Her lips were parted, her eyes were suffused and she was leaning forward
breathlessly.

"If we would live bravely, hopefully, tranquilly," he continued, "we
must be conscious of the presence of God. If we believe with all our
hearts that He knows our inmost thoughts, we shall experience comfort
beyond words. This life of peace, of aspiration, of communion, is
possible to all. The evil in us may be overthrown. We may reproduce the
life of Christ on earth. We may become as He was--one with God. As the
little water drop poured into a large measure of wine seems to lose its
own nature entirely and take on the nature and the color of both the
water and the wine; or as air filled with sunlight is transformed into
the same brightness so that it does not appear to be illuminated by
another light so much as to be luminous of itself; so must all feeling
toward the Holy One be self-dissolved and wholly transformed into the
will of God. For how shall God be all in all, if anything of man remains
in man?"

In words and images like these the young mystic poured forth his soul.
There were no flights of oratory, and only occasional bursts of anything
that could be called eloquence. But in an inexplicable manner it moved
the heart to tenderness and thrilled the deepest feelings of the soul.
Much of the effect on those who understood him was due to the truths he
uttered; but even those who, like the two strangers, were unfamiliar
with the ideas advanced, or indifferent to them, could not escape that
nameless influence with which all true orators are endowed, and were
thrilled by what he said. In our ignorance we have called this influence
by the name of "magnetism." Whatever it may be, this young man possessed
it in a very high degree, and when to it was added his personal beauty,
his sincerity, and his earnestness, it became almost omnipotent over
the emotions, if not over the reason. It enslaved Pepeeta completely.

It was impossible that in so small a room a speaker should be
unconscious of the presence of strangers. David had noticed them at
once, and his glance, after roaming about the room, invariably returned
and fixed itself upon the face of the Fortune Teller. Their fascination
was mutual. They were so drawn to each other by some inscrutable power,
that it would not have been hard to believe that they had existed as
companions in some previous state of being, and had now met and vaguely
remembered each other.

When at lengt