Jewel Weed

d the culture soil they love; so it follows that to the commonplace comes a life of dull routine, foolish happenings seek out the sentimentalist, sordid events seek the sordid and on

to certain people, so other greater events would hardly conde

es when the things that are to be seem almost tangible. They press until he feels them crowd, whil

ng man in a new young city, and he had come West to live. However short and futile life may look to the old, it appears a big and long thing to twenty-three. Here in St. Etienne he was to

is past; Dick he had known and loved at college; Dick was even now showing himself a friend; and all these other folk were but th

oo like Mr. Early; but man has this advantage over the snail, that, whereas, the snail is obliged to construct a home around its slimy little body, man may build his habitation to

t was archaic in a modern fashion, too archaic to be quite convincing when combined with present-day ornaments and luxuries, too splendid to belong to any one except Mr. Early, and yet,

nd was needed, it was when the public had come in its hundreds to look upon the huge Hindu who stood beside the

which demanded and received attention. Ram Juna, on the other hand, betrayed no expectation of adulation. Rather was he utterly oblivious of it. Over the heads of those t

d garment touched upon its borders with strange embroideries and girdled about its ample waist with a wide sash of dull oriental red. The polished face was set off by a turban o

nterest in these western states of America, where facts, not theories, loom large. The new young man's eyes wandered to the audience, made up of people like himself. The unknown catches us for an instant,

y dressed in summer white, pretty and complacent, leaned back i

speaker. It was a cameo-like face, not animated, but delicate and finely lined. Norris knew her in a flash. This was the girl whose photograph had stood on Dick's mantel at college and of whom Dick had sometimes spoken in those rare intimate hours when he talked of his mother or of his purposes in life. Ellery forgot the rest of the room and watched her until a sudden forward lunge of Mrs.

point of view, but, rather, as though unconscious of their presence, he poured out the fullness of his meditations in self-communion. The upward-turned eyes were half closed. Occasionally there was a flicker of the eyelids or a touch of scorn when he contrasted the eastern ideal

pened wide hi

it! We grant to you dominion as a man gives to a child the sticks and straws for which it loudly clamors in i

burn more brilliantly than ever as if to shame the

lity and in the life of meditation, seek with us the universal truths. And truth, what is it? It eludes the scalpel of reason. It is the master and not the servant of logic. The only

silence lay upon his audience as the Swami stood for a moment as

long name which I have forgotten, ask me to tell you a little of what we know concerning the order of the universe. I will unfold." As though giving instruction

s lips began to move with th

about the things no mortal k

d his eyes upon the guilty youth. It was a habit of the Hind

ory of life and lives. But no! What have I told you? What I speak, that has my soul known, as has many another soul. I tell of astral bodies. I have acquaintance with them as have you

ooked in a half-questioning wa

y, "perhaps it is by childish meth

his eyes still fixed on guilty Dick P

sture, "will you permit that I show to the

of pleased anticipation ran through the petticoats of the room. Interest ceased to be perfunctory and became genuine. This was more fun than doctrine, after

is hand a strangely twisted retort and some

of shadow. I see roses in the strange jar yonder. You call them American beauties? Yes. Very well, I shal

m among its fellows and handed it across

er. In order to make it the plainer, I shall destroy the body of the blossom and leave its spirit. That spirit you shall see. Look, I lay this beautiful rose

thrust the covered rose into the brazier. At last he lif

l, in the bottom of which lay a few grains of pinkish dust. Into this he pou

you shall see what we may call its ghost. See. A gentle warmth.

fortunate in front, but the hush remained unbroken. The dark eyes of the Hindu

nd struggled in the dusty mass, grew stronger, and instead of a shapeless writhing there came an upshooting pyramid, which gradually took upon itself form

ad!" he said fo

passed through the room. The

now, I speak,"

ment he shook the phial away f

f another incarnation, and we say that the flower is for ever dead. What then is this death with which we pla

became but one of many entertaining things to be chattered about in moods that varied from credulity to amuseme

d stirred the unstirrable. Norris looked vaguely around as at unknown faces, and Dick nodded in this or that direction in that offhand manner which invi

stinction, even in small things. How natural that the Swami should sin

is the

ith the air of a naturalist who needs as many specimens of young men as possible for her col

ere as a new citizen. Apart from other considerations, we

r. Percival must bring you

, Dick's eyes wandered, until, with a chee

Ellery," he s

l began a slow progress through the crowd toward that uncompromising stiff-lined bench of the kind t

te display of delight as in some way his right. But if she was undemonstrative, she had the virtues of her failing, for there was a certain serenity even in the broad curve with which her hair clung to her temples, and in the over-crowded room her

at home at last. How good it is

aveled to the girl beyond. "And this, Mrs. Lenox, Miss Elton, is my good friend, Norris. You already know that

ith fresh realization that he was raw and unaccustomed to her suave atmosphere. He would have liked to be his best self before Percival's friends, and he felt

to reappear. No one but Mr. Early would dare to

that you all come-back into town, leaving

rate themselves before a simple seeker after truth with a turban an

," laughed Dick. "

bitten, I must bite. I have floated in with the flood and out with the ebb of almost every f

Swami's philosophy 'a

esoteric explanations and profounder mysteries. I have chased Mystery for more years than I shall own, and, so far as I can see, whenever you open the door on her secre

uch when he tells you that Mystery is five feet three,

a mixture of leger

lton. "And I like the ruby. See it now, gle

s you both more than the sea

as renounced the pomps and indulgences of courts and become, as I said, an humble seeker. He, too, loves the ruby-not from any vulgar love of display-but because to his soul it is a mystic symbol of Adhid

m well-i

er. And he also told me that they have very good copies of the Bagavad Gita at McClelland's for a quarter, so you may keep up with the advance guard at small expense. I have

sk for you to keep Mr. Lenox amu

cease to amuse, Mr. Lenox can divert himself by helping your father

actise it on you," she went on, glancing at Miss Elton under her eyelids. "Now, Dick, I am going to give you my very uncomfortable seat on this bench and let you and Madeline talk ov

Madeline and I have come together since we got through college and have bee

ling girl as Mrs. Len

y moved away together. "Of course I've seen her pic

Elton, both to her spirit and to her face-not thrilling, perhaps, but satisfying, which is better. She

h, though Dick ne

y in her manner that Norris forgot his awkwar

stand still, and Fortuna takes pains to hunt him up and offer him her choicest wares. Life looks to him more like a birthday party than like a battle-field. I say it not in envy, but

n your coming here. There is no friend like a coll

e in the St. Etienne Star, he began to pull wires both at that end and this to get me a place on the editorial staff. I'm afra

se you c

ally, is

of the universe, bus

s lau

le astonishes us all every day. And when he runs short of foreign lions he roars a bit himself. Privately, I

other girls. To me, as to Dick, Miss Elton may be the

Percival were left

had your cellars taken away and your attics left foundationless in space? The question is 'what next?' Tha

and, of course, there are musical and social 'does'. They are going to be such fun that I do not know if

h the dead level? I fancied y

e narrow mullioned window beside her as thoug

re are too many people and too much Swami. We are out at the lake, at the old summer home. Run out and dine with us to-morro

I'm afraid of the dark by myself, bu

e, Dick," she said

e I can get you a cup

Ram Juna, the refreshments are light almost to Nirvana. You can't insult a man who lives

great mountain of flesh was buil

ton-you rem

lready. She remembers th

stake of considering yourself a plum. Mrs. Appleton to

, "I think he's a

great without playing

eve in almost any kind of a prophe

ur destiny," said Madeline gaily, with youth'

'd lay long od

. Their new country place is near us, you know. And you, ungrateful one, I suspect, have not even spoken to Mr. Early yet. Go and 'make your manners,

music, now that the real att

derous in proportion to the rest

t. Etienne? I welcome you out of the fetters of mere bookishness into the fr

ladies turned their lorgnettes on him, but Mr

nalities, and he lives in that world where real human relations are the only things that count; b

ured Dick, as the Swami bent his h

una inquired in a low tone, but with

o push the topic no further. "And this, Mr. Early, is my old chum,

hen your Star devoted to the enlightenment of man

h a swift guilty recollection of cert

w the surface. He who goes below the surface is mo

a benevolent smile, and an oncoming

rn his remarks by h

Let us seek dinner, and fresh air. G