en happens, both on earth and in heaven, I
had found something of which I was not in search, while the work which I
had estimated so highly, and prepared myself so ardently for, had never
been given to me to do at all.

But for the moment I had but one single thought. I was to see Cynthia
again, and I might then expect my own summons to return to life. What
surprised me, on looking back at my present sojourn, was the extreme
apparent fortuitousness of it. It had not been seemingly organised or
laid out on any plan; and yet it had shown me this, that my own
intentions and desires counted for nothing. I had meant to work, and I
had been mostly idle; I had intended to study psychology, and I had
found love. How much wiser and deeper it had all been than anything
which I had designed!

Even now I was uncertain how to find Cynthia. But recollecting that
Amroth had warned me that I had gained new powers which I might
exercise, I set myself to use them. I concentrated myself upon the
thought of Cynthia; and in a moment, just as the hand of a man in a
dark room, feeling for some familiar object, encounters and closes upon
the thing he is seeking, I seemed to touch and embrace the thought of
Cynthia. I directed myself thither. The breeze fanned my hair, and as I
opened my eyes I saw that I was in an unfamiliar place--not the forest
where I had left Cynthia, but in a terraced garden, under a great hill,
wooded to the peak. Stone steps ran up through the terraces, the topmost
of which was crowned by a long irregular building, very quaintly
designed. I went up the steps, and, looking about me, caught sight of
two figures seated on a wooden seat at a little distance from me,
overlooking the valley. One of these was Cynthia. The other was a young
and beautiful woman; the two were talking earnestly together. Suddenly
Cynthia turned and saw me, and rising quickly, came to me and caught me
in her arms.

"I was sure you were somewhere near me, dearest," she said; "I dreamed
of you last night, and you have been in my thoughts all day."

My darling was in some way altered. She looked older, wiser, and calmer,
but she was in my eyes even more beautiful. The other girl, who had
looked at us in surprise for a moment, rose too and came shyly forwards.
Cynthia caught her hand, and presented her to me, adding, "And now you
must leave us alone for a little, if you will forgive me for asking it,
for we have much to ask and to say."

The girl