Carefully she read the marked passage, in a reverent spirit, as she would read a farewell message from a departed friend. It said:
"All sounds from earth are drifting forever into space. A strain of music will reach, in time, the most distant star. The music of the spheres is not an empty phrase. We know that wherever light will travel those waves that carry light through space will carry sound. Messages from other planets, for all we know, are reaching us to-day, but we are not attuned to hear them. Our own little song, or prayer, may reach the farthest star, but for its reception the sender and recipient must be in true accord."
With quivering hands she clutched the book, held it up before her eyes, and read the words again. Then she dropped the book upon the table and started up. In her eyes was a new light.
"But for its reception," she repeated, "the sender and recipient must be in true accord!"
In true accord! Yes, she and Drowsy were in true accord, even as children. If there was one person in this world specially endowed by Providence to receive such a message, surely it was Drowsy; he who received even the unspoken thoughts of others! She recalled her wonderment as a child when her whispered message was understood by him, at his own home, nearly a mile away. It seemed to her then,—and now—a supernatural gift. And if this author were correct no distance, however vast, would be an obstacle.
When Joanna returned with the tea she found her patient again in a state of excitement, but excitement of another kind. This time it was the thrill of a new hope; the exhilaration of a great joy.
Late that night, when this world—and other worlds, it seemed—were silent, Ruth went out into the darkness. Down at the further end of the long garden, she stood, for a time, looking up into the heavens. The storm had passed. Slowly, from the west, great clouds were drifting across a black but starry sky. She shuddered at the thought of a human being far out in that frigid, infinite waste, a helpless wanderer,—dead perhaps,—and driven by her own act!
Her eyes sought vainly to delve into the solemn spaces between the stars. Who could believe a human voice or a thought could penetrate those black, appalling depths? But she remembered the sentence,
"All sounds from earth are drifting forever into space."