t
thy tears, died thy deaths? One with My Father, and yet one with thee,
I demand thy love, and so through Me shalt thou attain immortal life!"

I felt a touch upon me like a scorching flame--a thrill rushed through
my being--and then I knew that I was sinking down, down, further and
further away. I saw that wondrous Figure standing serene and smiling
between the retiring waves of electric radiance. I saw the great inner
sphere revolve, and glitter as it rolled, like an enormous diamond
encircled with gold and sapphire, and then all suddenly the air grew
dim and cloudy, and the sensation of falling became more and more
rapid. Azul was beside me still, and I also perceived the outline of my
guardian Angel's form, though that was growing indistinct. I now
recalled the request of Heliobas, and spoke:

"Azul, tell me what shadow rests upon the life of him to whom I am now
returning?"

Azul looked at me earnestly, and replied:

"Thou daring one! Seekest thou to pierce the future fate of others? Is
it not enough for thee to have heard the voice that maketh the Angel's
singing silent, and wouldst thou yet know more?"

I was full of a strange unhesitating courage, therefore I said
fearlessly:

"He is thy Beloved one, Azul--thy Twin Soul; and wilt thou let him fall
away from thee when a word or sign might save him?"

"Even as he is my Beloved, so let him not fail to hear my voice,"
replied Azul, with a tinge of melancholy. "For though he has
accomplished much, he is as yet but mortal. Thou canst guide him thus
far; tell him, when death lies like a gift in his hand, let him
withhold it, and remember me. And now, my friend--farewell!"

I would have spoken again, but could not. An oppressed sensation came
over me, and I seemed to plunge coldly into a depth of inextricable
blackness. I felt cramped for room, and struggled for existence, for
motion, for breath. What had happened to me? I wondered indignantly.
Was I a fettered prisoner? had I lost the use of my light aerial limbs
that had borne me so swiftly through the realms of space? What crushing
weight overpowered me? why such want of air and loss of delightful
ease? I sighed restlessly and impatiently at the narrow darkness in
which I found myself--a sorrowful, deep, shuddering sigh .... and WOKE!
That is to say, I languidly opened mortal eyes to find myself once more
pent up in mortal frame, though I retained a perfect remembrance and
consciousness of everything I had