will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?'
So--as we read--the rumour went forth that John was the one disciple
for whom there should be no death. And now--to go on with the
legend--it is believed by many, that deep in the as yet unexplored
depths of the deserts of Egypt--miles and miles over rolling sand-waves
which once formed the bed of a vast ocean, there stands a great city
whose roofs and towers are seemingly of brass,--a city barricaded and
built in by walls of brass and guarded by gates of brass. Here dwells a
race apart--a race of beautiful human creatures who have discovered the
secret of perpetual youth and immortality on this earth. They have seen
the centuries come and go,--the flight of time touches them not,--they
only await the day when the whole world will be free to them--that
'world to come' which is not made for the 'many,' but the 'few.' All
the discoveries of our modern science are known to them--our inventions
are their common everyday appliances--and on the wings of air and rays
of light they hear and know all that goes on in every country. Our wars
and politics are no more to them than the wars and politics of ants in
ant-hills,--they have passed beyond all trivialities such as these.
They have discovered the secret of life's true enjoyment--and--they
enjoy!"

"That's a fine story if true!" said Colonel Boyd--

"But all the same, it must be dull work living shut up in a city with
nothing to do,--doomed to be young and to last for ever!"

Morgana had listened intently,--her eyes were brilliant.

"Yes--I think it would be dull after a couple of hundred years or
so"--she said--"One would have tested all life's possibilities and
pleasures by then."

"I am not so sure of that!" put in the Marchese Rivardi--"With youth
nothing could become tiresome--youth knows no ennui."

Some of the other listeners to the conversation laughed.

"I cannot quite agree to that"--said a lady who had not yet
spoken--"Nowadays the very children are 'bored' and ever looking for
something new--it is just as if the world were 'played out'--and
another form of planet expected."

"That is where we retain the vitality of our faith--" said Don
Aloysius--"We expect--we hope! We believe in an immortal progress
towards an ever Higher Good."

"But I think even a soul may grow tired!" said Morgana, suddenly--"so
tired that even the Highest Good may seem hardly worth possessing!"

There was a moment's silence.