“Yes!—­your first lesson!” he answered, smiling gravely—­“The first lesson in what you have come here to learn,—­the perpetuation of your life on earth for just so long as you desire it—­the secret which gives to Rafel Santoris his youth and strength and power, as well as his governance over certain elemental forces.  But first take this”—­and he poured out from a quaintly shaped flask a full glass of deep red-coloured wine—­“This is no magic potion—­it is simply a form of nourishment which will be safer for you than solid food,—­ and I know you have eaten nothing all day since your light breakfast.  Drink it all—­every drop!”

I obeyed—­it seemed tasteless and strengthless, like pure water.

“Now”—­he continued—­“I will put before you a very simple illustration of the truth which underlies all Nature.  If you were taken into a vast plain, and there saw two opposing armies, the one actuated by a passion for destruction, the other moved only by a desire for good, you would naturally wish the latter force to win, would you not?”

I answered “Yes” at once, without hesitation.

“But suppose”—­he went on—­“that both armies were actuated by good, and that the object of the destroying force was only to break down what was effete and mischievous, in order to build it up again in stronger and nobler forms, while the aim of the other was to strictly preserve and maintain the advantages it possessed, which side would then have your sympathy?”

I tried to think, but could not instantly determine.

“Here is your point of hesitation,”—­he said—­“and here the usual limit of human comprehension.  Both forces are good,—­but as a rule we can only side with one.  We name that one Life,—­the other Death.  We think Life alone stands for what is living, and that Death is a kind of cessation of Life instead of being one of Life’s most active forms.  The Universe is entirely composed of these two fighting forces—­we call them good and evil—­but there is no evil-there is only a destruction of what might be harmful if allowed to exist.  To put it clearly, the million millions of atoms and electrons which compose the everlasting elements of Spirit and Matter are dual—­that is to say, of two kinds—­those which preserve their state of equilibrium, and those whose work is to disintegrate, in order to build up again.  As with the Universe, so with the composition of a human being.  In you, as in myself, there exist these two forces—­and our souls are, so to speak, placed on guard between them.  The one set of atoms is prepared to maintain the equilibrium of health and life, but if through the neglect and unwatchfulness of the sentinel Soul any of them are allowed to become disused and effete, the other set, whose business it is to disintegrate whatever is faulty and useless for the purpose of renewing it in better form, begins to work—­and this disintegrating process is our conception of decay and death.  Yet, as a matter of fact, such process cannot even begin without our consent and collusion.  Life can be retained in our possession for an indefinite period on this earth,—­but it can only be done through our own actions—­our own wish and will.”