lt to
fit into the scheme."

"You agree with me that the war, which was born of ignorance, will bear
the fruit of truth?"

"I agree that it will bear the fruit of truth, but I do not agree that
it was born of ignorance. Men did not cause the war. It is a visitation
from higher powers, and therefore has a grand purpose. There are no
accidents in the scheme of the universe."

"You think those higher powers are powers of good?"

"Wherever the powers of darkness walk the Powers of Light stand arrayed
before them."

There was a muffled crash in the adjoining room, which brought Paul,
startled, to his feet. He crossed the library and entered the panelled
dining-room. The portrait of Sir Jacques had fallen from its place above
the mantelpiece, breaking a number of ornaments as it fell. Davison was
already on the spot and stood surveying the wreckage.

"The 'eat of the extraordinary fire, no doubt, sir," he said. "The 'ook
is loosened, as you observe."

Paul stared at the man with unseeing eyes; he was striving to grasp the
symbolic significance of the incident, but it eluded him, and presently
he returned to the library, where Jules Thessaly was glancing at a book
which he had taken from a shelf apparently at random.

"An accident?"

"Yes. A picture has fallen. Nothing serious."

"Ah. Do you know this war-writer?" Thessaly held up the book in his
hand--"Rudolf Kjellen."

"By name," replied Paul, absently. "Does he understand?"

"Up to a point. His thesis is that a great and inevitable world-drama is
being played and that he who seeks its cause in mere human plotting and
diplomacy is a fool. States are superhuman but living biological
personalities, dynamic, and moving toward inevitable ends beyond human
control."

"He is mad. All the German propagandists are mad. The insanity of
Germany is part of the scheme of the world-change through which we are
passing. He recognises the superhuman forces at work and in the same
breath babbles of 'states.' There is only one earthly State and to that
State all humanity belongs."

Jules Thessaly returned Kjellen's work to its place. "If I do not
misunderstand you," he said, fixing his gaze upon Paul, "you contemplate
telling the world that the churches have misinterpreted Revelation and
that Christ as well as the other Masters actually revealed reincarnation
as the secret of heaven and hell?"

"That is my intention."

"Your audience is a vast one, Mr. Mario. No man for