ng them, for I could not recall them, but I was trying
to recover them."

"Why so, Amine? this must not be. It is, as the good father said,
`unholy.' Promise me you will abandon them now and for ever."

"If that act be unholy, Philip, so is your mission. You would deal and
co-operate with the spirits of another world--I would do no more.
Abandon your terrific mission--abandon your seeking after disembodied
spirits, stay at home with you Amine, and she will cheerfully comply
with your request."

"Mine is an awful summons from the Most High."

"Then the Most High permits your communion with those who are not of
this world?"

"He does; you know even the priests do not gainsay it although they
shudder at the very thought."

"If then He permits to one, He will to another; nay, ought that I can do
is but with His permission."

"Yes, Amine, so does He permit evil to stalk on the earth but He
countenances it not."

"He countenances your seeking after your doomed father, your attempts to
meet him; nay, more He commands it. If you are thus permitted, why may
not I be? I am your wife, a portion of yourself; and when I am left
over a desolate hearth while you pursue your course of danger, may not I
appeal also to the immaterial world to give me that intelligence which
will soothe my sorrow, lighten my burden, and which, at the same time,
can hurt no living creature? Did I attempt to practise these arts for
evil purposes, it were just to deny them me, am wrong to continue them;
but I would but follow in the step of my husband, and seek, as he seeks,
with a good intent."

"But it is contrary to our faith."

"Have the priests declared your mission contrary to their faith? or, if
they have, have they not been convinced to the contrary, and been awed
to silence? But why argue, my dear Philip? Shall I not now be with
you? and while with you I will attempt no more. You have my promise;
but if separated I will not say but I shall then require of the
invisible a knowledge of my husband's motions, when in search of the
invisible also."

The winter passed rapidly away, for it was passed by Philip in quiet and
happiness; the spring came on, the vessel was to be fitted out, and
Philip and Amine repaired to Amsterdam.

The Utrecht was the name of the vessel to which he had been appointed, a
ship of 400 tons, newly launched, and pierced for twenty-four guns. Two
more months passed away, during which Philip superintended