rnfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."

"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"

"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
pity neither, but rather envy both."

"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
did it.

"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
pass by him. But