he feeling of awe
with which she already regarded him. At first there was no room for love
in the passionate desire after knowledge which drew her to him. She was
merely a disciple sitting at the feet of the great master. Accompanied
by her father, she continued her studies under him when he returned to
Paris, and for three months they were bound together wholly by
intellectual interest. For several hours every day they studied side by
side, and much of Iclea's time was spent in translating papers in
foreign languages, bearing on subjects in which Georges was interested.
One morning he arrived earlier than usual, his eyes shining with joy.

"I have settled the problem," he cried, leaning against the mantelpiece.
"At least," he added, with his usual modesty, "I have settled it to my
own satisfaction."

Striding up and down the room, he rapidly sketched out a system of
philosophy in which the ultimate truths of modern science were
transformed into the bases of religion. Iclea listened to him in silence
as he went on to explain the spiritual forces still dormant in the human
soul.

"We are still in our spiritual infancy," he said. "It is scarcely four
thousand years since mankind began to manifest its higher powers. Our
greatest conquests over nature are all of recent date, and they are the
work of a few noble souls who have erected themselves above the animal
conditions of life. The reign of brute force is over, and I am certain
that as soon as we learn to exercise the powers of our soul we shall
acquire transcendental faculties that will enable us to transport
ourselves from one world to another."

"That, too, is my belief," said Iclea.

Georges bent over her and gazed into her eyes of heavenly blue through
which her very soul was speaking. There was a strange silence, and then
their lips met.

* * * * *

For some months I lost sight of my two friends. In the ecstasy of their
love they forgot for a while the problems of philosophy which had
brought them together. The joys of intellectual communion were submerged
and almost lost in the new, strange feeling which crowned and glorified
their lives. Hand in hand the lovers wandered about Paris, which had now
become to them a city in fairyland. Meeting them one evening on the
banks of the Seine, I learned that they were returning to Norway with
Iclea's father, and that they were to be married at Christiania on the
anniversary of the mys