sign of it. They ENJOYED--yes! with that selfish animal enjoyment
and love of personal indulgence which all men, old and young
without exception, take such delight in--unless indeed they be
sworn and sorrowful anchorites, and even then you may be sure they
are always regretting the easy license and libertinage of their
bygone days of unbridled independence when they could foster their
pet weaknesses, cherish their favorite vices, and laugh at all
creeds and all morality as though Divine Justice were a mere empty
name, and they themselves the super-essence of creation. Ah, what
a ridiculous spectacle is Man! the two-legged pigmy of limited
brain, and still more limited sympathies, that, standing
arrogantly on his little grave the earth, coolly criticises the
Universe, settles law, and measures his puny stature against that
awful Unknown Force, deeply hidden, but majestically existent,
which for want of ampler designation we call GOD--God, whom some
of us will scarcely recognize, save with the mixture of doubt,
levity, and general reluctance; God, whom we never obey unless
obedience is enforced by calamity; God, whom we never truly love,
because so many of us prefer to stake our chances of the future on
the possibility of His non-existence!

Strangely enough, thoughts of this God, this despised and
forgotten Creator, came wandering hazily over Theos's mind at the
present moment when, glancing round the splendid banquet-table, he
studied the different faces of all assembled, and saw Self, Self,
Self, indelibly impressed on every one of them. Not a single
countenance was there that did not openly betray the complacent
hauteur and tranquil vanity of absolute Egotism, Sah-luma's
especially. But then Sah-luma had something to be proud of--his
genius; it was natural that he should be satisfied with himself--