XXI

Some time after this I was surprised one morning at the sudden entrance of Amroth into my cell.  He came in with a very bright and holiday aspect, and, assuming a paternal air, said that he had heard a very creditable account of my work and conduct, and that he had obtained leave for me to have an exeat.  I suppose that I showed signs of impatience at the interruption, for he broke into a laugh, and said, “Well, I am going to insist.  I believe you are working too hard, and we must not overstrain our faculties.  It was bad enough, in the old days, but then it was generally the poor body which suffered first.  But indeed it is quite possible to overwork here, and you have the dim air of the pale student.  Come,” he said, “whatever happens, do not become priggish.  Not to want a holiday is a sign of spiritual pride.  Besides, I have some curious things to show you.”

I got up and said that I was ready, and Amroth led the way like a boy out for a holiday.  He was brimming over with talk, and told me some stories about my friends in the land of delight, interspersing them with imitation of their manner and gesture, which made me giggle—­Amroth was an admirable mimic.  “I had hopes of Charmides,” he said; “your stay there aroused his curiosity.  But he has gone back to his absurd tones and half-tones, and is nearly insupportable.  Cynthia is much more sensible, but Lucius is a nuisance, and Charmides, by the way, has become absurdly jealous of him.  They really are very silly; but I have a pleasant plot, which I will unfold to you.”

As we went down the interminable stairs, I said to Amroth, “There is a question I want to ask you.  Why do we have to go and come, up and down, backwards and forwards, in this absurd way, as if we were still in the body?  Why not just slip off the leads, and fly down over the crags like a pair of pigeons?  It all seems to me so terribly material.”

Amroth looked at me with a smile.  “I don’t advise you to try,” he said.  “Why, little brother, of course we are just as limited here in these ways.  The material laws of earth are only a type of the laws here.  They all have a meaning which remains true.”

“But,” I said, “we can visit the earth with incredible rapidity?”

“How can I explain?” said Amroth.  “Of course we can do that, because the material universe is so extremely small in comparison.  All the stars in the world are here but as a heap of sand, like the motes which dance in a sunbeam.  There is no question of size, of course!  But there is such a thing as spiritual nearness and spiritual distance for all that.  The souls who do not return to earth are very far off, as you will sometime see.  But we messengers have our short cuts, and I shall take advantage of them to-day.”