I held my peace, moved by a sudden sweet awe.

"From Eternal Life no death can come,"--continued the Voice--"from
Eternal Love flows Eternal Joy. Change there is,--change there must
be to higher forms and higher planes,--but Life and Love remain as
they are, indestructible--'the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever!'"

I bent my face over the rose against my breast,--its perfume was
deliciously soft and penetrating, and half unconsciously I kissed
its velvet petals. As I did this a swift and dazzling radiance
poured shower-like through the air, and again I heard mysterious
chords of rhythmic melody rising and falling like distant waves of
the sea. The grave, tender Voice spoke once again:

"Rise and go hence!" it said, in tones of thrilling gentleness--
"Keep the gift God sends thee!--take that which is thine! Meet that
which hath sought thee sorrowing for many centuries! Turn not aside
again, neither by thine own will nor by the will of others, lest old
errors prevail! Pass from vision into waking!--from night to day!--
from seeming death to life!--from loneliness to love!--and keep
within thy heart the message of a Dream!"

The light beating about me like curved wings slowly paled and as
slowly vanished--yet I felt that I must still kneel and wait. This
atmosphere of awe and trembling gradually passed away,--and then,
rising as I thought, and holding the mystic rose with one hand still
against my breast, I turned to feel my way through the darkness
which now encompassed me. As I did this my other hand was caught by