r god, as does Oro,
my father. I want--oh! so much, Humphrey, to learn whether we live after
death."

"You!" I exclaimed. "You who, according to the story, have slept for
two hundred and fifty thousand years! You, who have, unless I mistake,
hinted that during that sleep you may have lived in other shapes! Do you
doubt whether we can live after death?"

"Yes. Sleep induced by secret arts is not death, and during that sleep
the I within might wander and inhabit other shapes, because it is
forbidden to be idle. Moreover, what seems to be death may not be death,
only another form of sleep from which the I awakes again upon the world.
But at last comes the real death, when the I is extinguished to the
world. That much I know, because my people learned it."

"You mean, you know that men and women may live again and again upon the
world?"

"Yes, Humphrey, I do. For in the world there is only a certain store of
life which in many forms travels on and on, till the lot of each I is
fulfilled. Then comes the real death, and after that--what, oh!--what?"

"You must ask Bastin," I said humbly. "I cannot dare to teach of such
matters."

"No, but you can and do believe, and that helps me, Humphrey, who am
in tune with you. Yes, it helps me much more than do Bastin and his new
religion, because such is woman's way. Now, I think Bickley will soon
return, so let us talk of other matters. Tell me of the history of your
people, Humphrey, that my father says are now at war."

Chapter XVIII. The Accident

Bickley did return, having recovered his temper, since after all it was
impossible for anyone to remain angry with the Lady Yva for long, and we
spent a very happy time together. We instructed and she was the humble
pupil.

How swift and nimble was her intelligence! In that one morning she
learned all our alphabet and how to write our letters. It appeared that
among her people, at any rate in their later periods, the only form of
writing that was used was a highly concentrated shorthand which saved
labour. They had no journals, since news which arrived telepathically
or by some form of wireless was proclaimed to those who cared to listen,
and on it all formed their own judgments. In the same way poems and even
romances were repeated, as in Homer's day or in the time of the Norse
sagas, by word of mouth. None of their secret knowledge was written
down. Like the ritual of Freemasonry it was considered too sacred.

Moreover