“His transgression has isolated him; Argon is searching for him, with the more zeal because of his sister’s treason. But we must face the facts: Torpeon’s access to Miriam is easier than it was and more difficult for us to trace and prevent. Zarga, of course, is in hiding, and must be henceforth regarded as Torpeon’s chief fellow conspirator.”
“The strangers have at least one safeguard—they truly love each other!” said Lamara, after a silence.
“Else there were no hope! But the youth is prone to outbursts of lawless passion which the enemy will ever seek to provoke. We cannot constrain—only try to lead him. The conflict must proceed, with the odds on the Torides’s side. Impotent though they are against us, against these two lovers, their arts and strategy are formidable.”
“I believe Zarga can be redeemed!” said Lamara, meeting his eyes and speaking firmly. Aunion sighed. “The constitution of our state is based on love and faith, and for many ages past there has been no provision for treason. Our strength is also our weakness. A thoughtless girl may sap the corner pillar and undo the growth of centuries. ” “If the temple fall, it is that God may build a better!”
Aunion let his gaze wander over the scene around them. They were standing on the rocky promontory of an island near the mainland; the sea was calm and mirrored the great arch of the ring. Groups of heavy-foliaged trees shadowed the soft turf; the music of their leaves mingled with birdsongs; staglike animals moved here and there in the glades, and more rarely other shapes, swift and graceful and semihuman, peeped shyly forth from shade to light. Beyond, above the trees, rose the dome of a summer pavilion. Over all the island passed breathings of wild-flower perfume like fairy music.
“God indeed has enabled us to incarnate the substance of our minds,” Aunion said musingly; “to shape them after our thought and to color them with our emotions. Others painfully toil against the obduracy of things to accomplish what we may do and undo with the flowing of a breath. Their works, rude parodies of even the crude conceptions that inspired them, crumble slowly back into unsightly dust. They have never called upon what is above to interpret what is below; they exalt the slave into the despot, and fight one another for monopoly of what closes life against them and opens death. And yet these blind ones survive, while our Eden may be blighted by the guile of a serpent and a girl’s folly!”
“But these blind ones fight toward the light!” rejoined she, with a touch of reproof in her tone. “Their serpent is ours too, and they, grappling with it in blood and tears, bear our burdens as well as their own. God’s meanings are manifested according to the measure of the eye that sees; but He never misleads! He will not punish the misstep of a child by the banishment of a people!”
“I have perhaps lived too long,” said Aunion sadly. “The inspirations of your heart are more trustworthy than the speculations of my brain. What do you now intend?”
“I shall stay by Miriam and incline her toward the deeper consciousness where Torpeon cannot penetrate. Argon will inform me here of his fortune in the search of Jack.”
“I will hold myself in readiness to aid either of you,” said Aunion; and with a reverent obeisance he parted from her.