under the most luxurious circumstances without its costing me a
penny. This was the only view they took of it. It is the only view
people generally take of any situation,--namely, the financial side.

The night before I left home was to me a memorable one. Nothing of
any outward or apparent interest happened, and I was quite alone,
yet I was conscious of a singular elation of both mind and body as
though I were surrounded by a vibrating atmosphere of light and joy.
It was an impression that came upon me suddenly, seeming to have
little or nothing to do with my own identity, yet withal it was
still so personal that I felt eager to praise for such a rich inflow
of happiness. The impression was purely psychic I knew,--but it was
worth a thousand gifts of material good. Nothing seemed sad,--
nothing seemed difficult in the whole Universe--every shadow of
trouble seemed swept away from a shining sky of peace. I threw open
the lattice window of my study and stepping out on the balcony which
overhung the garden, I stood there dreamily looking out upon the
night. There was no moon; only a million quivering points of light
flashing from the crowded stars in a heaven of dusky blue. The air
was warm, and fragrant with the sweet scent of stocks and
heliotrope,--there was a great silence, for it was fully midnight,
and not even the drowsy twitter of a bird broke the intense quiet.
The world was asleep--or seemed so--although for fifty living
organisms in Nature that sleep there are a thousand that wake, to
whom night is the working day. I listened,--and fancied I could hear
the delicate murmuring of voices hidden among the leaves and behind
the trees, and the thrill of soft music flowing towards me on the
sound-waves of the air. It was one of those supreme moments when I
almost thought I had made some marked progress towards the
attainment of my highest aims,--when the time I had spent and the