again, and refused to go away. + +I went to my old place at the window and looked out. The moonlight +fell in cold slanting rays; but an army of dark clouds were hurrying +up from the horizon, looking in their weird shapes like the mounted +Walkyres in Wagner's "Niebelungen Ring," galloping to Walhalla with +the bodies of dead warriors slung before them. A low moaning wind +had arisen, and was beginning to sob round the house like the +Banshee. Hark! what was that? I started violently. Surely that was a +faint shriek? I listened intently. Nothing but the wind rustling +among some creaking branches. + + "A woman wailing for her demon-lover." + +How that line haunted me! And with, it there slowly grew up in my +mind a black looming horror; an idea, vague and ghastly, that froze +my blood and turned me faint and giddy. Suppose, when I had +consented to be experimented upon by Heliobas--when my soul in the +electric trance was lifted up to the unseen world--suppose an evil +force, terrible and all-compelling, were to dominate ME and hold me +forever and ever! I gasped for breath! Oh, so much the more need of +prayer! + +"Pray much and often, with as unselfish a heart as you can prepare." + +Thus Heliobas had said; and I thought to myself, if all those who +were on the brink of great sin or crime could only be brought to +feel beforehand what I felt when facing the spectral dread of +unknown evil, then surely sins would be fewer and crimes never +committed. And I murmured softly, "Lead us not into temptation, but +deliver us from evil." + +The mere utterance of these words seemed to calm and encourage me; +and as I gazed up at the sky again, with its gathering clouds, one +star, like a bright consoling eye, looked at me, glittering +cheerfully amid the surrounding darkness. + +More than ten minutes had elapsed since Prince Ivan had left the +room, and there was no sound of returning footsteps. And where was +Zara? I determined to seek her. I was free to go anywhere in the +house, only avoiding her studio during her hours of work; and she +never worked at night. I would go to her and confide all my strange +thoughts and terrors to her friendly sympathy. I hurried through the +hall and up the staircase quickly, and should have gone straight +into Zara's boudoir had I not heard a sound of voices which caused +me to stop precipitately outside the door. Zara was speaking. Her +low, musical accents fell like a silver chime on the air. + +"I have told you," she said, "again and again that it is impossible. +You waste your life in the pursuit of a phantom; for a phantom I +must be to you always--a mere dream, not a woman such as your love +would satisfy. You are a strong man, in sound health and spirits; +you care for the world and the things that are in it. I do not. You +would make me happy, you say. No doubt you would do your best--your +wealth and influence, your good looks, your hospitable and friendly +nature would make most women happy. But what should _I_ care for +your family diamonds? for your surroundings? for your ambitions? The +society of the world fills me with disgust and prejudice. Marriage, +as the world considers it, shocks and outrages my self-respect; the +idea of a bodily union without that of souls is to me repulsive and +loathsome. Why, therefore, waste your time in seeking a love which +does not exist, which never will exist for you?" + +I heard the deep, passionate tones of Prince Ivan in answer: + +"One light kindles another, Zara! The sunlight melts the snow! I +cannot believe but that a long and faithful love may--nay, MUST-- +have its reward at last. Even according to your brother's theories, +the emotion of love is capable of powerful attraction. Cannot I hope +that my passion--so strong, so great, so true, Zara!--will, with +patience, draw you, star of my life, closer and closer, till I at +last call you mine?" + +I heard the faint rustle of Zara's silk robe, as though she were +moving farther from him. + +"You speak ignorantly, Prince. Your studies with Casimir appear to +have brought you little knowledge. Attraction! How can you attract +what is not in your sphere? As well ask for the Moons of Jupiter or +the Ring of Saturn! The laws of attraction and repulsion, Prince +Ivan, are fixed by a higher authority than yours, and you are as +powerless to alter or abate them by one iota, as a child is +powerless to repel the advancing waves of the sea." + +Prince Ivan spoke again, and his voice quivered, with suppressed +anger. + +"You may talk as you will, beautiful Zara; but you shall never +persuade me against my reason. I am no dreamer; no speculator in +aerial nothings; no clever charlatan like Casimir, who, because he +is able to magnetize a dog, pretends to the same authority over +human beings, and dares to risk the health, perhaps the very sanity, +of his own sister, and that of the unfortunate young musician whom +he has inveigled in here, all for the sake of proving his dangerous, +almost diabolical, experiments. Oh, yes; I see you are indignant, +but I speak truth. I am a plain man;--and if I am deficient in +electric germs, as Casimir would say, I have plenty of common sense. +I wish to rescue you, Zara. You are becoming a prey to morbid +fancies; your naturally healthy mind is full of extravagant notions +concerning angels and demons and what not; and your entire belief +in, and enthusiasm for, your brother is a splendid advertisement for +him. Let me tear the veil of credulity from your eyes. Let me teach +you how good a thing it is to live and love and laugh like other +people, and leave electricity to the telegraph-wires and the lamp- +posts." + +Again I heard the silken rustle of Zara's dress, and, impelled by a +strong curiosity and excitement, I raised a corner of the curtain +hanging over the door, and was able to see the room distinctly. The +Prince stood, or rather lounged, near the window, and opposite to +him was Zara; she had evidently retreated from him as far as +possible, and held herself proudly erect, her eyes flashing with +unusual brilliancy contrasted with the pallor of her face. + +"Your insults to my brother, Prince," she said calmly, "I suffer to +pass by me, knowing well to what a depth of wilful blind ignorance +you are fallen. I pity you--and--I despise you! You are indeed a +plain man, as you say--nothing more and nothing less. You can take +advantage of the hospitality of this house, and pretend friendship +to the host, while you slander him behind his back, and insult his +sister in the privacy of her own apartment. Very manlike, truly; and +perfectly in accordance with a reasonable being who likes to live +and love and laugh according to the rule of society--a puppet whose +wires society pulls, and he dances or dies as society pleases. I +told you a gulf existed between us--you have widened it, for which I +thank you! As I do not impose any of my wishes upon you, and +therefore cannot request you to leave the room, you must excuse me +if _I_ retire elsewhere." + +And she approached the entrance of her studio, which was opposite to +where I stood; but the Prince reached it before her, and placed his +back against it. His face was deathly pale, and his dark eyes blazed +with wrath and love intermingled. + +"No, Zara!" he exclaimed in a sort of loud whisper. "If you think to +escape me so, you are in error. I came to you reckless and resolved! +You shall be mine if I die for it!" And he strove to seize her in +his arms. But she escaped him and stood at bay, her lips quivering, +her bosom heaving, and her hands clenched. + +"I warn you!" she exclaimed. "By the intense loathing I have for +you; by the force which makes my spirit rise in arms against you, I +warn you! Do not dare to touch me! If you care for your own life, +leave me while there is time!" + +Never had she looked so supremely, terribly beautiful. I gazed at +her from my corner of the doorway, awed, yet fascinated. The jewel +on her breast glowed with an angry red lustre, and shot forth +dazzling opaline rays, as though it were a sort of living, breathing +star. Prince Ivan paused--entranced no doubt, as I was, by her +unearthly loveliness. His face flushed--he gave a low laugh of +admiration. Then he made two swift strides forward and caught her +fiercely in his embrace. His triumph was brief. Scarcely had his +strong arm clasped her waist, when it fell numb and powerless-- +scarcely had his eager lips stooped towards hers, when he reeled and +sank heavily on the ground, senseless! The spell that had held me a +silent spectator of the scene was broken. Terrified, I rushed into +the room, crying out: + +"Zara, Zara! What have you done?" + +Zara turned her eyes gently upon me--they were soft and humid as +though recently filled with tears. All the burning scorn and +indignation had gone out of her face--she looked pityingly at the +prostrate form of her admirer. + +"He is not dead," she said quietly. "I will call Casimir." + +I knelt beside the Prince and raised his hand. It was cold and +heavy. His lips were blue, and his closed eyelids looked as though, +in the words of Homer, "Death's purple finger" had shut them fast +forever. No breath--no pulsation of the heart. I looked fearfully at +Zara. She smiled half sadly. + +"He is not dead," she repeated. + +"Are you sure?" I murmured. "What was it, Zara, that made him fall? +I was at the door--I saw and heard everything." + +"I know you did," said Zara gently; "and I am glad of it. I wished +you to see and hear all." + +"Is it a fit, do you think?" I asked again, looking sorrowfully at +the sad face of the unfortunate Ivan, which seemed to me to have +already graven upon it the stern sweet smile of those who have +passed all passion and pain forever. "Oh, Zara! do you believe he +will recover?" And tears choked my voice--tears of compassion and +regret. + +Zara came and kissed me. + +"Yes, he will recover--do not fret, little one. I have rung my +private bell for Casimir; he will be here directly. The Prince has +had a shock--not a fatal one, as you will see. You look doubtful-- +are you afraid of me, dear?" + +I gazed at her earnestly. Those clear childlike eyes--that frank +smile--that gentle and dignified mien--could they accompany evil +thoughts? No! I was sure Zara was good as she was lovely. + +"I am not afraid of you, Zara," I said gravely; "I love you too well +for that. But I am sorry for the poor Prince; and I cannot +understand---" + +"You cannot understand why those who trespass against fixed laws +should suffer?" observed Zara calmly. "Well, you will understand +some day. You will know that in one way or another it is the reason +of all suffering, both physical and mental, in the world." + +I said no more, but waited in silence till the sound of a firm +approaching footstep announced Heliobas. He entered the room +quickly--glanced at the motionless form of the Prince, then at me, +and lastly at his sister. + +"Has he been long thus?" he asked in a low tone. + +"Not five minutes," replied Zara. + +A pitying and affectionate gentleness of expression filled his keen +eyes. + +"Reckless boy!" he murmured softly, as he stooped and laid one hand +lightly on Ivan's breast. "He is the very type of misguided human +bravery. You were too hard upon him, Zara!" + +Zara sighed. + +"He spoke against you," she said. "Of course he did," returned her +brother with a smile. "And it was perfectly natural he should do so. +Have I not read his thoughts? Do not I know that he considers me a +false pretender and CHARLATAN? And have I not humoured him? In this +he is no worse than any one of his race. Every great scientific +discovery is voted impossible at the first start. Ivan is not to +blame because he is like the rest of the world. He will be wiser in +time." + +"He attempted to force his desires," began Zara again, and her +cheeks flushed indignantly. + +"I know," answered her brother. "I foresaw how it would be, but was +powerless to prevent it. He was wrong--but bold! Such boldness +compels a certain admiration. This fellow would scale the stars, if +he knew how to do it, by physical force alone." + +I grew impatient, and interrupted these remarks. + +"Perhaps he is scaling the stars now," I said; "or at any rate he +will do so if death can show him the way." + +Heliobas gave me a friendly glance. + +"You also are growing courageous when you can speak to your +physician thus abruptly," he observed quietly. "Death has nothing to +do with our friend as yet, I assure you. Zara, you had better leave +us. Your face must not be the first for Ivan's eyes to rest upon. +You," nodding to me, "can stay." + +Zara pressed my hand gently as she passed me, and entered her +studio, the door of which closed behind her, and I heard the key +turn in the lock. I became absorbed in the proceedings of Heliobas. +Stooping towards the recumbent form of Prince Ivan, he took the +heavy lifeless hands firmly in his own, and then fixed his eyes +fully and steadily on the pale, set features with an expression of +the most forcible calm and absolutely undeniable authority. Not one +word did he utter, but remained motionless as a statue in the +attitude thus assumed--he seemed scarcely to breathe--not a muscle +of his countenance moved. Perhaps twenty or thirty seconds might +have elapsed, when a warm tinge of colour came back to the +apparently dead face--the brows twitched--the lips quivered and +parted in a heavy sigh. The braised appearance of the eyelids gave +place to the natural tint--they opened, disclosing the eyes, which +stared directly into those of the compelling Master who thus forced +their obedience. A strong shudder shook the young man's frame; his +before nerveless hands grasped those of Heliobas with force and +fervour, and still meeting that steady look which seemed to pierce +the very centre of his system, Prince Ivan, like Lazarus of old, +arose and stood erect. As he did so, Heliobas withdrew his eyes, +dropped his hands and smiled. + +"You are better, Ivan?" he inquired kindly. + +The Prince looked about him, bewildered. He passed one hand across +his forehead without replying. Then he turned slightly and perceived +me in the window-embrasure, whither I had retreated in fear and +wonderment at the marvellous power of Heliobas, thus openly and +plainly displayed. + +"Tell me," he said, addressing me, "have I been dreaming?" + +I could not answer him. I was glad to see him recover, yet I was a +little afraid. Heliobas pushed a chair gently towards him. + +"Sit down, Ivan," he said quietly. + +The Prince obeyed, and covered his face with his hand as though in +deep and earnest meditation. I looked on in silence and wonderment. +Heliobas spoke not another word, and together we watched the pensive +figure in the chair, so absorbed in serious thought. Some minutes +passed. The gentle tick of the clock in the outer hall grew almost +obtrusive, so loud did it seem in the utter stillness that +surrounded us. I longed to speak--to ask questions--to proffer +sympathy--but dared not move or utter a syllable. Suddenly the +Prince rose; his manner was calm and dignified, yet touched with a +strange humility. He advanced to Heliobas, holding out his hand. + +"Forgive me, Casimir!" he said simply. + +Heliobas at once grasped the proffered palm within his own, and +looked at the young man with an almost fatherly tenderness. + +"Say no more, Ivan," he returned, his rich voice sounding more than +usually mellow in its warmth and heartiness. "We must all learn +before we can know, and some of our lessons are sharp and difficult. +Whatever you have thought of me, remember I have not, and do not, +blame you. To be offended with unbelievers is to show that you are +not yourself quite sure of the faith to which you would compel +them." + +"I would ask you one thing," went on the Prince, speaking in a low +tone. "Do not let me stay to fall into fresh errors. Teach me--guide +me, Casimir; I will be the most docile of your pupils. As for Zara--" + +He paused, as if overcome. + +"Come with me," said Heliobas, taking his arm; "a glass of good wine +will invigorate you. It is better to see Zara no more for a time. +Let me take charge of you. You, mademoiselle," turning to me, "will +be kind enough to tell Zara that the Prince has recovered, and sends +her a friendly good-night. Will that message suffice?" he inquired +of Ivan, with a smile. + +The Prince looked at me with a sort of wistful gravity as I came +forward to bid him farewell. + +"You will embrace her," he said slowly, "without fear. Her eyes will +rain sunshine upon you; they will not dart lightning. Her lips will +meet yours, and their touch will be warm--not cold, as sharp steel. +Yes; bid her good-night for me; tell her that an erring man kisses +the hem of her robe, and prays her for pardon. Tell her that I +understand; tell her I have seen her lover!" + +"With these words, uttered distinctly and emphatically, he turned +away with. Heliobas, who still held him by the arm in a friendly, +half-protecting manner. The tears stood in my eyes. I called softly: + +"Good-night, Prince Ivan!" + +He looked back with a faint smile. + +"Good-night, mademoiselle!" + +Heliobas also looked back and gave me an encouraging nod, which +meant several things at once, such as "Do not be anxious," "He will +be all right soon," and "Always believe the best." I watched their +two figures disappear through the doorway, and then, feeling almost +cheerful again, I knocked at the door of Zara's studio. She opened +it at once, and came out. I delivered the Prince's message, word for +word, as he had given it. She listened, and sighed deeply. + +"Are you sorry for him, Zara?" I asked. + +"Yes," she replied; "I am sorry for him as far as I can be sorry for +anything. I am never actually VERY sorry for any circumstances, +however grievous they may appear." + +I was surprised at this avowal. + +"Why, Zara," I said, "I thought you were so keenly sympathetic?" + +"So I am sympathetic, but only with suffering ignorance--a dying +bird that knows not why it should die--a withering rose that sees +not the reason for its withering; but for human beings who wilfully +blind themselves to the teachings of their own instincts, and are +always doing what they know they ought not to do in spite of +warning, I cannot say I am sorry. And for those who DO study the +causes and ultimate results of their existence, there is no occasion +to be sorry, as they are perfectly happy, knowing everything that +happens to them to be for their advancement and justification." + +"Tell me," I asked with a little hesitation, "what did Prince Ivan +mean by saying he had seen your lover, Zara?" + +"He meant what he said, I suppose," replied Zara, with sudden +coldness. "Excuse me, I thought you said you were not inquisitive." + +I could not bear this change of tone in her, and I clasped my arms +tight about her and smiled in her face. + +"You shall not get angry with ME, Zara. I am not going to be treated +like poor Ivan. I have found out what you are, and how dangerous it +is to admire you; but I do admire and love you. And I defy you to +knock me down as unceremoniously as you did the Prince--you +beautiful living bit of Lightning!" + +Zara moved restlessly in my embrace, but I held her fast. At the +last epithet I bestowed on her, she grew very pale; but her eyes +resembled the jewels on her breast in their sheeny glitter. + +"What have you found out?" she murmured. "What do you know?" + +"I cannot say I KNOW," I went on boldly, still keeping my arms round +her; "but I have made a guess which I think comes near the truth. +Your brother has had the care of you ever since you were a little +child, and I believe he has, by some method known only to himself, +charged you with electricity. Yes, Zara," for she had started and +tried to loosen my hold of her; "and it is that which keeps you +young and fresh as a girl of sixteen, at an age when other women +lose their bloom and grow wrinkles. It is that which gives you the +power to impart a repelling shock to people you dislike, as in the +case of Prince Ivan. It is that which gives you such an attractive +force for those with whom you have a little sympathy--such as +myself, for instance; and you cannot, Zara, with all your electric +strength, unclasp my arms from your waist, because you have not the +sentiment of repulsion towards me which would enable you to do it. +Shall I go on guessing?" + +Zara made a sign of assent--the expression of her face had softened, +and a dimpling smile played round the corners of her mouth. + +"Your lover," I went on steadily and slowly, "is a native of some +other sphere--perhaps a creation of your own fancy--perhaps (for I +will not be sceptical any more) a beautiful and all-powerful angelic +spirit. I will not discuss this with you. I believe that when Prince +Ivan fell senseless, he saw, or fancied he saw, that nameless being. +And now," I added, loosening my clasp of her, "have I guessed well?" + +Zara looked meditative. + +"I do not know," she said, "why you should imagine--" + +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "there is no imagination in the case. I have +reasoned it out. Here is a book I found in the library on electric +organs as they are discovered to exist in certain fish. Listen: +'They are nervous apparatuses which in the arrangement of their +parts may be compared to a Voltaic pile. They develop electricity +and give electrical discharges.'" + +"Well!" said Zara. + +"You say 'Well!' as if you did not know!" I exclaimed half-angrily, +half-laughingly. "These fish have helped me to understand a great +deal, I assure you. Your brother must have discovered the seed or +commencement of electrical organs like those described, in the human +body; and he has cultivated them in you and in himself, and has +brought them to a high state of perfection. He has cultivated them +in Raffaello Cellini, and he is beginning to cultivate them in me, +and I hope most sincerely he will succeed. I think his theory is a +magnificent one!" + +Zara gazed seriously at me, and her large eyes seemed to grow darker +with the intensity of her thought. + +"Supposing you had reasoned out the matter correctly," she said-- +"and I will not deny that you have done a great deal towards the +comprehension of it--have you no fear? do you not include some +drawbacks in even Casimir's learning such a secret, and being able +to cultivate and educate such a deadly force as that of electricity +in the human being?" + +"If it is deadly, it is also life-giving," I answered. "Remedies are +also poisons. You laid the Prince senseless at your feet, but your +brother raised him up again. Both these things were done by +electricity. I can understand it all now; I see no obscurity, no +mystery. And oh, what a superb discovery it is!" + +Zara smiled. + +"You enthusiast!" she said, "it is nothing new. It was well known to +the ancient Chaldeans. It was known to Moses and his followers; it +was practised in perfection by Christ and His disciples. To modern +civilization it may seem a discovery, because the tendency Of all +so-called progress is to forget the past. The scent of the human +savage is extraordinarily keen--keener than that of any animal--he +can follow a track unerringly by some odour he is able to detect in +the air. Again, he can lay back his ears to the wind and catch a +faint, far-off sound with, certainty and precision, and tell you +what it is. Civilized beings have forgotten all this; they can +neither smell nor hear with actual keenness. Just in the same way, +they have forgotten the use of the electrical organs they all +indubitably possess in large or minute degree. As the muscles of the +arm are developed by practice, so can the wonderful internal +electrical apparatus of man be strengthened and enlarged by use. The +world in its youth knew this; the world in its age forgets, as an +old man forgets or smiles disdainfully at the past sports of his +childhood. But do not let us talk any more to-night. If you think +your ideas of me are correct---" + +"I am sure they are!" I cried triumphantly. + +Zara held out her arms to me. + +"And you are sure you love me?" she asked. + +I nestled into her embrace and kissed her. + +"Sure!" I answered. "Zara, I love and honour you more than any woman +I ever met or ever shall meet. And you love me--I know you do!" + +"How can I help it?" she said. "Are you not one of us? Good-night, +dearest! Sleep well!" + +"Good-night!" I answered. "And remember Prince Ivan asked for your +pardon." + +"I remember!" she replied softly. "I have already pardoned him, and +I will pray for him." And a sort of radiant pity and forbearance +illumined her lovely features, as we parted for the night. So might +an angel look on some repentant sinner pleading for Heaven's +forgiveness. + +I lay awake for some time that night, endeavouring to follow out the +track of thought I had entered upon in my conversation with Zara. +With such electricity as Heliobas practised, once admitting that +human electric force existed, a fact which no reasoning person could +deny, all things were possible. Even a knowledge of superhuman +events might be attained, if there were anything in the universe +that WAS superhuman; and surely it would be arrogant and ignorant to +refuse to contemplate such a probability. At one time people mocked +at the wild idea that a message could flash in a moment of time from +one side of the Atlantic to the other by means of a cable laid under +the sea; now that it is an established fact, the world has grown +accustomed to it, and has ceased to regard it as a wonder. Granting +human electricity to exist, why should not a communication be +established, like a sort of spiritual Atlantic cable, between man +and the beings of other spheres and other solar systems? The more I +reflected on the subject the more lost I became in daring +speculations concerning that other world, to which I was soon to be +lifted. Then in a sort of half-doze, I fancied I saw an interminable +glittering chain of vivid light composed of circles that were all +looped one in another, which seemed to sweep round the realms of +space and to tie up the sun, moon, and stars like flowers in a +ribbon of fire. After much anxious and humble research, I found +myself to be one of the smallest links in this great chain. I do not +know whether I was grateful or afraid at this discovery, for sleep +put an end to my drowsy fancies, and dropped a dark curtain over my +waking dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MY STRANGE DEPARTURE. + + +The next morning brought me two letters; one from Mrs. Everard, +telling me that she and the Colonel had resolved on coming to Paris. + +"All the nice people are going away from here," she wrote. "Madame +Didier and her husband have started for Naples; and, to crown our +lonesomeness, Raffaello Cellini packed up all his traps, and left us +yesterday morning en route for Rome. The weather continues to be +delicious; but as you seem to be getting on so well in Paris, in +spite of the cold there, we have made up our minds to join you, the +more especially as I want to renovate my wardrobe. We shall go +straight to the Grand Hotel; and I am writing to Mrs. Challoner by +this post, asking her to get us rooms. We are so glad you are +feeling nearly recovered--of course, you must not leave your +physician till you are quite ready. At any rate, we shall not arrive +till the end of next week." + +I began to calculate. During that strange interview in the chapel, +Heliobas had said that in eight days more I should be strong enough +to undergo the transmigration he had promised to effect upon me. +Those eight days were now completed on this very morning. I was glad +of this; for I did not care to see Mrs. Everard or anyone till the +experiment was over. The other letter I received was from Mrs. +Challoner, who asked me to give an "Improvisation" at the Grand +Hotel that day fortnight. + +When I went down to breakfast, I mentioned both these letters, and +said, addressing myself to Heliobas: + +"Is it not rather a sudden freak of Raffaello Cellini's to leave +Cannes? We all thought he was settled for the winter there. Did you +know he was going to Rome?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas, as he stirred his coffee abstractedly. "I +knew he was going there some day this month; his presence is +required there on business." + +"And are you going to give the Improvisation this Mrs. Challoner +asks you for?" inquired Zara. + +I glanced at Heliobas. He answered for me. + +"I should certainly give it if I were you," he said quietly: "there +will be nothing to prevent your doing so at the date named." + +I was relieved. I had not been altogether able to divest myself of +the idea that I might possibly never come out alive from the +electric trance to which I had certainly consented; and this +assurance on the part of Heliobas was undoubtedly comforting. We +were all very silent that morning; we all wore grave and preoccupied +expressions. Zara was very pale, and appeared lost in thought. +Heliobas, too, looked slightly careworn, as though he had been up +all night, engaged in some brain-exhausting labour. No mention was +made of Prince Ivan; we avoided his name by a sort of secret mutual +understanding. When the breakfast was over, I looked with a fearless +smile at the calm face of Heliobas, which appeared nobler and more +dignified than ever with that slight touch of sadness upon it, and +said softly: + +"The eight days are accomplished!" + +He met my gaze fully, with a steady and serious observation of my +features, and replied: + +"My child, I am aware of it. I expect you in my private room at +noon. In the meantime speak to no one--not even to Zara; read no +books; touch no note of music. The chapel has been prepared for you; +go there and pray. When you see a small point of light touch the +extreme edge of the cross upon the altar, it will be twelve o'clock, +and you will then come to me." + +With these words, uttered in a grave and earnest tone, he left me. A +sensation of sudden awe stole upon me. I looked at Zara. She laid +her finger on her lips and smiled, enjoining silence; then drawing +my hand close within her own, she led me to the door of the chapel. +There she took a soft veil of some white transparent fabric, and +flung it over me, embracing and kissing me tenderly as she did so, +but uttering no word. Taking my hand again, she entered the chapel +with me, and accompanied me through what seemed a blaze of light and +colour to the high altar, before which was placed a prie-dieu of +crimson velvet. Motioning me to kneel, she kissed me once more +through the filmy veil that covered me from head to foot; then +turning noiselessly away she disappeared, and I heard the heavy +oaken door close behind her. Left alone, I was able to quietly take +note of everything around me. The altar before which I knelt was +ablaze with lighted candles, and a wealth of the purest white +flowers decorated it, mingling their delicious fragrance with the +faintly perceptible odour of incense. On all sides of the chapel, in +every little niche, and at every shrine, tapers were burning like +fireflies in a summer twilight. At the foot of the large crucifix, +which occupied a somewhat shadowy corner, lay a wreath of +magnificent crimson roses. It would seem as though some high +festival were about to be celebrated, and I gazed around me with a +beating heart, half expecting some invisible touch to awaken the +notes of the organ and a chorus of spirit-voices to respond with the +"Gloria in excelsis Deo!" But there was silence--absolute, +beautiful, restful silence. I strove to collect my thoughts, and +turning my eyes towards the jewelled cross that surmounted the high +altar, I clasped my hands, and began to wonder how and for what I +should pray. Suddenly the idea struck me that surely it was selfish +to ask Heaven for anything; would it not be better to reflect on all +that had already been given to me, and to offer up thanks? Scarcely +had this thought entered my mind when a sort of overwhelming sense +of unworthiness came over me. Had I ever been unhappy? I wondered. +If so, why? I began to count up my blessings and compare them with +my misfortunes. Exhausted pleasure-seekers may be surprised to hear +that I proved the joys of my life to have far exceeded my sorrows. I +found that I had sight, hearing, youth, sound limbs, an appreciation +of the beautiful in art and nature, and an intense power of +enjoyment. For all these things, impossible of purchase by mere +wealth, should I not give thanks? For every golden ray of sunshine, +for every flower that blooms, for the harmonies of the wind and sea, +for the singing of birds and the shadows of trees, should I not-- +should we not all give thanks? For is there any human sorrow so +great that the blessing of mere daylight on the earth does not far +exceed? We mortals are spoilt and petted children--the more gifts we +have the more we crave; and when we burn or wound ourselves by our +own obstinacy or carelessness, we are ungratefully prone to blame +the Supreme Benefactor for our own faults. We don black mourning +robes as a sort of sombre protest against Him for having removed +some special object of our choice and love, whereas, if we believed +in Him and were grateful to Him, we should wear dazzling white in +sign of rejoicing that our treasure is safe in the land of perfect +joy where we ourselves desire to be. Do we suffer from illness, loss +of money, position, or friends, we rail against Fate--another name +for God--and complain like babes who have broken their toys; yet the +sun shines on, the seasons come and go, the lovely panorama of +Nature unrolls itself all for our benefit, while we murmur and fret +and turn our eyes away in anger. + +Thinking of these things and kneeling before the altar, my heart +became filled with gratitude; and no petition suggested itself to me +save one, and that was, "Let me believe and love!" I thought of the +fair, strong, stately figure of Christ, standing out in the world's +history, like a statue of pure white marble against a dark +background; I mused on the endurance, patience, forgiveness, and +perfect innocence of that most spotless life which was finished on +the cross, and again I murmured, "Let me believe and love!" And I +became so absorbed in meditation that the time fled fast, till a +sudden sparkle of flame flashing across the altar-steps caused me to +look up. The jewelled cross had become a cross of fire. The point of +light I had been, told to watch for had not only touched the extreme +edge, but had crept down among all the precious stones and lit them +up like stars. I afterwards learned that this effect was produced by +means of a thin, electric wire, which, communicating with a +timepiece constructed on the same system, illuminated the cross at +sunrise, noon, and sunset. It was time for me to join Heliobas. I +rose gently, and left the chapel with a quiet and reverent step, for +I have always thought that to manifest hurry and impatience in any +place set apart for the worship of the Creator is to prove yourself +one of the unworthiest things created. Once outside the door I laid +aside my veil, and then, with a perfectly composed and fearless +mind, went straight to the Electrician's study. I shall never forget +the intense quiet of the house that morning. The very fountain in +the hall seemed to tinkle in a sort of subdued whisper. I found +Heliobas seated at his table, reading. How my dream came vividly +back to me, as I saw him in that attitude! I felt that I knew what +he was reading. He looked up as I entered, and greeted me with a +kindly yet grave smile. I broke silence abruptly. + +"Your book is open," I said, "at a passage commencing thus: 'The +universe is upheld solely by the Law of Love. A majestic invisible +Protectorate governs the winds, the tides.' Is it not so?" + +"It is so," returned Heliobas. "Are you acquainted with the book?" + +"Only through the dream I had of you at Cannes," I answered. "I do +think Signor Cellini had some power over me." + +"Of course he had in your then weak state. But now that you are as +strong as he is, he could not influence you at all. Let us be brief +in our converse, my child. I have a few serious things to say to you +before you leave me, on your celestial journey." + +I trembled slightly, but took the chair he pointed out to me--a +large easy-chair in which one could recline and sleep. + +"Listen," continued Heliobas; "I told you, when you first came here, +that whatever I might do to restore you to health, you would have it +in your power to repay me amply. You ARE restored to health; will +you give me my reward?" + +"I would and will do anything to prove my gratitude to you," I said +earnestly. "Only tell me how." + +"You are aware," he went on, "of my theories respecting the Electric +Spirit or Soul in Man. It is progressive, as I have told you--it +begins as a germ--it goes on increasing in power and beauty for +ever, till it is great and pure enough to enter the last of all +worlds--God's World. But there are sometimes hindrances to its +progression--obstacles in its path, which cause it to recoil and +retire a long way back--so far back occasionally that it has to +commence its journey over again. Now, by my earnest researches, I am +able to study and watch the progress of my own inner force or soul. +So far, all has been well--prayerfully and humbly I may say I +believe all has been well. But I foresee an approaching shadow--a +difficulty--a danger--which, if it cannot be repelled or passed in +some way, threatens to violently push back my advancing spiritual +nature, so that, with much grief and pain, I shall have to re- +commence the work that I had hoped was done. I cannot, with all my +best effort, discover WHAT this darkening obstacle is--but YOU, yes, +YOU"--for I had started up in surprise--"you, when you are lifted up +high enough to behold these things, may, being perfectly unselfish +in this research, attain to the knowledge of it and explain it to +me, when you return. In trying to probe the secret for myself, it is +of course purely for my own interest; and nothing clear, nothing +satisfactory can be spiritually obtained, in which selfishness has +ever so slight a share. You, if indeed I deserve your gratitude for +the aid I have given you--you will be able to search out the matter +more certainly, being in the position of one soul working for +another. Still, I cannot compel you to do this for me--I only ask, +WILL you?" + +His entreating and anxious tone touched me keenly; but I was amazed +and perplexed, and could not yet realize what strange thing was +going to happen to me. But whatever occurred I was resolved to give +a ready consent to his request, therefore I said firmly: + +"I will do my best, I promise you. Remember that I do not know, I +cannot even guess where I am going, or what strange sensations will +overcome me; but if I am permitted to have any recollection of earth +at all, I will try to find out what you ask." + +Heliobas seemed satisfied, and rising from his chair, unlocked a +heavily-bound iron safe. From this he took a glass flask of a +strange, ever-moving, glittering fluid, the same in appearance as +that which Raffaello Cellini had forbidden me to drink. He then +paused and looked searchingly at me. + +"Tell me," he said in an authoritative tone, "tell me WHY you wish +to see what to mortals is unseen? What motive have you? What +ulterior plan?" + +I hesitated. Then I gathered my strength together and answered +decisively: + +"I desire to know why this world, this universe exists; and also +wish to prove, if possible, the truth and necessity of religion. And +I think I would give my life, if it were worth anything, to be +certain of the truth of Christianity." + +Heliobas gazed in my face with a sort of half-pity, half-censure. + +"You have a daring aim," he said slowly, "and you are a bold seeker. +But shame, repentance and sorrow await you where you are going, as +well as rapture and amazement. '_I_ WOULD GIVE MY LIFE IF IT WERE +WORTH ANYTHING.' That utterance has saved you--otherwise to soar +into an unexplored wilderness of spheres, weighted by your own +doubts and guided solely by your own wild desires, would be a +fruitless journey." + +I felt abashed as I met his steady, scrutinizing eyes. + +"Surely it is well to wish to know the reason of things?" I asked, +with some timidity. + +"The desire of knowledge is a great virtue, certainly," he replied; +"it is not truly felt by one in a thousand. Most persons are content +to live and die, absorbed in their own petty commonplace affairs, +without troubling themselves as to the reasons of their existence. +Yet it is almost better, like these, to wallow in blind ignorance +than wantonly to doubt the Creator because He is unseen, or to put a +self-opiniated construction on His mysteries because He chooses to +veil them from our eyes." + +"I do not doubt!" I exclaimed earnestly. "I only want to make sure, +and then perhaps I may persuade others." + +"You can never compel faith," said Heliobas calmly. "You are going +to see wonderful things that no tongue or pen can adequately +describe. Well, when you return to earth again, do you suppose you +can make people believe the story of your experiences? Never! Be +thankful if you are the possessor of a secret joy yourself, and do +not attempt to impart it to others, who will only repel and mock +you." + +"Not even to one other?" I asked hesitatingly. + +A warm, kindly smile seemed to illuminate his face as I put this +question. + +"Yes, to one other, the other half of yourself--you may tell all +things," he said. "But now, no more converse. If you are quite +ready, drink this." + +He held out to me a small tumbler filled with the sparkling volatile +liquid he had poured from the flask. For one moment my courage +almost forsook me, and an icy shiver ran through my veins. Then I +bethought myself of all my boasted bravery; was it possible that I +should fail now at this critical moment? I allowed myself no more +time for reflection, but took the glass from his hand and drained +its contents to the last drop. It was tasteless, but sparkling and +warm on the tongue. Scarcely had I swallowed it, when a curiously +light, dizzy sensation overcame me, and the figure of Heliobas +standing before me seemed to assume gigantic proportions. I saw his +hands extend--his eyes, like lamps of electric flame, burned through +and through me--and like a distant echo, I heard the deep vibrating +tones of his voice uttering the following words: + +"Azul! Azul! Lift up this light and daring spirit unto thyself; be +its pioneer upon the path it must pursue; suffer it to float +untrammelled through the wide and glorious Continents of Air; give +it form and force to alight on any of the vast and beautiful spheres +it may desire to behold; and if worthy, permit it to gaze, if only +for a brief interval, upon the supreme vision of the First and Last +of worlds. By the force thou givest unto me, I free this soul; do +thou, Azul, quickly receive it!" + +A dense darkness now grew thickly around me---I lost all power over +my limbs--I felt myself being lifted up forcibly and rapidly, up, +up, into some illimitable, terrible space of blackness and +nothingness. I could not think, move, or cry out--I could only feel +that I was rising, rising, steadily, swiftly, breathlessly ... when +suddenly a long quivering flash of radiance, like the fragment of a +rainbow, struck dazzlingly across my sight. Darkness? What had I to +do with darkness? I knew not the word--I was only conscious of +light--light exquisitely pure and brilliant--light through which I +stepped as easily as a bird flies in air. Perfectly awake to my +sensations, I felt somehow that there was nothing remarkable in +them--I seemed to be at home in some familiar element. Delicate +hands held mine--a face far lovelier than the loveliest face of +woman ever dreamed by poet or painter, smiled radiantly at me, and I +smiled back again. A voice whispered in strange musical murmurs, +such as I well seemed to know and comprehend: + +"Gaze behind thee ere the picture fades." + +I obeyed, half reluctantly, and saw as a passing shadow in a glass, +or a sort of blurred miniature painting, the room where Heliobas +stood, watching some strange imperfect shape, which I seemed faintly +to recognise. It looked like a small cast in clay, very badly +executed, of the shape I at present wore; but it was incomplete, as +though the sculptor had given it up as a failure and gone away, +leaving it unfinished. + +"Did I dwell in that body?" I mused to myself, as I felt the +perfection of my then state of being. "How came I shut in such a +prison? How poor a form--how destitute of faculties--how full of +infirmities--how limited in capabilities--how narrow in all +intelligence--how ignorant--how mean!" + +And I turned for relief to the shining companion who held me, and +obeying an impulse suddenly imparted, I felt myself floating higher +and higher till the last limits of the atmosphere surrounding the +Earth were passed, and fields of pure and cloudless ether extended +before us. Here we met myriads of creatures like ourselves, all +hastening in various directions--all lovely and radiant as a dream +of the fairies. Some of these beings were quite tiny and delicate-- +some of lofty stature and glorious appearance: their forms were +human, yet so refined, improved, and perfected, that they were +unlike, while so like humanity. + +"Askest thou nothing?" whispered the voice beside me. + +"Tell me," I answered, "what I must know." + +"These spirits that we behold," went on the voice, "are the +guardians of all the inhabitants of all the planets. Their labours +are those of love and penitence. Their work is to draw other souls +to God--to attract them by warnings, by pleading, by praying. They +have all worn the garb of mortality themselves, and they teach +mortals by their own experience. For these radiant creatures are +expiating sins of their own in thus striving to save others--the +oftener they succeed the nearer they approach to Heaven. This is +what is vaguely understood on your earth as purgatory; the +sufferings of spirits who love and long for the presence of their +Creator, and who yet are not pure enough to approach Him. Only by +serving and saving others can they obtain at last their own joy. +Every act of ingratitude and forgetfulness and wickedness committed +by a mortal, detains one or another of these patient workers longer +away from Heaven--imagine then what a weary while many of them have +to wait." + +I made no answer, and we floated on. Higher and higher--higher and +higher--till at last my guide, whom I knew to be that being whom +Heliobas had called Azul, bade me pause. We were floating close +together in what seemed a sea of translucent light. From this point +I could learn something of the mighty workings of the Universe. I +gazed upon countless solar systems, that like wheels within wheels +revolved with such rapidity that they seemed all one wheel. I saw +planets whirl around and around with breathless swiftness, like +glittering balls flung through the air--burning comets flared +fiercely past like torches of alarm for God's wars against Evil--a +marvellous procession of indescribable wonders sweeping on for ever +in circles, grand, huge, and immeasurable. And as I watched the +superb pageant, I was not startled or confused--I looked upon it as +anyone might look on any quiet landscape scene in what we know of +Nature. I scarcely could perceive the Earth from whence I had come-- +so tiny a speck was it--nothing but a mere pin's point in the +burning whirl of immensities. I felt, however, perfectly conscious +of a superior force in myself to all these enormous forces around +me--I knew without needing any explanation that I was formed of an +indestructible essence, and that were all these stars and systems +suddenly to end in one fell burst of brilliant horror, I should +still exist--I should know and remember and feel--should be able to +watch the birth of a new Universe, and take my part in its growth +and design. + +"Remind me why these wonders exist," I said, turning to my guide, +and speaking in those dulcet sounds which were like music and yet +like speech; "and why amid them all the Earth is believed by its +inhabitants to have merited destruction, and yet to have been found +worthy of redemption?" + +"Thy last question shall be answered first," replied Azul. "Seest +thou yonder planet circled with a ring? It is known to the dwellers +on Earth, of whom when in clay thou art one, as Saturn. Descend with +me!" + +And in a breath of time we floated downwards and alighted on a broad +and beautiful plain, where flowers of strange shape and colour grew +in profusion. Here we were met by creatures of lofty stature and +dazzling beauty, human in shape, yet angelic in countenance. They +knelt to us with reverence and joy, and then passed on to their toil +or pleasure, whichever invited them, and I looked to Azul for +explanation. + +"To these children of the Creator," said that radiant guide, "is +granted the ability to see and to converse with the spirits of the +air. They know them and love them, and implore their protection. +In this planet sickness and old age are unknown, and death comes +as a quiet sleep. The period of existence is about two hundred years, +according to the Earth's standard of time; and the process of decay +is no more unlovely than the gentle withering of roses. The influence +of the electric belt around their world is a bar to pestilence and +disease, and scatters health with light. All sciences, arts, and +inventions known on Earth are known here, only to greater perfection. +The three important differences between the inhabitants of this planet +and those who dwell on Earth are these: first they have no rulers in +authority, as each one perfectly governs himself; second, they do not +marry, as the law of attraction which draws together any two of +opposite sexes, holds them fast in inviolable fidelity; thirdly, there is +no creature in all the immensity of this magnificent sphere who has +ever doubted, or who ever will doubt, the existence of the Creator." + +A thrill of fiery shame seemed to dart through my spiritual being as +I heard this, and I made no answer. Some fairy-like little +creatures, the children of the Saturnites, as I supposed, here came +running towards us and knelt down, reverently clasping their hands +in prayer. They then gathered flowers and flung them on that portion +of ground where we stood, and gazed at us fearlessly and lovingly, +as they might have gazed at some rare bird or butterfly. + +Azul signed to me, and we rose while yet in their sight, and soaring +through the radiance of the ring, which was like a sun woven into a +circle, we soon left Saturn far behind us, and alighted on Venus. +Here seas, mountains, forests, lakes, and meadows were one vast +garden, in which the bloom and verdure of all worlds seemed to find +a home. Here were realized the dreams of sculptors and painters, in +the graceful forms and exquisite faces of the women, and the +splendid strength and godlike beauty of the men. A brief glance was +sufficient to show me that the moving spring of all the civilization +of this radiant planet was the love of Nature and Art united. There +were no wars--for there were no different nations. All the +inhabitants were like one vast family; they worked for one another, +and vied with each other in paying homage to those of the loftiest +genius among them. They had one supreme Monarch to whom they all +rendered glad obedience; and he was a Poet, ready to sacrifice his +throne with joy as soon as his people should discover a greater than +he. For they all loved not the artist but the Art; and selfishness +was a vice unknown. Here, none loved or were wedded save those who +had spiritual sympathies, and here, too, no creature existed who did +not believe in and worship the Creator. The same state of things +existed in Jupiter, the planet we next visited, where everything was +performed by electricity. Here persons living hundreds of miles +apart could yet converse together with perfect ease through an +electric medium; ships ploughed the seas by electricity; printing, +an art of which the dwellers on Earth are so proud, was accomplished +by electricity--in fact, everything in the way of science, art, and +invention known to us was also known in Jupiter, only to greater +perfection, because tempered and strengthened by an electric force +which never failed. From Jupiter, Azul guided me to many other fair +and splendid worlds--yet none of them were Paradise; all had some +slight drawback--some physical or spiritual ailment, as it were, +which had to be combated with and conquered. All the inhabitants of +each star longed for something they had not--something better, +greater, and higher--and therefore all had discontent. They could +not realize their best desires in the state of existence they then +were, therefore they all suffered disappointment. They were all +compelled to work in some way or another; they were all doomed to +die. Yet, unlike the dwellers on Earth, they did not, because their +lives were more or less constrained and painful, complain of or deny +the goodness of God--on the contrary, they believed in a future +state which should be as perfect as their present one was imperfect; +and the chief aim and object of all their labours was to become +worthy of attaining that final grand result--Eternal Happiness and +Peace. + +"Readest thou the lesson in these glowing spheres, teeming with life +and learning?" murmured Azul to me, as we soared swiftly on +together. "Know that not one smallest world in all the myriad +systems circling before thee, holds a single human creature who +doubts his Maker. Not one! except thine own doomed star! Behold it +yonder--sparkling feebly, like a faint flame amid sunshine--how poor +a speck it is--how like a scarcely visible point in all the +brilliancy of the ever-revolving wheel of Life! Yet there dwell the +dwarfs of clay--the men and women who pretend to love while they +secretly hate and despise one another. There, wealth is a god, and +the greed of gain a virtue. There, genius starves, and heroism dies +unrewarded. There, faith is martyred, and unbelief elected sovereign +monarch of the people. There, the sublime, unreachable mysteries of +the Universe are haggled over by poor finite minds who cannot call +their lives their own. There, nation wars against nation, creed +against creed, soul against soul. Alas, fated planet! how soon shalt +thou be extinct, and thy place shall know thee no more!" + +I gazed earnestly at my radiant guide. "If that is true," I said, +"why then should we have a legend that God, in the person of one +called Christ, came to die for so miserable and mean a race of +beings?" + +Azul answered not, but turned her luminous eyes upon me with a sort +of wide dazzling wonder. Some strange impelling force bore me +onward, and before I could realize it I was alone. Alone, in a vast +area of light through which I floated, serene and conscious of +power. A sound falling from a great height reached me; it was first +like a grand organ-chord, and then like a voice, trumpet-clear and +far-echoing. + +"Spirit that searchest for the Unseen," it said, "because I will not +that no atom of true worth should perish, unto thee shall be given a +vision--unto thee shall be taught a lesson thou dreamest not of. +THOU shalt create; THOU shalt design and plan; THOU shalt be +worshipped, and THOU shalt destroy! Rest therefore in the light and +behold the things that are in the light, for the tune cometh when +all that seemeth clear and visible now shall be but darkness. And +they that love me not shall have no place of abode in that hour!" + +The voice ceased. Awed, yet consoled, I listened for it again. There +was no more sound. Around me was illimitable light--illimitable +silence. But a strange scene unfolded itself swiftly before me--a +sort of shifting dream that was a reality, yet so wonderfully +unreal--a vision that impressed itself on every portion of my +intelligence; a kind of spirit-drama in which I was forced to enact +the chief part, and where a mystery that I had deemed impenetrable +was made perfectly clear and simple of comprehension. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A MINIATURE CREATION. + + +In my heaven-uplifted dream, I thought I saw a circular spacious +garden in which all the lovely landscapes of a superior world +appeared to form themselves by swift degrees. The longer I looked at +it, the more beautiful it became, and a little star shone above it +like a sun. Trees and flowers sprang up under my gaze, and all +stretched themselves towards me, as though for protection. Birds +flew about and sang; some of them tried to get as near as possible +to the little sun they saw; and other living creatures began to move +about in the shadows of the groves, and on the fresh green grass. +All the wonderful workings of Nature, as known to us in the world, +took place over again in this garden, which seemed somehow to belong +to me; and I watched everything with a certain satisfaction and +delight. Then the idea came to me that the place would be fairer if +there were either men or angels to inhabit it; and quick as light a +whisper came to me: + + "CREATE!" + +And I thought in my dream that by the mere desire of my being, +expressed in waves of electric warmth that floated downwards from me +to the earth I possessed, my garden was suddenly filled with men, +women and children, each of whom had a small portion of myself in +them, inasmuch as it was I who made them move and talk and occupy +themselves in all manner of amusements. Many of them knelt down to +me and prayed, and offered thanksgivings for having been created; +but some of them went instead to the little star, which they called +a sun, and thanked that, and prayed to that instead. Then others +went and cut down the trees in the garden, and dug up stones, and +built themselves little cities, where they all dwelt together like +flocks of sheep, and ate and drank and made merry with the things I +had given them. Then I thought that I increased their intelligence +and quickness of perception, and by-and-by they grew so proud that +they forgot everything but themselves. They ceased to remember how +they were created, and they cared no more to offer praises to their +little sun that through me gave them light and heat. But because +something of my essence still was in them, they always instinctively +sought to worship a superior creature to themselves; and puzzling +themselves in their folly, they made hideous images of wood and +clay, unlike anything in heaven or earth, and offered sacrifices and +prayer to these lifeless puppets instead of to me. Then I turned +away my eyes in sorrow and pity, but never in anger; for I could not +be wrathful with these children of my own creation. And when I thus +turned away my eyes, all manner of evil came upon the once fair +scene--pestilence and storm, disease and vice. A dark shadow stole +between my little world and me--the shadow of the people's own +wickedness. And as every delicate fibre of my spiritual being +repelled evil by the necessity of the pure light in which I dwelt +serene. I waited patiently for the mists to clear, so that I might +again behold the beauty of my garden. Suddenly a soft clamour smote +upon my sense of hearing, and a slender stream of light, like a +connecting ray, seemed to be flung upwards through the darkness that +hid me from the people I had created and loved. I knew the sound--it +was the mingled music of the prayers of children. An infinite pity +and pleasure touched me, my being thrilled with love and tenderness; +and yielding to these little ones who asked me for protection, I +turned my eyes again towards the garden I had designed for fairness +and pleasure. But alas! how changed it had become! No longer fresh +and sweet, the people had turned it into a wilderness; they had +divided it into small portions, and in so doing had divided +themselves into separate companies called nations, all of whom +fought with each other fiercely for their different little parterres +or flower-beds. Some haggled and talked incessantly over the mere +possession of a stone which they called a rock; others busied +themselves in digging a little yellow metal out of the earth, which, +when once obtained, seemed to make the owners of it mad, for they +straightway forgot everything else. As I looked, the darkness +between me and my creation grew denser, and was only pierced at last +by those long wide shafts of radiance caused by the innocent prayers +of those who still remembered me. And I was full of regret, for I +saw my people wandering hither and thither, restless and +dissatisfied, perplexed by their own errors, and caring nothing for +the love I bore them. Then some of them advanced and began to +question why they had been created, forgetting completely how their +lives had been originally designed by me for happiness, love and +wisdom. Then they accused me of the existence of evil, refusing to +see that where there is light there is also darkness, and that +darkness is the rival force of the Universe, whence cometh silently +the Unnamable Oblivion of Souls. They could not see, my self-willed +children, that they had of their own desire sought the darkness and +found it; and now, because it gloomed above them like a pall, they +refused to believe in the light where still I was loving and +striving to attract them still. Yet it was not all darkness, and I +knew that even what there was might be repelled and cleared away if +only my people would turn towards me once more. So I sent down upon +them all possible blessings--some they rejected angrily, some they +snatched at and threw away again, as though they were poor and +trivial--none of them were they thankful for, and none did they +desire to keep. And the darkness above them deepened, while my +anxious pity and love for them increased. For how could I turn +altogether away from them, as long as but a few remembered me? There +were some of these weak children of mine who loved and honoured me +so well that they absorbed some of my light into themselves, and +became heroes, poets, musicians, teachers of high and noble thought, +and unselfish, devoted martyrs for the sake of the reverence they +bore me. There were women pure and sweet, who wore their existence +as innocently as lilies, and who turned to me to seek protection, +not for themselves, but for those they loved. There were little +children, whose asking voices were like waves of delicious music to +my being, and for whom I had a surpassing tenderness. And yet all +these were a mere handful compared to the numbers who denied my +existence, and who had wilfully crushed out and repelled every spark +of my essence in themselves. And as I contemplated this, the voice I +had heard at the commencement of my dream rushed towards me like a +mighty wind broken through by thunder: + + "DESTROY!" + +A great pity and love possessed me. In deep awe, yet solemn +earnestness, I pleaded with that vast commanding voice. + +"Bid me not destroy!" I implored. "Command me not to disperse into +nothingness these children of my fancy, some of whom yet love and +trust to me for safety. Let me strive once more to bring them out of +their darkness into the light--to bring them to the happiness I +designed them to enjoy. They have not all forgotten me--let me give +them more time for thought and recollection!" + +Again the great voice shook the air: + +"They love darkness rather than light; they love the perishable +earth of which they are in part composed, better than the germ of +immortality with which they were in the beginning endowed. This +garden of thine is but a caprice of thy intelligence; the creatures +that inhabit it are soulless and unworthy, and are an offence to +that indestructible radiance of which thou art one ray. Therefore I +say unto thee again--DESTROY!" + +My yearning love grew stronger, and I pleaded with renewed force. + +"Oh, thou Unseen Glory!" I cried; "thou who hast filled me with this +emotion of love and pity which permeates and supports my existence, +how canst thou bid me take this sudden revenge upon my frail +creation! No caprice was it that caused me to design it; nothing but +a thought of love and a desire of beauty. Even yet I will fulfil my +plan--even yet shall these erring children of mine return to me in +time, with patience. While one of them still lifts a hand in prayer +to me, or gratitude, I cannot destroy! Bid me rather sink into the +darkness of the uttermost deep of shadow; only let me save these +feeble little ones from destruction!" + +The voice replied not. A flashing opal brilliancy shot across the +light in which I rested, and I beheld an Angel, grand, lofty, +majestic, with a countenance in which shone the lustre of a myriad +summer mornings. + +"Spirit that art escaped from the Sorrowful Star," it said in +accents clear and sonorous, "wouldst thou indeed be content to +suffer the loss of heavenly joy and peace, in order to rescue thy +perishing creation?" + +"I would!" I answered; "if I understood death, I would die to save +one of those frail creatures, who seek to know me and yet cannot +find me through the darkness they have brought upon themselves." + +"To die," said the Angel, "to understand death, thou wouldst need to +become one of them, to take upon thyself their form--to imprison all +that brilliancy of which thou art now composed, into a mean and +common case of clay; and even if thou couldst accomplish this, would +thy children know thee or receive thee?" + +"Nay, but if I could suffer shame by them," I cried impetuously, "I +could not suffer sin. My being would be incapable of error, and I +would show these creatures of mine the bliss of purity, the joy of +wisdom, the ecstasy of light, the certainty of immortality, if they +followed me. And then I would die to show them death is easy, and +that in dying they would come to me and find their happiness for +ever!" + +The stature of the Angel grew more lofty and magnificent, and its +star-like eyes flashed fire. + +"Then, oh thou wanderer from the Earth!" it said, "understandest +thou not the Christ?" + +A deep awe trembled through me. Meanwhile the garden I had thought a +world appeared to roll up like a cloudy scroll, and vanished, and I +knew that it had been a vision, and no more. + +"Oh doubting and foolish Spirit!" went on the Angel--"thou who art +but one point of living light in the Supreme Radiance, even THOU +wouldst consent to immure thyself in the darkness of mortality for +sake of thy fancied creation! Even THOU wouldst submit to suffer and +to die, in order to show the frail children of thy dream a purely +sinless and spiritual example! Even THOU hast had the courage to +plead with the One All-Sufficing Voice against the destruction of +what to thee was but a mirage floating in this ether! Even THOU hast +had love, forgiveness, pity! Even THOU wouldst be willing to dwell +among the creatures of thy fancy as one of them, knowing in thy +inner self that by so doing, thy spiritual presence would have +marked thy little world for ever as sanctified and impossible to +destroy. Even THOU wouldst sacrifice a glory to answer a child's +prayer--even thou wouldst have patience! And yet thou hast dared to +deny to God those attributes which thou thyself dost possess--He is +so great and vast--thou so small and slight! For the love thou +feelest throbbing through thy being, He is the very commencement and +perfection of all love; if thou hast pity, He has ten thousand times +more pity; if THOU canst forgive, remember that from Him flows all +thy power of forgiveness! There is nothing thou canst do, even at +the highest height of spiritual perfection, that He cannot surpass +by a thousand million fold! Neither shalt thou refuse to believe +that He can also suffer. Know that nothing is more godlike than +unselfish sorrow--and the grief of the Creator over one erring human +soul is as vast as He Himself is vast. Why wouldst thou make of Him +a being destitute of the best emotions that He Himself bestows upon +thee? THOU wouldst have entered into thy dream-world and lived in it +and died in it, if by so doing thou couldst have drawn one of thy +creatures back to the love of thee; and wilt thou not receive the +Christ?" + +I bowed my head, and a flood of joy rushed through me. + +"I believe--I believe and I love!" I murmured. "Desert me not, O +radiant Angel! I feel and know that all these wonders must soon pass +away from my sight; but wilt thou also go?" + +The Angel smiled and touched me. + +"I am thy guardian," it said. "I have been with thee always. I can +never leave thee so long as thy soul seeks spiritual things. Asleep +or awake on the Earth, wherever thou art, I also am. There have been +times when I have warned thee and thou wouldst not listen, when I +have tried to draw thee onward and thou wouldst not come; but now I +fear no more thy disobedience, for thy restlessness is past. Come +with me; it is permitted thee to see far off the vision of the Last +Circle." + +The glorious figure raised me gently by the hand, and we floated on +and on, higher and higher, past little circles which my guide told +me were all solar systems, though they looked nothing but slender +garlands of fire, so rapidly did they revolve and so swiftly did we +pass them. Higher and higher we went, till even to my untiring +spirit the way seemed long. Beautiful creatures in human shape, but +as delicate as gossamer, passed us every now and then, some in bands +of twos and threes, some alone; and the higher we soared the more +dazzlingly lovely these inhabitants of the air seemed to be. + +"They are all born of the Great Circle," my guardian Angel explained +to me: "and to them is given the power of communicating high thought +or inspiration. Among them are the Spirits of Music, of Poesy, of +Prophecy, and of all Art ever known in all worlds. The success of +their teaching depends on how much purity and unselfishness there is +in the soul to which they whisper their divine messages--messages as +brief as telegrams which must be listened to with entire attention +and acted upon at once, or the lesson is lost and may never come +again." + +Just then I saw a Shape coming towards me as of a lovely fair-haired +child, who seemed to be playing softly on a strange glittering +instrument like a broken cloud strung through with sunbeams. +Heedless of consequences, I caught at its misty robe in a wild +effort to detain it. It obeyed my touch, and turned its deeply +luminous eyes first upon me, and then upon the Angel who accompanied +my flight. + +"What seekest thou?" it asked in a voice like the murmuring of the +wind among flowers. + +"Music!" I answered. "Sing me thy melodies--fill me with harmonies +divine and unreachable--and I will strive to be worthy of thy +teachings!" + +The young Shape smiled and drew closer towards me. + +"Thy wish is granted, Sister Spirit!" it replied. "The pity I shall +feel for thy fate when thou art again pent in clay, shall be taught +thee in minor music--thou shalt possess the secret of unwritten +sound, and I will sing to thee and bring thee comfort. On Earth, +call but my name--Aeon! and thou shalt behold me. For thy longing +voice is known to the Children of Music, and hath oft shaken the +vibrating light wherein they dwell. Fear not! As long as thou dost +love me, I am thine." And parting slowly, still smiling, the lovely +vision, with its small radiant hands ever wandering among the starry +strings of its cloud-like lyre, floated onward. + +Suddenly a clear voice said "Welcome!" and looking up I saw my first +friend, Azul. I smiled in glad recognition--I would have spoken--but +lo! a wide immensity of blazing glory broke like many-coloured +lightning around me--so dazzling, so overpowering, that I +instinctively drew back and paused--I felt I could go no further. + +"Here," said my guardian gently--"here ends thy journey. Would that +it were possible, poor Spirit, for thee to pass this boundary! But +that may not be--as yet. In the meanwhile thou mayest gaze for a +brief space upon the majestic sphere which mortals dream of as +Heaven. Behold and see how fair is the incorruptible perfection of +God's World!" + +I looked and trembled--I should have sunk yet further backward, had +not Azul and my Angel-guide held me with their light yet forcible +clasp. My heart fails me now as I try to write of that tremendous, +that sublime scene--the Centre of the Universe--the Cause of all +Creation. How unlike Heaven such as we in our ignorance have tried +to depict! though it is far better we should have a mistaken idea +than none at all. What I beheld was a circle, so huge that no mortal +measurements could compass it--a wide Ring composed of seven +colours, rainbow-like, but flashing with perpetual motion and +brilliancy, as though a thousand million suns were for ever being +woven into it to feed its transcendent lustre. From every part of +this Ring darted long broad shafts of light, some of which stretched +out so far that I could not see where they ended; sometimes a +bubbling shower of lightning sparks would be flung out on the pure +ether, and this would instantly form into circles, small or great, +and whirl round and round the enormous girdle of flame from which +they had been cast, with the most inconceivable rapidity. But +wonderful as the Ring was, it encompassed a Sphere yet more +marvellous and dazzling; a great Globe of opal-tinted light, +revolving as it were upon its own axis, and ever surrounded by that +scintillating, jewel-like wreath of electricity, whose only motion +was to shine and burn within itself for ever. I could not bear to +look upon the brightness of that magnificent central World--so large +that multiplying the size of the sun by a hundred thousand millions, +no adequate idea could be formed of its vast proportions. And ever +it revolved--and ever the Rainbow Ring around it glittered and cast +forth those other rings which I knew now were living solar systems +cast forth from that electric band as a volcano casts forth fire and +lava. My Angel-guide motioned me to look towards that side of the +Ring which was nearest to the position of the Earth. I looked, and +perceived that there the shafts of descending light formed +themselves as they fell into the shape of a Cross. At this, such +sorrow, love, and shame overcame me, that I knew not where to turn. +I murmured: + +"Send me back again, dear Angel--send me back to that Star of Sorrow +and Error! Let me hasten to make amends there for all my folly--let +me try to teach others what now I know. I am unworthy to be here +beside thee--I am unfit to look on yonder splendid World--let me +return to do penance for my sins and shortcomings; for what am I +that God should bless me? and though I should consume myself in +labour and suffering, how can I ever hope to deserve the smallest +place in that heavenly glory I now partly behold?" And could spirits +shed tears, I should have wept with remorse and grief. + +Azul spoke, softly and tenderly: + +"Now thou dost believe--henceforth thou must love! Love alone can +pass yon flaming barrier--love alone can gain for thee eternal +bliss. In love and for love were all things made--God loveth His +creatures, even so let His creatures love Him, and so shall the +twain be drawn together." + +"Listen!" added my Angel-guide. "Thou hast not travelled so far as +yet to remain in ignorance. That burning Ring thou seest is the +result of the Creator's ever-working Intelligence; from it all the +Universe hath sprung. It is exhaustless and perpetually creative; it +is pure and perfect Light. The smallest spark of that fiery essence +in a mortal frame is sufficient to form a soul or spirit, such as +mine, or that of Azul, or thine, when thou art perfected. The huge +world rolling within the Ring is where God dwells. Dare not thou to +question His shape, His look, His mien! Know that He is the Supreme +Spirit in which all Beauty, all Perfection, all Love, find +consummation. His breath is the fire of the Ring; His look, His +pleasure, cause the motion of His World and all worlds. There where +He dwells, dwell also all pure souls; there all desires have +fulfilment without satiety, and there all loveliness, wisdom or +pleasure known in any or all of the other spheres are also known. +Speak, Azul, and tell this wanderer from Earth what she will gain in +winning her place in Heaven." + +Azul looked tenderly upon me and said: + +"When thou hast slept the brief sleep of death, when thou art +permitted to throw off for ever thy garb of clay, and when by thine +own ceaseless love and longing thou hast won the right to pass the +Great Circle, thou shalt find thyself in a land where the glories of +the natural scenery alone shall overpower thee with joy--scenery +that for ever changes into new wonders and greater beauty. Thou +shalt hear music such as thou canst not dream of. Thou shalt find +friends, beyond all imagination fair and faithful. Thou shalt read +and see the history of all the planets, produced for thee in an +ever-moving panorama. Thou shalt love and be beloved for ever by +thine own Twin Soul; wherever that spirit may be now, it must join +thee hereafter. The joys of learning, memory, consciousness, sleep, +waking, and exercise shall all be thine. Sin, sorrow, pain, disease +and death thou shalt know no more. Thou shalt be able to remember +happiness, to possess it, and to look forward to it. Thou shalt have +full and pleasant occupation without fatigue--thy food and substance +shall be light and air. Flowers, rare and imperishable, shall bloom +for thee; birds of exquisite form and tender voice shall sing to +thee; angels shall be thy companions. Thou shalt have fresh and glad +desires to offer to God with every portion of thy existence, and +each one shall be granted as soon as asked, for then thou wilt not +be able to ask anything that is displeasing to Him. But because it +is a joy to wish, thou shalt wish! and because it is a joy to grant, +so also will He grant. No delight, small or great, is wanting in +that vast sphere; only sorrow is lacking, and satiety and +disappointment have no place. Wilt thou seek for admittance there or +wilt thou faint by the way and grow weary?" + +I raised my eyes full of ecstasy and reverence. + +"My mere efforts must count as nothing," I said; "but if Love can +help me, I will love and long for God's World until I die!" + +My guardian Angel pointed to those rays of light I had before +noticed, that slanted downwards towards Earth in the form of a +Cross. + +"That is the path by which THOU must travel. Mark it well! All +pilgrims from the Sorrowful Star must journey by that road. Woe to +them that turn aside to roam mid spheres they know not of, to lose +themselves in seas of light wherein they cannot steer! Remember my +warning! And now, Spirit who art commended to my watchful care, thy +brief liberty is ended. Thou hast been lifted up to the outer edge +of the Electric Circle, further we dare not take thee. Hast thou +aught else to ask before the veil of mortality again enshrouds +thee?" + +I answered not, but within myself I formed a wild desire. The +Electric Ring flashed fiercely on my uplifted eyes, but I kept them +fixed hopefully and lovingly on its intensely deep brilliancy. + +"If Love and Faith can avail me," I murmured, "I shall see what I +have sought." + +I was not disappointed. The fiery waves of light parted on either +side of the spot where I with my companions rested; and a Figure,-- +majestic, unutterably grand and beautiful,--approached me. At the +same moment a number of other faces and forms shone hoveringly out +of the Ring; one I noticed like an exquisitely lovely woman, with +floating hair and clear, earnest, unfathomable eyes. Azul and the +Angel sank reverently down and drooped their radiant heads like +flowers in hot sunshine. I alone, daringly, yet with inexpressible +affection welling up within me, watched with unshrinking gaze the +swift advance of that supreme Figure, upon whose broad brows rested +the faint semblance of a Crown of Thorns. A voice penetratingly +sweet addressed me: + +"Mortal from the Star I saved from ruin, because thou hast desired +Me, I come! Even as thy former unbelief, shall be now thy faith. +Because thou lovest Me, I am with thee. For do I not know thee +better than the Angels can? Have I not dwelt in thy clay, suffered +thy sorrows, wept thy tears, died thy deaths? One with My Father, +and yet one with thee, I demand thy love, and so through Me shalt +thou attain immortal life!" + +I felt a touch upon me like a scorching flame--a thrill rushed +through my being--and then I knew that I was sinking down, down, +further and further away. I saw that wondrous Figure standing serene +and smiling between the retiring waves of electric radiance. I saw +the great inner sphere revolve, and glitter as it rolled, like an +enormous diamond encircled with gold and sapphire, and then all +suddenly the air grew dim and cloudy, and the sensation of falling +became more and more rapid. Azul was beside me still, and I also +perceived the outline of my guardian Angel's form, though that was +growing indistinct. I now recalled the request of Heliobas, and +spoke: + +"Azul, tell me what shadow rests upon the life of him to whom I am +now returning?" + +Azul looked at me earnestly, and replied: + +"Thou daring one! Seekest thou to pierce the future fate of others? +Is it not enough for thee to have heard the voice that maketh the +Angel's singing silent, and wouldst thou yet know more?" + +I was full of a strange unhesitating courage, therefore I said +fearlessly: + +"He is thy Beloved one, Azul--thy Twin Soul; and wilt thou let him +fall away from thee when a word or sign might save him?" + +"Even as he is my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice," +replied Azul, with a tinge of melancholy. "For though he has +accomplished much, he is as yet but mortal. Thou canst guide him +thus far; tell him, when death lies like a gift in his hand, let him +withhold it, and remember me. And now, my friend--farewell!" + +I would have spoken again, but could not. An oppressed sensation +came over me, and I seemed to plunge coldly into a depth of +inextricable blackness. I felt cramped for room, and struggled for +existence, for motion, for breath. What had happened to me? I +wondered indignantly. Was I a fettered prisoner? had I lost the use +of my light aerial limbs that had borne me so swiftly through the +realms of space? What crushing weight overpowered me? why such want +of air and loss of delightful ease? I sighed restlessly and +impatiently at the narrow darkness in which I found myself--a +sorrowful, deep, shuddering sigh .... and WOKE! That is to say, I +languidly opened mortal eyes to find myself once more pent up in +mortal frame, though I retained a perfect remembrance and +consciousness of everything I had experienced during my spirit- +wanderings. Heliobas stood in front of me with outstretched hands, +and his eyes were fixed on mine with a mingled expression of anxiety +and authority, which changed into a look of relief and gladness as I +smiled at him and uttered his name aloud. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SECRETS OF THE SUN AND MOON. + + +"Have I been long away?" I asked, as I raised myself upright in the +chair where I had been resting. + +"I sent you from hence on Thursday morning at noon," replied +Heliobas. "It is now Friday evening, and within a few minutes of +midnight. I was growing alarmed. I have never known anyone stay +absent for so long; and you resisted my authority so powerfully, +that I began to fear you would never come back at all." + +"I wish I had not been compelled to do so!" I said regretfully. + +He smiled. + +"No doubt you do. It is the general complaint. Will you stand up now +and see how you feel?" + +I obeyed. There was still a slight sensation about me as of being +cramped for space; but this was passing, and otherwise I felt +singularly strong, bright and vigorous. I stretched out my hands in +unspeakable gratitude to him through whose scientific power I had +gained my recent experience. + +"I can never thank you enough!" I said earnestly. "I dare say you +know something of what I have seen on my journey?" + +"Something, but not all," he replied. "Of course I know what worlds +and systems you saw, but what was said to you, or what special +lessons were given you for your comfort, I cannot tell." "Then I +will describe everything while it is fresh upon me," I returned. "I +feel that I must do so in order that you may understand how glad I +am,--how grateful I am to you." + +I then related the different scenes through which I had passed, +omitting no detail. Heliobas listened with profound interest and +attention. When I had finished, he said: + +"Yours has been a most wonderful, I may say almost exceptional, +experience. It proves to me more than ever the omnipotence of WILL. +Most of those who have been placed by my means in the Uplifted or +Electric state of being, have consented to it simply to gratify a +sense of curiosity--few therefore have gone beyond the pure ether, +where, as in a sea, the planets swim. Cellini, for instance, never +went farther than Venus, because in the atmosphere of that planet he +met the Spirit that rules and divides his destiny. Zara--she was +daring, and reached the outer rim of the Great Circle; but even she +never caught a glimpse of the great Central Sphere. YOU, differing +from these, started with a daring aim which you never lost sight of +till you had fulfilled it. How true are those words: 'Ask, and it +shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be +opened unto you'! It is not possible," and here he sighed, "that +amid such wonders you could have remembered me--it were foolish on +my part to expect it." + +"I confess I thought nothing of you," I said frankly, "till I was +approaching Earth again; but then my memory prompted me in time, and +I did not forget your request." + +"And what did you learn?" he asked anxiously. + +"Simply this. Azul said that I might deliver you this message: When +death lies like a gift in your hand, withhold it, and remember her." + +"As if I did not always guide myself by her promptings!" exclaimed +Heliobas, with a tender smile. + +"You might forget to do so for once," I said. + +"Never!" he replied fervently. "It could not be. But I thank you, my +child, for having thought of me--the message you bring shall be +impressed strongly on my mind. Now, before you leave me to-night, I +must say a few necessary words." + +He paused, and appeared to consider profoundly for some minutes. At +last he spoke. + +"I have selected certain writings for your perusal," he said. "In +them you will find full and clear instructions how to cultivate and +educate the electric force within you, and thus continue the work I +have begun. With these you will also perceive that I have written +out the receipt for the volatile fluid which, if taken in a small +quantity every day, will keep you in health, strength, and +intellectual vigour, while it will preserve your youth and enjoyment +of life to a very much longer extent than that usually experienced +by the majority. Understand me well--this liquid of itself cannot +put you into an uplifted state of existence; you need HUMAN electric +force applied strongly to your system to compass this; and as it is +dangerous to try the experiment too often--dangerous to the body, I +mean--it will be as well, as you have work to do yet in this life, +not to attempt it again. But if you drink the fluid every morning of +your life, and at the same time obey my written manual as to the +cultivation of your own inner force, which is already existent in a +large degree, you will attain to certain advantages over the rest of +the people you meet, which will give you not only physical, but +mental power." + +He paused a minute or two, and again went on: + +"When you have educated your Will to a certain height of electric +command, you can at your pleasure see at any time, and see plainly, +the spirits who inhabit the air; and also those who, descending to +long distances below the Great Circle, come within the range of +human electricity, or the attractive matter contained in the Earth's +atmosphere. You can converse with them, and they with you. You will +also be able, at your desire, to see the parted spirits of dead +persons, so long as they linger within Earth's radius, which they +seldom do, being always anxious to escape from it as soon as +possible. Love may sometimes detain them, or remorse; but even these +have to yield to the superior longings which possess them the +instant they are set free. You will, in your intercourse with your +fellow-mortals, be able to discern their motives quickly and +unerringly--you will at once discover where you are loved and where +you are disliked; and not all the learning and logic of so-called +philosophers shall be able to cloud your instinct. You will have a +keener appreciation of good and beautiful things--a delightful sense +of humour, and invariable cheerfulness; and whatever you do, unless +you make some mistake by your own folly, will carry with it its +success. And, what is perhaps a greater privilege, you will find +that all who are brought into very close contact with you will be +beneficially influenced, or the reverse, exactly as you choose to +exert your power. I do not think, after what you have seen, you will +ever desire to exert a malign influence, knowing that the Creator of +your being is all love and forgiveness. At any rate, the greatest +force in the universe, electricity, is yours--that is, it has begun +to form itself in you--and you have nothing to do but to encourage +its growth, just as you would encourage a taste for music or the +fine arts. Now let me give you the writings." + +He unlocked a desk, and took from it two small rolls of parchment, +one tied with a gold ribbon, the other secured in a kind of case +with a clasp. This last he held up before my eyes, and said: + +"This contains my private instructions to you. Never make a single +one of them public. The world is not ready for wisdom, and the +secrets of science can only be explained to the few. Therefore keep +this parchment safely under lock and key, and never let any eye but +your own look upon its contents." + +I promised, and he handed it to me. Then taking the other roll, +which was tied with ribbon, he said, + +"Here is written out what I call the Electric Principle of +Christianity. This is for your own study and consideration; still, +if you ever desire to explain my theory to others, I do not forbid +you. But as I told you before, you can never compel belief--the +goldfish in a glass bowl will never understand the existence of the +ocean. Be satisfied if you can guide yourself by the compass you +have found, but do not grieve if you are unable to guide others. You +may try, but it will not be surprising if you fail. Nor will it be +your fault. The only sorrow that might happen to you in these +efforts would be in case you should love someone very dearly, and +yet be unable to instil the truth of what yon know into that +particular soul. You would then have to make a discovery, which is +always more or less painful--namely, that your love was misplaced, +inasmuch as the nature you had selected as worthy of love had no +part with yours; and that separation utter and eternal must +therefore occur, if not in this life, then in the future. So I would +say beware of loving, lest you should not love rightly--though I +believe you will soon be able to discern clearly the spirit that is +by fate destined to complete and perfect your own. And now, though I +know you are scarcely fatigued enough to sleep, I will say good- +night." + +I took the second roll of parchment from his hand, and opening it a +little way, I saw that it was covered with very fine small writing. +Then I said: + +"Does Zara know how long I have been absent?" + +"Yes," replied Heliobas; "and she, like myself, was surprised and +anxious. I think she went to bed long ago; but you may look into her +room and see if she is awake, before you yourself retire to rest." + +As he spoke of Zara his eyes grew melancholy and his brow clouded. +An instinctive sense of fear came upon me. + +"Is she not well?" I asked. + +"She is perfectly well," he answered. "Why should you imagine her to +be otherwise?" + +"Pardon me," I said; "I fancied that you looked unhappy when I +mentioned her." + +Heliobas made no answer. He stepped to the window, and throwing back +the curtain, called me to his side. + +"Look out yonder." he said in low and earnest tones; "look at the +dark blue veil strewn with stars, through which so lately your +daring soul pierced its flight! See how the small Moon hangs like a +lamp in Heaven, apparently outshining the myriad worlds around her, +that are so much vaster and fairer! How deceptive is the human eye! +--nearly as deceptive as the human reason. Tell me--why did you not +visit the Moon, or the Sun, in your recent wanderings?" + +This question caused me some surprise. It was certainly very strange +that I had not thought of doing so. Yet, on pondering the matter in +my mind, I remembered that during my aerial journey suns and moons +had been no more to me than flowers strewn on a meadow. I now +regretted that I had not sought to know something of those two fair +luminaries which light and warm our earth. + +Heliobas, after watching my face intently, resumed: + +"You cannot guess the reason of your omission? I will tell you. +There is nothing to see in either Sun or Moon. They were both +inhabited worlds once; but the dwellers in the Sun have ages ago +lived their lives and passed to the Central Sphere. The Sun is +nothing now but a burning world, burning rapidly, and surely, away: +or rather, IT IS BEING ABSORBED BACK INTO THE ELECTRIC CIRCLE FROM +WHICH IT ORIGINALLY SPRANG, TO BE THROWN OUT AGAIN IN SOME NEW AND +GRANDER FORM. And so with all worlds, suns and systems, for ever and +ever. Hundreds of thousands of those brief time-breathings called +years may pass before this consummation of the Sun; but its +destruction is going on now, or rather its absorption--and we on our +cold small star warm ourselves, and are glad, in the light of an +empty world on fire!" + +I listened with awe and interest. + +"And the Moon?" I asked eagerly. + +"The Moon does not exist. What we see is the reflection or the +electrograph of what she once was. Atmospherical electricity has +imprinted this picture of a long-ago living world upon the heavens, +just as Raphael drew his cartoons for the men of to-day to see." + +"But," I exclaimed in surprise, "how about the Moon's influence on +the tides? and what of eclipses?" + +"Not the Moon, but the electric photograph of a once living but now +absorbed world, has certainly an influence on the tides. The sea is +impregnated with electricity. Just as the Sun will absorb colours, +so the electricity in the sea is repelled or attracted by the +electric picture of the Moon in Heaven. Because, as a painting is +full of colour, so is that faithful sketch of a vanished sphere, +drawn with a pencil of pure light, full of immense electricity; and +to carry the simile further, just as a painting may be said to be +formed of various dark and light tints, so the electric portrait of +the Moon contains various degrees of electric force--which, coming +in contact with the electricity of the Earth's atmosphere, produces +different effects on us and on the natural scenes amid which we +dwell. As for eclipses--if you slowly pass a round screen between +yourself and a blazing fire, you will only see the edges of the +fire. In the same way the electrograph of the Moon passes at stated +intervals between the Earth and the burning world of the Sun." + +"Yet surely," I said, "the telescope has enabled us to see the Moon +as a solid globe--we have discerned mountains and valleys on its +surface; and then it revolves round us regularly--how do you account +for these facts?" + +"The telescope," returned Heliobas, "is merely an aid to the human +eye; and, as I told you before, nothing is so easily deceived as our +sense of vision, even when assisted by mechanical appliances. The +telescope, like the stereoscope, simply enables us to see the +portrait of the Moon more clearly; but all the same, the Moon, as a +world, does not exist. Her likeness, taken by electricity, may last +some thousands of years, and as long as it lasts it must revolve +around us, because everything in the universe moves, and moves in a +circle. Besides which, this portrait of the moon being composed of +pure electricity, is attracted and forced to follow the Earth by the +compelling influence of the Earth's own electric power. Therefore, +till the picture fades, it must attend the Earth like the haunting +spectre of a dead joy. You can understand now why we never see what +we imagine to be the OTHER SIDE of the Moon. It simply has NO other +side, except space. Space is the canvas--the Moon is a sketch. How +interested we are when a discovery is made of some rare old +painting, of which the subject is a perfectly beautiful woman! It +bears no name--perhaps no date--but the face that smiles at us is +exquisite--the lips yet pout for kisses--the eyes brim over, with +love! And we admire it tenderly and reverently--we mark it 'Portrait +of a lady,' and give it an honoured place among our art collections. +With how much more reverence and tenderness ought we to look up at +the 'Portrait of a Fair Lost Sphere,' circling yonder in that dense +ever-moving gallery of wonders where the hurrying throng of +spectators are living and dying worlds!" + +I had followed the speaker's words with fascinated attention, but +now I said: + +"Dying, Heliobas? There is no death." + +"True!" he answered, with hesitating slowness. "But there is what we +call death--transition--and it is always a parting." + +"But not for long!" I exclaimed, with all the gladness and eagerness +of my lately instructed soul. "As worlds are absorbed into the +Electric Circle and again thrown out in new and more glorious forms, +so are we absorbed and changed into shapes of perfect beauty, having +eyes that are strong and pure enough to look God in the face. The +body perishes--but what have WE to do with the body--our prison and +place of experience, except to rejoice when we shake off its weight +for ever!" + +Heliobas smiled gravely. + +"You have learned your high lesson well," he said. "You speak with +the assurance and delight of a spirit satisfied. But when I talk of +DEATH, I mean by that word the parting asunder of two souls who love +each other; and though such separation may be brief, still it is +always a separation. For instance, suppose--" he hesitated: "suppose +Zara were to die?" + +"Well, you would soon meet her again," I answered. "For though you +might live many years after her, still you would know in yourself +that those years were but minutes in the realms of space--" + +"Minutes that decide our destinies," he interrupted with solemnity. +"And there is always this possibility to contemplate--suppose Zara +were to leave me now, how can I be sure that I shall be strong +enough to live out my remainder of life purely enough to deserve to +meet her again? And if not then Zara's death would mean utter and +almost hopeless separation for ever--though perhaps I might begin +over again in some other form, and so reach the goal." + +He spoke so musingly and seriously that I was surprised, for I had +thought him impervious to such a folly as the fear of death. + +"You are melancholy, Heliobas," I said. "In the first place, Zara is +not going to leave you yet; and secondly, if she did, you know your +strongest efforts would be brought to bear on your career, in order +that no shadow of obstinacy or error might obstruct your path. Why, +the very essence of our belief is in the strength of Will-power. +What we WILL to do, especially if it be any act of spiritual +progress, we can always accomplish." + +Heliobas took my hand and pressed it warmly. + +"You are so lately come from the high regions," he said, "that it +warms and invigorates me to hear your encouraging words. Pray do not +think me capable of yielding long to the weakness of foreboding. I +am, in spite of my advancement in electric science, nothing but a +man, and am apt to be hampered oftentimes by my mortal trappings. We +have prolonged our conversation further than I intended. I assure +you it is better for you to try to sleep, even though, as I know, +you feel so wide awake. Let me give you a soothing draught; it will +have the effect of composing your physical nerves into steady +working order." + +He poured something from a small phial into a glass, and handed it +to me. I drank it at once, obediently, and with a smile. + +"Good-night, my Master!" I then said. "You need have no fear of your +own successful upward progress. For if there were the slightest +chance of your falling into fatal error, all those human souls you +have benefited would labour and pray for your rescue; and I know now +that prayers reach Heaven, so long as they are unselfish. I, though +I am one of the least of your disciples, out of the deep gratitude +of my heart towards you, will therefore pray unceasingly for you, +both here and hereafter." + +He bent his head. + +"I thank you!" he said simply. "More deeds are wrought by prayer +than this world dreams of! That is a true saying. God bless you, my +child. Good-night!" + +And he opened the door of his study for me to pass out. As I did so, +he laid his hand lightly on my head in a sort of unspoken +benediction--then he closed his door, and I found myself alone in +the great hall. A suspended lamp was burning brightly, and the +fountain was gurgling melodiously to itself in a subdued manner, as +if it were learning a new song for the morning. I sped across the +mosaic pavement with a light eager step, and hurried up the stairs, +intent on finding Zara to tell her how happy I felt, and how +satisfied I was with my wonderful experience. I reached the door of +her bedroom--it was ajar. I softly pushed it farther open, and +looked in. A small but exquisitely modelled statue of an "Eros" +ornamented one corner. His uplifted torch served as a light which +glimmered faintly through a rose-coloured glass, and shed a tender +lustre over the room; but especially upon the bed, ornamented with +rich Oriental needlework, where Zara lay fast asleep. How beautiful +she looked! Almost as lovely as any one of the radiant spirits I had +met in my aerial journey! Her rich dark hair was scattered loosely +on the white pillows; her long silky lashes curled softly on the +delicately tinted cheeks; her lips, tenderly red, like the colour on +budding apple-blossoms in early spring, were slightly parted, +showing the glimmer of the small white teeth within; her night-dress +was slightly undone, and half displayed and half disguised her neck +and daintily rounded bosom, on which the electric jewel she always +wore glittered brilliantly as it rose and sank with her regular and +quiet breathing. One fair hand lay outside the coverlet, and the +reflection from the lamp of the "Eros" flickered on a ring which +adorned it, making its central diamond flash like a wandering star. + +I looked long and tenderly on this perfect ideal of a "Sleeping +Beauty," and then thought I would draw closer and see if I could +kiss her without awaking her. I advanced a few steps into the room-- +when suddenly I was stopped. Within about a yard's distance from the +bed a SOMETHING opposed my approach! I could not move a foot +forward--I tried vigorously, but in vain! I could step backward, and +that was all. Between me and Zara there seemed to be an invisible +barrier, strong, and absolutely impregnable. There was nothing to be +seen--nothing but the softly-shaded room--the ever-smiling "Eros," +and the exquisite reposeful figure of my sleeping friend. Two steps, +and I could have touched her; but those two steps I was forcibly +prevented from making--as forcibly as though a deep ocean had rolled +between her and me. I did not stop long to consider this strange +occurrence--I felt sure it had something to do with her spiritual +life and sympathy, therefore it neither alarmed nor perplexed me. +Kissing my hand tenderly towards my darling, who lay so close to me, +and who was yet so jealously and invisibly guarded during her +slumbers, I softly and reverently withdrew. On reaching my own +apartment, I was more than half inclined to sit up reading and +studying the parchments Heliobas had given me; but on second +thoughts I resolved to lock up these precious manuscripts and go to +bed. I did so, and before preparing to sleep I remembered to kneel +down and offer up praise and honour, with a loving and believing +heart, to that Supreme Glory, of which I had been marvellously +permitted to enjoy a brief but transcendent glimpse. And as I knelt, +absorbed and happy, I heard, like a soft echo falling through the +silence of my room, a sound like distant music, through which these +words floated towards me: "A new commandment give I unto you, that +you love one another, even as I have loved you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOCIABLE CONVERSE. + + +The next morning Zara came herself to awaken me, looking as fresh +and lovely as a summer morning. She embraced me very tenderly, and +said: + +"I have been talking for more than an hour with Casimir. He has told +me everything. What wonders you have seen! And are you not happy, +dearest? Are you not strong and satisfied?" + +"Perfectly!" I replied. "But, O Zara! what a pity that all the world +should not know what we know!" + +"All have not a desire for knowledge," replied Zara. "Even in your +vision of the garden you possessed, there were only a few who still +sought you; for those few you would have done anything, but for the +others your best efforts were in vain." + +"They might not have been always in vain," I said musingly. + +"No, they might not," agreed Zara. "That is just the case of the +world to-day. While there is life in it, there is also hope. And +talking of the world, let me remind you that you are back in it now, +and must therefore be hampered with tiresome trivialities. Two of +these are as follows; First, here is a letter for you, which has +just come; secondly, breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes!" + +I looked at her smiling face attentively. She was the very +embodiment of vigorous physical health and beauty; it seemed like a +dream to remember her in the past night, guarded by that invincible +barrier, the work of no mortal hand. I uttered nothing, however, of +these thoughts, and responding to her evident gaiety of heart, I +smiled also. + +"I will be down punctually at the expiration of the twenty minutes," +I said. "I assure you, Zara, I am quite sensible of the claims of +earthly existence upon me. For instance, I am very hungry, and I +shall enjoy breakfast immensely if you will make the coffee." + +Zara, who among her other accomplishments had the secret of making +coffee to perfection, promised laughingly to make it extra well, and +flitted from the room, singing softly as she went a fragment of the +Neapolitan Stornello: + + "Fior di mortelle + Queste manine tue son tanto belle! + Fior di limone + Ti voglio far morire di passione + Salta! lari--lira." + +The letter Zara had brought me was from Mrs. Everard, announcing +that she would arrive in Paris that very day, Sunday. + +"By the time you get this note," so ran her words, "we shall have +landed at the Grand Hotel. Come and see us at once, if you can. The +Colonel is anxious to judge for himself how you are looking. If you +are really recovered sufficiently to leave your medical pension, we +shall be delighted to have you with us again. I, in particular, +shall be glad, for it is real lonesome when the Colonel is out, and +I do hate to go shopping by myself, So take pity upon your +affectionate + +"AMY." + +Seated at breakfast, I discussed this letter with Heliobas and Zara, +and decided that I would call at the Grand Hotel that morning. + +"I wish you would come with me, Zara," I said wistfully. + +To my surprise, she answered: + +"Certainly I will, if you like. But we will attend High Mass at +Notre Dame first. There will be plenty of time for the call +afterwards." + +I gladly agreed to this, and Heliobas added with cheerful +cordiality: + +"Why not ask your friends to dine here to-morrow? Zara's call will +be a sufficient opening formality; and you yourself have been long +enough with us now to know that any of your friends will be welcome +here. We might have a pleasant little party, especially if you add +Mr. and Mrs. Challoner and their daughters to the list. And I will +ask Ivan." + +I glanced at Zara when the Prince's name was uttered, but she made +no sign of either offence or indifference. + +"You are very hospitable," I said, addressing Heliobas; "but I +really see no reason why you should throw open your doors to my +friends, unless, indeed, you specially desire to please me." + +"Why, of course I do!" he replied heartily; and Zara looked up and +smiled. + +"Then," I returned, "I will ask them to come. What am I to say about +my recovery, which I know is little short of miraculous?" + +"Say," replied Heliobas, "that you have been cured by electricity. +There is nothing surprising in such a statement nowadays. But say +nothing of the HUMAN electric force employed upon you--no one would +believe you, and the effort to persuade unpersuadable people is +always a waste of time." + +An hour after this conversation Zara and I were in the cathedral of +Notre Dame. I attended the service with very different feelings to +those I had hitherto experienced during the same ceremony. Formerly +my mind had been distracted by harassing doubts and perplexing +contradictions; now everything had a meaning for me--high, and +solemn, and sweet. As the incense rose, I thought of those rays of +connecting light I had seen, on which prayers travel exactly as +sound travels through the telephone. As the grand organ pealed +sonorously through the fragrant air, I remembered the ever youthful +and gracious Spirits of Music, one of whom, Aeon, had promised to be +my friend. Just to try the strength of my own electric force, I +whispered the name and looked up. There, on a wide slanting ray of +sunlight that fell directly across the altar was the angelic face I +well remembered!--the delicate hands holding the semblance of a harp +in air! It was but for an instant I saw it--one brief breathing- +space in which its smile mingled with the sunbeams and then it +vanished. But I knew I was not forgotten, and the deep satisfaction +of my soul poured itself in unspoken praise on the flood of the +"Sanctus! Sanctus!" that just then rolled triumphantly through the +aisles of Notre Dame. Zara was absorbed in silent prayer throughout +the Mass; but at its conclusion, when we came out of the cathedral, +she was unusually gay and elate. She conversed vivaciously with me +concerning the social merits and accomplishments of the people we +were going to visit; while the brisk walk through the frosty air +brightened her eyes and cheeks into warmer lustre, so that on our +arrival at the Grand Hotel she looked to my fancy even lovelier than +usual. + +Mrs. Everard did not keep us waiting long in the private salon to +which we were shown. She fluttered down, arrayed in a wonderful +"art" gown of terra-cotta and pale blue hues cunningly intermixed, +and proceeded to hug me with demonstrative fervour. Then she held me +a little distance off, and examined me attentively. + +"Do you know," she said, "you are simply in lovely condition! I +never would have believed it. You are actually as plump and pink as +a peach. And you are the same creature that wailed and trembled, and +had palpitations and headaches and stupors! Your doctor must be a +perfect magician. I think I must consult him, for I am sure I don't +look half as well as you do." + +And indeed she did not. I thought she had a tired, dragged +appearance, but I would not say so. I knew her well, and I was +perfectly aware that though she was fascinating and elegant in every +way, her life was too much engrossed in trifles ever to yield her +healthy satisfaction. + +After responding warmly to her affectionate greeting, I said: + +"Amy, you must allow me to introduce the sister of my doctor to you. +Madame Zara Casimir--Mrs. Everard." + +Zara, who had moved aside a little way out of delicacy, to avoid +intruding on our meeting, now turned, and with her own radiant smile +and exquisite grace, stretched out her little well-gloved hand. + +"I am delighted to know you!" she said, in those sweet penetrating +accents of hers which were like music. "YOUR friend," here +indicating me by a slight yet tender gesture, "has also become mine; +but I do not think we shall be jealous, shall we?" + +Mrs. Everard made some attempt at a suitable reply, but she was so +utterly lost in admiration of Zara's beauty, that her habitual self- +possession almost deserted her. Zara, however, had the most perfect +tact, and with it the ability of making herself at home anywhere, +and we were soon all three talking cheerfully and without +constraint. When the Colonel made his appearance, which he did very +shortly, he too was "taken off his feet," as the saying is, by +Zara's loveliness, and the same effect was produced on the +Challoners, who soon afterwards joined us in a body. Mrs. Challoner, +in particular, seemed incapable of moving her eyes from the +contemplation of my darling's sweet face, and I glowed with pride +and pleasure as I noted how greatly she was admired. Miss Effie +Challoner alone, who was, by a certain class of young men, +considered "doocid pretty, with go in her," opposed her stock of +physical charms to those of Zara, with a certain air of feminine +opposition; but she was only able to keep this barrier up for a +little time. Zara's winning power of attraction was too much for +her, and she, like all present, fell a willing captive to the +enticing gentleness, the intellectual superiority, and the +sympathetic influence exercised by the evenly balanced temperament +and character of the beautiful woman I loved so well. + +After some desultory and pleasant chat, Zara, in the name of her +brother and herself, invited Colonel and Mrs. Everard and the +Challoner family to dine at the Hotel Mars next day--an invitation +which was accepted by all with eagerness. I perceived at once that +every one of them was anxious to know more of Zara and her +surroundings--a curiosity which I could not very well condemn. Mrs. +Everard then wanted me to remain with her for the rest of the +afternoon; but an instinctive feeling came upon me, that soon +perhaps I should have to part from Heliobas and Zara, and all the +wonders and delights of their household, in order to resume my own +working life--therefore I determined I would drain my present cup of +pleasure to the last drop. So I refused Amy's request, pleading as +an excuse that I was still under my doctor's authority, and could +not indulge in such an excitement as an afternoon in her society +without his permission. Zara bore me out in this assertion, and +added for me to Mrs. Everard: + +"Indeed, I think it will be better for her to remain perfectly quiet +with us for a day or two longer; then she will be thoroughly cured, +and free to do as she likes." + +"Well!" said Mrs. Challoner; "I must say she doesn't look as if +anything were the matter with her. In fact, I never saw two more +happy, healthy-looking girls than you both. What secret do you +possess to make yourselves look so bright?" + +"No secret at all," replied Zara, laughing; "we simply follow the +exact laws of health, and they suffice." + +Colonel Everard, who had been examining me critically and asking me +a few questions, here turned to Zara and said: + +"Do you really mean to say, Madame Casimir, that your brother cured +this girl by electricity?" + +"Purely so!" she answered earnestly. + +"Then it's the most wonderful recovery _I_ ever saw. Why, at Cannes, +she was hollow-eyed, pale, and thin as a willow-wand; now she looks-- +well, she knows how she is herself--but if she feels as spry as she +looks, she's in first-rate training!" + +I laughed. + +"I DO feel spry, Colonel," I said. "Life seems to me like summer +sunshine." + +"Brava!" exclaimed Mr. Challoner. He was a staid, rather slow +Kentuckian who seldom spoke; and when he did, seemed to find it +rather an exertion. "If there's one class of folk I detest more than +another, it is those all-possessed people who find life unsuited to +their fancies. Nobody asked them to come into it--nobody would miss +them if they went out of it. Being in it, it's barely civil to +grumble at the Deity who sent them along here. I never do it myself +if I can help it." + +We laughed, and Mrs. Challoner's eyes twinkled. + +"In England, dear, for instance," she said, with a mischievous +glance at her spouse--"in England you never grumbled, did you?" + +Mr. Challoner looked volumes--his visage reddened, and he clenched +his broad fist with ominous vigour. + +"Why, by the Lord!" he said, with even more than his usual +deliberate utterance, "in England the liveliest flea that ever gave +a triumphal jump in air would find his spirits inclined to droop! I +tell you, ma'am," he continued, addressing himself to Zara, whose +merry laugh rang out like a peal of little golden bells at this last +remark--"I tell you that when I walked in the streets of London I +used to feel as if I were one of a band of criminals. Every person I +met looked at me as if the universe were about to be destroyed next +minute, and they had to build another up right away without God to +help 'em!" + +"Well, I believe I agree with you," said Colonel Everard. "The +English take life too seriously. In their craze for business they +manage to do away with pleasure altogether. They seem afraid to +laugh, and they even approach the semblance of a smile with due +caution." + +"I'm free to confess," added his wife, "that I'm not easily chilled +through. But an English 'at home' acts upon me like a patent +refrigerator--I get regularly frozen to the bone!" + +"Dear me!" laughed Zara; "you give very bad accounts of +Shakespeare's land! It must be very sad!" + +"I believe it wasn't always so," pursued Colonel Everard; "there are +legends which speak of it as Merrie England. I dare say it might +have been merry once, before it was governed by shopkeepers; but +now, you must get away from it if you want to enjoy life. At least +such is my opinion. But have you never been in England, Madame +Casimir? You speak English perfectly." + +"Oh, I am a fairly good linguist," replied Zara, "thanks to my +brother. But I have never crossed the Channel." + +The Misses Challoner looked politely surprised; their father's +shrewd face wore an expression of grim contentment. + +"Don't cross it, ma'am," he said emphatically, "unless you have a +special desire to be miserable. If you want to know how Christians +love one another and how to be made limply and uselessly wretched, +spend a Sunday in London." + +"I think I will not try the experiment, Mr. Challoner," returned +Zara gaily. "Life is short, and I prefer to enjoy it." + +"Say," interrupted Mrs. Challoner, turning to me at this juncture, +"now you are feeling so well, would it be asking you too much to +play us a piece of your own improvising?" + +I glanced at the grand piano, which occupied a corner of the salon +where we sat, and hesitated. But at a slight nod from Zara, I rose, +drew off my gloves, and seated myself at the instrument. Passing my +hands lightly over the keys, I wandered through a few running +passages; and as I did so, murmured a brief petition to my aerial +friend Aeon. Scarcely had I done this, when a flood of music seemed +to rush to my brain and thence to my fingers, and I played, hardly +knowing what I played, but merely absorbed in trying to give +utterance to the sounds which were falling softly upon my inner +sense of hearing like drops of summer rain on a thirsty soil. I was +just aware that I was threading the labyrinth of a minor key, and +that the result was a network of delicate and tender melody +reminding me of Heinrich Heine's words: + +"Lady, did you not hear the nightingale sing? A beautiful silken +voice--a web of happy notes--and my soul was taken in its meshes, +and strangled and tortured thereby." + +A few minutes, and the inner voice that conversed with me so +sweetly, died away into silence, and at the same time my fingers +found their way to the closing chord. As one awaking from a dream, I +looked up. The little group of friendly listeners were rapt in the +deepest attention; and when I ceased, a murmur of admiration broke +from them all, while Zara's eyes glistened with sympathetic tears. + +"How can you do it?" asked Mrs. Challoner in good-natured amazement. +"It seems to me impossible to compose like that while seated at the +piano, and without taking previous thought!" + +"It is not MY doing," I began; "it seems to come to me from--" + +But I was checked by a look from Zara, that gently warned me not to +hastily betray the secret of my spiritual communion with the unseen +sources of harmony. So I smiled and said no more. Inwardly I was +full of a great rejoicing, for I knew that however well I had played +in past days, it was nothing compared to the vigour and ease which +were now given to me--a sort of unlocking of the storehouse of +music, with freedom to take my choice of all its vast treasures. + +"Well, it's what WE call inspiration," said Mr. Challoner, giving my +hand a friendly grasp; "and wherever it comes from, it must be a +great happiness to yourself as well as to others." + +"It is," I answered earnestly. "I believe few are so perfectly happy +in music as I am." + +Mrs. Everard looked thoughtful. + +"No amount of practice could make ME play like that," she said; "yet +I have had two or three masters who were supposed to be first-rate. +One of them was a German, who used to clutch his hair like a walking +tragedian whenever I played a wrong note. I believe he got up his +reputation entirely by that clutch, for he often played wrong notes +himself without minding it. But just because he worked himself into +a sort of frenzy when others went wrong, everybody praised him, and +said he had such an ear and was so sensitive that he must be a great +musician. He worried me nearly to death over Bach's 'Well-tempered +Klavier'--all to no purpose, for I can't play a note of it now, and +shouldn't care to if I could. I consider Bach a dreadful old bore, +though I know it is heresy to say so. Even Beethoven is occasionally +prosy, only no one will be courageous enough to admit it. People +would rather go to sleep over classical music than confess they +don't like it." + +"Schubert would have been a grander master than Beethoven, if he had +only lived long enough," said Zara; "but I dare say very few will +agree with me in such an assertion. Unfortunately most of my +opinions differ from those of everyone else." + +"You should say FORTUNATELY, madame," said Colonel Everard, bowing +gallantly; "as the circumstance has the happy result of making you +perfectly original as well as perfectly charming." + +Zara received this compliment with her usual sweet equanimity, and +we rose to take our leave. As we were passing out, Amy Everard drew +me back and crammed into the pocket of my cloak a newspaper. + +"Read it when you are alone," she whispered; "and you will see what +Raffaello Cellini has done with the sketch he made of you." + +We parted from these pleasant Americans with cordial expressions of +goodwill, Zara reminding them of their engagement to visit her at +her own home next day, and fixing the dinner-hour for half-past +seven. + +On our return to the Hotel Mars, we found Heliobas in the drawing- +room, deep in converse with a Catholic priest--a fine-looking man of +venerable and noble features. Zara addressed him as "Father Paul," +and bent humbly before him to receive his blessing, which he gave +her with almost parental tenderness. He seemed, from his familiar +manner with them, to be a very old friend of the family. + +On my being introduced to him, he greeted me with gentle courtesy, +and gave me also his simple unaffected benediction. We all partook +of a light luncheon to-gether, after which repast Heliobas and +Father Paul withdrew together. Zara looked after their retreating +figures with a sort of meditative pathos in her large eyes; and then +she told me she had something to finish in her studio--would I +excuse her for about an hour? I readily consented, for I myself was +desirous of passing a little time in solitude, in order to read the +manuscripts Heliobas had given me. "For," thought I, "if there is +anything in them not quite clear to me, he will explain it, and I +had better take advantage of his instruction while I can." + +As Zara and I went upstairs together, we were followed by Leo--a +most unusual circumstance, as that faithful animal was generally in +attendance on his master. Now, however, he seemed to have something +oppressive on his mind, for he kept close to Zara, and his big brown +eyes, whenever he raised them to her face, were full of intense +melancholy. His tail drooped in a forlorn way, and all the vivacity +of his nature seemed to have gone out of him. + +"Leo does not seem well," I said, patting the dog's beautiful silky +coat, an attention to which he responded by a heavy sigh and a +wistful gaze approaching to tears. Zara looked at him. + +"Poor Leo!" she murmured caressingly. "Perhaps he feels lonely. Do +you want to come with your mistress to-day, old boy? So you shall. +Come along--cheer up, Leo!" + +And, nodding to me, she passed into her studio, the dog following +her. I turned into my own apartment, and then bethought myself of +the newspaper Mrs. Everard had thrust into my pocket. It was a Roman +journal, and the passage marked for my perusal ran as follows: + +"The picture of the Improvisatrice, painted by our countryman Signor +Raffaello Cellini, has been purchased by Prince N----for the sum of +forty thousand francs. The Prince generously permits it to remain on +view for a few days longer, so that those who have not yet enjoyed +its attraction, have still time to behold one of the most wonderful +pictures of the age. The colouring yet remains a marvel to both +students and connoisseurs, and the life-like appearance of the +girl's figure, robed in its clinging white draperies ornamented with +lilies of the valley, is so strong, that one imagines she will step +out of the canvas and confront the bystanders. Signor Cellini must +now be undoubtedly acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses of +modern times." + +I could see no reason, as I perused this, to be sure that _I_ had +served as the model for this successful work of art, unless the +white dress and the lilies of the valley, which I had certainly worn +at Cannes, were sufficient authority for forming such a conclusion. +Still I felt quite a curiosity about the picture--the more so as I +could foresee no possible chance of my ever beholding it. I +certainly should not go to Rome on purpose, and in a few days it +would be in the possession of Prince N----, a personage whom in all +probability I should never know. I put the newspaper carefully by, +and then turned my mind to the consideration of quite another +subject--namely, the contents of my parchment documents. The first +one I opened was that containing the private instructions of +Heliobas to myself for the preservation of my own health, and the +cultivation of the electric force within me. These were so +exceedingly simple, and yet so wonderful in their simplicity, that I +was surprised. They were based upon the plainest and most reasonable +common-sense arguments--easy enough for a child to understand. +Having promised never to make them public, it is impossible for me +to give the slightest hint of their purport; but I may say at once, +without trespassing the bounds of my pledged word, that if these few +concise instructions were known and practised by everyone, doctors +would be entirely thrown out of employment, and chemists' shops +would no longer cumber the streets. Illness would be very difficult +of attainment--though in the event of its occurring each individual +would know how to treat him or herself--and life could be prolonged +easily and comfortably to more than a hundred years, barring, of +course, accidents by sea, rail and road, or by deeds of violence. +But it will take many generations before the world is UNIVERSALLY +self-restrained enough to follow such plain maxims as those laid +down for me in the writing of my benefactor, Heliobas--even if it be +ever self-restrained at all, which, judging from the present state +of society, is much to be doubted. Therefore, no more of the +subject, on which, indeed, I am forbidden to speak. + +The other document, called "The Electric Principle of Christianity," +I found so curious and original, suggesting so many new theories +concerning that religion which has civilized a great portion of +humanity, that, as I am not restrained by any promise on this point, +I have resolved to give it here in full. My readers must not be rash +enough to jump to the conclusion that I set it forward as an +explanation or confession of my own faith; my creed has nothing to +do with anyone save myself. I simply copy the manuscript I possess, +as the theory of a deeply read and widely intelligent man, such as +Heliobas undoubtedly WAS and IS; a man, too, in whose veins runs the +blood of the Chaldean kings--earnest and thoughtful Orientals, who +were far wiser in their generation perhaps than we, with all our +boasted progress, are in ours. The coincidences which have to do +with electrical science will, I believe, be generally admitted to be +curious if not convincing. To me, of course, they are only fresh +proofs of WHAT _I_ KNOW, because _I_ HAVE SEEN THE GREAT ELECTRIC +CIRCLE, and know its power (guided as it is by the Central +Intelligence within) to be capable of anything, from the sending +down of a minute spark of instinct into the heart of a flower, to +the perpetual manufacture and re-absorption of solar systems by the +million million. And it is a circle that ever widens without end. +What more glorious manifestation can there be of the Creator's +splendour and wisdom! But as to how this world of ours span round in +its own light littleness farther and farther from the Radiant Ring, +till its very Sun began to be re-absorbed, and till its Moon +disappeared and became a mere picture--till it became of itself like +a small blot on the fair scroll of the Universe, while its +inhabitants grew to resent all heavenly attraction; and how it was +yet thought worth God's patience and tender consideration, just for +the sake of a few human souls upon it who still remembered and loved +Him, to give it one more chance before it should be drawn back into +the Central Circle like a spark within a fire--all this is +sufficiently set forth in the words of Heliobas, quoted in the next +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE ELECTRIC CREED. + + +The "Electric Principle of Christianity" opened as follows: + +"From all Eternity God, or the SUPREME SPIRIT OF LIGHT, existed, and +to all Eternity He will continue to exist. This is plainly stated in +the New Testament thus: 'God is a SPIRIT, and they that worship Him +must worship Him IN SPIRIT and in truth.' + +"He is a Shape of pure Electric Radiance. Those who may be inclined +to doubt this may search the Scriptures on which they pin their +faith, and they will find that all the visions and appearances of +the Deity there chronicled were electric in character. + +"As a poet forms poems, or a musician melodies, so God formed by a +Thought the Vast Central Sphere in which He dwells, and peopled it +with the pure creations of His glorious fancy. And why? Because, +being pure Light, He is also pure Love; the power or capacity of +Love implies the necessity of Loving; the necessity of loving points +to the existence of things to be loved--hence the secret of +creation. From the ever-working Intelligence of this Divine Love +proceeded the Electric Circle of the Universe, from whence are born +all worlds. + +"This truth vaguely dawned upon the ancient poets of Scripture when +they wrote: 'Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit +of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be +light. And there was light.' + +"These words apply SOLELY to the creation or production of OUR OWN +EARTH, and in them we read nothing but a simple manifestation of +electricity, consisting in a HEATING PASSAGE OF RAYS from the +Central Circle to the planet newly propelled forth from it, which +caused that planet to produce and multiply the wonders of the +animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms which we call Nature. + +"Let us now turn again to the poet-prophets of Scripture: 'And God +said, Let us make man in our image.' The word 'OUR' here implies an +instinctive idea that God was never alone. This idea is correct. +Love cannot exist in a chaos; and God by the sheer necessity of His +Being has for ever been surrounded by radiant and immortal Spirits +emanating from His own creative glory--beings in whom all beauty and +all purity are found. In the IMAGES, therefore (only the IMAGES), of +these Children of Light and of Himself, He made Man--that is, He +caused the Earth to be inhabited and DOMINATED by beings composed of +Earth's component parts, animal, vegetable, and mineral, giving them +their superiority by placing within them His 'LIKENESS' in the form +of an ELECTRIC FLAME or GERM of spiritual existence combined with +its companion working-force of WILL-POWER. + +"Like all flames, this electric spark can either be fanned into a +fire or it can be allowed to escape in air--IT CAN NEVER BE +DESTROYED. It can be fostered and educated till it becomes a living +Spiritual Form of absolute beauty--an immortal creature of thought, +memory, emotion, and working intelligence. If, on the contrary, he +is neglected or forgotten, and its companion Will is drawn by the +weight of Earth to work for earthly aims alone, then it escapes and +seeks other chances of development in OTHER FORMS on OTHER PLANETS, +while the body it leaves, SUPPORTED ONLY BY PHYSICAL SUSTENANCE +DRAWN FROM THE EARTH ON WHICH IT DWELLS, becomes a mere lump of clay +ANIMATED BY MERE ANIMAL LIFE SOLELY, full of inward ignorance and +corruption and outward incapacity. Of such material are the majority +of men composed BY THEIR OWN FREE-WILL AND CHOICE, because they +habitually deaden the voice of conscience and refuse to believe in +the existence of a spiritual element within and around them. + +"To resume: the Earth is one of the smallest of planets; and not +only this, but, from its position in the Universe, receives a less +amount of direct influence from the Electric Circle than other +worlds more happily situated. Were men wise enough to accept this +fact, they would foster to the utmost the germs of electric sympathy +within themselves, in order to form a direct communication, or +system of attraction, between this planet and the ever-widening +Ring, so that some spiritual benefit might accrue to them thereby. +But as the ages roll on, their chances of doing this diminish. The +time is swiftly approaching when the invincible Law of Absorption +shall extinguish Earth as easily as we blow out the flame of a +candle. True, it may be again reproduced, and again thrown out on +space; but then it will be in a new and grander form, and will +doubtless have more godlike inhabitants. + +"In the meantime--during those brief cycles of centuries which are +as a breath in the workings of the Infinite, and which must yet +elapse before this world, as we know it, comes to an end--God has +taken pity on the few, very few souls dwelling here, pent up in +mortal clay, who have blindly tried to reach Him, like plants +straining up to the light, and has established a broad stream of +sympathetic electric communication with Himself, which all who care +to do so may avail themselves of. + +"Here it may be asked: Why should God take pity? Because that +Supreme Shape of Light finds a portion of Himself in all pure souls +that love Him, and HE CANNOT DESPISE HIMSELF. Also because He is +capable of all the highest emotions known to man, in a far larger +and grander degree, besides possessing other sentiments and desires +unimaginable to the human mind. It is enough to say that all the +attributes that accompany perfect goodness He enjoys; therefore He +can feel compassion, tenderness, forgiveness, patience--all or any +of the emotions that produce pure, unselfish pleasure. + +"Granting Him, therefore, these attributes (and it is both +blasphemous and unreasonable to DENY HIM THOSE VIRTUES WHICH +DISTINGUISH THE BEST OF MEN), it is easily understood how He, the +All-Fair Beneficent Ruler of the Central Sphere, perceiving the long +distance to which the Earth was propelled, like a ball flung too far +out, from the glory of His Electric Ring, saw also that the +creatures He had made in His image were in danger of crushing that +image completely out, and with it all remembrance of Him, in the +fatal attention they gave to their merely earthly surroundings, +lacking, as they did, and not possessing sufficient energy to seek, +electric attraction. In brief, this Earth and God's World were like +America and Europe before the Atlantic Cable was laid. Now the +messages of goodwill flash under the waves, heedless of the storms. +So also God's Cable is laid between us and His Heaven in the person +of Christ. + +"For ages (always remembering that our ages are with God a moment) +the idea of WORSHIP was in the mind of man. With this idea came also +the sentiment of PROPITIATION. The untamed savage has from time +immemorial instinctively felt the necessity of looking up to a Being +greater than Himself, and also of seeking a reconciliation with that +Being for some fault or loss in himself which he is aware of, yet +cannot explain. This double instinct--worship and propitiation--is +the key-note of all the creeds of the world, and may be called God's +first thought of the cable to be hereafter laid--a lightning-thought +which He instilled into the human race to prepare it, as one might +test a telegraph-wire from house to house, before stretching it +across a continent. + +"All religions, as known to us, are mere types of Christianity. It +is a notable fact that some of the oldest and most learned races in +the world, such as the Armenians and Chaldeans, were the first to be +convinced of the truth of Christ's visitation. Buddhism, of which +there are so many million followers, is itself a type of Christ's +teaching; only it lacks the supernatural element. Buddha died a +hermit at the age of eighty, as any wise and ascetic man might do +to-day. The death and resurrection of Christ were widely different. +Anyone can be a Buddha again; anyone can NOT be a Christ. That there +are stated to be more followers of Buddhism than of Christianity is +no proof of any efficacy in the former or lack of power in the +latter. Buddhists help to swell that very large class of persons who +prefer a flattering picture to a plain original; or who, sheep-like +by nature, finding themselves all together in one meadow, are too +lazy, as well as too indifferent, to seek pastures fresher and +fairer. + +"Through the divine influence of an Electric Thought, then, the +world unconsciously grew to expect SOMETHING--they knew not what. +The old creeds of the world, like sunflowers, turned towards that +unknown Sun; the poets, prophets, seers, all spoke of some +approaching consolation and glory; and to this day the fated Jews +expect it, unwilling to receive as their Messiah the Divine Martyr +they slew, though their own Scriptures testify to His identity. + +"Christ came, born of a Virgin; that is, a radiant angel from God's +Sphere was in the first place sent down to Earth to wear the form of +Mary of Bethlehem, in Judea. Within that vessel of absolute purity +God placed an Emanation of His own radiance--no germ or small flame +such as is given to us in our bodies to cultivate and foster, but a +complete immortal Spirit, a portion of God Himself, wise, sinless, +and strong. This Spirit, pent up in clay, was born as a helpless +babe, grew up as man--as man taught, comforted, was slain and +buried; but as pure Spirit rose again and returned in peace to +Heaven, His mission done. + +"It was necessary, in order to establish what has been called an +electric communication between God's Sphere and this Earth, that an +actual immortal, untainted Spirit in the person of Christ should +walk this world, sharing with men sufferings, difficulties, danger, +and death. Why? In order that we might first completely confide in +and trust Him, afterwards realizing His spiritual strength and glory +by His resurrection. And here may be noted the main difference +between the Electric Theory of Christianity and other theories. +CHRIST DID NOT DIE BECAUSE GOD NEEDED A SACRIFICE. The idea of +sacrifice is a relic of heathen barbarism; God is too infinitely +loving to desire the sacrifice of the smallest flower. He is too +patient to be ever wrathful; and barbaric ignorance confronts us +again in the notion that He should need to be appeased. And the +fancy that He should desire Himself or part of Himself to become a +sacrifice to Himself has arisen out of the absurd and conflicting +opinions of erring humanity, wherein right and wrong are so jumbled +together that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. +Christ's death was not a sacrifice; it was simply a means of +confidence and communion with the Creator. A sinless Spirit suffered +to show us how to suffer; lived on earth to show us how to live; +prayed to show us how to pray; died to show us how to die; rose +again to impress strongly upon us that there was in truth a life +beyond this one, for which He strove to prepare our souls. Finally, +by His re-ascension into Heaven He established that much-needed +electric communication between us and the Central Sphere. + +"It can be proved from the statements of the New Testament that in +Christ was an Embodied Electric Spirit. From first to last His +career was attended by ELECTRIC PHENOMENA, of which eight examples +are here quoted; and earnest students of the matter can find many +others if they choose to examine for themselves. + +"1. The appearance of the Star and the Vision of Angels on the night +of His birth. The Chaldeans saw His 'star in the east,' and they +came to worship Him. The Chaldeans were always a learned people, and +electricity was an advanced science with them. They at once +recognized the star to be no new planet, but simply a star-shaped +flame flitting through space. They knew what this meant. Observe, +too, that they had no doubts upon the point; they came 'to worship +him,' and provided themselves with gifts to offer to this radiant +Guest, the offspring of pure Light. The vision of the angels +appearing to the shepherds was simply a joyous band of the Singing +Children of the Electric Ring, who out of pure interest and pleasure +floated in sight of Earth, drawn thither partly by the already +strong attractive influence of the Radiance that was imprisoned +there in the form of the Babe of Bethlehem. + +"2. When Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, 'THE HEAVENS +OPENED.' + +"3. The sympathetic influence of Christ was so powerful that when He +selected His disciples, He had but to speak to them, and at the +sound of His voice, though they were engaged in other business, +'THEY LEFT ALL AND FOLLOWED HIM." + +"4. Christ's body was charged with electricity. Thus He was easily +able to heal sick and diseased persons by a touch or a look. The +woman who caught at His garment in the crowd was cured of her long- +standing ailment; and we see that Christ was aware of His own +electric force by the words He used on that occasion: 'WHO TOUCHED +ME? FOR I FEEL THAT SOME VIRTUE IS GONE OUT OF ME'--which is the +exact feeling that a physical electrician experiences at this day +after employing his powers on a subject. The raising of Jairus's +daughter, of the widow's son at Nain, and of Lazarus, were all +accomplished by the same means. + +"5. The walking on the sea was a purely electric effort, AND CAN BE +ACCOMPLISHED NOW BY ANYONE who has cultivated sufficient inner +force. The sea being full of electric particles will support anybody +sufficiently and similarly charged--the two currents combining to +procure the necessary equilibrium. Peter, who was able to walk a +little way, lost his power directly his will became vanquished by +fear--because the sentiment of fear disperses electricity, and being +purely HUMAN emotion, does away with spiritual strength for the +time. + +"6. The Death of Christ was attended by electric manifestations--by +the darkness over the land during the Crucifixion; the tearing of +the temple veil in twain; and the earthquake which finally ensued. + +"7. The Resurrection was a most powerful display of electric force. +It will be remembered that the angel who was found sitting at the +entrance of the empty sepulchre 'had a countenance like LIGHTNING,' +i.e., like electric flame. It must also be called to mind how the +risen Christ addressed Mary Magdalene: 'TOUCH ME NOT, for I am but +newly risen!' Why should she not have touched Him? Simply because +His strength then was the strength of concentrated in-rushing +currents of electricity; and to touch him at that moment would have +been for Magdalene instant death by lightning. This effect of +embodied electric force has been shadowed forth in the Greek legends +of Apollo, whose glory consumed at a breath the mortal who dared to +look upon him. + +"8. The descent of the Holy Ghost, by which term is meant an ever- +flowing current of the inspired working Intelligence of the Creator, +was purely electric in character: 'Suddenly there came a sound from +Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house +where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them CLOVEN TONGUES +LIKE AS OF FIRE, and sat upon each of them.' It may here be noted +that the natural electric flame is DUAL or 'cloven' in shape. + +"Let us now take the Creed as accepted to-day by the Christian +Church, and see how thoroughly it harmonizes with the discoveries of +spiritual electricity. 'I believe in one God the Father Almighty, +Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.' +This is a brief and simple description of the Creator as He exists-- +a Supreme Centre of Light, out of whom MUST spring all life, all +love, all wisdom. + +"'And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born +of the Father before all ages.' This means that the only absolute +Emanation of His own PERSONAL Radiance that ever wore such mean garb +as our clay was found in Christ--who, as part of God, certainly +existed 'BEFORE ALL AGES.' For as the Creed itself says, He was 'God +of God, LIGHT OF LIGHT. Then we go on through the circumstances of +Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, and our profession of +faith brings us to 'I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver +of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,' etc. This, as +already stated, means that we believe that since Christ ascended +into Heaven, our electric communication with the Creator has been +established, and an ever-flowing current of divine inspiration is +turned beneficially in the direction of our Earth, 'proceeding from +the Father and the Son.' We admit in the Creed that this inspiration +manifested itself before Christ came and 'SPAKE BY THE PROPHETS;' +but, as before stated, this only happened at rare and difficult +intervals, while now Christ Himself speaks through those who most +strongly adhere to His teachings. + +"It may here be mentioned that few seem to grasp the fact of the +SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WOMEN intended to be conveyed in the person of +the Virgin Mary. She was actually one of the radiant Spirits of the +Central Sphere, imprisoned by God's will in woman's form. After the +birth of Christ, she was still kept on earth, to follow His career +to the end. There was a secret understanding between Himself and +her. As for instance, when she found Him among the doctors of the +law, she for one moment suffered her humanity to get the better of +her in anxious inquiries; and His reply, 'Why sought ye Me? Wist ye +not that I must be about My Father's business?' was a sort of +reminder to her, which she at once accepted. Again, at the marriage +feast in Cana of Galilee, when Christ turned the water into wine, He +said to His mother, 'WOMAN, what have I to do with thee?' which +meant simply: What have I to do with thee as WOMAN merely?--which +was another reminder to her of her spiritual origin, causing her at +once to address the servants who stood by as follows: 'Whatsoever He +saith unto you, do it.' And why, it may be asked, if Mary was really +an imprisoned immortal Spirit, sinless and joyous, should she be +forced to suffer all the weaknesses, sorrows, and anxieties of any +ordinary woman and mother? SIMPLY AS AN EXAMPLE TO WOMEN who are the +mothers of the human race; and who, being thus laid under a heavy +responsibility, need sympathetic guidance. Mary's life teaches women +that the virtues they need are--obedience, purity, meekness, +patience, long-suffering, modesty, self-denial, and endurance. She +loved to hold a secondary position; she placed herself in willing +subjection to Joseph--a man of austere and simple life, advanced in +years, and weighted with the cares of a family by a previous +marriage--who wedded her by AN INFLUENCE WHICH COMPELLED HIM to +become her protector in the eyes of the world. Out of these facts, +simple as they are, can be drawn the secret of happiness for women-- +a secret and a lesson that, if learned by heart, would bring them +and those they love out of storm and bewilderment into peace and +safety. + +"FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ONCE BECOME AWARE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE +CENTRAL SPHERE AND OF THE ELECTRIC RING SURROUNDING IT, AND WHO ARE +ABLE TO REALISE TO THE FULL THE GIGANTIC AS WELL AS MINUTE WORK +PERFORMED BY THE ELECTRIC WAVES AROUND US AND WITHIN US, there can +no longer be any doubt as to all the facts of Christianity, as none +of them, VIEWED BY THE ELECTRIC THEORY, are otherwise than in +accordance with the Creator's love and sympathy with even the +smallest portion of His creation. + +"Why then, if Christianity be a Divine Truth, are not all people +Christians? As well ask, if music and poetry are good things, why +all men are not poets and musicians. Art seeks art; in like manner +God seeks God--that is, He seeks portions of His own essence among +His creatures. Christ Himself said, 'Many are called, but few are +chosen;' and it stands to reason that very few souls will succeed in +becoming pure enough to enter the Central Sphere without hindrance. +Many, on leaving Earth, will be detained in the Purgatory of Air, +where thousands of spirits work for ages, watching over others, +helping and warning others, and in this unselfish labour succeed in +raising themselves, little by little, higher and ever higher, till +they at last reach the longed-for goal. It must also be remembered +that not only from Earth, but from ALL WORLDS, released souls seek +to attain final happiness in the Central Sphere where God is; so +that, however great the number of those that are permitted to +proceed thither from this little planet, they can only form, as it +were, one drop in a mighty ocean. + +"It has been asked whether the Electric Theory of Christianity +includes the doctrine of Hell, or a place of perpetual punishment. +Eternal Punishment is merely a form of speech for what is really +Eternal Retrogression. For as there is a Forward, so there must be a +Backward. The electric germ of the Soul--delicate, fiery, and +imperishable as it is--can be forced by its companion Will to take +refuge in a lower form of material existence, dependent on the body +it first inhabits. For instance, a man who is obstinate in pursuing +ACTIVE EVIL can so retrograde the progress of any spiritual life +within him, that it shall lack the power to escape, as it might do, +from merely lymphatic and listless temperaments, to seek some other +chance of development, but shall sink into the form of quadrupeds, +birds, and other creatures dominated by purely physical needs. But +there is one thing it can never escape from--MEMORY. And in that +faculty is constituted Hell. So that if a man, by choice, forces his +soul DOWNWARD to inhabit hereafter the bodies of dogs, horses, and +other like animals, he should know that he does so at the cost of +everything except Remembrance. Eternal Retrogression means that the +hopelessly tainted electric germ recoils further and further from +the Pure Centre whence it sprang, ALWAYS BEARING WITHIN ITSELF the +knowledge of WHAT IT WAS ONCE and WHAT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. There is +a pathetic meaning in the eyes of a dog or a seal; in the +melancholy, patient gaze of the oxen toiling at the plough; there is +an unuttered warning in the silent faces of flowers; there is more +tenderness of regret in the voice of the nightingale than love; and +in the wild upward soaring of the lark, with its throat full of +passionate, shouting prayer, there is shadowed forth the yearning +hope that dies away in despair as the bird sinks to earth again, his +instincts not half satisfied. There is no greater torture than to be +compelled to remember, in suffering, joys and glorious opportunities +gone for ever. + +"Regarding the Electric Theory of Religion, it is curious to observe +how the truth of it has again and again been dimly shadowed forth in +the prophecies of Art, Science, and Poesy. The old painters who +depicted a halo of light round the head of their Virgins and Saints +did so out of a correct impulse which they did not hesitate to obey. +[Footnote: An impulse which led them vaguely to foresee, though, not +to explain, the electric principle of spiritual life.] The +astronomers who, after years of profound study, have been enabled to +measure the flames of the burning sun, and to find out that these +are from two to four thousand miles high, are nearly arrived at the +conclusion that it is a world in a state of conflagration, in which +they will be perfectly right. Those who hold that this Earth of ours +was once self-luminous are also right; for it was indeed so when +first projected from the Electric Ring. The compilers or inventors +of the 'Arabian Nights' also hit upon a truth when they described +human beings as forced through evil influences to take the forms of +lower animals--a truth just explained in the Law of Retrogression. +All art, all prophecy, all poesy, should therefore be accepted +eagerly and studied earnestly, for in them we find ELECTRIC +INSPIRATION out of which we are able to draw lessons for our +guidance hereafter. The great point that scientists and artists have +hitherto failed to discover, is the existence of the Central Sphere +and its Surrounding Electric Circle. Once realize these two great +facts, and all the wonders and mysteries of the Universe are +perfectly easy of comprehension. + +"In conclusion, I offer no opinion as to which is Christ's Church, +or the Fountain-head of spirituality in the world. In all Churches +errors have intruded through unworthy and hypocritical members. In a +crowded congregation of worshippers there may perhaps be only one or +two who are free from self-interest and personal vanity. In +Sectarianism, for instance, there is no shred of Christianity. +Lovers of God and followers of Christ must, in the first place, have +perfect Unity; and the bond uniting them must be an electric one of +love and faith. No true Christian should be able to hate, despise, +or envy the other. Were I called upon to select among the churches, +I should choose that which has most electricity working within it, +and which is able to believe in a positive electrical communication +between Christ and herself taking place daily on her altars--a +Church which holds, as it were, the other end of the telegraphic ray +between Earth and the Central Sphere, and which is, therefore, able +to exist among the storms of modern opinions, affording refuge and +consolation to the few determined travellers who are bound onward +and upward. I shall not name the Church I mean, because it is the +duty of everyone to examine and find it out for himself or herself. +And even though this Church instinctively works in the right +direction, it is full of errors introduced by ignorant and unworthy +members--errors which must be carefully examined and cast aside by +degrees. But, as I said before, it is the only Church which has +Principles of Electricity within it, and is therefore destined to +live, because electricity is life. + +"Now I beseech the reader of this manuscript to which I, Heliobas, +append my hand and seal, to remember and realize earnestly the +following invincible facts: first that God and His Christ EXIST; +secondly, that while the little paltry affairs of our temporal state +are being built up as crazily as a child's house of cards, the huge +Central Sphere revolves, and the Electric Ring, strong and +indestructible, is ever at its work of production and re-absorption; +thirdly, that every thought and word of EVERY HABITANT ON EVERY +PLANET is reflected in lightning language before the Creator's eyes +as easily as we receive telegrams; fourthly, that this world is THE +ONLY SPOT IN THE UNIVERSE where His existence is actually questioned +and doubted. And the general spread of modern positivism, +materialism and atheism is one of the most terrific and meaning +signs of the times. The work of separating the wheat from the chaff +is beginning. Those who love and believe in God and Spiritual Beauty +are about to be placed on one side; the millions who worship Self +are drawing together in vast opposing ranks on the other; and the +moment approaches which is prophesied to be 'as the lightning that +lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, and shineth even to the +other part.' In other words, the fiery whirlpool of the Ring is +nearly ready to absorb our planet in its vortex; and out of all who +dwell upon its surface, how many shall reach the glorious Central +World of God? Of two men working in the same field, shall it not be +as Christ foretold--'the one shall be taken, and the other left'? + +"Friend, or Pupil, Reader! Whoever thou art, take heed and foster +thine own soul! For know that nothing can hinder the Immortal Germ +within us from taking the form imposed upon it by our WILLS. Through +Love and Faith, it can become an Angel, and perform wonders even +while in its habitation of clay; through indifference and apathy, it +can desert us altogether and for ever; through mockery and +blasphemous disbelief, it can sink into even a lower form than that +of snake or toad. In our own unfettered hand lies our eternal +destiny. Wonderful and terrible responsibility! Who shall dare to +say we have no need of prayer?" + +This document was signed "Casimir Heliobas," and bore a seal on +which the impression seemed to consist of two Arabic or Sanskrit +words, which I could not understand. I put it carefully away with +its companion MS. under lock and key, and while I was yet pausing +earnestly on its contents, Zara came into my room. She had finished +her task in the studio, she said, and she now proposed a drive in +the Bois as an agreeable way of passing the rest of the afternoon. + +"I want to be as long as possible in your company," she added, with +a caressing sweetness in her manner; "for now your friends have come +to Paris, I expect you will soon be leaving us, so I must have as +much of you as I can." + +My heart sank at the thought of parting from her, and I looked +wistfully at her lovely face. Leo had followed her in from the +studio, and seemed still very melancholy. + +"We shall always be good friends, Zara dearest," I said, "shall we +not? Close, fond friends, like sisters?" + +"Sisters are not always fond of each other," remarked Zara, half +gaily. "And you know 'there is a friend that sticketh closer than a +brother'!" + +"And what friend is that in YOUR case?" I asked, half jestingly, +half curiously. + +"Death!" she replied with a strange smile, in which there was both +pathos and triumph. + +I started at her unexpected reply, and a kind of foreboding chilled +my blood. I endeavoured, however, to speak cheerfully as I said: + +"Why, of course, death sticks more closely to us than any friend or +relative. But you look fitter to receive the embraces of life than +of death, Zara." + +"They are both one and the same thing," she answered; "or rather, +the one leads to the other. But do not let us begin to philosophize. +Put on your things and come. The carriage is waiting." + +I readily obeyed her, and we enjoyed an exhilarating drive together. +The rest of the day passed with us all very pleasantly and our +conversation had principally to do with the progress of art and +literature in many lands, and maintained itself equably on the level +of mundane affairs. Among other things, we spoke of the Spanish +violinist Sarasate, and I amused Heliobas by quoting to him some of +the criticisms of the London daily papers on this great artist, such +as, "He plays pieces which, though adapted to show his wonderful +skill, are the veriest clap-trap;" "He lacks breadth and colour;" "A +true type of the artist virtuoso," etc., etc. + +"Half these people do not know in the least what they mean by +'breadth and colour' or 'virtuosity,'" said Heliobas, with a smile. +"They think emotion, passion, all true sentiment combined with +extraordinary TECHNIQUE, must be 'clap-trap.' Now the Continent of +Europe acknowledges Pablo de Sarasate as the first violinist living, +and London would not be London unless it could thrust an obtuse +opposing opinion in the face of the Continent. England is the last +country in the world to accept anything new. Its people are tired +and blase; like highly trained circus-horses, they want to trot or +gallop always in the old grooves. It will always be so. Sarasate is +like a brilliant meteor streaming across their narrow bit of the +heaven of music; they stare, gape, and think it is an unnatural +phenomenon--a 'virtuosity' in the way of meteors, which they are +afraid to accept lest it set them on fire. What would you? The +meteor shines and burns; it is always a meteor!" + +So, talking lightly, and gliding from subject to subject, the hours +wore away, and we at last separated for the night. + +I shall always be glad to remember how tenderly Zara kissed me and +wished me good repose; and I recall now, with mingled pain, wonder, +and gratitude, how perfectly calm and contented I felt as, after my +prayers, I sank to sleep, unwarned, and therefore happily +unconscious, of what awaited me on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DEATH BY LIGHTNING. + + +The morning of the next day dawned rather gloomily. A yellowish fog +obscured the air, and there was a closeness and sultriness in the +atmosphere that was strange for that wintry season. I had slept +well, and rose with the general sense of ease and refreshment that I +always experienced since I had been under the treatment of Heliobas. +Those whose unhappy physical condition causes them to awake from +uneasy slumber feeling almost more fatigued than when they retired +to rest, can scarcely have any idea of the happiness it engenders to +open untired, glad eyes with the morning light; to feel the very air +a nourishment; to stand with lithe, rested limbs in the bath of +cool, pure water, rinding that limpid element obediently adding its +quota to the vigour of perfect health; to tingle from head to foot +with the warm current of life running briskly through the veins, +making the heart merry, the brain clear, and all the powers of body +and mind in active working condition. This is indeed most absolute +enjoyment. Add to it the knowledge of the existence of one's own +inner Immortal Spirit--the beautiful germ of Light in the fostering +of which no labour is ever taken in vain--the living, wondrous thing +that is destined to watch an eternity of worlds bloom and fade to +bloom again, like flowers, while itself, superior to them all, shall +become ever more strong and radiant--with these surroundings and +prospects, who shall say life is not worth living? + +Dear Life! sweet Moment! gracious Opportunity! brief Journey so well +worth the taking! gentle Exile so well worth enduring!--thy +bitterest sorrows are but blessings in disguise; thy sharpest pains +are brought upon us by ourselves, and even then are turned to +warnings for our guidance; while above us, through us, and around us +radiates the Supreme Love, unalterably tender! + +These thoughts, and others like them, all more or less conducive to +cheerfulness, occupied me till I had finished dressing. Melancholy +was now no part of my nature, otherwise I might have been depressed +by the appearance of the weather and the murkiness of the air. But +since I learned the simple secrets of physical electricity, +atmospheric influences have had no effect upon the equable poise of +my temperament--a fact for which I cannot be too grateful, seeing +how many of my fellow-creatures permit themselves to be affected by +changes in the wind, intense heat, intense cold, or other things of +the like character. + +I went down to breakfast, singing softly on my way, and I found Zara +already seated at the head of her table, while Heliobas was occupied +in reading and sorting a pile of letters that lay beside his plate. +Both greeted me with their usual warmth and heartiness. + +During the repast, however, the brother and sister were strangely +silent, and once or twice I fancied that Zara's eyes filled with +tears, though she smiled again so quickly and radiantly that I felt +I was mistaken. + +A piece of behaviour on the part of Leo, too, filled me with dismay. +He had been lying quietly at his master's feet for some time, when +he suddenly arose, sat upright, and lifting his nose in air, uttered +a most prolonged and desolate howl. Anything more thoroughly +heartbroken and despairing than that cry I have never heard. After +he had concluded it, the poor animal seemed ashamed of what he had +done, and creeping meekly along, with drooping head and tail, he +kissed his master's hand, then mine, and lastly Zara's. Finally, he +went into a distant corner and lay down again, as if his feelings +were altogether too much for him. + +"Is he ill?" I asked pityingly. + +"I think not," replied Heliobas. "The weather is peculiar to-day-- +close, and almost thunderous; dogs are very susceptible to such +changes." + +At that moment the page entered bearing a silver salver, on which +lay a letter, which he handed to his master and immediately retired. + +Heliobas opened and read it. + +"Ivan regrets he cannot dine with us to-day," he said, glancing at +his sister; "he is otherwise engaged. He says, however, that he +hopes to have the pleasure of looking in during the latter part of +the evening." + +Zara inclined her head gently, and made no other reply. + +A few seconds afterwards we rose from table, and Zara, linking her +arm through mine, said: + +"I want to have a talk with you while we can be alone. Come to my +room." + +We went upstairs together, followed by the wise yet doleful Leo, who +seemed determined not to let his mistress out of his sight. When we +arrived at our destination, Zara pushed me gently into an easy- +chair, and seated herself in another one opposite. + +"I am going to ask a favour of you," she began; "because I know you +will do anything to please me or Casimir. Is it not so?" + +I assured her she might rely upon my observing; with the truest +fidelity any request of hers, small or great. + +She thanked me and resumed: + +"You know I have been working secretly in my studio for some time +past. I have been occupied in the execution of two designs--one is +finished, and is intended as a gift to Casimir. The other"--she +hesitated--"is incomplete. It is the colossal figure which was +veiled when you first came in to see my little statue of 'Evening'. +I made an attempt beyond my powers--in short, I cannot carry out the +idea to my satisfaction. Now, dear, pay great attention to what I +say. I have reason to believe that I shall be compelled to take a +sudden journey--promise me that when I am gone you will see that +unfinished statue completely destroyed--utterly demolished." + +I could not answer her for a minute or two, I was so surprised by +her words. + +"Going on a journey, Zara?" I said. "Well, if you are, I suppose you +will soon return home again; and why should your statue be destroyed +in the meantime? You may yet be able to bring it to final +perfection." + +Zara shook her head and smiled half sadly. + +"I told you it was a favour I had to ask of you," she said; "and now +you are unwilling to grant it." + +"I am not unwilling--believe me, dearest, I would do anything to +please you," I assured her; "but it seems so strange to me that you +should wish the result of your labour destroyed, simply because you +are going on a journey." + +"Strange as it seems, I desire it most earnestly," said Zara; +"otherwise--but if you will not see it done for me, I must preside +at the work of demolition myself, though I frankly confess it would +be most painful to me." + +I interrupted her. + +"Say no more, Zara!" I exclaimed; "I will do as you wish. When you +are gone, you say--" + +"When I am gone," repeated Zara firmly, "and before you yourself +leave this house, you will see that particular statue destroyed. You +will thus do me a very great service." + +"Well," I said, "and when are you coming back again? Before I leave +Paris?" + +"I hope so--I think so," she replied evasively; "at any rate, we +shall meet again soon." + +"Where are you going?" I asked. + +She smiled. Such a lovely, glad, and triumphant smile! + +"You will know my destination before to-night has passed away," she +answered. "In the meanwhile I have your promise?" + +"Most certainly." + +She kissed me, and as she did so, a lurid flash caught my eyes and +almost dazzled them. It was a gleam of fiery lustre from the +electric jewel she wore. + +The day went on its usual course, and the weather seemed to grow +murkier every hour. The air was almost sultry, and when during the +afternoon I went into the conservatory to gather some of the +glorious Marechal Niel roses that grew there in such perfection, the +intense heat of the place was nearly insupportable. I saw nothing of +Heliobas all day, and, after the morning, very little of Zara. She +disappeared soon after luncheon, and I could not find her in her +rooms nor in her studio, though I knocked at the door several times. +Leo, too, was missing. After being alone for an hour or more, I +thought I would pay a visit to the chapel. But on attempting to +carry out this intention I found its doors locked--an unusual +circumstance which rather surprised me. Fancying that I heard the +sound of voices within, I paused to listen. But all was profoundly +silent. Strolling into the hall, I took up at random from a side- +table a little volume of poems, unknown to me, called "Pygmalion in +Cyprus;" and seating myself in one of the luxurious Oriental easy- +chairs near the silvery sparkling fountain, I began to read. I +opened the book I held at "A Ballad of Kisses," which ran as +follows: + + "There are three kisses that I call to mind, + And I will sing their secrets as I go,-- + The first, a kiss too courteous to be kind, + Was such a kiss as monks and maidens know, + As sharp as frost, as blameless as the snow. + + "The second kiss, ah God! I feel it yet,-- + And evermore my soul will loathe the same,-- + The toys and joys of fate I may forget, + But not the touch of that divided shame; + It clove my lips--it burnt me like a flame. + + "The third, the final kiss, is one I use + Morning and noon and night, and not amiss. + Sorrow be mine if such I do refuse! + And when I die, be Love enrapt in bliss + Re-sanctified in heaven by such a kiss!" + +This little gem, which I read and re-read with pleasure, was only +one of many in the same collection, The author was assuredly a man +of genius. I studied his word-melodies with intense interest, and +noted with some surprise how original and beautiful were many of his +fancies and similes. I say I noted them with surprise, because he +was evidently a modern Englishman, and yet unlike any other of his +writing species. His name was not Alfred Tennyson, nor Edwin Arnold, +nor Matthew Arnold, nor Austin Dobson, nor Martin Tupper. He was +neither plagiarist nor translator--he was actually an original man. +I do not give his name here, as I consider it the duty of his own +country to find him out and acknowledge him, which, as it is so +proud of its literary standing, of course it will do in due season. +On this, my first introduction to his poems, I became speedily +absorbed in them, and was repeating to myself softly a verse which I +remember now: + + "Hers was sweetest of sweet faces, + Hers the tenderest eyes of all; + In her hair she had the traces + Of a heavenly coronal, + Bringing sunshine to sad places + Where the sunlight could not fall." + +Then I was startled by the sound of a clock striking six. I +bethought myself of the people who were coming to dinner, and +decided to go to my room and dress. Replacing the "Pygmalion" book +on the table whence I had taken it, I made my way upstairs, thinking +as I went of Zara and her strange request, and wondering what +journey she was going upon. + +I could not come to any satisfactory conclusion on this point, +besides, I had a curious disinclination to think about it very +earnestly, though the subject kept recurring to my mind. Yet always +some inward monitor seemed to assure me, as plainly as though the +words were spoken in my ear: + +"It is useless for you to consider the reason of this, or the +meaning of that. Take things as they come in due order: one +circumstance explains the other, and everything is always for the +best." + +I prepared my Indian crepe dress for the evening, the same I had +worn for Madame Didier's party at Cannes; only, instead of having +lilies of the valley to ornament it with, I arranged some clusters +of the Marechal Niel roses I had gathered from the conservatory-- +lovely blossoms, with their dewy pale-gold centres forming perfect +cups of delicious fragrance. These, relieved by a few delicate +sprays of the maiden-hair fern, formed a becoming finish to my +simple costume. As I arrayed myself, and looked at my own reflection +in the long mirror, I smiled out of sheer gratitude. For health, +joyous and vigorous, sparkled in my eyes, glowed on my cheeks, +tinted my lips, and rounded my figure. The face that looked back at +me from the glass was a perfectly happy one, ready to dimple into +glad mirth or bright laughter. No shadow of pain or care remained +upon it to remind me of past suffering, and I murmured half aloud: +"Thank God!" + +"Amen!" said a soft voice, and, turning round, I saw Zara. + +But how shall I describe her? No words can adequately paint the +glorious beauty in which, that night, she seemed to move as in an +atmosphere of her own creating. She wore a clinging robe of the +richest, softest white satin, caught in at the waist by a zone of +pearls--pearls which, from their size and purity, must have been +priceless. Her beautiful neck and arms were bare, and twelve rows of +pearls were clasped round her slender throat, supporting in their +centre the electric stone, which shone with a soft, subdued +radiance, like the light of the young moon. Her rich, dark hair was +arranged in its usual fashion--that is, hanging down in one thick +plait, which on this occasion was braided in and out with small +pearls. On her bosom she wore a magnificent cluster of natural +orange-blossoms; and of these, while I gazed admiringly at her, I +first spoke: + +"You look like a bride, Zara! You have all the outward signs of one +--white satin, pearls, and orange-blossoms!" + +She smiled. + +"They are the first cluster that has come out in our conservatory," +she said; "and I could not resist them. As to the pearls, they +belonged to my mother, and are my favourite ornaments; and white +satin is now no longer exclusively for brides. How soft and pretty +that Indian crepe is! Your toilette is charming, and suits you to +perfection. Are you quite ready?" + +"Quite," I answered. + +She hesitated and sighed. Then she raised her lovely eyes with a +sort of wistful tenderness. + +"Before we go down I should like you to kiss me once," she said. + +I embraced her fondly, and our lips met with a lingering sisterly +caress. + +"You will never forget me, will you?" she asked almost anxiously; +"never cease to think of me kindly?" + +"How fanciful you are to-night, Zara dear!" I said. "As if I COULD +forget you! I shall always think of you as the loveliest and +sweetest woman in the world." + +"And when I am out of the world--what then?" she pursued. + +Remembering her spiritual sympathies, I answered at once: + +"Even then I shall know you to be one of the fairest of the angels. +So you see, Zara darling, I shall always love you." + +"I think you will," she said meditatively; "you are one of us. But +come! I hear voices downstairs. I think our expected guests have +arrived, and we must be in the drawing-room to receive them. Good- +bye, little friend!" And she again kissed me. + +"Good-bye!" I repeated in astonishment; "why 'good-bye'?" + +"Because it is my fancy to say the word," she replied with quiet +firmness. "Again, dear little friend, good-bye!" + +I felt bewildered, but she would not give me time to utter another +syllable. She took my hand and hurried me with her downstairs, and +in another moment we were both in the drawing-room, receiving and +saying polite nothings to the Everards and Challoners, who had all +arrived together, resplendent in evening costume. Amy Everard, I +thought, looked a little tired and fagged, though she rejoiced in a +superb "arrangement" by Worth of ruby velvet and salmon-pink. But, +though a perfect dress is consoling to most women, there are times +when even that fails of its effect; and then Worth ceases to loom +before the feminine eye as a sort of demi-god, but dwindles +insignificantly to the level of a mere tailor, whose prices are +ruinous. And this, I think, was the state of mind in which Mrs. +Everard found herself that evening; or else she was a trifle jealous +of Zara's harmonious grace and loveliness. Be this as it may, she +was irritable, and whisperingly found fault with, me for being in +such good health. + +"You will have too much colour if you don't take care," she said +almost pettishly, "and nothing is so unfashionable." + +"I know!" I replied with due meekness. "It is very bad style to be +quite well--it is almost improper." + +She looked at me, and a glimmering smile lighted her features. But +she would not permit herself to become good-humoured, and she furled +and unfurled her fan of pink ostrich feathers with some impatience. + +"Where did that child get all those pearls from?" she next inquired, +with a gesture of her head towards Zara. + +"They belonged to her mother," I answered, smiling as I heard Zara +called a CHILD, knowing, as I did, her real age. + +"She is actually wearing a small fortune on her person," went on +Amy; "I wonder her brother allows her. Girls never understand the +value of things of that sort. They should be kept for her till she +is old enough to appreciate them." + +I made no reply; I was absorbed in watching Heliobas, who at that +moment entered the room accompanied by Father Paul. He greeted his +guests with warmth and unaffected heartiness, and all present were, +I could see, at once fascinated by the dignity of his presence and +the charm of his manner. To an uninstructed eye there was nothing +unusual about him; but to me there was a change in his expression +which, as it were, warned and startled me. A deep shadow of anxiety +in his eyes made them look more sombre and less keen; his smile was +not so sweet as it was stern, and there was an undefinable SOMETHING +in his very bearing that suggested--what? Defiance? Yes, defiance; +and it was this which, when I had realized it, curiously alarmed me. +For what had he, Heliobas, to do with even the thought of defiance? +Did not all his power come from the knowledge of the necessity of +obedience to the spiritual powers within and without? Quick as light +the words spoken to me by Aztul regarding him came back to my +remembrance: "Even as he is my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear +my voice." What if he SHOULD fail? A kind of instinct came upon me +that some immediate danger of this threatened him, and I braced +myself up to a firm determination, that, if this was so, I, out of +my deep gratitude to him, would do my utmost best to warn him in +time. While these thoughts possessed me, the hum of gay conversation +went on, and Zara's bright laughter ever and again broke like music +on the air. Father Paul, too, proved himself to be of quite a +festive and jovial disposition, for he made himself agreeable to +Mrs. Challoner and her daughters, and entertained them with the ease +and bonhomie of an accomplished courtier and man of the world. + +Dinner was announced in the usual way--that is, with the sound of +music played by the electric instrument devoted to that purpose, a +performance which elicited much admiration from all the guests. +Heliobas led the way into the dining-room with Mrs. Everard; Colonel +Everard followed, with Zara on one arm and the eldest Miss Challoner +on the other; Mr. Challoner and myself came next; and Father Paul, +with Mrs. Challoner and her other daughter Effie, brought up the +rear. There was a universal murmur of surprise and delight as the +dinner-table came in view; and its arrangement was indeed a triumph +of art. In the centre was placed a large round of crystal in +imitation of a lake, and on this apparently floated a beautiful +gondola steered by the figure of a gondolier, both exquisitely +wrought in fine Venetian glass. The gondolier was piled high with a +cargo of roses; but the wonder of it all was, that the whole design +was lit up by electricity. Electric sparkles, like drops of dew, +shone on the leaves of the flowers; the gondola was lit from end to +end with electric stars, which were reflected with prismatic +brilliancy in the crystal below; the gondolier's long pole glittered +with what appeared to be drops of water tinged by the moonlight, but +which was really an electric wire, and in his cap flashed an +electric diamond. The whole ornament scintillated and glowed like a +marvellous piece of curiously contrived jewel-work. And this was not +all. Beside every guest at table a slender vase, shaped like a long- +stemmed Nile lily, held roses and ferns, in which were hidden tiny +electric stars, causing the blossoms to shine with a transparent and +almost fairy-like lustre. + +Four graceful youths, clad in the Armenian costume, stood waiting +silently round the table till all present were seated, and then they +commenced the business of serving the viands, with swift and +noiseless dexterity. As soon as the soup was handed round, tongues +were loosened, and the Challoners, who had been gazing at everything +in almost open-mouthed astonishment, began to relieve their feelings +by warm expressions of unqualified admiration, in which Colonel and +Mrs. Everard were not slow to join. + +"I do say, and I will say, this beats all I've ever seen," said good +Mrs. Challoner, as she bent to examine the glittering vase of +flowers near her plate. + +"And this is real electric light? And is it perfectly harmless?" + +Heliobas smilingly assured her of the safety of his table +decorations. "Electricity," he said, "though the most powerful of +masters, is the most docile of slaves. It is capable of the smallest +as well as of the greatest uses. It can give with equal certainty +life or death; in fact, it is the key-note of creation." + +"Is that your theory, sir?" asked Colonel Everard. + +"It is not only my theory," answered Heliobas, "it is a truth, +indisputable and unalterable, to those who have studied the +mysteries of electric science." + +"And do you base all your medical treatment on this principle?" +pursued the Colonel. + +"Certainly. Your young friend here, who came to me from Cannes, +looking as if she had but a few months to live, can bear witness to +the efficacy of my method." + +Every eye was now turned upon me, and I looked up and laughed. + +"Do you remember, Amy," I said, addressing Mrs. Everard, "how you +told me I looked like a sick nun at Cannes? What do I look like +now?" + +"You look as if you had never been ill in your life," she replied. + +"I was going to say," remarked Mr. Challoner in his deliberate +manner, "that you remind me very much of a small painting of Diana +that I saw in the Louvre the other day. You have the same sort of +elasticity in your movements, and the same bright healthy eyes." + +I bowed, still smiling. "I did not know you were such a flatterer, +Mr. Challoner! Diana thanks you!" + +The conversation now became general, and turned, among other +subjects, upon the growing reputation of Raffaello Cellini. + +"What surprises me in that young man," said Colonel Everard, "is his +colouring. It is simply marvellous. He was amiable enough to present +me with a little landscape scene; and the effect of light upon it is +so powerfully done that you would swear the sun was actually shining +through it." + +The fine sensitive mouth of Heliobas curved in a somewhat sarcastic +smile. + +"Mere trickery, my dear sir--a piece of clap-trap," he said lightly. +"That is what would be said of such pictures--in England at least. +And it WILL be said by many oracular, long-established newspapers, +while Cellini lives. As soon as he is dead--ah! c'est autre chose!-- +he will then most probably be acknowledged the greatest master of +the age. There may even be a Cellini 'School of Colouring,' where a +select company of daubers will profess to know the secret that has +died with him. It is the way of the world!" + +Mr. Challoner's rugged face showed signs of satisfaction, and his +shrewd eyes twinkled. + +"Right you are, sir!" he said, holding up his glass of wine. "I +drink to you! Sir, I agree with you! I calculate there's a good many +worlds flying round in space, but a more ridiculous, feeble-minded, +contrary sort of world than this one, I defy any archangel to find!" + +Heliobas laughed, nodded, and after a slight pause resumed: + +"It is astonishing to me that people do not see to what an infinite +number of uses they could put the little re-discovery they have made +of LUMINOUS PAINT. In that simple thing there is a secret, which as +yet they do not guess--a wonderful, beautiful, scientific secret, +which may perhaps take them a few hundred years to find out. In the +meantime they have got hold of one end of the thread; they can make +luminous paint, and with it they can paint light-houses, and, what +is far more important--ships. Vessels in mid-ocean will have no more +need of fog-signals and different-coloured lamps; their own coat of +paint will be sufficient to light them safely on their way. Even +rooms can be so painted as to be perfectly luminous at night. A +friend of mine, residing in Italy, has a luminous ballroom, where +the ceiling is decorated with a moon and stars in electric light. +The effect is exceedingly lovely; and though people think a great +deal of money must have been laid out upon it, it is perhaps the +only great ballroom in Italy that has been really cheaply fitted up. +But, as I said before, there is another secret behind the invention +or discovery of luminous paint--a secret which, when once unveiled, +will revolutionize all the schools of art in the world." + +"Do you know this secret?" asked Mrs. Challoner. + +"Yes, madame--perfectly." + +"Then why don't you disclose it for the benefit of everybody?" +demanded Erne Challoner. + +"Because, my dear young lady, no one would believe me if I did. The +time is not yet ripe for it. The world must wait till its people are +better educated." + +"Better educated!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard. "Why, there is nothing +talked of nowadays but education and progress! The very children are +wiser than their parents!" + +"The children!" returned Heliobas, half inquiringly, half +indignantly. "At the rate things are going, there will soon be no +children left; they will all be tired little old men and women +before they are in their teens. The very babes will be born old. +Many of them are being brought up without any faith in God or +religion; the result will be an increase of vice and crime. The +purblind philosophers, miscalled wise men, who teach the children by +the light of poor human reason only, and do away with faith in +spiritual things, are bringing down upon the generations to come an +unlooked-for and most terrific curse. Childhood, the happy, +innocent, sweet, unthinking, almost angelic age, at which Nature +would have us believe in fairies and all the delicate aerial fancies +of poets, who are, after all, the only true sages--childhood, I say, +is being gradually stamped out under the cruel iron heel of the +Period--a period not of wisdom, health, or beauty, but one of +drunken delirium, in which the world rushes feverishly along, its +eyes fixed on one hard, glittering, stony-featured idol--Gold. +Education! Is it education to teach the young that their chances of +happiness depend on being richer than their neighbours? Yet that is +what it all tends to. Get on!--be successful! Trample on others, but +push forward yourself! Money, money!--let its chink be your music; +let its yellow shine be fairer than the eyes of love or friendship! +Let its piles accumulate and ever accumulate! There are beggars in +the streets, but they are impostors! There is poverty in many +places, but why seek to relieve it? Why lessen the sparkling heaps +of gold by so much as a coin? Accumulate and ever accumulate! Live +so, and then--die! And then--who knows what then?" + +His voice had been full of ringing eloquence as he spoke, but at +these last words it sank into a low, thrilling tone of solemnity and +earnestness. We all looked at him, fascinated by his manner, and +were silent. + +Mr. Challoner was the first to break the impressive pause. + +"I'm not a speaker, sir," he observed slowly, "but I've got a good +deal of feeling somewheres; and you'll allow me to say that I feel +your words--I think they're right true. I've often wanted to say +what you've said, but haven't seen my way clear to it. Anyhow, I've +had a very general impression about me that what we call Society has +of late years been going, per express service, direct to the devil-- +if the ladies will excuse me for plain speaking. And as the journey +is being taken by choice and free-will, I suppose there's no +hindrance or stoppage possible. Besides, it's a downward line, and +curiously free from obstructions." + +"Bravo, John!" exclaimed Mrs. Challoner. "You are actually corning +out! I never heard you indulge in similes before." + +"Well, my dear," returned her husband, somewhat gratified, "better +late than never. A simile is a good thing if it isn't overcrowded. +For instance, Mr. Swinburne's similes are laid on too thick +sometimes. There is a verse of his, which, with all my admiration +for him, I never could quite fathom. It is where he earnestly +desires to be as 'Any leaf of any tree;' or, failing that, he +wouldn't mind becoming 'As bones under the deep, sharp sea.' I tried +hard to see the point of that, but couldn't fix it." + +We all laughed. Zara, I thought, was especially merry, and looked +her loveliest. She made an excellent hostess, and exerted herself to +the utmost to charm--an effort in which she easily succeeded. + +The shadow on the face of her brother had not disappeared, and once +or twice I noticed that Father Paul looked at him with a certain +kindly anxiety. + +The dinner approached its end. The dessert, with its luxurious +dishes of rare fruit, such as peaches, plantains, hothouse grapes, +and even strawberries, was served, and with it a delicious, +sparkling, topaz-tinted wine of Eastern origin called Krula, which +was poured out to us in Venetian glass goblets, wherein lay diamond- +like lumps of ice. The air was so exceedingly oppressive that +evening that we found this beverage most refreshing. When Zara's +goblet was filled, she held it up smiling, and said: + +"I have a toast to propose." + +"Hear, hear!" murmured the gentlemen, Heliobas excepted. + +"To our next merry meeting!" and as she said this she kissed the rim +of the cup, and made a sign as though wafting it towards her +brother. + +He started as if from a reverie, seized his glass, and drained off +its contents to the last drop. + +Everyone responded with heartiness to Zara's toast and then Colonel +Everard proposed the health of the fair hostess, which was drunk +with enthusiasm. + +After this Zara gave the signal, and all the ladies rose to adjourn +to the drawing-room. As I passed Heliobas on my way out, he looked +so sombre and almost threatening of aspect, that I ventured to +whisper: + +"Remember Azul!" + +"She has forgotten ME!" he muttered. + +"Never--never!" I said earnestly. "Oh, Heliobas! what is wrong with +you?" + +He made no answer, and there was no opportunity to say more, as I +had to follow Zara. But I felt very anxious, though I scarcely knew +why, and I lingered at the door and glanced back at him. As I did +so, a low, rumbling sound, like chariot-wheels rolling afar off, +broke suddenly on our ears. + +"Thunder," remarked Mr. Challoner quietly. "I thought we should have +it. It has been unnaturally warm all day. A good storm will clear +the air." + +In my brief backward look at Heliobas, I noted that when that far- +distant thunder sounded, he grew very pale. Why? He was certainly +not one to have any dread of a storm--he was absolutely destitute of +fear. I went into the drawing-room with a hesitating step--my +instincts were all awake and beginning to warn me, and I murmured +softly a prayer to that strong, invisible majestic spirit which I +knew must be near me--my guardian Angel. I was answered instantly-- +my foreboding grew into a positive certainty that some danger +menaced Heliobas, and that if I desired to be his friend, I must be +prepared for an emergency. Receiving this, as all such impressions +should be received, as a direct message sent me for my guidance, I +grew calmer, and braced up my energies to oppose SOMETHING, though I +knew not what. + +Zara was showing her lady-visitors a large album of Italian +photographs, and explaining them as she turned the leaves. As I +entered the room, she said eagerly to me: + +"Play to us, dear! Something soft and plaintive. We all delight in +your music, you know." + +"Did you hear the thunder just now?" I asked irrelevantly. + +"It WAS thunder? I thought so!" said Mrs. Everard. "Oh, I do hope +there is not going to be a storm! I am so afraid of a storm!" + +"You are nervous?" questioned Zara kindly, as she engaged her +attention with some very fine specimens among the photographs, +consisting of views from Venice. + +"Well, I suppose I am," returned Amy, half laughing. "Yet I am +plucky about most things, too. Still I don't like to hear the +elements quarrelling together--they are too much in earnest about +it--and no person can pacify them." + +Zara smiled, and gently repeated her request to me for some music--a +request in which Mrs. Challoner and her daughters eagerly joined. As +I went to the piano I thought of Edgar Allan Poe's exquisite poem: + + "In Heaven a spirit doth dwell, + Whose heart-strings are a lute; + None sing so wildly well + As the angel Israfel, + And the giddy stars, so legends tell, + Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell + Of his voice--all mute." + +As I poised my fingers above the keys of the instrument, another +long, low, ominous roll of thunder swept up from the distance and +made the room tremble. + +"Play--play, for goodness' sake!" exclaimed Mrs. Everard; "and then +we shall not be obliged to fix our attention on the approaching +storm!" + +I played a few soft opening arpeggio passages, while Zara seated +herself in an easy-chair near the window, and the other ladies +arranged themselves on sofas and ottomans to their satisfaction. The +room was exceedingly close: and the scent of the flowers that were +placed about in profusion was almost too sweet and overpowering. + + "And they say (the starry choir + And the other listening things) + That Israfeli's fire + Is owing to that lyre, + By which lie sits and sings,-- + The trembling living wire + Of those unusual strings." + +How these verses haunted me! With them floating in my mind, I +played--losing myself in mazes of melody, and travelling +harmoniously in and out of the different keys with that sense of +perfect joy known only to those who can improvise with ease, and +catch the unwritten music of nature, which always appeals most +strongly to emotions that are unspoilt by contact with the world, +and which are quick to respond to what is purely instinctive art. I +soon became thoroughly absorbed, and forgot that there were any +persons present. In fancy I imagined myself again in view of the +glory of the Electric Ring--again I seemed to behold the opaline +radiance of the Central Sphere: + + "Where Love's a grown-up God, + Where the Houri glances are + Imbued with all the beauty + Which we worship in a star." + +By-and-by I found my fingers at the work of tenderly unravelling a +little skein of major melody, as soft and childlike as the innocent +babble of a small brooklet flowing under ferns. I followed this airy +suggestion obediently, till it led me of itself to its fitting end, +when I ceased playing. I was greeted by a little burst of applause, +and looking up, saw that all the gentlemen had come in from the +dining-room, and were standing near me. The stately figure of +Heliobas was the most prominent in the group; he stood erect, one +hand resting lightly on the framework of the piano, and his eyes met +mine fixedly. + +"You were inspired," he said with a grave smile, addressing me; "you +did not observe our entrance." + +I was about to reply, when a loud, appalling crash of thunder +rattled above us, as if some huge building had suddenly fallen into +ruins. It startled us all into silence for a moment, and we looked +into each other's faces with a certain degree of awe. + +"That was a good one," remarked Mr. Challoner. "There was nothing +undecided about that clap. Its mind was made up." + +Zara suddenly rose from her seat, and drew aside the window- +curtains. + +"I wonder if it is raining," she said. + +Amy Everard uttered a little shriek of dismay. + +"Oh, don't open the blinds!" she exclaimed. "It is really +dangerous!" + +Heliobas glanced at her with a little sarcastic smile. + +"Take a seat on the other side of the room, if you are alarmed, +madame," he said quietly, placing a chair in the position he +suggested, which Amy accepted eagerly. + +She would, I believe, have gladly taken refuge in the coal-cellar +had he offered it. Zara, in the meantime, who had not heard Mrs. +Everard's exclamation of fear, had drawn up one of the blinds, and +stood silently looking out upon the night. Instinctively we all +joined her, with the exception of Amy, and looked out also. The +skies were very dark; a faint moaning wind stirred the tops of the +leafless trees; but there was no rain. A dry volcanic heat pervaded +the atmosphere--in fact we all felt the air so stifling, that +Heliobas threw open the window altogether, saying, as he did so: + +"In a thunderstorm, it is safer to have the windows open than shut; +besides, one cannot suffocate." + +A brilliant glare of light flashed suddenly upon our vision. The +heavens seemed torn open from end to end, and a broad lake of pale +blue fire lay quivering in the heart of the mountainous black +clouds--for a second only. An on-rushing, ever-increasing, rattling +roar of thunder ensued, that seemed to shake the very earth, and all +was again darkness. + +"This is magnificent!" cries Mrs. Challoner, who, with her family, +had travelled a great deal, and was quite accustomed to hurricanes +and other inconveniences caused by the unaccommodating behaviour of +the elements. "I don't think I ever saw anything like it, John dear, +even that storm we saw at Chamounix was not any better than this." + +"Well," returned her husband meditatively, "you see we had the snow +mountains there, and the effect was pretty lively. Then there were +the echoes--those cavernous echoes were grand! What was that passage +in Job, Effie, that I used to say they reminded me of?" + +"'The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His reproof +... The thunder of His power, who can understand?'" replied Effie +Challoner reverently. + +"That's it!" he replied. "I opine that Job was pretty correct in his +ideas--don't you, reverend sir?" turning to Father Paul. + +The priest nodded, and held up his finger warningly. + +"That lady--Mrs. Everard--is going to sing or play, I think," he +observed. "Shall we not keep silence?" + +I looked towards Amy in some surprise. I knew she sang very +prettily, but I had thought she was rendered too nervous by the +storm to do aught but sit quiet in her chair. However, there she was +at the piano, and in another moment her fresh, sweet mezzo-soprano +rang softly through the room in Tosti's plaintive song, "Good-bye!" +We listened, but none of us moved from the open window where we +still inhaled what air there was, and watched the lowering sky. + + "Hush! a voice from the far-away, + 'Listen and learn,' it seems to say; + 'All the to-morrows shall be as to-day,'" + +sang Amy with pathetic sweetness. Zara suddenly moved, as if +oppressed, from her position among us as we stood clustered +together, and stepped out through the French window into the outside +balcony, her head uncovered to the night. + +"You will catch cold!" Mrs. Challoner and I both called to her +simultaneously. She shook her head, smiling back at us; and folding +her arms lightly on the stone balustrade, leaned there and looked up +at the clouds. + + "The link must break, and the lamp must die; + Good-bye to Hope! Good-bye--good-bye!" + +Amy's voice was a peculiarly thrilling one, and on this occasion +sounded with more than its usual tenderness. What with her singing +and the invisible presence of the storm, an utter silence possessed +us--not one of us cared to move. + +Heliobas once stepped to his sister's side in the open balcony, and +said something, as I thought, to warn her against taking cold; but +it was a very brief whisper, and he almost immediately returned to +his place amongst us. Zara looked very lovely out there; the light +coming from the interior of the room glistened softly on the sheen +of her satin dress and its ornaments of pearls; and the electric +stone on her bosom shone faintly, like a star on a rainy evening. +Her beautiful face, turned upwards to the angry sky, was half in +light and half in shade; a smile parted her lips, and her eyes were +bright with a look of interest and expectancy. Another sudden glare, +and the clouds were again broken asunder; but this time in a jagged +and hasty manner, as though a naked sword had been thrust through +them and immediately withdrawn. + +"That was a nasty flash," said Colonel Everard, with an observant +glance at the lovely Juliet-like figure on the balcony. +"Mademoiselle, had you not better come in?" + +"When it begins to rain I will come in," she said, without changing +her posture. "I hear the singing so well out here. Besides, I love +the storm." + +A tumultuous crash of thunder, tremendous for its uproar and the +length of time it was prolonged, made us look at each other again +with anxious faces. + + "What are we waiting for? Oh, my heart! + Kiss me straight on the brows and part! + Again! again, my heart, my heart! + What are we waiting for, you and I? + A pleading look--a stifled cry! + Good-bye for ever---" + +Horror! what was that? A lithe swift serpent of fire twisting +venomously through the dark heavens! Zara raised her arms, looked +up, smiled, and fell--senseless! With such appalling suddenness that +we had scarcely recovered from the blinding terror of that forked +lightning-flash, when we saw her lying prone before us on the +balcony where one instant before she had stood erect and smiling! +With exclamations of alarm and distress we lifted and bore her +within the room and laid her tenderly down upon the nearest sofa. At +that moment a deafening, terrific thunder-clap--one only--as if a +huge bombshell had burst in the air, shook the ground under our +feet; and then with a swish and swirl of long pent-up and suddenly- +released wrath, down came the rain. + +Amy's voice died away in a last "Good-bye!" and she rushed from the +piano, with pale face and trembling lips, gasping out: + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" + +"She has been stunned by a lightning-flash," I said, trying to speak +calmly, while I loosened Zara's dress and sprinkled her forehead +with eau-de-Cologne from a scent-bottle Mrs. Challoner had handed to +me. "She will recover in a few minutes." + +But my limbs trembled under me, and tears, in spite of myself, +forced their way into my eyes. + +Heliobas meanwhile--his countenance white and set as a marble mask-- +shut the window fiercely, pulled down the blind, and drew the heavy +silken curtains close. He then approached his sister's senseless +form, and, taking her wrist tenderly, felt for her pulse. We looked +on in the deepest anxiety. The Challoner girls shivered with terror, +and began to cry. Mrs. Everard, with more self-possession, dipped a +handkerchief in cold water and laid it on Zara's temples; but no +faint sigh parted the set yet smiling lips--no sign of life was +visible. All this while the rain swept down in gusty torrents and +rattled furiously against the window-panes; while the wind, no +longer a moan, had risen into a shriek, as of baffled yet vindictive +anger. At last Heliobas spoke. + +"I should be glad of other medical skill than my own," he said, in +low and stifled accents. "This may be a long fainting-fit." + +Mr. Challoner at once proffered his services. + +"I'll go for you anywhere you like," he said cheerily; "and I think +my wife and daughters had better come with me. Our carriage is sure +to be in waiting. It will be necessary for the lady to have perfect +quiet when she recovers, and visitors are best away. You need not be +alarmed, I am sure. By her colour it is evident she is only in a +swoon. What doctor shall I send?" + +Heliobas named one Dr. Morini, 10, Avenue de l'Alma. + +"Right! He shall be here straight. Come, wife--come, girls! Mrs. +Everard, we'll send back our carriage for you and the Colonel. Good- +night! We'll call to-morrow and inquire after mademoiselle." + +Heliobas gratefully pressed his hand as he withdrew, and his wife +and daughters, with whispered farewells, followed him. We who were +left behind all remained near Zara, doing everything we could think +of to restore animation to that senseless form. + +Some of the servants, too, hearing what had happened, gathered in a +little cluster at the drawing-room door, looking with pale and +alarmed faces at the death-like figure of their beautiful mistress. +Half an hour or more must have passed in this manner; within the +room there was a dreadful silence--but outside the rain poured down +in torrents, and the savage wind howled and tore at the windows like +a besieging army. Suddenly Amy Everard, who had been quietly and +skilfully assisting me in rubbing Zara's hands and bathing her +forehead, grew faint, staggered, and would have fallen had not her +husband caught her on his arm. + +"I am frightened," she gasped. "I cannot bear it--she looks so +still, and she is growing--rigid, like a corpse! Oh, if she should +be dead!" And she hid her face on her husband's breast. + +At that moment we heard the grating of wheels on the gravel outside; +it was the Challoners' carriage returned. The coachman, after +depositing his master and family at the Grand Hotel, had driven +rapidly back in the teeth of the stinging sleet and rain to bring +the message that Dr. Morini would be with us as soon as possible. + +"Then," whispered Colonel Everard gently to me, "I'll take Amy home. +She is thoroughly upset, and it's no use having her going off into +hysterics. I'll call with Challoner to-morrow;" and with a kindly +parting nod of encouragement to us all, he slipped softly out of the +room, half leading, half carrying his trembling wife; and in a +couple of minutes we heard the carriage again drive away. + +Left alone at last with Heliobas and Father Paul, I, kneeling at the +side of my darling Zara, looked into their faces for comfort, but +found none. The dry-eyed despair on the countenance of Heliobas +pierced me to the heart; the pitying, solemn expression of the +venerable priest touched me as with icy cold. The lovely, marble- +like whiteness and stillness of the figure before me filled me with +a vague terror. Making a strong effort to control my voice, I +called, in a low, clear tone: + +"Zara! Zara!" + +No sign--not the faintest flicker of an eyelash! Only the sound of +the falling rain and the moaning wind--the thunder had long ago +ceased. Suddenly a something attracted my gaze, which first +surprised and then horrified me. The jewel--the electric stone on +Zara's bosom no longer shone! It was like a piece of dull unpolished +pebble. Grasping at the meaning of this, with overwhelming +instinctive rapidity, I sprang up and caught the arm of Heliobas. + +"You--you!" I whispered hurriedly. "YOU can restore her! Do as you +did with Prince Ivan; you can--you must! That stone she wears--the +light has gone out of it. If that means--and I am sure it does--that +life has for a little while gone out of HER, YOU can bring it back. +Quick--Quick! You have the power!" + +He looked at me with burning grief-haunted eyes; and a sigh that was +almost a groan escaped his lips. + +"I have NO power," he said. "Not over her. I told you she was +dominated by a higher force than mine. What can _I_ do? Nothing-- +worse than nothing--I am utterly helpless." + +I stared at him in a kind of desperate horror. + +"Do you mean to tell me," I said slowly, "that she is dead--really +dead?" + +He was about to answer, when one of the watching servants announced +in a low tone: "Dr. Morini." + +The new-comer was a wiry, keen-eyed little Italian; his movements +were quick, decisive, and all to the point of action. The first +thing he did was to scatter the little group of servants right and +left, and send them about their business. The next, to close the +doors of the room against all intrusion. He then came straight up to +Heliobas, and pressing his hand in a friendly manner, said briefly: + +"How and when did this happen?" + +Heliobas told him in as few words as possible. Dr. Morini then bent +over Zara's lifeless form, and examined her features attentively. He +laid his car against her heart and listened. Finally, he caught +sight of the round, lustreless pebble hanging at her neck suspended +by its strings of pearls. Very gently he moved this aside; looked, +and beckoned us to come and look also. Exactly on the spot where the +electric stone had rested, a small circular mark, like a black +bruise, tainted the fair soft skin--a mark no larger than a small +finger-ring. + +"Death by electricity," said Dr. Morini quietly. "Must have been +instantaneous. The lightning-flash, or downward electric current, +lodged itself here, where this mark is, and passed directly through +the heart. Perfectly painless, but of course fatal. She has been +dead some time." + +And, replacing the stone ornament in its former position, he stepped +back with a suggestive glance at Father Paul. I listened and saw-- +but I was in a state of stupefaction. Dead? My beautiful, gay, +strong Zara DEAD? Impossible! I knelt beside her; I called her again +and again by every endearing and tender name I could think of; I +kissed her sweet lips. Oh, they were cold as ice, and chilled my +blood! As one in a dream, I saw Heliobas advance; he kissed her +forehead and mouth; he reverently unclasped the pearls from about +her throat, and with them took off the electric stone. Then Father +Paul stepped slowly forward, and in place of that once brilliant +gem, now so dim and destitute of fire, he laid a crucifix upon the +fair and gentle breast, motionless for ever. + +At sight of this sacred symbol, some tense cord seemed to snap in my +brain, and I cried out wildly: + +"Oh, no, no! Not that! That is for the dead; Zara is not dead! It is +all a mistake--a mistake! She will be quite well presently; and she +will smile and tell you how foolish you were to think her dead! +Dead? She cannot be dead; it is impossible--quite impossible!" And I +broke into a passion of sobs and tears. + +Very gently and kindly Dr. Morini drew me away, and by dint of +friendly persuasion, in which there was also a good deal of firm +determination, led me into the hall, where he made me swallow a +glass of wine. As I could not control my sobs, he spoke with some +sternness: + +"Mademoiselle, you can do no good by giving way in this manner. +Death is a very beautiful and solemn thing, and it is irreverent to +show unseemly passion in such a great Presence. You loved your +friend--let it be a comfort to you that she died painlessly. Control +yourself, in order to assist in rendering her the last few gentle +services necessary; and try to console the desolate brother, who +looks in real need of encouragement." + +These last words roused me. I forced back my tears, and dried my +eyes. + +"I will, Dr. Morini," I said, in a trembling voice. "I am ashamed to +be so weak. I know what I ought to do, and I will do it. You may +trust me." + +He looked at me approvingly. + +"That is well," he said briefly. "And now, as I am of no use here, I +will say good-night. Remember, excessive grief is mere selfishness; +resignation is heroism." + +He was gone. I nerved myself to the task I had before me, and within +an hour the fair casket of what had been Zara lay on an open bier in +the little chapel, lights burning round it, and flowers strewn above +it in mournful profusion. + +We left her body arrayed in its white satin garb; the cluster of +orange-blossoms she had gathered still bloomed upon the cold breast, +where the crucifix lay; but in the tresses of the long dark hair I +wove a wreath of lilies instead of the pearls we had undone. + +And now I knelt beside the bier absorbed in thought. Some of the +weeping servants had assembled, and knelt about in little groups. +The tall candles on the altar were lit, and Father Paul, clad in +mourning priestly vestments, prayed there in silence. The storm of +rain and wind still raged without, and the windows of the chapel +shook and rattled with the violence of the tempest. + +A distant clock struck ONE! with a deep clang that echoed throughout +the house. I shuddered. So short a time had elapsed since Zara had +been alive and well; now, I could not bear to think that she was +gone from me for ever. For ever, did I say? No, not for ever--not so +long as love exists--love that shall bring us together again in that +far-off Sphere where--- + +Hush! what was that? The sound of the organ? I looked around me in +startled wonderment. There was no one seated at the instrument; it +was shut close. The lights on the altar and round the bier burnt +steadily; the motionless figure of the priest before the tabernacle; +the praying servants of the household--all was unchanged. But +certainly a flood of music rolled grandly on the ear--music that +drowned for a moment the howling noise of the battering wind. I rose +softly, and touched one of the kneeling domestics on the shoulder. + +"Did you hear the organ?" I said. + +The woman looked up at me with tearful, alarmed eyes. + +"No, mademoiselle." + +I paused, listening. The music grew louder and louder, and surged +round me in waves of melody. Evidently no one in the chapel heard it +but myself. I looked about for Heliobas, but he had not entered. He +was most probably in his study, whither he had retired to grieve in +secret when we had borne Zara's body to its present couch of +dreamless sleep. + +These sounds were meant for me alone, then? I waited, and the music +gradually died away; and as I resumed my kneeling position by the +bier all was again silence, save for the unabated raging of the +storm. + +A strange calmness now fell on my spirits. Some invisible hand +seemed to hold me still and tearless. Zara was dead. I realized it +now. I began to consider that she must have known her fate +beforehand. This was what she had meant when she said she was going +on a journey. The more I thought of this the quieter I became, and I +hid my face in my hands and prayed earnestly. + +A touch roused me--an imperative, burning touch. An airy brightness, +like a light cloud with sunshine falling through it, hovered above +Zara's bier! I gazed breathlessly; I could not move my lips to utter +a sound. A face looked at me--a face angelically beautiful! It +smiled. I stretched out my hands; I struggled for speech, and +managed to whisper: + +"Zara, Zara! you have come back!" + +Her voice, so sweetly familiar, answered me: "To life? Ah, never, +never again! I am too happy to return. But save him--save my +brother! Go to him; he is in danger; to you is given the rescue. +Save him; and for me rejoice, and grieve no more!" + +The face vanished, the brightness faded, and I sprang up from my +knees in haste. For one instant I looked at the beautiful dead body +of the friend I loved, with its set mouth and placid features, and +then I smiled. This was not Zara--SHE was alive and happy; this fair +clay was but clay doomed to perish, but SHE was imperishable. + +"Save him--save my brother!" These words rang in my ears. I +hesitated no longer--I determined to seek Heliobas at once. Swiftly +and noiselessly I slipped out of the chapel. As the door swung +behind me I heard a sound that first made me stop in sudden alarm, +and then hurry on with increased eagerness. There was no mistaking +it--it was the clash of steel! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY. + + +I rushed to the study-door, tore aside the velvet hangings, and +faced Heliobas and Prince Ivan Petroffsky. They held drawn weapons, +which they lowered at my sudden entrance, and paused irresolutely. + +"What are you doing?" I cried, addressing myself to Heliobas. "With +the dead body of your sister in the house you can fight! You, too!" +and I looked reproachfully at Prince Ivan; "you also can desecrate +the sanctity of death, and yet--you LOVED her!" + +The Prince spoke not, but clenched his sword-hilt with a fiercer +grasp, and glared wildly on his opponent. His eyes had a look of +madness in them--his dress was much disordered--his hair wet with +drops of rain--his face ghastly white, and his whole demeanour was +that of a man distraught with grief and passion. But he uttered no +word. Heliobas spoke; he was coldly calm, and balanced his sword +lightly on his open hand as if it were a toy. + +"This GENTLEMAN," he said, with deliberate emphasis, "happened, on +his way thither, to meet Dr. Morini, who informed him of the fatal +catastrophe which has caused my sister's death. Instead of +respecting the sacredness of my solitude under the circumstances, he +thrust himself rudely into my presence, and, before I could address +him, struck me violently in the face, and accused me of being my +sister's murderer. Such conduct can only meet with one reply. I gave +him his choice of weapons: he chose swords. Our combat has just +begun--we are anxious to resume it; therefore if you, mademoiselle, +will have the goodness to retire---" + +I interrupted him. + +"I shall certainly not retire," I said firmly. "This behaviour on +both your parts is positive madness. Prince Ivan, please to listen +to me. The circumstances of Zara's death were plainly witnessed by +me and others--her brother is as innocent of having caused it as I +am." + +And I recounted to him quietly all that had happened during that +fatal and eventful evening. He listened moodily, tracing out the +pattern of the carpet with the point of his sword. When I had +finished he looked up, and a bitter smile crossed his features. + +"I wonder, mademoiselle," he said, "that your residence in this +accursed house has not taught you better. I quite believe all you +say, that Zara, unfortunate girl that she was, received her death by +a lightning-flash. But answer me this: Who made her capable of +attracting atmospheric electricity? Who charged her beautiful +delicate body with a vile compound of electrical fluid, so that she +was as a living magnet, bound to draw towards herself electricity in +all its forms? Who tampered with her fine brain and made her imagine +herself allied to a spirit of air? Who but HE--HE!--yonder +unscrupulous wretch!--he who in pursuit of his miserable science, +practised his most dangerous experiments on his sister, regardless +of her health, her happiness, her life! I say he is her murderer-- +her remorseless murderer, and a thrice-damned villain!" + +And he sprang forward to renew the combat. I stepped quietly, +unflinchingly between him and Heliobas. + +"Stop!" I exclaimed; "this cannot go on. Zara herself forbids it!" + +The Prince paused, and looked at me in a sort of stupefaction. + +"Zara forbids it!" he muttered. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean," I went on, "that I have seen Zara since her death; I have +spoken to her. She herself sent me here." + +Prince Ivan stared, and then burst into a fit of wild laughter. + +"Little fool!" he cried to me; "he has maddened you too, then! You +are also a victim! Miserable girl! out of my path! Revenge--revenge! +while I am yet sane!" + +Then pushing me roughly aside, he cast away his sword, and shouted +to Heliobas: + +"Hand to hand, villain! No more of these toy-weapons! Hand to hand!" + +Heliobas instantly threw down his sword also, and rushing forward +simultaneously, they closed together in savage conflict. Heliobas +was the taller and more powerful of the two, but Prince Ivan seemed +imbued with the spirit of a hundred devils, and sprang at his +opponent's throat with the silent breathless ferocity of a tiger. At +first Heliobas appeared to be simply on the defensive, and his +agile, skilful movements were all used to parry and ward off the +other's grappling eagerness. But as I watched the struggle, myself +speechless and powerless, I saw his face change. Instead of its calm +and almost indifferent expression, there came a look which was +completely foreign to it--a look of savage determination bordering +on positive cruelty. In a moment I saw what was taking place in his +mind. The animal passions of the mere MAN were aroused--the +spiritual force was utterly forgotten. The excitement of the contest +was beginning to tell, and the desire of victory was dominant in the +breast of him whose ideas were generally--and should have been now-- +those of patient endurance and large generosity. The fight grew +closer, hotter, and more terrible. Suddenly the Prince swerved aside +and fell, and within a second Heliobas held him down, pressing one +knee firmly against his chest. From my point of observation I noted +with alarm that little by little Ivan ceased his violent efforts to +rise, and that he kept his eyes fixed on the overshadowing face of +his foe with an unnatural and curious pertinacity. I stepped +forward. Heliobas pressed his whole weight heavily down on the young +man's prostrate body, while with both hands he held him by the +shoulders, and gazed with terrific meaning into his fast-paling +countenance. Ivan's lips turned blue; his eyes appeared to start +from their sockets; his throat rattled. The spell that held me +silent was broken; a flash of light, a flood of memory swept over my +intelligence. I knew that Heliobas was exciting the whole battery of +his inner electric force, and that thus employed for the purposes of +vengeance, it must infallibly cause death. I found my speech at +last. + +"Heliobas!" I cried "Remember, remember Azul! When Death lies like a +gift in your hand, withhold it. Withhold it, Heliobas; and give Life +instead!" + +He started at the sound of my voice, and looked up. A strong shudder +shook his frame. Very slowly, very reluctantly, he relaxed his +position; he rose from his kneeling posture on the Prince's breast-- +he left him and stood upright. Ivan at the same moment heaved a deep +sigh, and closed his eyes, apparently insensible. + +Gradually one by one the hard lines faded out of the face of +Heliobas, and his old expression of soft and grave beneficence came +back to it as graciously as sunlight after rain. He turned to me, +and bent his head in a sort of reverential salutation. + +"I thank and bless you," he said; "you reminded me in time! Another +moment and it would have been too late. You have saved me." + +"Give him his life," I said, pointing to Ivan. + +"He has it," returned Heliobas; "I have not taken it from him, thank +God! He provoked me; I regret it. I should have been more patient +with him. He will revive immediately. I leave him to your care. In +dealing with him, I ought to have remembered that human passion like +his, unguided by spiritual knowledge, was to be met with pity and +forbearance. As it is, however, he is safe. For me, I will go and +pray for Zara's pardon, and that of my wronged Azul." + +As he uttered the last words, he started, looked up, and smiled. + +"My beautiful one! Thou HAST pardoned me? Thou wilt love me still? +Thou art with me, Azul, my beloved? I have not lost thee, oh my best +and dearest! Wilt thou lead me? Whither? Nay--no matter whither--I +come!" + +And as one walking in sleep, he went out of the room, and I heard +his footsteps echoing in the distance on the way to the chapel. + +Left alone with the Prince, I snatched a glass of cold water from +the table, and sprinkled some of it on his forehead and hands. This +was quite sufficient to revive him; and he drew a long breath, +opened his eyes, and stared wildly about him. Seeing no one but me +he grew bewildered, and asked: + +"What has happened?" + +Then catching sight of the drawn swords lying still on the ground +where they had been thrown, he sprang to his feet, and cried: + +"Where is the coward and murderer?" + +I made him sit down and hear with patience what I had to say. I +reminded him that Zara's health and happiness had always been +perfect, and that her brother would rather have slain himself than +her. I told him plainly that Zara had expected her death, and had +prepared for it--had even bade me good-bye, although then I had not +understood the meaning of her words. I recalled to his mind the day +when Zara had used her power to repulse him. + +"Disbelieve as you will in electric spiritual force," I said. "Your +message to her then through me was--TELL HER I HAVE SEEN HER LOVER." + +At these words a sombre shadow flitted over the Prince's face. + +"I tell you," he said slowly, "that I believe I was on that occasion +the victim of an hallucination. But I will explain to you what I +saw. A superb figure, like, and yet unlike, a man, but of a much +larger and grander form, appeared to me, as I thought, and spoke. +'Zara is mine,' it said--'mine by choice; mine by freewill; mine +till death; mine after death; mine through eternity. With her thou +hast naught in common; thy way lies elsewhere. Follow the path +allotted to thee, and presume no more upon an angel's patience.' +Then this Strange majestic-looking creature, whose face, as I +remember it, was extraordinarily beautiful, and whose eyes were like +self-luminous stars, vanished. But, after all, what of it? The whole +thing was a dream." + +"I am not so sure of that," I said quietly, "But, Prince Ivan, now +that you are calmer and more capable of resignation, will you tell +me why you loved Zara?" + +"Why!" he broke out impetuously. "Why, because it was impossible to +help loving her." + +"That is no answer," I replied. "Think! You can reason well if you +like--I have heard you hold your own in an argument. What made you +love Zara?" + +He looked at me in a sort of impatient surprise, but seeing I was +very much in earnest, he pondered a minute or so before replying. + +"She was the loveliest woman I have ever seen!" he said at last, and +in his voice there was a sound of yearning and regret. + +"Is THAT all?" I queried, with a gesture of contempt. "Because her +body was beautiful--because she had sweet kissing lips and a soft +skin; because her hand was like a white flower, and her dark hair +clustering over her brow reminded one of a misty evening cloud +hiding moonlight; because the glance of her glorious eyes made the +blood leap through your veins and sting you with passionate desire-- +are these the reasons of your so-called love? Oh, give it some other +and lower name! For the worms shall feed on the fair flesh that won +your admiration--their wet and slimy bodies shall trail across the +round white arms and tender bosom--unsightly things shall crawl +among the tresses of the glossy hair; and nothing, nothing shall +remain of what you loved, but dust. Prince Ivan, you shudder; but I +too loved Zara--I loved HER, not the perishable casket in which, +like a jewel, she was for a time enshrined. I love her still--and +for the being I love there is no such thing as death." + +The Prince was silent, and seemed touched. I had spoken with real +feeling, and tears of emotion stood in my eyes. + +"I loved her as a man generally loves," he said, after a little +pause. "Nay--more than most men love most women!" + +"Most men are too often selfish in both their loves and hatreds," I +returned. "Tell me if there was anything in Zara's mind and +intelligence to attract you? Did you sympathize in her pursuits; did +you admire her tastes; had you any ideas in common with her?" + +"No, I confess I had not," he answered readily. "I considered her to +be entirely a victim to her brother's scientific experiments. I +thought, by making her my wife, to release her from such tyranny and +give her rescue and refuge. To this end I found out all I could +from--HIM"--he approached the name of Heliobas with reluctance--"and +I made up my mind that her delicate imagination had been morbidly +excited; but that marriage and a life like that led by other women +would bring her to a more healthy state of mind." + +I smiled with a little scorn. + +"Your presumption was almost greater than your folly, Prince," I +said, "that with such ideas as these in your mind you could dream of +winning Zara for a wife. Do you think she could have led a life like +that of other women? A frivolous round of gaiety, a few fine dresses +and jewels, small-talk, society scandal, stale compliments--you +think such things would have suited HER? And would she have +contented herself with a love like yours? Come! Come and see how +well she has escaped you!" + +And I beckoned him towards the door. He hesitated. + +"Where would you take me?" he asked. + +"To the chapel. Zara's body lies there." + +He shuddered. + +"No, no--not there! I cannot bear to look upon her perished +loveliness--to see that face, once so animated, white and rigid-- +death in such a form is too horrible!" + +And he covered his eyes with his hand--I saw tears slowly drop +through his fingers. I gazed at him, half in wonder, half in pity. + +"And yet you are a brave man!" I said. + +These words roused him. He met my gaze with such a haggard look of +woe that my heart ached for him. What comfort had he now? What joy +could he ever expect? All his happiness was centred in the fact of +BEING ALIVE--alive to the pleasures of living, and to the joys the +world could offer to a man who was strong, handsome, rich, and +accomplished--how could he look upon death as otherwise than a +loathsome thing--a thing not to be thought of in the heyday of +youthful blood and jollity--a doleful spectre, in whose bony hands +the roses of love must fall and wither! With a sense of deep +commiseration in me, I spoke again with great gentleness. + +"You need not look upon Zara's corpse unless you wish it, Prince," I +said. "To you, the mysteries of the Hereafter have not been +unlocked, because there is something in your nature that cannot and +will not believe in God. Therefore to you, death must be repellent. +I know you are one of those for whom the present alone exists--you +easily forget the past, and take no trouble for the future. Paris is +your heaven, or St. Petersburg, or Vienna, as the fancy takes you; +and the modern atheistical doctrines of French demoralization are in +your blood. Nothing but a heaven-sent miracle could make you other +than you are, and miracles do not exist for the materialist. But let +me say two words more before you go from this house. Seek no more to +avenge yourself for your love-disappointment on Heliobas--for you +have really nothing to avenge. By your own confession you only cared +for Zara's body--that body was always perishable, and it has +perished by a sudden but natural catastrophe. With her soul, you +declare you had nothing in common--that was herself--and she is +alive to us who love her as she sought to be loved. Heliobas is +innocent of having slain her body; he but helped to cultivate and +foster that beautiful Spirit which he knew to be HER--for that he is +to be honored and commended. Promise me, therefore, Prince Ivan, +that you will never approach him again except in friendship--indeed, +you owe him an apology for your unjust accusation, as also your +gratitude for his sparing your life in the recent struggle." + +The Prince kept his eyes steadily fixed upon me all the time I was +speaking, and as I finished, he sighed and moved restlessly. + +"Your words are compelling, mademoiselle," he said; "and you have a +strange attraction for me. I know I am not wrong in thinking that +you are a disciple of Heliobas, whose science I admit, though I +doubt his theories. I promise you willingly what you ask--nay, I +will even offer him my hand if he will accept it." + +Overjoyed at my success, I answered: "He is in the chapel, but I +will fetch him here." + +Over the Prince's face a shadow of doubt, mingled with dread, passed +swiftly, and he seemed to be forming a resolve in his own mind which +was more or less distasteful to him. Whatever the feeling was he +conquered it by a strong effort, and said with firmness: + +"No; I will go to him myself. And I will look again upon--upon the +face I loved. It is but one pang the more, and why should I not +endure it?" + +Seeing him thus inclined, I made no effort to dissuade him, and +without another word I led the way to the chapel. I entered it +reverently, he following me closely, with slow hushed footsteps. All +was the same as I had left it, save that the servants of the +household had gone to take some needful rest before the morning +light called them to their daily routine of labour. Father Paul, +too, had retired, and Heliobas alone knelt beside all that remained +of Zara, his figure as motionless as though carved in bronze, his +face hidden in his hands. As we approached, he neither stirred nor +looked up, therefore I softly led the Prince to the opposite side of +the bier, that he might look quietly on the perished loveliness that +lay there at rest for ever. Ivan trembled, yet steadfastly gazed at +the beautiful reposeful form, at the calm features on which the +smile with which death had been received, still lingered--at the +folded hands, the fading orange-blosoms--at the crucifix that lay on +the cold breast like the final seal on the letter of life. +Impulsively he stooped forward, and with a tender awe pressed his +lips on the pale forehead, but instantly started back with the +smothered, exclamation: + +"O God! how cold!" + +At the sound of his voice Heliobas rose up erect, and the two men +faced each other, Zara's dead body lying like a barrier betwixt +them. + +A pause followed--a pause in which I heard my own heart beating +loudly, so great was my anxiety. Heliobas suffered a few moments to +elapse, then stretched his hand across his sister's bier. + +"In HER name, let there be peace between us, Ivan," he said in +accents that were both gentle and solemn. + +The Prince, touched to the quick, responded to these kindly words +with eager promptness, and they clasped hands over the quiet and +lovely form that lay there--a silent, binding witness of their +reconciliation. + +"I have to ask your pardon, Casimir," then whispered Ivan. "I have +also to thank you for my life." + +"Thank the friend who stands beside you," returned Heliobas, in the +same low tone, with a slight gesture towards me. "She reminded me of +a duty in time. As for pardon, I know of no cause of offence on your +part save what was perfectly excusable. Say no more; wisdom comes +with years, and you are yet young." + +A long silence followed. We all remained looking wistfully down upon +the body of our lost darling, in thought too deep for words or +weeping. I then noticed that another humble mourner shared our +watch--a mourner whose very existence I had nearly forgotten. It was +the faithful Leo. He lay couchant on the stone floor at the foot of +the bier, almost as silent as a dog of marble; the only sign of +animation he gave being a deep sigh which broke from his honest +heart now and then. I went to him and softly patted his shaggy coat. +He looked up at me with big brown eyes full of tears, licked my hand +meekly, and again laid his head down upon his two fore-paws with a +resignation that was most pathetic. + +The dawn began to peer faintly through the chapel windows--the dawn +of a misty, chilly morning. The storm of the past night had left a +sting in the air, and the rain still fell, though gently. The wind +had almost entirely sunk into silence. I re-arranged the flowers +that were strewn on Zara's corpse, taking away all those that had +slightly faded. The orange-blossom was almost dead, but I left that +where it was--where the living Zara had herself placed it. As I +performed this slight service, I thought, half mournfully, half +gladly-- + + "Yes, Heaven is thine, but this + Is a world of sweets and sours-- + Our flowers are merely FLOWERS; + And the shadow of thy perfect bliss + Is the sunshine of ours." + +Prince Ivan at last roused himself as from a deep and melancholy +reverie, and, addressing himself to Heliobas, said softly: + +"I will intrude no longer on your privacy, Casimir. Farewell! I +shall leave Paris to-night." + +For all answer Heliobas beckoned him and me also out of the chapel. +As soon as its doors closed behind us, and we stood in the centre +hall, he spoke with affectionate and grave earnestness: + +"Ivan, something tells me that you and I shall not meet again for +many years, if ever. Therefore, when you say 'farewell,' the word +falls upon my ears with double meaning. We are friends--our +friendship is sanctified by the dead presence of one whom we both +loved, in different ways; therefore you will take in good part what +I now say to you. You know, you cannot disguise from yourself that +the science I study is fraught with terrible truth and marvellous +discoveries; the theories I deduce from it you disbelieve, because +you are nearly a materialist. I say NEARLY--not quite. That 'not +quite' makes me love you, Ivan: I would save the small bright spark +that flickers within you from both escape and extinction. But I +cannot--at least, not as yet. Still, in order that you may know that +there is a power in me higher than ordinary human reason, before you +go from me to-night hear my prophecy of your career. The world waits +for you, Ivan--the world, all agape and glittering with a thousand +sparkling toys; it waits greedy for your presence, ready to fawn +upon you for a smile, willing to cringe to you for a nod of +approval. And why? Because wealth is yours--vast, illimitable +wealth. Aye--you need not start or look incredulous--you will find +it as I say. You, whose fortune up to now has barely reached a poor +four thousand per annum--you are at this moment the possessor of +millions. Only last night a relative of yours, whose name you +scarcely know, expired, leaving all his hoarded treasures to you. +Before the close of this present day, on whose threshold we now +stand, you will have the news. When you receive it remember me, and +acknowledge that at least for once I knew and spoke the truth. +Follow the broad road, Ivan, laid out before you--a road wide enough +not only for you to walk in, but for the crowd of toadies and +flatterers also, who will push on swiftly after you and jostle you +on all sides; be strong of heart and merry of countenance! Gather +the roses; press the luscious grapes into warm, red wine that, as +you quaff it, shall make your blood dance a mad waltz in your veins, +and fair women's faces shall seem fairer to you than ever, their +embraces more tender, their kisses more tempting! Spin the ball of +Society like a toy in the palm of your hand! I see your life +stretching before me like a brilliant, thread-like ephemeral ray of +light! But in the far distance across it looms a shadow--a shadow +that your power alone can never lift. Mark me, Ivan! When the first +dread chill of that shadow makes itself felt, come to me--I shall +yet be living. Come; for then no wealth can aid you--at that dark +hour no boon companions can comfort. Come; and by our friendship so +lately sworn--by Zara's pure soul--by God's existence, I will not +die till I have changed that darkness over you into light eternal!-- +Fare you well!" + +He caught the Prince's hand, and wrung it hard; then, without +further word, look, or gesture, turned and disappeared again within +the chapel. + +His words had evidently made a deep impression on the young +nobleman, who gazed after his retreating figure with a certain awe +not unmingled with fear. + +I held out my hand in silent farewell. Ivan took it gently, and +kissed it with graceful courtesy. + +"Casimir told me that your intercession saved my life, +mademoiselle," he said. "Accept my poor thanks. If his present +prophet-like utterances be true---" + +"Why should you doubt him?" I asked, with some impatience. "Can you +believe in NOTHING?" + +The Prince, still holding my hand, looked at me in a sort of grave +perplexity. + +"I think you have hit it," he observed quietly. "I doubt everything +except the fact of my own existence, and there are times when I am +not even sure of that. But if, as I said before, the prophecy of my +Chaldean friend, whom I cannot help admiring with all my heart, +turns out to be correct, then my life is more valuable to me than +ever with such wealth to balance it, and I thank you doubly for +having saved it by a word in time." + +I withdrew my hand gently from his. + +"You think the worth of your life increased by wealth?" Tasked. + +"Naturally! Money is power." + +"And what of the shadow also foretold as inseparable from your +fate?" + +A faint smile crossed his features. + +"Ah, pardon me! That is the only portion of Casimir's fortune- +telling that I am inclined to disbelieve thoroughly." + +"But," I said, "if you are willing to accept the pleasant part of +his prophecy, why not admit the possibility of the unpleasant +occurring also?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"In these enlightened times, mademoiselle, we only believe what is +agreeable to us, and what suits our own wishes, tastes, and +opinions. Ca va sans dire. We cannot be forced to accept a Deity +against our reason. That is a grand result of modern education." + +"Is it?" and I looked at him with pity. "Poor human reason! It will +reel into madness sometimes for a mere trifle--an overdose of +alcohol will sometimes upset it altogether--what a noble omnipotent +thing is human reason! But let me not detain you. Good-bye, and--as +the greeting of olden times used to run--God save you!" + +He bent his head with a light reverence. + +"I believe you to be a good, sweet woman," he said, "therefore I am +grateful for your blessing. My mother," and here his eyes grew +dreamy and wistful--"poor soul! she died long ago--my mother would +never let me retire to rest without signing the cross on my brow. Ah +well, that is past! I should like, mademoiselle," and his voice sank +very low, "to send some flowers for--her--you understand?" + +I did understand, and readily promised to lay whatever blossoms he +selected tenderly above the sacred remains of that earthly beauty he +had loved, as he himself said, "more than most men love most women." + +He thanked me earnestly, and seemed relieved and satisfied. Casting +a look of farewell around the familiar hall, he wafted a parting +kiss towards the chapel--an action which, though light, was full of +tenderness and regret. Then, with a low salute, he left me. The +street-door opened and closed after him in its usual noiseless +manner. He was gone. + +The morning had now fairly dawned, and within the Hotel Mars the +work of the great mansion went on in its usual routine; but a sombre +melancholy was in the atmosphere--a melancholy that not all my best +efforts could dissipate. The domestics looked sullen and heavy-eyed; +the only ones in their number who preserved their usual equanimity +were the Armenian men-servants and the little Greek page. +Preparations for Zara's funeral went on apace; they were exceedingly +simple, and the ceremony was to be quite private in character. +Heliobas issued his orders, and saw to the carrying out of his most +minute instructions in his usual calm manner; but his eyes looked +heavy, and his fine countenance was rendered even more majestic by +the sacred, resigned sorrow that lay upon it like a deep shadow. His +page served him with breakfast in his private room: but he left the +light meal untasted. One of the women brought me coffee; but the +very thought of eating and drinking seemed repulsive, and I could +not touch anything. My mind was busy with the consideration of the +duty I had to perform--namely, to see the destruction of Zara's +colossal statue, as she had requested. After thinking about it for +some time, I went to Heliobas and told him what I had it in charge +to do. He listened attentively. + +"Do it at once," he said decisively. "Take my Armenians; they are +discreet, obedient, and they ask no questions--with strong hammers +they will soon crush the clay. Stay! I will come with you." Then +looking at me scrutinizingly, he added kindly: "You have eaten +nothing, my child? You cannot? But your strength will give way-- +here, take this." And lie held out a small glass of a fluid whose +revivifying properties I well knew to be greater than any sustenance +provided by an ordinary meal. I swallowed it obediently, and as I +returned the empty glass to him he said: "I also have a commission +in charge from Zara. You know, I suppose, that she was prepared for +her death?" + +"I did not know; but I think she must have been," I answered. + +"She was. We both were. We remained together in the chapel all day, +saying what parting words we had to say to one another. We knew her +death, or rather her release, was to occur at some hour that night; +but in what way the end was destined to come, we knew not. Till I +heard the first peals of thunder, I was in suspense; but after that +I was no longer uncertain. You were a witness of the whole ensuing +scene. No death could have been more painless than hers. But let me +not forget the message she gave me for you." Here he took from a +secret drawer the electric stone Zara had always worn. "This jewel +is yours," he said. "You need not fear to accept it--it contains no +harm! it will bring you no ill-fortune. You see how all the +sparkling brilliancy has gone out of it? Wear it, and within a few +minutes it will be as lustrous as ever. The life throbbing in your +veins warms the electricity contained in it; and with the flowing of +your blood, its hues change and glow. It has no power to attract; it +can simply absorb and shine. Take it as a remembrance of her who +loved you and who loves you still." + +I was still in my evening dress, and my neck was bare. I slipped the +chain, on which hung the stone, round my throat, and watched the +strange gem with some curiosity. In a few seconds a pale streak of +fiery topaz flashed through it, which deepened and glowed into a +warm crimson, like the heart of a red rose; and by the time it had +become thoroughly warmed against my flesh, it glittered as +brilliantly as ever. + +"I will always wear it," I said earnestly. "I believe it will bring +me good fortune." + +"I believe it will," returned Heliobas simply. "And now let us +fulfil Zara's other commands." + +On our way across the hall we were stopped by the page, who brought +us a message of inquiry after Zara's health from Colonel Everard and +his wife, and also from the Challoners. Heliobas hastily wrote a few +brief words in pencil, explaining the fatal result of the accident, +and returned it to the messenger, giving orders at the same time +that all the blinds should be pulled down at the windows of the +house, that visitors might understand there was no admittance. We +then proceeded to the studio, accompanied by the Armenians carrying +heavy hammers. Reverently, and with my mind full of recollections of +Zara's living presence, I opened the familiar door. The first thing +that greeted us was a most exquisitely wrought statue in white +marble of Zara herself, full length, and arrayed in her customary +graceful Eastern costume. The head was slightly raised: a look of +gladness lighted up the beautiful features; and within the loosely +clasped hands was a cluster of roses. Bound the pedestal were carved +the words, "Omnia vincit Amor," with Zara's name and the dates of +her birth and death. A little slip of paper lay at the foot of the +statue, which Heliobas perceived, and taking it he read and passed +it to me. The lines were in Zara's handwriting, and ran as follows: + +"To my beloved Casimir--my brother, my friend, my guide and teacher, +to whom I owe the supreme happiness of my life in this world and the +next--let this poor figure of his grateful Zara be a memento of +happy days that are gone, only to be renewed with redoubled +happiness hereafter." + +I handed back the paper silently, with tears in my eyes, and we +turned our attention to the colossal figure we had come to destroy. +It stood at the extreme end of the studio, and was entirely hidden +by white linen drapery. Heliobas advanced, and by a sudden dexterous +movement succeeded in drawing off the coverings with a single +effort, and then we both fell back and gazed at the clay form +disclosed in amazement. What did it represent? A man? a god? an +angel? or all three united in one vast figure? + +It was an unfinished work. The features of the face were undeclared, +save the brow and eyes; and these were large, grand, and full of +absolute wisdom and tranquil consciousness of power. I could have +gazed on this wonderful piece of Zara's handiwork for hours, but +Heliobas called to the Armenian servants, who stood near the door +awaiting orders, and commanded them to break it down. For once these +well-trained domestics showed signs of surprise, and hesitated. +Their master frowned. Snatching a hammer from one of them, he +himself attacked the great statue as if it were a personal foe. The +Armenians, seeing he was in earnest, returned to their usual habits +of passive obedience, and aided him in his labour. Within a few +minutes the great and beautiful figure lay in fragments on the +floor, and these fragments were soon crushed into indistinguishable +atoms. I had promised to witness this work of destruction, and +witness it I did, but it was with pain and regret. When all was +finished, Heliobas commanded his men to carry the statue of Zara's +self down to his own private room, and then to summon all the +domestics of the household in a body to the great hall, as he wished +to address them. I heard him give this order with some surprise, and +he saw it. As the Armenians slowly disappeared, carrying with great +care the marble figure of their late mistress, he turned to me, as +he locked up the door of the studio, and said quietly: + +"These ignorant folk, who serve me for money and food--money that +they have eagerly taken, and food that they have greedily devoured-- +they think that I am the devil or one of the devil's agents, and I +am going to prove their theories entirely to their satisfaction. +Come and see!" + +I followed him, somewhat mystified. On the way downstairs he said: + +"Do you know why Zara wished that statue destroyed?" + +"No," I said frankly; "unless for the reason that it was +incomplete." + +"It always would have been incomplete," returned Heliobas; "even had +she lived to work at it for years. It was a daring attempt, and a +fruitless one. She was trying to make a clay figure of one who never +wore earthly form--the Being who is her Twin-Soul, who dominates her +entirely, and who is with her now. As well might she have tried to +represent in white marble the prismatic hues of the rainbow!" + +We had now reached the hall, and the servants were assembling by +twos and threes. They glanced at their master with looks of awe, as +he took up a commanding position near the fountain, and faced them +with a glance of calm scrutiny and attention. I drew a chair behind +one of the marble columns and seated myself, watching everything +with interest. Leo appeared from some corner or other, and laid his +rough body down close at his master's feet. + +In a few minutes all the domestics, some twenty in number, were +present, and Heliobas, raising his voice, spoke with a clear +deliberate enunciation: + +"I have sent for you all this morning, because I am perfectly aware +that you have all determined to give me notice." + +A stir of astonishment and dismay ensued on the part of the small +audience, and I heard one voice near me whisper: + +"He IS the devil, or how could he have known it?" + +The lips of Heliobas curled in a fine sarcastic smile. He went on: + +"I spare you this trouble. Knowing your intentions, I take upon +myself to dismiss you at once. Naturally, you cannot risk your +characters by remaining in the service of the devil. For my own +part, I wonder the devil's money has not burnt your hands, or his +food turned to poison in your mouths. My sister, your kind and ever- +indulgent mistress, is dead. You know this, and it is your opinion +that I summoned up the thunderstorm which caused her death. Be it +so. Report it so, if you will, through Paris; your words do not +affect me. You have been excellent machines, and for your services +many thanks! As soon as my sister's funeral is over, your wages, +with an additional present, will be sent to you. You can then leave +my house when you please; and, contrary to the usual custom of +accepted devils, I am able to say, without perishing in the effort-- +God speed you all!" + +The faces of those he addressed exhibited various emotions while he +spoke--fear contending with a good deal of shame. The little Greek +page stepped forward timidly. + +"The master knows that I will never leave him," he murmured, and his +large eyes were moist with tears. + +Heliobas laid a gentle hand on the boy's dark curls, but said +nothing. One of the four Armenians advanced, and with a graceful +rapid gesture of his right hand, touched his head and breast. + +"My lord will not surely dismiss US who desire to devote ourselves +to his service? We are willing to follow my lord to the death if +need be, for the sake of the love and honour we bear him." + +Heliobas looked at him very kindly. + +"I am richer in friends than I thought myself to be," he said +quietly. "Stay then, by all means, Afra, you and your companions, +since you have desired it. And you, my boy," he went on, addressing +the tearful page, "think you that I would turn adrift an orphan, +whom a dying mother trusted to my care? Nay, child, I am as much +your servant as you are mine, so long as your love turns towards +me." + +For all answer the page kissed his hand in a sort of rapture, and +flinging back his clustering hair from his classic brows, surveyed +the domestics, who had taken their dismissal in silent acquiescence, +with a pretty scorn. + +"Go, all of you, scum of Paris!" he cried in his clear treble tones-- +"you who know neither God nor devil! You will have your money--more +than your share--what else seek you? You have served one of the +noblest of men; and because he is so great and wise and true, you +judge him a fiend! Oh, so like the people of Paris--they who pervert +all things till they think good evil and evil good! Look you! you +have worked for your wages; but I have worked for HIM--I would +starve with him, I would die for him! For to me he is not fiend, but +Angel!" + +Overcome by his own feelings the boy again kissed his master's hand, +and Heliobas gently bade him be silent. He himself looked round on +the still motionless group of servants with an air of calm surprise. + +"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Consider yourselves +dismissed, and at liberty to go where you please. Any one of you +that chooses to apply to me for a character shall not lack the +suitable recommendation. There is no more to say." + +A lively-looking woman with quick restless black eyes stepped +forward. + +"I am sure," she said, with a mincing curtsey, "that we are very +sorry if we have unintentionally wronged monsieur; but monsieur, who +is aware of so many things, must know that many reports are +circulated about monsieur that make one to shudder; that madame his +sister's death so lamentable has given to all, what one would say, +the horrors; and monsieur must consider that poor servants of +virtuous reputation--" + +"So, Jeanne Claudet!" interrupted Heliobas, in a thrilling low tone. +"And what of the child--the little waxen-faced helpless babe left to +die on the banks of the Loire? But it did not die, Jeanne--it was +rescued; and it shall yet live to loathe its mother!" + +The woman uttered a shriek, and fainted. + +In the feminine confusion and fuss that ensued, Heliobas, +accompanied by his little page and the dog Leo, left the hall and +entered his own private room, where for some time I left him +undisturbed. + +In the early part of the afternoon a note was brought to me. It was +from Colonel Everard, entreating me to come as soon as possible to +his wife, who was very ill. + +"Since she heard of the death of that beautiful young lady, a death +so fearfully sudden and unexpected," wrote the Colonel, "she has +been quite unlike herself--nervous, hysterical, and thoroughly +unstrung. It will be a real kindness to her if you will come as soon +as you can--she has such, a strong desire for your company." + +I showed this note at once to Heliobas. He read it, and said: + +"Of course you must go. Wait till our simple funeral ceremony is +over, and then--we part. Not for ever; I shall see you often again. +For now I have lost Zara, you are my only female disciple, and I +shall not willingly lose sight of you. You will correspond with me?" + +"Gladly and gratefully," I replied. + +"You shall not lose by it. I can initiate you into many secrets that +will be useful to you in your career. As for your friend Mrs. +Everard, you will find that your presence will cure her. You have +progressed greatly in electric force: the mere touch of your hand +will soothe her, as you will find. But never be tempted to try any +of the fluids of which you have the recipes on her, or on anybody +but yourself, unless you write to me first about it, as Cellini did +when he tried an experiment on you. As for your own bodily and +spiritual health, you know thoroughly what to do--KEEP THE SECRET; +and make a step in advance every day. By-and-by you will have double +work." + +"How so?" I asked. + +"In Zara's case, her soul became dominated by a Spirit whose destiny +was fulfilled and perfect, and who never could descend to +imprisonment in earthly clay. Now, you will not be dominated--you +will be simply EQUALIZED; that is, you will find the exact +counterpart of your own soul dwelling also in human form, and you +will have to impart your own force to that other soul, which will, +in its turn, impart to yours a corresponding electric impetus. There +is no union so lovely as such an one--no harmony so exquisite; it is +like a perfect chord, complete and indissoluble. There are sevenths +and ninths in music, beautiful and effective in their degrees; but +perhaps none of them are so absolutely satisfying to the ear as the +perfect chord. And this is your lot in life and in love, my child-- +be grateful for it night and morning on your bended knees before the +Giver of all good. And walk warily--your own soul with that other +shall need much thought and humble prayer. Aim onward and upward-- +you know the road--you also know, and you have partly seen, what +awaits you at the end." + +After this conversation we spoke no more in private together. The +rest of the afternoon was entirely occupied with the final +preparations for Zara's funeral, which was to take place at Pere-la- +Chaise early the next morning. A large and beautiful wreath of white +roses, lilies, and maiden-hair arrived from Prince Ivan; and, +remembering my promise to him, I went myself to lay it in a +conspicuous place on Zara's corpse. That fair body was now laid in +its coffin of polished oak, and a delicate veil of filmy lace draped +it from head to foot. The placid expression of the features remained +unchanged, save for a little extra rigidity of the flesh; the hands, +folded over the crucifix, were stiff, and looked as though they were +moulded in wax. I placed the wreath in position and paused, looking +wistfully at that still and solemn figure. Father Paul, slowly +entering from a side-door, came and stood beside me. + +"She is happy!" he said; and a cheerful expression irradiated his +venerable features. + +"Did you also know she would die that night?" I asked softly. + +"Her brother sent for me, and told me of her expected dissolution. +She herself told me, and made her last confession and communion. +Therefore I was prepared." + +"But did you not doubt--were you not inclined to think they might be +wrong?" I inquired, with some astonishment. + +"I knew Heliobas as a child," the priest returned. "I knew his +father and mother before him; and I have been always perfectly aware +of the immense extent of his knowledge, and the value of his +discoveries. If I were inclined to be sceptical on spiritual +matters, I should not be of the race I am; for I am also a +Chaldean." + +I said no more, and Father Paul trimmed the tapers burning round the +coffin in devout silence. Again I looked at the fair dead form +before me; but somehow I could not feel sad again. All my impulses +bade me rejoice. Why should I be unhappy on Zara's account?--more +especially when the glories of the Central Sphere were yet fresh in +my memory, and when I knew as a positive fact that her happiness was +now perfect. I left the chapel with a light step and lighter heart, +and went to my own room to pack up my things that all might be in +readiness for my departure on the morrow. On my table I found a +volume whose quaint binding I at once recognised--"The Letters of a +Dead Musician." A card lay beside it, on which was written in +pencil: + +"Knowing of your wish to possess this book, I herewith offer it for +your acceptance. It teaches you a cheerful devotion to Art, and an +indifference to the world's opinions--both of which are necessary to +you in your career.--HELIOBAS." + +Delighted with this gift, I opened the book, and found my name +written on the fly-leaf, with the date of the month and year, and +the words: + +"La musica e il lamento dell' amore o la preghiera a gli Dei." +(Music is the lament of love, or a prayer to the Gods.) + +I placed this treasure carefully in a corner of my portmanteau, +together with the parchment scrolls containing "The Electric +Principle of Christianity," and the valuables recipes of Heliobas; +and as I did so, I caught sight of myself in the long mirror that +directly faced me. I was fascinated, not by my own reflection, but +by the glitter of the electric gem I wore. It flashed and glowed +like a star, and was really lovely--far more brilliant than the most +brilliant cluster of fine diamonds. I may here remark that I have +been asked many questions concerning this curious ornament whenever +I have worn it in public, and the general impression has been that +it is some new arrangement of ornamental electricity. It is, +however, nothing of the kind; it is simply a clear pebble, common +enough on the shores of tropical countries, which has the property +of absorbing a small portion of the electricity in a human body, +sufficient to make it shine with prismatic and powerful lustre--a +property which has only as yet been discovered by Heliobas, who +asserts that the same capability exists in many other apparently +lustreless stones which have been untried, and are therefore +unknown. The "healing stones," or amulets, still in use in the East, +and also in the remote parts of the Highlands (see notes to +Archibald Clerk's translation of 'Ossian'), are also electric, but +in a different way--they have the property of absorbing DISEASE and +destroying it in certain cases; and these, after being worn a +suitable length of time, naturally exhaust what virtue they +originally possessed, and are no longer of any use. Stone amulets +are considered nowadays as a mere superstition of the vulgar and +uneducated; but it must be remembered that superstition itself has +always had for it a foundation some grain, however small and remote, +of fact. I could give a very curious explanation of the formation of +ORCHIDS, those strange plants called sometimes "Freaks of Nature," +as if Nature ever indulged in a "freak" of any kind! But I have +neither time nor space to enter upon the subject now; indeed, if I +were once to begin to describe the wonderful, amazing and beautiful +vistas of knowledge that the wise Chaldean, who is still my friend +and guide, has opened up and continues to extend before my admiring +vision, a work of twenty volumes would scarce contain all I should +have to say. But I have written this book merely to tell those who +peruse it, about Heliobas, and what I myself experienced in his +house; beyond this I may not go. For, as, I observed in my +introduction, I am perfectly aware that few, if any, of my readers +will accept my narrative as more than a mere visionary romance--or +that they will admit the mysteries of life, death, eternity, and all +the wonders of the Universe to be simply the NATURAL AND SCIENTIFIC +OUTCOME OF A RING OF EVERLASTING ELECTRIC HEAT AND LIGHT; but +whether they agree to it or no, I can say with Galileo, "E pur si +muove!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +It was a very simple and quiet procession that moved next day from +the Hotel Mars to Pere-la-Chaise. Zara's coffin was carried in an +open hearse, and was covered with a pall of rich white velvet, on +which lay a royal profusion of flowers--Ivan's wreath, and a +magnificent cross of lilies sent by tender-hearted Mrs. Challoner, +being most conspicuous among them. The only thing a little unusual +about it was that the funeral car was drawn by two stately WHITE +horses; and Heliobas told me this had been ordered at Zara's special +request, as she thought the solemn pacing through the streets of +dismal black steeds had a depressing effect on the passers-by. + +"And why," she had said, "should anybody be sad, when _I_ in reality +am so thoroughly happy?" + +Prince Ivan Petroffsky had left Paris, but his carriage, drawn by +two prancing Russian steeds, followed the hearse at a respectful +distance, as also the carriage of Dr. Morini, and some other private +persons known to Heliobas. A few people attended it on foot, and +these were chiefly from among the very poor, some of whom had +benefited by Zara's charity or her brother's medical skill, and had +heard of the calamity through rumour, or through the columns of the +Figaro, where it was reported with graphic brevity. The weather was +still misty, and the fiery sun seemed to shine through tears as +Father Paul, with his assistants, read in solemn yet cheerful tones +the service for the dead according to the Catholic ritual. One of +the chief mourners at the grave was the faithful Leo; who, without +obtruding himself in anyone's way, sat at a little distance, and +seemed, by the confiding look with which he turned his eyes upon his +master, to thoroughly understand that he must henceforth devote his +life entirely to him alone. The coffin was lowered, the "Requiem +aeternam" spoken--all was over. Those assembled shook hands quietly +with Heliobas, saluted each other, and gradually dispersed. I +entered a carriage and drove back to the Hotel Mars, leaving +Heliobas in the cemetery to give his final instructions for the +ornamentation and decoration of his sister's grave. + +The little page served me with some luncheon in my own apartment, +and by the time all was ready for my departure, Heliobas returned. I +went down to him in his study, and found him sitting pensively in +his arm-chair, absorbed in thought. He looked sad and solitary, and +my whole heart went out to him in gratitude and sympathy. I knelt +beside him as a daughter might have done, and softly kissed his +hand. + +He started as though awakened suddenly from sleep, and seeing me, +his eyes softened, and he smiled gravely. + +"Are you come to say 'Good-bye,' my child?" he asked, in a kind +tone. "Well, your mission here is ended!" + +"Had I any mission at all," I replied, with a grateful look, "save +the very selfish one which was comprised in the natural desire to be +restored to health?" + +Heliobas surveyed me for a few moments in silence. + +"Were I to tell you," he said at last, "by what mystical authority +and influence you were compelled to come here, by what a +marvellously linked chain of circumstances you became known to me +long before I saw you; how I was made aware that you were the only +woman living to whose companionship I could trust my sister at a +time when the society of one of her own sex became absolutely +necessary to her; how you were marked out to me as a small point of +light by which possibly I might steer my course clear of the +darkness which threatened me--I say, were I to tell you all this, +you would no longer doubt the urgent need of your presence here. It +is, however, enough to tell you that you have fulfilled all that was +expected of you, even beyond my best hopes; and in return for your +services, the worth of which you cannot realize, whatever guidance I +can give you in the future for your physical and spiritual life, is +yours. I have done something for you, but not much--I will do more. +Only, in communicating with me, I ask you to honour me with your +full confidence in all matters pertaining to yourself and your +surroundings--then I shall not be liable to errors of judgment in +the opinions I form or the advice I give." + +"I promise most readily," I replied gladly, for it seemed to me that +I was rich in possessing as a friend and counsellor such a man as +this student of the loftiest sciences. + +"And now one thing more," he resumed, opening a drawer in the table +near which he sat. "Here is a pencil for you to write your letters +to me with. It will last about ten years, and at the expiration of +that time you can have another. Write with it on any paper, and the +marks will be like those of an ordinary drawing-pencil; but as fast +as they are written they disappear. Trouble not about this +circumstance--write all you have to say, and when you have finished +your letter your closely covered pages shall seem blank. Therefore, +were the eye of a stranger to look at them, nothing could be learned +therefrom. But when they reach me, I can make the writing appear and +stand out on these apparently unsullied pages as distinctly as +though your words had been printed. My letters to you will also, +when you receive them, appear blank; but you will only have to press +them for about ten minutes in this"--and he handed me what looked +like an ordinary blotting-book--"and they will be perfectly legible. +Cellini has these little writing implements; he uses them whenever +the distances are too great for us to amuse ourselves with the +sagacity of Leo--in fact the journeys of that faithful animal have +principally been to keep him in training." + +"But," I said, as I took the pencil and book from his hand, "why do +you not make these convenient writing materials public property? +They would be so useful." + +"Why should I build up a fortune for some needy stationer?" he +asked, with a half-smile. "Besides, they are not new things. They +were known to the ancients, and many secret letters, laws, +histories, and poems were written with instruments such as these. In +an old library, destroyed more than two centuries ago, there was a +goodly pile of apparently blank parchment. Had I lived then and +known what I know now, I could have made the white pages declare +their mystery." + +"Has this also to do with electricity?" I asked. + +"Certainly--with what is called vegetable electricity. There is not +a plant or herb in existence, but has almost a miracle hidden away +in its tiny cup or spreading leaves--do you doubt it?" + +"Not I!" I answered quickly. "I doubt nothing!" + +Heliobas smiled gravely. + +"You are right!" he said. "Doubt is the destroyer of beauty--the +poison in the sweet cup of existence--the curse which mankind have +brought on themselves. Avoid it as you would the plague. Believe in +anything or everything miraculous and glorious--the utmost reach of +your faith can with difficulty grasp the majestic reality and +perfection of everything you can see, desire, or imagine. Mistrust +that volatile thing called Human Reason, which is merely a name for +whatever opinion we happen to adopt for the time--it is a thing +which totters on its throne in a fit of rage or despair--there is +nothing infinite about it. Guide yourself by the delicate Spiritual +Instinct within you, which tells you that with God all things are +possible, save that He cannot destroy Himself or lessen by one spark +the fiery brilliancy of his ever-widening circle of productive +Intelligence. But make no attempt to convert the world to your way +of thinking--it would be mere waste of time." + +"May I never try to instruct anyone in these things?" I asked. + +"You can try, if you choose; but you will find most human beings +like the herd of swine in the Gospel, possessed by devils that drive +them headlong into the sea. You know, for instance, that angels and +aerial spirits actually exist; but were you to assert your belief in +them, philosophers (so-called) would scout your theories as absurd, +--though their idea of a LONELY God, who yet is Love, is the very +acme of absurdity. For Love MUST have somewhat to love, and MUST +create the beauty and happiness round itself and the things beloved. +But why point out these simple things to those who have no desire to +see? Be content, child, that YOU have been deemed worthy of +instruction--it is a higher fate for you than if you had been made a +Queen." + +The little page now entered, and told me that the carriage was at +the door in waiting. As he disappeared again after delivering this +message, Heliobas rose from his chair, and taking my two hands in +his, pressed them kindly. + +"One word more, little friend, on the subject of your career. I +think the time will come when you will feel that music is almost too +sacred a thing to be given away for money to a careless and +promiscuous public. However this may be, remember that scarce one of +the self-styled artists who cater for the crowd deserves to be +called MUSICIAN in the highest sense of the word. Most of them seek +not music, but money and applause; and therefore the art they +profess is degraded by them into a mere trade. But you, when you +play in public, must forget that PERSONS with little vanities and +lesser opinions exist. Think of what you saw in your journey with +Azul; and by a strong effort of your will, you can, if you choose, +COMPEL certain harmonies to sound in your ears--fragments of what is +common breathing air to the Children of the Ring, some of whom you +saw--and you will be able to reproduce them in part, if not in +entirety. But if you once admit a thought of Self to enter your +brain, those aerial sounds will be silenced instantly. By this +means, too, you can judge who are the true disciples of music in +this world--those who, like Schubert and Chopin, suffered the +heaven-born melodies to descend THROUGH them as though they were +mere conductors of sound; or those who, feebly imitating other +composers, measure out crotchets and quavers by rule and line, and +flood the world with inane and perishable, and therefore useless, +productions. And now,--farewell." + +"Do you remain in Paris?" I asked. + +"For a few days only. I shall go to Egypt, and in travelling +accustom myself to the solitude in which I must dwell, now Zara has +left me." + +"You have Azul," I ventured to remark. + +"Ah! but how often do I see her? Only when my soul for an instant is +clear from all earthly and gross obstruction; and how seldom I can +attain to this result while weighted with my body! But she is near +me--that I know--faithful as the star to the mariner's compass!" + +He raised his head as he spoke, and his eyes flashed. Never had I +seen him look more noble or kingly. The inspired radiance of his +face softened down into his usual expression of gentleness and +courtesy, and he said, offering me his arm: + +"Let me see you to the carriage. You know, it is not an actual +parting with us--I intend that we shall meet frequently. For +instance, the next time we exchange pleasant greetings will be in +Italy." + +I suppose I looked surprised; I certainly felt so, for nothing was +further from my thoughts than a visit to Italy. + +Heliobas smiled, and said in a tone that was almost gay: + +"Shall I draw the picture for you? I see a fair city, deep embowered +in hills and sheltered by olive-groves. Over it beams a broad sky, +deeply blue; many soft bells caress the summer air. Away in the +Cascine Woods a gay party of people are seated on the velvety moss; +they have mandolins, and they sing for pure gaiety of heart. One of +them, a woman with fair hair, arrayed in white, with a red rose at +her bosom, is gathering the wild flowers that bloom around her, and +weaving them into posies for her companions. A stranger, pacing +slowly, book in hand, through the shady avenue, sees her--her eyes +meet his. She springs up to greet him; he takes her hand. The woman +is yourself; the stranger no other than your poor friend, who now, +for a brief space, takes leave of you!" + +So rapidly had he drawn up this picture, that the impression made on +me was as though a sudden vision had been shown to me in a magic +glass. I looked at him earnestly. + +"Then our next meeting will be happy?" I said inquiringly. + +"Of course. Why not? And the next--and the next after that also!" he +answered. + +At this reply, so frankly given, I was relieved, and accompanied him +readily through the hall towards the street-door. Leo met us here, +and intimated, as plainly as a human being could have done, his wish +to bid me good-bye. I stooped and kissed his broad head and patted +him affectionately, and was rewarded for these attentions by seeing +his plume-like tail wave slowly to and fro--a sign of pleasure the +poor animal had not betrayed since Zara's departure from the scene +of her earthly imprisonment. + +At the door the pretty Greek boy handed me a huge basket of the +loveliest flowers. + +"The last from the conservatory," said Heliobas. "I shall need no +more of these luxuries." + +As I entered the carriage he placed the flowers beside me, and again +took my hand. + +"Good-bye, my child!" he said, in earnest and kindly tones. "I have +your address, and will write you all my movements. In any trouble, +small or great, of your own, send to me for advice without +hesitation. I can tell you already that I foresee the time when you +will resign altogether the precarious and unsatisfactory life of a +mere professional musician. You think no other career would be +possible to you? Well, you will see! A few months will decide all. +Good-bye again; God bless you!" + +The carriage moved off, and Heliobas stood on the steps of his +mansion watching it out of sight. To the last I saw his stately +figure erect in the light of the winter sunshine--a figure destined +from henceforth to occupy a prominent position in my life and +memory. The regret I felt at parting from him was greatly mitigated +by the assurance he gave me of our future meeting, a promise which +has since been fulfilled, and is likely soon to be fulfilled again. +That I have such a friend is an advantageous circumstance for me, +for through his guidance I am able to judge accurately of many +things occurring in the course of the daily life around me--things +which, seemingly trivial, are the hints of serious results to come, +which, I am thus permitted in part to foresee. There is a drawback, +of course, and the one bitter drop in the cup of knowledge is, that +the more I progress under the tuition of Heliobas, the less am I +deceived by graceful appearances. I perceive with almost cruel +suddenness the true characters of all those whom I meet. No smile of +lip or eye can delude me into accepting mere surface-matter for real +depth, and it is intensely painful for me to be forced to behold +hypocrisy in the expression of the apparently devout--sensuality in +the face of some radiantly beautiful and popular woman--vice under +the mask of virtue--self-interest in the guise of friendship, and +spite and malice springing up like a poisonous undergrowth beneath +the words of elegant flattery or dainty compliment. I often wish I +could throw a rose-coloured mist of illusion over all these things +and still more earnestly do I wish I could in a single instance find +myself mistaken. But alas! the fatal finger of the electric instinct +within me points out unerringly the flaw in every human diamond, and +writes "SHAM" across many a cunningly contrived imitation of +intelligence and goodness. Still, the grief I feel at this is +counterbalanced in part by the joy with which I quickly recognize +real virtue, real nobility, real love; and when these attributes +flash out upon me from the faces of human beings, my own soul warms, +and I know I have seen a vision as of angels. The capability of +Heliobas to foretell future events proved itself in his knowledge of +the fate of the famous English hero, Gordon, long before that brave +soldier met his doom. At the time the English Government sent him +out on his last fatal mission, a letter from Heliobas to me +contained the following passage: + +"I see Gordon has chosen his destiny and the manner of his death. +Two ways of dying have been offered him--one that is slow, painful, +and inglorious; the other sudden, and therefore sweeter to a man of +his temperament. He himself is perfectly aware of the approaching +end of his career; he will receive his release at Khartoum. England +will lament over him for a little while, and then he will be +declared an inspired madman, who rushed recklessly on his own doom; +while those who allowed him to be slain will be voted the wisest, +the most just and virtuous in the realm." + +This prophecy was carried out to the letter, as I fully believe +certain things of which I am now informed will also be fulfilled. +But though there are persons who pin their faith on "Zadkiel," I +doubt if there are any who will believe in such a thing as ELECTRIC +DIVINATION. The one is mere vulgar imposture, the other is performed +on a purely scientific basis in accordance with certain existing +rules and principles; yet I think there can be no question as to +which of the two the public en masse is likely to prefer. On the +whole, people do not mind being deceived; they hate being +instructed, and the trouble of thinking for themselves is almost too +much for them. Therefore "Zadkiel" is certain to flourish for many +and many a long day, while the lightning instinct of prophecy +dormant in every human being remains unused and utterly forgotten +except by the rare few. + +***** + +I have little more to say. I feel that those among my readers who +idly turn over these pages, expecting to find a "NOVEL" in the true +acceptation of the term, may be disappointed. My narrative is simply +an "experience:" but I have no wish to persuade others of the +central truth contained in it--namely, THE EXISTENCE OF POWERFUL +ELECTRIC ORGANS IN EVERY HUMAN BEING, WHICH WITH PROPER CULTIVATION +ARE CAPABLE OF MARVELLOUS SPIRITUAL FORCE. The time is not yet ripe +for this fact to be accepted. + +The persons connected with this story may be dismissed in a few +words. When I joined my friend Mrs. Everard, she was suffering from +nervous hysteria. My presence had the soothing effect Heliobas had +assured me of, and in a very few days we started from Paris in +company for England. She, with her amiable and accomplished husband, +went back to the States a few months since to claim an immense +fortune, which they are now enjoying as most Americans enjoy wealth. +Amy has diamonds to her heart's content, and toilettes galore from +Worth's; but she has no children, and from the tone of her letters +to me, I fancy she would part with one at least of her valuable +necklaces to have a small pair of chubby arms round her neck, and a +soft little head nestling against her bosom. + +Raffaello Cellini still lives and works; his paintings are among the +marvels of modern Italy for their richness and warmth of colour-- +colour which, in spite of his envious detractors, is destined to +last through ages. He is not very rich, for he is one of those who +give away their substance to the poor and the distressed; but where +he is known he is universally beloved. None of his pictures have yet +been exhibited in England, and he is in no hurry to call upon the +London critics for their judgment. He has been asked several times +to sell his large picture, "Lords of our Life and Death," but he +will not. I have never met him since our intercourse at Cannes, but +I hear of him frequently through Heliobas, who has recently +forwarded me a proof engraving of the picture "L'Improvisatrice," +for which I sat as model. It is a beautiful work of art, but that it +is like ME I am not vain enough to admit. I keep it, not as a +portrait of myself, but as a souvenir of the man through whose +introduction I gained the best friend I have. + +News of Prince Ivan Petroffsky reaches me frequently. He is +possessor of the immense wealth foretold by Heliobas; the eyes of +Society greedily follows his movements; his name figures +conspicuously in the "Fashionable Intelligence;" and the +magnificence of his recent marriage festivities was for some time +the talk of the Continent. He has married the only daughter of a +French Duke--a lovely creature, as soulless and heartless as a +dressmaker's stuffed model; but she carries his jewels well on her +white bosom, and receives his guests with as much dignity as a +well-trained major-domo. These qualities suffice to satisfy her +husband at present; how long his satisfaction will last is another +matter. He has not quite forgotten Zara; for on every recurring Jour +des Morts, or Feast of the Dead, he sends a garland or cross of +flowers to the simple grave in Pere-la-Chaise. Heliobas watches his +career with untiring vigilance; nor can I myself avoid taking a +certain interest in the progress of his fate. At the moment I write +he is one of the most envied and popular noblemen in all the Royal +Courts of Europe; and no one thinks of asking him whether he is +happy. He MUST be happy, says the world; he has everything that is +needed to make him so. Everything? yes--all except one thing, for +which he will long when the shadow of the end draws near. + +And now what else remains? A brief farewell to those who have +perused this narrative, or a lingering parting word? + +In these days of haste and scramble, when there is no time for +faith, is there time for sentiment? I think not. And therefore there +shall be none between my readers and me, save this--a friendly +warning. Belief--belief in God--belief in all things noble, +unworldly, lofty, and beautiful, is rapidly being crushed underfoot +by--what? By mere lust of gain! Be sure, good people, be very sure +that you are RIGHT in denying God for the sake of man--in abjuring +the spiritual for the material--before you rush recklessly onward. +The end for all of you can be but death; and are you quite positive +after all that there is NO Hereafter? Is it sense to imagine that +the immense machinery of the Universe has been set in motion for +nothing? Is it even common reason to consider that the Soul of man, +with all its high musings, its dreams of unseen glory, its longings +after the Infinite, is a mere useless vapour, or a set of shifting +molecules in a perishable brain? The mere fact of the EXISTENCE OF A +DESIRE clearly indicates an EQUALLY EXISTING CAPACITY for the +GRATIFICATION of that desire; therefore, I ask, would the WISH for a +future state of being, which is secretly felt by every one of us, +have been permitted to find a place in our natures, IF THERE WERE NO +POSSIBLE MEANS OF GRANTING IT? Why all this discontent with the +present--why all this universal complaint and despair and world- +weariness, if there be NO HEREAFTER? For my own part, I have told +you frankly WHAT I HAVE SEEN and WHAT I KNOW; but I do not ask you +to believe me. I only say, IF--IF you admit to yourselves the +possibility of a future and eternal state of existence, would it not +be well for you to inquire seriously how you are preparing for it in +these wild days? Look at society around you, and ask yourselves: +Whither is our "PROGRESS" tending--Forward or Backward--Upward or +Downward? Which way? Fight the problem out. Do not glance at it +casually, or put it away as an unpleasant thought, or a +consideration involving too much trouble--struggle with it bravely +till you resolve it, and whatever the answer may be, ABIDE BY IT. If +it leads you to deny God and the immortal destinies of your own +souls, and you find hereafter, when it is too late, that both God +and immortality exist, you have only yourselves to blame. We are the +arbiters of our own fate, and that fact is the most important one of +our lives. Our WILL is positively unfettered; it is a rudder put +freely into our hands, and with it we can steer WHEREVER WE CHOOSE. +God will not COMPEL our love or obedience. We must ourselves DESIRE +to love and obey--DESIRE IT ABOVE ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD. + +As for the Electric Origin of the Universe, a time is coming when +scientific men will acknowledge it to be the only theory of Creation +worthy of acceptance. All the wonders of Nature are the result of +LIGHT AND HEAT ALONE--i.e., are the work of the Electric Ring I have +endeavoured to describe, which MUST go on producing, absorbing and +reproducing worlds, suns and systems for ever and ever. The Ring, in +its turn, is merely the outcome of God's own personality--the +atmosphere surrounding the World in which He has His existence--a +World created by Love and for Love alone. I cannot force this theory +on public attention, which is at present claimed by various learned +professors, who give ingenious explanations of "atoms" and +"molecules;" yet, even regarding these same "atoms," the mild +question may be put: Where did the FIRST "atom" come from? Some may +answer: "We call the first atom GOD." Surely it is as well to call +Him a Spirit of pure Light as an atom? However, the fact of one +person's being convinced of a truth will not, I am aware, go very +far to convince others. I have related my "experience" exactly as it +happened at the time, and my readers can accept or deny the theories +of Heliobas as they please. Neither denial, acceptance, criticism, +nor incredulity can affect ME personally, inasmuch as I am not +Heliobas, but simply the narrator of an episode connected with him; +and as such, my task is finished. + +APPENDIX. + +[In publishing these selections from letters received concerning the +"Romance," I am in honour bound not to disclose the names of my +correspondents, and this necessary reticence will no doubt induce +the incredulous to declare that they are not genuine epistles, but +mere inventions of my own. I am quite prepared for such a possible +aspersion, and in reply, I can but say that I hold the originals in +my possession, and that some of them have been read by my friend Mr. +George Bentley, under whose auspices this book has been successfully +launched on the sea of public favour. I may add that my +correspondents are all strangers to me personally--not one of them +have I ever met. A few have indeed asked me to accord them +interviews, but this request I invariably deny, not wishing to set +myself forward in any way as an exponent of high doctrine in which I +am as yet but a beginner and student.--AUTHOR.] + +LETTER I. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"You must receive so many letters that I feel it is almost a shame +to add to the number, but I cannot resist writing to tell you how +very much your book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds,' has helped me. My +dear friend Miss F----, who has written to you lately I believe, +first read it to me, and I cannot tell you what a want in my life it +seemed to fill up. I have been always interested in the so-called +Supernatural, feeling very conscious of depths in my own self and in +others that are usually ignored. ... I have been reading as many +books as I could obtain upon Theosophy, but though thankful for the +high thoughts I found in them, I still felt a great want--that of +combining this occult knowledge with my own firm belief in the +Christian religion. Your book seemed to give me just what I wanted-- +IT HAS DEEPENED AND STRENGTHENED MY BELIEF IN AND LOVE TO GOD AND +HAS MADE THE NEW TESTAMENT A NEW BOOK TO ME. Things which I could +not understand before seem clear in the light which your 'Vision' +has thrown upon them, and I cannot remain satisfied without +expressing to you my sincere gratitude. May your book be read by all +who are ready to receive the high truths that it contains! With +thanks, I remain, dear Madam, + +"Yours sincerely, M. S." + + + +LETTER II. + +"MADAM, + +"I am afraid you will think it very presumptuous of a stranger to +address you, but I have lately read your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and have been much struck with it. It has opened my mind to +such new impressions, and seems to be so much what I have been +groping for so long, that I thought if you would be kind enough to +answer this, I might get a firmer hold on those higher things and be +at anchor at last. If you have patience to read so far, you will +imagine I must be very much in earnest to intrude myself on you like +this, but from the tone of your book I do not believe you would +withdraw your hand where you could do good. ... I never thought of +or read of the electric force (or spirit) in every human being +before, but I do believe in it after reading your book, and YOU HAVE +MADE THE NEXT WORLD A LIVING THING TO ME, and raised my feelings +above the disappointments and trials of this life. ... Your book was +put into my hands at a time when I was deeply distressed and in +trouble about my future; but you have shown me how small a thing +this future of OUR life is. ... Would it be asking too much of you +to name any books you think might help me in this new vein of +thought you have given me? Apologizing for having written, believe +me yours sincerely, + +"B. W. L." + +[I answered to the best of my ability the writer of the above, and +later on received another letter as follows:] + +"Forgive my writing to you again on the subject of your 'Romance,' +but I read it so often and think of it so much. I cannot say the +wonderful change your book has wrought in my life, and though very +likely you are constantly hearing of the good it has done, yet it +cannot but be the sweetest thing you can hear--that the seed you +have planted is bringing forth so much fruit. ... The Bible is a new +book to me since your work came into my hands." + + + +LETTER III. + +[The following terribly pathetic avowal is from a clergyman of the +Church of England: ] + +"MADAM, + +"Your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds,' has stopped me on the brink +of what is doubtless a crime, and yet I had come to think it the +only way out of impending madness. I speak of self-destruction-- +suicide. And while writing the word, I beg of you to accept my +gratitude for the timely rescue of my soul. Once I believed in the +goodness of God--but of late years the cry of modern scientific +atheism, 'There is NO God,' has rung in my ears till my brain has +reeled at the desolation and nothingness of the Universe. No good, +no hope, no satisfaction in anything--this world only with all its +mockery and failure--and afterwards annihilation! Could a God design +and create so poor and cruel a jest? So I thought--and the misery of +the thought was more than I could bear. I had resolved to make an +end. No one knew, no one guessed my intent, till one Sunday +afternoon a friend lent me your book. I began to read, and never +left it till I had finished the last page--then I knew I was saved. +Life smiled again upon me in consoling colours, and I write to tell +you that whatever other good your work may do and is no doubt doing, +you have saved both the life and reason of one grateful human being. +If you will write to me a few lines I shall be still more grateful, +for I feel you can help me. I seem to have read Christ's mission +wrong--but with patience and prayer it is possible to redeem my +error. Once more thanking you, I am, + +"Yours with more thankfulness than I can write, + +"L. E. F." + +[I lost no time in replying to this letter, and since then have +frequently corresponded with the writer, from whose troubled mind +the dark cloud has now entirely departed. And I may here venture to +remark that the evils of "modern scientific atheism" are far more +widely spread and deeply rooted than the majority of persons are +aware of, and that many of the apparently inexplicable cases of +self-slaughter on which the formal verdict, "Suicide during a state +of temporary insanity," is passed, have been caused by long and +hopeless brooding on the "nothingness of the Universe"--which, if it +were a true theory, would indeed make of Creation a bitter, nay, +even a senseless jest. The cruel preachers of such a creed have much +to answer for. The murderer who destroys human life for wicked +passion and wantonness is less criminal than the proudly learned, +yet egotistical, and therefore densely ignorant scientist, who, +seeking to crush the soul by his feeble, narrow-minded arguments, +and deny its imperishable nature, dares to spread his poisonous and +corroding doctrines of despair through the world, draining existence +of all its brightness, and striving to erect barriers of distrust +between the creature and the Creator. No sin can be greater than +this; for it is impossible to estimate the measure of evil that may +thus be brought into otherwise innocent and happy lives. The +attitude of devotion and faith is natural to Humanity, while nothing +can be more UNnatural and disastrous to civilization, morality and +law, than deliberate and determined Atheism.--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER IV. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I dare say you have had many letters, but I must add mine to the +number to thank you for your book, the 'Romance of Two Worlds.' I am +deeply interested in the wonderful force we possess, all in a +greater or lesser degree--call it influence, electricity, or what +you will. I have thought much on Theosophy and Psychical Research-- +but what struck me in your book was the glorious selflessness +inculcated and the perfect Majesty of the Divinity clear throughout +--no sweeping away of the Crucified One. I felt a better woman for +the reading of it twice: and I know others, too, who are higher and +better women for such noble thoughts and teaching. ... People for +the most part dream away their lives; one meets so few who really +believe in electrical affinity, and I have felt it so often and for +so long. Forgive my troubling you with this letter, but I am +grateful for your labour of love towards raising men and women. + +"Sincerely yours, + +"R. H." + + + +LETTER V. + +"I should like to know if Marie Corelli honestly believes the theory +which she enunciates in her book, 'The Romance of Two Worlds:' and +also if she has any proof on which to found that same theory?--if +so, the authoress will greatly oblige an earnest seeker after Truth +if she will give the information sought to + +"A. S." + +[I sent a brief affirmative answer to the above note; the "proof" of +the theories set forth in the "Romance" is, as I have already +stated, easily to be found in the New Testament. But there are those +who do not and will not believe the New Testament, and for them +there are no "proofs" of any existing spirituality in earth or +heaven. "Having eyes they see not, and hearing they do not +understand."--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER VI. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I have lately been reading with intense pleasure your 'Romance of +Two Worlds,' and I must crave your forbearance towards me when I +tell you that it has filled me with envy and wonder. I feel sure +that many people must have plied you with questions on the subject +already, but I am certain that you are too earnest and too +sympathetic to feel bored by what is in no sense idle curiosity, but +rather a deep and genuine longing to know the truth. ... To some +minds it would prove such a comfort and such, a relief to have their +vague longings and beliefs confirmed and made tangible, and, as you +know, at the present day so-called Religion, which is often a mere +mixture of dogma and superstition, is scarcely sufficient to do +this. ... I might say a great deal more and weary your patience, +which has already been tried, I fear. But may I venture to hope that +you have some words of comfort and assurance out of your own +experience to give me? With your expressed belief in the good +influence which each may exert over the other, not to speak of a +higher and holier incentive in the example of One (in whom you also +believe) who bids us for His sake to 'Bear one another's burdens,' +you cannot, I think, turn away in impatience from the seeking of a +very earnest soul. + +"Yours sincerely, + +"B. D." + +[I have received about fifty letters written in precisely the same +tone as the above--all more or less complaining of the insufficiency +of "so-called Religion, which is often a mere mixture of dogma and +superstition"--and I ask--What are the preachers of Christ's clear +message about that there should be such plaintively eager anxious +souls as these, who are evidently ready and willing to live noble +lives if helped and encouraged ever so little? Shame on those men +who presume to take up the high vocation of the priesthood for the +sake of self-love, self-interest, worldly advancement, money or +position! These things are not among Christ's teachings. If there +are members of the clergy who can neither plant faith, nor +consolation, nor proper comprehension of God's infinite Beauty and +Goodness in the hearts of their hearers, I say that their +continuance in such sacred office is an offence to the Master whom +they profess to serve. "It must needs be that offences come, but woe +to that man by whom the offence cometh!" To such may be addressed +the words, "Hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against +men; ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are +entering to go in."--AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER VII. + +"MADAM, + +"I hope you will not think it great presumption my writing to you. +My excuse must be that I so much want to believe in he great Spirit +that 'makes for righteousness,' and I cannot! Your book puts it all +so clearly that if I can only know it to be a true experience of +your own, it will go a long way in dispersing the fog that modern +writings surround one with. ... + +"Apologizing for troubling you, I am faithfully yours, + +"C.M.E." + + + +LETTER VIII. + +"MADAM, + +"I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in writing to you. My +excuse must be the very deep interest your book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' has excited in me. I, of course, understand that the STORY +itself is a romance, but in reading it carefully it seems to me that +it is a book written with a purpose. ... The Electric Creed +respecting Religion seems to explain so much in Scripture which has +always seemed to me impossible to accept blindly without explanation +of any kind; and the theory that Christ came to die and to suffer +for us as an Example and a means of communication with God, and not +as a SACRIFICE, clears up a point which has always been to me +personally a stumbling-block. I cannot say how grateful I shall be +if you can tell me any means of studying this subject further; and +trusting you will excuse me for troubling you, I am, Madam, + +"Yours truly, + +"H. B." + +[Once more I may repeat that the idea of a sacrifice to appease +God's anger is purely JEWISH, and has nothing whatever to do with +Christianity according to Christ. He Himself says, "I am the WAY, +the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh to the Father but BY ME" +Surely these words are plain enough, and point unmistakably to a +MEANS OF COMMUNICATION through Christ between the Creator and this +world. Nowhere does the Divine Master say that God is so furiously +angry that he must have the bleeding body of his own messenger, +Christ, hung up before Him as a human sacrifice, as though He could +only be pacified by the scent of blood! Horrible and profane idea! +and one utterly at variance with the tenderness and goodness of "Our +Father" as pictured by Christ in these gentle words--"Fear not, +little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the +Kingdom." Whereas that Christ should come to draw us closer to God +by the strong force of His own Divinity, and by His Resurrection +prove to us the reality of the next life, is not at all a strange or +ungodlike mission, and ought to make us understand more surely than +ever how infinitely pitying and forbearing is the All-Loving One, +that He should, as it were, with such extreme affection show us a +way by which to travel through darkness unto light. To those who +cannot see this perfection of goodness depicted in Christ's own +words, I would say in the terse Oriental maxim: + + "Diving, and finding no pearls in the sea, + Blame not the ocean, the fault is in THEE." + AUTHOR.] + + + +LETTER IX. + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I have lately been reading your remarkable book, 'A Romance of Two +Worlds,' and I feel that I must write to you about it. I have never +viewed Christianity in the broadly transfigured light you throw upon +it, and I have since been studying carefully the four Gospels and +comparing them with the theories in your book. The result has been a +complete and happy change in my ideas of religion, and I feel now as +if I had, like a leper of old, touched the robe of Christ and been +healed of a long-standing infirmity. Will you permit me to ask if +you have evolved this new and beneficent lustre from the Gospel +yourself? or whether some experienced student in mystic matters has +been your instructor? I hear from persons who have seen you that you +are quite young, and I cannot understand how one of your sex and age +seems able so easily to throw light on what to many has been, and is +still, impenetrable darkness. I have been a preacher for some years, +and I thought the Testament was old and familiar to me; but you have +made it a new and marvellous book full of most precious meanings, +and I hope I may be able to impart to those whom it is my duty to +instruct, something of the great consolation and hope your writing +has filled me with. + +"Believe me, + +"Gratefully yours, + +"T.M." + + + +LETTER X. + +"MADAM, + +"Will you tell me what ground you have for the foundation of the +religious theory contained in your book, 'A Romance of Two Worlds'? +Is it a part of your own belief? I am MOST anxious to know this, and +I am sure you will be kind enough to answer me. Till I read your +book I thought myself an Agnostic, but now I am not quite sure of +this. I do not believe in the Deity as depicted by the Churches. I +CANNOT. Over and over again I have asked myself--If there is a God, +why should He be angry? It would surely be easy for Him to destroy +this world entirely as one would blow away an offending speck of +dust, and it would be much better and BRAVER for Him to do this than +to torture His creation. For I call life a torture and certainly a +useless and cruel torture if it is to end in annihilation. I know I +seem to be blasphemous in these remarks, yet if you only knew what I +suffer sometimes! I desire, I LONG to believe. YOU seem so certain +of your Creed--a Creed so noble, reasonable and humane--the God you +depict so worthy of the adoration of a Universe. I BEG of you to +tell me--DO you feel sure of this beneficent all-pervading Love +concerning which you write so eloquently? I do not wish to seem an +intruder on your most secret thought. I want to believe that YOU +believe--and if I felt this, the tenor of my whole life might +change. Help me if you can--I stand in real need of help. You may +judge I am very deeply in earnest, or I should not have written to +you. + +"Yours faithfully, + +"A. W. L." + +***** + +Of such letters as these I have received enough to make a volume of +themselves; but I think the ten I have selected are sufficient to +show how ardent and inextinguishable is the desire or STRAINING +UPWARD, like a flower to the light, of the human Soul for those +divine things which nourish it. Scarcely a day passes without my +receiving more of these earnest and often pathetic appeals for a +little help, a little comfort, a little guidance, enough to make +one's heart ache at the thought of so much doubt and desolation +looming cloud-like over the troubled minds of many who would +otherwise lead not only happy but noble and useful lives. When will +the preachers learn to preach Christ simply--Christ without human +dogmas or differences? When shall we be able to enter a building set +apart for sacred worship--a building of finest architectural beauty, +"glorious without and within," like the "King's Daughter" of David's +psalm--glorious with, light, music, flowers, and art of the noblest +kind (for Art is God's own inspiration to men, and through it He +should be served), there to hear the pure, unselfish doctrine of +Christ as He Himself preached it? For such a temple, the time has +surely come--a nook sacred to God, and untainted by the breath of +Mammon, where we could adore our Creator "in spirit and in truth." +The evils of nineteeth-century cynicism and general flippancy of +thought--great evils as they are and sure prognostications of worse +evils to come--cannot altogether crush out the Divine flame burning +in the "few" that are "chosen," though these few are counted as +fools and dreamers. Yet they shall be proved wise and watchful ere +long. The signs of the times are those that indicate an approaching +great upheaval and change in human destinies. This planet we call +ours is in some respects like ourselves: it was born; it has had its +infancy, its youth, its full prime; and now its age has set in, and +with age the first beginnings of decay. Absorbed once more into the +Creative Circle IT MUST BE; and when again thrown forth among its +companion-stars, our race will no more inhabit it. We shall have had +our day--our little chance--we shall have lost or won. Christ said, +"This generation shall not pass away till all My words be +fulfilled," the word "generation" thus used meaning simply the human +race. We put a very narrow limit to the significance of the +Saviour's utterance when we imagine that the generation He alluded +to implied merely the people living in His own day. In the depths of +His Divine wisdom He was acquainted with all the secrets of the Past +and Future; He had no doubt seen this very world peopled by widely +different beings to ourselves, and knew that what we call the human +race is only a passing tribe permitted for a time to sojourn here. +What a strangely presumptuous idea is that which pervades the minds +of the majority of persons--namely, that Mankind, as we know it, +must be the highest form of creation, simply because it is the +highest form WE can see! How absurd it is to be so controlled by our +limited vision, when we cannot even perceive the minute wonders that +a butterfly beholds, or pierce the sunlit air with anything like the +facility possessed by the undazzled eyes of an upward-soaring bird! +Nay, we cannot examine the wing of a common house-fly without the +aid of a microscope--to observe the facial expression of our own +actors on the stage we look through opera-glasses--to form any idea +of the wonders of the stars we construct telescopes to assist our +feeble and easily deluded sight; and yet--yet we continue to parcel +out the infinite gradations of creative Force and Beauty entirely to +suit our own private opinions, and conclude that WE are the final +triumph of the Divine Artist's Supreme Intelligence! Alas! in very +truth we are a sorry spectacle both to our soberly thinking selves +and the Higher Powers, invited, as it were, to spend our life's +brief day in one of God's gardens as His friends and guests, who +certainly are not expected to abuse their Host's hospitality, and, +ignoring Him, call themselves the owners and masters of the ground! +For we are but wanderers beneath the sun; a "generation" which must +most surely and rapidly "pass away" to make room for another; and as +the work of the Universe is always progressive, that other will be +of nobler capacity and larger accomplishment. So while we are here, +let us think earnestly of the few brief chances remaining to us-- +they grow fewer every hour. On one side is the endless, glorious +heritage of the purely aspiring, Immortal Spirit; on the other the +fleeting Mirage of this our present Existence; and, midway between +the two, the swinging pendulum of HUMAN WILL, which decides our +fate. God does not choose for us, or compel our love--we are free to +fashion out our own futures; but in making our final choice we +cannot afford to waste one moment of our precious, unreturning +time. + +MARIE CORELLI. + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance Of Two Worlds, by Marie Corelli + diff --git a/old/twwrl10.zip b/old/twwrl10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..13f7c13 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/twwrl10.zip |