As I did so, I lost sight of Aselzion—­of the chapel and of all those who watched my movements, and found myself surrounded on all sides by darting points of light which instead of scorching and withering me like a blown leaf in a storm, were like cool and fragrant showers playing all over me!  Amazed, I went on—­and as I went grew bolder.  At one step I was bathed in a rain of delicate rays like sparkling diamond and topaz—­at another a lovely violet light shrouded me in its rich hues—­at another I walked in melting azure, like the hues of a summer sky—­and the farther in I went the deeper and more glowing was the light about me.  I felt it penetrating every pore of my skin—­I held my hands out to it, and saw them look transparent in the fine luminance,—­and presently, gaining courage, I threw back my veil and breathed in the radiance, as one breathes the air!  My whole body grew light, and moved as though it floated rather than walked—­I looked with unfatigued, undazzled eyes at the glittering flames that sparkled harmlessly about me and which changed to lovely shapes of flowers and leaves beneath my feet, and arched themselves over my head like branches of shading trees—­and then all at once, down the long vista I caught sight of a Shape like that of an Angel!—­an angel that waited for me with watchful eyes and outstretched arms!—­it was but a moment that I saw this vision, and yet I knew what it meant, and I pressed on and on with all my Soul rising in me as it were, to go forth and reach that Companion of itself which stood waiting with such tender patience!  The light around me now changed to waves of intense luminance which swept upon me like waves of the sea—­and I allowed myself to be borne along with them, I knew not whither.  All at once I saw a vast Pillar of Fire which seemed to block my way,—­pausing a moment, I looked and saw it break asunder and form the Cross and Star!—­I gazed upward, wondering—­its rays descending seemed to pierce my eyes, my brain, my very soul!—­I sprang forward, dazed and dazzled, murmuring, “Let this be the end!”

Someone caught me in his arms—­someone drew me to his breast, holding me there as if I were the dearest possession of all the world or life or time could give—­and a voice, infinitely tender, answered me—­

“Not the end, but the Endless, my beloved!—­Mine at last, and mine for ever!—­in triumph, in victory, in perfect joy!”

And then I knew!—­I knew that I had found my love!—­that it was Rafel Santoris who thus held me in his close embrace,—­that I had fulfilled my own desire, which was to prove my faith if not my worthiness—­that I had won all I wanted in this world and the next, and that nothing could ever separate our Souls, one from the other again!  This is the deep eternal ecstasy of a knowledge divinely shared by the very angels of God, and of such supernal happiness nothing can be said or written!

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