Her look and manner had completely changed, and I was at once on my guard.

“My name and reputation are my own to protect,”—­I answered, coldly--"Whatever I do I shall be ready to answer for to anyone having the right to ask.”

The old man now advanced and laid his hand on my arm.  His eyes sparkled angrily.

“You must be saved from yourself”—­he said, sharply, “You must come with us whether you will or no!  We have seen too many victims of Aselzion’s art already—­we are resolved to save you from the peril which threatens you.”

And he made an effort to draw me closer to him—­but my spirit was up and I held back with all my force.

“No, I will not go with you!” I exclaimed, hotly—­“God alone shall remove me from harm if any harm is really meant towards me.  I do not believe one word you have said against Rafel Santoris or against Aselzion—­I love the one, and I trust the other!—­let me go my own way in peace!”

Hardly had I spoken these words when both the old man and woman threw themselves upon me and seizing me by force, endeavoured to drag me away with them.  I resisted with all my strength, still holding tightly the book of the ‘Secret of Life’ in one hand.  But their united efforts were beginning to overpower me, and feeling myself growing weaker and weaker I cried aloud in desperation: 

“Rafel!  Rafel!”

In an instant I stood free.  My captors loosed their hold of me, and I rushed away, not knowing whither—­only running, running, running, afraid of pursuit—­till I suddenly found myself alone on the borders of a dark stretch of water spreading away in cold blackness to an unseen horizon.

XVIII

DREAMS WITHIN A DREAM

I stopped abruptly, brought perforce to a standstill.  There was nothing but the black water heaving in front of me with a slow and dizzying motion and faintly illumined by a dim, pearly light like that of a waning moon.  I looked behind me, fearing my persecutors were following, and saw that a thick mist filled the air and space to the obliteration of everything that might otherwise have been visible.  I had thought it was day, and that the sun was shining, but now it appeared to be night.  Utterly fatigued in body and mind, I sank down wearily on the ground, close to the edge of the strange dark flood which I could scarcely see.  The quiet and deep obscurity had a lulling effect on my senses—­and I thought languidly how good it would be if I might be allowed to rest where I was for an indefinite time.

“I can understand”—­I said to myself—­“why many people long for death and pray for it as a great blessing!  They have lost love—­and without love, life is valueless.  To live on and on through cycles of time in worlds that are empty of all sweetness,—­companionless and deprived of hope and comfort—­this would be hell!—­not heaven!”

“Hell—­not heaven!” said a voice near me.