? ...
He,--this wreck?--this blind, deaf lump of breathing clay? Surely he
has not fallen on so horrible a destiny!"

Tears rushed to Morgana's eyes,--she could not answer. She could only
bend her head in assent.

Profoundly moved, Ardini took her hand, and kissed it with sympathetic
reverence.

"Signora," he said--"This is indeed a tragedy! You have saved this life
at I know not what risk to yourself--and as I am aware what a life of
great attainment it promised to be, you may be sure I will spare no
pains to bring it back to normal conditions. But frankly I do not think
it will be possible. There is the woman who loves him--her influence
may do something--"

"If he ever loved her--yes"--and Morgana smiled rather sadly--"But if
he did not--if the love is all on her side--"

Ardini shrugged his shoulders.

"A great love is always on the woman's side,"--he said--"Men are too
selfish to love perfectly. In this case, of course, there is no
emotion, no sentiment of any sort left in the mere hulk of man. But
still I will continue my work and do my best."

He left her then,--and she stood for a while alone, gazing far out to
the blue sea and sunlight, scarcely seeing them for the
half-unconscious tears that blinded her eyes. Suddenly a Ray, not of
the sun, shot athwart the loggia and touched her with a deep gold
radiance. She saw it and looked up, listening.

"Morgana!"

The Voice quivered along the Ray like the touched string of an aeolian
harp. She answered it in almost a whisper--

"I hear!"

"You grieve for sorrows not your own," said the Voice--"And we love you
for it. But you must not waste your tears on the errors of others. Each
individual Spirit makes its own destiny, and no other but Itself can
help Itself. You are one of the Chosen and Beloved!--You must fulfil
the happiness you have created for your own soul! Come to us soon!" A
thrill of exquisite joy ran through her.

"I will!" she said--"When my duties here are done."

The golden Ray decreased in length and brilliancy, and finally died
away in a fine haze mingling with the air. She watched it till it
vanished,--then with a sense of relief from her former sadness, she
went into the house to see Manella. The girl had risen from her bed,
and with the assistance of Lady Kingswood, who tended her with motherly
care, had been arrayed in a loose white woollen gown, which, carelessly
gathered round her, intensified by contrast the striking beauty of h