“Certainly not!” he replied blandly..  “The very question strikes me as singularly foolish, inasmuch as we live in a planet where, if we do not serve ourselves and look after our own personal advantage, we may as well die the minute we are born, or, better still, never be born at all.  There is no one living, . . at least not in the wide realm of Al-Kyris,—­who would put himself to the smallest inconvenience for the sake of another, were that other his nearest and dearest blood-relation.  And in matters of love and friendship, ’tis the same as in business,—­each man eagerly pursues his own chance of enjoyment,—­even when he loves, or fancies he loves, a woman, it is solely because her beauty or attractiveness gives him temporary pleasure, not because he has any tenderness or after-regard for the nature of her feelings.  How can it be otherwise? ...  We elect friends that are useful to us personally,—­we care little for their intrinsic merit, and we only tolerate them as long as they happen to suit our taste.  For generally, on the first occasion of a disagreement or difference of opinion, we shake ourselves free of them without either regret or remorse, and seek others who will be meek enough not to offer us any open contradiction.  It is, and it must be always so:  Self is the first person we are bound to consider, and all religions, if they are intended to last, must prudently recognize and silently acquiesce in this, the chief dogma of Man’s constitution.”

Sah-luma laughed.  “Excellently argued, most politic Zel!” he exclaimed..  “Yet methinks it is easy to worship Self without either consecrated altars or priestly assistance!”

“Thou shouldst know better than any one with what facility such devotion can be practiced!” returned Zel ironically, rising as he spoke, and beginning to wrap his mantle round him preparatory to departure—­“Thou hast a wider range of perpetual adoration than most men, seeing thou dost so fully estimate the value of thine own genius!  Some heretics there are in the city, who say thy merit is but a trick of song shared by thee in common with the birds, . . who truly seem to take no pride in the particular sweetness of their unsyllabled language, . . but thou thyself art better instructed, and who shall blame thee for the veneration with which thou dost daily contemplate thine own intellectual powers?  Not I, believe me!".. and his crafty eyes glittered mockingly, as he arranged his silver gauze muffler so that it entirely veiled the lower part of his features, . .  “And though I do somewhat regret to learn that thou, among other noblemen of fashion, hast of late taken part in the atheistic discussions encouraged by the Positivist School of Thought, still, as a priest, my duty is not so much to reproach as to call thee to repentance.  Therefore I inwardly rejoice to know thou wilt present thyself before the Shrine to-night, if only for the sake of custom ...”