“‘I am going to prove the occult,’ he said.  ’In three days I shall return with the fact and the substance.  And then I propose to deliver my greatest lecture, my final thesis, in which my whole life shall come to a focus.  I shall bring the proof for your eyes and ears, for your fingers to explore and be satisfied.  You shall behold the living truth”

“’And the subject of my lecture—­the subject of my lecture will be The Spot of Life.’”

XXXII

THROUGH UNKNOWN WATERS

The spot of Life!  And the subject of Dr. Holcomb’s lecture, promised but never delivered, had been announced as—­The Blind spot!

To Watson it was fairly astounding to discover that the two—­ Holcomb and Avec—­had reached simultaneously for the curtain of the shadow.  The professor had said that it would be “the greatest day since Columbus.”  And so it had proven, did the world but know it.

“And—­the Rhamda Avec never returned?” asked Chick.

“No.”

“But he sent back something within three days?” Watson was thinking, of course, of the doctor who had disappeared on the day which, Jerome overheard the Rhamda to say, was the last of his stay.

But Geos did not reply.  Why, Chick could not guess.  He thought it best not to press the question; in good time, if he went at it carefully, he could gain his end with safety.  At the moment he must not arouse suspicion.  He chose another query.

“Did Avec go alone?”

“No.  The Nervina went with him.  Rather, she followed within a few hours.”

“Ah!”

It was out before Watson could think.  The Rhamda looked up suddenly.

“Then you have seen the Nervina!  You know her?”

Chick lied.  It was not his intention, just at present, to tie himself down to anything that might prove compromising or restraining.

“The name is—­familiar.  Who is this Nervina?”

“She is one of the queens.  I thought—­My dear sir, she is one of the queens of Thomahlia, half Kospian, half D’Hartian; of the first royal line running through from the day of the Jarados.”

Chick cogitated for a moment.  Then, taking an entirely new tack: 

“You say the Rhamda and this Nervina, independently, solved the mystery of the Spot of Life, I believe you call it.  And that Spot leads, apparently, into the occult?”

“Apparently, if not positively.  It was the wisdom of Avec, mostly.  He had been in communication with your world by means of his own discovery and application.  It was all in line with the prophecy.

“Since he and the Nervina left, the people of the world have been in a state of ferment.  For it was foretold that in the last days we would get in communication with the other side; that some would come and some would go.  For example, your own coming was foretold by the Jarados, almost to the hour and minute.”