Love Eternal

he table and talk,"

cess where was the flower-pot that has be

odfrey, lingering behind, found, whether by design or accident, that the

reon he collapsed into the chair. "Sister Helen," she went on, "draw the curtai

umb, obeyed. Now to all intents and purposes they were i

neck and give it to young Mons

not want it back," ventured Go

d sternly, and he found

aved stone in your hand, you will be so good as to throw your soul, do you understand, your soul, back, back,

?" asked Godfrey,

striking with an instrument that seemed to be half chisel and half hammer, fashioned apparently from bronze, or perhaps of greenish-coloured flint. Presently the brown man, who had a squint

st to the audience who were

one," said Madame. "Co

any oddly-clothed people walked up and down, some of whom wore peaked caps. A little man, old and grey, sat with the fragment of black rock on a low table before him, which Godfrey knew to be the same stone that he had already seen. By him lay graving tools, and he was engaged in poli

these pictures had to do with love, some with religious ceremonies, and some with war. One, too, with its sale, perhaps

l he was knocking down with a pick-axe to allow water to flow down an irrigation channel on his garden. Presently a person who wore a turban and was gi

hacking off his head with a sword. This violent proceeding disarranged the turban out of which fell the black stone. The knight picked it up and hid it about him. Next Godfrey saw this same knight, g

sman among the bones of the knight, and giving it to himself,

ss novelist," said Colonel Josiah Smith. "Any way, if you care to part with that talisman, Miss

d, stretching out her hand t

overed it? It is good vision-psychometry is the right term-though of a humbler order such as might be expected from a

obey, and looked her "in the eye." A few moments late

butler was bringing in tea. Miss Ogilvy sat by his side, looking at him rather a

ying. "We have discovered a pearl beyond

llen asleep, whereon the professor and the colonel both assured him that it was quite natural on so warm a day. Only Ma

ht very strong when he drank it. However, it refreshed him wonderfully, which, as it contained some invigorating essence, was not str

o the contents of a number of sheets of paper closely written in pencil, which were

some mysterious sign before she took his hand in her fat, c

, for he felt afraid of this lady, an

ause it gives me so much pleasure to see you," s

that he would co

g brother'?" he asked Miss Ogilvy

has. You may have noticed t

l her sister," he remarked with

w her, for she has the kindest h

thers that they are going to di

vered a

suppose. By the way, Godfrey, don't say anything about this talis

y n

understand. They think that there is only one way of learning things beyond, and that ever

sobel," he exclaime

id smiling. "At any rate yo

rs. That kind of nonsense often comes into my head when I touch old

rriage will come for you at the same time next Sunday. Perhaps, too,

that interested him he did not quite know. That night he dreamed that Madame Rien

scribed the splendours of that opulent establishment and the intellectual character of its guests. Of their mystic attributes he said nothi

her much, and had a long talk with the curious old Pasteur, who also interested her in his way, for as she afterwards remarked to Godfrey, one does not often meet an embodiment of human goodness and char

be engaged at his studies with the Pasteur. She explained also that she did not ask them to come with him on Sunday because they wou

f the most notable people in Lucerne, though not those whom Miss Ogilvy entertained on Sundays. Needless to say from tha

and bore Godfrey away to luncheon at the Villa Ogilvy. Here he always met Madame Riennes, Colonel Josiah Smith, and Professor Petersen; also

with matters which were not of this world. Nothing concerning mundane affairs, however important or interesting, seemed to appeal to them; all their conversation was directed towards what migh

hat he was being drawn into a vortex, and began to understand its drift. Even while it was enigmatic it acquired a kind o

dy, what is it? In a few years it will be dust and ashes, but the soul-it is eternal-and all those star

way magnificent, so that Godfrey forgot her uglin

ite variety of life, and each of them keeping its awful secrets locked in its floating orb. He trembled in presence of the stupendous Whole, of which thus by degrees he became aware, and though it frightened him, thought with pity of the busy millions of mankind to whom such mysteries are nothing at all; who are lost in their business or idleness, in their eating, drinking, sleeping, love-making, and general satisfaction of the instincts w

se Sunday séances at the Villa Ogilvy. For a long while Godfrey did not know what happened to him on these occasions. The party sat round the little table, talking of wonderful things; Madame Riennes looked at him and sometimes took his hand, which he did not like, and t

be wrapt in trance, and he saw that there was a person present who had not been of the party when he went to sleep. A young w

ed to change. What had been a fillet of white stones, like diamonds, which bound her hair, turned to one of r

nor, but what she said Godfrey could not understand. Something of his inner shock and fear must h

it is dangerous while our Guide is here. Back

the recess, and even note the time, which was thirteen minutes past four. After this he became unconscious, and in due course woke up as usual. The first thing his eyes fell on was the clock, of which the hands now

e medium be of the other sex and attractive. She want to carry him away with her, that Control, and I expect she never quite leave him all his life, because, you see

be still in trance, but thought it wisest to say nothing. At this mo

iet, which they did. Godfrey was going too, but she stopped him, saying that the carriage would not be ready till after tea, and that it was too wet for him to walk in the garden, for now autumn had come in ea

what was that lady in white, who stood by me and held my hand? My

there is no need to be afraid

to bring spirits to me, or out of me, as I heard that d

ny of us has ever known, and through you we have learned things; holy, marvellous things, which till now have not been heard of

tters," said Godfrey, "y

ope and pray that such a thing may never happen to you. Well, from that hour to this I have been trying to find him and failed, always failed, though once or twice I thought--. And now through you I have found him. Yes, he h

that white lady who is called Eleanor and changes her jewels so often; especially as Madame said

y tried to

w you very intimately indeed, when you were an early Egyptian, also much before that on the lost continent, w

Godfrey, "do you

ciated in the various relationships of life. Some of these, no doubt, come round with us again, but others do not, though we can get into touch with them under exceptional circumstances. That is your case and Eleanor's. At present you are upon different spheres, but i

dian angel of whom I have no memory, and who seems to fall on you like snow upo

y and foreknowledge, which are lacking to the incarnated. Meanwhile, through you, and beca

me and makes me feel ill. I know that I shall be afraid to go to bed

he door, he jumped into it and dep

at it went back empty. By the coachman he sent an awkwardly worded note to Miss Ogilvy, saying that he was suffe

was also ill. She added that she would send the carriage on the following Sunday on the chance of

antly, and said that she had known him millenniums ago. Indeed, he felt already as though she were much too near him, especially at night, when he seemed to be

ght be Eleanor, or it might be Madame Riennes. At any rate he felt a great longing to go. Putting everything else aside, these investigations ha

edge which he desired so earnestly, and how could

llowing Sunday, his toothache had departed, and th

the previous Sunday, when he was overcome by toothache, had been an almost total failure. Professor Petersen had tried to fill his place as medium, with the result that when he fell under the influence, the only spirit that broke through his lips was one which disco

time he saw no Eleanor, and knew nothing of what happened until he awoke to be greeted by the horrific spectacle of Miss Og

trinaires. Brother Petersen, do what you can, and you, Brother Smith, f

materialized in a very ugly temper. It complained that it had not been allowed to appear upon the previous Sunday and had been kept away from its brother, i.e. Godfr

I will pay you back." Thrice it repeated this: "You wil

t all afraid of you, Eleanor, who,

st from her lips, Eleanor disappeared,

nent danger. As to the future, he could say nothing, except that having been Miss Ogilvy's medical attendant fo

h in truth no one could have been more innocent. He had grown very fond of Miss Ogilvy, and shuddered to t

eed happened, if she had any real existence and was not some mere creation of the brain of Madame Riennes, made visible by the working of laws whereof we hav

the Pasteur, he went in at once by the diligence, and on arrival at the villa, where evidently he was expected, was shown up to a bedroom which commanded a beautiful view of the lake and Mo

r from the earth than th

n the bed, looking whiter than the sheets, lay his frien

as doing so. I have told you what my motive was, and therefore I will not repeat it, as my strength is small. Secondly, I wish you to promise me that you will never go to another séance, since now I am quite su

odfrey, "only I am afr

our old Pasteur, for he is a good man. There is no danger in the world that cannot be escaped if only one

t is called a competence, say ￡500 or ￡600 a year, very often are content to try and live on it, and to do nothing for themselves, so that in the end it becomes, not a blessing, but a curse. The second is, that to do so I should be obliged to take away from certain charities and institutions which I wish to benefit. That is all I have to say about money. Oh! no, there is one more thing. I have also left you t

anks, but she cut him short wit

en look and how near are the heavens. I mean, my dear boy, that although I have asked you to abjure séances and so forth, I do pray of you to cultivate the spiritual. The physical, of course, is always with us, for that is Nature's law, without which it could not continue. But around and beyond it broods the spirit, as once it did upon the face of the waters, encircling all things; the beginning of all thi

n other existences, I do not know. Well, I want to say that from the land whither I am about to be borne, it shall be my great endeavour, if it is so allowed, to watch over you, to help you if t

bout his neck, after which the nurse came and hurried him away weeping. At the door he

ay she

ty to the value of quite ￡100,000, most of it in England. Indeed, this Swiss notary was only concerned with her possessions in Lucerne, namely the Villa Ogilvy, its grounds and furniture, and certain moneys that she had in local securities or a

stimated by the notary to amount to about ￡4,000 sterling, after the payment of all State charges and legal expenses. The value of the property itself, with the fine old French furniture and pictures which it contained, was also considerable, but unascertained. For the rest it would appear that Godfrey inherited about ￡12,000 in

He was not even elated when the grave notary shook his hand and congratulated him with the respect that is accorded to an heir, at the same time expressing a hope that he would be allowed to remain his legal

joy. A legacy of ￡200, a trusteeship "of the most important," as he called it, a

entered my humble house. Now I am not only your instructor, but the guardian of your magnificent Lucerne property. I assure you tha