went, and watching the stars appearing and disappearing in the smoke
with mild eyes, like the eyes of a beast of the field. He turned
presently to the Brother who wrote in the big book, and whose duty
was to teach the children, and said, 'Brother Dove, to what are the
stars fastened?' The Brother, rejoicing to see so much curiosity in
the stupidest of his scholars, laid down the pen and said, 'There are
nine crystalline spheres, and on the first the Moon is fastened, on
the second the planet Mercury, on the third the planet Venus, on the
fourth the Sun, on the fifth the planet Mars, on the sixth the planet
Jupiter, on the seventh the planet Saturn; these are the wandering
stars; and on the eighth are fastened the fixed stars; but the ninth
sphere is a sphere of the substance on which the breath of God moved
in the beginning.'

'What is beyond that?' said the child. 'There is nothing beyond that;
there is God.'

And then the child's eyes strayed to the jewelled box, where one
great ruby was gleaming in the light of the fire, and he said, 'Why
has Brother Peter put a great ruby on the side of the box?'

'The ruby is a symbol of the love of God.'

'Why is the ruby a symbol of the love of God?'

'Because it is red, like fire, and fire burns up everything, and
where there is nothing, there is God.'

The child sank into silence, but presently sat up and said, 'There is
somebody outside.'