lanced into your hearts, and I will tell you that which I have
therein read. You, Hans Rudolph von Bischofswerder, belong to the world;
its joys and sorrows agitate you. You have a longing for science and the
knowledge of the Invisibles, and you would also enjoy the Visibles, and
take part in the pleasures of life. What you would allow yourself, that
you would also grant to your royal master, whose friend and leader you
are, and who, one day, will be the future king and ruler of the visible
world, and a faithful son and servant of the Invisibles. Is it not
thus?"

"It is so," answered Bischofswerder, who, with wondering astonishment,
drank in every word that fell from Cagliostro's lips as a revelation.
"You have read the inmost thoughts of my heart, and what I scarcely
suspected myself, you are knowing of, lord and master."

"Toil and strive, my son, and you shall rise to the highest grade, in
which presentiment and recognition, thinking and knowing, are one."

He extended to Bischofswerder his hand, who fervently pressed it to his
lips; then turned to Wollner, who, with upturned gaze and folded hands,
might have been praying, for his thumbs were not turning around, but
rested, quietly crossed.

"You, my son and brother," continued Cagliostro, with his lofty, haughty
reserve, "your thoughts are diverted from earth, and the joys of this
world have no charm for you!" "I have laid the oath of virtue and
chastity upon the altar of the Invisibles," replied Wollner, with
a severe tone of voice. "I have given myself to a pious life of
abstinence, and sworn to employ every means to lead those that I can
attain to upon the narrow path which leads to the paradise of science,
of knowledge, and heavenly joys. How could I forget my oath, which is to
win the prince, who is to become a light and shield in the holy order,
from the broad course of vice, to the pathway of the blest? How can I
bear to see him lost in sin who is elected to virtue, and who longs for
the light of knowledge?"

"But, in order to bear the light in its brightness, he must have passed
through the darkness and gloom of sin," said Cagliostro. "After the days
of error follow those of knowledge. This is what causes the mildness
of our brother Theophilus, whom the earthly world calls Bischofswerder,
whilst you, brother Chrysophorus, demand from the prince the severest
virtue, which is the first great vow of the brothers advancing in the
holy order of the Rosicruc