"I am not an authority on these matters," I continued; "I am only airing my own perhaps worthless opinions; but I do honestly believe that there is such a thing as Magic, and that the earlier races of mankind knew far more about it than we do; and by Magic I mean the power to move or control by some mysterious ritual the great forces of Nature." "You believe that this really can be done?" "I do. Whether it is right to do it is another matter, and one on which I do not feel competent to express an opinion. But that it can be done--and has been done--I have no doubt whatsoever. If Man was made in the image of God, then surely some of the power of God is inherent in him, even if he does not know how to wield it properly. My only doubt is whether it is safe for him to try to wield it, as long as his ignorance of it is as great as it is in the present stage of human history." "They knew more about it in ancient Egypt," Arthur said. "And in earlier civilisations even than that," I added. "I believe that in those far-away days men practised the rites and the mysteries which brought them into contact with, and by which they controlled to some extent, the Principalities and Powers of the vast universe which for want of a better word we call Nature. Then Man--as is unfortunately his habit--fell away from his first estate, and began to worship the Principalities and the Powers instead of the God who made him and them, and then God drew a veil between Man and the Great Powers, so that Man should not be tempted by knowing them to worship them. And that is where we are at present. But even now the veil sometimes wears thin in places, and some stray mortal peeps through and catches faint glimpses of the glories and the grandeurs on the other side." "Then you do not believe that Pan is dead?" said Arthur. "No more dead than anybody else is dead," I answered, "only separated from us, like all the other so-called dead people, until we are sufficiently advanced in our spiritual life to meet them again. That is really all that death amounts to, when you look it in the face." "That is so," said Blathwayte in that quiet voice so right. "I love to think of those early days," I went on, waxing garrulous and tiresome, as I always do when I get on to this subject, "when Man was conversant with the great forces of Nature; when he saw white presences among the hills, and heard the message of the whirlwind and the fire, and took his part in the chantings of the morning stars. It was only when he began to worship these that the evil came. They were but the choirs and the servers and the acolytes in the vast temple of his God, and he did evil when he fell down and worshipped them. It was then that the veil of the temple was let down between them and him." "And will it soon be lifted again, I wonder?"