“Gone!” and El-Râmi’s brow clouded; he laid back the little hand he held in its former position and looked at the girl long and steadily—“And so firm in her assertion!—as foolish an assertion as any of the fancies of Féraz. No death? Nay—as well say no life. She has not fathomed the secret of our passing hence; no, not though her flight has outreached the realm of Sirius.
“‘But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will.’
Ay, puzzles the will and confounds it! But must I be baffled then?—or is it my own fault that I cannot believe? Is it truly her spirit that speaks to me?—or is it my own brain acting upon hers in a state of trance? If it be the latter, why should she declare things that I never dream of, and which my reason does not accept as possible? And if it is indeed her Soul, or the ethereal Essence of her that thus soars at periodic intervals of liberty into the Unseen, how is it that she never comprehends Death or Pain? Is her vision limited only to behold harmonious systems moving to a sound of joy?”
And, seized by a sudden resolution, he caught both the hands of the tranced girl and held them in his own, the while he fixed his eyes upon her quiet face with a glance that seemed to shoot forth flame.
“Lilith! Lilith! By the force of my will and mastery over thy life, I bid thee return to me! O flitting spirit, ever bent on errands of pleasure, reveal to me the secrets of pain! Come back, Lilith! I call thee—come!”
A violent shudder shook the beautiful reposeful figure,—the smile faded from her lips, and she heaved a profound sigh.
“I am here!”
“Listen to my bidding!” said El-Râmi, in measured accents that sounded almost cruel. “As you have soared to heights ineffable, even so descend to lowest depths of desolation! Understand and seek out sorrow,—pierce to the root of suffering, explain the cause of unavailing agony! These things exist. Here in this planet of which you know nothing save my voice,—here, if nowhere else in the wide Universe, we gain our bread with bitterness and drink our wine with tears. Solve me the mystery of pain,—of injustice,—of an innocent child’s anguish on its death-bed,—ay! though you tell me there is no death!—of a good man’s ruin,—of an evil woman’s triumph,—of despair,—of self-slaughter,—of all the horrors upon horrors piled, which make up this world’s present life. Listen, O too ecstatic and believing Spirit!—we have a legend here that a God lives—a wise all-loving God,—and He, this wise and loving one, has out of His great bounty invented for the torture of His creatures,—Hell! Find out this Hell, Lilith!—Prove it!—bring the plan of its existence back to me. Go,—bring me news of devils,—and suffer, if spirits can suffer, in the unmitigated sufferings of others! Take my command and go hence, find out God’s Hell!—so shall we afterwards know the worth of Heaven!”