Dano—Have I again been dreaming? Surely it was more than a dream. Heard you no one speaking? Saw you no form, dear friends? Yet truly I again have seen a fair-skinned, dark-haired woman, clothed in strange, shining garments, who has spoken to me of marvellous things. If what she has said may be true, ere long into my life will come a heavy sorrow and a great joy. But Andûmana̤ alone knoweth all secret things. Through His love He created me and patiently I shall await whatever of good or ill He may send to me. You, my friends, will pardon me if I cannot now relate what this woman, who calls herself Gentola̤, has said to me.
Faveon—Dano, I pray you compose yourself. No, we heard nothing, saw nothing, but I confess that I so sympathized with your abnormal condition that for a moment I experienced a most peculiar sensation. I seemed to feel some invisible presence near me, but soon I realized that it was the merest foolish fancy, and quickly I aroused myself to a sense of my surroundings.
Vērian, sweet cousin Vērian, your pallor betrays your perturbation, and Mylta̤'s humid eyes evince a lively sympathy if not a positive belief in Dano's hallucinations. Come, friends, we will walk abroad and soon these baseless, idle fancies to which, I fear, we all are inclined, will be dispelled.
Nay, Dano, you shall not be left to yourself to brood and dream. Too close study and a natural inclination toward Mysticism are misleading you, and we, your devoted fellow students, will be doing less than our duty if we do not endeavor to induce you to yield to lighter, pleasanter veins of thought.
De L'Ester—Gentola̤, to you this demonstration is little more than curious. To estimate its meaning and value you would have to realize what we and many other spirits long have been striving to bring about. This we cannot now make plain to you, for could you fully realize its significance it would so overwhelm you as to unfit you for the work you alone can accomplish. This much I may say, that now as never before we feel assured of the success of our mission.
Favēon felt not only your presence but also the wave of Magnetism we passed over him. He is very sensitive, and when the time of his enlightenment shall have arrived he no longer will imagine that Dano is afflicted with morbid fancies, for he too shall stand as an Inspired Teacher of his own people.
In the adjoining class room other students are engaged in Microscopic examination of Crytogamic growths. For a short time we will observe them. We perceive that the specimens are of various species found in moist localities, or in ponds or other sluggish waters. That their sporules, wafted by winds or through the agency of aquatic fowls, are borne from one locality to another. That some are known to be inimical to health, even to life, but that science has found means to oppose and render ineffectual their virulence.
Yonder dark-skinned intellectual maiden is strongly inclined to skepticism. Not perceiving the utility of these growths she contracts her pretty brows, and, after some moments of inconclusive thought, she turns her large, luminous, questioning eyes on the stately Professor who stands near her, regarding her attentively, and says: "Professor Doiko, will you inform us as to why Andûmana̤ has created these, so far as science has discovered, worse than useless growths, and also the parasites which infest the bodies of His children, and of all creatures?"
Professor Doiko—Our purpose is to study the structure and habits of these growths, not to question the purpose of their Creator. When we shall have grown wise enough doubtless we will understand the mystery of many things which now are obscure. As to parasites which infest the bodies of living organisms science regards some of them not as enemies, but as scavengers of refuse, which, when not speedily removed, generate diseases of various kinds. Through our lack of knowledge we count as foes many forms of life which probably, in time, we will come to regard as friends. Andûmana̤, Creator of all things, makes no mistakes. It is His children who err in questioning the results of His infallible wisdom.
De L'Ester—The maiden looks rather discomfited than convinced. To the quiet girl on her left, in a low tone she earnestly says: "One is ever asking questions to which our learned ones give but half replies. Always within me something cries out for a fuller knowledge of things. If I question our Instructors or our Priests, or if I search written authorities, the answer is ever the same, 'Andûmana̤ knoweth, Andûmana̤ doeth according to His will,' and our Priests say that we sin when we question the meanings of mysteries. Tonēne, what is that within us which ever is impelling us to search into forbidden things?"