And I am not one to be fooled with the vanities of the common
crowd. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare
to behold things as they are. And if I live in a waste instead
of a paradise, I will live knowing where I live." But of this a
certain exercise of his power which soon followed quite cured me,
turning my feelings towards him once more into loathing and
distrust. It was thus:

One bright noon, a little maiden joined me, coming through the
wood in a direction at right angles to my path. She came along
singing and dancing, happy as a child, though she seemed almost a
woman. In her hands--now in one, now in another--she carried a
small globe, bright and clear as the purest crystal. This seemed
at once her plaything and her greatest treasure. At one moment,
you would have thought her utterly careless of it, and at
another, overwhelmed with anxiety for its safety. But I believe
she was taking care of it all the time, perhaps not least when
least occupied about it. She stopped by me with a smile, and
bade me good day with the sweetest voice. I felt a wonderful
liking to the child--for she produced on me more the impression
of a child, though my understanding told me differently. We
talked a little, and then walked on together in the direction I
had been pursuing. I asked her about the globe she carried, but
getting no definite answer, I held out my hand to take it. She
drew back, and said, but smiling almost invitingly the while,
"You must not touch it;"--then, after a moment's pause--"Or if
you do, it must be very gently." I touched it with a finger. A
slight vibratory motion arose in it, accompanied, or perhaps
manifested, by a faint sweet sound. I touched it again, and the
sound increased. I touched it the third time: a tiny torrent of