For a moment, Oman seemed not to have heard. Then, with an effort, he rose, and stood submissively before the Rajah, evidently waiting for him to speak again. This Bhavani did. “O stranger, I have come to talk with you on the subject of wisdom; for this is the only time at my disposal for the pursuit of those things that I have most at heart. And it is for this reason that I break in on thy revery. Sit there, then; and I will place myself thus, that we may look into each other’s eyes. Ah—now we may talk together freely.” Obedient to the request, which was really a command, Oman seated himself, his knees crossed under him; and Bhavani took his place on a pile of cushions three or four feet away. There, for a time, they sat, looking at each other silently. Bhavani had come into the room, his brain teeming with thoughts and questions; but he was quick to feel the chill of Oman’s mood. The wanderer, indeed, was thoroughly disturbed at Bhavani’s interruption of his meditation; and he showed his displeasure by a silence that the Rajah found it impossible to penetrate. After a little while, however, realizing his ungraciousness, Oman forced himself out of his stolidity, and said, in a muffled voice: “My lord hath sought me. What doth he require?” For a moment Bhavani looked at the immovable face, and then replied, in a tone the gentleness of which Oman had never heard equalled: “I have proffered hospitality to the stranger, and now violate the privilege of solitude. Let him forgive me!” “Do not say it! It is the right of the host at any time to seek the presence of his guest! What wilt thou of me, O King? Speak, and what I have is thine.” A faint smile shone for a moment in Bhavani’s eyes, but was instantly succeeded by an expression of deep thoughtfulness: “There is much, stranger, that thou canst give me, who am a beggar of minds. Thou saidst that thou wast come out of the hills. What wealth hast brought with thee from them?” “What wealth—of thought?” “Yea, of thought.” “Ah, much, great Rajah. Much. There, in the vast wilderness, is peace. I ascended the height toil-worn, weary of the world, outcast of men. And in the great Silence was a balm for every wound. Peace I obtained, and strength, and calm. And after a while came Truth also. Creeds and philosophies of men I had studied in my youth, in temple and Vihara. But it was there, on the height, that my soul found itself, and gave me a belief that had not come before.” “Tell me of this belief.” “It is a system, long and complex.” “There is time. The night is young. Tell me, I beg of thee,—Oman.”