o stumble on some of its secrets, but I could not follow
them; too late I learnt that only the good and pure can do that. Much
of the result of years of toil I destroyed the other night, but I
still know enough to empower you to reconstruct what I annihilated;
you can learn more in one year than I learnt in ten. I am grateful to
you, and, if you wish it, I will show you the way."

Angela listened, open-eyed. Lady Bellamy was right, she was greedy of
knowledge and the power that springs from knowledge.

"But would it not be wrong?" she said.

"There can be nothing wrong in what the ruling Wisdom allows us to
acquire without the help of what is evil. But do not be deceived, such
knowledge and power as this is not a thing to be trifled with. To
obtain a mastery over it, you must devote your life to it; you must
give it

"'Allegiance whole, not strained to suit desire,'

"No earthly passion must come to trouble the fixed serenity of your
aspirations; that was one, but only one, of the reasons of my failure.
You must leave your Arthur to Mrs. Carr, and henceforward put him as
much out of your mind as possible; and this, that you may be able to
separate yourself from earthly bonds and hopes and fears. Troubled
waters reflect a broken image."

"I must, then, choose between this knowledge and my love?"

"Yes; and you will do well if you choose the knowledge; for, before
you die--if, indeed, you do not in the end, for a certain period,
overcome even death--you will be more of an angel than a woman. On the
one hand, then, this proud and dizzy destiny awaits you; on the other,
every-day joys and sorrows shared by all the world, and an ordinary
attachment to a man against whom I have, indeed, nothing to say, but
who is not your equal, and who is, at the best, full of weaknesses
that you should despise."

"But, Lady Bellamy, his weaknesses are a part of himself, and I love
him all, just as he is; weakness needs love more than what is strong."

"Perhaps; but, in return for your love, I offer you no empty cup. I do
not ask you to follow fantastic theories--of that I will soon convince
you. Shall I show you the semblance of your Arthur and Mrs. Carr as
they are at this moment?"

"No, Lady Bellamy, no, I have chosen. You offer, after years of
devotion, to make me _almost like an angel_. The temptation is very
great, and it fascinates me. But I hope, if I can succeed in living a
good life, to become altogether an ang