efficient teacher
of Hebrew and Greek, and addressed a few kindly words directly to Joseph
and taken his hand in his, the head of the community bade them both
good-bye, saying that important business needed his presence. He sped
away on his business, but he seemed to leave something of himself
behind, and even Mathias was perforce distracted from his search of a
philosophic point of view and indulged himself in the luxury of a simple
remark. His goodness, he said, is so natural, like the air we breathe
and the bread we eat, and that is why we all love him, and why all
dissension vanishes at the approach of our president; a remarkable man.

The most wonderful I have ever seen, Joseph answered: a remark that did
not altogether please Mathias, for he added: his power is in himself,
for he is altogether without philosophy.

Joseph was moved to ask Mathias if the charm that himself experienced
was not an entire absence of philosophy. But he did not dare to rouse
Mathias, whom he feared, and his curiosity overcame his sense of loyalty
to the president. If he were to take his leave abruptly, he would have
to return alone to the village to seek the four proselytes, but their
companionship did not attract him, and he found himself at that moment
unable to deny himself the pleasure of the sweet refreshing evening air,
which as they approached the river seemed to grow sweeter. The river
itself was more attractive than he had yet seen it, and there was that
sadness upon it which we notice when a rainy day passes into a fine
evening. The clouds were rolling on like a battle--pennants flying in
splendid array, leaving the last row of hills outlined against a clear
space of sky; and, with his eyes fixed on the cliffs over against the
coasts of the lake, Mathias let his thoughts run after his favourite
abstractions: the relation of God to time and place. As he dreamed his
metaphysics, he answered Joseph's questions from time to time,
manifesting, however, so little interest in them that at last Joseph
felt he could bear it no longer, and resolved to leave him. But just as
he was about to bid him good-bye, Mathias said that the Essenes were
pious Jews who were content with mere piety, but mere piety was not
enough: God had given to man a mind, and therefore desired man to
meditate, not on his own nature--which was trivial and passing--but on
God's nature, which was important and eternal.

This remark revealed a new scope for inquiry t