Part 46 (1/2)

”My Master!” The man's nearness of spirit, as he spoke, vibrated into Skag and roused him to something different, something clearer. ”A mystic from the Vindha mountains has but just reached this place. They are very powerful, having great knowledge. This man is blood-kin to her. Give me permission and I will call him.”

Skag looked into Bhanah's eyes, finding the ancient friends.h.i.+p there; then he said only one word:

”Hurry!”

Bhanah leaped away across the lawn and Skag turned to stand by Carlin's side.

The silence seemed absolute now; the whiteness absolute. He remembered that she had gone down into shadows. He bent his head toward her breast and looked down.

. . . Sense of time was gone--even the endlessness of it. Sense of whiteness was gone. His vision wakened, as he groped through deepening shadows, on and on--till they turned to utter blackness. In that utter blackness appeared a thread of pure blue; he traced it back up till it entered Carlin's body. There, it was not blue any more, but a faint glow of high white light centred in her breast and shed--like moonlight--through all her person.

The heart of his heart called to her. . . . There was no answer.

. . . He became aware that a tall slender man stood at his side; but it did not disturb him. The man wore long straight robes of camel's hair.

The sense of him was strength. At last he spoke:

”Son, why do you call to her? She cannot come back--of herself. You cannot fetch her back.”

”Why?” breathed Skag. ”I ought to be able to.”

”No,” the man said kindly, ”you are not able to--I am not able to--no created being is able to.”

The man emphasised the word created.

”What can?” Skag asked.

”First you must learn not to depend on yourself; then you must know something of the law.”

The man was holding one hand out, above Carlin's head--quite still, but not close, while he spoke. Skag felt his strength more than at first.

”Do you want her for yourself?” he asked.

Skag looked into his kind dark eyes--his own eyes speaking for him.

”Do you want her for her own sake--because she loves you? Is it that you have knowledge what will be best for her? Did you create her--did you prepare her ultimate destiny, do you even know it?”

”I know that I am in it!”

Skag answered very low, but with conviction. His eyes were agonised; but the man bored into them, without relenting.

”Do you want her to come back from the margin of departure, for the sake of others--for the sake of her ministry to their need?”

The answer to this last question came up in Skag--waves on waves, rolling into engulfing billows.

”That answer may avail!” the man said conclusively. ”If it is accepted--if your love for her is perfect enough to forget itself--if you are able to make your mind altogether inactive--”

”Then how shall I work--if not with my mind?” Skag interrupted.

”First know that you yourself can do nothing.” The man spoke with soft, slow emphasis. ”No created being has power to do that kind of work.”