The Life Everlasting: A Reality of Romance

l of sadness in it which touched me to a kind of inexplicable remorse

d, almost pleadingly-"Why sh

this," or "I have secured that,"-for, reducing all circumstances to a prosaic level, all that I knew was that I had met in my present companion a man who had a singular, almost compelling attractiveness, and with whose personality I seemed to be familiar; also, that under some power which he might possibly have exerted, I had in an unexpected place and at an

es,"-he said-"On you per

p at him w

?" I e

led a

A woman alw

ue and green were now intermingled with the amber light of the after-g

ld understand

project on your vision not only presentments and reflections of past scenes and events, but which also reproduce the very words and sounds attending those scenes and events. That is all. Loch Coruisk has shown you nothing but itself in varying effects of light and cloud-there is no mystery here but the everlasting mystery of Nature in which you

dared not speak. All my life seemed suddenly to ha

with a rush of feeling, we stretched out our hands to each other. He clasped mine in his own, and stooping his head kissed them tenderly. "You and I,"-he went on-"have met before in many a phase of life and on many

my voice

s stand in th

smi

lt if we allow them to assume

ent. The fact that he held them ga

" I said, softly-"one may miss the nearest road hom

upted me-"One is

h an enigmatical expression, h

you tell m

e a little closer towards him-"All t

l you?" and I smil

all things,"-he answered-"But

ich now spread far and wide over the heavens, turning the sullen waters of Loc

n his ordinary tone, "They are l

e inward restraint gripped me as with iron-and my spirit beat itself like a caged bird against its

kindly, and with a smile-"I can quite u

ost of recollections began to crowd upon

l?" I asked, and my voice trembled in s

with a sudden deeper

e said-"But whether it is the same to you I cannot

ome hypnotic influence? The doubt suggested itself like a whisper from some evil spirit, and I strove not to listen. Presently he took my hand in his as before, and guided me carefully over the slippery boulders and stones, wet with the overflowing of the mountain torrent and the underlying morass which warned us of its vicinity

her moorings,"-he said, after a while, ad

er you left, sir

toris. With each moment that passed I knew it better-the flash of his blue eyes-his sudden fleeting smile-the turn of his head-the very gesture of his hand,-all these were as familiar to me as the reflection of my own face in a mirror. And now there was no wonderment mingled with the deepening recognition,-I found it quite natural that I should know him well,-indeed, it was to me evident that I had known him always. What troubled me, however, was a subtle fear that crept insidiously through my veins like a shuddering cold,-a terror lest something to which I could give no name, should separate us or cause us to misunderstand each other. For the psychic lines of attraction between two human beings are finer than the finest gossamer and can be easily broken and scattered even though they may or must be bro

ed to me-"Was i

ered him-"Did you

at Catherine had taken it into her head to have a short cruise, that he ha

anding beside him, an

he said, with a smile-"I thought he would

d he laughed-"Well, I must own you have been a better physician than

ou and your friend like to take the launch back to

nd though

Catherine is not strong, and she has not been quite herself-and we must not leave her alone. To-morrow, if you ar

rivilege of entertaining you all to dinner afterwards. Is that settled?" "Certainly!-you are hospitali

e we sa

ree

s of common courtesy seemed to myself quite absurd,-however, they had to be uttered, and he accepted them with the usual conventional acknowledgment. When I was just about to descend the companio

these, I hope?"

nt air for which we can render no explanation. He turned from me as quickly as I from him, and I descended the companion ladder followed by Mr. Harland. In a few seconds we had put several boat-lengths between ourselves and the 'Dream,' and a rush of foolish tears to my eyes blurred the figure of Santoris as he lifted his c

ou,"-he said, carelessly-"Miss Harland and I had ou

ows drew together in a ma

s on that score. The 'electric man,' as you call Mr. Santoris,

n and for me near Catherine-"Derrick tells me that the electric appliances on board his yacht are to h

rland

daughter, he asked her kindly if she was better. She rep

who draw all vitality out of everybody else. There are such people, you know, father!-people

oked

reasoning will ever argue you out of them. Santoris is all r

Brayle looked up sharp

ess-looking fluid worked wonders for me-and in a few moments

ifficult to define fli

d never try experiments. I'm surprised that a man in your c

olated Catherine, feebly

uite a stranger,"-said

him at

,"-put in Brayle-"He ma

Harland, rather testily-"There ar

rows with a mildly aff

you had y

ng"-said Mr. Harland, "And I suppose I shall have them to the end of m

Brayle's face suddenly

d a littl

u have any reason

answer, but turning

self at Loch Coru

th emphasis-"It was a lovely

would be sure to get o

rossly-"'Birds of a

psychic consciousness I knew what they all meant,-but according to merely material and earthly reasoning they were utterly incomprehensible. If I listened to the explanation offered by my inner self, it was this:-That Rafel Santoris and I had known each other for ages,-longer than we were permitted to remember,-that the brain-pictures, or rather soul-pictures, presented to me were only a few selected out of thousands which equally concerned us, and which were stored up among eternal records,-and that these few were only recalled to remind me of circumstances which I might erroneously think were all entirely forgotten. If, on the other hand, I preferred to accept what would be called a reasonable and practical solution of the enigma, I would say:-That, being imaginative and sensitive,

re an almost visible tangle. I found my best refuge in silence,-and I listened in vague wonderment to the flow of senseless small talk poured out by Dr. Brayle, apparently for the amusement of Catherine, who on her part seemed suddenly possessed by a spirit of wilfulness and enforced gaiety which moved her to utter a great many foolish things, things which she evidently imagined were clever. There is nothing perhaps more embarrassing than to hear a woman of mature ye

as done you good," she said-

red her-"I have been

you look to-night," she said-"Yo

I echoed, smili

ned and surveye

he said-"There is something different abou

tly to my face, but I endea

glance from his narrowly set eyes-"as if

!" "What is your opinion of Santoris?" asked Mr. Harland, suddenly-"You've s

nce, without t

and great-hearted,-and I fancy he must have gone thro

think it's a fairly correct one. I believe him to be a very clever and subtle charlata

brought his clenched fist down upon the ta

open and blameless-he did no mean tricks, and pandered to nothing base-and if some of us fellows were frightened of him (as we were) it was because he did everything better than we could do it, and was su

mured Brayle, half apo

sudden ugly irritation of manner that sometimes disfig

and Catherine looked surp

w can you b

erently-"Well! I may be-but I never take a man's hospitali

began Dr. Brayle

y dishonesty or chicanery-and certainly no one on board this vessel shall treat his name with anything but resp

h looked towards the 'Dream' yacht,-there was no illumination about her this evening save the usual lamp hung in the rigging and the tiny gleams of radiance through her port-holes,-and her graceful masts and spars we

ed that Santoris is hones

bt him?"-I replied, evasi

been known to me for ages? I leaned against the deck rail looking up at the violet sky, my heart beating qu

ns, and your instincts are often, though perhaps not always, c

, slowly-"I-I lik

knowing that the true answer of my heart was love, not liking!-that love was the magnet drawing

ou had taken a prejudice or felt any antipathy towards him. I can see that B

s si

ikely to escape the usual fate of unusual characters. But I think-indeed I may say I am sure-his integrity is beyond questio

was it some stray fragment of memory from the past that

the moonlight to my companion's face I saw that it wor

-as love, if it be love, does not and cannot change. But it is no use discussing such a matter with him. The love that he believes in can only exist, if then, once in a thousand years! Men and women marry for physical attraction, convenience, necessity or respectability,-and the legal bond is necessary both for their sakes and the worldly

beside him watching the moonbeams ripple

said, at last-"did y

his cigar t

e woman I chose. She was charming and amiable in our courting days-as a wife she became peevish and querulous,-apt to sulk, too,-and she devoted herself almost entirely to the most commonplace routine of life;-however, I had nothing to justly complain of. We lived five years to

er of cold ran through my veins like a sense of spiritual terror. If I should lose now what I had lost before! This was my chief th

to your cabin. I can see you are full of mystical dreams, and I am afraid Santoris has rather helped you to indulge in them. He is of the same nature as

I said-"You surely

lives always possessed of that same youth and strength, then there would be something in it-but to be o

Santoris enjo

s old in years as I am, he is actually young! That's the mystery of him! Santoris is pos

for a moment,

l chiefly insist on your inviting and accepting the burden of age. They will remind you that twenty years ago you did so and so,-or that they have known you over thirty years-or they will tell you that considering your age you look well, or a thousand and one things of that kind, as if it were a fault or even a crime to be alive for a certain span of time,-whereas if you simply shook off such unnecessary atten

nk he has wo

eny it. But the secret of

if we could all keep ourselves young and strong we would

necessary trouble? We will hardly obey a physician's orders for our good even when

aug

l always be the same thing-'Many are c

e took it in his own

him," he said-"It's one of those coincidences which one cannot explain. You a

ed-"Perhaps we shall b

ish fancies!' 'Neurotic folly!' and other epithets of the kind would be heaped upon me if they knew-they, the excellent folk whose sole objects in life are so ephemeral as to be the things of the hour, the day, or the month merely, and who if they ever pause to consider eternal possibilities at all, do so reluctantly perhaps in church on Sundays, comfortably dismissing them for the more solid prospect of dinner. And of Love? What view of the divine passion do they take as a rule? Let the millions of mistaken marriages answer! Let the savage lusts and treacheries and cruelties of merely brutish and unspirit