We all assented.  He went on: 

“You are quite correct.  They correspond exactly.  And yet when Queen Tera was laid in her tomb, neither the stars in the Jewel nor the translucent places in the Coffer corresponded to the position of the stars in the Constellation as they then were!”

We looked at each other as he paused:  a new light was breaking upon us.  With a ring of mastery in his voice he went on: 

“Do you not see the meaning of this?  Does it not throw a light on the intention of the Queen?  She, who was guided by augury, and magic, and superstition, naturally chose a time for her resurrection which seemed to have been pointed out by the High Gods themselves, who had sent their message on a thunderbolt from other worlds.  When such a time was fixed by supernal wisdom, would it not be the height of human wisdom to avail itself of it?  Thus it is”—­here his voice deepened and trembled with the intensity of his feeling—­“that to us and our time is given the opportunity of this wondrous peep into the old world, such as has been the privilege of none other of our time; which may never be again.

“From first to last the cryptic writing and symbolism of that wondrous tomb of that wondrous woman is full of guiding light; and the key of the many mysteries lies in that most wondrous Jewel which she held in her dead hand over the dead heart, which she hoped and believed would beat again in a newer and nobler world!

“There are only loose ends now to consider.  Margaret has given us the true inwardness of the feeling of the other Queen!” He looked at her fondly, and stroked her hand as he said it.  “For my own part I sincerely hope she is right; for in such case it will be a joy, I am sure, to all of us to assist at such a realisation of hope.  But we must not go too fast, or believe too much in our present state of knowledge.  The voice that we hearken for comes out of times strangely other than our own; when human life counted for little, and when the morality of the time made little account of the removing of obstacles in the way to achievement of desire.  We must keep our eyes fixed on the scientific side, and wait for the developments on the psychic side.

“Now, as to this stone box, which we call the Magic Coffer.  As I have said, I am convinced that it opens only in obedience to some principle of light, or the exercise of some of its forces at present unknown to us.  There is here much ground for conjecture and for experiment; for as yet the scientists have not thoroughly differentiated the kinds, and powers, and degrees of light.  Without analysing various rays we may, I think, take it for granted that there are different qualities and powers of light; and this great field of scientific investigation is almost virgin soil.  We know as yet so little of natural forces, that imagination need set no bounds to its flights in considering the possibilities of the future.  Within but a few years we have made