nature that is not so much human as elemental and ethereal--or might
one not almost say, atmospheric? That is, though generated of flesh
and blood, they are not altogether flesh and blood, but possess
other untested and unproved essences mingled in their composition,
of which as yet we can form no idea. We grope in utter ignorance of
the greatest of mysteries--Life!--and with all our modern
advancement, we are utterly unable to measure or to account for
life's many and various manifestations. In the very early days of
imaginative prophecy, the 'elemental' nature of certain beings was
accepted by men accounted wise in their own time,--in the long ago
discredited assertions of the Count de Gabalis and others of his
mystic cult,--and I am not entirely sure that there does not exist
some ground for their beliefs. Life is many-sided;--humanity can
only be one facet of the diamond."

Giulio Rivardi had listened with surprised attention.

"You seem to imply then"--he said--"that this rich woman, Morgana
Royal, is hardly a woman at all?--a kind of sexless creature
incapable of love?"

"Incapable of the usual kind of so-called 'love'--yes!" answered
Aloysius--"But of love in other forms I can say nothing, for I know
nothing!--she may be capable of a passion deep and mysterious as
life itself. But come!--we might talk all night and arrive no closer
to the solving of this little feminine problem! You are fortunate in
your vocation of artist and designer, to have been chosen by her to
carry out her conceptions of structural and picturesque beauty--let
the romance stay there!--and do not try to become the husband of a
Sphinx!"