the last I saw his stately figure erect in
the light of the winter sunshine--a figure destined from henceforth to
occupy a prominent position in my life and memory. The regret I felt at
parting from him was greatly mitigated by the assurance he gave me of
our future meeting, a promise which has since been fulfilled, and is
likely soon to be fulfilled again. That I have such a friend is an
advantageous circumstance for me, for through his guidance I am able to
judge accurately of many things occurring in the course of the daily
life around me--things which, seemingly trivial, are the hints of
serious results to come, which, I am thus permitted in part to foresee.
There is a drawback, of course, and the one bitter drop in the cup of
knowledge is, that the more I progress under the tuition of Heliobas,
the less am I deceived by graceful appearances. I perceive with almost
cruel suddenness the true characters of all those whom I meet. No smile
of lip or eye can delude me into accepting mere surface-matter for real
depth, and it is intensely painful for me to be forced to behold
hypocrisy in the expression of the apparently devout--sensuality in the
face of some radiantly beautiful and popular woman--vice under the mask
of virtue--self-interest in the guise of friendship, and spite and
malice springing up like a poisonous undergrowth beneath the words of
elegant flattery or dainty compliment. I often wish I could throw a
rose-coloured mist of illusion over all these things and still more
earnestly do I wish I could in a single instance find myself mistaken.
But alas! the fatal finger of the electric instinct within me points
out unerringly the flaw in every human diamond, and writes "SHAM"
across many a cunningly contrived imitation of intelligence and
goodness. Still, the grief I feel at this is counterbalanced in part by
the joy with which I quickly recognize real virtue, real nobility, real
love; and when these attributes flash out upon me from the faces of
human beings, my own soul warms, and I know I have seen a vision as of
angels. The capability of Heliobas to foretell future events proved
itself in his knowledge of the fate of the famous English hero, Gordon,
long before that brave soldier met his doom. At the time the English
Government sent him out on his last fatal mission, a letter from
Heliobas to me contained the following passage:

"I see Gordon has chosen his destiny and the manner of his death. Two
ways of d