“They found,” answered Oman, slowly and distinctly, “a life of the deepest woe, a constant suffering, a shame that they can never escape. For those two, unlawfully joined in one life, are, in the next, inseparably united. Their two miserable souls inhabit but one body, in which they have struggled vainly for release. And,” here Oman rose and lifted his face, straining upward as if the words he spoke were received from some invisible source, “and thus they shall exist till they have drunk the cup of retribution to the very dregs. But, in the end, they shall escape their bondage. In time they will complete the expiation and know the blessed end:—freedom from travail and from woe. For they will regain their right to move forward alone, on the road to the Great Release.” With the last words, he sank back upon the divan, and a silence followed. Bhavani sat amazed at the absolute conviction with which this man had spoken; and he was again seized with strange wonders and suspicions concerning the stranger’s identity. After a long pause the Rajah, groping for his words, asked, hoarsely: “Wilt thou remain here in my kingdom and in my palace, master, and lay the foundation of thy faith in the heart of my son?” For answer, Oman solemnly bowed his head. He knew it to be written that he should remain in Mandu. CHAPTER XIV THE ANCIENT FLAME So Oman took up his abode in the palace; nor were the circumstances of his settling there very surprising to himself. From the first it had seemed as if, in the natural course of things, this should become his home; and the new duties and new habits of life were acquired mechanically. His intuition of the link that bound him to the past, however, though at times it was strong on him, proved evanescent; so that there were weeks when he lived wholly in the passing hour, without any memories of bygone days. But he knew that Fate had been kind to him. He was wrapped in impenetrable serenity: the outcome, the reward, of his years of solitude; and he felt that no mischance could disturb this again.