h of them keeping its
awful secrets locked in its floating orb. He trembled in presence of
the stupendous Whole, of which thus by degrees he became aware, and
though it frightened him, thought with pity of the busy millions of
mankind to whom such mysteries are nothing at all; who are lost in
their business or idleness, in their eating, drinking, sleeping,
love-making, and general satisfaction of the instincts which they
possess in common with every other animal. The yearning for wisdom, the
desire to know, entered his young heart and possessed it, as once these
did that of Solomon, to such a degree indeed, that standing on the
threshold of his days, he would have paid them all away, and with them
his share in this warm and breathing world, could he have been assured
that in exchange he would receive the key of the treasure-house of the
Infinite.

Such an attitude was neither healthy nor natural to a normal, vigorous
lad just entering upon manhood, and, as will be seen, it did not
endure. Like everything else, it had its causes. His astronomical
studies were one of these, but a deeper reason was to be found in those
Sunday seances at the Villa Ogilvy. For a long while Godfrey did not
know what happened to him on these occasions. The party sat round the
little table, talking of wonderful things; Madame Riennes looked at him
and sometimes took his hand, which he did not like, and then he
remembered no more until he woke up, feeling tired, and yet in a way
exhilarated, for with the mysteries of hypnotic sleep he was not yet
acquainted. Nor did it occur to him that he was being used a medium by
certain of the most advanced spiritualists in the world.

By degrees, however, inklings of the truth began to come. Thus, one day
his consciousness awoke while his body seemed still to be wrapt in
trance, and he saw that there was a person present who had not been of
the party when he went to sleep. A young woman, clad in a white robe,
with lovely hair flowing down her back, stood by his side and held his
supine fingers in her hand.

She was beautiful, and yet unearthly, she wore ornaments also, but as
he watched, to his amazement these seemed to change. What had been a
fillet of white stones, like diamonds, which bound her hair, turned to
one of red stones, like rubies, and as it did so the colour of her
eyes, which were large and very tranquil, altered.

She was speaking in a low, rich voice to Miss Ogilvy, who answered,
addre