is it not?"

"Yes, it is the Sacred Lily. The plant is rooted in the mire at the
bottom of the pond, and grows up through the water to the surface. The
stem rises in a serpentine curve, and terminates in a flower-bud, which
opens with a sigh of delight when the sun strikes upon it, and fills the
air with its perfume."

"A sigh, did you say?"

"Yes, a low sweet sound resembling a sigh. The flower is white--'living
white'--that is to say, white shot with many colours like the opal. We
call it the Sun Lily, or 'Flower of the Soul.'"

"Why 'Flower of the Soul?'"

"Because we say it has the infinite and ever-changing beauty of the
soul. It is an emblem of Love, and its manifestations--beauty, genius,
holiness. In particular it signifies the birth or awakening of love in
the human soul. As the plant may be said to exist for the flower, its
chief glory, so the man attains his perfection through love, which
confers a boundless and immortal worth upon his life. As the root takes
from the soil and the flower brings forth the fruit, so hate feeds upon
the ill, and love dies for the good of others. It also represents the
human race, for man, and especially woman, may be regarded as the flower
of this lower world. Moreover, the entire plant, root, stem, and flower,
is symbolical of all creation, and some of our poets have named it the
'Lily of Life.' For as the plant begins in the black earth to end in the
sunny ether, so the world, the universe, begins in chaos and darkness,
to end in light and order; begins in matter and force, to end in life
and spirit--begins in hate and selfishness, to end in love and
self-sacrifice--begins in ugliness, to end in beauty. Thus the flower
and root stand for the upper and lower limits or poles of nature, and
the stalk which joins them for the upward range or path of creation. It
is a beautiful stem, curving in opposite ways like a serpent, or the
side of a wave; in fact, it is the most beautiful curve we know--it runs
like this."

Here Otare described a flamboyant curve in the air with his finger.

"If I'm not mistaken it is what our artists call the 'line of beauty,'"
observed Gazen.

"Oh, indeed!" responded Otare, with pleased surprise. "Well, with us it
is a symbol of the continuous unfolding of things; the graceful progress
of development."

"So the path of evolution is the 'line of beauty,'" said the professor.

"Apparently," rejoined Otare, "and as the ends of the curve point
o