present world." And turning to the loaded bookshelves he took down
a large volume, and spread it open on the table.

"You know this book?" he asked.

Alwyn glanced at it. "The Bible! Of course!" he replied
indifferently. "Everybody knows it!"

"Pardon!" and Heliobas smiled. "It would be more correct to say
nobody knows it. To read is not always to understand. There are
meanings and mysteries in it which have never yet been penetrated,
and which only the highest and most spiritually gifted intellects
can ever hope to unravel. Now" ... and he turned over the pages
carefully till he came to the one he sought, "I think there is
something here that will interest you--listen!" and he read aloud,
"'The Angel Uriel came unto me and said: Go into a field of
flowers where no house is builded and eat only the flowers of the
field--taste no flesh, drink no wine, but eat flowers only. And
pray unto the Highest continually, and then will I come and talk
to thee. So I went my way into the field which is called ARDATH,
... '"

"The very place!" exclaimed Alwyn, eagerly bending over the sacred
book; then drawing back with a gesture of disappointment he added,
"But you are reading from Esdras, the Apocrypha! an utterly
unreliable source of information!"

"On the contrary, as reliable as any history ever written,"
rejoined Heliobas calmly. "Study it for yourself, ... you will see
that the prophet was at that time resident in Babylon; the field