"Well, he's not for me. I can believe in almost any kind of a prophet
except one that works miracles."

"Who knows? The Swami may be the molder of your destiny," said Madeline
gaily, with youth's lightness in referring to the vague future.

"He may; but I'd lay long odds against it."

"I must be going." Miss Elton rose. "The crowd is thinning, and Mrs.
Lenox looks impressively in my direction. We are going out together on
the train. Their new country place is near us, you know. And you,
ungrateful one, I suspect, have not even spoken to Mr. Early yet. Go and
'make your manners,' like a good boy. I'll expect you to-morrow
afternoon. Mr. Norris, Dick has promised to bring you with him to dinner
to-morrow. Till then, good-by."

"Come, Ellery, we'll face the music, now that the real attractions are
gone," said Dick.

Mr. Early extended two hands, ponderous in proportion to the rest of his
body, in fatherly greeting.

"Ah, Percival, my dear fellow, so you are done with Yale and back again
in St. Etienne? I welcome you out of the fetters of mere bookishness
into the freedom of real life, where it is man's business to serve, and
not to absorb."

Dick blushed guiltily as several surrounding ladies turned their
lorgnettes on him, but Mr. Early went on, undisturbed and very audible:

"I do not introduce you to Swami Ram Juna, because introductions belong
to the world of conventionalities, and he lives in that world where real
human relations are the only things that count; but I put your hand in
his, in token of the contact in which your spirit may meet his great
soul."

"Very good of you, I'm sure," murmured Dick, as the Swami bent his head
and gave him a penetrating look.

"You, too, then, are a seeker?" Ram Juna inquired in a low tone, but
with his delicate and distinct enunciation.

"Ah--I hope so," Dick answered hastily, and with an evident desire to
push the topic no further. "And this, Mr. Early, is my old chum, Norris,
who has come West to be on the editorial staff of the _Star_."

"The _Star_? It is the symbol of illumination. Is then your _Star_
devoted to the enlightenment of mankind?" asked Ram Juna, transferring
his fixed gaze.

"In a sense--yes," Norris faltered with a swift guilty recollection of
certain head-lines in last night's edition.

"He who writes must think. He who thinks goes below the surface. He who
goes below the surface is moving toward the center," said the Swami
oracularly.