, 1922-12-03

rnereby make a difneult mat.
ter clear.
The nigh: had fallen swiftly. II
was incredibly silent There was no
sound ia the maste-'s room, and no
light EXCEPT the flicker OF the logs
smoldering IN the fireplace The
thin line OF ii appeared family al"-s
The 80 nc door.
He paused.
"The fireplace. Exceilency, is al the
end Of the great room. directly oppo-
site this door into the hall. before
which I always sat when the master
was within The fireplace is OF black
marble with an immepse black-marble
hearth. And the gin which ! hal
brought the master stands on n
side OF he fire, on this marble hearth.
as though 4 were n sihg.e andlron."
The man turned hack into the heart
OF his story.
I knew by the vague sense OF pres
sure thai the devocations Of the thing
were again on the way. And l be-
gan 10 suffer in tho spirit for the
masters safety. Interference. both
By act anC by the Will, were denied
me. But there is an anxiety OF spr
S.. Exceliency. tnat the uncertainty
o. an Issue makes in.olerabie."
The man paused.
'rThe pressure continued and the
silence. II wns nearly midnight 1
could not Distinguish any act or mo
ton CT the master. and in fear ]
crept over 10 the door and looked in
thrugh tho crsvice along the TIRES
hold.
The master sa. by his table: he
- - Ta.Na
r-pping the nrms Of his chair. His
ewes ane every tense, instinct OF the
man were concentrated on the fire
pace. The re- LIGHT OF the emhert
was In the room. ! could see MIN
c early. n the tnble beyond him
with the calcium Ions; bat the firc-
place seemed ~stranre'v out OF per
spective-it exended above me.
MY sift to the master. not more
than four hand.breaths in length, in
Guiding the base. stood now like an
immense bronze on an eXtenied mar
BE slab beside a gigantic fireplace
This effec: OF extension nut the top
of the fireplace and the enlarged
andiron. shove it's pedestal. out OF
my line OF vision. Everything else In
the chamber, holding its normal o.
mensions. was visible TO me.
at hare said. Excellency. that my
angle Of vision along the crevicc OF
the doorsill was sharply cut midway
of this now enlarged fireplace. From
the direction and III. of The masters
face. he was watching something
above this line and directly over the
pedestal of the andiron. I watched.
also, f.attening my face against the
sill for the thing to appear.
"And it did appear.
"A naked foo: became slowly visible
as though someone were descending
with extreme care from the elevation
OF the andiron to the great marble
hearth. under this TRANCE enlarge
ment. now some distance below"
The big Oriental paused and looked
down at me.
"I knew then. Excellency, thai the
master was lost The creative ener-
gies Of the spirit suffer no division OF
worship; those of the body must be
wholly denied. 1 had warned h mas
ter. And in travail. Excellency. ]
turned over with my face TO the floor.
but here is always hope, hope
over the ce~rtainties of experience,
over the c~ertainties OF knowledge.
Perhaps the master, even now. sus-
tainec in the spirit, would put away
the d~evocation No. Excellency,
1 was not misled. I knew the mas
ter was beyond hope! But the viii
10 hope moved me. and I turned back
to the crevice al tho doorsin."
He paused.
There was now a delicate odor.
everywhere. family. like the blossom
of the little bitter apple here in your
country. The red embers in the fire
place gave out a steady light; and in
the glow Of st, on the marble hearth,
stood the one who had descended
from the elevation Of the andiron.'
Again the mar hesitated. as for
an accurate method Of expression.
sIn the flesh. Exceilency. there
was color tina. would not appear IN
the image. Ths hair was yellow.
and the eyes were blue: and against
the black marble Of the fireplace the
body was conspicuously white.
But IN every other aspect OF her
ExceIIency, the woman was on the
hearth IN the flesh as she is in the
clutch of the savage male figure In
the image.
There is no dress or ornament, as
you will recall. Excellency. Not
even an ear-tewel or an anklet' hs
though the graver Of the image felt
that the inherent beauty of his fig
ure could take nothing from these o.
tentations-
THE woman's heavy. yellow hair
was wound around her head. as In
the image. She shiverec a little. faint
", Ike a naked child in an u~naccus-
toned draught of air. although she
stood on the warm, marble hearth
and withfn the red glow Of the fire.
s1rhe voice from .hs male figure
OF tho image. which I had brought
tire master. and which stood as the
endtroaa. now so Immensely enlarged,
Has beginning again 70 speak Tbs