which beats upon, the fellow-men we leave below,--that makes the
troubled life of Christendom dearer to Heaven, and more conducive to
Heaven's design in rendering earth the wrestling-ground and not the
resting-place of man, than is that of the Brahmin, ever seeking to
abstract himself from the Christian's conflicts of action and desire,
and to carry into its extremest practice the aesthetic theory, of
basking undisturbed in the contemplation of the most absolute beauty
human thought can reflect from its idea of divine good!"

Whatever Mrs. Emlyn might have said in reply was interrupted by the
rush of the children towards her; they were tired of play, and eager
for tea and the magic lantern.



CHAPTER XIII.

THE room is duly obscured and the white sheet attached to the wall;
the children are seated, hushed, and awe-stricken. And Kenelm is
placed next to Lily.

The tritest things in our mortal experience are among the most
mysterious. There is more mystery in the growth of a blade of grass
than there is in the wizard's mirror or the feats of a spirit medium.
Most of us have known the attraction that draws one human being to
another, and makes it so exquisite a happiness to sit quiet and mute
by another's side; which stills for the moment the busiest thoughts in
our brain, the most turbulent desires in our heart, and renders us but
conscious of a present ineffable bliss. Most of us have known that.
But who has ever been satisfied with any metaphysical account of its