“Why should they not be?” asked she, smiling. “They are happy, cheerful spirits, void of mysteries, and do not torture people with mysticisms. They have but one aim, a great and glorious one, to free the mind from superstition and hypocrisy. They encounter with open countenance the false devotees who would force men into spiritual servitude, that they may become the slaves of their will. You call them ‘Illuminati,’ while they have undertaken to illuminate the minds with the beams of knowledge which the Rosicrucians obscure in a mystical fog.” “Unhappy one, do you dare to say that to me?” cried Cagliostro, menacingly. “Yes,” she responded, keeping her large, brown eyes firmly fixed upon Cagliostro’s angry face. “That I dare to repeat to you, and I would also remark that we are not in the mystical assembly of the Rosicrucians, and your familiar ‘Du’ is out of place. I belong to the Illuminati, and mingle with the freethinkers. They have not, indeed, promised me titles, honors, or dignities, but they have amused me, have driven ennui from the house, and instead of mysticisms, brought me poesy, and instead of the invisible holy church, the Greek temple. It is possible my life may not be a godly one, but it is as happy as the gods, and that is something in this tedious world.” “I regard you with astonishment,” said Cagliostro, “for I recognize in your countenance that the devil has won you over to his power, and in you he speaks with the bold insolence of the sinful. Subdue, unhappy child, your rash speech, that the Fathers may not hear of it, and crush you in their wrath.” “I do not fear their thunderbolts, permit me to tell you. We are in Prussia; the great king watches over all his subjects; neither the Romish Church nor the Rosicrucians can obscure the light of knowledge. He will not suffer a ghost, sneaking in the dark, to exercise power here, and he will not refuse the protection to me which is accorded to the least of his subjects. I do not fear you, and I will tell you the truth entire, I believe you to be a hypocrite and a charlatan, who--” “Miserable one!” interrupted Cagliostro, as he furiously rushed to her, seizing her by the arm--“cease, unhappy one, or your life is forfeited to the invisible avengers!”