“Diana!” he said, entreatingly—“Will you not trust me?”
“In what way?” she asked, with sudden coldness—“What trust do you seek?”
“Listen!” he went on eagerly—“My science has worked its will upon you, with the most amazing success—but there is something beyond my science—something which baffles me,—which I cannot fathom! It is in you, yourself—you have learned what I have failed to learn,—you know what I do not know!”
A smile suddenly irradiated her lovely face,—so might an angel smile in giving a benediction.
“I am glad you realise that!” she said, quietly—“For it is true! But what I have learned—what I know—I cannot explain to myself or impart to others.”
He stood amazed,—not so much at her words as at her manner of uttering them. It was the unapproachable, ethereal dignity of her attitude and expression that awed and held him in check.
“You would not understand or believe it possible,” she went on, “even if I tried to put into words what is truly a wordless existence, apart from you altogether,—apart not only from you, but from all merely human things——”
“Ah!” he interrupted quickly—“That is just the point. You say ‘merely’ human, as if you had passed beyond humanity!”
She looked at him steadily.
“Humanity thinks too much of itself,” she said, slowly. “Its petty ambitions,—its miserable wars,—its greed of gain and love of cruelty!—what is it worth without the higher soul! In this universe—even in this planet, humanity is not all! There are other forces—other forms—but—as I have said, I cannot explain myself, and it is time to say good-bye. I am glad I have been of use in helping you to succeed in what you sought to do; and now I suppose you will make millions of money by your ability to re-establish life and youth. And will that make you happy, I wonder?”