own thoughts remained very
nearly impenetrable. On this occasion he commended me for my work and my
relations with my fellow-students, adding that I had made rapid
progress. He then said, "I have two questions to ask you. Have you any
special relations, either with any one whom you have left behind you on
earth, or with any one with whom you have made acquaintance since you
quitted it, which you desire to pursue?"

I told him, which was the truth, that since my stay in the College I had
become so much absorbed in the studies of the place that I seemed to
have became strangely oblivious of my external friends, but that it was
more a suspension than a destruction of would-be relations.

"Yes," he said, "I perceive that that is your temperament. It has its
effectiveness, no doubt, but it also has its dangers; and, whatever
happens, one ought never to be able to accuse oneself justly of any
disloyalty."

He seemed to wait for me to speak, whereupon I mentioned a very dear
friend of my days of earth; but I added that most of those whom I had
loved best had predeceased me, and that I had looked forward to a
renewal of our intercourse. I also mentioned the names of Charmides and
Cynthia, the latter of whom was in memory strangely near to my heart.

He seemed satisfied with this. Then he said, "It is true that we have to
multiply relationships with others, both in the world and out of it; but
we must also practise economy. We must not abandon ourselves to passing
fancies, or be subservient to charm, while if we have made an emotional
mistake, and have been disappointed with one whom we have taken the
trouble to win, we must guard such conquests with a close and peculiar
tenderness. But enough of that, for I have to ask you if there is any
special work for which you feel yourself disposed. There is a great
choice of employment here. You may choose, if you will, just to live
the spiritual life and discharge whatever duties of citizenship you may
be called upon to perform. That is what most spirits do. I need not
perhaps tell you"--here he smiled--"that freedom from the body does not
confer upon any one, as our poor brothers and sisters upon earth seem to
think, a heavenly vocation. Neither of course is the earthly fallacy
about a mere absorption in worship a true one--only to a very few is
that conceded. Still less is this a life of leisure. To be leisurely
here is permitted only to the wearied, and to those childish creatures