"Edris!" he repeated--"Edris!" and gazing at her dreamily he
raised her hands to his lips and kissed them gently--"My fairest
Edris! From whence do you come?"

She met his eyes with a mild look of reproach and wonderment.

"From a far, far country, Theos!" and he started as she thus
addressed him--"A land where no love is wasted and no promise
forgotten!"

Again that mystic light passed over her pale face--the blossom-
coronal she wore seemed for a moment to glitter like a circlet of
stars. His heart beat quickly--could he believe her? ... was she
in very truth that shining Peri whose aerial loveliness had so
long haunted his imagination? Nay!--it was impossible! ... for if
she were, why should she veil her native glory in such simple
maiden guise?

Searchingly he studied every feature of her countenance, and as he
did so his doubts concerning her spirit-origin became more and
more confirmed. She was a living, breathing woman--an actual
creature of flesh and blood,--yet how account for her appearance
on the field of Ardath? This puzzled him ... till all at once a
logical explanation of the whole mystery dawned upon his mind.
Heliobas had sent her hither on purpose to meet him! Of course!
how dense he had been not to see through so transparent a scheme
before! The clever Chaldean had resolved that he, Theos Alwyn,
should somehow be brought to accept his trance as a real
experience, so that henceforth his faith in "things unseen and
eternal" might be assured. Many psychological theorists would