on the portrait that represented it could forget or mistake.  The form, the dress, the long white hair and beard, the grave, dignified countenance, above all the deep, scrutinising, piercing eyes of the Founder—­as I had seen them on a single occasion in Esmo’s house—­were now as clearly, as forcibly, presented to my sight as any figure in the flesh I ever beheld.  The eyes were turned on me with a calm, searching, steady gaze, whose effect was such as Southey ascribes to Indra’s:—­

  “The look he gave was solemn, not severe;
   No hope to Kailyal it conveyed,
   And yet it struck no fear.”

For a moment they rested on Eveena’s veiled and drooping figure with a widely different expression.  That look, as I thought, spoke a grave but passionless regret or pity, as of one who sees a child unconsciously on the verge of peril or sorrow that admits neither of warning nor rescue.  That look happily she did not read; but we both saw the same object and in the same instant; we both stood amazed and appalled long enough to render our hesitation not only apparent, but striking to all around, many of whom, following the direction of my gaze, turned their eyes upon the Throne.  What they saw or did not see I know not, and did not then care to think.  The following formula, pronounced by Esmo, had fallen not unheard, but almost unheeded on my ears, though one passage harmonised strangely with the sight before me:—­

  “Passing sign and fleeting breath
   Bind the Soul for life and death! 
   Lifted hand and plighted word
   Eyes have seen and ears have heard;
   Eyes have seen—­nor ours alone;
   Fell the sound on ears unknown. 
   Age-long labour, strand by strand,
   Forged the immemorial band;
   Never thread hath known decay,
   Never link hath dropped away.”

Here he paused and beckoned us to advance.  The sign, twice repeated before I could obey it, at last broke the spell that enthralled me.  Under the most astounding or awe-striking circumstances, instinct moves our limbs almost in our own despite, and leads us to do with paralysed will what has been intended or is expected of us.  This instinct, and no conscious resolve to overcome the influence that held me spell-bound, enabled me to proceed; and I led Eveena forward by actual if gentle force, till we reached the lower step of the platform.  Here, at a sign from her father, we knelt, while, laying his hands on our heads, and stooping to kiss each upon the brow—­Eveena raising her veil for one moment and dropping it again—­he continued—­

  “So we greet you evermore,
   Brethren of the deathless Lore;
   So your vows our own renew,
   Sworn to all as each to you. 
   Yours at once the secrets won
   Age by age, from sire to son;
   Yours the fruit through countless years
   Grown by thought and toil and tears. 
   He who guards you guards his own,
   He who fails you fails the Throne.”