I hastened up to see if Sydney was hurt, but though his horse fell backwards, it had not even bruised him, owing to the skilful way in which at the last moment he had slipped aside. He now stood on the bank with a piece of the girl’s broken bridle in his hand, and the bits of timber strewn round him. As we rode home later in the day, he surprised me by saying-- "It was a foolish action, and I feel ashamed of having given way to the momentary instinct which prompted it." "What! saving the girl’s life?" I said. "No," he replied, "but the way I did it. You can easily fancy that I possessed other and simpler means of saving her without attracting attention to myself. But it is very difficult at times to check the inclination which we all have for exciting bodily action." "Well," I answered, "I do not think, considering the power you possess, any one could accuse you of making a display of it. Why, the breaking of the bars by your horse’s feet was, I fancy, unnoticed by any one except myself. Others probably thought they had given way under the strain; while even your horse’s rearing up and falling backwards would be considered only a fortunate accident." "That is quite true," he replied, "I was not thinking of display, to which weakness my nature at present tends very slightly; but rather that for the time being I allowed my body to do what my will could have effected better without its assistance. However, this is its day out, and perhaps it was only fair." I have mentioned this incident to show that Sydney, even while he possessed faculties so remarkable that one might have expected his body to influence his mind no longer, at times still allowed the former to hold temporary sway. He always impressed this point most strongly upon me, saying that those who profess most emphatically that they have the power to ignore material things, are, often, without knowing it, under the most serious bodily servitude, the servitude of disease; and that though it is quite true that the body should be brought into subjection to the spirit, this can only be done by keeping it always, as far as possible, in perfect action and health. *CHAPTER XIV* I was sitting alone in my study one morning about two days after our run, busily engaged in writing an account of it, when I found that Sydney was standing beside me. I started up, his presence taking me by surprise. "I never heard you come in," I said. "No," he answered, "I have been at Aphar since we last met, and seeing that you were alone I returned here instead of going to my house. As we are neither of us busy to-day, I thought you might like to hear the continuation of my story." We talked for some time about various subjects which led back eventually to the experiences which Vera had related to me. "Tell me," I said, "was the girl really present? Or was this simply a delusion which you threw over me?"