“Now I beseech the reader of this manuscript to which I, Heliobas, append my hand and seal, to remember and realize earnestly the following invincible facts:  first that God and His Christ exist; secondly, that while the little paltry affairs of our temporal state are being built up as crazily as a child’s house of cards, the huge Central Sphere revolves, and the Electric Ring, strong and indestructible, is ever at its work of production and re-absorption; thirdly, that every thought and word of every habitant on every planet is reflected in lightning language before the Creator’s eyes as easily as we receive telegrams; fourthly, that this world is the only spot in the universe where His existence is actually questioned and doubted.  And the general spread of modern positivism, materialism and atheism is one of the most terrific and meaning signs of the times.  The work of separating the wheat from the chaff is beginning.  Those who love and believe in God and Spiritual Beauty are about to be placed on one side; the millions who worship Self are drawing together in vast opposing ranks on the other; and the moment approaches which is prophesied to be ’as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, and shineth even to the other part.’  In other words, the fiery whirlpool of the Ring is nearly ready to absorb our planet in its vortex; and out of all who dwell upon its surface, how many shall reach the glorious Central World of God?  Of two men working in the same field, shall it not be as Christ foretold—­’the one shall be taken, and the other left’?

“Friend, or Pupil, Reader!  Whoever thou art, take heed and foster thine own soul!  For know that nothing can hinder the Immortal Germ within us from taking the form imposed upon it by our wills.  Through Love and Faith, it can become an Angel, and perform wonders even while in its habitation of clay; through indifference and apathy, it can desert us altogether and for ever; through mockery and blasphemous disbelief, it can sink into even a lower form than that of snake or toad.  In our own unfettered hand lies our eternal destiny.  Wonderful and terrible responsibility!  Who shall dare to say we have no need of prayer?”

This document was signed “Casimir Heliobas,” and bore a seal on which the impression seemed to consist of two Arabic or Sanskrit words, which I could not understand.  I put it carefully away with its companion Ms. under lock and key, and while I was yet pausing earnestly on its contents, Zara came into my room.  She had finished her task in the studio, she said, and she now proposed a drive in the Bois as an agreeable way of passing the rest of the afternoon.

“I want to be as long as possible in your company,” she added, with a caressing sweetness in her manner; “for now your friends have come to Paris, I expect you will soon be leaving us, so I must have as much of you as I can.”