athy and
thought-reading are possible to a certain limited extent. But supposing
that you possess those powers, as I think in English, and you do not
know English, how can you interpret what is passing in my mind?"

"Perhaps you have been teaching me English all this while without
knowing it, Bickley. In any case, it matters little, seeing that what
I read is the thought, not the language with which it is clothed. The
thought comes from your mind to mine--that is, if I wish it, which is
not often--and I interpret it in my own or other tongues."

"I am glad to hear it is not often, Lady Yva, since thoughts are
generally considered private."

"Yes, and therefore I will read yours no more. Why should I, when they
are so full of disbelief of all I tell you, and sometimes of other
things about myself which I do not seek to know?"

"No wonder that, according to the story in the pictures, those Nations,
whom you named Barbarians, made an end of your people, Lady Yva."

"You are mistaken, Bickley; the Lord Oro made an end of the Nations,
though against my prayer," she added with a sigh.

Then Bickley departed in a rage, and did not appear again for an hour.

"He is angry," she said, looking after him; "nor do I wonder. It is hard
for the very clever like Bickley, who think that they have mastered all
things, to find that after all they are quite ignorant. I am sorry for
him, and I like him very much."

"Then you would be sorry for me also, Lady Yva?"

"Why?" she asked with a dazzling smile, "when your heart is athirst for
knowledge, gaping for it like a fledgling's mouth for food, and, as
it chances, though I am not very wise, I can satisfy something of your
soul-hunger."

"Not very wise!" I repeated.

"No, Humphrey. I think that Bastin, who in many ways is so stupid, has
more true wisdom than I have, because he can believe and accept without
question. After all, the wisdom of my people is all of the universe
and its wonders. What you think magic is not magic; it is only gathered
knowledge and the finding out of secrets. Bickley will tell you the
same, although as yet he does not believe that the mind of man can
stretch so far."

"You mean that your wisdom has in it nothing of the spirit?"

"Yes, Humphrey, that is what I mean. I do not even know if there is such
a thing as spirit. Our god was Fate; Bastin's god is a spirit, and I
think yours also."

"Yes."

"Therefore, I wish you and Bastin to teach me of you