and savage hordes of the Celt, and became the Greeks of the
Christian world. But this interests you not, and you are wise in
your indifference. Not in the knowledge of things without, but in the
perfection of the soul within, lies the empire of man aspiring to be
more than man."

"And what books contain that science; from what laboratory is it
wrought?"

"Nature supplies the materials; they are around you in your daily walks.
In the herbs that the beast devours and the chemist disdains to cull; in
the elements from which matter in its meanest and its mightiest shapes
is deduced; in the wide bosom of the air; in the black abysses of the
earth; everywhere are given to mortals the resources and libraries
of immortal lore. But as the simplest problems in the simplest of
all studies are obscure to one who braces not his mind to their
comprehension; as the rower in yonder vessel cannot tell you why two
circles can touch each other only in one point,--so though all earth
were carved over and inscribed with the letters of diviner knowledge,
the characters would be valueless to him who does not pause to inquire
the language and meditate the truth. Young man, if thy imagination is
vivid, if thy heart is daring, if thy curiosity is insatiate, I will
accept thee as my pupil. But the first lessons are stern and dread."

"If thou hast mastered them, why not I?" answered Glyndon, boldly. "I
have felt from my boyhood that strange mysteries were reserved for my
career; and from the proudest ends of ordinary ambition I have carried
my gaze into the cloud and darkness that stretch beyond. The instant I
beheld Zanoni, I felt as if I had discovered the guide and the tutor for
which my youth had idly languished and vainly burned."

"And to me his duty is transferred," replied the stranger. "Yonder lies,
anchored in the bay, the vessel in which Zanoni seeks a fairer home;
a little while and the breeze will rise, the sail will swell; and the
stranger will have passed, like a wind, away. Still, like the wind, he
leaves in thy heart the seeds that may bear the blossom and the fruit.
Zanoni hath performed his task,--he is wanted no more; the perfecter of
his work is at thy side. He comes! I hear the dash of the oar. You will
have your choice submitted to you. According as you decide we shall meet
again." With these words the stranger moved slowly away, and disappeared
beneath the shadow of the cliffs. A boat glided rapidly across the
waters: