“What is it you wish to learn most?” asked the Lama; and Ommony, after one hard look at the chela, closed his eyes to think. It would be useless to tell anything but raw truth; he had a feeling that the Lama could detect the slightest taint of falsehood; yet he was determined not to confess to what he now knew, because in all likelihood that would shut all doors against him. “A little knowledge” is usually doubly dangerous, if the other fellow knows you know it.
“I wish to demonstrate that I was really right to decide to trust you,” he said at last.
“But you know that,” said the Lama. “Your heart tells you you were right. A man’s heart does not lie to him; it is the brain that lies, imagining all kinds of vanities.”
Ommony took thought again. He sensed that he was on trial, not for his life but for something more important—leave to go ahead and find out for himself the whole solution of the mystery. He had to find an answer that should not be false, that should not betray the knowledge he already had, and that should nevertheless appeal to the Lama’s sense of fitness. Superficiality would receive a superficial answer. Deep was asking deep for a disclosure of ultimate motive.
“My job in the forest is gone. I want to find work worth doing,” he said at last.
“And do you think I can show you that?” asked the Lama, looking straight at him. One moment he looked very old, the next not more than middle-aged. It was as if he hovered between this world and another, in which were visions that he could bring back with him to earth. Ommony threw evasion to the winds.
“I want to learn your secret!”
“Ah! But to obey? Not me, but to obey your own heart, if I help you to see what none of your race has ever yet seen?”
“I’ll do what I believe is right,” said Ommony, and the Lama nodded, glancing sharply at Samding, as if to see whether the chela confirmed his opinion. The chela smiled inscrutably.
“You should go to Tilgaun,” said the Lama, “where you might have gone in the beginning. If you wish, you may follow me to Tilgaun, and await what comes of it.”