"We have met very strangely, you and I!"--he said, scarcely conscious of the words he uttered--"Will you not tell me your name?"
A faint sigh escaped her.
"My name is Edris," she answered, in low musical accents, that carried to his sense of hearing a suggestion, of something sweet and familiar.
"Edris!" he repeated--"Edris!" and gazing at her dreamily he raised her hands to his lips and kissed them gently--"My fairest Edris! From whence do you come?"
She met his eyes with a mild look of reproach and wonderment.
"From a far, far country, Theos!" and he started as she thus addressed him--"A land where no love is wasted and no promise forgotten!"
Again that mystic light passed over her pale face--the blossom- coronal she wore seemed for a moment to glitter like a circlet of stars. His heart beat quickly--could he believe her? ... was she in very truth that shining Peri whose aerial loveliness had so long haunted his imagination? Nay!--it was impossible! ... for if she were, why should she veil her native glory in such simple maiden guise?
Searchingly he studied every feature of her countenance, and as he did so his doubts concerning her spirit-origin became more and more confirmed. She was a living, breathing woman--an actual creature of flesh and blood,--yet how account for her appearance on the field of Ardath? This puzzled him ... till all at once a logical explanation of the whole mystery dawned upon his mind. Heliobas had sent her hither on purpose to meet him! Of course! how dense he had been not to see through so transparent a scheme before! The clever Chaldean had resolved that he, Theos Alwyn, should somehow be brought to accept his trance as a real experience, so that henceforth his faith in "things unseen and eternal" might be assured. Many psychological theorists would uphold such a deceit as not only permissible, but even praise- worthy, if practiced for the furtherance of a good cause. Even the venerable hermit Elzear might have shared in the conspiracy, and this "Edris," as she called herself, was no doubt perfectly trained in the part she had to play! A plot for his conversion! ... well! ... he would enter into it himself, he resolved! ... why not? The girl was exquisitely fair,--a veritable Psyche of soft charms!--and a little lovemaking by moonlight would do no harm, . . ... here he suddenly became aware that while these thoughts were passing through his brain he had unconsciously allowed her hands to slip from his hold, and she now stood apart at some little distance, her eyes fixed full upon him with an expression of most plaintive piteousness. He made a hasty step or two toward her,-- and as he did so, his pulses began to throb with an extraordinary sensation of pleasure,--pleasure so keen as to be almost pain.