“You do not know what you ask.”
“Tell me, I pray.”
“It is simply this, when I became aware through thought of the being that is over us I had no message or command from him. But I found that I could when I stood by any suffering being take some of the suffering and bear it myself. So as he of whom I tell does with us each moment of our lives I do occasionally and in a little manner.”
“But what pleasure do you get that makes all this worth your while?”
“There is no pleasure. I am glad to see the being freed from suffering, and living instead of sinking.”
“Do you mean to say that there is nothing to hope for?”
“I hope the time will come when I shall have a fuller knowledge of the being I know.”
The clerk was silent. He went out. While he was still thinking over what he had heard in answer to his inquiries, a messenger came to him from the chief of the councillors of pleasure and pain, asking him to an interview.
When the clerk had been ushered into the presence of the chief councillor, and was alone with him, the latter said:
“I should like a little quiet conversation with you about your companion.”