es in the
position of stars in even forty centuries is so small as to be hardly
noticeable by an eye not trained to minute observances, but they can be
measured and verified. Did you, or any of you, notice how exactly the
stars in the Ruby correspond to the position of the stars in the
Plough; or how the same holds with regard to the translucent places in
the Magic Coffer?"

We all assented. He went on:

"You are quite correct. They correspond exactly. And yet when Queen
Tera was laid in her tomb, neither the stars in the Jewel nor the
translucent places in the Coffer corresponded to the position of the
stars in the Constellation as they then were!"

We looked at each other as he paused: a new light was breaking upon
us. With a ring of mastery in his voice he went on:

"Do you not see the meaning of this? Does it not throw a light on the
intention of the Queen? She, who was guided by augury, and magic, and
superstition, naturally chose a time for her resurrection which seemed
to have been pointed out by the High Gods themselves, who had sent
their message on a thunderbolt from other worlds. When such a time was
fixed by supernal wisdom, would it not be the height of human wisdom to
avail itself of it? Thus it is"--here his voice deepened and trembled
with the intensity of his feeling--"that to us and our time is given
the opportunity of this wondrous peep into the old world, such as has
been the privilege of none other of our time; which may never be again.

"From first to last the cryptic writing and symbolism of that wondrous
tomb of that wondrous woman is full of guiding light; and the key of
the many mysteries lies in that most wondrous Jewel which she held in
her dead hand over the dead heart, which she hoped and believed would
beat again in a newer and nobler world!

"There are only loose ends now to consider. Margaret has given us the
true inwardness of the feeling of the other Queen!" He looked at her
fondly, and stroked her hand as he said it. "For my own part I
sincerely hope she is right; for in such case it will be a joy, I am
sure, to all of us to assist at such a realisation of hope. But we
must not go too fast, or believe too much in our present state of
knowledge. The voice that we hearken for comes out of times strangely
other than our own; when human life counted for little, and when the
morality of the time made little account of the removing of obstacles
in the way to achievement