"Quite true!" she answered, tranquilly--"And--YOU knew all that before he told you! You knew that I was compelled to turn the ship homeward because it was not allowed to proceed! Dear Father Aloysius, you cannot hide yourself from me! You are one of the few who have studied the secrets of the approaching future,--the 'change' which is imminent--the 'world to come' which is coming! Yes!--and you are brave to live as you do in the fetters of a conventional faith when you have such a far wider outlook--" He stopped her by a gesture, rising from where he sat and extending a hand of warning and authority. "Child, beware what you say!" and his voice had a ring of sternness in its mellow tone--"If I know what you think I know, on what ground do you suppose I have built my knowledge? Only on that faith which you call 'conventional'--that faith which has never been understood by the world's majority! That faith which teaches of the God-in-Man, done to death by the Man WITHOUT God in him!--and who, nevertheless, by the spiritual strength of a resurrection from the grave, proves that there is no death but only continuous renewal of life! This is no mere 'convention' of faith,--no imaginary or traditional tale--it is pure scientific fact. The virginal conception of divinity in woman, and the transfiguration of manhood, these things are true--and the advance of scientific discovery will prove them so beyond all denial. We have held the faith, AS IT SHOULD BE HELD, for centuries,--and it has led us, and continues to lead us, to all we know." "We?" queried Morgana, softly--"WE--of the Church?--or of the Brazen City?" He looked at her for some moments without speaking. His tall fine figure seemed more than ever stately and imposing--and his features expressed a calm assurance and dignity of thought which gave them additional charm. "Your question is bold!" he said--"Your enterprising spirit stops at nothing! You have learned much--you are resolved to learn more! Well,--I cannot prevent you,--nor do I see any reason why I should try! You are a resolved student,--you are also a woman:--a woman different to ordinary women and set apart from ordinary womanhood. So I say to you 'We of the Brazen City'--if you will! For more than three thousand years 'we' have existed--'we' have studied, 'we' have discovered--'we' have known. 'We,' the selected offspring of all the race that ever were born,--'we,' the pure blood of the earth,--'we,' the progenitors of the world TO BE,--'we' have lived, watching temporary civilisations rise and fall,--seeing generations born and die, because, like weeds, they have grown without any root of purpose save to smother their neighbours and destroy. 'We' remain as commanded, waiting for the full declaration and culmination of those forces which are already advancing to the end,--when the 'Kingdom' comes!" Morgana moved close to him, and looked up at his grave, dark face beseechingly.