xU
DUKE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
The Glenn Negley Collection
of Utopian Literature
Digitized by the Internet Archive
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http://www.archive.org/details/crystalageOOhuds
A CRYSTAL AGE
A CRYSTAL AGE
By
W. H. HUDSON
AUTHOR OF "THE PURPLE LAND," "A SHEPHERD'S LIFE," ETC,
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
DR. CLIFFORD SMYTH
Then gin I thinke on that which Nature sayd,
Of that same time when no more change shall be
But stedfast rest of all things firmely stayd
Upon the pillours of Eternity.
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Published by E. P. DUTTON & CO., 1917
Foreword Copyright in 1916,
By E. P. DUTTON & CO.
First American Edition igij
Second Printing June, 2922
•9rintrt< in H* tHnfteo States of 3mm'ta
Tc.ft.
tia-
PREFACE
Romances of the future, however fantastic
they may be, have for most of us a perennial
if mild interest, since they are born of a very
common feeling — a sense of dissatisfaction
with the existing order of things, combined
with a vague faith in or hope of a better
one to come. The picture put before us is
false; we knew it would be false before
looking at it, since we cannot imagine what
is unknown any more than we can build
without materials. Our mental atmosphere
surrounds and shuts us in like our own
skins; no one can boast that he has broken
out of that prison. The vast, unbounded
prospect lies before us, but, as the poet
mournfully adds, "clouds and darkness rest
upon it." Nevertheless we cannot suppress
all curiosity, or help asking one another,
What is your dream — your ideal? What
vi PREFACE
is your News from Nowhere, or, rather, what
is the result of the little shake your hand
has given to the old pasteboard toy with a
dozen bits of colored glass for contents5?
And, most important of all, can you present
it in a narrative or romance which will enable
me to pass an idle hour not disagreeably?
How, for instance, does it compare in this
respect with other prophetic books on the
shelf?
I am not referring to living authors; least
of all to that flamingo of letters who for the
last decade or so has been a wonder to our
island birds. For what could I say of him
that is not known to every one — that he is
the tallest of fowls, land or water, of a most
singular shape, and has black-tipped crimson
wings folded under his delicate rose-colored
plumage? These other books referred to,
written, let us say, from thirty or forty years
to a century or two ago, amuse us in a way
their poor dead authors never intended.
Most amusing are the dead ones who take
themselves seriously, whose books are pulpits
quaintly carved and decorated with precious
PREFACE vii
stones and silken canopies in which they stand
and preach to or at their contemporaries.
In like manner, in going through this book
of mine after so many years I am amused at
the way it is colored by the little cults and
crazes, and modes of thought of the 'eighties
of the last century. They were so important
then, and now, if remembered at all, they
appear so trivial ! It pleases me to be
diverted in this way at "A Crystal Age"
— to find, in fact, that I have not stood still
while the world has been moving.
This criticism refers to the case, the habit,
of the book rather than to its spirit, since
when we write we do, as the red man
thought, impart something of our souls to the
paper, and it is probable that if I were to
write a new dream of the future it would,
though in some respects very different from
this, still be a dream and picture of the
human race in its forest period.
Alas that in this case the wish cannot
induce belief! For now I remember another
thing which Nature said — that earthly excel-
lence can come in no way but one, and the
viii PREFACE
ending of passion and strife is the beginning
of decay. It is indeed a hard saying, and
the hardest lesson we can learn of her with-
out losing love and bidding good-by forever
to hope.
W. H. H.
September 1906.
A FOREWORD
This is not an old book. It is recorded, indeed,
that it made its first appearance some thirty
years ago. Then, twenty years after, a few addi-
tional copies were printed. Now it is again
venturing forth from the sylvan solitude of its
dreams — and this time the world, that has learned,
during the last half decade, of the marvelous
genius of the author of A Crystal Age, is ready
for it.
Some books are, in a sense, old before they are
born. They bring nothing new with them; they
reflect, more or less, the prevailing thought, or
literary fashion, of the chronological period to
which they belong; hence they achieve an imme-
diate popularity. In those excellent volumes of
literary criticism, for instance, Hazlitt's English
Poets and The Spirit of the Age, we read much of
the author's great contemporaries of a hundred
years ago — Byron, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Southey, and a score of others whose fame has
x A FOREWORD
long since passed away. How strangely obscured
was Hazlitt's vision by the clouds of his own day !
For he gives only a passing reference to Keats;
of Shelley there is no mention. The omission
seems inconceivable at first, in view of the fact
that this glorious star of English poetry had its
rise and its setting before The Spirit of the Age was
published. It is not to be wondered at, however,
when one realizes how far in advance Shelley was
cf his day. For all practical purposes of literature
this matchless singer of a golden age, without
whom the great poets of the last half century
could scarcely have found their own worlds of
song, first came into existence on that memorable
morning in London when a youth, Robert Brown-
ing by name, picked up a priceless volume of his
poetry from an old bookstall, and was himself
kindled to immortal utterance by the divine fire
that flashed upon him from its pages. After that
the world was ready; Shelley's poetry was really
published — just as the world is at last ready for
the books of W. H. Hudson.
Few names in literature come together more
appropriately than Shelley's and Hudson's, and
this appropriateness is emphasized in the case of a
book like A Crystal Age. The kinship is not due
A FOREWORD xi
merely to the tardiness with which recognition
has been accorded both men. It is inherent in the
delicacy of imagination, the profound love of
nature, the unswerving loyalty to truth, the eagle
vision glimpsing salvation on mountain peaks
rising above the reek of human suffering, that
characterizes their work. Mr. Hudson, it is true,
does not choose poetry for his medium. But, even
in the matter of literary style, there is a limpidity
in his periods, a grace, an utter simplicity that
reminds one of the pure harmonies of the Shelleyan
muse. Mr. Galsworthy, than whom no one is
better fitted to speak on such a subject, says:
"As a stylist, Hudson has few, if any, living equals.
. . . To use words so true and simple, that they
oppose no obstacle to the flow of thought and
feeling from mind to mind, and yet by juxtaposi-
tion of word-sounds set up in the recipient
continuing emotion or gratification — this is the
essence of style; and Hudson's writing has pre-
eminently this double quality." The gift is rare
in any form of writing; its presence in a narrative
of the fairy-like quality possessed by A Crystal
Age is a source of never-ending delight to the reader.
Here, thought is perfectly wedded to sound. The
tale is one of simple, primal things, of men and
xii A FOREWORD
women adoraoiy ignorant of the dust and surge,
the trivialities and complexities of cities; and it is
uttered in the clear-flowing syllables that poets
capture from brooks, rain-kissed trees, the rustle
of wind-swept grasses.
It has been said that A Crystal Age renders a
perfect picture of a Socialist state. If it does, I
doubt very much that it was planned to do so
by its author. Mr. Hudson is too profoundly an
artist, too intrinsically the teller of a story for the
story's sake, to shape his narrative to dogmatic
ends. He himself tells us that A Crystal Age is
"a dream and a picture of the human race in its
forest period." It belongs to the rare type of
fiction that has given us Gulliver and Erewhon.
But it is more joyously free from satirical purpose
than either of these. The story itself is a delicious
revel of fancy, unmarred by the doctrinal digres-
sions that usually obtrude upon these fictional
peeps into an ideal future. It gives, unques-
tionably, the poet-naturalist's view of things as
they should be — as they may be, when cruelty,
prejudice, and ignorance are banished from the
earth; and just because it gives a poet-naturalist's
view, it is big and free enough to discard the
shackles of the mere doctrinaire.
A FOREWORD xiii
If one were looking for the secret of Hudson's
unique power as a novelist, the quality that
differentiates him from all other writers in this
field of literature, it would be found in his delicate
apprehension of the life that seethes beneath
apparently inanimate things. His nature essays
are the very best of their kind, not because they
are richer than others in minute, painstaking
observation of facts in natural history, but because
they are interpretive of the human element in
nature. He sees the birds, the trees, the flowers,
the most harmless and the most ferocious of
animals, in terms of life. There is nothing either
above or below his interest. His book, A Shepherd's
Life, for instance, is not only a storehouse of
quaint and varied information, given with the
inimitable "artless art" peculiar to its author; it
is a reconstruction of an entire countryside.
Whoever is fortunate enough to read it will retain
in his memory a vivid world of primitive living,
symmetrical, complete in all its parts. Not even
Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree leaves so
definite, finished a picture of life in a placid, rural
community as this. The reason is that Hudson
lives his books before he writes them. For him,
a barren moor is anything but barren. Put him
xiv A FOREWORD
in the dullest of surroundings that one can find in
nature, and he still has the creative vision that
belongs to seership. It is this faculty in Hudson
for sensing the psychology in the inanimate that
attracted the late Professor William James, who
quotes at length, from Idle Days in Patagonia, in
his Talks to Students. The extract is worth giving,
not only for its intrinsic beauty, but as an illus-
tration of Hudson's method, the mood out of
which he creates the vision of an ideal state
sparkling and real as that contained in A Crystal
Age.
"The intense interest that life can assume,"
says Professor James, "when brought down to
the non-thinking level, the love of pure sensorial
perception, has been beautifully described by a
man who can write, — Mr. W. H. Hudson, — in his
volume, Idle Days in Patagonia.
I spent the greater part of one winter, (says this
admirable author), at a point on the Rio Negro,
seventy or eighty miles from the sea. . . .
It was my custom to go out every morning on
horseback with my gun, and, followed by one dog,
to ride away from the valley ; and no sooner would
I climb the terrace, and plunge into the gray,
universal thicket, than I would find myself as
A FOREWORD xv
completely alone as if five hundred instead of only
five miles separated me from the valley and river.
So wild and solitary and remote seemed that gray
waste, stretching away into infinitude, a waste
untrodden by man, and where the wild animals
are so few that they have made no discoverable
path in the wilderness of thorns. . . . Not once
nor twice nor thrice, but day after day I returned
to this solitude, going to it in the morning as if to
attend a festival, and leaving it only when hunger
and thirst and the westering sun compelled me.
And yet I had no object in going, — no motive
which could be put into words; for, although I
carried a gun, there was nothing to shoot, — the
shooting was all left behind in the valley. . . .
Sometimes I would pass a whole day without
seeing one mammal, and perhaps not more than a
dozen birds of any size. The weather at that time
was cheerless, generally with a gray film of cloud
spread over the sky, and a bleak wind, often cold
enough to make my bridle-hand quite numb. . . .
At a slow pace, which would have seemed intoler-
able under other circumstances, I would ride
about for hours together at a stretch. On arriving
at a hill, I would slowly ride to its summit, and
stand there to survey the prospect. On every side
it stretched away in great undulations, wild and
irregular. How gray it all was! Hardly less so
near at hand than on the haze-wrapped horizon
where the hills were dim and the outline obscured
xvi A FOREWORD
by distance. Descending from my outlook, I
would take up my aimless wanderings again, and
visit other elevations to gaze on the same landscape
from another point; and so on for hours. And at
noon I would dismount, and sit or lie on my folded
poncho for an hour or longer. One day in these
rambles I discovered a small grove composed of
twenty or thirty trees, growing at a convenient
distance apart, that had evidently been resorted
to by a herd of deer, or other wild animals. This
grove was on a hill, differing in shape from other
hills in its neighborhood ; and, after a time, I made
a point of finding and using it as a resting-place
every day at noon. I did not ask myself why I
made choice of that one spot, sometimes going out
of my way to sit there, instead of sitting down
under any one of the millions of trees and bushes
on any other hillside. I thought nothing about
it, but acted unconsciously. Only afterward it
seemed to me that, after having rested there once,
each time I wished to rest again, the wish came
associated with the image of that particular clump
of trees, with polished stems and clean bed of sand
beneath; and in a short time I formed a habit of
returning, animal like, to repose at that same spot.
It was, perhaps, a mistake to say that I would
sit down and rest, since I was never tired ; and yet,
without being tired, that noonday pause, during
which I sat for an hour without moving, was
strangely grateful. All day there would be no
A FOKEWORD xvii
sound, not even the rustling of a leaf. One day,
while listening to the silence, it occurred to my
mind to wonder what the effect would be if I were
to shout aloud. This seemed at the time a horrible
suggestion, which almost made me shudder. But
during those solitary days it was a rare thing for
any thought to cross my mind. In the state of
mind I was in, thought had become impossible.
My state was one of suspense and watchfulness;
yet I had no expectation of meeting an adventure,
and felt as free from apprehension as I feel now
while sitting in a room in London. The state
seemed familiar rather than strange, and accom-
panied by a strong feeling of elation ; and I did not
know that something had come between me and
my intellect until I returned to my former self, —
to thinking, and the old insipid existence.
I had undoubtedly gone back; and that state of
intense watchfulness, or alertness, rather, with
suspension of the higher intellectual faculties,
represented the mental state of the pure savage.
He thinks little, reasons little, having a surer guide
in his mere sensory perceptions. He is in perfect
harmony with nature, and is nearly on a level,
mentally, with the wild animals he preys on, and
which in their turn sometimes prey on him.
"For the spectator, such hours as Mr. Hudson
writes of form a mere tale of emptiness, in which
nothing happens, nothing is gained, and there is
xviii A FOREWORD
nothing to describe. They are meaningless and
vacant tracts of time. To him who feels their
inner secret, they tingle with an importance that
unutterably vouches for itself."
Unlike Hudson's other essays in fiction, A
Crystal Age is without a local habitation. In
outward form it is a dream, a fairy story, if you
will. But it has the same poignant human interest
that glows in The Purple Land and Green Mansions.
Apparently, even when he plans to entertain us
with the whimsicalities, antics, and adventures
of ideal creatures, Hudson cannot help endowing
them, phantoms though they are, with the flesh
and blood of humanity. It is the patriarchal form
of government that he portrays here, something
absolutely different, however, from dream or
theory suggested by sociologist or poet. It is the
epic of forest life, and the rich and varied colors
that compose the picture could be found only on
Hudson's palette. And what a mingling of the
humorous, the simple, and the heroic there is on
this canvas that presents the magic House of
Coradine! Yoletta, Edra, Isarte, Chastel — the
haunting loveliness of these women is like the
breath from some dew-spangled garden of wild-
flowers, inspiriting, unforgettable. The story in
A FOREWORD xix
which they play their part has a sinuous grace, a
subtlety of emotion that places it in a realm of its
own in the world of romance. Not even Meredith's
women are so appealing, so utterly beautiful as
Hudson's. Here, too, there is a picture of mother-
hood such as no poet ever before attempted; an
analysis of passion that illuminates certain hidden
penetralia of the human mind; suggestions of a
new music, a new art, tantalizing with the rich
possibilities that they offer. And the wonder of
it is that this fairyland of gracious beings, this
narrative of marvels that could never be, save in
the poet's mind, is made absolutely real. It lives
and becomes a part of the reader's own life. But
after all, the vitality of The Crystal Age, the realism,
the humor, the pathos of it, is not to be won-
dered at. It is a dream, a fairy thing, indeed —
but it is a dream of one of the master-writers of the
age, a man whose slightest creations are so steeped
in the truth and beauty of Nature that his place
in the forefront of imaginative literature is assured,
and is even now being accorded him.
Clifford Smyth.
New York, August 10, 191 6.
A CRYSTAL AGE
I do not quite know how it happened, my
recollection of the whole matter being in a
somewhat clouded condition. I fancy I had
gone somewhere on a botanizing expedition,
but whether at home or abroad I don't know.
At all events, I remember that I had taken
up the study of plants with a good deal of
enthusiasm, and that while hunting for some
variety in the mountains I sat down to rest
on the edge of a ravine. Perhaps it was on
the ledge of an overhanging rock; anyhow,
if I remember rightly, the ground gave way
all about me, precipitating me below. The
fall was a very considerable one — probably
thirty or forty feet, or more, and I was
2 A CRYSTAL AGE
rendered unconscious. How long I lay there
under the heap of earth and stones carried
down in my fall it is impossible to say:
perhaps a long time; but at last I came to
myself and struggled up from the debris, like
a mole coming to the surface of the earth to
feel the genial sunshine on his dim eyeballs.
I found myself standing (oddly enough, on all
fours) in an immense pit created by the over-
throw of a gigantic dead tree with a girth of
about thirty or forty feet. The tree itself
had rolled down to the bottom of the ravine;
but the pit in which it had left the huge stumps
of severed roots was, I found, situated in a
gentle slope at the top of the bank! How,
then, I could have fallen seemingly so far
from no height at all, puzzled me greatly: it
looked as if the solid earth had been indulging
in some curious transformation pranks during
those moments or minutes of insensibility.
Another singular circumstance was that I had
a great mass of small fibrous rootlets tightly
woven about my whole person, so that I was
like a colossal basket- worm in its case, or a
big man-shaped bottle covered with wicker-
A CRYSTAL AGE 3
work. It appeared as if the roots bad grown
round me! Luckily they were quite sapless
and brittle, and without bothering my brains
too much about the matter, I set to work to
rid myself of them. After stripping the woody
covering off, I found that my tourist suit of
rough Scotch homespun had not suffered much
harm, although the cloth exuded a damp,
moldy smell; also that my thick-soled
climbing boots had assumed a cracked rusty
appearance as if I had been engaged in some
brick-field operations; while my felt hat was
in such a discolored and battered condition
that I felt almost ashamed to put it on my
head. My watch was gone; perhaps I had
not been wearing it, but my pocket-book in
which I had my money was safe in my breast
pocket.
Glad and grateful at having escaped with
unbroken bones from such a dangerous acci-
dent, I set out walking along the edge of the
ravine, which soon broadened to a valley run-
ning between two steep hills; and then, seeing
water at the bottom and feeling very dry, I
ran down the slope to get a drink. Lying flat
4 A CRYSTAL AGE
on my chest to slake my thirst animal fashion,
I was amazed at the reflection the water gave
back of my face : it was, skin and hair, thickly
encrusted with clay and rootlets! Having
taken a long drink, I threw off my clothes to
have a bath; and after splashing about for
half an hour managed to rid my skin of its
accumulations of dirt. While drying in the
wind I shook the loose sand and clay from
my garments, then dressed, and, feeling greatly
refreshed, proceeded on my walk.
For an hour or so I followed the valley
in its many windings, but, failing to see any
dwelling-place, I ascended a hill to get a view
of the surrounding country. The prospect
which disclosed itself when I had got a couple
of hundred feet above the surrounding level,
appeared unfamiliar. The hills among which
I had been wandering were now behind me;
before me spread a wide rolling country,
beyond which rose a mountain range resembl-
ing in the distance blue banked-up clouds with
summits and peaks of pearly whiteness. Look-
ing on this scene I could hardly refrain from
shouting with joy, so glad did the sunlit
A CRYSTAL AGE 5
expanse of earth, and the pure exhilarating
mountain breeze, make me feel. The season
was late summer — that was plain to see; the
ground was moist, as if from recent showers,
and the earth everywhere had that intense
living greenness with which it reclothes itself
when the greater heats are over; but the
foliage of the woods was already beginning
to be touched here and there with the yellow
and russet hues of decay. A more tranquil
and soul-satisfying scene could not be imag-
ined : the dear old mother earth was looking her
very best; while the shifting golden sunlight,
the mysterious haze in the distance, and the
glint of a wide stream not very far off, seemed
to spiritualize her "happy autumn fields," and
bring them into a closer kinship with the blue
over-arching sky. There was one large house
or mansion in sight, but no town, nor even
a hamlet, and not one solitary spire. In vain
I scanned the horizon, waiting impatiently to
see the distant puff of white steam from some
passing engine. This troubled me not a little,
for I had no idea that I had drifted so far from
civilization in my search for specimens, or
6 A CRYSTAL AGE
whatever it was that brought me to this pretty,
primitive wilderness. Not quite a wilderness,
however, for there, within a short hour's walk
of the hill, stood the one great stone mansion,
close to the river I had mentioned. There
were also horses and cows in sight, and a
number of scattered sheep were grazing on
the hillside beneath me.
Strange to relate, I met with a little mis-
adventure on account of the sheep — an animal
which one is accustomed to regard as of a
timid and inoffensive nature. When I set
out at a brisk pace to walk to the house I
have spoken of, in order to make some
inquiries there, a few of the sheep that
happened to be near began to bleat loudly,
as if alarmed, and by and by they came
hurrying after me, apparently in a great
state of excitement. I did not mind them
much, but presently a pair of horses, attracted
by their bleatings, also seemed struck at my
appearance, and came at a swift gallop to
within twenty yards of me. They were
magnificent-looking brutes, evidently a pair
of well-groomed carriage horses, for their
A CRYSTAL AGE 7
coats, which were of a fine bronze color,
sparkled wonderfully in the sunshine. In
other respects they were very unlike carriage
animals, for they had tails reaching to the
ground, like funeral horses, and immense
black leonine manes, which gave them a
strikingly bold and somewhat formidable
appearance. For some moments they stood
with heads erect, gazing fixedly at me, and
then simultaneously delivered a snort of
defiance or astonishment, so loud and sudden
that it startled me like the report of a gun.
This tremendous equine blast brought yet
another enemy on the field in the shape of
a huge milk-white bull with long horns: a
very noble kind of animal, but one which
I always prefer to admire from behind a
hedge, or at a distance through a field-glass.
Fortunately his wrathful mutterings gave me
timely notice of his approach, and without
waiting to discover his intentions, I inconti-
nently fled down the slope to the refuge of
a grove or belt of trees clothing the lower
portion of the hillside. Spent and panting
from my run, I embraced a big tree, and
8 A CRYSTAL AGE
turning to face the foe, found that I had not
been followed: sheep, horses, and bull were
all grouped together just where I had left
them, apparently holding a consultation, or
comparing notes.
The trees where I had sought shelter were
old, and grew here and there, singly or in
scattered groups: it was a pretty wilderness
of mingled tree, shrub and flower. I was
surprised to find here some very large and
ancient-looking fig-trees, and numbers of
wasps and flies were busy feeding on a few
over-ripe figs on the higher branches.
Honey-bees also roamed about everywhere,
extracting sweets from the autumn bloom,
and filling the sunny glades with a soft,
monotonous murmur of sound. Walking on
full of happy thoughts and a keen sense of
the sweetness of life pervading me, I
presently noticed that a multitude of small
birds were gathering about me, flitting
through the trees overhead and the bushes
on either hand, but always keeping near
me, apparently as much excited at my
presence as if I had been a gigantic owl, or
A CRYSTAL AGE 9
some such unnatural monster. Their increas-
ing numbers and incessant excited chirping
and chattering at first served to amuse, but
in the end began to irritate me. I observed,
too, that the alarm was spreading, and that
larger birds, usually shy of men — pigeons,
jays, and magpies, I fancied they were —
now began to make their appearance. Could
it be, thought I with some concern, that I
had wandered into some uninhabited wilder-
ness, to cause so great a commotion among
the little feathered people? I very soon dis-
missed this as an idle thought, for one does
not find houses, domestic animals, and fruit-
trees in desert places. No, it was simply
the inherent cantankerousness of little birds
which caused them to annoy me. Looking
about on the ground for something to throw
at them, I found in the grass a freshly-
fallen walnut, and, breaking the shell, I
quickly ate the contents. Never had any-
thing tasted so pleasant to me before! But
it had a curious effect on me, for, whereas
before eating it I had not felt hungry, I now
seemed to be famishing, and began excitedly
io A CRYSTAL AGE
searching about for more nuts. They were
lying everywhere in the greatest abundance;
for, without knowing it, I had been walking
through a grove composed in large part of old
walnut-trees. Nut after nut was picked up
and eagerly devoured, and I must have
eaten four or five dozen before my ravenous
appetite was thoroughly appeased. During
this feast I had paid no attention to the
birds, but when my hunger was over I
began again to feel annoyed at their trivial
persecutions, and so continued to gather the
fallen nuts to throw at them. It amused
and piqued me at the same time to see how
wide of the mark my missiles went. I could
hardly have hit a haystack at a distance of
ten yards. After half an hour's vigorous
practice my right hand began to recover its
lost cunning, and I was at last greatly de-
lighted when one of my nuts went hissing
like a bullet through the leaves, not further
than a yard from the wren, or whatever the
little beggar was, I had aimed at. Their
Impertinences did not like this at all; they
began to find out that I was a rather
A CRYSTAL AGE n
dangerous person to meddle with: their ranks
were broken, they became demoralized and
scattered, in all directions, and I was finally
left master of the field.
"Dolt that I am." I suddenly exclaimed,
"to be fooling away my time when the nearest
railway station or hotel is perhaps twenty
miles away."
I hurried on, but when I got to the end
of the grove, on the green sward near some
laurel and juniper bushes, I came on an
excavation apparently just made, the loose
earth which had been dug out looking quite
fresh and moist. The hole or foss was
narrow, about five feet deep and seven feet
long, and looked, I imagined, curiously like
a grave. A few yards away was a pile of
dry brushwood, and some faggots bound
together with ropes of straw, all apparently
freshly cut from the neighboring bushes.
As I stood there, wondering what these
things meant, I happened to glance away in
the direction of the house where I intended
to call, which was not now visible owing to
an intervening grove of tall trees, and was
12 A CRYSTAL AGE
surprised to discover a troop of about fifteen
persons advancing along the valley in my
direction. Before them marched a tall white-
bearded old man; next came eight men, bear-
ing a platform on their shoulders with some
heavy burden resting upon it; and behind
these followed the others. I began to think
that they were actually carrying a corpse,
with the intention of giving it burial in that
very pit beside which I was standing; and,
although it looked most unlike a funeral, for
no person in the procession wore black, the
thought strengthened to a conviction when
I became able to distinguish a recumbent,
human-like form in a shroud-like covering on
the platform. It seemed altogether a very un-
usual proceeding, and made me feel extremely
uncomfortable; so much so that I considered
it prudent to step back behind the bushes,
where I could watch the doings of the pro-
cessionists without being observed.
Led by the old man — who carried, sus-
pended by thin chains, a large bronze censer,
or brazier rather, which sent out a thin con-
tinuous wreath of smoke — they came straight
A CRYSTAL AGE 13
on to the pit; and after depositing their burden
on the grass, remained standing for some
minutes, apparently to rest after their walk,
all conversing together, but in subdued tones,
so that I could not catch their words, although
standing within fifteen yards of the grave.
The uncofhned corpse, which seemed that of
a full-grown man, was covered with a white
cloth, and rested on a thick straw mat, pro-
vided with handles along the sides. On these
things, however, I bestowed but a hasty
glance, so profoundly absorbed had I become
in watching the group of living human beings
before me; for they were certainly utterly
unlike any fellow-creatures I had ever en-
countered before. The old man was tall and
spare, and from his snowy- white majestic beard
I took him to be about seventy years old; but
he was straight as an arrow, and his free
movements and elastic tread were those of a
much younger man. His head was adorned
with a dark red skull-cap, and he wore a
robe covering the whole body and reaching
to the ankles, of a deep yellow or rhubarb
color; but his long wide sleeves under his
14 A CRYSTAL AGE
robe were dark red, embroidered with yellow
flowers. The other men had no covering on
their heads, and their luxuriant hair, worn to
the shoulders, was, in most cases, very dark.
Their garments were also made in a different
fashion, and consisted of a kilt-like dress,
which came half-way to the knees, a pale
yellow shirt fitting tight to the skin, and over
it a loose sleeveless vest. The entire legs
were cased in stockings, curious in pattern
and color. The women wore garments
resembling those of the men, but the tight-
fitting sleeves reached only half-way to the
elbow, the rest of the arm being bare; and
the outer garment was all in one piece,
resembling a long sleeveless jacket, reaching
below the hips. The color of their dresses
varied, but in most cases different shades of
blue and subdued yellow predominated. In
all, the stockings showed deeper and richer
shades of color than the other garments;
and in their curiously segmented appearance,
and in the harmonious arrangement of the
tints, they seemed to represent the skins of
pythons and other beautifully variegated
A CRYSTAL AGE 15
serpents. All wore low shoes of an orange-
brown color, fitting closely so as to display
the shape of the foot.
From the moment of first seeing them I had
had no doubt about the sex of the tall old
leader of the procession, his shining white
beard being as conspicuous at a distance as
a shield or a banner; but looking at the
others I was at first puzzled to know whether
the party was composed of men or women,
or of both, so much did they resemble each
other in height, in their smooth faces, and
in the length of their hair. On a closer
inspection I noticed the difference of dress
of the sexes; also that the men, if not
sterner, had faces at all events less mild and
soft in expression than the women, and also
a slight perceptible down on the cheeks and
upper lip.
After a first hasty survey of the group in
general, I had eyes for only one person in
it — a fine graceful girl about fourteen years
old, and the youngest by far of the party.
A description of this girl will give some idea,
albeit a very poor one, of the faces and
16 A CRYSTAL AGE
general appearance of this strange people I
had stumbled on. Her dress, if a garment
so brief can be called a dress, showed a slaty-
blue pattern on a straw-colored ground,
while her stockings were darker shades of
the same colors. Her eyes, at the distance
I stood from her, appeared black, or nearly
black, but when seen closely they proved to
be green — a wonderfully pure, tender sea-
green; and the others, I found, had eyes of
the same hue. Her hair fell to her shoulders;
but it was very wavy or curly, and strayed
in small tendril-like tresses over her neck,
forehead and cheeks; in color it was golden
black — that is, black in shade, but when
touched with sunlight every hair became a
thread of shining red-gold; and in some
lights it looked like raven-black hair powdered
with gold-dust. As to her features, the fore-
head was broader and lower, the nose larger,
and the lips more slender, than in our most
beautiful female types. The color was also
different, the delicately molded mouth being
purple-red instead of the approved cherry or
coral hue; while the complexion was a clear
A CRYSTAL AGE 17
dark, and the color, which mantled the cheeks
in moments of excitement, was a dim or dusky
rather than a rosy red.
The exquisite form and face of this young
girl, from the first moment of seeing her,
produced a very deep impression; and I
continued watching her every movement and
gesture with an intense, even a passionate
interest. She had a quantity of flowers in
her hand; but these sweet emblems, I
observed, were all gayly colored, which
seemed strange, for in most places white
flowers are used in funeral ceremonies. Some
of the men who had followed the body
carried in their hands broad, three-cornered
bronze shovels, with short black handles, and
these they had dropped upon the grass on
arriving at the grave. Presently the old
man stooped and drew the covering back
from the dead one's face — a rigid, marble-
white face set in a loose mass of black
hair. The others gathered round, and some
standing, others kneeling, bent on the still
countenance before them a long earnest gaze,
as if taking an eternal farewell of one they
18 A CRYSTAL AGE
had deeply loved. At this moment the
beautiful girl I have described all at once
threw herself with a sobbing cry on her
knees before the corpse, and, stooping, kissed
the face with passionate grief. "Oh, my
beloved, must we now leave you alone for-
ever!" she cried between the sobs that
shook her whole frame. "Oh, my love — my
love — my love, will you come back to us no
more !"
The others all appeared deeply affected at
her grief, and presently a young man standing
by raised her from the ground and drew her
gently against his side, where for some minutes
she continued convulsively weeping. Some of
the other men now passed ropes through the
handles of the straw mat on which the corpse
rested, and raising it from the platform low-
ered it into the foss. Each person in turn then
advanced and dropped some flowers into the
grave, uttering the one word "Farewell" as
they did so; after which the loose earth was
shoveled in with the bronze implements.
Over the mound the hurdle on which the
straw mat had rested was then placed, the
A CRYSTAL AGE 19
dry brushwood and faggots heaped over it
and ignited with a coal from the brazier.
White smoke and crackling flames issued anon
from the pile, and in a few moments the whole
was in a fierce blaze.
Standing around they all waited in silence
until the fire had burnt itself out; then the
old man advancing stretched his arms above
the white and still smoking ashes and cried
in a loud voice: "Farewell forever, O well
beloved son! With deep sorrow and tears
we have given you back to Earth; but not
until she has made the sweet grass and flowers
grow again on this spot, scorched and made
desolate with fire, shall our hearts be healed
of their wound and forget their grief."
II
The thrilling, pathetic tone in which these
words were uttered affected me not a little;
and when the ceremony was over I continued
staring vacantly at the speaker, ignorant of
the fact that the beautiful young girl had her
wide-open, startled eyes fixed on the bush
which, I vainly imagined, concealed me from
view.
All at once she cried out : "Oh, father, look
there! Who is that strange-looking man
watching us from behind the bushes?"
They all turned, and then I felt that four-
teen or fifteen pairs of very keen eyes were on
me, seeing me very plainly indeed, for in my
curiosity and excitement I had come out from
the thicker bushes to place myself behind a
ragged, almost leafless shrub, which afforded
the merest apology for a shelter. Putting a
20
A CRYSTAL AGE 21
bold face on the matter, although I did not
feel very easy, I came out and advanced to
them, removing my battered old hat on the
way, and bowing repeatedly to the assembled
company. My courteous salutation was not
returned; but all, with increasing astonishment
pictured on their faces, continued staring at
me as if they were looking on some grotesque
apparition. Thinking it best to give an ac-
count of myself at once, and to apologize for
intruding on their mysteries, I addressed my-
self to the old man:
"I really beg your pardon," I said, "for
having disturbed you at such an inconvenient
time, and while you are engaged in these —
these solemn rites; but I assure you, sir, it
has been quite accidental. I happened to be
walking here when I saw you coming, and
thought it best to step out of the way until —
well, until the funeral was over. The fact is,
I met with a serious accident in the mountains
over there. I fell down into a ravine, and a
great heap of earth and stones fell on and
stunned me, and I do not know how long I
lay there before I recovered my senses. I
22 A CRYSTAL AGE
daresay I am trespassing, but I am a perfect
stranger here, and quite lost, and — and perhaps
a little confused after my fall, and perhaps you
will kindly tell me where to go to get some
refreshment, and find out where I am."
"Your story is a very strange one," said
the old man in reply, after a pause of con-
siderable duration. "That you are a perfect
stranger in this place is evident from your
appearance, your uncouth dress, and your thick
speech."
His words made me blush hotly, although
I should not have minded his very personal
remarks much if that beautiful girl had not
been standing there listening to everything.
My uncouth garments, by the way, were made
by a fashionable West End tailor, and fitted
me perfectly, although just now they were, of
course, very dirty. It was also a surprise to
hear that I had a thick speech, since I had
always been considered a remarkably clear
speaker and good singer, and had frequently
both sung and recited in public, at amateur
entertainments.
After a distressing interval of silence, during
A CRYSTAL AGE 23
which they all continued regarding me with
unabated curiosity, the old gentleman con-
descended to address me again and asked me
my name and country.
"My country," said I, with the natural pride
of a Briton, "is England, and my name is
Smith."
"No such country is known to me," he
returned; "nor have I ever heard such a
name as yours."
I was rather taken aback at his words, and
yet did not just then by any means realize
their full import. I was thinking only about
my name; for without having penetrated into
any perfectly savage country, I had been about
the world a great deal for a young man, visit-
ing the Colonies, India, Yokohama, and other
distant places, and I had never yet been told
that the name of Smith was an unfamiliar one.
"I hardly know what to say," I returned,
for he was evidently waiting for me to add
something more to what I had stated. "It
rather staggers me to hear that my name —
well, you have not heard of me, of course,
but there have been a great many distinguished
24 A CRYSTAL AGE
men of the same name: Sydney Smith, for
instance, and — and several others." It morti-
fied me just then to find that I had forgotten
all the other distinguished Smiths.
He shook his head, and continued watching
my face.
"Not heard of them!" I exclaimed. "Well,
I suppose you have heard of some of my great
countrymen: Beaconsfield, Gladstone, Darwin,
Burne-Jones, Ruskin, Queen Victoria, Tenny-
son, George Eliot, Herbert Spencer, General
Gordon, Lord Randolph Churchill "
As he continued to shake his head after each
name I at length paused.
"Who are all these people you have named V
he asked.
"They are all great and illustrious men and
women who have a world-wide reputation,"
I answered.
"And are there no more of them — have you
told me the names of all the great people you
have ever known or heard of?" he said, with
a curious smile.
"No, indeed," I answered, nettled at his
words and manner. "It would take me until
A CRYSTAL AGE 25
to-morrow to name all the great men I have
ever heard of. I suppose you have heard the
names of Napoleon, Wellington, Nelson,
Dante, Luther, Calvin, Bismarck, Voltaire1?"
He still shook his head.
^Well, then," I continued, "Homer,
Socrates, Alexander the Great, Confucius,
Zoroaster, Plato, Shakespeare." Then, grow-
ing thoroughly desperate, I added in a burst:
"Noah, Moses, Columbus, Hannibal, Adam
and Eve !"
"I am quite sure that I have never heard
of any of these names," he answered, still
with that curious smile. "Nevertheless I
can understand your surprise. It sometimes
happens that the mind, owing to an imperfect
adjustment of its faculties, resembles the un-
educated vision in its method of judgment,
regarding the things which are near as great
and important, and those further away as less
important, according to their distance. In
such a case the individuals one hears about
or associates with, come to be looked upon as
the great and illustrious beings of the world,
and all men in all places are expected to be
26 A CRYSTAL AGE
familiar with their names. But come, my
children, our sorrowful task is over, let us
now return to the house. Come with us,
Smith, and you shall have the refreshment
you require."
I was, of course, pleased with the invitation,
but did not relish being addressed as "Smith,"
like some mere laborer or other common per-
son tramping about the country.
The long disconcerting scrutiny I had been
subjected to had naturally made me very
uncomfortable, and caused me to drop a little
behind the others as we walked towards the
house. The old man, however, still kept at my
side; but whether from motives of courtesy,
or because he wished to badger me a little
more about my uncouth appearance and
defective intellect, I was not sure. I was not
anxious to continue the conversation, which
had not proved very satisfactory; moreover,
the beautiful girl I have already mentioned so
frequently, was now walking just before me,
hand in hand with the young man who had
raised her from the ground. I was absorbed
in admiration of her graceful figure, and — shall
A CRYSTAL AGE 27
I be forgiven for mentioning such a detail4? —
her exquisitely rounded legs under her brief
and beautiful garments. To my mind the
garment was quite long enough. Every time
I spoke, for my companion still maintained
the conversation and I was obliged to reply,
she hung back a little to catch my words. At
such times she would also turn her pretty head
partially round so as to see me: then her
glances, beginning at my face, would wander
down to my legs, and her lips would twitch
and curl a little, seeming to express disgust and
amusement at the same time. I was beginning
to hate my legs, or rather my trousers, for I
considered that under them I had as good a
pair of calves as any man in the company.
Presently I thought of something to say,
something very simple, which my dignified
old friend would be able to answer without
intimating that he considered me a wild man
of the woods or an escaped lunatic.
"Can you tell me," I said pleasantly, "what
is the name of your nearest town or city1? how
far it is from this place, and how I can get
there?'
28 A CRYSTAL AGE
At this question, or series of questions, the
young girl turned quite round, and, waiting
until I was even with her, she continued her
walk at my side, although still holding her
companion's hand.
The old man looked at me with a grave
smile — that smile was fast becoming intoler-
able— and said: "Are you so fond of honey,
Smith? You shall have as much as you
require without disturbing the bees. They
are now taking advantage of this second spring
to lay by a sufficient provision before winter
sets in."
After pondering some time over these
enigmatical words, I said: "I daresay we are
at cross purposes again. I mean," I added
hurriedly, seeing the inquiring look on his
face, "that we do not exactly understand each
other, for the subject of honey was not in my
thoughts."
"What, then, do you mean by a city*?" he
asked.
"What do I mean? Why, a city, I take
it, is nothing more than a collection or con-
geries of houses — hundreds and thousands, or
A CRYSTAL AGE 2g
hundreds of thousands of houses, all built
close together, where one can live very
comfortably for years without seeing a blade
of grass."
"I am afraid," he returned, "that the
accident you met with in the mountains must
have caused some injury to your brain; for
I cannot in any other way account for these
strange fantasies."
"Do you mean seriously to tell me, sir, that
you have never even heard of the existence
of a city, where millions of human beings live
crowded together in a small space? Of course
I mean a small space comparatively; for in
some cities you might walk all day without
Siting into the fields; and a city like that
might be compared to a bee-hive so large
that a bee might % in a straight line all <fcy
without getting out of it."
It struck me the moment I finished speaking
that this comparison was not quite right some*
how; but he did not ask me to explain: he
had evidently ceased to pay any attention to
what I said. The girl looked at me with an
expression of pity, not to say contempt, and
30 A CRYSTAL AGE
I felt at the same time ashamed and vexed.
This served to rouse a kind of dogged spirit
in me, and I returned to the subject once more.
"Surely," I said, "you have heard of such
cities as Paris, Vienna, Rome, Athens, Babylon,
Jerusalem*?"
He only shook his head, and walked on in
silence.
"And London! London is the capital of
England. Why," I exclaimed, beginning to
see light, and wondering at myself for not
having seen it sooner, "you are at present
talking to me in the English language."
"I fail to understand your meaning, and am
even inclined to doubt that you have any,"
said he, a little ruffled. "I am addressing
you in the language of human beings — that
is all."
"Well, it seems awfully puzzling," said I;
"but I hope you don't think I have been
indulging in — well, tarradiddles." Then, see-
ing that I was making matters no clearer, I
added: "I mean that I have not been telling
untruths."
"I could not think that," he answered
A CRYSTAL AGE 31
sternly. "It would indeed be a clouded mind
which could mistake mere disordered fancies
for willful offenses against the truth. I have
no doubt that when you have recovered from
the effects of your late accident these vain
thoughts and imaginations will cease to trouble
you."
"And in the meantime, perhaps, I had better
say as little as possible," said I, with consider-
able temper. "At present we do not seem able
to understand each other at all."
"You are right, we do not," he said; and
then added with a grave smile, "although I
must allow that this last remark of yours is
quite intelligible."
"I'm glad of that," I returned. "It is
distressing to talk and not to be understood; it
is like men calling to each other in a high
wind, hearing voices but not able to distinguish
words."
"Again I understand you," said he approv-
ingly; while the beautiful girl bestowed on me
the coveted reward of a smile, which had no
pity or contempt in it.
"I think," I continued, determined to follow
32 A CRYSTAL AGE
up this new train of ideas on which I had so
luckily stumbled, "that we are not so far apart
in mind after all. About some things we stand
quite away from each other, like the widely
diverging branches of a tree; but, like the
branches, we have a meeting-place, and this is,
I fancy, in that part of our nature where our
feelings are. My accident in the hills has not
disarranged that part of me, I am sure, and I
can give you an instance. A little while ago
when I was standing behind the bushes watch-
ing you all, I saw this young lady "
Here a look of surprise and inquiry from the
girl warned me that I was once more plunging
into obscurity.
"When I saw you," I continued, somewhat
amused at her manner, "cast yourself on the
earth to kiss the cold face of one you had loved
in life, I felt the tears of sympathy come to my
own eyes."
"Oh, how strange!" she exclaimed, flash-
ing on me a glance from her green, mysterious
eyes; and then, to increase my wonder and
delight, she deliberately placed her hand in
mine.
A CRYSTAL AGE 33
"And yet not strange," said the old man, by
way of comment on her words.
"It seemed strange to Yoletta that one
so unlike us outwardly should be so like us
in heart," remarked the young man at her
side.
There was something about this speech
which I did not altogether like, though I could
not detect anything like sarcasm in the tone of
the speaker.
"And yet," continued the lovely girl, "you
never saw him living — never heard his sweet
voice, which still seems to come back to me
like a melody from the distance."
"Was he your father4?" I asked.
The question seemed to surprise her very
much. "He is our father," she returned, with
a glance at the old gentleman, which seemed
strange, for he certainly looked aged enough
to be her great-grandfather.
He smiled and said: "You forget, my
daughter, that I am as little known to this
stranger to our country as all the great and
illustrious personages he has mentioned are
to us."
34 A CRYSTAL AGE
At this point I began to lose interest in
the conversation. It was enough for me to
feel that I held that precious hand in mine,
and presently I felt tempted to administer a
gentle squeeze. She looked at me and smiled,
then glanced over my whole person, the
survey finishing at my boots, which seemed to
have a disagreeable fascination for her. She
shivered slightly, and withdrew her hand from
mine, and in my heart I cursed those rusty,
thick-soled monstrosities in which my feet
were cased. However, we were all on
a better footing now; and I resolved for
the future to avoid all dangerous topics, his-
torical and geographical, and confine myself
to subjects relating to the emotional side of
our natures.
At the end our way to the house was over a
green turf, among great trees as in a park; and
as there was no road or path, the first sight of
the building seen near, when we emerged from
the trees, came as a surprise. There were no
gardens, lawns, inclosures or hedges near it,
nor cultivation of any kind. It was like a
wilderness, and the house produced the effect
A CRYSTAL AGE 35
of a noble ruin. It was a hilly stone country
where masses of stone cropped out here and
there among the woods and on the green
slopes, and it appeared that the house had
been raised on the natural foundation of one
of these rocks standing a little above the river
that flowed behind it. The stone was gray,
tinged with red, and the whole rock, covering
an acre or so of ground, had been worn or
hewn down to form a vast platform which
stood about a dozen feet above the surround-
ing green level. The sloping and buttressed
sides of the platform were clothed with ivy,
wild shrubs, and various flowering plants.
Broad, shallow steps led up to the house,
which was all of the same material— reddish-
gray stone; and the main entrance was
beneath a lofty portico, the sculptured entab-
lature of which was supported by sixteen
huge caryatides, standing on round massive
pedestals. The building was not high as a
castle or cathedral; it was a dwelling-place,
and had but one floor, and resembled a ruin
to my eyes because of the extreme antiquity
of its appearance, the weather-worn condition
36 A CRYSTAL AGE
and massiveness of the sculptured surfaces, and
the masses of ancient ivy covering it in places.
On the central portion of the building rested
a great dome-shaped roof, resembling ground
glass of a pale reddish tint, producing the
effect of a cloud resting on the stony summit
of a hill.
I remained standing on the grass about
thirty yards from the first steps after the
others had gone in, all but the old gentleman,
who still kept with me. By-and-by, with-
drawing to a stone bench under an oak-tree,
he motioned to me to take a seat by his
side. He said nothing, but appeared to be
quietly enjoying my undisguised surprise and
admiration.
"A noble mansion!" I remarked at length
to my venerable host, feeling, Englishman-
like, a sudden great access of respect towards
the owner of a big house. Men in such a
position can afford to be as eccentric as they
like, even to the wearing of Carnivalesque
garments, burying their friends or relations
in a park, and shaking their heads over
such names as Smith or Shakespeare. "A
A CRYSTAL AGE 37
glorious place! It must have cost a pot of
money, and taken a long time to build."
"What you mean by a pot of money I
do not know," said he. "When you add
a long time to build, I am also puzzled to
understand you. For are not all houses, like
the forest of trees, the human race, the world
we live in, eternal4?"
"If they stand forever they are so in one
sense, I suppose," I answered, beginning to
fear that I had already unfortunately broken
the rule I had so recently laid down for my
own guidance. "But the trees of the forest,
to which you compare a house, spring from
seed, do they not? and so have a beginning.
Their end also, like the end of man, is to
die and return to the dust."
"That is true," he returned; "it is, more-
over, a truth which I do not now hear for the
first time; but it has no connection with the
subject we are discussing. Men pass away,
and others take their places. Trees also decay,
but the forest does not die, or suffer for the
loss of individual trees; is it not the same with
the house and the family inhabiting it, which is
38 A CRYSTAL AGE
one with the house, and endures forever, albeit
the members composing it must all in time
return to the dust?"
"Is there no decay, then, of the materials
composing a house1?"
"Assuredly there is! Even the hardest
stone is worn in time by the elements, or
by the footsteps of many generations of men;
but the stone that decays is removed, and the
house does not suffer."
"I have never looked at it quite in this
light before," said I. "But surely we can
build a house whenever we wish!"
"Build a house whenever we wish!" he
repeated, with that astonished look which
threatened to become the permanent expres-
sion of his face — so long as he had me to
talk with, at any rate.
"Yes, or pull one down if we find it un-
suitable " But his look of horror here
made me pause, and to finish the sentence
I added: "Of course, you must admit that
a house had a beginning?"
"Yes; and so had the forest, the mountain,
the human race, the world itself. But the
A CRYSTAL AGE 39
origin of all these things is covered with
the mists of time."
"Does it never happen, then, that a house,
however substantially built "
"However what! But never mind; you
continue to speak in riddles. Pray, finish
what you were saying."
"Does it never happen that a house is
overthrown by some natural force — by floods,
or subsidence of the earth, or is destroyed
by lightning or nre<?"
"No!" he answered, with such tremendous
emphasis that he almost made me jump from
my seat. "Are you alone so ignorant of these
things that you speak of building and of pull-
ing down a house*?"
"Well, I fancied I knew a lot of things
once," I answered, with a sigh. "But perhaps
I was mistaken — people often are. I should
like to hear you say something more about
all these things — I mean about the house and
the family, and the rest of it."
"Are you not, then, able to read — have you
been taught absolutely nothing*?"
"Oh yes, certainly I can read," I answered,
40 A CRYSTAL AGE
joyfully seizing at once on the suggestion,
which seemed to open a simple, pleasant way
of escape from the difficulty. "I am by no
means a studious person; perhaps I am
never so happy as when I have nothing to
read. Nevertheless, I do occasionally look
into books, and greatly appreciate their
gentle, kindly ways. They never shut them-
selves up with a sound like a slap, or throw
themselves at your head for a duffer, but
seem silently grateful for being read, even by
a stupid person, and teach you very patiently,
like a pretty, meek-spirited young girl."
"I am very pleased to hear it," said he.
"You shall read and learn all these things
for yourself, which is the best method. Or
perhaps I ought rather to say, you shall by
reading recall them to your mind, for it is
impossible to believe that it has always been
in its present pitiable condition. I can only
attribute such a mental state, with its dis-
ordered fancies about cities, or immense
hives of human beings, and other things
equally frightful to contemplate, and its
absolute vacancy concerning ordinary matters
A CRYSTAL AGE 41
of knowledge, to the grave accident you met
with in the hills. Doubtless in falling your
head was struck and injured by a stone. Let
us hope that you will soon recover possession
of your memory and other faculties. And
now let us repair to the eating-room, for it is
best to refresh the body first, and the mind
afterwards."
Ill
We ascended the steps, and passing through
the portico went into the hall by what seemed
to me a doorless way. It was not really so,
as I discovered later; the doors, of which
there were several, some of colored glass,
others of some other material, were simply
thrust back into receptacles within the wall
itself, which was five or six feet thick. The
hall was the noblest I had ever seen; it had
a stone and bronze fireplace some twenty or
thirty feet long on one side, and several tall
arched doorways on the other. The spaces
between the doors were covered with sculpture,
its material being a blue-gray stone combined
or inlaid with a yellow metal, the effect being
indescribably rich. The floor was mosaic of
many dark colors, but with no definite pattern,
and the concave roof was deep red in color.
Though beautiful, it was somewhat somber,
42
A CRYSTAL AGE 43
as the light was not strong. At all events,
that is how it struck me at first on coming
in from the bright sunlight. Nor, it appeared,
was I alone in experiencing such a feeling.
As soon as we were inside, the old gentle-
man, removing his cap and passing his thin
fingers through his white hair, looked around
him, and addressing some of the others, who
were bringing in small round tables and
placing them about the hall, said: "No, no;
let us sup this evening where we can look
at the sky."
The tables were immediately taken away.
Now some of those who were in the hall or
who came in with the tables had not attended
the funeral, and these were all astonished on
seeing me. They did not stare at me, but
I, of course, saw the expression on their faces,
and noticed that the others who had made
my acquaintance at the grave-side whispered
in their ears to explain my presence. This
made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was
a relief when they began to go out again.
One of the men was seated near me; he
was of those who had assisted in carrying
44 A CRYSTAL AGE
the corpse, and he now turned to me and
remarked: "You have been a long time in
the open air, and probably feel the change
as much as we do."
I assented, and he rose and walked away
to the far end of the hall, where a great
door stood facing the one by which we had
entered. From the spot where I was — a
distance of forty or fifty feet, perhaps — this
door appeared to be of polished slate of a
very dark gray, its surface ornamented with
very large horse-chestnut leaves of brass or
copper, or both, for they varied in shade
from bright yellow to deepest copper-red. It
was a double door with agate handles, and,
first pressing on one handle, then on the
other, he thrust it back into the walls on
either side, revealing a new thing of beauty
to my eyes, for behind the vanished door
was a window, the sight of which came
suddenly before me like a celestial vision.
Sunshine, wind, cloud and rain had evidently
inspired the artist who designed it, but I
did not at the time understand the meaning
of the symbolic figures appearing in the
A CRYSTAL AGE 45
picture. Below, with loosened dark golden-
red hair and amber-colored garments flutter-
ing in the wind, stood a graceful female
figure on the summit of a gray rock; over
the rock, and as high as her knees, slanted
the thin branches of some mountain shrub,
the strong wind even now stripping them
of their remaining yellow and russet leaves,
whirling them aloft and away. Round the
woman's head was a garland of ivy leaves,
and she was gazing aloft with expectant face,
stretching up her arms, as if to implore or
receive some precious gift from the sky.
Above, against the slaty-gray cloud-rack,
four exquisite slender girl-forms appeared, with
loose hair, silver-gray drapery and gauzy wings
as of ephemera?, flying in pursuit of the cloud.
Each carried a quantity of flowers, shaped
like lilies, in her dress, held up with the left
hand; one carried red lilies, another yellow,
the third violet, and the last blue; and the
gauzy wings and drapery of each was also
touched in places with the same hue as the
flowers she carried. Looking back in their
flight they were all with the disengaged
46 A CRYSTAL AGE
hand throwing down lilies to the standing
figure.
This lovely window gave a fresh charm to
the whole apartment, while the sunlight fall-
ing through it served also to reveal other
beauties which I had not observed. One
that quickly drew and absorbed my attention
was a piece of statuary on the floor at some
distance from me, and going to it I stood
for some time gazing on it in the greatest
delight. It was a statue about one-third the
size of life, of a young woman seated on a
white bull with golden horns. She had a
graceful figure and beautiful countenance; the
face, arms and feet were alabaster, the flesh
tinted, but with colors more delicate than in
nature. On her arms were broad golden
armlets, and the drapery, a long flowing robe,
was blue, embroidered with yellow flowers.
A stringed instrument rested on her knee,
and she was represented playing and singing.
The bull, with lowered horns, appeared walk-
ing; about his chest hung a garland of flowers
mingled with ears of yellow corn, oak, ivy,
and various other leaves, green and russet,
A CRYSTAL AGE 47
and acoms and crimson berries. The garland
and blue dress were made of malachite, lapis
lazuli, and various precious stones.
"Aha, my fair Phoenician, I know you
well!" thought I exultingly, "though I never
saw you before with a harp in your hand.
But were you not gathering flowers, O
lovely daughter of Agenor, when that celestial
animal, that masquerading god, put himself
so cunningly in your way to be admired and
caressed, until you unsuspiciously placed your-
self on his back? That explains the garland.
I shall have a word to say about this pretty
thing to my learned and very superior host."
The statue stood on an octagonal pedestal
of a highly polished slaty-gray stone, and
on each of its eight faces was a picture in
which one human figure appeared. Now,
from gazing on the statue itself I fell to con-
templating one of these pictures with a very
keen interest, for the figure, I recognized,
was a portrait of the beautiful girl Yoletta.
The picture was a winter landscape. The
earth was white, not with snow, but with
hoar frost; the distant trees, clothed by the
48 A CRYSTAL AGE
frozen moisture as if with a feathery foliage,
looked misty against the whitey-blue wintry
sky. In the foreground, on the pale frosted
grass, stood the girl, in a dark maroon dress,
with silver embroidery on the bosom, and a
dark red cap on her head. Close to her
drooped the slender terminal twigs of a tree,
sparkling with rime and icicle, and on the
twigs were several small snow-white birds,
hopping and fluttering down towards her out-
stretched hand; while she gazed up at them
with flushed cheeks, and lips parting with a
bright, joyous smile.
Presently, while I stood admiring this most
lovely work, the young man I have mentioned
as having raised Yoletta from the ground at
the grave came to my side and remarked,
smiling: "You have noticed the resemblance."
"Yes, indeed," I returned; "she is painted
to the life."
"This is not Yoletta's portrait," he replied,
"though it is very like her;" and then, when
I looked at him incredulously, he pointed to
some letters under the picture, saying: "Do
you not see the name and date?"
A CRYSTAL AGE 49
Finding that I could not read the words, I
hazarded the remark that it was Yoletta's
mother, perhaps.
"This portrait was painted four centuries
ago," he said, with surprise in his accent;
and then he turned aside, thinking me, per-
haps, a rather dull and ignorant person.
I did not want him to go away with that
impression, and remarked, pointing to the
statue I have spoken of: "I fancy I know
very well who that is — that is Europa."
"Europa? That is a name I never heard;
I doubt that any one in the house ever bore
it." Then, with a half-puzzled smile, he
added: "How could you possibly know unless
you were told4? No, that is Mistrelde. It
was formerly the custom of the house for the
Mother to ride on a white bull at the harvest
festival. Mistrelde was the last to observe it."
"Oh, I see," I returned lamely, though I
didn't see at all. The indifferent way in
which he spoke of centuries in connection
with this brilliant and apparently fresh-painted
picture rather took me aback.
Presently he condescended to say something
50 A CRYSTAL AGE
more. Pointing to the marks or characters
which I could not read, he said: "You have
seen the name of Yoletta here, and that and
the resemblance misled you. You must know
that there has always been a Yoletta in this
house. This was the daughter of Mistrelde,
the Mother, who died young and left but eight
children; and when this work was made their
portraits were placed on the eight faces of the
pedestal."
"Thanks for telling me," I said, wondering
if it was all true, or only a fantastic romance.
He then motioned me to follow him, and we
quitted that room where it had been decided
that we were not to sup.
IV
We came to a large portico-like place open
on three sides to the air, the roof being
supported by slender columns. We were
now on the opposite side of the house and
looked upon the river, which was not more
than a couple of hundred yards from the
terrace or platform on which it stood. The
ground here sloped rapidly to the banks, and,
like that in the front, was a wilderness with
rock and patches of tall fern and thickets of
thorn and bramble, with a few trees of great
size. Nor was wild life wanting in this
natural park; some deer were feeding near
the bank, while on the water numbers of
wild duck and other water-fowl were disport-
ing themselves, splashing and flapping over
the surface and uttering shrill cries.
The people of the house were already
assembled, standing and sitting by the small
51
52 A CRYSTAL AGE
tables. There was a lively hum of conversa-
tion, which ceased on my entrance; then those
who were sitting stood up and the whole
company fixed its eyes on me, which was
rather disconcerting.
The old gentleman, standing in the midst of
the people, now bent on me a long, scrutinizing
gaze; he appeared to be waiting for me to
speak, and, finding that I remained silent, he
finally addressed me with solemnity. "Smith,"
he said — and I did not like it — "the meeting
with you to-day was to me and to all of us a
very strange experience: I little thought that
an even stranger one awaited me, that before
you break bread in this house in which you
have found shelter, I should have to remind
you that you are now in a house."
"Yes, I know I am," I said, and then added :
"I'm sure, sir, I appreciate your kindness in
bringing me here."
He had perhaps expected something more
or something entirely different from me, as
he continued standing with his eyes fixed on
me. Then with a sigh, and looking round
him, he said in a dissatisfied tone: "My
A CRYSTAL AGE 53
children, let us begin, and for the present put
out of our minds this matter which has been
troubling us."
He then motioned me to a seat at his own
table, where I was pleased to have a place
since the lovely Yoletta was also there.
I am not particular about what I eat, as with
me good digestion waits on appetite, and so
long as I get a bellyful — to use a good old
English word — I am satisfied. On this
particular occasion, with or without a pretty
girl at the table, I could have consumed
a haggis — that greatest abomination ever
invented by flesh-eating barbarians — I was
so desperately hungry. It was therefore a
disappointment when nothing more substantial
than a plate of whitey-green, crisp-looking
stuff resembling endive, was placed before me
by one of the picturesque handmaidens. It
was cold and somewhat bitter to the taste,
but hunger compelled me to eat it even to
the last green leaf; then, when I began to
wonder if it would be right to ask for more,
to my great relief other more succulent dishes
followed, composed of various vegetables.
54 A CRYSTAL AGE
We also had some pleasant drinks, made, I
suppose, from the juices of fruits, but the
delicious alcoholic sting was not in them.
We had fruits, too, of unfamiliar flavors, and
a confection of crushed nuts and honey.
We sat at table — or tables — a long time,
and the meal was enlivened with conversation;
for all now appeared in a cheerful frame of
mind, notwithstanding the melancholy event
which had occupied them during the day. It
was, in fact, a kind of supper, and the one
great meal of the day; the only other meals
being a breakfast, and at noon a crust of brown
bread, a handful of dried fruit, and drink of
milk.
At the conclusion of the repast, during which
I had been too much occupied to take notice
of everything that passed, I observed that a
number of small birds had flown in, and were
briskly hopping over the floor and tables, also
perching quite fearlessly on the heads or
shoulders of the company, and that they were
being fed with the fragments. I took them
to be sparrows and things of that kind, but
they did not look altogether familiar to me.
A CRYSTAL AGE 55
One little fellow, most lively in his motions,
was remarkably like my old friend the robin,
only the bosom was more vivid, running
almost into orange, and the wings and tail
were tipped with the same hue, giving it
quite a distinguished appearance. Another
small olive-green bird, which I at first took
for a green linnet, was even prettier, the
throat and bosom being of a most delicate
buff, crossed with a belt of velvet black.
The bird that really seemed most like a
common sparrow was chestnut, with a white
throat and mouse-colored wings and tail.
These pretty little pensioners systematically
avoided my neighborhood, although I
tempted them with crumbs and fruit; only
one flew on to my table, but had no sooner
done so than it darted away again, and out
of the room, as if greatly alarmed. I caught
the pretty girl's eye just then, and having
finished eating, and being anxious to join the
conversation, for I hate to sit silent when
others are talking, I remarked that it was
strange the little birds so persistently
avoided me.
56 A CRYSTAL AGE
"Oh no, not at all strange," she replied,
with surprising readiness, showing that she
too had noticed it. "They are frightened at
your appearance."
"I must indeed appear strange to them,"
said I, with some bitterness, and recalling the
adventures of the morning. "It is to me a
new and very painful experience to walk about
the world frightening men, cattle, and birds;
yet I suppose it is entirely due to the clothes
I am wearing — and the boots. I wish some
kind person would suggest a remedy for this
state of things; for just now my greatest desire
is to be dressed in accordance with the fashion."
"Allow me to interrupt you for one moment,
Smith," said the old gentleman, who had been
listening attentively to my words. "We
understood what you said so well on this
occasion that it seems a pity you should
suddenly again render yourself unintelligible.
Can you explain to us what you mean by
dressing in accordance with the fashion4?"
"My meaning is, that I simply desire to
dress like one of yourselves, to see the last
of these uncouth garments." I could not help
A CRYSTAL AGE 57
putting a little vicious emphasis on that hateful
word.
He inclined his head and said, "Yes*?"
Thus encouraged, I dashed boldly into the
middle of the matter; for now, having dined,
albeit without wine, I was inflamed with an
intense craving to see myself arrayed in their
rich, mysterious dress. "This being so," I
continued, "may I ask you if it is in your
power to provide me with the necessary gar-
ments, so that I may cease to be an object of
aversion and offense to every living thing and
person, myself included'?"
A long and uncomfortable silence ensued,
which was perhaps not strange, considering
the nature of the request. That I had
blundered once more seemed likely enough,
from the general suspense and the somewhat
alarmed expression of the old gentleman's
countenance; nevertheless, my motives had
been good: I had expressed my wish in that
way for the sake of peace and quietness, and
fearing that if I had asked to be directed to
the nearest clothing establishment, a new fit
of amazement would have been the result.
58 A CRYSTAL AGE
Finding the silence intolerable, I at length
ventured to remark that I feared he had not
understood me to the end.
"Perhaps not," he answered gravely. "Or,
rather let me say, I hope not."
"May I explain my meaning1?" said I,
greatly distressed.
"Assuredly you may," he replied with dig*
nity. "Only before you speak, let me put this
plain question to you: Do you ask us to pro-
vide you with garments — that is to say, to
bestow them as a gift on you*?"
"Certainly not!" I exclaimed, turning crim-
son with shame to think that they were all
taking me for a beggar. "My wish is to obtain
them somehow from somebody, since I cannot
make them for myself, and to give in return
their full value."
I had no sooner spoken than I greatly feared
that I had made matters worse; for here was
I, a guest in the house, actually offering to
purchase clothing — ready-made or to order —
from my host, who, for all I knew, might be
one of the aristocracy of the country. My
fears, however, proved quite groundless.
A CRYSTAL AGE 59
"I am glad to hear your explanation," he
answered, "for it has completely removed the
unpleasant impression caused by your former
words. What can you do in return for the
garments you are anxious to possess*? And
here, let me remark, I approve highly of your
wish to escape, with the least possible delay,
from your present covering. Do you wish
to confine yourself to the finishing of some
work in a particular line — as wood-carving,
or stone, metal, clay or glass work; or in
making or using colors'? or have you only
that general knowledge of the various arts
which would enable you to assist the more
skilled in preparing materials'?"
"No, I am not an artist," I replied, surprised
at his question. "All I can do is to buy the
clothes — to pay for them in money."
"What do you mean by that? What is
money?"
"Surely " I began, but fortunately
checked myself in time, for I had meant to
suggest that he was pulling my leg. But it
was really hard to believe that a person of
his years did not know what money was.
60 A CRYSTAL AGE
Besides, I could not answer the question,
having always abhorred the study of political
economy, which tells you all about it; so that
I had never learned to define money, but only
how to spend it. Presently I thought the best
way out of the muddle was to show him some,
and I accordingly pulled out my big leather
book-purse from my breast pocket. It had an
ancient, musty smell, like everything else about
me, but seemed pretty heavy and well filled,
and I proceeded to open it and turn the con-
tents on the table. Eleven bright sovereigns
and three half-crowns or florins, I forget which,
rolled out; then, unfolding the papers, I dis-
covered three five-pound Bank of England
notes.
"Surely this is very little for me to have
about me !" said I, feeling greatly disappointed.
"I fancy I must have been making ducks and
drakes of a lot of cash before — before — well,
before I was — I don't know what, or when,
or where."
Little notice was taken of this somewhat
incoherent speech, for all were now gathering
round the table, examining the gold and notes
A CRYSTAL AGE 61
with eager curiosity. At length the old gentle-
man, pointing to the gold pieces, said: "What
are these?"
"Sovereigns," I answered, not a little
amused. "Have you never seen any like them
before?"
"Never. Let me examine them again. Yes,
these eleven are of gold. They are all marked
alike, on one side with a roughly-executed fig-
ure of a woman's head, with the hair gathered
on its summit in a kind of ball. There are also
other things on them which I do not under-
stand."
"Can you not read the letters?" I asked.
"No. The letters — if these marks are letters
: — are incomprehensible to me. But what have
these small pieces of metal to do with the ques-
tion of your garments? You puzzle me."
"Why, everything. These pieces of metal,
as you call them, are money, and represent, of
course, so much buying power. I don't know
yet what your currency is, and whether you
have the dollar or the rupee" — here I paused,
seeing that he did not follow me. "My idea
is this," I resumed, and coming down to very
62 A CRYSTAL AGE
plain speaking: "I can give one of these five-
pound notes, or its equivalent in gold, if you
prefer that — five of these sovereigns, I mean —
for a suit of clothes such as you all wear."
So great was my desire to possess the clothes
that I was about to double the offer, which
struck me as poor, and add that I would
give ten sovereigns; but when I had spoken
he dropped the piece he held in his hand upon
the table, and stared fixedly at me, assisted
by all the others. Presently, in the pro-
found silence which ensued, a low, silvery
gurgling became audible, as of some merry
mountain burn — a sweet, warbling sound,
swelling louder by degrees until it ended in
a long ringing peal of laughter.
This was from the girl Yoletta. I stared
at her, surprised at her unseasonable levity;
but the only effect of my doing so was a
general explosion, men and women joining
in such a tempest of merriment that one
might have imagined they had just heard the
most wonderful joke ever invented since man
acquired the sense of the ludicrous.
The old gentleman was the first to recover
A CRYSTAL AGE 63
a decent gravity, although it was plain to see
that he struggled severely at intervals to pre-
vent a relapse.
"Smith," said he, "of all the extraordinary
delusions you appear to be suffering from, this,
that you can have garments to wear in return
for a small piece of paper, or for a few bits of
this metal, is the most astounding! You
cannot exchange these trifles for clothes, be-
cause clothes are the fruit of much labor of
many hands."
"And yet, sir, you said you understood me
when I proposed to pay for the things I
require," said I, in an aggrieved tone. "You
seemed even to approve of the offer I made.
How, then, am I to pay for them if all I pos-
sess is not considered of any value4?"
"All you possess!" he replied. "Surely
I did not say that! Surely you possess the
strength and skill common to all men, and
can acquire anything you wish by the labor
of your hands."
I began once more to see light, although
my skill, I knew, would not count for much.
"Ah yes," I answered: "to go back to that
64 A CRYSTAL AGE
subject, I do not know anything about wood-
carving or using colors, but I might be able
to do something — some work of a simpler
kind."
"There are trees to be felled, land to be
plowed, and many other things to be done.
If you will do these things some one else will
be released to perform works of skill; and as
these are the most agreeable to the worker,
it would please us more to have you labor
in the fields than in the workhouse."
"I am strong," I answered, "and will
gladly undertake labor of the kind you
speak of. There is, however, one difficulty.
My desire is to change these clothes for
others which will be more pleasing to the
eye, at once; but the work I shall have to
do in return will not be finished in a day.
Perhaps not in — well, several days."
"No, of course not," said he. "A year's
labor will be necessary to pay for the garments
you require."
This staggered me; for if the clothes were
given to me at the beginning, then before the
end of the year they would be worn to rags,
A CRYSTAL AGE 65
and I should make myself a slave for life. I
was sorely perplexed in mind, and pulled about
this way and that by the fear of incurring a
debt, and the desire to see myself (and to be
seen by Yoletta) in those strangely fascinat-
ing garments. That I had a decent figure,
and was not a bad-looking young fellow, I
was pretty sure; and the hope that I should
be able to create an impression (favorable,
I mean) on the heart of that supremely
beautiful girl was very strong in me. At all
events, by closing with the offer I should
have a year of happiness in her society, and
a year of healthy work in the fields could
not hurt me, or interfere much with my
prospects. Besides, I was not quite sure
that my prospects were really worth thinking
about just now. Certainly, I had always
lived comfortably, spending money, eating
and drinking of the best, and dressing well
— that is, according to the London standard.
And there was my dear old bachelor Uncle
Jack — John Smith, Member of Parliament
for Wormwood Scrubbs. That is to say,
ex-Member; for, being a Liberal when the
66 A CRYSTAL AGE
great change came at the last general
election, he was ignominiously ousted from
his seat, the Scrubbs proving at the finish
a bitter place to him. He was put out in
more ways than one, and tried to comfort
himself by saying that there would soon be
another dissolution — thinking of his own,
possibly, being an old man. I remembered
that I had rather looked forward to such a
contingency, thinking how pleasant it would
be to have all that money, and cruise about
the world in my own yacht, enjoying myself
as I knew how. And really I had some
reason to hope. I remember he used to
wind up the talk of an evening when I dined
with him (and got a check) by saying: "My
boy, you have talents, if you'd only use 'em."
Where were those talents now? Certainly
they had not made me shine much during the
last few hours.
Now, all this seemed unsubstantial, and I
remembered these things dimly, like a dream
or a story told to me in childhood; and some-
times, when recalling the past, I seemed to
be thinking about ancient history — Sesostris,
A CRYSTAL AGE 67
and the Babylonians and Assyrians, and that
sort of thing. And, besides, it would be very
hard to get back from a place where even the
name of London was unknown. And perhaps,
if I ever should succeed in getting back, it
would only be to encounter a second Roger
Tichborne case, or to be confronted with the
statute of limitations. Anyhow, a year could
not make much difference, and I should also
keep my money, which seemed an advan-
tage, though it wasn't much. I looked up:
they were all once more studying the coins
and notes, and exchanging remarks about
them.
"If I bind myself to work one year," said
I, "shall I have to wait until the end of that
time before I get the clothes'?"
The reply to this question, I thought, would
settle the matter one way or the other.
"No," said he. "It is your wish, and also
ours, that you should be differently clothed
at once, and the garments you require would
be made for you immediately."
"Then," said I, taking the desperate plunge,
"I should like to have them as soon as
68 A CRYSTAL AGE
possible, and I am ready to commence work
at once."
"You shall commence to-morrow morning,"
he answered, smiling at my impetuosity. "The
daughters of the house, whose province it is
to make these things, shall also suspend other
work until your garments are finished. And
now, my son, from this evening you are one
of the house and one of us, and the things
which we possess you also possess in common
with us."
I rose and thanked him. He too rose,
and, after looking round on us with a fatherly
smile, went away to the interior of the house.
When he was gone, and Yoletta had followed,
leaving some of the others still studying those
wretched sovereigns, I sat down again and
rested my chin on my hand; for I was now
thinking — deeply: thinking on the terms of
the agreement. "I daresay I have succeeded
in making a precious ass of myself," was the
mental reflection that occurred to me — one
I had not infrequently made, and, what is
more, been justified in making on former
occasions. Then, remembering that I had
come to supper with an extravagant appetite,
it struck me that my host, quietly observant,
had, when proposing terms, taken into account
the quantity of food necessary for my susten-
ance. I regretted too late that I had not
exercised more restraint; but the hungry
man does not and cannot consider conse-
quences, else a certain hairy gentleman who
69
70 A CRYSTAL AGE
figures in ancient history had never lent him-
self to that nefarious compact, which gave
so great an advantage to a younger but sleek
and well-nourished brother. In spite of all
this, I felt a secret satisfaction in the thought
of the clothes, and it was also good to know
that the nature of the work I had undertaken
would not lower my status in the house.
Occupied with these reflections, I had failed
to observe that the company had gradually
been drifting away until but one person was
left with me — the young man who had talked
with me before. On his invitation I now
rose, put by my money, and followed him.
Returning by the hall we went through a
passage and entered a room of vast extent,
which in its form and great length and high
arched roof was like the nave of a cathedral.
And yet how unlike in that something ethereal
in its aspect, as of a nave in a cloud cathedral,
its far-stretching shining floors and walls and
columns, pure white and pearl-gray, faintly
touched with colors of exquisite delicacy.
And over it all was the roof of white or pale
gray glass tinged with golden-red — the roof
A CRYSTAL AGE 71
which I had seen from the outside when it
seemed to me like a cloud resting on the
stony summit of a hill.
On coming in I had the impression of an
empty, silent place; yet the inmates of the
house were all there; they were sitting and
reclining on low couches, some lying at their
ease on straw mats on the floor; some were
reading, others were occupied with some work
in their hands, and some were conversing,
the sound coming to me like a faint murmur
from a distance.
At one side, somewhere about the center
of the room, there was a broad raised place,
or dais, with a couch on it, on which the
father was reclining at his ease. Beside the
couch stood a lectern on which a large volume
rested, and before him there was a brass
box or cabinet, and behind the couch seven
polished brass globes were ranged, suspended
on axles resting on bronze frames. These
globes varied in size, the largest being not
less than about twelve feet in circumference.
I noticed that there were books on a low
stand near me. They were all folios, very
72 A CRYSTAL AGE
much alike in form and thickness; and seeing
presently that the others were all following
their own inclinations, and considering that I
had been left to my own resources and that
it is a good plan when at Rome to do as the
Romans do, I by-and-by ventured to help
myself to a volume, which I carried to one of
the reading-stands.
Books are grand things — sometimes, thought
I, prepared to follow the advice I had received,
and find out by reading all about the customs
of this people, especially their ideas concerning
The House, which appeared to be an object
of almost religious regard with them. This
would make me quite independent, and teach
me how to avoid blundering in the future, or
giving expression to any more "extraordinary
delusions." On opening the volume I was
greatly surprised to find that it was richly
illuminated on every leaf, the middle only
of each page being occupied with a rather
narrow strip of writing; but the minute letters,
resembling Hebrew characters, were incom-
prehensible to me. I bore the disappointment
very cheerfully, I must say, for I am not over-
A CRYSTAL AGE 73
fond of study; and, besides, I could not have
paid proper attention to the text, surrounded
with all that distracting beauty of graceful
design and brilliant coloring.
After a while Yoletta came slowly across
the room, her fingers engaged with some kind
of wool-work as she walked, and my heart
beat fast when she paused by my side.
"You are not reading," she said, looking
curiously at me. "I have been watching you
for some time."
"Have you indeed*?" said I, not knowing
whether to feel flattered or not. "No, un-
fortunately, I can't read this book, as I do not
understand the letters. But what a wonder-
fully beautiful book it is! I was just thinking
what some of the great London book-buyers —
Ouaritch, for instance — would be tempted to
give for it. Oh, I am forgetting — you have
never heard his name, of course; but — but
what a beautiful book it is !"
She said nothing in reply, and only looked
a little surprised — disgusted, I feared — at my
ignorance, then walked away. I had hoped
that she was going to talk to me, and with
74 A CRYSTAL AGE
keen disappointment watched her moving
across the floor. All the glory seemed now
to have gone out of the leaves of the volume,
and I continued turning them over listlessly,
glancing at intervals at the beautiful girl, who
was also like one of the pages before me,
wonderful to look at and hard to understand.
In a distant part of the room I saw her place
some cushions on the floor, and settle herself
on them to do her work.
The sun had set by this time, and the
interior was growing darker by degrees; the
fading light, however, seemed to make no
difference to those who worked or read. They
appeared to be gifted with an owlish vision,
able to see with very little light. The father
alone did nothing, but still rested on his couch,
perhaps indulging in a post-prandial nap. At
length he roused himself and looked around him.
"There is no melody in our hearts this
evening, my children," he said. "When an-
other day has passed over us it will perhaps
be different. To-night the voice so recently
stilled in death forever would be too painfully
missed by all of us."
A CRYSTAL AGE 75
Some one then rose and brought a tall wax
taper and placed it near him. The flame
threw a little brightness on the volume, which
he now proceeded to open; and here and
there, further away, it flashed and trembled
in points of rainbow-colored light on a tall
column; but the greater part of the room still
remained in twilight obscurity.
He began to read aloud, and, although he
did not seem to raise his voice above its usual
pitch, the words he uttered fell on my ears
with a distinctness and purity of sound which
made them seem like a melody "sweetly
played in tune." The words he read related
to life and death, and such solemn matters;
but to my mind his theology seemed somewhat
fantastical, although it is right to confess that
I am no judge of such matters. There was
also a great deal about the house, which did not
enlighten me much, being too rhapsodical, and
when he spoke about our conduct and aims in
life, and things of that kind, I understood him
little better. Here is a part of his discourse :—
"It is natural to grieve for those that die,
76 A CRYSTAL AGE
because light and knowledge and love and joy
are no longer theirs; but they grieve not any
more, being now asleep on the lap of the
Universal Mother, the bride of the Father,
who is with us, sharing our sorrow, which was
his first; but it dims not his everlasting bright-
ness; and his desire and our glory is that we
should always and in all things resemble him.
"The end of every day is darkness, but
the Father of life through our reason has
taught us to mitigate the exceeding bitterness
of our end; otherwise, we that are above all
other creatures in the earth should have been
at the last more miserable than they. For
in the irrational world, between the different
kinds, there reigns perpetual strife and blood-
shed, the strong devouring the weak and the
incapable; and when failure of life clouds the
brightness of that lower soul, which is theirs,
the end is not long delayed. Thus the life
that has lasted many days goes out with a
brief pang, and in its going gives new vigor
to the strong that have yet many days to live.
Thus also does the ever-living earth from the
dust of dead generations of leaves re-make a
fresh foliage, and for herself a new garment.
"We only, of all things having life, being
like the Father, slay not nor are slain, and
A CRYSTAL AGE 77
are without enemies in the earth; for even
the lower kinds, which have not reason,
know without reason that we are highest on
the earth, and see in us, alone of all his
works, the majesty of the Father, and lose
all their rage in our presence. Therefore,
when the night is near, when life is a burden
and we remember our mortality, we hasten
the end, that those we love may cease to
sorrow at the sight of our decline; and we
know that this is his will who called us into
being, and gave us life and joy on the earth
for a season, but not forever.
"It is bitter to lay down the life that is
ours, to leave all things — the love of our
kindred; the beauty of the world and of the
house; the labor in which we take delight,
to go forth and be no more: but the bitter-
ness endures not, and is scarcely tasted when
in our last moments we remember that our
labor has borne fruit; that the letters we
have written perish not with us, but remain
as a testimony and a joy to succeeding gen-
erations, and live in the house forever.
"For the house is the image of the world,
and we that live and labor in it are the
image of our Father who made the world;
and, like him, we labor to make for ourselves
78 A CRYSTAL AGE
a worthy habitation, which shall not shame
our teacher. This is his desire; for in all
his works, and that knowledge which is like
pure water to one that thirsts, and satisfies
and leaves no taste of bitterness on the
palate, we learn the will of him that called
us into life. All the knowledge we seek, the
invention and skill we possess, and the labor
of our hands, has this purpose only: for all
knowledge and invention and labor having
any other purpose whatsoever is empty and
vain in comparison, and unworthy of those
that are made in the image of the Father of
life. For just as the bodily senses may
become perverted, and the taste lose its dis-
crimination, so that the hungry man will
devour acrid fruits and poisonous herbs for
aliment, so is the mind capable of seeking
out new paths, and a knowledge which leads
only to misery and destruction.
"Thus we know that in the past men sought
after knowledge of various kinds, asking not
whether it was for good or for evil : but every
offense of the mind and the body has its
appropriate reward; and while their knowledge
grew apace, that better knowledge and dis-
crimination which the Father gives to every
living soul, both in man and in beast, was
A CRYSTAL AGE 79
taken from them. Thus by increasing their
riches they were made poorer; and, like one
who, forgetting the limits that are set to his
faculties, gazes steadfastly on the sun, by see-
ing much they become afflicted with blindness.
But they knew not their poverty and blindness,
and were not satisfied; but were like ship-
wrecked men on a lonely and barren rock in
the midst of the sea, who are consumed with
thirst, and drink of no sweet spring, but of
the bitter wave, and thirst, and drink again,
until madness possesses their brains, and death
releases them from their misery. Thus did
they thirst, and drink again, and were crazed;
being inflamed with the desire to learn the
secrets of nature, hesitating not to dip their
hands in blood, seeking in the living tissues
of animals for the hidden springs of life. For
in their madness they hoped by knowledge to
gain absolute dominion over nature, thereby
taking from the Father of the world his
prerogative.
"But their vain ambition lasted not, and
the end of it was death. The madness of
their minds preyed on their bodies, and worms
were bred in their corrupted flesh: and these,
after feeding on their tissues, changed their
forms; and becoming winged, flew out in the
80 A CRYSTAL AGE
breath of their nostrils, like clouds of winged
ants that issue in the spring-time from their
breeding-places; and, flying from body to
body, filled the race of men in all places with
corruption and decay; and the Mother of
men was thus avenged of her children for
their pride and folly, for they perished
miserably, devoured of worms.
"Of the human race only a small remnant
survived, these being men of an humble mind,
who had lived apart and unknown to their
fellows; and after long centuries they went
forth into the wilderness of earth and re-
peopled it: but nowhere did they find any
trace or record of those that had passed
away; for earth had covered all their ruined
works with her dark mold and green forests,
even as a man hides unsightly scars on his
body with a new and beautiful garment. Nor
is it known to us when this destruction fell
upon the race of men; we only know that
the history thereof was graven an hundred
centuries ago on the granite pillars of the
House of Evor, on the plains between the
sea and the snow-covered mountains of Elf.
Thither in past ages some of our pilgrims
journeyed, and have brought a record of these
things; nor in our house only are they known,
A CRYSTAL AGE 81
but in many houses throughout the world have
they been written for the instruction of all men
and a warning for all time.
"But to mankind there shall come no second
darkness of error, nor seeking after vain know-
ledge; and in the Father's House there shall
be no second desolation, but the sounds of
joy and melody, which were silent, shall be
heard everlastingly; since we had now con-
tinued long in this even mind, seeking only
to inform ourselves of his will; until as in a
clear crystal without flaw shining with colored
light, or as a glassy lake reflecting within itself
the heavens and every cloud and star, so is
he reflected in our minds; and in the house
we are his viceregents, and in the world his
co-workers; and for the glory which he has in
his work we have a like glory in ours.
"He is our teacher. Morning and evening
throughout the various world, in the proces-
sion of the seasons, and in the blue heavens
powdered with stars; in mountain and plain
and many-toned forest; in the sounding walls
of the ocean, and in the billowy seas through
which we pass in peril from land to land, we
read his thoughts and listen to his voice.
Here do we leam with what far-seeing
intelligence he has laid the foundations of
82 A CRYSTAL AGE
his everlasting mansion, how skillfully he
has builded its walls, and with what prodigal
richness he has decorated all his works.
For the sunlight and moonlight and the
blueness of heaven are his; the sea with
its tides; the blackness and the lightnings
of the tempest, and snow, and changeful
winds, and green and yellow leaf; his are
also the silver rain and the rainbow, the
shadows and the many-colored mists, which
he flings like a mantle over all the world.
Herein do we learn that he loves a stable
building, and that the foundations and walls
shall endure for ever: yet loves not same-
ness; thus, from day to day and from season
to season do all things change their aspect,
and the walls and floor and roof of his
dwelling are covered with a new glory. But
to us it is not given to rise to this supreme
majesty in our works; therefore do we, like
him yet unable to reach so great a height,
borrow nothing one from the other, but in
each house learn separately from him alone
who has infinite riches; so that every
habitation, changeless and eternal in itself,
shall yet differ from all others, having its
own special beauty and splendor: for we
inhabit one house only, but the Father of
men inhabits all.
A CRYSTAL AGE 83
"These things are written for the refresh-
ment and delight of those who may no
longer journey into distant lands; and they
are in the library of the house in the seven
thousand volumes of the Houses of the
World which our pilgrims have visited in
past ages. For once in a lifetime is it
ordained that a man shall leave his own
place and travel for the space of ten years,
visiting the most famous houses in every
land he enters, and also seeking out those
of which no report has reached us.
"When the time for this chief adventure
comes, and we go forth for a long period,
there is compensation for every weariness,
with absence of kindred and the sweet shelter
of our own home: for now do we learn the
infinite riches of the Father; for just as the
day changes every hour, from the morning
to the evening twilight, so does the aspect
of the world alter as we progress from day to
day; and in all places our fellow-men, learn-
ing as we do from him only, and seeing that
which is nearest, give a special color of nature
to their lives and their houses; and every
house, with the family which inhabits it, in
their conversation and the arts in which they
excel, is like a round lake set about with hills,
84 A CRYSTAL AGE
wherein may be seen that visible world. And in
all the earth there is no land without inhabi-
tants, whether on wide continents or islands
of the sea; and in all nature there is no
grandeur or beauty or grace which men have
not copied; knowing that this is pleasing to the
Father : for we, that are made like him, delight
not to work without witnesses; and we are his
witnesses in the earth, taking pleasure in his
works, even as he also does in ours.
"Thus, at the beginning of our journey to
the far south, where we go to look first on
those bright lands, which have hotter suns and
a greater variety than ours, we come to the
wilderness of Coradine, which seems barren
and desolate to our sight, accustomed to the
deep verdure of woods and valleys, and the
blue mists of an abundant moisture. There a
stony soil brings forth only thorns, and thistles,
and sere tufts of grass; and blustering winds
rush over the unsheltered reaches, where the
rough-haired goats huddle for warmth; and
there is no melody save the many-toned
voices of the wind and the plover's wild cry.
There dwell the children of Coradine, on
the threshold of the wind-vexed wilderness,
where the stupendous columns of green glass
uphold the roof of the House of Coradine;
A CRYSTAL AGE 85
the ocean's voice is in their rooms, and the
inland-blowing wind brings to them the salt
spray and yellow sand swept at low tide from
the desolate floors of the sea, and the white-
winged bird flying from the black tempest
screams aloud in their shadowy halls. There,
from the high terraces, when the moon is
at its full, we see the children of Coradine
gathered together, arrayed like no others, in
shining garments of gossamer threads, when,
like thistle-down chased by eddying winds,
now whirling in a cloud, now scattering far
apart, they dance their moonlight dances on
the wide alabaster floors; and coming and
going they pass away, and seem to melt into
the moonlight, yet ever to return again with
changeful melody and new measures. And,
seeing this, all those things in which we our-
selves excel seem poor in comparison, becom-
ing pale in our memories. For the winds and
waves, and the whiteness and grace, has been
ever with them; and the winged seed of the
thistle, and the flight of the gull, and the
storm-vexed sea, flowering in foam, and the
light of the moon on sea and barren land,
have taught them this art, and a swiftness
and grace which they alone possess.
"Yet does this moonlight dance, which is the
86 A CRYSTAL AGE
chief glory of the House of Coradine, grow
pale in the mind, and is speedily forgotten,
when another is seen; and, going on our way
from house to house, we learn how everywhere
the various riches of the world have been
taken into his soul by man, and made part of
his life. Nor are we inferior to others, having
also an art and chief excellence which is ours
only, and the fame of which has long gone
forth into the world; so that from many distant
lands pilgrims gather yearly to our fields to
listen to our harvest melody, when the sun-
ripened fruits have been garnered, and our
lips and hands make undying music, to gladden
the hearts of those that hear it all their lives
long. For then do we rejoice beyond others,
rising like bright-winged insects from our lowly
state to a higher life of glory and joy, which
is ours for the space of three whole days.
Then the august Mother, in a brazen chariot,
is drawn from field to field by milk-white
bulls with golden horns; then her children are
gathered about her in shining yellow garments,
with armlets of gold upon their arms; and with
voice and instruments of forms unknown to the
stranger, they make glad the listening fields
with the great harvest melody.
"In ancient days the children of our house
A CRYSTAL AGE 87
conceived it in their hearts, hearing it in all
nature's voices; and it was with them day and
night, and they whispered it to one another
when it was no louder than the whisper of
the wind in the forest leaves; and as the
Builder of the world brings from an hundred
far places the mist, and the dew, and the sun-
shine, and the light west wind, to give to the
morning hour its freshness and glory; and
as we, his humbler followers, seek far off in
caverns of the hills and in the dark bowels
of the earth for minerals and dyes that out-
shine the flowers and the sun, to beautify
the walls of our house, so everywhere by night
and day for long centuries did we listen to
all sounds, and made their mystery and melody
ours, until this great song was perfected in our
hearts, and the fame of it in all lands has
caused our house to be called the House of
the Harvest Melody; and when the yearly
pilgrims behold our procession in the fields,
and listen to our song, all the glory of the
world seems to pass before them, overcoming
their hearts, until, bursting into tears and loud
cries, they cast themselves upon the earth and
worship the Father of the whole world.
"This shall be the chief glory of our house
for ever; when a thousand years have gone
88 A CRYSTAL AGE
by, and we that are now living, like those
that have been, are mingled with the nature
we come from, and speak to our children
only in the wind's voice, and the cry of the
passage-bird, pilgrims shall still come to these
sun-bright fields, to rejoice, and worship the
Father of the world, and bless the august
Mother of the house, from whose sacred womb
ever comes to it life and love and joy, and the
harvest melody that shall endure for ever."
VI
The reading went on, not of course "for ever,"
like that harvest melody he spoke of, but for
a considerable time. The words, I concluded,
were for the initiated, and not for me, and
after a while I gave up trying to make out
what it was all about. Those last expressions
I have quoted about the "august Mother of
the house" were unintelligible, and appeared
to me meaningless. I had already come
to the conclusion that however many of
the ladies of the establishment might have
experienced the pleasures and pains of
maternity, there was really no mother of the
house in the sense that there was a father
of the house: that is to say, one possessing
authority over the others and calling them
all her children indiscriminately. Yet this
mysterious non-existent mother of the house
was continually being spoken of, as I found
89
90 A CRYSTAL AGE
now and afterwards when I listened to the
talk around me. After thinking the matter
over, I came to the conclusion that "mother
of the house" was merely a convenient fiction,
and simply stood for the general sense of
the women-folk, or something of the sort.
It was perhaps stupid of me, but the story
of Mistrelde, who died young, leaving only
eight children, I had regarded as a mere
legend or fable of antiquity.
To return to the reading. Just as I had been
absorbed before in that beautiful book with-
out being able to read it, so now I listened
to that melodious and majestic voice, experi-
encing a singular pleasure without properly
understanding the sense. I remembered now
with a painful feeling of inferiority that my
thick speech had been remarked on earlier
in the day; and I could not but think that,
compared with the speech of this people, it
was thick. In their rare physical beauty, the
color of their eyes and hair, and in their
fascinating dress, they had struck me as being
utterly unlike any people ever seen by me.
But it was perhaps in their clear, sweet,
A CRYSTAL AGE 91
penetrative voice, which sometimes reminded
me of a tender-toned wind instrument, that
they most differed from others.
The reading, I have said, had struck me as
almost of the nature of a religious service;
nevertheless, everything went on as before —
reading, working, and occasional conversation;
but the subdued talking and moving about
did not interfere with one's pleasure in the
old man's musical speech any more than the
soft murmur and flying about of honey bees
would prevent one from enjoying the singing
of a skylark. Emboldened by what I saw
the others doing, I left my seat and made my
way across the floor to Yoletta's side, stealing
through the gloom with great caution to avoid
making a clatter with those abominable boots.
"May I sit down near you?" said I with
some hesitation; but she encouraged me with
a smile and placed a cushion for me.
I settled myself down in the most graceful
position I could assume, which was not at
all graceful, doubling my objectionable legs
out of her sight; and then began my trouble,
for I was greatly perplexed to know what
92 A CRYSTAL AGE
to say to her. I thought of lawn-tennis
and archery, Ellen Terry's acting, the Royal
Academy Exhibition, private theatricals, and
twenty things besides, but they all seemed
unsuitable subjects to start conversation with
in this case. There was, I began to fear, no
common ground on which we could meet and
exchange thoughts, or, at any rate, words.
Then I remembered that ground, common
and broad enough, of our human feelings,
especially the sweet and important feeling
of love. But how was I to lead up to it*?
The work she was engaged with at length
suggested an opening, and the opportunity to
make a pretty little speech.
"Your sight must be as good as your eyes
are pretty," said I, "to enable you to work
in such a dim light."
"Oh, the light is good enough," she
answered, taking no notice of the compli-
ment. "Besides, this is such easy work I
could do it in the dark."
"It is very pretty work — may I look at it?"
She handed the stuff to me, but instead of
taking it in the ordinary way, I placed my
A CRYSTAL AGE 93
hand under hers, and, holding up cloth and
hand together, proceeded to give a minute
and prolonged scrutiny to her work.
"Do you know that I am enjoying two
distinct pleasures at one and the same time'?"
said I. "One is in seeing your work, the
other in holding your hand; and I think the
last pleasure even greater than the first." As
she made no reply, I added somewhat lamely:
"May I — keep on holding it?"
"That would prevent me from working,"
she answered, with the utmost gravity. "But
you may hold it for a little while."
"Oh, thank you," I exclaimed, delighted
with the privilege; and then, to make the
most of my precious "little while," I pressed
it warmly, whereupon she cried out aloud:
"Oh, Smith, you are squeezing too hard —
you hurt my hand!"
I dropped it instantly in the greatest
confusion. "Oh, for goodness sake," I
stammered, "please, do not make such an
outcry! You don't know what a hobble you'll
get me into."
Fortunately, no notice was taken of the
94 A CRYSTAL AGE
exclamation, though it was hard to believe
that her words had not been overheard;
and presently, recovering from my fright, I
apologized for hurting her, and hoped she
would forgive me.
"There is nothing to forgive," she returned
gently. "You did not really squeeze hard,
only my hand hurts, because to-day when I
pressed it on the ground beside the grave
I ran a small thorn into it." Then the
remembrance of that scene at the burial
brought a sudden mist of tears into her
lovely eyes.
"I am so sorry I hurt you, Yoletta — may
I call you Yoletta*?" said I, all at once
remembering that she had called me Smith,
without the customary prefix.
"Why, that is my name — what else shouldyou
call me*?" she returned, evidently with surprise.
"It is a pretty name, and so sweet on
the lips that I should like to be repeating
it continually," I answered. "But it is only
right that you should have a pretty name,
because — well, if I may tell you, because you
are so very beautiful."
A CRYSTAL AGE 95
"Yes; but is that strange — are not all
people beautiful*?"
I thought of certain London types, especially
among the "criminal classes," and of the old
women with withered, simian faces and wear-
ing shawls, slinking in or out of public-houses
at the street corners; and also of some people
of a better class I had known personally —
some even in the House of Commons; and
I felt that I could not agree with her, much
as I wished to do so, without straining my
conscience.
"At all events, you will allow," said I,
evading the question, "that there are degrees
of beauty, just as there are degrees of light.
You may be able to see to work in this
light, but it is very faint compared with the
noonday light when the sun is shining."
"Oh, there is not so great a difference
between people as that" she replied, with the
air of a philosopher. "There are different
kinds of beauty, I allow, and some people
seem more beautiful to us than others, but
that is only because we love them more. The
best loved are always the most beautiful."
96 A CRYSTAL AGE
This seemed to reverse the usual idea,
that the more beautiful the person is the
more he or she gets loved. However, I
was not going to disagree with her any
more, and only said: "How sweetly you talk,
Yoletta; you are as wise as you are beautiful.
I could wish for no greater pleasure than to
sit here listening to you the whole evening."
"Ah, then, I am sorry I must leave you
now," she answered, with a bright smile which
made me think that perhaps my little speech
had pleased her.
"Do you wonder why I smiled" she
added, as if able to read my thoughts. "It
is because I have often heard words like
yours from one who is waiting for me now."
This speech caused me a jealous pang. But
for a few moments after speaking, she con-
tinued regarding me with that bright, spiritual
smile on her lips; then it faded, and her face
clouded and her glance fell. I did not ask
her to tell me, nor did I ask myself, the reason
of that change; and afterwards how often I
noticed that same change in her, and in the
others too — that sudden silence and clouding
A CRYSTAL AGE 97
of the face, such as may be seen in one who
freely expresses himself to a person who
cannot hear, and then, all at once but too
late, remembers the other's infirmity.
"Must you goT I only said. "What
shall I do alone?"
"Oh, you shall not be alone," she replied,
and going away returned presently with another
lady. "This is Edra," she said simply. "She
will take my place by your side and talk with
you."
I could not tell her that she had taken my
words too literally, that being alone simply
meant being separated from her; but there
was no help for it, and some one, alas! some
one I greatly hated was waiting for her. I
could only thank her and her friend for their
kind intentions. But what in the name of
goodness was I to say to this beautiful woman
who was sitting by me1? She was certainly
very beautiful, with a far more mature and
perhaps a nobler beauty than Yoletta's, her
age being about twenty-seven or twenty-eight;
but the divine charm in the young girl's face
could, for me, exist in no other.
98 A CRYSTAL AGE
Presently she opened the conversation by
asking me if I disliked being alone.
"Well, no, perhaps not exactly that," I
said; "but I think it much jollier — much
more pleasant, I mean — to have some very
nice person to talk to."
She assented, and, pleased at her ready
intelligence, I added: "And it is particularly
pleasant when you are understood. But I
have no fear that you, at any rate, will fail
to understand anything I may say."
"You have had some trouble to-day," she
returned, with a charming smile. "I some-
times think that women can understand even
more readily than men."
"There's not a doubt of it!" I returned
warmly, glad to find that with Edra it was
all plain sailing. "It must be patent to
every one that women have far quicker, finer
intellects than men, although their brains are
smaller; but then quality is more important
than mere quantity. And yet," I continued,
"some people hold that women ought not
to have the franchise, or suffrage, or what-
ever it is! Not that I care two straws about
A CRYSTAL AGE 99
the question myself, and I only hope they'll
never get it; but then I think it is so illogical
— don't you?'
"I am afraid I do not understand you,
Smith," she returned, looking much distressed.
"Well, no, I suppose not, but what I said
was of no consequence," I replied; then, wish-
ing to make a fresh start, I added: "But I
am so glad to hear you call me Smith. It
makes it so much more pleasant and home-
like to be treated without formality. It is
very kind of you, I'm sure."
"But surely your name is Smith1?" said
she, looking very much surprised.
"Oh yes, my name is Smith: only of course
— well, the fact is, I was just wondering what
to call you."
"My name is Edra," she replied, looking
more bewildered than ever; and from that
moment the conversation, which had begun
so favorably, was nothing but a series of
entanglements, from which I could only escape
in each case by breaking the threads of the
subject under discussion, and introducing a
new one.
VII
The moment of retiring, to which I had been
looking forward with considerable interest as
one likely to bring fresh surprises, arrived at
last: it brought only extreme discomfort. I
was conducted (without a flat candlestick)
along an obscure passage; then, at right
angles with the first, a second broader,
lighter passage, leading past a great many
doors placed near together. These, I ascer-
tained later, were the dormitories, or sleeping-
cells, and were placed side by side in a row
opening on the terrace at the back of the
house. Having reached the door of my box,
my conductor pushed back the sliding-panel,
and when I had groped my way to the dark
interior, closed it again behind me. There
was no light for me except the light of the
stars; for directly opposite the door by which
I had entered stood another, open wide to the
IOO
A CRYSTAL AGE 101
night, which was apparently not intended ever
to be closed. The prospect was the one I
had already seen — the wilderness sloping to
the river, and the glassy surface of the broad
water, reflecting the stars, and the black
masses of large trees. There was no sound
save the hooting of an owl in the distance,
and the wailing note of some mournful-minded
water-fowl. The night air blew in cold and
moist, which made my bones ache, though
they were not broken; and feeling very
sleepy and miserable, I groped about until I
was rewarded by discovering a narrow bed,
or cot of trellis-work, on which was a hard
straw pallet and a small straw pillow; also,
folded small, a kind of woolen sleeping
garment. Too tired to keep out of even
such an uninviting bed, I flung off my
clothes, and with my moldy tweeds for only
covering I laid me down, but not to sleep.
The misery of it! for although my body was
warm — too warm, in fact — the wind blew on
my face and bare feet and legs, and made it
impossible to sleep.
About midnight, I was just falling into a
102 A CRYSTAL AGE
doze when a sound as of a person coming
with a series of jumps into the room disturbed
me; and starting up I was horrified to see,
sitting on the floor, a great beast much too
big for a dog, with large, erect ears. He was
intently watching me, his round eyes shining
like a pair of green phosphorescent globes.
Having no weapon, I was at the brute's
mercy, and was about to utter a loud shout
to summon assistance, but as he sat so still
I refrained, and began even to hope that he
would go quietly away. Then he stood up,
went back to the door and sniffed audibly
at it; and thinking that he was about to
relieve me of his unwelcome presence, I
dropped my head on the pillow and lay
perfectly still. Then he turned and glared at
me again, and finally, advancing deliberately
to my side, sniffed at my face. It was all
over with me now, I thought, and closing
my eyes, and feeling my forehead growing
remarkably moist in spite of the cold, I
murmured a little prayer. When I looked
again the brute had vanished, to my inex-
pressible relief.
A CRYSTAL AGE 103
It seemed very astonishing that an animal
like a wolf should come into the house; but
I soon remembered that I had seen no dogs
about, so that all kinds of savage, prowling
beasts could come in with impunity. It was
getting beyond a joke: but then all this
seemed only a fit ending to the perfectly
absurd arrangement into which I had been
induced to enter. "Goodness gracious!" I
exclaimed, sitting bolt upright on my straw
bed, "am I a rational being or an inebriated
donkey, or what, to have consented to such
a proposal? It is clear that I was not quite
in my right mind when I made the agree-
ment, and I am therefore not morally bound
to observe it. What! be a field laborer, a
hewer of wood and drawer of water, and
sleep on a miserable straw mat in an open
porch, with wolves for visitors at all hours
of the night, and all for a few barbarous
rags! I don't know much about plowing
and that sort of thing, but I suppose any
able-bodied man can earn a pound a week,
and that would be fifty-two pounds for a suit
of clothes. Who ever heard of such a thing!
104 A CRYSTAL AGE
Wolves and all thrown in for nothing! I
daresay I shall have a tiger dropping in
presently just to have a look round. No, no,
my venerable friend, that was all excellent
acting about my extraordinary delusions, and
the rest of it, but I am not going to be carried
so far by them as to adhere to such an out-
rageously one-sided bargain."
Presently I remembered two things — divine
Yoletta was the first; and the second was that
thought of the rare pleasure it would be to
array myself in those same "barbarous rags,"
as I had blasphemously called them. These
things had entered into my soul, and had
become a part of me — especially — well, both.
Those strange garments had looked so refresh-
ingly picturesque, and I had conceived such
an intense longing to wear them! Was it a
very contemptible ambition on my part? Is it
sinful to wish for any adornments other than
wisdom and sobriety, a meek and loving spirit,
good works, and other things of the kind?
Straight into my brain flashed the words of
a sentence I had recently read — that is to
say, just before my accident — in a biological
A CRYSTAL AGE 105
work, and it comforted me as much as if an
angel with shining face and rainbow-colored
wings had paid me a visit in my dusky cell:
"Unto Adam also, and his wife, did the Lord
God make coats of skin and clothed them. This
has become, as every one knows, a custom
among the race of men, and shows at present
no sign of becoming obsolete. Moreover,
that first correlation, namely, milk-glands and
a hairy covering, appears to have entered the
very soul of creatures of this class, and to have
become psychical as well as physical, for in
that type, which is only for a while inferior to
the angels, the fondness for this kind of outer
covering is a strong, ineradicable passion!"
Most true and noble words, O biologist of
the fiery soul! It was a delight to remember
them. A "strong and ineradicable passion,"
not merely to clothe the body, but to clothe it
appropriately, that is to say, beautifully, and
by so doing please God and ourselves. This
being so, must we go on for ever scraping
our faces with a sharp iron, until they are
blue and spotty with manifold scrapings; and
cropping our hair short to give ourselves an
106 A CRYSTAL AGE
artificial resemblance to old dogs and monkeys
— creatures lower than us in the scale of being
— and array our bodies, like mutes at a
funeral, in repulsive black — we, "Eutheria of
the Eutheria, the noble of the noble ?" And
all for what, since it pleases not heaven nor
accords with our own desires'? For the sake
of respectability, perhaps, whatever that may
mean. Oh, then, a million curses take it —
respectability, I mean; may it sink into the
bottomless pit, and the smoke of its torment
ascend for ever and ever! And having thus,
by taking thought, brought my mind into this
temper, I once more finally determined to
have the clothes, and religiously to observe
the compact.
It made me quite happy to end it in this
way. The hard bed, the cold night wind
blowing on me, my wolfish visitor, were all
forgotten. Once more I gave loose to my
imagination, and saw myself (clothed and in
my right mind) sitting at Yoletta's feet,
learning the mystery of that sweet, tranquil
life from her precious lips. A whole year was
mine in which to love her and win her gentle
A CRYSTAL AGE 1Q?
heart. But her hand-ah, that was another
matter. What had I to give in return for
such a boon as that? Only that strength
concerning which my venerable host had
spoken somewhat encouragingly. He had
also been so good as to mention my skill;
but I could scarcely trade on that. And if
a whole year's labor was only sufficient to
pay for a suit of clothing, how many years of
tod would be required to win Yoletta's hand?
Naturally, at this juncture, I began to draw
a parallel between my case and that of an
ancient historical personage, whose name is
familiar to most. History repeats itself— with
variations. Jacob-^namely, Smith-Cometh to
the well of Haran. He taketh acquaintance
of Rachel, here called Yoletta. And Jacob
kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and
wept. That is a touch of nature I can
thoroughly appreciate— the kissing, I mean-
but why he wept I cannot tell, unless it be'
because he was not an Englishman. And
Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's
brother. I am glad to have no such startling
Piece of information to give to the object
108 A CRYSTAL AGE
of my affections: we are not even distant
relations, and her age being, say, fifteen, and
mine twenty-one, we are so far well suited to
each other, according to my notions. Smith
covenanteth for Yoletta, and said: "I will
serve thee seven years for Yoletta, thy younger
daughter"; and the old gentleman answered:
"Abide with me, for I would rather you should
have her than some other person." Now I
wonder whether the matter will be complicated
with Leah — that is, Edra"? Leah was con-
siderably older than Rachel, and, like Edra,
tender-eyed. I do not aspire or desire to
marry both, especially if I should, like Jacob,
have to begin with the wrong one, however
tender-eyed: but for divine Yoletta I could
serve seven years; yea, and fourteen, if it
comes to it.
Thus I mused, and thus I questioned,
tossing and turning on my inhospitable hard
bed, until merciful sleep laid her quieting
hands on the strings of my brain, and hushed
their weary jangling.
VIII
Fortunately I woke early next morning, for
I was now a member of an early-rising family,
and anxious to conform to rules. On going to
the door I found, to my inexpressible disgust,
that I might easily have closed it in the way
I had seen the other door closed, by simply
pulling out a sliding panel. There was ventila-
tion enough without having the place open to
prowling beasts of prey. I also found that
if I had turned up the little straw bed I should
have had warm woolen sheets to sleep in.
I resolved to say nothing about my nocturnal
visitor, not wishing to begin the day by furnish-
ing fresh instances of what might seem like
crass stupidity on my part. While occupied
with these matters I began to hear people
moving about and talking on the terrace, and
peeping out, I beheld a curious and interest-
ing spectacle. Down the broad steps leading
109
no A CRYSTAL AGE
to the water the people of the house were
hurrying, and flinging themselves like agile,
startled frogs on to the bosom of the stream.
There, in the midst of his family, my venerable
host was already disporting himself, his long,
silvery beard and hair floating like a foam on
the waves of his own creating. And presently
from other sleeping-rooms on a line with mine
shot forth new bewitching forms, each sparsely
clothed in a slender clinging garment, which
concealed no beauteous curve beneath; and
nimbly running and leaping down the slope,
they quickly joined the masculine bathers.
Looking about I soon found a pretty thing
in which to array myself, and quickly started
after the others, risking my neck in my desire
to imitate the new mode of motion I had just
witnessed. The water was delightfully cool
and refreshing, and the company very agree-
able, ladies and gentlemen all swimming and
diving about together with the unconventional
freedom and grace of a company of grebes.
After dressing, we assembled in the eating-
Toom or portico where we had supped, just
when the red disk of the sun was showing
A CRYSTAL AGE m
itself above the horizon, kindling the clouds
with yellow flame, and filling the green world
with new light. I felt happy and strong that
morning, very able and willing to work in the
fields, and, better than all, very hopeful about
that affair of the heart. Happiness, however,
is seldom perfect, and in the clear, tender
morning light I could not help contrasting my
own repulsively ugly garments with the bright
and beautiful costumes worn by the others,
which seemed to harmonize so well with their
fresh, happy morning mood. I also missed the
fragrant cup of coffee, the streaky rasher from
the dear familiar pig, and, after breakfast, the
well-flavored cigar; but these lesser draw-
backs were soon forgotten.
After the meal a small closed basket was
handed to me, and one of the young men led
me out to a little distance from the house,
then, pointing to a belt of wood about a mile
away, told me to walk towards it until I came
to a plowed field on the slope of a valley,
where I could do some plowing. Before
leaving me he took from his own person a
metal dog-whistle, with a string attached, and
112 A CRYSTAL AGE
hung it round my neck, but without explain-
ing its use.
Basket in hand I went away, over the dewy
grass, whistling light-heartedly, and after half
an hour's walk found the spot indicated, where
about an acre and a half of land had been
recently turned ; there also, lying in the furrow,
I found the plow, an implement I knew very
little about. This particular plow, however,
appeared to be a simple, primitive thing, con-
sisting of a long beam of wood, with an upright
pole to guide it; a metal share in the center,
going off to one side, balanced on the other
by a couple of small wheels; and there were
also some long ropes attached to a cross-stick
at the end of the beam. There being no horses
or bullocks to do the work, and being unable
to draw the plow myself as well as guide it,
I sat down leisurely to examine the contents
of my basket, which, I found, consisted of
brown bread, dried fruit, and a stone bottle of
milk. Then, not knowing what else to do, I
began to amuse myself by blowing on the
whistle, and emitted a most shrill and piercing
sound, which very soon produced an unexpected
A CRYSTAL AGE 113
effect. Two noble-looking horses, resembling
those I had seen the day before, came gallop-
ing towards me as if in response to the sound
I had made. Approaching swiftly to within
fifty yards they stood still, staring and snorting
as if alarmed or astonished, after which they
swept round me three or four times, neighing
in a sharp, ringing manner, and finally, after
having exhausted their superfluous energy,
they walked to the plow and placed them-
selves deliberately before it. It looked as if
these animals had come at my call to do the
work; I therefore approached them, with more
than needful caution, using many soothing,
conciliatory sounds and words the while, and
after a little further study I discovered how
to adjust the ropes to them. There were no
blinkers or reins, nor did these superb animals
seem to think any were wanted ; but after I had
taken the pole in my hand, and said "Gee up,
Dobbin," in a tone of command, followed by
some inarticulate clicks with the tongue, they
rewarded me with a disconcerting stare, and
then began dragging the plow. As long
as I held the pole straight the share cut its
114 A CRYSTAL AGE
way evenly through the mold, but occasionally,
owing to my inadvertence, it would go off at
a tangent or curve quite out of the ground;
and whenever this happened the horses would
stop, turn round and stare at me, then, touch-
ing their noses together seem to exchange
ideas on the subject. When the first furrow
was finished, they did not double back, as I
expected, but went straight away to a distance
of thirty yards, and then, turning, marched
back, cutting a fresh furrow parallel with the
first, and as straight as a line. Then they
returned to the original starting-point and cut
another, then again to the new furrow, and
so on progressively. All this seemed very
wonderful to me, giving the impression that
I had been a skillful plowman all my life
without knowing it. It was interesting work;
and I was also amused to see the little birds
that came in numbers from the wood to devour
the worms in the fresh-turned mold; for
between their fear of me and their desire to
get the worms, they were in a highly perplexed
state, and generally confined their operations
to one end of the furrow while I was away
A CRYSTAL AGE 115
at the other. The space the horses had
marked out for themselves was plowed up
in due time, whereupon they marched off and
made a fresh furrow as before, where there
was nothing to guide them; and so the work
went on agreeably for some hours, until I felt
myself growing desperately hungry. Sitting
down on the beam of the plow, I opened
my basket and discussed the homely fare
with a keen appetite.
After finishing the food I resumed work
again, but not as cheerfully as at first: I
began to feel a little stiff and tired, and the
immense quantity of mold adhering to my
boots made it heavy walking; moreover, the
novelty had now worn off. The horses also
did not work as smoothly as at the com-
mencement: they seemed to have something
on their minds, for at the end of every
furrow they would turn and stare at me in
the most exasperating manner.
"Phew!" I ejaculated, as I stood wiping
the honest sweat from my face with my
moldy, ancient, and extremely dirty pocket-
handkerchief. "Three hundred and sixty-
n6 A CRYSTAL AGE
four days of this sort of thing is a rather
long price to pay for a suit of clothes."
While standing there, I saw an animal
coming swiftly towards me from the direction
of the forest, bounding along over the earth
with a speed like that of a greyhound — a
huge, fierce-looking brute; and when close
to me, I felt convinced that it was an animal
of the same kind as the one I had seen
during the night. Before I had made up
my mind what to do, he was within a few
yards of me, and then, coming to a sudden
halt, he sat down on his haunches, and
gravely watched me. Calling to mind some
things I had heard about the terrifying effect
of the human eye on royal tigers and other
savage beasts, I gazed steadily at him, and
then almost lost my fear in admiration of his
beauty. He was taller than a boarhound,
but slender in figure, with keen, fox-like
features, and very large, erect ears; his coat
was silvery-gray, and long; there were two
black spots above his eyes; and the feet,
muzzle, ear-tips, and end of the bushy tail
were also velvet-black. After watching me
A CRYSTAL AGE 117
quietly for two or three minutes, he started
up, and, much to my relief, trotted away
towards the wood; but after going about
fifty yards he looked back, and seeing me
still gazing after him, wheeled round and
rushed at me, and when quite close uttered
a sound like a ringing, metallic yelp, after
which he once more bounded away, and
disappeared from sight.
The horses now turned round, and, deliber-
ately walking up to me, stood still, in spite
of all I could do to make them continue the
work. After waiting a while they proceeded
to wriggle themselves out of the ropes, and
galloped off, loudly neighing to each other,
and flinging up their disdainful heels so as to
send a shower of dirt over me. Left alone
in this unceremonious fashion, I presently
began to think that they knew more about
the work than I did, and that, finding me
indisposed to release them at the proper
moment, they had taken the matter into
their own hands, or hoofs rather. A little
more pondering, and I also came to the
conclusion that the singular wolf-like animal
n8 A CRYSTAL AGE
was only one of the house-dogs; that he had
visited me in the night to remind me that I
was sleeping with the door open, and had
come now to insist on a suspension of work.
Glad at having discovered all these things
without displaying my ignorance by asking
questions, I took up my basket and started
home.
IX
When I arrived at the house I was met by
the young man who had set me the morning's
task; but he was taciturn now, and wore a
cold, estranged look, which seemed to portend
trouble. He at once led me to a part of the
house at a distance from the hall, and into a
large apartment I now saw for the first time.
In a few moments the master of the house,
followed by most of the other inmates, also
entered, and on the faces of all of them I
noticed the same cold, offended look.
"The dickens take my luck!" said I to
myself, beginning to feel extremely uncomfort-
able. "I suppose I have offended against the
laws and customs by working the horses too
long."
"Smith," said the old man, advancing to the
table, and depositing thereon a large volume
he had brought with him, "come here, and
read to me in this book."
119
120 A CRYSTAL AGE
Advancing to the table, I saw that it was
written in the same minute, Hebrew-like
characters of the folio I had examined on the
previous evening. "I cannot read it; I do
not understand the letters," I said, feeling
some shame at having thus publicly to
confess my ignorance.
"Then," said he, bending on me a look of
the utmost severity, "there is indeed little
more to be said. Nevertheless, we take into
account the confused state of your intellect
yesterday, and judge you leniently; and let
us hope that the pangs of an outraged
conscience will be more painful to you than
the light punishment I am about to inflict for
so detestable a crime."
I now concluded that I had offended by
squeezing Yoletta's hand, and had been told
to read from the book merely to make my-
self acquainted with the pains and penalties
attendant on such an indiscretion, for to call
it a "detestable crime" seemed to me a very
great abuse of language.
"If I have offended," was my answer, de-
livered with little humility, "I can only plead
A CRYSTAL AGE 121
my ignorance of the customs of the house."
"No man," he returned, with increased
severity, "is so ignorant as not to know
right from wrong. Had the matter come to
my knowledge sooner, I should have said:
Depart from us, for your continued presence
in the house offends us; but we have made
a compact with you, and, until the year
expires, we must suffer you. For the space
of sixty days you must dwell apart from us,
never leaving the room, where each day a
task will be assigned to you, and subsisting
on bread and water only. Let us hope that
in this period of solitude and silence you will
sufficiently repent your crime, and rejoin us
afterwards with a changed heart; for all
offenses may be forgiven a man, but it is
impossible to forgive a lie."
"A lie!" I exclaimed in amazement. "I
have told no lie!"
"This," said he, with an access of wrath,
"is an aggravation of your former offense.
It is even a worse offense than the first, and
must be dealt with separately — when the sixty
days have expired."
122 A CRYSTAL AGE
"Are you, then, going to condemn me with-
out hearing me speak, or telling me anything
about it4? What lie have I told?"
After a pause, during which he closely
scrutinized my face, he said, pointing to the
open page before him: "Yesterday, in answer
to my question, you told me that you could
read. Last evening you made a contrary
statement to Yoletta; and now here is the
book, and you confess that you cannot
read it."
"But that is easily explained," said I,
immensely relieved, for I certainly had felt
a little guilty about the hand-squeezing
performance, although it was not a very
serious matter. "I can read the books of
my own country, and naturally concluded
that your books were written in the same
kind of letters; but last evening I discovered
that it was not so. You have already seen
the letters of my country on the coins I
showed you last evening."
And here I again pulled out my pocket-
book, and emptied the contents on the
table.
A CRYSTAL AGE 123
He began to pick up the sovereigns one
by one to examine them. Meanwhile, find-
ing my beautiful black and gold stylograph
pen inserted in the book, I thought I could
not do better than to show him how I wrote,
Fortunately, the fluid in it had not become
dry. Tearing a blank page from my book
I hastily scribbled a few lines, and handed
the paper to him, saying: "This is how I
write."
He began studying the paper, but his eyes,
I perceived, wandered often to the stylograph
pen in my hand.
Presently he remarked: 'This writing, or
these marks you have made on the paper,
are not the same as the letters on the
gold."
I took the paper and proceeded to copy the
sentence I had written, but in printing letters,
beneath it, then returned it to him.
He examined it again, and, after comparing
my letters with those on the sovereigns, said:
"Pray tell me, now, what you have written
here, and explain why you write in two different
ways?"
124 A CRYSTAL AGE
I told him, as well as I could, why letters
of one form were used to stamp on gold and
other substances, and of a different form for
writing. Then, with a modest blush, I read
the words of the sentence: "In different parts
of the world men have different customs, and
write different letters; but alike to all men
in all places, a lie is hateful."
"Smith," he said, addressing me in an im-
pressive maner, but happily not to charge me
with a third and bigger lie, "I have lived long
in the world, and the knowledge others possess
concerning it is mine also. It is common
knowledge that in the hotter and colder regions
men are compelled to live differently, owing
to the conditions they are placed in; but we
know that everywhere they have the same
law of right and wrong inscribed on the heart,
and, as you have said, hate a lie; also that
they all speak the same language; and until
this moment I also believed that they wrote in
similar characters. You, however, have now
succeeded in convincing me that this is not
the case; that in some obscure valley, cut off
from all intercourse by inaccessible mountains,
A CRYSTAL AGE 125
or in some small, unknown island of the sea,
a people may exist — ah, did you not tell me
that you came from an island4?"
"Yes, my home was on an island," I
answered.
"So I imagined. An island of which no
report has ever reached us, where the people,
isolated from their fellows, have in the course
of many centuries changed their customs —
even their manner of writing. Although I had
seen these gold pieces I did not understand,
or did not realize, that such a human family
existed: now I am persuaded of it, and as I
alone am to blame for having brought this
charge against you, I must now ask your
forgiveness. We rejoice at your innocence,
and hope with increased love to atone for our
injustice. My son," he concluded, placing a
hand on my shoulder, "I am now deeply in
your debt."
"I am glad it has ended so happily," I
replied, wondering whether his being in my
debt would increase my chances with Yoletta
or not.
Seeing him again directing curious glances
126 A CRYSTAL AGE
at the stylograph, which I was turning about
in my fingers, I offered it to him.
He examined it with interest.
"I have only been waiting for an oppor-
tunity," he said, "to look closely at this
wonderful contrivance, for I had perceived
that your writing was not made with a pencil,
but with a fluid. It is black polished stone,
beautifully fashioned and encircled with gold
bands, and contains the writing-fluid within
itself. This surprises me as much as anything
you have told me."
"Allow me to make you a present of it," said
I, seeing him so taken with it.
"No, not so," he returned. "But I should
greatly like to possess it, and will keep it if
I may bestow in return something you desire."
Yoletta's hand was really the only thing in
life I desired, but it was too early to speak
yet, as I knew nothing about their matrimonial
usages — not even whether or not the lady's
consent was necessary to a compact of the
kind. I therefore made a more modest request.
"There is one thing I greatly desire," I said.
"I am very anxious to be able to read in your
A CRYSTAL AGE 127
books, and shall consider myself more than
compensated if you will permit Yoletta to teach
me."
"She shall teach you in any case, my son,"
he returned. "That," and mucftmore, is already
owing to you."
"There is nothing else I desire," said I.
"Pray keep the pen and make me happy."
And thus ended a disagreeable matter.
The cloud having blown over, we all repaired
to the supper-room, and nothing could exceed
our happiness as we sat at meat — or vegetables.
Not feeling so ravenously hungry as on the
previous evening, and, moreover, seeing them
all in so lively a mood, I did not hesitate to
join in the conversation: nor did I succeed
so very badly, considering the strangeness of
it all; for like the bee that has been much
hindered at his flowery work by geometric
webs, I began to acquire some skill in push-
ing my way gracefully through the tangling
meshes of thought and phrases that were new
to me.
The afternoon's experiences had certainly
128 A CRYSTAL AGE
been remarkable — a strange mixture of pain
and pleasure, not blending into homogeneous
gray, but resembling rather a bright embroidery
on a dark, somber ground; and of these sur-
prising contrasts I was destined to have more
that same evening.
We were again assembled in the great room,
the venerable father reclining at his ease on
his throne-like couch near the brass globes,
while the others pursued their various occupa-
tions as on the former evening. Not being
able to get near Yoletta, and having nothing
to do, I settled myself comfortably in one of
the spacious seats, and gave up my mind to
pleasant dreams. At length, to my surprise,
the father, who had been regarding me
for some time, said: "Will you lead, my
son?"
I started up, turning very red in the face,
for I did not wish to trouble him with questions,
yet was at a loss to know what he meant by
leading. I thought of several things — whist,
evening prayers, dancing, etc.; but being still
in doubt, I was compelled to ask him to
explain.
A CRYSTAL AGE 129
"Will you lead the singing?" he returned,
looking a little surprised.
"Oh yes, with pleasure," said I. There
being no music about, and no piano, I con-
cluded naturally that my friends amused them-
selves with solo songs without accompaniment
of an evening, and having a good tenor voice
I was not unwilling to lead off with a song.
Clearing my rusty throat with a ghrr-ghrr-
hram which made them all jump, I launched
forth with the "Vicar of Bray"— a grand old
song and a great favorite of mine. They
all started when I commenced, exchanging
glances, and casting astonished looks towards
me; but it was getting so dusky in the room
that I could not feel sure that my eyes were
not deceiving me. Presently some that were
near me began retiring to distant seats, and
this distressed me so that it made me hoarse,
and my singing became very bad indeed; but
still I thought it best to go bravely on to the
end. Suddenly the old gentleman, who had
been staring wildly at me for some time, drew
up his long yellow robe and wrapped it round
his face and head. I glanced at Yoletta,
130 A CRYSTAL AGE
sitting at some distance, and saw that she
was holding her hands pressed to her ears.
I thought it about time to leave off then,
and stopping abruptly in the middle of the
fourth stanza I sat down, feeling extremely-
hot and uncomfortable. I was almost choking,
and unable to utter a word. But there was
no word for me to utter : it was, of course, for
them to thank me for singing, or to say some-
thing; but not a word was spoken. Yoletta
dropped her hands and resumed her work,
while the old man slowly emerged with a
somewhat frightened look from the wrappings;
and then the long dead silence becoming
unendurable, I remarked that I feared my sing-
ing was not to their taste. No reply was
made; only the father, putting out one of his
hands, touched a handle or key near him,
whereupon one of the brass globes began
slowly revolving. A low murmur of sound
arose, and seemed to pass like a wave
through the room, dying away in the
distance, soon to be succeeded by another,
and then another, each marked by an increase
of power; and often as this solemn sound
A CRYSTAL AGE 131
died away, faint flute-like notes were heard
as if approaching, but still at a great distance,
and in the ensuing wave of sound from the
great globes they would cease to be dis-
tinguishable. Still the mysterious coming
sounds continued at intervals to grow louder
and clearer, joined by other tones as they
progressed, now altogether bursting out in
joyous chorus, then one purest liquid note
soaring bird-like alone, but whether from
voices or wind-instruments I was unable to
tell, until the whole air about me was filled
and palpitating with the strange, exquisite
harmony, which passed onwards, the tones
growing fewer and fainter by degrees until
they almost died out of hearing in the
opposite direction. That all were now taking
part in the performance I became convinced
by watching in turn different individuals,
some of them having small, curiously-shaped
instruments in their hands, but there was a
blending of voices and a something like
ventriloquism in the tones which made it
impossible to distinguish the notes of any
one person. Deeper, more sonorous tones
132 A CRYSTAL AGE
now issued from the revolving globes, some-
times resembling in character the vox humana
of an organ, and every time they rose to a
certain pitch there were responsive sounds —
not certainly from any of the performers —
low, tremulous, and ^Eolian in character,
wandering over the entire room, as if walls
and ceiling were honey-combed with sensi-
tive musical cells, answering to the deeper
vibrations. These floating aerial sounds also
answered to the higher notes of some of
the female singers, resembling soprano voices,
brightened and spiritualized in a wonderful
degree; and then the wide room would be
filled with a mist, as it were, of this floating,
formless melody, which seemed to come from
invisible harpers hovering in the shadows
above.
Lying back on my couch, listening with
closed eyes to this mysterious, soul-stirring
concert, I was affected to tears, and almost
feared that I had been snatched away into
some supra-mundane region inhabited by
beings of an angelic or half-angelic order —
feared, I say, for, with this new love in my
A CRYSTAL AGE 133
heart, no elysium or starry abode could com-
pare with this green earth for a dwelling-
place. But when I remembered my own
brutal bull of Bashan performance, my face,
there in the dark, was on fire with shame;
and I cursed the ignorant, presumptuous folly
I had been guilty of in roaring out that
abominable "Vicar of Bray" ballad, which
had now become as hateful to me as my
trousers or boots. The composer of that
song, the writer of the words, and its subject,
the double-faced Vicar himself, presented
themselves to my mind as the three most
damnable beings that had ever existed. "The
devil take my luck!" I muttered, grinding my
teeth with impotent anger; for it seemed such
hard lines, just when I had succeeded in
getting into favor, to go and spoil it all in
that unhappy way. Now that I had become
acquainted with their style of singing, the
supposed fib, about which there had been
such a pother, seemed a very venial offense
compared with my attempt to lead the sing-
ing. Nevertheless, when the concert was
over, not a word was said on the subject by
134 A CRYSTAL AGE
any one, though I had quite expected to be
taken at once to the magisterial chamber do
hear some dreadful sentence passed on me ; and
when, before retiring, anxious to propitiate my
host, I began to express regret for having in-
flicted pain on them by attempting to sing, the
venerable gentleman raised his hands deprecat-
ingly, and begged me to say no more about it,
for painful subjects were best forgotten. "No
doubt," he kindly added, "when you were lying
there buried among the hills, you swallowed a
large amount of earth and gravel in your ef-
forts to breathe, and have not yet freed your
lungs from it."
This was the most charitable view he could
take of the matter, and I was thankful that no
worse result followed.
At length the joyful day arrived when I was
to cease, in outward appearance at all events,
to be an alien; for returning at noon from
the fields, on entering my cell I beheld my
beautiful new garments — two complete suits,
besides underwear: one, the most soberly
colored, intended only for working hours;
but the second, which was for the house,
claimed my first attention. Trembling with
eagerness, I flung off the old tweeds, the
cracked boots, and other vestiges of a civiliza-
tion which they had perhaps survived, and
soon found that I had been measured with
faultless accuracy; for everything, down to
the shoes, fitted to perfection. Green was
the prevailing or ground tint — a soft sap
green; the pattern on it, which was very
beautiful, being a somewhat obscure red,
inclining to purple. My delight culminated
135
136 A CRYSTAL AGE
when I drew on the hose, which had, like those
worn by the others, a curious design, evidently
borrowed from the skin of some kind of snake.
The ground color was light green, almost citron
yellow, in fact, and the pattern a bright maroon
red, with bronze reflections.
I had no sooner arrayed myself than, with
a flushed face and palpitating heart, I flew to
exhibit myself to my friends, and found them
assembled and waiting to see and admire the
result of their work. The pleasure I saw re-
flected in their transparent faces increased my
happiness a hundredfold, and I quite astonished
them with the torrent of eloquence in which I
expressed my overflowing gratitude.
"Now, tell me one secret," I exclaimed, when
the excitement began to abate a little. "Why is
green the principal color in my clothes, when
no other person in the house wears more than
a very little of it?"
I had no sooner spoken than I heartily wished
that I had held my peace; for it all at once
occurred to me that green was perhaps the color
for an alien or mere hireling, in which light
they perhaps regarded me.
A CRYSTAL AGE 137
"Oh, Smith, can you not guess so simple
a thing?" said Edra, placing her white hands
on my shoulders and smiling straight into my
face.
How beautiful she looked, standing there
with her eyes so near to mine! "Tell me
why, Edra?" I said, still with a lingering
apprehension.
"Why, look at the color of my eyes and
skin — would this green tint be suitable for me
to wear?"
"Oh, is that the reason!" cried I, immensely
relieved. "I think, Edra, you would look
very beautiful in any color that is on the earth,
or in the rainbow above the earth. But am I
so different from you all?"
"Oh yes, quite different — have you never
looked at yourself? Your skin is whiter and
redder, and your hair has a very different
color. It will look better when it grows
long, I think. And your eyes — do you know
that they never change! for when we look
at you closely they are still blue-gray, and not
green."
"No; I wish they were," said I. "Now
138 A CRYSTAL AGE
I shall value my clothes a hundred times
more, since you have taken so much pains
to make them — well, what shall I say1? —
harmonize, I suppose, with the peculiar
color of my mug. Dash it all, I'm blunder-
ing again! I mean — I mean — don't you
know "
Edra laughed and gave it up. Then we
all laughed; for now evidently my blunder-
ing did not so much matter, since I had shed
my outer integument, and come forth like a
snake (with a divided tail) in a brand new
skin.
Presently I missed Yoletta from the room,
and desiring above all things to have some
word of congratulation from her lips, I went
off to seek her. She was standing under
the portico waiting for me. "Come," she
said, and proceeded to lead me into the
music-room, where we sat down on one of the
couches close to the dai's; there she produced
some large white tablets, and red chalk pencils
or crayons.
"Now, Smith, I am going to begin teach-
ing you," said she, with the grave air of a
A CRYSTAL AGE 139
young schoolmistress; "and every afternoon,
when your work is done, you must come to
me here."
"I hope I am very stupid, and that it will
take me a long time to learn," said I.
"Oh" — she laughed — "do you think it will
be so pleasant sitting by me here? I am glad
you think that; but if you prefer me for a
teacher you must not try to be stupid, because
if you do I shall ask some one else to take
my place."
"Would you really do that, Yoletta?"
"Yes. Shall I tell you why? Because
I have a quick, impatient temper. Every-
thing wrong I have ever done, for which
I have been punished, has been through my
hasty temper."
"And have you ever undergone that sad pun-
ishment of being shut up by yourself for many
days, Yoletta?"
"Yes, often; for what other punishment is/
there? But oh, I hope it will never happen!
again, because I think — I know that I suffer
more than any one can imagine. To tread
on the grass, to feel the sun and wind on my
HO A CRYSTAL AGE
face, to see the earth and sky and animals —
this is like life to me; and when I am shut
up alone, every day seems — oh, a year at
least!" She did not know how much dearer
this confession of one little human weakness
made her seem to me. "Come, let us begin,"
she said. "I waited for your new clothes
to be finished, and we must make up for lost
time."
"But do you know, Yoletta, that you have
not said anything about them? Do I look
nice; and will you like me any better now*?"
"Yes, much better. You were a poor
caterpillar before; I liked you a little because
I knew what a pretty butterfly you would be
in time. I helped to make your wings. Now,
listen."
For two hours she taught me, making her
red letters or marks, which I copied on my
tablet, and explaining them to me; and at the
conclusion of the lesson, I had got a general
idea that the writing was to a great extent
phonographic, and that I was in for rather a
tough job.
"Do you think that you will be able to teach
A CRYSTAL AGE 141
me to sing also*?" I asked, when she had put
the tablets aside.
The memory of that miserable failure, when
I "had led the singing," was a constant sore
in my mind. I had begun to think that I had
not done myself justice on that memorable
occasion, and the desire to make another
trial under more favorable circumstances was
very strong in me.
She looked a little startled at my question,
but said nothing.
"I know now," I continued pleadingly,
"that you all sing softly. If you will only
consent to try me once I promise to stick like
cobbler's wax — I beg your pardon, I mean I
will endeavor to adhere to the morendo and
fierdendosi style — don't you know"? What am
I saying! But I promise you, Yoletta, I shan't
frighten you, if you will only let me try and
sing to you once."
She turned from me with a somewhat
clouded expression of face, and walked with
slow steps to the dais, and placing her hands
on the keys, caused two of the small globes to
142 A CRYSTAL AGE
revolve, sending soft waves of sound through
the room.
I advanced towards her, but she raised
her hand apprehensively. "No, no, no; stand
there," she said, "and sing low."
It was hard to see her troubled face and
obey, but I was not going to bellow at her
like a bull, and I had set my heart on this
trial. For the last three days, while working
in the fields, I had been incessantly practic-
ing my dear old master Campana's exquisite
M'appar sulla tomba, the only melody I
happened to know which had any resemblance
to their divine music. To my surprise she
seemed to play as I sang a suitable accom-
paniment on the globes, which aided and
encouraged me, and, although singing in a sub-
dued tone, I felt that I had never sung so well
before. When I finished, I quite expected some
word of praise, or to be asked why I had not
sung this melody on that unhappy evening
when I was asked to lead; but she spoke no
word.
"Will you sing something now*?" I said.
"Not now — this evening," she replied
A CRYSTAL AGE 143
absently, slowly walking across the floor with
eyes cast down.
"What are you thinking of, Yoletta, that
you look so serious"?" I asked.
"Nothing," she returned, a little impatiently.
"You look very solemn about nothing, then.
But you have not said one word about my
singing — did you not like it?"
"Your singing? Oh no! It was a pleasant-
tasting little kernel in a very rough rind — I
should like one without the other."
"You talk in riddles, Yoletta; but I'm
afraid the answers to them would not sound
very flattering to me. But if you would like
to know the song I shall be only too glad to
teach it to you. The words are in Italian, but
I can translate them."
"The words'?" she said absently.
"The words of the song," I said.
"I do not know what you mean by the
words of a song. Do not speak to me now,
Smith."
"Oh, very well," said I, thinking it all very
strange, and sitting down I divided my attention
between my beautiful hose and Yoletta, still
144 A CRYSTAL AGE
slowly pacing the floor with that absent look
on her face.
At length the curious mood changed, but I
did not venture to talk any more about music,
and before very long we repaired to the eating-
room, where, for the next two or three hours,
we occupied ourselves very agreeably with
those processes which, some new theorist
informs us, constitute our chief pleasure in
life.
That evening I overheard a curious little
dialogue. The father of the house, as I had
now grown accustomed to call our head,
after rising from his seat, stood for a few
minutes talking near me, while Yoletta, with
her hand on his arm, waited for him to
finish. When he had done speaking, and
turned to her, she said in a low voice, which
I, however, overheard: "Father, I shall lead
to-night."
He put his hand on her head, and, looking
down, studied her upturned face. "Ah, my
daughter," he said with a smile, "shall I guess
what has inspired you to-day? You have
been listening to the passage birds. I also
A CRYSTAL AGE 145
heard them this morning passing in flocks.
And you have been following them in thought
far away into those sun-bright lands where
winter never comes."
"No, father," she returned, "I have only
been a little way from home in thought —
only to that spot where the grass has not
yet grown to hide the ashes and loose
mold."
He stooped and kissed her forehead, and
then left the room; and she, never noticing the
hungry look with which I witnessed the tender
caress, also went away.
That some person was supposed to lead
the singing every evening I knew, but it was
impossible for me ever to discover who the
leader was; now, however, after over-hearing
this conversation, I knew that on this particular
occasion it would be Yoletta, and in spite of
the very poor opinion she had expressed of
my musical abilities, I was prepared to admire
the performance more than I had ever done
before.
It commenced in the usual mysterious and
indefinable manner; but after a time, when
146 A CRYSTAL AGE
it began to shape itself into melodies, the
idea possessed me that I was listening to
strains once familiar, but long unheard and
■&
forgotten. At length I discovered that this
was Campana's music, only not as I had ever
heard it sung; for the melody of M'appar
sulla tomba had been so transmuted and
etherealized, as it were, that the composer
himself would have listened in wondering
ecstasy to the mournful strains, which had
passed through the alembic of their more
delicately organized minds. Listening, I
remembered with an unaccountable feeling
of sadness, that poor Campana had recently
died in London; and almost at the same
moment there came to me a remembrance
of my beloved mother, whose early death
was my first great grief in boyhood. All
the songs I had ever heard her sing came
back to me, ringing in my mind with a
wonderful joy, but ever ending in a strange,
funereal sadness. And not only my mother,
but many a dear one besides returned "in
beauty from the dust" appeared to be
present — white-haired old men who had
A CRYSTAL AGE 147
spoken treasured words to me in bygone
years; schoolfellows and other boyish friends
and companions; and men, too, in the prime
of life, of whose premature death in this or
that far-off region of the world-wide English
empire I had heard from time to time. They
came back to me, until the whole room
seemed filled with a pale, shadowy proces-
sion, moving past me to the sound of that
mysterious melody. Through all the evening
it came back, in a hundred bewildering
disguises, filling me with a melancholy
infinitely precious, which was yet almost
more than my heart could bear. Again
and yet again that despairing Ah-i-me fell
like a long shuddering sob from the revolv-
ing globes, and from voices far and near, to
be taken up and borne yet further away by
far-off, dying sounds, yet again responded to
by nearer, clearer voices, in tones which
seemed wrung "from the depths of some
divine despair"; then to pass away, but not
wholly pass, for all the hidden cells were
stirred, and the vibrating air, like mysterious,
invisible hands, swept the suspended strings,
148 A CRYSTAL AGE
until the exquisite bliss and pain of it made
me tremble and shed tears, as I sat there in the
dark, wondering, as men will wonder at such
moments, what this tempest of the soul which
music wakes in us can mean: whether it is
merely a growth of this our earth-life, or a
something added, a divine hunger of the heart
which is part of our immortality.
XI
It seemed to me now that I had never really
lived before, so sweet was this new life— so
healthy, and free from care and regret. The
old life, which I had lived in cities, was less
in my thoughts on each succeeding day; it
came to me now like the memory of a
repulsive dream, which I was only too glad
to forget. How I had ever found that list-
less, worn-out, luxurious, do-nothing existence
endurable, seemed a greater mystery every
morning, when I went forth to my appointed
task in the fields or the workhouse, so natural
and so pleasant did it now seem to labor
with my own hands, and to eat my bread
m the sweat of my face. If there was one
kind of work I preferred above all others, it
was wood-cutting, and as a great deal of
timber was required at this season, I was
allowed to follow my own inclination. In
149
150 A CRYSTAL AGE
the forest, a couple of miles from the house,
several tough old giants — chiefly oak, chest-
nut, elm, and beech — had been marked out
for destruction: in some cases because they
had been scorched and riven by lightnings,
and were an eyesore; in others, because time
had robbed them of their glory, withering their
long, desolate arms, and bestowing on their
crowns that lusterless, scanty foliage which
has a mournful meaning, like the thin white
hairs on the bowed head of a very old man.
At this distance from the house I could
freely indulge my propensity for singing,
albeit in that coarser tone which had failed
to win favor with my new friends. Among
the grand trees, out of earshot of them all,
I could shout aloud to my heart's content,
rejoicing in the boisterous old English ballads,
which, like John Peek's view-hallo,
"Might awaken the dead
Or the fox from his lair in the morning."
Meanwhile, with the frantic energy of a
Gladstone out of office, I plied my ax, its
echoing strokes making fit accompaniment to
my strains, until for many yards about me the
A CRYSTAL AGE 151
ground was littered with white and yellow
chips; then, exhausted with my efforts, I
would sit down to rest and eat my simple mid-
day fare, to admire myself in my deep-green
and chocolate working-dress, and, above every-
thing, to think and dream of Yoletta.
In my walks to and from the forest I cast
many a wistful look at a solitary flat-topped
hill, almost a mountain in height, which stood
two or three miles from the house, north of
it, on the other side of the river. From its
summit I felt sure that a very extensive view
of the surrounding country might be had,
and I often wished to pay this hill a visit.
One afternoon, while taking my lesson in
reading, I mentioned this desire to Yoletta.
"Come, then, let us go there now," said she,
laying the tablets aside.
I j oyf ully agreed : I had never walked alone
with her, nor, in fact, with her at all, since
that first day when she had placed her hand
in mine; and now we were so much nearer in
heart to each other.
She led me to a point, half a mile from the
152 A CRYSTAL AGE
house, where the stream rushed noisily over
its stony bed and formed numerous deep
channels between the rocks, and one could
cross over by jumping from rock to rock.
Yoletta led the way, leaping airily from
stone to stone, while I, anxious to escape a
wetting, followed her with caution; but when
I was safe over, and thought our delightful
walk was about to begin, she suddenly started
off towards the hill at a swift pace, which
quickly left me far behind. Finding that I
could not overtake her, I shouted to her to
wait for me; then she stood still until I was
within three or four yards of her, when off
she fled like the wind once more. At length
she reached the foot of the hill, and sat down
there until I joined her.
"For goodness sake, Yoletta, let us behave
like rational beings and walk quietly," I was
beginning, when away she went again, dancing
up the mountain-side with a tireless energy that
amazed as well as exasperated me. "Wait for
me just once more," I screamed after her; then,
half-way up the side, she stopped and sat down
on a stone.
A CRYSTAL AGE 153
"Now my chance has come," thought I, ready
to make up for insufficient speed and wind by
superior cunning, which would make us equal.
"I will go quietly up and catch her napping,
and hold her fast by the arm until the walk is
finished. So far it has been nothing but a mad
chase."
Slowly I toiled on, and then, when I got
near her and was just about to execute my
plan, she started nimbly away, with a merry
laugh, and never paused again until the
summit was reached. Thoroughly tired and
beaten, I sat down to rest; but presently
looking up I saw her at the top, standing
motionless on a stone, looking like a statue
outlined against the clear blue sky. Once more
I got up and pressed on until I reached her,
and then sank down on the grass, overcome
with fatigue.
"When you ask me to walk again, Yoletta,"
I panted, "I shall not move unless I have a
rope round your waist to pull you back when
you try to rush off in that mad fashion. You
have knocked all the wind out of me; and yet
I was in pretty good trim."
154 A CRYSTAL AGE
She laughed, and jumping to the ground, sat
down at my side on the grass.
I caught her hand and held it tight. "Now
you shall not escape and run away again,"
said I. „
"You may keep my hand," she replied; "it
has nothing to do up here."
"May I put it to some useful purpose — may
I do what I like with it1?"
"Yes, you may," then she added with a
smile : "There is no thorn in it now."
I kissed it many times on the back, the palm,
the wrist, then bestowed a separate caress on
each finger-tip.
"Why do you kiss my hand?" she asked.
"Do you not know — can you not guess?
Because it is the sweetest thing I can kiss, except
one other thing. Shall I tell you "
"My face"? And why do you not kiss
that?"
"Oh, may I?" said I, and drawing her to
me I kissed her soft cheek. "May I kiss the
other cheek now?" I asked. She turned it to
me, and when I had kissed it rapturously,
I gazed into her eyes, which looked back,
A CRYSTAL AGE 155
bright and unabashed, into mine. "I think
— I think I made a slight mistake, Yoletta,"
I said. "What I meant to ask was, will you
let me kiss you where I like — on your chin,
for instance, or just where I like*?"
"Yes; but you are keeping me too long.
Kiss me as many times as you like, and then
let us admire the prospect."
I drew her closer and kissed her mouth, not
once nor twice, but clinging to it with all the
ardor of passion, as if my lips had become glued
to hers.
Suddenly she disengaged herself from me.
"Why do you kiss my mouth in that violent
way*?" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, her
cheeks flushed. "You seem like some hungry
animal that wanted to devour me."
That was, oddly enough, just how I felt.
"Do you not know, sweetest, why I kiss you
in that way*? Because I love you."
"I know you do, Smith. I can understand
and appreciate your love without having my
lips bruised."
"And do you love me, Yoletta*?"
"Yes, certainly — did you not know that?"
156 A CRYSTAL AGE
"And is it not sweet to kiss when you love1?
Do you know what love is, darling? Do you
love me a thousand times more than any one
else in the world'?"
"How extravagantly you talk!" she replied.
"What strange things you say!"
"Yes, dear, because love is strange — the
strangest, sweetest thing in life. It comes
once only to the heart, and the one person loved
is infinitely more than all others. Do you not
understand that?"
"Oh no; what do you mean, Smith?"
"Is there any other person dearer to your
heart than I am?"
"I love every one in the house, some more
than others. Those that are closely related to
me I love most."
"Oh, please say no more! You love your
people with one kind of love, but me with a
different love — is it not so?"
"There is only one kind of love," said she.
"Ah, you say that because you are a child
yet, and do not know. You are even younger
than I thought, perhaps. How old are you,
dear?"
A CRYSTAL AGE 157
'Thirty-one years old," she replied, with the
utmost gravity.
"Oh, Yoletta, what an awful cram! I mean
— oh, I beg your pardon for being so rude!
But — but don't you think you can draw it
mild4? Thirty-one — what a joke! Why, I'm
an old fellow compared with you, and I'm not
twenty- two yet. Do tell me what you mean,
Yoletta?"
She was not listening to me, I saw : she had
risen from the grass and seated herself again
on the stone. For only answer to my question
she pointed to the west with her hand, saying:
"Look there, Smith."
I stood up and looked. The sun was near
the horizon now, and partially concealed by
low clouds, which were beginning to form —
gray, and tinged with purple and red; but
their misty edges bumed with an intense
yellow flame. Above, the sky was clear as
blue glass, barred with pale-yellow rays, shot
forth by the sinking sun, and resembling the
spokes of an immense celestial wheel reaching:
to the zenith. The billowy earth, with its
forests in deep green and many-colored,
158 A CRYSTAL AGE
autumnal foliage, stretched far before us, here
in shadow, and there flushed with rich light;
while the mountain range, looming near and
stupendous on our right, had changed its
color from dark blue to violet.
The doubts and fears agitating my heart
made me indifferent to the surpassing beauty
of the scene: I turned impatiently from it to
gaze again on her graceful figure, girlish still
in its slim proportions; but her face, flushed
with sunlight, and crowned with its dark,
shining hair, seemed to me like the face of
one of the immortals. The expression of
rapt devotion on it made me silent, for it
seemed as if she too had been touched by
nature's magic, like earth and sky, and been
transfigured; and waiting for the mood to
pass, I stood by her side, resting my hand
on her knee. By-and-by she looked down
and smiled, and then I returned to the subject
of her age.
"Surely, Yoletta," said I, "you were only
poking fun at me — I mean, amusing yourself at
my expense. You can't possibly be more than
about fifteen, or sixteen at the very outside."
A CRYSTAL AGE 159
She smiled again and shook her head.
"Oh, I know, I can solve the riddle now.
Your years are different, of course, like every-
thing else in this latitude. A month is called
a year with you, and that would make you,
let me see — how much is twelve times thirty-
one*? Oh, hang it, nearly five hundred, I
should think. Why am I such a duffer at
mental arithmetic! It is just the contrary —
how many twelves in thirty-one? About two
and a half in round numbers, and that's absurd,
as you are not a baby. Oh, I have it: your
seasons are called years, of course — why didn't
I see it before! No, that would make you
only seven and a half. Ah, yes, I see it now :
a year means two years, or two of your years
— summer and winter — mean a year; and that
just makes you sixteen, exactly what I had
imagined. Is it not so, Yoletta'?"
"I do not know what you are talking about,
Smith ; and I am not listening."
"Well, listen for one moment, and tell me
how long does a year last*?"
"It lasts from the time the leaves fall in the
autumn until they fall again; and it lasts from
160 A CRYSTAL AGE
the time the swallows come in spring until they
come again."
"And seriously, honestly, you are thirty-one
years old1?"
"Did I not tell you so? Yes, I am thirty-
one years old."
"Well, I never heard anything to equal
this! Good heavens, what does it mean? I
know it is awfully rude to inquire a lady's age,
but what am I to do? Will you kindly tell
me Edra's age?"
"Edra? I forget. Oh yes; she is sixty-
three."
"Sixty-three! I'll be shot if she's a day
more than twenty-eight! Idiot that I am,
why can't I keep calm! But, Yoletta, how
you distress me! It almost frightens me to
ask another question, but do tell me how old
your father is?"
"He is nearly two hundred years old — a
hundred and ninety-eight, I think," she replied.
"Heavens on earth — I shall go stark,
staring mad!" But I could say no more;
leaving her side I sat down on a low stone
at some distance, with a stunned feeling in
A CRYSTAL AGE l6l
my brain, and something like despair in my
heart. That she had told me the truth I
could no longer doubt for one moment- it
was impossible for her crystal nature to be
anything but truthful. The number of her
years mattered nothing to me; the virgin
sweetness of girlhood was on her lips the
freshness and glory of early youth on' her
forehead; the misery was that she had lived
thirty-one years in the world and did not under-
stand the words I had spoken to her-^lid not
know what love, or passion, was! Would it
always be st^would my heart consume itself
to ashes, and kindle no fire in hers?
Then, as I m theT^ fflM ^ ^
despa,ring thoughts, she came down from
her perch, and, dropping on her knees before
me, put her aims about my neck and gazed
steadily into my face. "Why are you
troubled, Smith-have I said anything to
hurt you?" said she. "And do you not
know that you have offended me?"
''Have I ? Tell me how, dearest Yoletta."
"By asking questions, and saying wild
meaningless things while I sat there watch-
162 A CRYSTAL AGE
ing the setting sun. It troubled me and
spoiled my pleasure; but I will forgive you,
Smith, because I love you. Do you not
think I love you enough1? You are very
dear to me — dearer every day." And draw-
ing down my face she kissed my lips.
"Darling, you make me happy again," I
returned, "for if your love increases every
day, the time will perhaps come when you will
understand me, and be all I wish to me."
"What is it that you wish?" she
questioned.
"That you should be mine — mine alone,
wholly mine — and give yourself to me, body
and soul."
She continued gazing up into my eyes.
"In a sense we do, I suppose, give our-
selves, body and soul, to those we love,"
she said. "And if you are not yet satisfied
that I have given myself to you in that way,
you must wait patiently, saying and doing
nothing willfully to alienate my heart, until
the time arrives when my love will be equal
to your desire. Come," she added, and, rising,
pulled me up by the hand.
A CRYSTAL AGE 163
Silently, and somewhat pensively, we started
hand in hand on our walk down the hill.
Presently she dropped on her knees, and
opening the grass with her hands, displayed
a small, slender bud, on a round, smooth
stem, springing without leaves from the soil.
"Do you see!" she said, looking up at me with
a bright smile.
"Yes, dear, I see a bud; but I do not know
anything more about it."
"Oh, Smith, do you not know that it is a
rainbow lily !" And rising, she took my hand
and walked on again.
"What is the rainbow lily?"
"By-and-by, in a few days, it will be in
fullest bloom, and the earth will be covered
with its glory."
"It is so late in the season, Yoletta!
Spring is the time to see the earth covered with
the glory of flowers."
"There is nothing to equal the rainbow lily,
which comes when most flowers are dead, or
have their bright colors tarnished. Have
you lived in the moon, Smith, that I have to
tell you these things?"
164 A CRYSTAL AGE
"No, dear, but in that island where all
things, including flowers, were different."
"Ah, yes; tell me about the island."
Now "that island" was an unfortunate
subject, and I was not prepared to break
the resolution I had made of prudently hold-
ing my tongue about its peculiar institutions.
"How can I tell you? — how could you
imagine it if I were to tell you?" I said,
evading the question. "You have seen the
heavens black with tempests, and have felt
the lightnings blinding your eyes, and have
heard the crash of the thunder: could you
imagine all that if you had never witnessed
it, and I described it to you?"
"No."
"Then it would be useless to tell you. And
now tell me about the rainbow lilies, for I am
a great lover of flowers."
"Are you? Is it strange you should have
a taste common to all human beings?" she
returned with a pretty smile. "But it is
easier to ask questions than to answer them.
If you had never seen the sun setting in
glory, or the midnight sky shining with
A CRYSTAL AGE 165
myriads of stars, could you imagine these things
if I described them to you4?"
"No."
"That word is an echo, Smith. You must
wait for the earth to bring forth her rainbow
lilies, and the heart its love."
"With or without flowers, the world is a
paradise to me, with you at my side, Yoletta.
Ah, if you will be my Eve ! How sweet it is
to walk hand in hand with you in the twilight;
but it was not so nice when you were scuttling
from me like a wild rabbit. I'm glad to find
that you do walk sometimes."
"Yes, sometimes — on solemn occasions."
"Yes*? Tell me about these solemn
occasions."
"This is not one of them," she replied, sud-
denly withdrawing her hand from mine; then
with a ringing laugh, she sped from me, bound-
ing down the hill-side with the speed and grace
of a gazelle.
I instantly gave chase; but it was a very
vain chase, although I put forth all my
powers. Occasionally she would drop on
her knees to admire some wild flower, or
166 A CRYSTAL AGE
search for a lily bud; and whenever she came
to a large stone, she would spring on to it, and
stand for some time motionless, gazing at the
rich hues of the afterglow; but always at my
approach she would spring lightly away, escap-
ing from me as easily as a wild bird. Tired
with running, I at last gave up the hunt, and
walked soberly home by myself, wondering
whether that conversation on the summit of the
hill, and all the curious information I had
gathered from it, should make me the most
miserable or the most happy being upon earth.
XII
The question whether I had reason to feel
happy or the reverse still occupied me after
going to bed, and kept me awake far into
the night. I put it to myself in a variety of
ways, concentrating my faculties on it; but
the result still remained doubtful. Mine was
a curious position for a man to be in; for
here was I, very much in love with Yoletta,
who said that her age was thirty-one, and
yet who knew of only one kind of love —
that sisterly affection which she gave me so
unstintingly. Of course I was surrounded
with mysteries, being in the house but not
of it, to the manner born; and I had already
arrived at the conclusion that these mysteries
could only be known to me through reading,
once that accomplishment was mine. For
it seemed rather a dangerous thing to ask
questions, since the most innocent inter-
rogatory might be taken as an offense, only
167
168 A CRYSTAL AGE
to be expiated by solitary confinement and
a bread-and-water diet; or, if not punishable
in that way, it would probably be regarded
as a result of the supposed collision of my
head with a stone. To be reticent, observant,
and studious was a safe plan; this had served
to make me diligent and attentive with my
lessons, and my gentle teacher had been
much pleased with the progress I had made,
even in a few days. Her words on the hill
had now, however, filled me with anxiety,
and I wanted to go a little below the surface
of this strange system of life. Why was this
large family — twenty^two members present,
besides some absent pilgrims, as they are
called — composed only of adults'? Again,
more curious still, why was the father of the
house adorned with a majestic beard, while
the other men, of various ages, had smooth
faces, or, at any rate, nothing more than a
slight down on the upper lip and cheeks'?
It was plain that they never shaved. And
were these people all really brothers and
sisters'? So far, I had been unable, even with
the most jealous watching, to detect anything
like love-making or flirting; they all treated
A CRYSTAL AGE 169
each other, as Yoletta treated me, with kind-
ness and affection, and nothing more. And
if the head of the house was in fact the father
of them all — since in two centuries a man
might have an indefinite number of children
— who was the mother or mothers'? I was
never good at guessing, but the result of
my cogitations was one happy idea — to ask
Yoletta whether she had a living mother or
not? She was my teacher, my friend and
guardian in the house, and if it should turn
out that the question was an unfortunate one,
an offense, she would be readier to forgive
than another.
Accordingly, next day, as soon as we were
alone together I put the question to her,
although not without a nervous qualm.
She looked at me with the greatest surprise.
"Do you mean to say," she answered, "that
you do not know I have a mother — that there
is a mother of the house*?"
"How should I know, Yoletta?" I returned.
"I have not heard you address any one as
mother; besides, how is one to know anything
in a strange place unless he is told*?"
"How strange, then, that you never asked
170 A CRYSTAL AGE
till now! There is a mother of the house —
the mother of us all, of you since you were
made one of us; and it happens, too, that
I am her daughter — her only child. You
have not seen her because you have never
asked to be taken to her; and she is not
among us because of her illness. For very
long she has been afflicted with a malady
from which she cannot recover, and for a
whole year she has not left the Mother's
Room."
She spoke with eyes cast down, in a low
and very sad voice. It was only too plain
now that in my ignorance I had been guilty
of a grave breach of the etiquette or laws of
the house; and anxious to repair my fault,
also to know more of the one female in this
mysterious community who had loved, or at
all events had known marriage, I asked if I
might see her.
"Yes," she answered, after some hesitation,
still standing with eyes cast down. Then
suddenly, bursting into tears, she exclaimed:
"Oh, Smith, how could you be in the world
and not know that there is a mother in every
house! How could you travel and not know
A CRYSTAL AGE 171
that when you enter a house, after greeting
the father, you first of all ask to be taken to
the mother to worship her and feel her hand
on your head4? Did you not see that we were
astonished and grieved at your silence when
you came, and we waited in vain for you to
speak?"
I was dumb with shame at her words. How
well I remembered that first evening in the
house, when I could not but see that something
was expected of me, yet never ventured to ask
for enlightenment!
Presently, recovering from her tears, she
went from the room, and, left alone, I was
more than ever filled with wonder at what
she had told me. I had not imagined that
she had come into the world without a
mother; nevertheless, the fact that this
passionless girl, who had told me that there
was only one kind of love, was the daughter
of a woman actually living in the house, of
whose existence I had never before heard,
except in an indirect way which I failed to
understand, seemed like a dream to me. Now
I was about to see this hidden woman, and
the interview would reveal something to me,
172 A CRYSTAL AGE
for I would discover in her face and con-
versation whether she was in the same mystic
state of mind as the others, which made them
seem like the dwellers in some better place
than this poor old sinful, sorrowful world.
My wishes, however, were not to be gratified,
for presently Yoletta returned and said that
her mother did not desire to see me then. She
looked so distressed when she told me this,
putting her white arms about my neck as if to
console me for my disappointment, that I re-
frained from pressing her with questions, and
for several days nothing more was spoken be-
tween us on the subject.
At length, one day when our lesson was
over, with an expression of mingled pleasure
and anxiety on her face, she rose and took my
hand, saying, "Come."
I knew she was going to take me to her
mother, and rose to obey her gladly, for since
the conversation I had had with her the desire
to know the lady of the house had given me
no peace.
Leaving the music room, we entered another
apartment, of the same nave-like form, but
vaster, or, at all events, considerably longer.
A CRYSTAL AGE 173
There I started and stood still, amazed at the
scene before me. The light, which found
entrance through tall, narrow windows, was
dim, but sufficient to show the whole room
with everything in it, ending at the further
extremity at a flight of broad stone steps.
The middle part of the floor, running the
entire length of the apartment, was about
twenty feet wide, but on either side of this
passage, which was covered with mosaic, the
floor was raised; and on this higher level
I saw, as I imagined, a great company of
men and women, singly and in groups, stand-
ing or seated on great stone chairs in various
positions and attitudes. Presently I perceived
that these were not living beings, but life-like
effigies of stone, the drapery they were repre-
sented as wearing being of many different
richly-colored stones, having the appearance
of real garments. So natural did the hair
look, that only when I ascended the steps
and touched the head of one of the statues
was I convinced that it was also of stone.
Even more wonderful in their resemblance to
life were the eyes, which seemed to return
my half-fearful glances with a calm, question-
174 A CRYSTAL AGE
ing scrutiny I found it hard to endure. I
hurried on after my guide without speaking,
but when I got to the middle of the room
I paused involuntarily once more, so pro-
foundly did one of the statues impress me.
It was of a woman of a majestic figure and
proud, beautiful face, with an abundance of
silvery-white hair. She sat bending forward
with her eyes fixed on mine as I advanced,
one hand pressed to her bosom, while with
the other she seemed in the act of throwing
back her white unbound tresses from her
forehead. There was, I thought, a look of
calm, unbending pride on the face, but on
coming closer this expression disappeared,
giving place to one so wistful and pleading,
so charged with subtle pain, that I stood
gazing like one fascinated, until Yoletta
took my hand and gently drew me away.
Still, in spite of the absorbing nature of the
matter on which I was bound, that strange
face continued to haunt me, and glancing up
and down through that long array of calm-
browed, beautiful women, I could see no one
that was like it.
Arrived at the end of the gallery, we
A CRYSTAL AGE 175
ascended the broad stone steps, and came to
a landing twenty or thirty feet above the
level of the floor we had traversed. Here
Yoletta pushed a glass door aside and ushered
me into another apartment — the Mother's
Room. It was spacious, and, unlike the
gallery, well-lighted; the air in it was also
warm and balmy, and seemed charged with
a subtle aroma. But now my whole attention
was concentrated on a group of persons before
me, and chiefly on its central figure — the
woman I had so much desired to see. She
was seated, leaning back in a somewhat
listless attitude, on a very large, low, couch-
like seat, covered with a soft, violet-colored
material. My very first glance at her face
revealed to me that she differed in appear-
ance and expression from the other inmates
of the house: one reason was that she was
extremely pale, and bore on her worn counte-
nance the impress of long-continued suffering;
but that was not all. She wore her hair,
which fell unbound on her shoulders, longer
than the others, and her eyes looked larger,
and of a deeper green. There was something
wonderfully fascinating to me in that pale,
176 A CRYSTAL AGE
suffering face, for, in spite of suffering, it was
beautiful and loving; but dearer than all these
things to my mind were the marks of passion
it exhibited, the petulant, almost scornful
mouth, and the half-eager, half-weary ex-
pression of the eyes, for these seemed rather
to belong to that imperfect world from which
I had been severed, and which was still dear
to my unregenerate heart. In other respects
also she differed from the rest of the women,
her dress being a long, pale-blue robe,
embroidered with saffron-colored flowers and
foliage down the middle, and also on the
neck and the wide sleeves. On the couch
at her side sat the father of the house, hold-
ing her hand and talking in low tones to
her; two of the young women sat at her
feet on cushions, engaged on embroidery work,
while another stood behind her; one of the
young men was also there, and was just now
showing her a sketch, and apparently explain-
ing something in it.
I had expected to find a sick, feeble lady,
in a dimly-lighted chamber, with perhaps one
attendant at her side; now, coming so unex-
pectedly before this proud-looking, beautiful
A CRYSTAL AGE 177
woman, with so many about her, I was com-
pletely abashed, and, feeling too confused to
say anything, stood silent and awkward in her
presence.
"This is our stranger, Chastel," said the old
man to her, at the same time bestowing an
encouraging look on me.
She turned from the sketch she had been
studying, and raising herself slightly from her
half-recumbent attitude, fixed her dark eyes on
me with some interest.
"I do not see why you were so much im-
pressed," she remarked after a while. "There
is nothing very strange in him after all."
I felt my face grow hot with shame and
anger, for she seemed to look on me and speak
of me — not to me — as if I had been some
strange, semi-human creature, discovered in the
woods, and brought in as a great curiosity.
"No; it was not his countenance, only his
curious garments and his words that astonished
us," said the father in reply.
She made no answer to this, but presently,
addressing me directly, said: "You were a
long time in the house before you expressed
a wish to see me."
178 A CRYSTAL AGE
I found my speech then — a wretched,
hesitating speech, for which I hated myself —
and replied, that I had asked to be allowed
to see her as soon as I had been informed of
her existence.
She turned on the father a look of surprise
and 'inquiry.
"You must remember, Chastel," said he,
"that he comes to us from some strange,
distant island, having customs different from
ours — a thing I had never heard of before. I
can give you no other explanation."
Her lip curled, and then, turning to me, she
continued : "If there are houses in your island
without mothers in them, it is not so elsewhere
in the world. That you went out to travel
so poorly provided with knowledge is a marvel
to us; and as I have had the pain of telling
you this, I must regret that you ever left your
own home."
I could make no reply to these words, which
fell on me like whip-strokes; and looking at
the other faces, I could see no sympathy in
them for me; as they looked at her — their
mother — and listened to her words, the expres-
sion they wore was love and devotion to her
A CRYSTAL AGE 179
only, reminding me a little of the angel faces
on Guido's canvas of the "Coronation of the
Virgin."
"Go now," she presently added in a petulant
tone; "I am tired, and wish to rest"; and
Yoletta, who had been standing silently by
me all the time, took my hand and led me from
the room.
With eyes cast down I passed through the
gallery, paying no attention to its strange,
stony occupants; and leaving my gentle con-
ductress without a word at the door of the
music-room, I hurried away from the house.
For I could feel love and compassion in the
touch of the dear girl's hand, and it seemed
to me that if she had spoken one word, my
overcharged heart would have found vent in
tears. I only wished to be alone, to brood
in secret on my pain and the bitterness of
defeat ; for it was plain that the woman I had
so wished to see, and, since seeing her, so
wished to be allowed to love, felt towards
me nothing but contempt and aversion, and
that from no fault of my own, she, whose
friendship I most needed, was become my
enemy in the house.
180 A CRYSTAL AGE
My steps took me to the river. Following
its banks for about a mile, I came at last to
a grove of stately old trees, and there I seated
myself on a large twisted root projecting over
the water. To this sequestered spot I had
come to indulge my resentful feelings; for
here I could speak out my bitterness aloud,
if I felt so minded, where there were no
witnesses to hear me. I had restrained those
unmanly tears, so nearly shed in Yoletta's
presence, and kept back by dark thoughts
on the way; now I was sitting quietly by
myself, safe from observation, safe even from
that sympathy my bruised spirit could not
suffer.
Scarcely had I seated myself before a great
brown animal, with black eyes, round and
fierce, rose to the surface of the stream half
a dozen yards from my feet; then quickly
catching sight of me, it plunged noisily again
under water, breaking the clear image reflected
there with a hundred ripples. I waited for
the last wavelet to fade away, but when the
surface was once more still and smooth as
dark glass, I began to be affected by the
profound silence and melancholy of nature,
A CRYSTAL AGE 181
and by a something proceeding from nature
— phantom, emanation, essence, I know not
what. My soul, not my sense, perceived it,
standing with finger on lips, there, close to
me; its feet resting on the motionless water,
which gave no reflection of its image, the clear
amber sunlight passing undimmed through its
substance. To my soul its spoken "Hush!"
was audible, and again, and yet again, it said
"Hush!" until the tumult in me was still, and
I could not think my own thoughts. I could
thereafter only listen, breathless, straining my
senses to catch some natural sound, however
faint. Far away in the dim distance, in some
blue pasture, a cow was lowing, and the
recurring sound passed me like the humming
flight of an insect, then fainter still, like an
imagined sound, until it ceased. A withered
leaf fell from the tree-top ; I heard it fluttering
downwards, touching other leaves in its fall
until the silent grass received it. Then, as
I listened for another leaf, suddenly from over-
head came the brief gushing melody of some
late singer, a robin-like sound, ringing out
clear and distinct as a flourish on a clarionet:
brilliant, joyous, and unexpected, yet in
182 A CRYSTAL AGE
keeping with that melancholy quiet, affecting
the mind like a spray of gold and scarlet
embroidery on a pale, neutral ground. The
sun went down, and in setting, kindled the
boles of the old trees here and there into
pillars of red fire, while others in deeper shade
looked by contrast like pillars of ebony; and
wherever the foliage was thinnest, the level
rays shining through imparted to the sere
leaves a translucence and splendor that was
like the stained glass in the windows of some
darkening cathedral. All along the river a
white mist began to rise, a slight wind sprang
up and the vapor drifted, drowning the reeds
and bushes, and wreathing its ghostly arms
about the old trees: and watching the mist,
and listening to the "hallowed airs and
symphonies" whispered by the low wind, I
felt that there was no longer any anger in my
heart. Nature, and something in and yet
more than nature, had imparted her "soft
influences" and healed her "wandering and
distempered child" until he could no more
be a "jarring and discordant thing" in her sweet
and sacred presence.
When I looked up a change had come over
A CRYSTAL AGE 183
the scene: the round, full moon had risen,
silvering the mist, and filling the wide, dim
earth with a new mysterious glory. I rose
from my seat and returned to the house, and
with that new insight and comprehension
which had come to me — that message, as I
could not but regard it — I now felt nothing
but love and sympathy for the suffering
woman who had wounded me with her un-
merited displeasure, and my only desire was to
show my devotion to her.
XIII
As I approached the building, soft strains
floating far out into the night-air became au-
dible, and I knew that the sweet spirit of mu-
sic, to which they were all so devoted, was
present with them. After listening for awhile
in the shadow of the portico I went in, and,
anxious to avoid disturbing the singers, stole
away into a dusky corner, where I sat down
by myself. Yoletta had, however, seen me
enter, for presently she came to me.
"Why did you not come in to supper,
Smith ?" she said. "And why do you look
so sad?"
"Do you need to ask, Yoletta? Ah, it
would have made me so happy if I could
have won your mother's affection! If she
only knew how much I wish for it, and
how much I sympathize with her! But
she will never like me, and all I wished to
say to her must be left unsaid."
184
A CRYSTAL AGE ^5
"No, not so," she said. "Come with me
to her now: if you feel like that, she will be
kind to you—how should it be otherwise?"
I greatly feared that she advised me to take
an imprudent step; but she was my guide, my
teacher and friend in the house, and I resolved
to do as she wished. There were no lights in
the long gallery when we entered it again,
only the white moonbeams coming through the
tall windows here and there lit up a column
or a group of statues, which threw long, black
shadows on floor and wall, giving the chamber
a weird appearance. Once more, when I
reached the middle of the room, I paused,
for there before me, ever bending forward,'
sat that wonderful woman of stone, the moon-
light streaming full on her pale, wistful face
and silvery hair.
"Tell me, Yoletta, who is this?" I whis-
pered. "Is it a statue of some one who lived
in this house?"
"Yes; you can read about her in the history
of the house, and in this inscription on the
stone. She was a mother, and her name was
Isarte."
"But why has she that strange, haunting
expression on her face? Was she unhappy?"
186 A CRYSTAL AGE
"Oh, can you not see that she was un-
happy! She endured many sorrows, and the
crowning calamity of her life was the loss of
seven loved sons. They were away in the
mountains together, and did not return when
expected: for many years she waited for
tidings of them. It was conjectured that a
great rock had fallen on and crushed them
beneath it. Grief for her lost children made
her hair white, and gave that expression to
her face."
"And when did this happen*?"
"Over two thousand years ago."
"Oh, then it is a very old family tradition.
But the statue — when was that made and
placed here1?"
"She had it made and placed here herself.
It was her wish that the grief she endured
should be remembered in the house for all
time, for no one had ever suffered like her;
and the inscription, which she caused to be
put on the stone, says that if there shall
ever come to a mother in the house a sor-
row exceeding hers, the statue shall be re-
moved from its place and destroyed, and the
fragments buried in the earth with all for-
A CRYSTAL AGE 187
gotten things, and the name of Isarte forgot-
ten in the house."
It oppressed my mind to think of so long a
period of time during which that unutterably
sad face had gazed down on so many genera-
tions of the living. "It is most strange!" I
murmured. "But do you think it right,
Yoletta, that the grief of one person should
be perpetuated like that in the house; for
who can look on this face without pain, even
when it is remembered that the sorrow it
expresses ended so many centuries ago*?"
"But she was a mother, Smith, do you not
understand? It would not be right for us to
wish to have our griefs remembered for ever,
to cause sorrow to those who succeed us; but
a mother is different: her wishes are sacred,
and what she wills is right."
Her words surprised me not a little, for I
had heard of infallible men, but never of
women; moreover, the woman I was now
going to see was also a "mother in the
house," a successor to this very Isarte. Fear-
ing that I had touched on a dangerous topic,
I said no more, and proceeding on our way,
we soon reached the mother's room, the large
188 A CRYSTAL AGE
glass door of which now stood wide open. In
the pale light of the moon — for there was no
other in the room — we found Chastel on the
couch where I had seen her before, but she
was lying extended at full length now, and
had only one attendant with her.
Yoletta approached her, and, stooping,
touched her lips to the pale, still face.
"Mother," she said, "I have brought Smith
again; he is anxious to say something to
you, if you will hear him."
"Yes, I will hear him," she replied. "Let
him sit near me; and now go back, for your
voice is needed. And you may also leave me
now," she added, addressing the other lady.
The two then departed together, and I
proceeded to seat myself on a cushion beside
the couch.
"What is it you wish to say to me?" she
asked. The words were not very encouraging,
but her voice sounded gentler now, and I
at once began. "Hush," she said, before I
had spoken two words. "Wait until this
ends — I am listening to Yoletta's voice."
Through the long, dusky gallery and the
open doors soft strains of music were floating
A CRYSTAL AGE 189
to us, and now, mingling with the others, a
clearer, bell-like voice was heard, which soared
to greater heights; but soon this ceased to
be distinguishable, and then she sighed and
addressed me again. "Where have you been
all the evening, for you were not at supper?"
"Did you know that?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes, I know everything that passes in the
house. Reading and work of all kinds are a
pain and weariness. The only thing left to
me is to listen to what others do or say, and
to know all their comings and goings. My
life is nothing now but a shadow of other
people's lives."
"Then," I said, 'T must tell you how I
spent the time after seeing you to-day; for
I was alone, and no other person can say
what I did. I went away along the river
until I came to the grove of great trees on
the bank, and there I sat until the moon role,
with my heart full of unspeakable pain and
bitterness."
"What made you have those feelings'?"
"When I heard of you, and saw you, my
heart was drawn to you, and I wished above
all things in the world to be allowed to
igo A CRYSTAL AGE
love and serve you, and to have a share in
your affection; but your looks and words ex-
pressed only contempt and dislike towards
me. Would it not have been strange if I
had not felt extremely unhappy*?"
"Oh," she replied, "now I can understand
the reason of the surprise your words have
often caused in the house! Your very
feelings seem unlike ours. No other person
would have experienced the feelings you
speak of for such a cause. It is right to
repent your faults, and to bear the burden
of them quietly; but it is a sign of an un-
disciplined spirit to feel bitterness, and to
wish to cast the blame of your suffering on
another. You forget that I had reason to
be deeply offended with you. You also forget
my continual suffering, which sometimes
makes me seem harsh and unkind against
my will."
"Your words seem only sweet and gracious
now," I returned. "They have lifted a great
weight from my heart, and I wish I could
repay you for them by taking some portion
of your suffering on myself."
"It is right that you should have that
A CRYSTAL AGE 191
feeling, but idle to express it," she answered
gravely. "If such wishes could be fulfilled
my sufferings would have long ceased, since
any one of my children would gladly lay
down his life to procure me ease."
To this speech, which sounded like another
rebuke, I made no reply.
"Oh, this is bitterness indeed — a bitterness
you cannot know," she resumed after a while.
"For you and for others there is always the
refuge of death from continued sufferings : the
brief pang of dissolution, bravely met, is
nothing in comparison with a lingering agony
like mine, with its long days and longer
nights, extending to years, and that great
blackness of the end ever before the mind.
This only a mother can know, since the hor-
ror of utter darkness, and vain clinging to life,
even when it has ceased to have any hope
or joy in it, is the penalty she must pay for
her higher state."
I could not understand all her words, and
only murmured in reply: "You are young to
speak of death."
"Yes, young; that is why it is so bitter
to think of. In old age the feelings are not
192 A CRYSTAL AGE
so keen." Then suddenly she put out her
hands towards me, and, when I offered mine,
caught my fingers with a nervous grasp and
drew herself to a sitting position. "Ah, why
must I be afflicted with a misery others have
not known!" she exclaimed excitedly. "To
be lifted above the others, when so young;
to have one child only; then after so brief
a period of happiness, to be smitten with
barrenness, and this lingering malady ever
gnawing like a canker at the roots of life!
Who has suffered like me in the house? You
only, Isarte, among the dead. I will go to
you, for my grief is more than I can bear;
and it may be that I shall find comfort even
in speaking to the dead, and to a stone. Can
you bear me in your arms?" she said, clasping
me round the neck. "Take me up in your
arms and carry me to Isarte."
I knew what she meant, having so recently
heard the story of Isarte, and in obedience
to her command I raised her from the couch.
She was tall, and heavier than I had expected,
though so greatly emaciated; but the thought
that she was Yoletta's mother, and the mother
of the house, nerved me to my task, and
A CRYSTAL AGE 193
cautiously moving step by step through the
gloom, I carried her safely to that white-
haired, moonlit woman of stone in the long
gallery. When I had ascended the steps and
brought her sufficiently near, she put her
arms about the statue, and pressed its stony
lips with hers.
"Isarte, Isarte, how cold your lips are!"
she murmured, in low, desponding tones.
"Now, when I look into these eyes, which
are yours, and yet not yours, and kiss these
stony lips, how sorely does the hunger in my
heart tempt me to sin! But suffering has
not darkened my reason; I know it is an
offense to ask anything of Him who gives
us life and all good things freely, and has
no pleasure in seeing us miserable. This
thought restrains me; else I would cry to
Him to turn this stone to flesh, and for one
brief hour to bring back to it the vanished
spirit of Isarte. For there is no one living
that can understand my pain; but you would
understand it, and put my tired head against
your breast, and cover me with your grief-
whitened hair as with a mantle. For your
pain was like mine, and exceeded mine, and
194 A CRYSTAL AGE
no soul could measure it, therefore in the
hunger of your heart you looked far off into
the future, where some one would perhaps
have a like affliction, and suffer without hope,
as you suffered, and measure your pain, and
love your memory, and feel united with you,
even over the gulf of long centuries of time.
You would speak to me of it all, and tell me
that the greatest grief was to go away into
darkness, leaving no one with your blood
and your spirit to inherit the house. This
also is my grief, Isarte, for I am barren and
eaten up by death, and must soon go away
to be where you are. When I am gone, the
father of the house will take no other one to
his bosom, for he is old, and his life is nearly
complete; and in a little while he will follow
me, but with no pain and anguish like mine
to cloud his serene spirit. And who will then
inherit our placed Ah, my sister, how bitter
to think of it! for then a stranger will be the
mother of the house, and my one only child
will sit at her feet, calling her mother, serving
her with her hands, and loving and worship-
ing her with her heart!"
The excitement had now burned itself out:
A CRYSTAL AGE 195
she had dropped her head wearily on my
shoulder, and bade me take her back. When
I had safely deposited her on the couch again,
she remained for some minutes with her face
covered, silently weeping.
The scene in the gallery had deeply affected
me; now, however, while I sat by her, ponder-
ing over it, my mind reverted to that vanished
world of sorrow and different social conditions
in which I had lived, and where the lot of so
many poor suffering souls seemed to me so
much more desolate than that of this unhappy
lady, who had, I imagined, much to console
her. It even seemed to me that the grief I
had witnessed was somewhat morbid and
overstrained; and, thinking that it would per-
haps divert her mind from brooding too much
over her own troubles, I ventured, when she
had grown calm again, to tell her some of
my memories. I asked her to imagine a
state of the world and the human family, in
which all women were, in one sense, on
an equality— all possessing the same ca-
pacity for suffering; and where all were,
or would be, wives and mothers, and with-
out any such mysterious remedy against lin-
196 A CRYSTAL AGE
gering pain as she had spoken of. But I had
not proceeded far with my picture before she
interrupted me.
"Do not say more," she said, with an accent
of displeasure. "This, I suppose, is another
of those grotesque fancies you sometimes give
expression to, about which I heard a great
deal when you first came to us. That all
people should be equal, and all women wives
and mothers seems to me a very disordered
and a very repulsive idea. The one conso-
lation in my pain, the one glory of my life,
could not exist in such a state as that, and
my condition would be pitiable indeed. All
others would be equally miserable. The hu-
man race would multiply, until the fruits of
the soil would be insufficient for its support;
and earth would be filled with degenerate
beings, starved in body and debased in mind
— all clinging to an existence utterly without
joy. Life is dark to me, but not to others:
these are matters beyond you, and it is pre-
sumptuous in one of your condition to attempt
to comfort me with idle fancies."
After some moments of silence, she resumed :
"The father has said to-day that you came
A CRYSTAL AGE 197
to us from an island where even the customs
of the people are different from ours; and
perhaps one of their unhappy methods is to
seek to medicine a real misery by imagining
some impossible and immeasurably greater
one. In no other way can I account for
your strange words to me; for I cannot be-
lieve that any race exists so debased as ac-
tually to practice the things you speak of.
Remember that I do not ask or desire to be
informed. We have a different way; for
although it is conceivable that present misery
might be mitigated, or forgotten for a season,
by giving up the soul to delusions, even by
summoning before the mind repulsive and
horrible images, that would be to put to an
unlawful use, and to pervert, the brightest
faculties our Father has given us: therefore
we seek no other support in all sufferings
and calamities but that of reason only. If
you wish for my affection, you will not speak
of such things again, but will endeavor to
purify yourself from a mental vice, which may
sometimes, in periods of suffering, give you
a false comfort for a brief season, only to
degrade you, and sink you later in a deeper
misery. You must now leave me."
198 A CRYSTAL AGE
This unexpected and sharp rebuke did not
anger me, but it made me very sad; for I
now perceived plainly enough that no great
advantage would come to me from Chastel's
acquaintance, since it was necessary to be so
very circumspect with her. Deeply troubled,
and in a somewhat confused state of mind, I
rose to depart. Then she placed her thin,
feverish white hand on mine. "You need
not go away again," she said, "to indulge
in bitter feelings by yourself because I have
said this to you. You may come with the
others to see me and talk to me whenever
I am able to sit here and bear it. I shall
not remember your offense, but shall be glad
to know that there is another soul in the
house to love and honor me."
With such comfort as these words afforded
I returned to the music-room, and, finding it
empty, went out to the terrace, where the
others were now strolling about in knots
and couples, conversing and enjoying the
lovely moonlight. Wandering a little distance
away by myself, I sat down on a bench under
a tree, and presently Yoletta came to me
there, and closely scrutinized my face.
A CRYSTAL AGE 199
"Have you nothing to tell me*?" she asked.
"Are you happier now?"
"Yes, dearest, for I have been spoken to
•very kindly; and I should have been happier
if only " But I checked myself in time,
and said no more to her about my conversa-
tion with the mother. To myself I said:
"Oh, that island, that island! Why can't I
forget its miserable customs, or, at any rate,
stick to my own resolution to hold my tongue
about them?"
XIV
From that day I was frequently allowed to
enter the Mother's Room, but, as I had feared,
these visits failed to bring me into any closer
relationship with the lady of the house. She
had indeed forgotten my offense: I was one
of her children, sharing equally with the oth-
ers in her impartial affection, and privileged
to sit at her feet to relate to her the incidents
of the day, or describe all I had seen, and
sometimes to touch her thin white hand with
my lips. But the distance separating us was
not forgotten. At the two first interviews
she had taught me, once for all, that it was
for me to love, honor, and serve her, and
that anything beyond that — any attempt to
win her confidence, to enter into her thoughts,
or make her understand my feelings and aspi-
rations— was regarded as pure presumption on
my part. The result was that I was less
200
A CRYSTAL AGE 201
happy than I had been before knowing her:
my naturally buoyant and hopeful temper be-
came tinged with melancholy, and that vi-
sion of exquisite bliss in the future, which
had floated before me, luring me on, now
began to look pale, and to seem further and
further away.
After my walk with Yoletta — if it can be
called a walk — I began to look out for the
rainbow lilies, and soon discovered that every-
where under the grass they were beginning
to sprout from the soil. At first I found
them in the moist valley of the river, but
very soon they were equally abundant on the
higher lands, and even on barren, stony
places, where they appeared latest. I felt
very curious about these flowers, of which
Yoletta had spoken so enthusiastically, and
watched the slow growth of the long, slender
buds from day to day with considerable im-
patience. At length, in a moist hollow of
the forest, I was delighted to find the full-
blown flower. In shape it resembled a tulip,
but was more open, and the color a most vivid
orange yellow; it had a slight delicate per-
fume, and was very pretty, with a peculiar
202 A CRYSTAL AGE
waxy gloss on the thick petals, still, I was
rather disappointed, since the name of "rainbow
lily," and Yoletta's words, had led me to expect
a many-colored flower of surpassing beauty.
I plucked the lily carefully, and was taking
it home to present it to her, when all at once I
remembered that only on one occasion had I
seen flowers in her hand, and in the hands
of the others, and that was when they were
burying their dead. They never wore a flow-
er, nor had I ever seen one in the house, not
even in that room where Chastel was kept a
prisoner by her malady, and where her great-
est delight was to have nature in all its beauty
and fragrance brought to her in the conversation
of her children. The only flowers in the house
were in their illuminations, and those wrought
in metal and carved in wood, and the immor-
tal, stony flowers of many brilliant hues in
their mosaics. I began to fear that there was
some superstition which made it seem wrong
to them to gather flowers, except for funeral
ceremonies, and afraid of offending from want
of thought, I dropped the lily on the ground,
and said nothing about it to any one.
Then, before any more open lilies were
A CRYSTAL AGE 203
found, an unexpected sorrow came to me.
After changing my dress on returning from
the fields one afternoon, I was taken to the
hall of judgment, and at once jumped to the
conclusion that I had again unwittingly fallen
into disgrace; but on arriving at that uncom-
fortable apartment I perceived that this was
not the case. Looking round at the assembled
company I missed Yoletta, and my heart sank
in me, and I even wished that my first im-
pression had proved correct. On the great
stone table, before which the father was seat-
ed, lay an open folio, the leaf displayed be-
ing only illuminated at the top and inner
margin; the colored part at the top I noticed
was torn, the rent extending down to about
the middle of the page.
Presently the dear girl appeared, with tear-
ful eyes and flushed face, and advancing hur-
riedly to the father, she stood before him with
downcast eyes.
"My daughter, tell me how and why you
did tins'?" he demanded, pointing to the open
volume.
"Oh, father, look at this," she returned,
half-sobbing, and touching the lower end of
204 A CRYSTAL AGE
the colored margin with her finger. "Do you
see how badly it is colored? And I had
spent three days in altering and retouching it,
and still it displeased me. Then, in sudden
anger, I pushed the book from me, and seeing
it slipping from the stand I caught the leaf to
prevent it from falling, and it was torn by the
weight of the book. Oh, dear father, will
you forgive me1?"
"Forgive you, my daughter? Do you not
know how it grieves my heart to punish you;
but how can this offense to the house be for-
given, which must stand in evidence against
us from generation to generation'? For we
cease to be, but the house remains; and the
writing we leave on it, whether it be good or
evil, that too remains for ever. An unkind
word is an evil thing, an unkind deed a worse,
but when these are repented they may be for-
given and forgotten. But an injury done to
the house cannot be forgotten, for it is the flaw
in the stone that keeps its place, the crude,
inharmonious color which cannot be washed
out with water. Consider, my daughter, in
the long life of the house, how many unborn
men will turn the leaves of this book, and
A CRYSTAL AGE 205
coming to this leaf will be offended at so
grievous a disfigurement! If we of this gen-
eration were destined to live for ever, then
it might be written on this page for a pun-
ishment and warning: 'Yoletta tore it in
her anger.' But we must pass away and be
nothing to succeeding generations, and it
would not be right that Yoletta's name should
be remembered for the wrong she did to the
house, and all she did for its good forgotten."
A painful silence ensued, then, lifting her
tear-stained face, she said: "Oh father, what
must my punishment be*?"
"Dear child, it will be a light one, for we
consider your youth and impulsive nature, and
also that the wrong you did was partly the
result of accident. For thirty days you must
live apart from us, subsisting on bread and
water, and holding intercourse with one per-
son only, who will assist you with your work
and provide you with all things necessary."
This seemed to me a harsh, even a cruel
punishment for so trivial an offense, or acci-
dent, rather; but she was not perhaps of the
same mind, for she kissed his hand, as if in
gratitude for his leniency.
206 A CRYSTAL AGE
"Tell me, child," he said, putting his hand
on her head, and regarding her with misty eyes,
"who shall attend you in your seclusion"?"
"Edra," she murmured; and the other,
coming forward, took her by the hand and
led her away.
I gazed eagerly after her as she retired,
hungering for one look from her dear eyes
before that long separation; but they were
filled with tears and bent on the floor, and in
a moment she was gone from sight.
The succeeding days were to me dreary
beyond description. For the first time I be-
came fully conscious of the strength of a pas-
sion which had now become a consuming fire
in my breast, and could only end in utter
misery — perhaps in destruction — or else in a
degree of happiness no mortal had ever tasted
before. I went about listlessly, like one on
whom some heavy calamity has fallen: all
interest in my work was lost; my food seemed
tasteless; study and conversation had become
a weariness; even in those divine concerts,
which fitly brought each tranquil day to its
close, there was no charm now, since Yoletta's
voice, which love had taught my dull ear to
A CRYSTAL AGE 207
distinguish, no longer had any part in it. I
was not allowed to enter the Mother's Room
of an evening now, and the exclusion extended
also to the others, Edra only excepted; for at
this hour, when it was customary for the fam-
ily to gather in the music-room, Yoletta was
taken from her lonely chamber to be with
her mother. This was told me, and I also
elicited, by means of some roundabout ques-
tioning, that it was always in the mother's
power to have any person undergoing punish-
ment taken to her, she being, as it were,
above the law. She could even pardon a de-
linquent and set him free if she felt so
minded, although in this case she had not
chosen to exercise her prerogative, probably
because her "sufferings had not clouded her
understanding." They were treating her very
hardly — father and mother both — I thought
in my bitterness.
The gradual opening of the rainbow lilies
served only to remind me every hour and
every minute of that bright young spirit thus
harshly deprived of the pleasure she had so
eagerly anticipated. She, above them all,
208 A CRYSTAL AGE
rejoiced in the beauty of this visible world,
regarding nature in some of its moods and
aspects with a feeling almost bordering on
adoration; but, alas! she alone was shut out
from this glory which God had spread over
the earth for the delight of all his children.
Now I knew why these autumnal flowers
were called rainbow lilies, and remembered
how Yoletta had told me that they gave a
beauty to the earth which could not be de-
scribed or imagined. The flowers were all
undoubtedly of one species, having the same
shape and perfume, although varying greatly
in size, according to the nature of the soil on
which they grew. But in different situations
they varied in color, one color blending with,
or passing by degrees into another, wherever
the soil altered its character. Along the val-
leys, where they first began to bloom, and
in all moist situations, the hue was yellow,
varying, according to the amount of moisture
in different places, from pale primrose to deep
orange, this passing again into vivid scarlet
and reds of many shades. On the plains the
reds prevailed, changing into various purples
on hills and mountain slopes; but high on the
A CRYSTAL AGE 209
mountains the color was blue; and this also
had many gradations, from the lower deep
cornflower blue to a delicate azure on the
summits, resembling that of the forget-me-not
and hairbell.
The weather proved singularly favorable
to those who spent their time in admiring
the lilies, and this now seemed to be almost
the only occupation of the inmates, excepting,
of course, sick Chastel, imprisoned Yoletta,
and myself — I being too forlorn to admire
anything. Calm, bright days without a cloud
succeeded each other, as if the very elements
held the lilies sacred and ventured not to
cast any shadow over their mystic splendor.
Each morning one of the men would go out
some distance from the house and blow on
a horn, which could be heard distinctly two
miles away; and presently a number of horses,
in couples and troops, would come galloping
in, after which they would remain all the
morning grazing and gamboling about the
house. These horses were now in constant
requisition, all the members of the family,
male and female, spending several hours every
day in careering over the surrounding country,
210 A CRYSTAL AGE
seemingly without any particular object. The
contagion did not affect me, however, for,
although I had always been a bold rider (in
my own country), and excessively fond of
horseback exercise, their fashion of riding
without bridles, and on diminutive straw
saddles, seemed to me neither safe nor
pleasant.
One morning after breakfasting, I took my
ax, and was proceeding slowly, immersed in
thought, to the forest, when hearing a slight
swishing sound of hoofs on the grass, I turned
and beheld the venerable father, mounted on
his charger, and rushing away towards the
hills at an insanely break-neck pace. His
long garment was gathered tightly round his
spare form, his feet drawn up and his head
bent far forward, while the wind of his speed
divided his beard, which flew out in two long
streamers behind. All at once he caught sight
of me, and, touching the animal's neck, swept
gracefully round in narrowing circles, each
circle bringing him nearer, until he came to
a stand at my side; then his horse began
rubbing his nose on my hand, its breath feel-
ing like fire on my skin.
A CRYSTAL AGE 211
"Smith," said he, with a grave smile, "if
you cannot be happy unless you are labor-
ing in the forest with your ax, you must
proceed with your wood-cutting; but I con-
fess it surprises me as much to see you go-
ing to work on a day like this, as it would
to see you walking inverted on your hands,
and dangling your heels in the air."
"Why4?" said I, surprised at this speech.
"If you do not know I must tell you. At
night we sleep; in the morning we bathe;
we eat when we are hungry, converse when
we feel inclined, and on most days labor a
certain number of hours. But more than
these things, which have a certain amount
of pleasure in them, are the precious mo-
ments when nature reveals herself to us in all
her beauty. We give ourselves wholly to her
then, and she refreshes us; the splendor fades,
but the wealth it brings to the soul remains
to gladden us. That must be a dull spirit
that cannot suspend its toil when the sun is
setting in glory, or the violet rainbow ap-
pears on the cloud. Every day brings us
special moments to gladden us, just as we
have in the house every day our time of
212 A CRYSTAL AGE
melody and recreation. But this supreme and
more enduring glory of nature comes only
once every year; and while it lasts, all labor,
except that which is pressing and necessary,
is unseemly, and an offense to the Father of
the world." He paused, but I did not know
what to say in reply, and presently he re-
sumed: "My son, there are horses waiting
for you, and unless you are more unlike us
in mind than I ever imagined, you will now
take one and ride to the hills, where, owing
to the absence of forests, the earth can now be
seen at its best."
I was about to thank him and turn back,
but the thought of Yoletta, to whom each
heavy day now seemed a year, oppressed my
heart, and I continued standing motionless,
with downcast eyes, wishing, yet fearing, to
speak.
"Why is your mind troubled, my son?"
he said kindly.
"Father," I answered, that word which I
now ventured to use for the first time trem-
bling from my lips, "the beauty of the earth
is very much to me, but I cannot help re-
membering that to Yoletta it is even more,
A CRYSTAL AGE 213
and the thought takes away all my pleasure.
The flowers will fade, and she will not see
them."
"My son, I am glad to hear these words,"
he answered, somewhat to my surprise, for
I had greatly feared that I had adopted too
bold a course. 'Tor I see now," he con-
tinued, "that this seeming indifference, which
gave me some pain, does not proceed from
an incapacity on your part to feel as we do,
but from a tender love and compassion — that
most precious of all our emotions, which will
serve to draw you closer to us. I have also
thought much of Yoletta during these beauti-
ful days, grieving for her, and this morning
I have allowed her to go out into the hills, so
that during this day, at least, she will be
able to share in our pleasure."
Scarcely waiting for another word to be
spoken, I flew back to the house, anxious
enough for a ride now. The little straw sad-
dle seemed now as comfortable as a couch,
nor was the bridle missed; for, nerved with
that intense desire to find and speak to my
love, I could have ridden securely on the slip-
pery back of a giraffe, charging over rough
214 A CRYSTAL AGE
ground with a pack of lions at its heels. Away
I went at a speed never perhaps attained by
any winner of the Derby, which made the
shining hairs of my horse's mane whistle in
the still air; down valleys, up hills, flying like
a bird over roaring burns, rocks, and thorny
bushes, never pausing until I was far away
among those hills where that strange accident
had befallen me, and from which I had recov-
ered to find the earth so changed. I then as-
cended a great green hill, the top of which
must have been over a thousand feet above the
surrounding country. When I had at length
reached this elevation, which I did walking
and climbing, my steed docilely scrambling up
after me, the richness and novelty of the unim-
aginable and indescribable scene which opened
before me affected me in a strange way, smit-
ing my heart with a pain intense and unfa-
miliar. For the first time I experienced within
myself that miraculous power the mind pos-
sesses of reproducing instantaneously, and
without perspective, the events, feelings, and
thoughts of long years — an experience which
sometimes comes to a person suddenly con-
fronted with death, and in other moments of
A CRYSTAL AGE 215
supreme agitation. A thousand memories and
a thousand thoughts were stirring in me: I
was conscious now, as I had not been before,
of the past and the present, and these two ex-
isted in my mind, yet separated by a great
gulf of time — a blank and a nothingness which
yet oppressed me with its horrible vastness.
How aimless and solitary, how awful my posi-
tion seemed! It was like that of one beneath
whose feet the world suddenly crumbles into
ashes and dust, and is scattered throughout
the illimitable void, while he survives, blown
to some far planet whose strange aspect, how-
ever beautiful, fills him with an undefinable
terror. And I knew, and the knowledge only
intensified my pain, that my agitation, the
strugglings of my soul to recover that lost
life, were like the vain wing-beats of some
woodland bird, blown away a thousand miles
over the sea, into which it must at last sink
down and perish.
Such a mental state cannot endure for more
than a few moments, and passing away, it left
me weary and despondent. With dull, joyless
eyes I continued gazing for upwards of an
hour on the prospect beneath me; for I had
216 A CRYSTAL AGE
now given up all hopes of seeing Yoletta, not
yet having encountered a single person since
starting for my ride. All about me the sum-
mit was dotted with small lilies of a delicate
blue, but at a little distance the sober green of
the grass became absorbed, as it were, in the
brighter flower-tints, and the neighboring
summits all appeared of a pure cerulean hue.
Lower down this passed into the purples of
the slopes and the reds of the plains, while
the valleys, fringed with scarlet, were like
rivers of crocus-colored fire. Distance, and
the light, autumnal haze, had a subduing and
harmonizing effect on the sea of brilliant
color, and further away on the immense hori-
zon it all faded into the soft universal blue.
Over this flowery paradise my eyes wandered
restlessly, for my heart was restless in me,
and had lost the power of pleasure. With a
slight bitterness I recalled some of the words
the father had spoken to me that morning.
It was all very well, I thought, for this ven-
erable graybeard to talk about refreshing the
soul with the sight of all this beauty; but he
seemed to lose sight of the important fact
that there was a considerable difference in our
A CRYSTAL AGE 217
respective ages, that the raging hunger of the
heart, which he had doubtless experienced at
one time of his life, was, like bodily hunger,
not to be appeased with splendid sunsets,
rainbows and rainbow lilies, however beautiful
they might seem to the eye.
Presently, on a second and lower summit
of the long mountain I had ascended, I
caught sight of a person on horseback, stand-
ing motionless as a figure of stone. At that
distance the horse looked no bigger than a
greyhound, yet so marvelously transparent
was the mountain air, that I distinctly recog-
nized Yoletta in the rider. I started up, and
sprang joyfully on to my own horse, and wav-
ing my hand to attract her attention, galloped
recklessly down the slope; but when I reached
the opposing summit she was no longer there,
nor anywhere in sight, and it was as if the
earth had opened and swallowed her.
XV
During Yoletta's seclusion, my education was
not allowed to suffer, her place as instructress
having been taken by Edra. I was pleased
with this arrangement, thinking to derive some
benefit from it, beyond what she might teach
me; but very soon I was forced to abandon all
hope of communicating with the imprisoned
girl through her friend and jailer. Edra was
much disturbed at the suggestion; for I did
venture to suggest it, though in a tentative,
roundabout form, not feeling sure of my
ground: previous mistakes had made me cau-
tious. Her manner was a sufficient warning;
and I did not broach the subject a second
time. One afternoon, however, I met with
a great and unexpected consolation, though
even this was mixed with some perplexing
matters.
One day, after looking long and earnestly
218
A CRYSTAL AGE 219
into my face, said my gentle teacher to me:
"Do you know that you are changed4? All
your gay spirits have left you, and you are
pale and thin and sad. Why is tins'?"
My face crimsoned at this very direct ques-
tion, for I knew of that change in me, and
went about in continual fear that others
would presently notice it, and draw their own
conclusions. She continued looking at me,
until for very shame I turned my face aside;
for if I had confessed that separation from
Yoletta caused my dejection, she would know
what that feeling meant, and I feared that
any such premature declaration would be the
ruin of my prospects.
"I know the reason, though I ask you,"
she continued, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"You are grieving for Yoletta — I saw it from
the first. I shall tell her how pale and sad
you have grown — how different from what
you were. But why do you turn your face
from me*?"
I was perplexed, but her sympathy gave
me courage, and made me determined to give
her my confidence. "If you know," said I,
"that I am grieving for Yoletta, can you
220 A CRYSTAL AGE
not also guess why I hesitate and hide my
face from you?"
"No; why is it? You love me also, though
not with so great a love; but we do love each
other, Smith, and you can confide in me?'
I looked into her face now, straight into
her transparent eyes, and it was plain to see
that she had not yet guessed my meaning.
"Dearest Edra," I said, taking her hand,
"I love you as much as if one mother had
given us birth. But I love Yoletta with a
different love — not as one loves a sister. She
is more to me than any one else in the world;
so much is she that life without her would
be a burden. Do you not know what that
means'?" And then, remembering Yoletta's
words on the hills, I added: "Do you not
know of more than one kind of love?"
"No," she answered, still gazing inquiringly
into my face. "But I know that your love
for her so greatly exceeds all others, that it
is like a different feeling. I shall tell her,
since it is sweet to be loved, and she will be
glad to know it."
"And after you have told her, Edra, shall
you make known her reply to me?"
A CRYSTAL AGE 221
"No, Smith; it is an offense to suggest,
or even to think, such a thing, however much
you may love her, for she is not allowed to
converse with any one directly or through me.
She told me that she saw you on the hills,
and that you tried to go to her, and it dis-
tressed her very much. But she will forgive
you when I have told her how great your love
is, that the desire to look on her face made
you forget how wrong it was to approach her."
How strange and incomprehensible it
seemed that Edra had so misinterpreted my
feeling! It seemed also to me that they all,
from the father ,of the house downwards, were
very blind indeed to set down so strong an
emotion to mere brotherly affection. I had
wished, yet feared, to remove the scales from
their eyes; and now, in an unguarded mo-
ment, I had made the attempt, and my gentle
confessor had failed to understand me. Nev-
ertheless, I extracted some comfort from
this conversation; for Yoletta would know
how greatly my love exceeded that of her own
kindred, and I hoped against hope that a re-
sponsive emotion would at last awaken in her
breast.
222 A CRYSTAL AGE
When the last of those leaden-footed thirty-
days arrived — the day on which, according
to my computation, Yoletta would recover lib-
ecty before the sun set — I rose early from the
straw pallet where I had tossed all night, pre-
vented from sleeping by the prospect of re-
union, and the fever of impatience I was
in. The cold river revived me, and when
we were assembled in the breakfast-room I
observed Edra watching me, with a curious,
questioning smile on her lips. I asked her
the reason.
"You are like a person suddenly recovered
from sickness," she replied. "Your eyes
sparkle like sunshine on the water, and your
cheeks that were so pallid yesterday burn
redder than an autumn leaf." Then, smiling,
she added these precious words: "Yoletta
will be glad to return to us, more on your
account than her own."
After we had broken our fast, I determined
to go to the forest and spend the day there.
For many days past I had shirked woodcut-
ting; but now it seemed impossible for me
to settle down to any quiet, sedentary kind
of work, the consuming impatience and bound-
A CRYSTAL AGE 223
less energy I felt making me wish for some
unusually violent task, such as would exhaust
the body and give, perhaps, a rest to the
mind. Taking my ax, and the usual small
basket of provisions for my noonday meal,
I left the house; and on this morning I did
not walk, but ran as if for a wager, taking
long, flying leaps over bushes and streams
that had never tempted me before. Arrived
at the scene of action, I selected a large tree
which had been marked out for felling, and
for hours I hacked at it with an energy almost
superhuman; and at last, before I had felt
any disposition to rest, the towering old giant,
bowing its head and rustling its sere foliage
as if in eternal farewell to the skies, came
with a mighty crash to the earth. Scarcely
was it fallen before I felt that I had labored
too long and violently: the dry, fresh breeze
stung my burning cheeks like needles of ice,
my knees trembled under me, and the whole
world seemed to spin round; then, casting
myself upon a bed of chips and withered
leaves, I lay gasping for breath, with only
life enough left in me to wonder whether I
had fainted or not. Recovered at length
224 A CRYSTAL AGE
from this exhausted condition, I sat up, and
rejoiced to observe that half the day — that
last miserable day — had already flown. Then
the thoughts of the approaching evening, and
all the happiness it would bring, inspired me
with fresh zeal and strength, and, starting
to my feet, and taking no thought of my
food, I picked up the ax and made a fresh
onslaught on the fallen tree. I had already
accomplished more than a day's work, but
the fever in my blood and brain urged me
on to the arduous task of lopping off the huge
branches; and my exertions did not cease
until once more the world, with everything
on it, began revolving like a whirligig, com-
pelling me to desist and take a still longer
rest. And sitting there I thought only of
Yoletta. How would she look after that
long seclusion? Pale, and sad too perhaps;
and her sweet, soulful eyes — oh, would I now
see in them that new light for which I had
watched and waited so long?
Then, while I thus mused, I heard, not far
off, a slight rustling sound, as of a hare start-
led at seeing me, and bounding away over the
withered leaves; and lifting up my eyes from
A CRYSTAL AGE 225
the ground, I beheld Yoletta herself hastening
towards me, her face shining with joy. I
sprang forward to meet her, and in another
moment she was locked in my arms. That
one moment of unspeakable happiness seemed
to out-weigh a hundred times all the misery
I had endured. "Oh, my sweet darling — at
last, at last, my pain is ended!" I murmured,
while pressing her again and again to my
heart, and kissing that dear face, which looked
now so much thinner than when I had last
seen it.
She bent back her head, like Genevieve
in the ballad, to look me in the face, her eyes
filled with tears — crystal, happy drops, which
dimmed not their brightness. But her face
was pale, with a pensive pallor like that of
the Gloire de Dijon rose; only now excite-
ment had suffused her cheeks with the tints
of that same rose — that red so unlike the
bloom on other faces in vanished days; so
tender and delicate and precious above all
tints in nature!
"I know," she spoke, "how you were griev-
ing for me, that you were pale and dejected.
Oh, how strange you should love me so much !"
226 A CRYSTAL AGE
"Strange, darling — that word again! It is
the one sweetness and joy of life. And are
you not glad to be loved ?"
"Oh, I cannot tell you how glad; but am
I not here in your arms to show it*? When
I heard that you had gone to the wood I did
not wait, but ran here as fast as I could. Do
you remember that evening on the hill, when
you vexed me with questions, and I could
not understand your words'? Now, when I
love you so much more, I can understand
them better. Tell me, have I not done as
you wished, and given myself to you, body
and soul? How thirty days have changed
you! Oh, Smith, do you love me so much*?"
"I love you so much, dear, that if you were
to die, there would be no more pleasure in
life for me, and I should prefer to lie near
you underground. All day long I am think-
ing of you, and when I sleep you are in all
my dreams."
She still continued gazing into my face,
those happy tears still shining in her eyes,
listening to my words; but alas! on that
sweet, beautiful face, so full of changeful
expression, there was not the expression I
A CRYSTAL AGE 227
sought, and no sign of that maidenly shame
which gave to Genevieve in the ballad such
an exquisite grace in her lover's eyes.
"I also had dreams of you," she answered.
"They came to me after Edra had told me
how pale and sad you had grown."
"Tell me one of your dreams, darling."
"I dreamed that I was lying awake on my
bed, with the moon shining on me; I was
cold, and crying bitterly because I had been
left so long alone. All at once I saw you
standing at my side in the moonlight. 'Poor
Yoletta,' you said, 'your tears have chilled
you like winter rain.' Then you -kissed them
dry, and when you had put your arms about
me, I drew your face against my bosom, and
rested warm and happy in your love."
Oh, how her delicious words maddened me!
Even my tongue and lips suddenly became
dry as ashes with the fever in me, and could
only whisper huskily when I strove to answer.
I released her from my arms and sat down
on the fallen tree, all my blissful raptures
turned to a great despondence. Would it
always be thus — would she continue to em-
brace me, and speak words that simulated
228 A CRYSTAL AGE
passion while no such feeling touched her
heart? Such a state of things could not en-
dure, and my passion, mocked and baffled
again and again, would rend me to pieces,
and hurl me on to madness and self-destruc-
tion. For how many men had been driven by
love to such an end, and the women they had
worshiped, and miserably died for, compared
with Yoletta, were like creatures of clay com-
pared with one of the immortals. And was
she not a being of a higher order than myself?
It was folly to think otherwise. But how
had mortals always fared when they aspired
to mate with celestials'? I tried then to re-
member something bearing on this important
point, but my mind was becoming strangely
confused. I closed my eyes to think, and
presently opening them again, saw Yoletta
kneeling before me, gazing up into my face
with an alarmed expression.
"What is the matter, Smith, you seem
ill?" she said; and then, laying her fresh
palm on my forehead, added: "Your head
burns like fire."
"No wonder," I returned. "I'm worrying
my brains trying to remember all about them.
A CRYSTAL AGE 229
What were their names, and what did they
do to those who loved them — can't you tell
me?"
"Oh, you are ill — you have a fever and
may die!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms
about my neck and pressing her cheek to
mine.
I felt a strange imbecility of mind, yet it
seemed to anger me to be told that I was ill.
"I am not ill," I protested feebly. "I never
felt better in my life! But can't you answer
me — who were they, and what did they do?
Tell me, or I shall go mad."
She started up, and taking the small metal
whistle hanging at her side, blew a shrill note
that seemed to pierce my brain like a steel
weapon. I tried to get up from my seat on
the trunk, but only slipped down to the
ground. A dull mist and gloom seemed to be
settling down on everything; daylight, and
hope with it, was fast forsaking the world.
But something was coming to us — out of that
universal mist and darkness closing around us
it came bounding swiftly through the wood —
a huge gray wolf! No, not a wolf — a wolf
was nothing to it! A mighty, roaring lion
230 A CRYSTAL AGE
crashing through the forest; a monster ever in-
creasing in size, vast and of horrible aspect,
surpassing all monsters of the imagination —
all beasts, gigantic and deformed, that had
ever existed in past geologic ages; a lion with
teeth like elephants' tusks, its head clothed as
with a black thunder-cloud, through which its
eyes glared like twin, blood-red suns! And
she — my love — with a cry on her lips, was
springing forth to meet it — lost, lost for ever!
I struggled frantically to rise and fly to her
assistance, and rose, after many efforts, to
my knees, only to fall again to the earth,
insensible.
XVI
The violent fever into which I had fallen
did not abate until the third day, when I
fell into a profound slumber, from which I
woke refreshed and saved. I did not, on
awakening, find myself in my own familiar
cell, but in a spacious apartment new to me,
on a comfortable bed, beside which Edra
was seated. Almost my first feeling was one
of disappointment at not seeing Yoletta there,
and presently I began to fear that in the
ravings of delirium I had spoken things which
had plucked the scales from the eyes of my
kind friends in a very rough way indeed, and
that the being I loved best had been per-
manently withdrawn from my sight. It was
a blessed relief when Edra, in answer to
the questions I put with some heart-quakings
to her, informed me that I had talked a
great deal in my fever, but unintelligibly,
231
232 A CRYSTAL AGE
continually asking questions about Venus,
Diana, Juno, and many other persons whose
names had never before been heard in the
house. How fortunate that my crazy brain
had thus continued vexing itself with this
idle question! She also told me that Yoletta
had watched day and night at my side, that
at last, when the fever left me, and I had
fallen into that cooling slumber, she too, with
her hand on mine, had dropped her head on
the pillow and fallen asleep. Then, without
waking her, they had carried her away to
her own room, and Edra had taken her place
by my side.
"Have you nothing more to ask?" she said
at length, with an accent of surprise.
"No; nothing more. What you have told
me has made me very happy — what more can
I wish to know1?"
"But there is more to tell you, Smith. We
know now that your illness is the result of
your own imprudence; and as soon as you are
well enough to leave your room and bear it,
you must suffer the punishment."
"What! Punished for being ill!" I ex-
claimed, sitting bolt upright in my bed.
A CRYSTAL AGE 233
"What do you mean, Edra? I never heard
such outrageous nonsense in my life!"
She was disturbed at this outburst, but qui-
etly and gravely repeated that I must cer-
tainly be punished for my illness.
Remembering what their punishments were,
I had the prospect of a second long separa-
tion from Yoletta, and the thought of such
excessive severity, or rather of such cruel in-
justice, made me wild. "By Heaven, I shall
not submit to it!" I exclaimed. "Punished
for being ill — who ever heard of such a
thing! I suppose that by-and-by it will be
discovered that the bridge of my nose is not
quite straight, or that I can't see round the
corner, and that also will be set down as a
crime, to be expiated in solitary confinement,
on a bread-and-water diet! No, you shall
not punish me; rather than give in to such
tyranny I'll walk off and leave the house for
ever!"
She regarded me with an expression almost
approaching to horror on her gentle face, and
for some moments made no reply. Then I
remembered that if I carried out that insane
threat I should indeed lose Yoletta, and the
234 A CRYSTAL AGE
very thought of such a loss was more than
I could endure; and for a moment I almost
hated the love which made me so helpless
and miserable — so powerless to oppose their
stupid and barbarous practices. It would
have been sweet then to have felt free — free
to fling them a curse, and go away, shaking
the dust of their house from my shoes, sup-
posing that any dust had adhered to them.
Then Edra began to speak again, and grave-
ly and sorrowfully, but without a touch of
austerity in her tone or manner, censured
me for making use of such irrational lan-
guage, and for allowing bitter, resentful
thoughts to enter my heart. But the despond-
ence and sullen rage into which I had been
thrown made me proof even against the medi-
cine of an admonition imparted so gently,
and, turning my face away, I stubbornly re-
fused to make any reply. For a while she
was silent, but I misjudged her when I im-
agined that she would now leave me, offended,
to my own reflections.
"Do you not know that you are giving me
pain*?" she said at last, drawing a little closer
to me. "A little while ago you told me that
A CRYSTAL AGE 235
you loved me: has that feeling faded so soon,
or do you take any pleasure in wounding those
you love1?"
Her words, and, more than her words, her
tender, pleading tone, pierced me with com-
punction, and I could not resist. "Edra, my
sweet sister, do not imagine such a thing!"
I said. "I would rather endure many punish-
ments than give you pain. My love for you
cannot fade while I have life and understand-
ing. It is in me like greenness in the leaf
— that beautiful color which can only be
changed by sere decay."
She smiled forgiveness, and with a humid
brightness in her eyes, which somehow made
me think of that joy of the angels over one
sinner that repenteth, bent down and touched
her lips to mine. "How can you love any
one more than that, Smith1?" she said. "Yet
you say that your love for Yoletta exceeds
all others."
"Yes, dear, exceeds all others, as the light
of the sun exceeds that of the moon and the
stars. Can you not understand that — has no
man ever loved you with a love like that,
my sister?"
236 A CRYSTAL AGE
She shook her head and sighed. Did she
not understand my meaning now — had not
my words brought back some sweet and
sorrowful memory'? With her hands folded
idly on her lap, and her face half averted,
she sat gazing at nothing. It seemed im-
possible that this woman, so tender and so
beautiful, should never have experienced in
herself or witnessed in another, the feeling I
had questioned her about. But she made no
further reply to my words; and as I lay there
watching her, the drowsy spirit the fever had
left in me overcame my brain, and I slept
once more.
For several days, which brought me so little
strength that I was not permitted to leave
the sick-room, I heard nothing further about
my punishment, for I purposely refrained from
asking any questions, and no person appeared
inclined to bring forward so disagreeable a
subject. At length I was pronounced well
enough to go about the house, although still
very feeble, and I was conducted, not to the
judgment-room, where I had expected to be
taken, but to the Mother's Room; and there
I found the father of the house, seated with
A CRYSTAL AGE 237
Chastel, and with them seven or eight of the
others. They all welcomed me, and seemed
glad to see me out again; but I could not
help remarking a certain subdued, almost
solemn air about them, which seemed to
remind me that I was regarded as an
offender already found guilty, who had now
been brought up to receive judgment.
"My son," said the father, addressing me
in a calm, judicial tone which at once put my
last remaining hopes to flight, "it is a con-
solation to us to know that your offense is
of such a nature that it cannot diminish our
esteem for you, or loosen the bonds of
affection which unite you to us. You are
still feeble, and perhaps a little confused in
mind concerning the events of the last few
days: I do not therefore press you to give
an account of them, but shall simply state
your offense, and if I am mistaken in any
particular you shall correct me. The great
love you have for Yoletta," he continued
— and at this I started and blushed pain-
fully, but the succeeding words served to
show that I had only too little cause for
alarm — "the great love you have for Yoletta
238 A CRYSTAL AGE
caused you much suffering during her thirty
days' seclusion from us, so that you lost
all enjoyment of life, and eating little, and
being in continual dejection, your strength
was much diminished. On the last day you
were so much excited at the prospect of
reunion with her, that you went to your
task in the woods almost fasting, and prob-
ably after spending a restless night. Tell me
if this is not so?"
"I did not sleep that night," I replied,
somewhat huskily.
"Unrefreshed by sleep and with lessened
strength," he continued, "you went to the
woods, and in order to allay that excitement
in your mind, you labored with such energy
that by noon you had accomplished a task
which, in another and calmer condition of
mind and body, would have occupied you
more than one day. In thus acting you had
already been guilty of a serious offense
against yourself; but even then you might
have escaped the consequences if, after
finishing your work, you had rested and
refreshed yourself with food and drink.
This, however, you neglected to do; for
A CRYSTAL AGE 239
when you had fallen insensible to the earth,
and Yoletta had called the dog and sent it
to the house to summon assistance, the food
you had taken with you was found untasted
in the basket. Your life was thus placed in
great peril; and although it is good to lay
life down when it has become a burden to
ourselves and others, being darkened by that
failure of power from which there is no
recovery, wantonly or carelessly to endanger
it in the flower of its strength and beauty
is a great folly and a great offense. Con-
sider how deep our grief would have been,
especially the grief of Yoletta, if this culpable
disregard of your own safety and well-being
had ended fatally, as it came so near end-
ing! It is therefore just and righteous that
an offense of such a nature should be recom-
pensed; but it is a light offense, not like one
committed against the house, or even against
another person, and we also remember the
occasion of it, since it was no unworthy
motive, but exceeding love, which clouded
your judgment, and therefore, taking all these
things into account, it was my intention to
put you away from us for the space of thirteen
days."
240 A CRYSTAL AGE
Here he paused, as if expecting me to
make some reply. He had reproved me so
gently, even approving of the emotion,
although still entirely in the dark as to its
meaning, which had caused my illness, that
I was made to feel very submissive, and even
grateful to him.
"It is only just," I replied, "that I should
suffer for my fault, and you have tempered
justice with more mercy than I deserve."
"You speak with the wisdom of a chastened
spirit, my son," he said, rising and placing his
hand on my head; "and your words gladden
me all the more for knowing that you were
filled with surprise and resentment when told
that your offense was one deserving punish-
ment. And now, my son, I have to tell you
that you will not be separated from us, for
the mother of the house has willed that your
offense shall be pardoned."
I looked in surprise at Chastel, for this was
very unexpected: she was gazing at my face
with the light of a strange tenderness in her
eyes, never seen there before. She extended
her hand, and, kneeling before her, I took it
in mine and raised it to my lips, and tried,
A CRYSTAL AGE 241
with poor success, to speak my thanks for this
rare and beautiful act of mercy. Then the
others surrounded me to express their con-
gratulations, the men pressing my hands, but
not so the women, for they all freely kissed
me; but when Yoletta, coming last, put her
white arms about my neck and pressed her
lips to mine, the ecstasy I felt was so greatly
overbalanced by the pain of my position, and
the thought, now almost a conviction, that I
was powerless to enlighten them with regard
to the nature of the love I felt for her, that I
almost shrank from her dear embrace.
XVII
My attack of illness, although sharp, had
passed off so quickly that I confidently looked
to complete restoration to my former vigorous
state of health in a very short time. Never-
theless, many days went by, and I failed to
recover strength, but remained pretty much in
that condition of body in which I had quitted
the sick-room. This surprised and distressed
me at first, but in a little time I began to
get reconciled to such a state, and even to
discover that it had certain advantages, the
chief of which was that the tumult of my
mind was over for a season, so that I craved
for nothing very eagerly. My friends advised
me to do no work; but not wishing to eat
the bread of idleness — although the bread
was little now, as I had little appetite — I
made it a rule to go every morning to the
workhouse, and occupy myself for two or
242
A CRYSTAL AGE 24s
three hours with some light, mechanical task
which put no strain on me, physical or mental.
Even this playing at work fatigued me.
Then, after changing my dress, I would
repair to the music-room to resume my
search after hidden knowledge in any books
that happened to be there; for I could read
now, a result which my sweet schoolmistress
had been the first to see, and at once she
had abandoned the lessons I had loved so
much, leaving me to wander at will, but
without a guide, in that wilderness of a
strange literature. I had never been to the
library, and did not even know in what part
of the house it was situated; nor had I ever
expressed a wish to see it. And that for two
reasons: one was, that I had already half-
resolved — my resolutions were usually of
that complexion — never to run the risk of
appearing desirous of knowing too much;
the other and weightier reason was, that I
had never loved libraries. They oppress me
with a painful sense of my mental inferiority;
for all those tens of thousands of volumes,
containing so much important but unappreci-
ated matter, seem to have a kind of collective
244 A CRYSTAL AGE
existence, and to look down on me, like a
man with great, staring, owlish eyes, as an
intruder on sacred ground — a barbarian,
whose proper place is in the woods. It is a
mere fancy, I know, but it distresses me, and
I prefer not to put myself in the way of it.
Once in a book I met with a scornful passage
about people with "bodily constitutions like
those of horses, and small brains," which made
me blush painfully; but in the very next
passage the writer makes amends, saying
that a man ought to think himself well off
if, in the lottery of life, he draws the prize
of a healthy stomach without a mind, that it
is better than a fine intellect with a crazy
stomach. I had drawn the healthy stomach —
liver, lungs, and heart to match — and had
never felt dissatisfied with my prize. Now,
however, it seemed expedient that I should
give some hours each day to reading; for so
far my conversations and close intimacy with
the people of the house had not dissipated
the cloud of mystery in which their customs
were hid; and by customs I here refer to
those relating to courtship and matrimony
only, for that was to me the main thing.
A CRYSTAL AGE 245
The books I read, or dipped into, were all
highly interesting, especially the odd volumes
I looked at belonging to that long series on
the Houses of the World, for these abounded
in marvelous and entertaining matter. There
were also histories of the house, and works
on arts, agriculture, and various other subjects,
but they were not what I wanted.
After three or four hours spent in these
fruitless researches, I would proceed to the
Mothers Room, where I was now permitted
to enter freely every afternoon, and when
there, to remain as long as I wished. It
was so pleasant that I soon dropped into
the custom of remaining until supper-time
compelled me to leave it, Chastel invariably
treating me now with a loving tenderness of
manner which seemed strange when I recalled
the extremely unfavorable impression I had
made at our first interview.
It was never my nature to be indolent, or
to love a quiet, dreamy existence: on the
contrary, my fault had lain in the opposite
direction, unlimited muscular exercise being
as necessary to my well-being as fresh air
and good food, and the rougher the exercise
246 A CRYSTAL AGE
the better I liked it. But now, in this novel
condition of languor, I experienced a wonderful
restfulness both of body and mind, and in the
Mother's Room, resting as if some weariness
of labor still clung to me, breathing and
steeped in that fragrant, summer-like atmos-
phere, I had long intervals of perfect in-
activity and silence, while I sat or reclined, not
thinking but in a reverie, while many dreams
of pleasures to come drifted in a vague,
vaporous manner through my brain. The very
character of the room — its delicate richness, the
exquisitely harmonious disposition of colors
and objects, and the illusions of nature pro-
duced on the mind — seemed to lend itself to
this unaccustomed mood, and to confirm me
in it.
The first impression produced was one of
brightness: coming to it by way of the long,
dim sculpture gallery was like passing out into
the open air, and this effect was partly due
to the white and crystal surfaces and the
brilliancy of the colors where any color
appeared. It was spacious and lofty, and the
central arched or domed portion of the roof,
which was of a light turquoise blue, rested on
A CRYSTAL AGE 247
graceful columns of polished crystal. The doors
were of amber-colored glass set in agate
frames; but the windows, eight in number,
formed the principal attraction. On the glass,
hill and mountain scenery was depicted, the
summits in some of them appearing beyond
wide, barren plains, whitened with the noonday
splendor and heat of midsummer, untempered
by a cloud, the soaring peaks showing a pearly
luster which seemed to remove them to an
infinite distance. To look out, as it were,
from the imitation shade of such an arbor,
or pavilion, over those far-off, sun-lit expanses
where the light appeared to dance and quiver
as one gazed, was a never-failing delight.
Such was its effect on me, combined with that
of the mother's new tender graciousness, result-
ing I knew not whether from compassion or
affection, that I could have wished to remain
a permanent invalid in her room.
Another cause of the mild kind of happiness
I now experienced was the consciousness of
a change in my own mental disposition, which
made me less of an alien in the house; for I
was now able, I imagined, to appreciate the
beautiful character of my friends, their crystal
248 A CRYSTAL AGE
purity of heart and the religion they professed.
Far back in the old days I had heard, first
and last, a great deal about sweetness and
light and Philistines, and not quite knowing
what this grand question was all about, and
hearing from some of my friends that I was
without the qualities they valued most, I there-
after proclaimed myself a Philistine, and was
satisfied to have the controversy ended in
that way, so far as it concerned me personally.
Now, however, I was like one to whom some
important thing has been told, who, scarcely
hearing and straightway forgetting, goes about
his affairs; but, lying awake at night in the
silence of his chamber, recalls the unheeded
words and perceives their full significance.
My sojourn with this people — angelic women
and mild-eyed men with downy, unrazored
lips, so mild in manner yet in their arts
"laying broad bases for eternity" — above all
the invalid hours spent daily in the Mother's
Room, had taught me how unlovely a creature
I had been. It would have been strange
indeed if, in such an atmosphere, I had not
absorbed a little sweetness and light into my
system.
A CRYSTAL AGE 249
In this sweet refuge — this slumberous valley
where I had been cast up by that swift black
current that had borne me to an immeasurable
distance on its bosom, and with such a change
going on within me— I sometimes thought that
a little more and I would touch that serene,
enduring bliss which seemed to be the normal
condition of my fellow-inmates. My passion
for Yoletta now burned with a gentle flame,
which did not consume, but only imparted an
agreeable sense of warmth to the system.
When she was there, sitting with me at her
mother's feet, sometimes so near that her dark,
shining hair brushed against my cheek, and
her fragrant breath came on my face; and
when she caressed my hand, and gazed full
at me with those dear eyes that had no shadow
of regret or anxiety in them, but only un-
fathomable love, I could imagine that our
union was already complete, that she was
altogether and eternally mine.
I knew that this could not continue. Some-
times I could not prevent my thoughts from
flying away from the present; then suddenly
the complexion of my dream would change,
darkening like a fair landscape when a cloud
250 A CRYSTAL AGE
obscures the sun. Not forever would the
demon of passion slumber and dream in my
breast; with recovered strength it would wake
again, and, ever increasing in power and ever
baffled of its desire, would raise once more
that black tempest of the past to overwhelm
me. Other darker visions followed: I would
see myself as in a magic glass, lying with
upturned, ghastly face, with many people about
me, hurrying to and fro, wringing their hands
and weeping aloud with grief, shuddering at
the abhorred sight of blood on their sacred,
shining floors; or, worse still, I saw nvyself
shivering in sordid rags and gaunt with long-
lasting famine, a fugitive in some wintry,
desolate land, far from all human companion-
ship, the very image of Yoletta scorched by
madness to formless ashes in my brain; and
for all sensations, feelings, memories, thoughts,
nothing left to me but a distorted likeness of
the visible world, and a terrible unrest urging
me, as with a whip of scorpions, ever on and
on, to ford yet other black, icy torrents, and
tear myself bleeding through yet other thorny
thickets, and climb the ramparts of yet other
gigantic, barren hills.
A CRYSTAL AGE 251
But these moments of terrible depression,
new to my life, were infrequent, and seldom
lasted long. Chastel was my good angel; a
word, a touch from her hand, and the ugly
spirits would vanish. She appeared to possess
a mysterious faculty — perhaps only the keen
insight and sympathy of a highly spiritualized
nature — which informed her of much that was
passing in my heart: if a shadow came there
when she had no wish or strength to converse,
she would make me draw close to her seat, and
rest her hand on mine, and the shadow would
pass from me.
I could not help reflecting often and wonder-
ingly at this great change in her manner
towards me. Her eyes dwelt lovingly on
me, and her keenest suffering, and the unfor-
tunate blundering expressions I frequently let
fall, seemed equally powerless to wring one
harsh or impatient word from her. I was not
now only one among her children, privileged
to come and sit at her feet, to have with
them a share in her impartial affection; and
remembering that I was a stranger in the
house, and compared but poorly with the
others, the undisguised preference she showed
252 A CRYSTAL AGE
for me, and the wish to have me almost
constantly with her, seemed a great mystery.
One afternoon, as I sat alone with her, she
made the remark that my reading lessons had
ceased.
"Oh yes, I can read perfectly well now," I
answered. "May I read to you from this
book6?" Saying which, I put my hand towards
a volume lying on the couch at her side. It
differed from the other books I had seen, in its
smaller size and blue binding.
"No, not in this book," she said, with a
shade of annoyance in her voice, putting out
her hand to prevent my taking it.
"Have I made another mistake?" I said,
withdrawing my hand. "I am very ignorant."
"Yes, poor boy, you are very ignorant," she
returned, placing her hand on my forehead.
"You must know that this is a mother's book,
and only a mother may read in it."
"I am afraid," I said, with a sigh, "that it
will be a long time before I cease to offend you
with such mistakes."
"There is no occasion to say that, for you
have not offended me, only you make me feel
sorry. Every day when you are with me I
A CRYSTAL AGE 253
try to teach you something, to smooth the path
for you; but you must remember, my son, that
others cannot feel towards you as I do, and
it may come to pass that they will sometimes
be offended with you, because their love is less
than mine."
"But why do you care so much for me?"
I asked, emboldened by her words. "Once
I thought that you only of all in the house
would never love me: what has changed
your feelings towards me, for I know that
they have changed1?" She looked at me,
smiling a little sadly, but did not reply. "I
think I should be happier for knowing," I
resumed, caressing her hand. "Will you not
tell me?'
There was a strange trouble on her face as
her eyes glanced away and then returned to
mine again, while her lips quivered, as if with
unspoken words. Then she answered: "No,
I cannot tell you now. It would make you
happy, perhaps, but the proper time has not
yet arrived. You must be patient, and learn,
for you have much to learn. It is my desire
that you should know all those things concern-
ing the family of which you are ignorant, and
254 A CRYSTAL AGE
when I say all, I mean not only those suitable
to one in your present condition, as a son of
the house, but also those higher matters which
belong to the heads of the house — to the father
and mother."
Then, casting away all caution, I answered:
"It is precisely a knowledge of those greater
matters concerning the family which I have
been hungering after ever since I came into
the house."
"I know it," she returned. "This hunger
you speak of was partly the cause of your
fever, and it is in you, keeping you feverish
and feeble still; but for this, instead of
being a prisoner here, you would now be
abroad, feeling the sun and wind on your
face."
"And if you know that," I pleaded, "why
do you not now impart the knowledge that can
make me whole? For surely, all those lesser
matters — those things suitable for one in my
condition to know — can be learned afterwards,
in due time. For they are not of pressing
importance, but the other is to me a matter
of life and death, if you only knew it."
"I know everything," she returned quickly.
A CRYSTAL AGE 255
But a cloud had come over her face at my
concluding words, and a startled look into
her eyes. "Life and death! do you know
what you are saying*?" she exclaimed, fixing
her eyes on me with such intense earnestness
in them that mine fell abashed before their
gaze. Then, after a while, she drew my head
down against her knees, and spoke with a
strange tenderness. "Do you then find it so
hard to exercise a little patience, my son, that
you do not acquiesce in what I say to you, and
fear to trust your future in my hands'? My
time is short for all that I have to do, yet I
also must be patient and wait, although for me
it is hardest. For now your coming, which
I did not regard at first, seeing in you only
a pilgrim like others — one who through
accidents of travel had been cast away and
left homeless in the world, until we found
and gave you shelter — now, it has brought
something new into my life: and if this fresh
hope, which is only an old, perished hope born
again, ever finds fulfillment, then death will
lose much of its bitterness. But there are
difficulties in the way which only time, and
the energy of a soul that centers all its faculties
256 A CRYSTAL AGE
in one desire, one enterprise, can overcome.
And the chief difficulty I find is in yourself —
in that strange, untoward disposition so often
revealed in your conversation, which you have
shown even now; for to be thus questioned
and pressed, and to have my judgment doubted,
would have greatly offended me in another.
Remember this, and do not abuse the privilege
you enjoy: remember that you must greatly
change before I can share with you the secrets
of my heart that concern you. And bear in
mind, my son, that I am not rebuking you
for a want of knowledge; for I know that for
many deficiencies you are not blameworthy.
I know, for instance, that nature has denied
to you that melodious and flexible voice in
which it is our custom every day to render
homage to the Father, to express all the sacred
feelings of our hearts, all our love for each
other, the joy we have in life, and even our
griefs and sorrows. For grief is like a dark,
oppressive cloud, until from lip and hand it
breaks in the rain of melody, and we are light-
ened, so that even the things that are painful
give to life a new and chastened glory. And
as with music, so with all other arts. There is
A CRYSTAL AGE 257
a twofold pleasure in contemplating our
Father's works : in the first and lower kind you
share with us; but the second and more noble,
springing from the first, is ours through that
faculty by means of which the beauty and
harmony of the visible world become trans-
muted in the soul, which is like a pencil of
glass receiving the white sunbeam into itself,
and changing it to red, green, and violet-
colored light: thus nature transmutes itself
in our minds, and is expressed in art. But in
you this second faculty is wanting, else you
would not willingly forego so great a pleasure
as its exercise affords, and love nature like
one that loves his fellow-man, but has no
words to express so sweet a feeling. For
the happiness of love with sympathy, when
made known and returned, is increased an
hundredfold; and in all artistic work we com-
mune not with blind, irrational nature, but
with the unseen spirit which is in nature, in-
spiring our hearts, returning love for love, and
rewarding our labor with enduring bliss.
Therefore it is your misfortune, not your fault,
that you are deprived of this supreme solace
and happiness."
258 A CRYSTAL AGE
To this speech, which had a depressing
effect on me, I answered sadly: "Every day
I feel my deficiencies more keenly, and wish
more ardently to lessen the great distance
between us; but now — sweet mother, forgive
me for saying it! — your words almost make
me despond."
"And yet, my son, I have spoken only to
encourage you. I know your limitations, and
expect nothing beyond your powers; nor do
your errors greatly trouble me, believing as
I do that in time you will be able to dismiss
them from your mind. But the temper of
your mind must be changed to be worthy
of the happiness I have designed for you.
Patience must chasten that reckless spirit in
you; for feverish diligence, alternating with
indifference or despondence, there must be un-
remitting effort; and for that unsteady flame
of hope, which burns so brightly in the morning
and in the evening sings so low, there must
be a bright, unwavering, and rational hope.
It would be strange indeed if after this you
were cast down; and, lest you forget any-
thing, I will say again that only by giving
you enduring happiness and the desire of
A CRYSTAL AGE 259
your heart can my one hope be fulfilled.
Consider how much I say to you in these
words; it saddens me to think that so much
was necessary. And do not think hardly of
me, my son, for wishing to keep you a little
longer in this prison with me: for in a little
while your weakness will pass away like a
morning cloud. But for me there shall come
no change, since I must remain day and night
here with the shadow of death; and when I
am taken forth, and the sunshine falls once
more on my face, I shall not feel it, and
shall not see it, and I shall lie forgotten when
you are in the midst of your happy years."
Her words smote on my heart with a keen
pain of compassion. "Do not say that you
will be forgotten!" I exclaimed passionately;
"for should you be taken away, I shall still
love and worship your memory, as I worship
you now when you are alive."
She caressed my hand, but did not speak;
and when I looked up, her worn face had
dropped on the pillow, and her eyes were
closed. "I am tired — tired," she murmured.
"Stay with me a little longer, but leave me
if I sleep."
260 A CRYSTAL AGE
And in a little while she slept. The light
was on her face, resting on the purple pillow,
and with the soulful eyes closed, and the lips
that had no red color of life in them also
closed and motionless, it was like a face carved
in ivory of one who had suffered like Isarte
in the house and perished long generations
ago; and the abundant dark, lusterless hair
that framed it, looked dead too, and of the
color of wrought iron.
XVIII
Chastel's words sank deep in my heart —
deeper than words had ever sunk before into
that somewhat unpromising soil ; and although
she had purposely left me in the dark with
regard to many important matters, I now
resolved to win her esteem, and bind her yet
more closely to me by correcting those faults
in my character she had pointed out with so
much tenderness.
Alas! the very next day was destined to
bring me a sore trouble. On entering the
breakfast-room I became aware that a shadow
had fallen on the house. Among his silent
people the father sat with gray, haggard face
and troubled eyes; then Yoletta entered, her
sweet face looking paler than when I had
first seen it after her long punishment, while
under her heavy, drooping eyelids her skin
was stained with that mournful purple which
261
262 A CRYSTAL AGE
tells of a long vigil and a heart oppressed
with anxiety. I heard with profound concern
that Chastel's malady had suddenly become
aggravated; that she had passed the night in
the greatest suffering. What would become
of me, and of all those bright dreams of
happiness, if she were to die? was my first
idea. But at the same time I had the
grace to feel ashamed of that selfish thought.
Nevertheless, I could not shake off the gloom
it had produced in me, and, too distressed
in mind to work or read, I repaired to the
Mother's Room, to be as near as possible
to the sufferer on whose recovery so much
now depended. How lonely and desolate
it seemed there, now that she was absent!
Those mountain landscapes, glowing with the
white radiance of mimic sunshine, still made
perpetual summer; yet there seemed to be a
wintry chill and death-like atmosphere which
struck to the heart, and made me shiver
with cold. The day dragged slowly to its
close, and no rest came to the sufferer, nor
sign of improvement to relieve our anxiety.
Until past midnight I remained at my post,
then retired for three or four miserable,
A CRYSTAL AGE 263
anxious hours, only to return once more
when it was scarcely light. Chastel's condi-
tion was still unchanged, or, if there had
been any change, it was for the worse, for
she had not slept. Again I remained, a
prey to desponding thoughts, all day in the
room; but towards evening Yoletta came to
take me to her mother. The summons so
terrified me that for some moments I sat
trembling and unable to articulate a word;
for I could not but think that Chastel's end
was approaching. Yoletta, however, divining
the cause of my agitation, explained that her
mother could not sleep for torturing pains in
her head, and wished me to place my hand
on her forehead, to try whether that would
cause any relief. This seemed to me a not
very promising remedy; but she told me
that on former occasions they had often
succeeded in procuring her ease by placing
a hand on her forehead, and that having
failed now, Chastel had desired them to call
me to her to try my hand. I rose, and for
the first time entered that sacred chamber,
where Chastel was lying on a low bed placed
on a slightly raised platform in the center of
264 A CRYSTAL AGE
the floor. In the dim light her face looked
white as the pillow on which it rested, her
forehead contracted with sharp pain, while
low moans came at short intervals from her
twitching lips; but her wide-open eyes were
fixed on my face from the moment I entered
the room, and to me they seemed to express
mental anguish rather than physical suffering.
At the head of the bed sat the father, holding
her hand in his; but when I entered he rose
and made way for me, retiring to the foot
of the bed, where two of the women were
seated. I knelt beside the bed, and Yoletta
raised and tenderly placed my right hand on
the mother's forehead, and, after whispering
to me to let it rest very gently there, she
also withdrew a few paces.
Chastel did not speak, but for some minutes
continued her low, piteous moanings, only
her eyes remained fixed on my face; and at
last, becoming uneasy at her scrutiny, I said
in a whisper: "Dearest mother, do you wish
to say anything to me?"
"Yes, come nearer," she replied; and when
I had bent my cheek close to her face, she
continued: "Do not fear, my son; I shall not
A CRYSTAL AGE 265
die. I cannot die until that of which I have
spoken to you has been accomplished."
I rejoiced at her words, yet, at the same
time, they gave me pain; for it seemed as
though she knew how much my heart had
been troubled by that ignoble fear.
"Dear mother, may I say something1?" I
asked, wishing to tell her of my resolutions.
"Not now; I know what you wish to say,"
she returned. "Be patient and hopeful always,
and fear nothing, even though we should be
long divided; for it will be many days before
I can leave this room to speak with you
again."
So softly had she whispered, that the others
who stood so near were not aware that she
had spoken at all.
After this brief colloquy she closed her eyes,
but for some time the low moans of pain
continued. Gradually they sank lower, and
became less and less frequent, while the lines
of pain faded out of her white, death-like
face. And at length Yoletta, stealing softly
to my side, whispered, "She is sleeping," and
withdrawing my hand, led me away.
When we were again in the Mother's Room
266 A CRYSTAL AGE
she threw her arms about my neck and burst
into a tempest of tears.
"Dearest Yoletta, be comforted," I said,
pressing her to my breast; "she will not die."
"Oh, Smith, how do you know*?" she
returned quickly, looking up with her eyes
still shining with large drops.
Then, of Chastel's whispered words to me,
I repeated those four, "I shall not die,"
but nothing more; they were, however, a
great relief to her, and her sweet, sorrowful
face brightened like a drooping flower after
rain.
"Ah, she knew, then, that the touch of
your hand would cause sleep, that sleep would
save her," she said, smiling up at me.
"And you, my darling, how long is it
since you closed those sweet eyelids that
seem so heavy1?"
"Not since I slept three nights ago."
"Will you sit by me here, resting your
head on me, and sleep a little now?"
"Not there!" she cried quickly. "Not
on the mother's couch. But if you will sit
here, it will be pleasant if I can sleep for a
little while, resting on you."
A CRYSTAL AGE 267
I placed myself on the low seat she led
me to, and then, when she had coiled herself
up on the cushions, with her arms still round
my neck, and her head resting on my bosom,
she breathed a long happy sigh, and dropped
like a tired child to sleep.
How perfect my happiness would have
been then, with Yoletta in my arms, clasping
her weary little ministering hands in mine,
and tenderly kissing her dark, shining hair,
but for the fear that some person might come
there to notice and disturb me. And pretty
soon I was startled to see the father himself
coming from Chastel's chamber to us. Catch-
ing sight of me he paused, smiling, then
advanced, and deliberately sat down by my
side.
"This one is sleeping also," he said cheer-
fully, touching the girl's hair with his hand.
"But you need not fear, Smith; I think we
shall be able to talk very well without waking
her."
I had feared something quite different, if
he had only known it, and felt considerably
relieved by his words; nevertheless, I was not
over-pleased at the prospect of a conversation
268 A CRYSTAL AGE
just then, and should have preferred being
left alone with my precious burden.
"My son," he continued, placing a hand
on my shoulder, "I sometimes recall, not
without a smile, the effect your first appear-
ance produced on us, when we were startled
at your somewhat grotesque pilgrim costume.
Your attempts at singing, and ignorance of
art generally, also impressed me unfavorably,
and gave me some concern when I thought
about the future — that is, your future; for it
seemed to me that you had but slender
foundations whereon to build a happy life.
These doubts, however, no longer trouble
me; for on several occasions you have shown
us that you possess abundantly that richest
of all gifts and safest guide to happiness —
the capacity for deep affection. To this
spirit of love in you — this summer of the
heart which causes it to blossom with beautiful
thoughts and deeds — I attribute your success
just now, when the contact of your hand
produced the long-desired, refreshing slumber
so necessary to the mother at this stage of
her malady. I know that this is a mysterious
thing; and it is commonly said that in such
A CRYSTAL AGE 269
cases relief is caused by an emanation from
the brain through the fingers. Doubtless
this is so; and I also choose to believe that
only a powerful spirit of love in the heart
can rightly direct this subtle energy, that
where such a spirit is absent the desired
effect cannot be produced."
"I do not know," I replied. "Great as
my love and devotion is, I cannot suppose
it to equal, much less to surpass, that of
others who yet failed on this occasion to
give relief."
"Yes, yes; only that is looking merely
at the surface of the matter, and leaving out
of sight the unfathomable mysteries of a being
compounded of flesh and spirit. There are
among our best instruments peculiar to this
house, especially those used chiefly in our
harvest music, some of such finely-tempered
materials, and of so delicate a construction,
that the person wishing to perform on them
must not only be inspired with the melodious
passion, but the entire system — body and
soul — must be in the proper mood, the flesh
itself elevated into harmony with the exalted
spirit, else he will fail to elicit the tones or
270 A CRYSTAL AGE
to give the expression desired. This is a
rough and a poor simile, when we consider
how wonderful an instrument a human being
is, with the body that burns with thought,
and the spirit that quivers and cries with
pain, and when we think how its innumerable,
complex chords may be injured and untuned
by suffering. The will may be ours, but
something, we know not what, interposes to
defeat our best efforts. That you have
succeeded in producing so blessed a result,
after we had failed, has served to deepen
and widen in our hearts the love we already
felt for you; for how much more precious
is this melody of repose, this sweet interval
of relief from cruel pain the mother now
experiences, than many melodies from clear
voices and trained hands."
In my secret heart I believed that he was
taking much too lofty a view of the matter;
but I had no desire to argue against so
flattering a delusion, if it were one, and only
wished that I could share it with him.
"She is sleeping still," he said presently,
"perhaps without pain, like Yoletta here, and
her sleep will now probably last for some hours."
A CRYSTAL AGE 271
"I pray Heaven that she may wake
refreshed and free from pain," I remarked.
He seemed surprised at my words, and
looked searchingly into my face. "My son,"
he said, "it grieves me, at a moment like
the present, to have to point out a great
error to you; but it is an error hurtful to
yourself and painful to those who see it, and
if I were to pass it over in silence, or put
off speaking of it to another time, I should
not be fulfilling the part of a loving father
towards you."
Surprised at this speech, I begged him to
tell me what I had said that was wrong.
"Do you not then know that it it un-
lawful to entertain such a thought as you
have expressed*?" he said. "In moments of
supreme pain or bitterness or peril we some-
times so far forget ourselves as to cry out
to Heaven to save us or to give us ease;
but to make any such petition when we are
in the full possession of our faculties is un-
worthy of a reasonable being, and an offense
to the Father: for we pray to each other,
and are moved by such prayers, remembering
that we are fallible, and often err through haste
272 A CRYSTAL AGE
and forgetfulness and imperfect knowledge.
But he who freely gave us life and reason
and all good gifts, needs not that we should
remind him of anything; therefore to ask him
to give us the thing we desire is to make him
like ourselves, and charge him with an over-
sight; or worse, we attribute weakness and
irresolution to him, since the petitioner thinks
by importunity to incline the balance in his
favor."
I was about to reply that I had always
considered prayer to be an essential part of
religion, and not of my form of religion only,
but of all religions all over the world. Luckily
I remembered in time that he probably knew
more about matters "all over the world" than
I did, and so held my tongue.
"Have you any doubts on the subject*?"
he asked, after a while.
"I must confess that I still have some
doubts," I replied. "I believe that our
Creator and Father desires the happiness of
all his creatures and takes no pleasure in
seeing us miserable; for it would be im-
possible not to believe it, seeing how greatly
happiness overbalances misery in the world.
A CRYSTAL AGE 273
But he does not come to us in visible form
to tell us in an audible voice that to cry out
to him in sore pain and distress is unlawful.
How, then, do we know this thing? For a
child cries to its mother, and a fledgling in
the nest to its parent bird; and he is infinitely
more to us than parent to child — infinitely
stronger to help, and knows our griefs as no
fellow-mortal can know them. May we not,
then, believe, without hurt to our souls, that
the cry of one of his children in affliction
may reach him; that in his compassion, and
by means of his sovereign power over nature,
he may give ease to the racked body, and
peace and joy to the desolate mind?"
"You ask me, How, then, do we know this
thing? and you answer the question yourself,
yet fail to perceive that you answer it, when
you say that although he does not come in
a visible form to teach us this thing and that
thing, yet we know that he desires our happi-
ness; and to this you might have added a
thousand or ten thousand other things which
we know. If the reason he gave us to start
with makes it unnecessary that he should
come to tell us in an audible voice that he
274 A CRYSTAL AGE
desires our happiness, it must also surely
suffice to tell us which are lawful and which
unlawful of all the thoughts continually rising
in our hearts. That any one should question
so evident and universally accepted a truth,
the foundation of all religion, seems very
surprising to me. If it had consisted with
his plan to make these delicate mortal bodies
capable of every agreeable sensation in the
highest degree, yet not liable to accident, and
not subject to misery and pain, he would
surely have done this for all of us. But
reason and nature show us that such an end
did not consist with his plan; therefore to
ask him to suspend the operations of nature
for the benefit of any individual sufferer,
however poignant and unmerited the suffer-
ings may be, is to shut our eyes to the only
light he has given us. All our highest and
sweetest feelings unite with reason to tell us
with one voice that he loves us; and our
knowledge of nature shows us plainly enough
that he also loves all the creatures inferior
to man. To us he has given reason for a
guide, and for the guidance and protection
of the lower kinds he has given instinct: and
A CRYSTAL AGE 275
though they do not know him, it would make
us doubt his impartial love for all his creatures,
if we, by making use of our reason, higher
knowledge, and articulate speech, were able
to call down benefits on ourselves, and avert
pain and disaster, while the dumb, irrational
brutes suffered in silence — the languishing
deer that leaves the herd with a festering
thorn in its foot; the passage bird blown
from its course to perish miserably far out at
sea."
His conclusions were perhaps more logical
than mine; nevertheless, although I could
not argue the matter any more with him, I
was not yet prepared to abandon this last
cherished shred of old beliefs, although
perhaps not cherished for its intrinsic worth,
but rather because it had been given to me
by a sweet woman whose memory was sacred
to my heart — my mother before Chastel.
Fortunately, it was not necessary to con-
tinue the discussion any longer, for at this
juncture one of the watchers from the sick-
room came to report that the mother was
still sleeping peacefully, hearing which, the
father rose to seek a little needful rest in
276 A CRYSTAL AGE
an adjoining room. Before going, however,
he proposed, with mistaken kindness, to
relieve me of my burden, and place the girl
without waking her on a couch. But I
would not consent to have her disturbed;
and finally, to my great delight, they left her
still in my arms, the father warmly pressing
my hand, and advising me to reflect well on
his words concerning prayer.
It was growing dark now, and how welcome
that obscurity seemed, while with no one
nigh to see or hear I kissed her soft tresses
a hundred times, and murmured a hundred
endearing words in her sleeping ears.
Her waking, which gave me a pang at
first, afforded me in the end a still greater
bliss.
"Oh, how dark it is — where am Is?" she
exclaimed, starting suddenly from repose.
"With me, sweetest," I said. "Do you
not remember going to sleep on my breast?"
"Yes; but oh, why did you not wake me
sooner? My mother — my mother "
"She is still quietly sleeping, dearest. Ah,
I wish you also had continued sleeping! It
was such a delight to have you in my arms."
A CRYSTAL AGE 277
"My love!" she said, laying her soft cheek
against mine. "How sweet it was to fall
asleep in your arms! When we came in
here I could scarcely say a word, for my
heart was too full for speech; and now I
have a hundred things to say. After all, I
should only finish by giving you a kiss,
which is more eloquent than speech; so I
shall kiss you at once, and save myself the
trouble of talking so much."
"Say one of the hundred things, Yoletta."
"Oh, Smith, before this evening I did not
think that I could love you more; and some-
times, when I recalled what I once said to
you — on the hill, do you remember? — it
seemed to me that I already loved you a
little too much. But now I am convinced
that I was mistaken, for a thousand offenses
could not alienate my heart, which is all
yours forever."
"Mine for ever, without a doubt, darling'?"
I murmured, holding her against my breast;
and in my rapture almost forgetting that this
angelic affection she lavished on me would
not long satisfy my heart.
"Yes, for ever, for you shall never, never
278 A CRYSTAL AGE
leave the house. Your pilgrimage, from which
you derived so little benefit, is over now.
And if you ever attempt to go forth again
to find out new wonders in the world, I
shall clasp you round with my arms, as I
do now, and keep you prisoner against your
will; and if you say 'Farewell' a hundred
times to me, I shall blot out that sad word
every time with my lips, and put a better
one in its place, until my word conquers
yours."
XIX
Although deprived for the present of all
intercourse with Chastel and Yoletta, now in
constant attendance on her mother, I ought
to have been happy, for all things seemed
conspiring to make my life precious to me.
Nevertheless, I was far from happy; and,
having heard so much said about reason in
my late conversations with the father and
mother of the house, I began to pay an
unusual amount of attention to this faculty
in me, in order to discover by its aid the
secret of the sadness which continued at all
times during this period to oppress my heart.
I only discovered, what others have discovered
before me, that the practice of introspection
has a corrosive effect on the mind, which
only serves to aggravate the malady it is
intended to cure. During those restful days
in the Mother's Room, when I had sat with
279
280 A CRYSTAL AGE
Chastel, this spirit of melancholy had been
with me; but the mother's hallowing presence
had given something of a divine color to
it, my passions had slumbered, and, except
at rare intervals, I had thought of sorrow as
of something at an immeasurable distance
from me. Then to my spirit
"The gushing of the wave
Far, far away, did seem to mourn and rave
On alien shores" ;
and so sweet had seemed that pause, that
I had hoped and prayed for its continuance.
No sooner was I separated from her than
the charm dissolved, and all my thoughts,
like evening clouds that appear luminous and
rich in color until the sun has set, began
to be darkened with a mysterious gloom.
Strive how I might, I was unable to compose
my mind to that serene, trustful temper she
had desired to see in me, and without which
there could be no blissful futurity. After all
the admonitions and the comforting assurances
I had received, and in spite of reason and
all it could say to me, each night I went
to my bed with a heavy heart; and each
A CRYSTAL AGE 281
morning when I woke, there, by my pillow,
waited that sad phantom, to go with me
where I went, to remind me at every pause
of an implacable Fate, who held my future
in its hands, who was mightier than Chastel,
and would shatter all her schemes for my
happiness like vessels of brittle glass.
Several days — probably about fifteen, for
I did not count them — had passed since I
had been admitted into the mother's sleeping-
room, when there came an exceedingly lovely
day, which seemed to bring to me a pleasant
sensation of returning health, and made me
long to escape from morbid dreams and vain
cravings. Why should I sit at home and
mope, I thought; it was better to be
active: sun and wind were full of healing.
Such a day was in truth one of those captain
jewels "that seldom placed are" among the
blusterous days of late autumn, with winter
already present to speed its parting. For
a long time the sky had been overcast with
multitudes and endless hurrying processions
of wild-looking clouds — torn, wind-chased
fugitives, of every mournful shade of color,
from palest gray to slatey-black; and storms
282 A CRYSTAL AGE
of rain had been frequent, impetuous, and
suddenly intermitted, or passing away phan-
tom-like towards the misty hills, there to lose
themselves among other phantoms, ever
wandering sorrowfully in that vast, shadowy
borderland where earth and heaven mingled;
and gusts of wind which, as they roared by
over a thousand straining trees and passed
off with hoarse, volleying sounds, seemed to
mimic the echoing thunder. And the leaves
— the millions and myriads of sere, cast-off
leaves, heaped ankle-deep under the desolate
giants of the wood, and everywhere, in the
hollows of the earth, lying silent and motion-
less, as became dead, fallen things — suddenly
catching a mock fantastic life from the wind,
how they would all be up and stirring, every
leaf with a hiss like a viper, racing, many
thousands at a time, over the barren spaces,
all hurriedly talking together in their dead-
leaf language! until, smitten with a mightier
gust, they would rise in flight on flight, in
storms and stupendous, eddying columns,
whirled up to the clouds, to fall to the earth
again in showers, and freckle the grass for
roods around. Then for a moment, far off
A CRYSTAL AGE 283
in the heavens, there would be a rift, or a
thinning of the clouds, and the sunbeams,
striking like lightning through their ranks,
would illumine the pale blue mist, the slant-
ing rain, the gaunt black boles and branches,
glittering with wet, casting a momentary glory
over the ocean-like tumult of nature.
In the condition I was in, with a relaxed
body and dejected mind, this tempestuous
period, which would have only afforded fresh
delight to a person in perfect health, had no
charm for my spirit; but, on the contrary,
it only served to intensify my gloom.
And yet day after day it drew me forth,
although in my weakness I shivered in the
rough gale, and shrank from the touch
of the big cold drops the clouds flung down
on me. It fascinated me, like the sight of
armies contending in battle, or of some tragic
action from which the spectator cannot with-
draw his gaze. For I had become infected
with strange fancies, so persistent and somber
that they were like superstitions. It seemed
to me that not I but nature had changed,
that the familiar light had passed like a kindly
expression from her countenance, which was
284 A CRYSTAL AGE
now charged with an awful menacing gloom
that frightened my soul. Sometimes, when
straying alone, like an unquiet ghost among
the leafless trees, when a deeper shadow
swept over the- earth, I would pause, pale
with apprehension, listening to the many
dirge-like sounds of the forest, ever prophesy-
ing evil, until in my trepidation I would
start and tremble, and look to this side and
to that, as if considering which way to fly
from some unimaginable calamity coming,
I knew not from where, to wreck my life
for ever.
This bright day was better suited to my
complaint. The sun shone as in spring; not a
stain appeared on the crystal vault of heaven;
everywhere the unfailing grass gave rest to
the eye with its verdure; and a light wind
blew fresh and bracing in my face, making
my pulses beat faster, although feebly still.
Remembering my happy wood-cutting days,
before my trouble had come to me, I got
my ax and started to walk to the wood;
then seeing Yoletta watching my departure
from the terrace, I waved my hand to her.
Before I had gone far, however, she came
A CRYSTAL AGE 285
running to me, full of anxiety, to warn me
that I was not yet strong enough for such
work. I assured her that I had no intention
of working hard and tiring myself, then
continued my walk, while she returned to
attend on her mother.
The day was so bright with sunshine that
it inspired me with a kind of passing glad-
ness, and I began to hum snatches of old
half-remembered songs. They were songs
of departing summer, tinged with melancholy,
and suggested other verses not meant for
singing, which I began repeating.
"Rich flowers have perished on the silent earth —
Blossoms of valley and of wood that gave
A fragrance to the winds."
And again:
"The blithesome birds have sought a sunnier shore;
They lingered till the cold cold winds went in
And withered their green homes."
And these also were fragments, breathing only
of sadness, which made me resolve to dismiss
poetry from my mind and think of nothing
at all. I tried to interest myself in a flight
of buzzard-like hawks, soaring in wide circles
286 A CRYSTAL AGE
at an immense height above me. Gazing up
into that far blue vault, under which they
moved so serenely, and which seemed so
infinite, I remembered how often in former
days, when gazing up into such a sky, I had
breathed a prayer to the Unseen Spirit; but
now I recalled the words the father of the
house had spoken to me, and the prayer
died unformed in my heart, and a strange
feeling of orphanhood saddened me, and
brought my eyes to earth again.
Half-way to the wood, on an open reach
where there were no trees or bushes, I came
on a great company of storks, half a thousand
of them at least, apparently resting on their
travels, for they were all standing motionless,
with necks drawn in, as if dozing. They
were very stately, handsome birds, clear gray
in color, with a black collar on the neck,
and red beak and legs. My approach did
not disturb them until I was within twenty
yards of the nearest — for they were scattered
over an acre of ground; then they rose with
a loud, rustling noise of wings, only to settle
again at a short distance off.
Incredible numbers of birds, chiefly water-
A CRYSTAL AGE 287
fowl, had appeared in the neighborhood
since the beginning of the wet, boisterous
weather; the river too was filled with these
new visitors, and I was told that most of
them were passengers driven from distant
northern regions, which they made their
summer home, and were now flying south
in search of a warmer climate.
All this movement in the feathered world
had, during my troubled days, brought me
as little pleasure as the other changes going
on about me: those winged armies ever
hurrying by in broken detachments, wailing
and clanging by day and by night in the
clouds, white with their own terror, or black-
plumed like messengers of doom, to my dis-
tempered fancy only added a fresh element
of fear to a nature racked with disorders, and
full of tremendous signs and omens.
The interest with which I now remarked
these pilgrim storks seemed to me a pleasant
symptom of a return to a saner state of mind,
and before continuing my walk I wished that
Yoletta had been there with me to see them
and tell me their history; for she was curious
about such matters, and had a most wonderful
288 A CRYSTAL AGE
affection for the whole feathered race. She
had her favorites among the birds at different
seasons, and the kind she most esteemed now-
had been arriving for over a •month, their
numbers increasing day by day until the
woods and fields were alive with their flocks.
This kind was named the cloud-bird, on
account of its starling-like habit of wheel-
ing about over its feeding-ground, the birds
throwing themselves into masses, then scatter-
ing and gathering again many times, so that
when viewed at a distance a large flock had
the appearance of a cloud, growing dark and
thin alternately, and continually changing its
form. It was somewhat larger than a starling,
with a freer flight, and had a richer plumage,
its color being deep glossy blue, or blue-
black, and underneath bright chestnut. When
close at hand and in the bright sunshine, the
aerial gambols of a flock were beautiful to
witness, as the birds wheeled about and dis-
played in turn, as if moved by one impulse,
first the rich blue, then the bright chestnut
surfaces to the eye. The charming effect
was increased by the bell-like, chirping notes
they all uttered together, and as they swept
A CRYSTAL AGE 289
round or doubled in the air at intervals
came these tempests of melodious sound — a
most perfect expression of wild jubilant bird-
life. Yoletta, discoursing in the most delight-
ful way about her loved cloud-birds, had told
me that they spent the summer season in great
solitary marshes, where they built their nests
in the rushes; but with cold weather they
flew abroad, and at such times seemed always
to prefer the neighborhood of man, remain-
ing in great flocks near the house until the
next spring. On this bright sunny morning
I was amazed at the multitudes I saw during
my walk: yet it was not strange that birds
were so abundant, considering that there were
no longer any savages on the earth, with
nothing to amuse their vacant minds except
killing the feathered creatures with their bows
and arrows, and no innumerable company of
squaws clamorous for trophies — unchristian
women of the woods with painted faces,
insolence in their eyes, and for ornaments
the feathered skins torn from slain birds on
their heads.
When I at length arrived at the wood, I
2Q0 A CRYSTAL AGE
went to that spot where I had felled the
large tree on the occasion of my last and
disastrous visit, and where Yoletta, newly
released from confinement, had found me.
There lay the rough-barked giant exactly
as I had left it, and once more I began to
hack at the large branches; but my feeble
strokes seemed to make little impression, and
becoming tired in a very short time, I con-
cluded that I was not yet equal to such work,
and sat myself down to rest. I remembered
how, when sitting on that very spot, I had
heard a slight rustling of the withered leaves,
and looking up beheld Yoletta coming swiftly
towards me with outstretched arms, and her
face shining with joy. Perhaps she would
come again to me to-day: yes, she would
surely come when I wished for her so much;
for she had followed me out to try to dis-
suade me from going to the woods, and
would be anxiously thinking about me; and
she could spare an hour from the sick-room
now. The trees and bushes would prevent
me from seeing her approach, but I should hear
her, as I had heard her before. I sat motion-
less, scarcely breathing, straining my sense
A CRYSTAL AGE 291
to catch the first faint sound of her light,
swift step; and every time a small bird,
hopping along the ground, rustled a withered
leaf, I started up to greet and embrace her.
But she did not come; and at last, sick at
heart with hope deferred, I covered my face
with my hands, and, weak with misery, cried
like a disappointed child.
Presently something touched me, and,
removing my hands from my face, I saw that
great silver-gray dog which had come to
Yoletta's call when I fainted, sitting before
me with his chin resting on my knees. No
doubt he remembered that last wood-cutting
day very well, and had come to take care
of me now.
"Welcome, dear old friend !" said I; and
in my craving for sympathy of some kind I
put my arms over him, and pressed my face
against his. Then I sat up again, and
gazed into the pair of clear brown eyes
watching my face so gravely.
"Look here, old fellow," said I, talking
audibly to him for want of something in
human shape to address, "you didn't lick
my face just now when you might have done
292 A CRYSTAL AGE
so with impunity; and when I speak to you,
you don't wag that beautiful bushy tail which
serves you for ornament. This reminds me
that you are not like the dogs I used to
know — the dogs that talked with their tails,
caressed with their tongues, and were never
over-clean or well-behaved. Where are they
now — collies, rat-worrying terriers, hounds,
spaniels, pointers, retrievers — dogs rough and
dogs smooth; big brute boarhounds, St.
Bernard's, mastiffs, nearly or quite as big as
you are, but not so slender, silky-haired,
and sharp-nosed, and without your refined
expression of keenness without cunning.
And after these canine noblemen of the old
regime, whither has vanished the countless
rabble of mongrels, curs, and pariah dogs;
and last of all — being more degenerate — the
corpulent, blear-eyed, wheezy pet dogs of a
hundred breeds'? They are all dead, no
doubt: they have been dead so long that I
daresay nature extracted all the valuable
salts that were contained in their flesh and
bones thousands of years ago, and used it
for better things — raindrops, froth of the sea,
flowers and fruit, and blades of grass. Yet
A CRYSTAL AGE 293
there was not a beast in all that crew of
which its master or mistress was not ready
to affirm that it could do everything but
talk! No one says that of you, my gentle
guardian; for dog- worship, with all the ten
thousand fungoid cults that sprang up and
flourished exceedingly in the muddy marsh of
man's intellect, has withered quite away, and
left no seed. Yet in intelligence you are, I
fancy, somewhat ahead of your far-off pro-
genitors: long use has also given you some-
thing like a conscience. You are a good,
sensible beast, that's all. You love and
serve your master, according to your lights;
night and day, you, with your fellows, guard
his flocks and herds, his house and fields.
Into his sacred house, however, you do not
intrude your comely countenance, knowing
your place.
"What, then, happened to earth, and how
long did that undreaming slumber last from
which I woke to find things so altered? I
do not know, nor does it matter very much.
I only know that there has been a sort of
mighty Savonarola bonfire, in which most of
the things once valued have been consumed to
294 A CRYSTAL AGE
ashes — politics, religions, systems of philos-
ophy, isms and ologies of all descriptions;
schools, churches, prisons, poorhouses; stimu-
lants and tobacco; kings and parliaments; can-
non with its hostile roar, and pianos that
thundered peacefully; history, the press, vice,
political economy, money, and a million things
more — all consumed like so much worthless hay
and stubble. This being so, why am I not
overwhelmed at the thought of it*? In that
feverish, full age — so full, and yet, my God,
how empty! — in the wilderness of every man's
soul, was not a voice heard crying out,
prophesying the end? I know that a thought
sometimes came to me, passing through my
brain like lightning through the foliage of a
tree; and in the quick, blighting fire of that
intolerable thought, all hopes, beliefs, dreams,
and schemes seemed instantaneously to shrivel
up and turn to ashes, and drop from me, and
leave me naked and desolate. Sometimes
it came when I read a book of philosophy;
or listened on a still, hot Sunday to a dull
preacher — they were mostly dull — prosing
away to a sleepy, fashionable congregation
about Daniel in the lions' den, or some other
A CRYSTAL AGE 295
equally remote matter; or when I walked
in crowded thoroughfares; or when I heard
some great politician out of office — out in the
cold, like a miserable working-man with no
work to do — hurling anathemas at an iniquitous
government; and sometimes also when I lay-
awake in the silent watches of the night. A
little while, the thought said, and all this will
be no more; for we have not found out the
secret of happiness, and all our toil and effort
is misdirected; and those who are seeking
for a mechanical equivalent of consciousness,
and those who are going about doing good,
are alike wasting their lives; and on all our
hopes, beliefs, dreams, theories, and enthusi-
asms, 'Passing away* is written plainly as the
Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin seen by Belshazzar
on the wall of his palace in Babylon.
"That withering thought never comes to
me now. 'Passing Away* is not written on
the earth, which is still God's green footstool;
the grass was not greener nor the flowers
sweeter when man was first made out of clay,
and the breath of life breathed into his nostrils.
And the human family and race — outcome of
all that dead, unimaginable past — this also
296 A CRYSTAL AGE
appears to have the stamp of everlastingness
on it; and in its tranquil power and majesty
resembles some vast mountain that lifts its
head above the clouds, and has its granite
roots deep down in the world's center. A
feeling of awe is in me when I gaze on it;
but it is vain to ask myself now whether the
vanished past, with its manifold troubles and
transitory delights, was preferable to this
unchanging peaceful present. I care for
nothing but Yoletta; and if the old world
was consumed to ashes that she might be
created, I am pleased that it was so con-
sumed; for nobler than all perished hopes and
ambitions is the hope that I may one day
wear that bright, consummate flower on my
bosom.
"I have only one trouble now — a wolf that
follows me everywhere, always threatening to
rend me to pieces with its black jaws. Not
you, old friend — a great, gaunt, man-eating,
metaphorical wolf, far more terrible than that
beast of the ancients which came to the poor
man's door. In the darkness its eyes, glowing
like coals, are ever watching me, and even
in the bright daylight its shadowy form is
A CRYSTAL AGE 297
ever near me, stealing from bush to bush,
or from room to room, always dogging my
footsteps. Will it ever vanish, like a mere
phantom — a wolf of the brain — or will it come
nearer and more near, to spring upon and
rend me at the last? If they could only
clothe my mind as they have my body, to
make me like themselves with no canker at
my heart, ever contented and calmly glad!
But nothing comes from taking thought. I
am sick of thought — I hate it! Away with
it! I shall go and look for Yoletta, since
she does not come to me. Good-by, old
friend, you have been well-behaved and
listened with considerable patience to a long
discourse. It will benefit you about as much
as I have been benefited by many a lecture
and many a sermon I was compelled to listen
to in the old vanished days."
Bestowing another caress on him I got
up and went back to the house, thinking
sadly as I walked that the bright weather
had not yet greatly improved my spirits.
XX
Arrived at the house I was again disappointed
at not seeing Yoletta; yet without reasonable
cause, since it was scarcely past midday, and
she came out from attending on her mother
only at long intervals — in the morning, and
again just before evening — to taste the fresh-
ness of nature for a few minutes.
The music-room was deserted when I went
there; but it was made warm and pleasant
by the sun shining brightly in at the doors
opening to the south. I went on to the
extreme end of the room, remembering now
that I had seen some volumes there when I
had no time or inclination to look at them,
and I wanted something to read; for although
I found reading very irksome at this period,
there was really little else I could do. I found
the books — three volumes — in the lower part
of an alcove in the wall; above them, within
a niche in the alcove, on a level with my face
298
A CRYSTAL AGE 299
as I stood there, I observed a bulb-shaped
bottle, with a long thin neck, very beautifully
colored. I had seen it before, but without
paying particular attention to it, there being
so many treasures of its kind in the house;
now, seeing it so closely, I could not help
admiring its exquisite beauty, and feeling
puzzled at the scene depicted on it. In the
widest part it was encircled with a band, and
on it appeared slim youths and maidens, in
delicate, rose-colored garments, with butterfly
wings on their shoulders, running or hurriedly
walking, playing on instruments of various
forms, their faces shining with gladness, their
golden hair tossed by the wind — a gay pro-
cession, without beginning or end. Behind
these joyful ones, in pale gray, and half-
obscured by the mists that formed the back-
ground, appeared a second procession, hurrying
in an opposite direction — men and women of
all ages, but mostly old, with haggard, woe-
begone faces; some bowed down, their eyes
fixed on the ground; others wringing their
hands, or beating their breasts; and all
apparently suffering the utmost affliction of
mind.
300 A CRYSTAL AGE
Above the bottle there was a deep circular
cell in the alcove, about fifteen inches in
diameter; fitted in it was a metal ring, to
which were attached golden strings, fine as
gossamer threads: behind the first ring was
a second, and further in still others, ail stringed
like the first, so that looking into the cell it
appeared filled with a mist of golden cobweb.
Drawing a cushioned seat to this secluded
nook, where no person passing casually through
the room would be able to see me, I sat down,
and feeling too indolent to get myself a read-
ing-stand, I supported the volume I had taken
up to read on my knees. It was entitled Con-
duct and Ceremonial^ and the subject-matter
was divided into short sections, each with an
appropriate heading. Turning over the leaves,
and reading a sentence here and there in
different sections, it occurred to me that this
might prove a most useful work for me to
study, whenever I could bring my mind into
the right frame for such a task; for it contained
minute instructions upon all points relating to
individual conduct in the house — as the enter-
tainment of pilgrims, the dress to be worn,
and the conduct to be observed at the various
A CRYSTAL AGE 301
annual festivals, with other matters of the
kind. Glancing through it in this rapid way, I
soon finished with the first volume, then went
through the second in even less time, for
many of the concluding sections related to
lugubrious subjects which I did not care to
linger over; the titles alone were enough to
trouble me — Decay through Age, Ailments of
Mind and of Body; then Death, and, finally,
the Disposal of the Dead. This done I took
up the third volume, the last of the series,
the first portion of which was headed, Renewal
of the Family. This part I began to examine
with some attention, and pretty soon discovered
that I had now at last accidentally stumbled
upon a perfect mine of information of the
precise kind I had so long and so vainly been
seeking. Struggling to overcome my agitation
I read on, hurrying through page after page
with the greatest rapidity; for there was here
much matter that had no special interest for
me, but incidentally the things which concerned
me most to know were touched on, and in some
cases minutely explained. As I proceeded,
the prophetic gloom which had oppressed me
all that day, and for so many days before,
302 A CRYSTAL AGE
darkened to the blackness of despair, and
suddenly throwing up my arms, the book
slipped from my knees and fell with a crash
upon the floor. There, face downwards, with
its beautiful leaves doubled and broken under
its weight, it rested unheeded at my feet. For
now the desired knowledge was mine, and that
dream of happiness which had illumined my
life was over. Now I possessed the secret of
that passionless, everlasting calm of beings who
had for ever outlived, and left as immeasur-
ably far behind as the instincts of the wolf and
ape, the strongest emotion of which my heart
i was capable. For the children of the house
there could be no union by marriage; in body
and soul they differed from me: they had no
name for that feeling which I had so often and
so vainly declared; therefore they had told
me again and again that there was only one
kind of love, for they, alas! could experience
one kind only. I did not, for the moment,
seek further in the book, or pause to reflect
on that still unexplained mystery, which was
the very center and core of the whole matter,
namely, the existence of the father and mother
in the house, from whose union the family was
A CRYSTAL AGE 303
renewed, and who, fruitful themselves, were
yet the parents of a barren race. Nor did I
ask who their successors would be: for albeit
long-lived, they were mortal like their own
passionless children, and in this particular
house their lives appeared now to be draw-
ing to an end. These were questions I cared
nothing about. It was enough to know that
Yoletta could never love me as I loved her —
that she could never be mine, body and soul,
in my way and not in hers. With unspeak-
able bitterness I recalled my conversation with
Chastel: now all her professions of affection
and goodwill, all her schemes for smoothing
my way and securing my happiness, seemed to
me the veriest mockery, since even she had
read my heart no better than the others, and
that chill moonlight felicity, beyond which her
children were powerless to imagine anything,
had no charm for my passion-torn heart.
Presently, when I began to recover some-
what from my stupefaction, and to realize the
magnitude of my loss, the misery of it almost
drove me mad. I wished that I had never
made this fatal discovery, that I might have
continued still hoping and dreaming, and
304 A CRYSTAL AGE
wearing out my heart with striving after the
impossible, since any fate would have been
preferable to the blank desolation which now
confronted me. I even wished to possess the
power of some implacable god or demon, that
I might shatter the sacred houses of this later
race, and destroy them everlastingly, and
repeople the peaceful world with struggling,
starving millions, as in the past, so that the
beautiful flower of love which had withered in
men's hearts might blossom again.
While these insane thoughts were passing
through my brain I had risen from my seat,
and stood leaning against the edge of the
alcove, with that curious richly-colored bottle
close to my eyes. There were letters on it,
noticed now for the first time — minute, hair-
like lines beneath the strange-contrasted proces-
sionists depicted on the band — and even in
my excited condition I was a little startled
when these letters, forming the end of a
sentence, shaped themselves into the words —
and for the old life there shall be a new life.
Turning the bottle round I read the whole
sentence. When time and disease oppress, and
the sun grows cold in heaven, and there is no
A CRYSTAL AGE 305
longer any joy on the earth, and the fire of
love grows cold in the heart, drink of me, and
for the old life there shall be a new life.
"Another important secret!" thought I; "this
day has certainly been fruitful in discoveries.
A panacea for all diseases, even for the disease
of old age, so that a man may live two hundred
years, and still find some pleasure in existence.
But for me life has lost its savor, and I have
no wish to last so long. There is more writing
here — another secret perhaps, but I doubt very
much that it will give me any comfort."
When your soul is darkened, so that it is
hard to know evil from good, and the thoughts
that are in you lead to madness, drink of me,
and be cured.
"No, I shall not drink and be cured!
Better a thousand times the thoughts that
lead to madness than this colorless existence
without love. I do not wish to recover from
so sweet a malady."
I took the bottle in my hand and unstopped
it. The stopper formed a curious little cup,
round the rim of which was written, Drink of
me. I poured some of the liquid out into the
cup; it was pale yellow in color, and had
306 A CRYSTAL AGE
a faint sickly smell as of honeysuckles. Then
I poured it back again and replaced the bottle
in its niche.
Drink and be cured. No, not yet. Some
day, perhaps, my trouble increasing till it
might no longer be borne, would drive me
to seek such dreary comfort as this cure-all
bottle contained. To love without hope was
sad enough, but to be without love was even
sadder.
I had grown calm now: the knowledge
that I had it in my power to escape at once
and for ever from that rage of desire, had served
to sober my mind, and at last I began to reason
about the matter. The nature of my secret
feelings could never be suspected, and in
the unsubstantial realm of the imagination
it would still be in my power to hide myself
with my love, and revel in all supreme delight.
Would not that be better than this cure —
this calm contentment held out to me1? And
in time also my feelings would lose their
present intensity, which often made them an
agony, and would come at last to exist only
as a gentle rapture stirring in my heart when
I clasped my darling to my bosom and pressed
A CRYSTAL AGE 307
her sweet lips with mine. Ah, no! that was
a vain dream, I could not be deceived by it;
for who can say to the demon of passion in
him, thus far shalt thou go and no further^
Perplexed in mind and unable to decide
which thing was best, my troubled thoughts
at length took me back to that far-off dead
past, when the passion of love was so much in
man's life. It was much; but in that over-
populated world it divided the empire of his
soul with a great, ever-growing misery — the
misery of the hungry ones whose minds were
darkened, through long years of decadence,
with a sullen rage against God and man; and
the misery of those who, wanting nothing, yet
feared that the end of all things was coming
to them.
For the space of half an hour I pondered
on these things, then said: "If I were to
tell a hundredth part of this black retrospect
to Yoletta, would not she bid me drink and
forget, and herself pour out the divine liquor,
and press it to my lips'?"
Again I took the bottle with trembling
hand, and filled the same small cup to the
brim, saying: "For your sake then, Yoletta,
308 A CRYSTAL AGE
let me drink, and be cured; for this is what
you would desire, and you are more to me
than life or passion or happiness. But when
this consuming fire has left me — this feeling
which until now burns and palpitates in
every drop of my blood, every fiber of my
being — I know that you shall still be to me
a sweet, sacred sister and immaculate bride,
worshiped more of my soul than any mother
in the house; that loving and being loved by
you shall be my one great joy all my life long."
I drained the cup deliberately, then stopped
the bottle and put it back in its place. The
liquor was tasteless, but colder than ice, and
made me shiver when I swallowed it. I began
to wonder whether I would be conscious of
the change it was destined to work in me
or not; and then, half regretting what I had
done, I wished that Yoletta would come to
me, so that I might clasp her in my arms
with all the old fervor once more, before that
icy-cold liquor had done its work. Finally, I
carefully raised the fallen book, and smoothed
out its doubled leaves, regretting that I had
injured it; and, sitting down again, I held
the open volume as before, resting on my
A CRYSTAL AGE 309
knees. Now, however, I perceived that it
had opened at a place some pages in advance
of the passages which had excited me; but,
feeling no desire to go back to resume my
reading just where I had left off, my eyes
mechanically sought the top of the page before
me, and this is what I read:
"... make choice of one of the daughters of
the house; it is fitting that she should rejoice
for that brighter excellence which caused her
to be raised to so high a state, and to have
authority over all others, since in her, with
the father, all the majesty and glory of the
house is centered; albeit with a solemn and
chastened joy, like that of the pilgrim who,
journeying to some distant tropical region of
the earth, and seeing the shores of his native
country fading from sight, thinks at one and
the same time of the unimaginable beauties
of nature and art that fire his mind and call
him away, and of the wide distance which
will hold him for many years divided from
all familiar scenes and the beings he loves
best, and of the storms and perils of the
great wilderness of waves, into which so
many have ventured and have not returned.
For now a changed body and soul shall
separate her forever from those who were
one in nature with her; and with that superior
310 A CRYSTAL AGE
happiness destined to be hers there shall be
the pains and perils of childbirth, with new
griefs and cares unknown to those of humbler
condition. But on that lesser gladness had
by the children of the house in her exaltation,
and because there will be a new mother in
the house — one chosen from themselves —
there shall be no cloud or shadow; and,
taking her by the hand, and kissing her face
in token of joy, and of that new filial love
and obedience which will be theirs, they
shall lead her to the Mother's Room, there-
after to be inhabited by her as long as life
lasts. And she shall no longer serve in
the house or suffer rebuke; but all shall serve
her in love, and hold her in reverence, who
is their predestined mother. And for the
space of one year she shall be without
authority in the house, being one apart,
instructing herself in the secret books which
it is not lawful for another to read, and
observing day by day the directions contained
therein, until that new knowledge and practice
shall ripen her for that state she has been
chosen to fill."
This passage was a fresh revelation to me.
Again I recalled Chastel's words, her repeated
assurances that she knew what was passing
in my mind, that her eyes saw things more
A CRYSTAL AGE 311
clearly than others could see them, that only
by giving me the desire of my heart could the
one remaining hope of her life be fulfilled.
Now I seemed able to understand these dark
sayings, and a new excitement, full of the joy
of hope, sprang up in me, making me forget
the misery I had so recently experienced, and
even that increasing sensation of intense cold
caused by the draught from the mysterious
bottle.
I continued reading, but the above passage
was succeeded by minute instructions, extend-
ing over several pages, concerning the dress,
both for ordinary and extraordinary occasions,
to be worn by the chosen daughter during
her year of preparation; the conduct to be
observed by her towards other members of
the family, also towards pilgrims visiting the
house in the interval, with many other matters
of secondary importance. Impatient to reach
the end, I tried to turn the leaves rapidly, but
now found that my arm had grown strangely
stiff and cold, and seemed like an arm of iron
when I raised it, so that the turning over of
each leaf was an immense labor. Then I
read yet another page, but with the utmost
312 A CRYSTAL AGE
difficulty; for, notwithstanding the eagerness
of my mind, my eyes began to remain more
and more rigidly fixed on the center of the
leaf, so that I could scarcely force them to
follow the lines. Here I read that the bride-
elect, her year of preparation being over, rises
before daylight, and goes out alone to an
appointed place at a great distance from the
house, there to pass several hours in solitude
and silence, communing with her own heart.
Meanwhile, in the house all the others array
themselves in purple garments, and go out
singing at sunrise to gather flowers to adorn
their heads; then, proceeding to the appointed
spot, they seek for their new mother, and,
finding her, lead her home with music and
rejoicing.
When, reading in this miserable, painful
way, I had reached the bottom of the page,
and attempted to turn it over, I found that I
could no longer move my hand — my arms
being now like arms of iron, absolutely devoid
of sensation, while my hands, rigidly grasping
the book like the hands of a frozen corpse,
held it upright and motionless before me. I
tried to start up and shake off this strange
A CRYSTAL AGE 313
deadness from my body, but was powerless to
move a muscle. What was the meaning of
this condition? for I had absolutely no pain,
no discomfort even; for the sensation of in-
tense cold had almost ceased, and my mind
was active and clear, and I could hear and see,
and yet was as powerless as if I had been
buried in a marble coffin a thousand fathoms
deep in earth.
Suddenly I remembered the draught from
the bottle, and a terrible doubt shot through
my heart. Alas! had I mistaken the meaning
of those strange words I had read*? — was
death the cure which that mysterious vessel
promised to those who drank of its contents'?
"When life becomes a burden, it is good
to lay it down"; now too late the words of
the father, when reproving me after my fever,
came back to my mind in all their awful
significance.
All at once I heard a voice calling my
name, and in a moment the tempest in me
was stilled. Yes, it was my darling's voice —
she was coming to me — she would save me
in this dire extremity. Again and again she
called, but the voice now sounded further
3H A CRYSTAL AGE
and further away; and with ineffable anguish
I remembered that she would not be able
to see me where I sat. I tried to cry out,
"Come quick, Yoletta, and save me from
death!" but though I mentally repeated the
words again and again in an extreme agony
of terror, my frozen tongue refused to make
a sound. Presently I heard a light, quick
step on the floor, then Yoletta's clear voice.
"Oh, I have found you at last!" she
cried. "I have been seeking you all over
the house. I have something glad to tell
you — something to make you happier than
on that day — do you remember? — when you
saw me coming to you in the wood. The
mother has left her chamber at last; she
is in the Mother's Room again, waiting
impatiently to see you. Come, come!"
Her words sounded distinctly in my ears,
and although I could not lift or turn my
rigid eyes to see her, yet I seemed to see
her now better than ever before, with some
fresh glory, as of a new, unaccustomed glad-
ness or excitement enhancing her unsurpassed
loveliness, so clearly at that moment did
her image shine in my soul! And not hers
A CRYSTAL AGE 315
only, for now suddenly, by a miracle of
the mind, the entire family appeared there
before me; and in the midst sat Chastel, my
sweet, suffering mother, as on that day after
my illness when she had pardoned me, and
put out her hand for me to kiss. As on that
occasion, now — now she was gazing on me
with such divine love and compassion in
her eyes, her lips half parted, and a slight
color flushing her pale face, recalling to it
the bloom and radiance of which cruel disease
had robbed her! And in my soul also, at
that supreme moment, like a scene starting
at the lightning's flash out of thick darkness,
shone the image of the house, with all its
wide, tranquil rooms rich in art and ancient
memories, every stone within them glowing,
with everlasting beauty — a house enduring
as the green plains and rushing rivers and
solemn woods and world-old hills amid which
it was set like a sacred gem! O sweet abode
of love and peace and purity of heart! O
bliss surpassing that of the angels! O rich
heritage, must I lose you for ever! Save
me from death, Yoletta, my love, my bride —
save me — save me — save me !
316 A CRYSTAL AGE
Then something touched or fell on my
neck, and at the same moment a deeper
shadow passed over the page before me, with
all its rich coloring floating formless, like
vapors, mingling and separating, or dancing
before my vision, like bright-winged insects
hovering in the sunlight; and I knew that
she was bending over me, her hand on my
neck, her loose hair falling on my forehead.
In that enforced stillness and silence I
waited expectant for some moments.
Then a great cry, as of one who suddenly
sees a black phantom, rang out loud in the
room, jarring my brain with the madness of
its terror, and striking as with a hundred
passionate hands on all the hidden harps in
wall and roof; and the troubled sounds came
back to me, now loud and now low, burdened
with an infinite anguish and despair, as of
voices of innumerable multitudes wandering in
the sunless desolations of space, every voice
reverberating anguish and despair; and the
successive reverberations lifted me like waves
and dropped me again, and the waves grew
less and the sounds fainter, then fainter still,
and died in everlasting silence.
THE END
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