reading and signing of a paper; the sudden dispersion of the small
assemblage: he could scarcely believe it was all real.

"No," Lind said, "Lord Evelyn is not yet an officer. He is only a
Companion in the third degree, like yourself."

"A what?"

"A Companion in the third degree. Surely you read the document that you
signed?"

It was still lying on the table before him. He took it up; yes, he
certainly was so designated there. Yet he could not remember seeing the
phrase, though he had, before signing, read every word twice over.

"And now, Mr. Brand," his companion said, seating himself at the other
side of the table, "when you have got over your surprise that there
should be no ceremony, it will become my duty to give you some
idea--some rough idea--of the mechanism and aims of our association, and
to show you in what measure we are allied with other societies. The
details you will become acquainted with by-and-by; that will be a labor
of time. And you know, of course, or you have guessed, that there are no
mysteries to be revealed to you, no profound religious truths to be
communicated, no dogmas to be accepted. I am afraid we are very
degenerate descendants of the Mystics, and the Illuminati, and all the
rest of them; we have become prosaic; our wants are sadly material. And
yet we have our dreams and aspirations, too; and the virtues that we
exact--obedience, temperance, faith, self-sacrifice--are not ignoble.
Meanwhile, to begin. I think you may prepare yourself to be astonished."