ave the brow and eyes; and these were large, grand, and full of
absolute wisdom and tranquil consciousness of power. I could have gazed
on this wonderful piece of Zara's handiwork for hours, but Heliobas
called to the Armenian servants, who stood near the door awaiting
orders, and commanded them to break it down. For once these
well-trained domestics showed signs of surprise, and hesitated. Their
master frowned. Snatching a hammer from one of them, he himself
attacked the great statue as if it were a personal foe. The Armenians,
seeing he was in earnest, returned to their usual habits of passive
obedience, and aided him in his labour. Within a few minutes the great
and beautiful figure lay in fragments on the floor, and these fragments
were soon crushed into indistinguishable atoms. I had promised to
witness this work of destruction, and witness it I did, but it was with
pain and regret. When all was finished, Heliobas commanded his men to
carry the statue of Zara's self down to his own private room, and then
to summon all the domestics of the household in a body to the great
hall, as he wished to address them. I heard him give this order with
some surprise, and he saw it. As the Armenians slowly disappeared,
carrying with great care the marble figure of their late mistress, he
turned to me, as he locked up the door of the studio, and said quietly:

"These ignorant folk, who serve me for money and food--money that they
have eagerly taken, and food that they have greedily devoured--they
think that I am the devil or one of the devil's agents, and I am going
to prove their theories entirely to their satisfaction. Come and see!"

I followed him, somewhat mystified. On the way downstairs he said:

"Do you know why Zara wished that statue destroyed?"

"No," I said frankly; "unless for the reason that it was incomplete."

"It always would have been incomplete," returned Heliobas; "even had
she lived to work at it for years. It was a daring attempt, and a
fruitless one. She was trying to make a clay figure of one who never
wore earthly form--the Being who is her Twin-Soul, who dominates her
entirely, and who is with her now. As well might she have tried to
represent in white marble the prismatic hues of the rainbow!"

We had now reached the hall, and the servants were assembling by twos
and threes. They glanced at their master with looks of awe, as he took
up a commanding position near the fountain, and faced them with a
g