brought no explanation!  How it had stolen upon me like an echo from far away, when alone in the pauses of work and thought I had longed for some comprehension and sympathy!  And I had reproached myself for my own fancies and imaginings, deeming them wholly foolish and irresponsible!  And now!  Now its gentle and familiar tone went straight to the centre of my spiritual consciousness, and forced me to realise that for the Soul there is no escape from its immortal remembrance!

XI

ONE WAY OF LOVE

“When I left Oxford,” he said—­“as I told you before, I left what I conceived to be slavery—­that is, a submissively ordered routine of learning in which there occurred nothing new—­nothing hopeful—­ nothing really serviceable.  I mastered all there was to master, and carried away ‘honours’ which I deemed hardly worth winning.  It was supposed then—­most people would suppose it—­that as I found myself the possessor of an income of between five and six thousand a year, I would naturally ‘live my life,’ as the phrase goes, and enter upon what is called a social career.  Now to my mind a social career simply means social sham—­and to live my life had always a broader application for me than for the majority of men.  So, having ascertained all I could concerning myself and my affairs from my father’s London solicitors, and learning exactly how I was situated with regard to finances and what is called the ‘practical’ side of life, I left England for Egypt, the land where I was born.  I had an object in view,—­and that object was not only to see my own old home, but to find out the whereabouts of a certain great sage and mystic philosopher long known in the East by the name of Heliobas.”

I started, and the blood rushed to my cheeks in a burning flame.

“I think you knew him,” he went on, addressing me directly, with a straight glance—­“You met him some years back, did you not?”

I bent my head in silent assent,—­and saw the eyes of my host and hostess turned upon me in questioning scrutiny.

“In a certain circle of students and mystics he was renowned,” continued Santoris,—­“and I resolved to see what he could make of me—­what he would advise, and how I should set to work to discover what I had resolved to find.  However, at the end of a long and tedious journey, I met with disappointment—­Heliobas had removed to another sphere of action—­”

“He was dead, you mean,” interposed Mr. Harland.

“Not at all,” answered Santoris, calmly.  “There is no death.  To put it quite simply, he had reached the top of his class in this particular school of life and learning and, therefore, was ready and willing to pass on into the higher grade.  He, however, left a successor capable of maintaining the theories he inculcated,—­a man named Aselzion, who elected to live in an almost inaccessible spot among mountains with a few followers and disciples.  Him I found after considerable difficulty—­and we came to understand each other so well that I stayed with him some time studying all that he deemed needful before I started on my own voyage of discovery.  His methods of instruction were arduous and painful—­in fact, I may say I went through a veritable ordeal of fire—­”