Adieu.
CULMINATION OF THE MISSION.
De L'Ester—Good morning, madame. We are delighted to find you in such a favorable mental and physical state. Yes, Dr. Merthel, White Cloud and your humble servant gave you a treatment last night, and we were somewhat amused at your idea that suddenly your room had grown very warm. Hereafter, when you shall perceive white, vaporish clouds drifting or falling over your closed eyelids, you may feel assured that White Cloud is paying you a visit fraught with beneficence. Yes, when properly administered, invariably Magnetization produces in the recipient a sense of warmth and increased vigor. But your son, with our Band, awaits us at a point near Roûva̤, and we must hasten our departure. George, allow me to assist madame. We regret that we find it necessary to still further change our original programme, which included views of the extreme northern and southern portions of the Planet. Events are so shaping themselves that until after the culmination of our Mission and your recovery from the effects of the ordeal to which presently we must subject you, we must defer this feature of our purposes. Be not disturbed; rest assured that we will see to it that you shall not be tried beyond endurance.
Gentola—I am not in the least alarmed, but when I think of a cessation of continuous association with my dear lad and you, my dear friends, like a shadow a sense of sadness and loneliness steals over me, and I shrink from the coming——
De L'Ester—No more; say no more; your every thought is apparent to us, and this emotion endangers your safety. We, better than you have been able to count the cost of this to you strange and engrossing experience. All along we have known that to a degree it would unfit you for the common avocations of your mortal existence, and for this reason, for the time being, we have induced in your mind a state of forgetfulness, but when the proper time shall arrive you will be made to recall all that has occurred during the pursuance of our Mission, and you will recall it without pain or regret, and as the years of your mortal existence shall pass, we will be with you, not as now, but in a manner that will add to your interest in the affairs of your daily life.
Ah, our friends have not awaited our arrival, but are coming to meet us. Loha̤û; loha̤û; Onos isson ē twa̤, ēmanos. (Hail, hail; we welcome you, friends.) Bernard, you find your mother in a sad mood, and you will comfort her, and you, Robert, will improvise a song in which we may join; thus we may restore our disturbed harmony.
Robert—