It was unspeakably moving--this mother willing to serve with anguish the purpose of advancing souls. Yet this was all of To-day. It was not the thing he sought. The general purpose must stand aside for the particular. There was an error to be set right first. She had to seek its origin among the ages infinitely far away. The guidance Julius sought lay in the long ago. But the safety of the little unborn body troubled him, it seemed. “As yet,” she murmured, “none. The little body of the boy is empty ... though besieged.” “By whom besieged?” he asked more loudly. “Who hinders?” The little body of the boy! And it was then a further change came suddenly, both in her face and voice, and in the voice of Julius too. That larger expression of some forgotten grandeur passed into her features, and she half sat up in the chair; there was a stiffening of the frame; resistance, power, an attitude of authority, replaced the former limpness. The moment was, for me, electrifying. Ice and fire moved upon my skin. She opened her lips to speak, but no words were audible. “Look close--and tell me,” came from Julius gravely. She made an effort, then shrank back a little, this time raising one arm as though to protect herself from something coming, then sharply dropping it again over the heart and body. “I cannot see,” she murmured, slightly frowning; “they stand so close and ... are ... so splendid. They are too great ... to see.” “Who--what--are they?” he insisted. He took her hand in his. I saw her smile. The simple words were marvellously impressive. Depths of untold memory stirred within me as I heard. “Powers ... we knew ... so long ago.” Some ancient thing in me opened an eye and saw. The Powers we evoked came seeking an entrance, brought nearer by our invitation. They came from the silent valley; they were close about the building. But only through a human channel could they emerge from the spheres where they belonged. “Describe them, and pass on,” I heard Julius say, and there came a pause then that I thought would never end. The look of power rolled back upon her face. She spoke with joy, with a kind of happiness as though she welcomed them. “They rush and shine.... They flood the distance like a sea, and yet stand close against my heart and blood. They are clothed in wind and fire. I see the diadems of flame ascending and descending. Their breath is all the winds. There is such roaring. I see mountains of wind and fire ... advancing ... nearer ... nearer.... We used them--we invited ... long, long ago.... And so they ... come again about us....” His following command appalled me: “Keep them back. You must protect the vacant body from invasion.” And then he added in tones that seemed to make the very air vibrate, although the voice but whispered, “You must direct them--towards _me_.”