"Pardon my interruption," said the Hindu courteously. "I have been out.
I am but just returned. And I come to assure myself that all is well
with my admirable host."
"Ah, Murdock, this is my friend, the Swami. He's going to stay with me
while he writes a book. I've given him the west ell, off in the quiet of
the garden, you know," said Mr. Early.
"With kindness you give it. Obligation is mine," said the Swami, with a
deferential movement of his hands. "And I go at once to devote myself to
my greatest work. But now I have visited a lady, Mrs. Appleton, who has
great interest in me, and who desires to form what she calls a class. I
call it, rather, a circle of my friends."
"And what do you do with them?" asked Mr. Murdock, with the same bald
curiosity that one displays at the zoo before the performing seals.
"We increase the sum of nobility in the world," said the Swami softly.
"We sit together in long white robes, such as you see on me, and we pour
out love upon the universe."
"Oh!" said Mr. Murdock. He was too astonished to pursue his
investigations.
"It is a serene and blessed occupation," said the Swami.
"And do they--does the class pay for that?" Murdock recovered so far as
to ask.
"Pay? Not so!" said the Swami indignantly. "I ask of life no more than a
bare existence and that, a thousand times that, is mine, by the
benevolence of Mr. Early."
"They're devilish pretty women, some of 'em, though. You have that
reward," said Mr. Early jocularly.
The Swami cast on him a glance of cow-like anger, but Mr. Murdock went
on persistently: "And they don't give you any money at all?"
"For myself, no. Some, if it harmonize with their desires, make
contribution through me to the great temple in India, where the brothers
may assemble, a sacred spot among the lonely hills. Some give to that,
but not to me. But I must no longer interrupt. I have made my salute. I
go to my remote room."
With a reverential movement of the head, the white column moved away.
"Gee!" said Mr. Murdock. "Can you stand that kind of thing around all
the time?"
"Oh, I'm interested in all kinds of people," said Mr. Early. "And he's
the most inoffensive creature. I shall hardly see him. He intends to
lock himself up out there in his room most of the time. He meditates in
silence ten hours a day and comes forth to give a lecture that nobody
understands. He's going to be all the rage."
"And, of course, if he's the rage, you have him. I wish you'd make Billy
Barry the rage," said Murdock.