Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self Part 51

Alwyn stopped short, his eyes darkening with a swift intensity of feeling.

"Why not?"--he asked earnestly--"Must we look on, and see men rushing toward certain misery, without making an effort to turn them hack?--to warn them of the darkness whither they are bound?--to rescue them before it is too late?"

"My friend, we can make the effort, certainly,--and we are bound to make it, because it is our duty,--but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred we shall fail of our persuasion. What can I, or you, or any one, do against the iron force of Free-Will? G.o.d Himself will not constrain it,--how then shall we? In the Books of Esdras, which have already been of such use to you, you will find the following significant words: 'The Most High hath made this world for many, but the world to come for few. As when thou askest the earth, it shall say unto thee that it giveth much mold wherein earthen vessels are made, and but little dust that gold cometh of, even so is the course of this present world. There be many created but FEW shall be saved.'--G.o.d elects to be served by CHOICE--and NOT by compulsion; it is His Law that Man shall work out his own immortal destiny,--and nothing can alter this overwhelming Fact. The sublime Example of Christ was given us as a means to a.s.sist us in forming our own conclusions,--but there is no coercion in it,--only a Divine Love. You, for instance, were, and are, still perfectly free to reject the whole of your experience on the Field of Ardath as a delusion,--nothing would be easier, and, from the world's point of view, nothing more natural. Faith and Doubt are equally voluntary acts,--the one is the instinct of the immortal Soul, the other the tendency of the perishable Body,--and the Will decides which of the two shall conquer in the end. I know that you are firm in your high and true conviction,--I know also what thoughts are at work in your brain,--you are bending all your energies on the task of trying to instil into the minds of your fellow-men some comprehension of the enlightenment and hope you yourself possess. Ah, you must prepare for disappointment!--for though the times are tending toward strange upheavals and terrors, when the trumpet-voice of an inspired Poet may do enormous good,--still the name of the wilfully ignorant is Legion,--the age is one of the grossest Mammon worship, and coa.r.s.est Atheism,--and the n.o.blest teachings of the n.o.blest teacher, were he even another Shakespeare, must of necessity be but a casting of pearls before swine. Still"--and his rare sweet smile brightened the serene dignity of his features--"fling out the pearls freely all the same,--the swine may grunt at, but cannot rend you,--and a poet's genius should be like the sunlight, that falls on rich and poor, good and bad, with glorious impartiality! If you can comfort one sorrow, check one sin, or rescue one soul from the widening quicksand of the Atheist world, you have sufficient reason to be devoutly thankful."

By this time their walk had led them imperceptibly to one of the gates of egress from the Park, and Heliobas, pointing to a huge square building opposite, said:

"There is the hotel at which I am staying--one of the Americanized monster fabrics in which tired travellers find much splendid show, and little rest! Will you lunch with me?--I am quite alone."

Alwyn gladly a.s.sented,--he was most unwilling to part at once from this man, to whom in a measure he felt he owed his present happy and tranquil condition of body and mind; besides, he was curious to find out more about him--to obtain from him, if possible, an entire explanation of the actual tenets and chief characteristics of the system of religious worship he himself practiced and followed. Heliobas seemed to guess his thoughts, for suddenly turning upon him with a quick glance, he observed:

"You want to 'pluck out the heart of my mystery,' as Hamlet says, do you not, my friend?"--and he smiled--"Well, so you shall, if you can discover aught in me that is not already in yourself! I a.s.sure you there is nothing preternatural about me,--my peculiar 'eccentricity'

consists in steadily adapting myself to the scientific spiritual, as well as scientific material, laws of the Universe. The two sets of laws united make harmony,--hence I find my life harmonious and satisfactory,--this is my 'abnormal' condition of mind,--and you are now fully as 'abnormal' as I am. Come, we will discuss our mutual strange non-conformity to the wild world's custom or caprice over a gla.s.s of good wine,--observe, please, that I am neither a 'total abstainer' nor a 'vegetarian,' and that I have a curious fashion of being TEMPERATE, and of using all the gifts of beneficent Nature equally, and without prejudice!' While he spoke, they had crossed the road, and they now entered the vestibule of the hotel, where, declining the hall-porter's offer of the "lift," Heliobas ascended the stairs leisurely to the second floor, and ushered his companion into a comfortable private sitting-room.

"Fancy men consenting to be drawn up to their apartments like babes in a basket!" he said laughingly, alluding to the "lift" process--"Upon my word, when I think of the strong people of a past age and compare them with the enervated race of to-day, I feel not only pity, but shame, for the visible degeneration of mankind. Frail nerves, weak hearts, uncertain limbs,--these are common characteristics of the young, nowadays, instead of being as formerly the natural failings of the old.

Wear and tear and worry of modern existence?--Oh yes, I know!--but why the wear tear and worry at all? What is it for? Simply for the OVER-GETTING of money. One must live? ... certainly,--but one is not bound to live in foolish luxury for the sake of out-flaunting one's neighbors. Better to live simply and preserve health, than gain a fortune and be a moping dyspeptic for life. But unless one toils and moils like a beast of burden, one cannot even live simply, some will say! I don't believe that a.s.sertion. The peasants of France live simply, and save,--the peasants of England live wretchedly, and waste!

Voila la difference! As with nations, so with individuals,--it is all a question of Will. 'Where there's a will there's a way,' is a dreadfully trite copybook maxim, but it's amazingly true all the same.

Now let us to the acceptation of these good things,"--this, as a pallid, boyish-looking waiter just then entered the room with the luncheon, and in his bustling to and fro manifested unusual eagerness to make himself agreeable--"I have made excellent friends with this young Ganymede,--he has sworn never to palm off raisin-wine upon me for Chambertin!"

The waiter blushed and chuckled as though he were conscious of having gained special new dignity and importance,--and having laid the table, and set the chairs, he departed with a flourishing bow worthy of a prince's maitre-d'hotel.

"Your name must seem a curious one to these fellows"--observed Alwyn, when he had gone,--"Unusual and even mysterious?"

"Why, yes!"--returned Heliobas with a laugh--"It would be judged so, I suppose, if I ever gave it,--but I don't. It was only in England, and by an Englishman, that I was once, to my utter amazement, addressed as 'He-ly-oh-bas'--and I was quite alarmed at the sound of it! One would think that most people in these educational days knew the Greek word helios,--and one would also imagine it as easy to say Heliobas as heliograph. But now to avoid mistakes, whenever I touch British territory and come into contact with British tongues, I give my Christian name only, Ca.s.simir--the result of which arrangement is, that I am known in this hotel as Mr. Kasmer! Oh, I don't mind in the least--why should I?--neither the English nor the Americans ever p.r.o.nounce foreign names properly. Why I met a newly established young publisher yesterday, who a.s.sured me that most of his authors, the female ones especially, are so ignorant of foreign literature that he doubts whether any of them know whether Cervantes was a writer or an ointment!"

Alwyn laughed. "I dare say the young publisher may be perfectly right,"--he said--"But all the same he has no business to publish the literary emanations of such ignorance."

"Perhaps not!--but what is he to do, if nothing else is offered to him?

He has to keep his occupation going somehow,--from bad he must select the best. He cannot create a great genius--he has to wait till Nature, in the course of events, evolves one from the elements. And in the present general dearth of high ability the publishers are really more sinned against than sinning. They spend large sums, and incur large risks, in launching new ventures on the fickle sea of popular favor, and often their trouble is taken all in vain. It is really the stupid egotism of authors that is the stumbling-block in the way of true literature,--each little scribbler that produces a shilling sensational thinks his or her own work a marvel of genius, and nothing can shake them from their obstinate conviction. If every man or woman, before putting pen to paper, would be sure they had something new, suggestive, symbolical, or beautiful to say, how greatly Art might gain by their labors! Authors who take up arms against publishers en ma.s.se, and in every transaction expect to be cheated, are doing themselves irreparable injury--they betray the cloven hoof,--namely a greed for money--and when once that pa.s.sion dominates them, down goes their reputation and they with it. It is the old story over again--'ye cannot serve G.o.d and Mammon,'--and all Art is a portion of G.o.d,--a descending of the Divine into Humanity."

Alwyn sat for a minute silent and thoughtful. "A descending of the Divine into Humanity!" he repeated slowly--"It seems to me that 'miracle' is forever being enacted--and yet ... we doubt!"

"WE do not doubt--" said Heliobas--"WE know,--we have touched Reality!

But see yonder!"--and he pointed through the window to the crowded thoroughfare below--"There are the flying phantoms of life,--the men and women who are G.o.d-oblivious, and who are therefore no more actually LIVING than the shadows of Al-Kyris! They shall pa.s.s as a breath and be no more,--and this roaring, trafficking metropolis, this immediate centre of civilization, shall ere long disappear off the surface of the earth, and leave not a stone to mark the spot where once it stood! So have thousands of such cities fallen since this planet was flung into s.p.a.ce,--and even so shall thousands still fall. Learning, civilization, science, progress,--these things exist merely for the training and education of a chosen few--and out of many earth centuries and generations of men, shall be won only a very small company of angels!

Be glad that you have fathomed the mystery of your own life's purpose,--for you are now as much a Positive Ident.i.ty among vanishing spectres, as you were when, on the Field of Ardath, you witnessed and took part in the Mirage of your Past."

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

A MISSING RECORD.

He spoke the last words with deep feeling and earnestness, and Alwyn, meeting his clear, grave, brilliant eyes, was more than ever impressed by the singular dignity and overpowering magnetism of his presence.

Remembering how insufficiently he had realized this man's true worth, when he had first sought him out in his monastic retreat, he was struck by a sudden sense of remorse, and leaning across the table, gently touched his hand.

"How greatly I wronged you once, Heliobas!" he said penitently, with a tremor of appeal in his voice--"Forgive me, will you?--though I shall never forgive myself!"

Heliobas smiled, and cordially pressed the extended hand in his own.

"Nay, there is nothing to forgive, my friend," he answered cheerfully--"and nothing to regret. Your doubts of me were very natural,--indeed, viewed by the world's standard of opinion, much more natural than your present faith, for faith is always a SUPER-natural instinct. Would you be practically sensible according to modern social theories?--then learn to suspect everybody and everything, even your best friend's good intentions!"

He laughed, and the luncheon being concluded, he rose from the table, and taking an easy-chair nearer the window, motioned Alwyn to do the same.

"I want to talk to you"--he continued, "We may not meet again for years,--you are entering on a difficult career, and a few hints from one who knows and thoroughly understands your position may possibly be of use to you. In the first place, then, let me ask you, have you told any one, save me, the story of your Ardath adventure?"

"One friend only,--my old school comrade, Frank Villiers"--replied Alwyn.

"And what does he say about it?"

"Oh, he thinks it was a dream from beginning to end,"--and Alwyn smiled a little,--"He believes that I set out on my journey with my brain already heated to an imaginative excess, and that the whole thing, even my Angel's presence, was a pure delusion of my own overwrought fancy,--a curious and wonderful delusion, but always a delusion."

"He is a very excellent fellow to judge you so leniently"--observed Heliobas composedly, "Most people would call you mad."

"Mad!" exclaimed Alwyn hotly--"Why, I am as sane as any man in London!"

"Saner, I should say,"--replied Heliobas, smiling,--"Compared with some of the eminently 'practical' speculating maniacs that howl and struggle among the fluctuating currents of the Stock Exchange, for instance, you are indeed a marvel of sound and wholesome mental capability! But let us view the matter coolly. You must not expect such an exceptional experience as yours to be believed in by ordinary persons. Because the majority of people, being utterly UNspiritual and worldly, have NO such experiences, and they therefore deem them impossible;--they are the gold-fish born in a bowl, who have no consciousness of the existence of an ocean. Moreover, you have no proofs of the truth of your narrative, beyond the change in your own life and disposition,--and that can be easily referred to various other causes. You spoke of having gathered one of the miracle-flowers on the Prophet's field,--may I see it?"

Silently Alwyn drew from his breast-pocket the velvet case in which he always kept the cherished blossom, and taking it tenderly out, placed it in his companion's hand.

"An immortelle"--said Heliobas softly, while the flower, uncurling its silvery petals in the warmth of his palm, opened star-like and white as snow. "An immortelle, rare and possibly unique!--that is all the world would say of it! It cannot be matched,--it will not fade,--true! but you will get no one to believe that! Frown not, good Poet!--I want you to consider me for the moment a practical worldling, bent on driving you from the spiritual position yon have taken up,--and you will see how necessary it is for you to keep the secret of your own enlightenment to yourself, or at least only hint at it through the parables of poesy."

He gave back the Ardath blossom to its owner with reverent care,--and when Alwyn had as reverently put it by, he resumed:

"Your friend Villiers has offered you a perfectly logical and common-sense solution of the mystery of Ardath,--one which, if you chose to accept it, would drive you back into skepticism as easily as a strong wind blows a straw. Only see how simple the intricate problem is unravelled by this means! You, a man of ardent and imaginative temperament, made more or less unhappy by the doctrines of materialism, come to me, Heliobas, a Chaldean student of the Higher Philosophies, an individual whose supposed mysterious power and inexplicably studious way of life ent.i.tle him to be considered by the world at large an IMPOSTER!--Now don't look so indignant!"--and he laughed,--"I am merely discussing the question from the point of view that would be sure to be adopted by 'wise' modern society! Thus--I, Heliobas, the impostor, take advantage of your state of mind to throw you into a trance, in which, by occult means, you see the vision of an Angel, who bids you meet her at a place called Ardath,--and you, also, in your hypnotized condition, write a poem which you ent.i.tle 'Nourhalma.' Then I,--always playing my own little underhand game!--read you portions of 'Esdras,' and prove to you that 'Ardath' exists, while I delicately SUGGEST, if I do not absolutely COMMAND, your going thither. You go,--but I, still by magnetic power, retain my influence over you. You visit Elzear, a hermit, whom we will, for the sake of the present argument, call my accomplice,--he reads between the lines of the letter you deliver to him from me, and he understands its secret import. He continues, no matter how, your delusion. You broke your fast with him,--and surely it was easy for him to place some potent drug in the wine he gave you, which made you DREAM the rest;--nay, viewed from this standpoint, it is open to question whether you ever went to the Field of Ardath at all, but merely DREAMED you did! You see how admirably I can, with little trouble, disprove the whole story, and make myself out to be the veriest charlatan and trickster that ever duped his credulous fellow-man! How do you like my practical dissection of your new-found joys?"

Alwyn was gazing at him with puzzled and anxious eyes.

"I do not like it at all"--he murmured, in a pained tone--"It is an insidious SEMBLANCE of truth;--but I know it is not the Truth itself!"

"Why, how obstinate you are!" said Heliobas, good-humoredly, with a quick, flashing glance at him. "You insist on seeing things in a directly reverse way to that in which the world sees them! How can you be so foolish! To the world your Ardath adventure is the SEMBLANCE of truth,--and only man's opinion thereon is worth trusting as the Truth itself!"

Over the wistful, brooding thoughtfulness of Alwyn's countenance swept a sudden light of magnificent resolution.

"Heliobas, do not jest with me!" he cried pa.s.sionately--"I know, better perhaps than most men, how divine things can be argued away by the jargon of tongues, till heart and brain grow weary,--I know, G.o.d help me!--how the n.o.blest ideals of the soul can be swept down and dispersed into blank ruin, by the specious arguments of cold-blooded casuists,--but I also know, by a supreme INNER knowledge beyond all human proving, that G.o.d EXISTS, and with His Being exist likewise all splendors, great and small, spiritual and material,--splendors vaster than our intelligence can reach,--ideals loftier than imagination can depict! I want no proof of this save those that burn in my own individual consciousness,--I do not need a miserable taper of human reason to help me to discern the Sun! I, OF MY OWN CHOICE, PRAYER, AND HOPE, voluntarily believe in G.o.d, in Christ, in angels, in all things beautiful and pure and grand!--let the world and its ephemeral opinions wither, I will NOT be shaken down from the first step of the ladder whereon one climbs to Heaven!"

His features were radiant with fervor and feeling,--his eyes brilliant with the kindling inward light of n.o.blest aspiration,--and Heliobas, who had watched him intently, now bent toward him with a grave gesture of the gentlest homage.

"How strong is he whom an Angel's love makes glorious!" he said--"We are partners in the same destiny, my friend,--and I have but spoken to you as the world might speak, to prepare you for opposition. The specious arguments of men confront us at every turn, in every book, in every society,--and it is not always that we are ready to meet them. As a rule, silence on all matters of personal faith is best,--let your life bear witness for you;--it shall thunder loud oracles when your mortal limbs are dumb."

He paused a moment--then went on: "You have desired to know the secret of the active and often miraculous power of the special form of religion I and my brethren follow; well, it is all contained in Christ, and Christ only. His is the only true Spiritualism in the world--there was never any before He came. We obey Christ in the simple rules he preached,--Christ according to His own enunciated wish and will.

Moreover, we,--that is, our Fraternity,--received our commission from Christ Himself in person."

Alwyn started,--his eyes dilated with amazement and awe.

"From Christ Himself in person?"--he echoed incredulously.