its size and weight. He simply said, "These jewels have been
created by spirit power."

"Do you," I gasped, with a feeling of mingled exultance and fear, "do
you create matter?"

[Illustration: AS I GAZED, LO! A SHOWER OF BLAZING JEWELS ISSUED FROM
THE MOUTH OF THE HEHORRENT.]

"The abnegation of hopeless love is the source of the spirit power
by which we create matter such as this," replied the sorcerer. "The
twin-soul is the cell that generates the creative force."

"And can you create other matter than jewels?" I eagerly inquired.

The sorcerer gazed at Lyone for a moment, who had been strangely
silent in the presence of her most powerful spiritual coadjutor, and
then replied: "Yes, we can create all things if necessary. We can, for
example, create islands in the sea, with mountains, forests, lakes,
valleys, winding walks and thickets of flowers, palaces and pagodas."

I was breathless with excitement at such a reply. "Oh, that I could
see such an island," I rejoined, "and tread, if but for a single hour,
its ecstatic shores!"

"You can both see it and walk upon it, if the goddess so wills it,"
replied the sorcerer. "What is the command of your holiness?" he
inquired.

"I would like the commander to see Arjeels, if your priests and
priestesses are willing to perform the necessarily arduous ritual
involved in its creation," replied Lyone.

"My hierophants," replied the sorcerer, "are only too happy to serve
their goddess at all times, and I will at once command them to prepare
to execute the ritual for creating the magical island of Arjeels."

"Your devotion," said Lyone, "fills me with the purest joy."

As we conversed, the large ruby I held in my hand had grown
considerably less in size, as though the elements of which it was
composed had to a degree evaporated as unseen gases, so that in a
short time the jewel might wholly disappear. The sorcerer,
anticipating an inquiry as to its disappearance, stated that all
objects created by spirit power could only be maintained in their full
material splendor so long as they were sustained by the power that
gave them birth. The creations were not additions to already existing
elements; they were simply focalizations of matter from the elements
of the surrounding world, held together by the force that withdrew
them from their normal habitat as long as the spirit power remains
supplied. The jewels would in a few hours cease to exist, because they
were not enfolde