“‘My dear young friend, there is here, in Paris, a high and noble society, whose chief I am. This society has many Rosicrucians among its members. Like the society to which you belong, ours, also, has its head-quarters in the Orient. Ever since I have known you, I have been anxious to have you for a brother of our Order. Shall I direct your initiation? Once with us, there is no branch of knowledge, mystic or otherwise, that you will not be able to attain, and, compared to which, that of even the third temple of Rosicrucia is but as the alphabet to an encyclopædia.’ “Much more he said, but I had no desire to join his fraternity, and firmly but respectfully told him so; whereupon he cut short our conference by rising, as he did so, observing-- “‘You may regret it. I can tell you no more. The society exists; if you need it, find it--it may be discovered. But see! my groom and horse have arrived, and have long been waiting. I must, therefore, leave you. Take this paper; open it when you see proper to do so. You will quit Paris to-morrow, next day, or when you choose. You may turn your face southward, instead of to the north as you proposed. Seek me not till in your hour of greatest need. In the meantime, I counsel you to obey, to the letter, your _highest_ intuitions. Adieu!’ “And so we parted. I loved Ravalette, but not his fraternity. This conversation with Ravalette, and, indeed, my entire intercourse with him, was invested with a peculiar halo of what I may justly call the weird. It was evident that all his words and allusions contained a deeper meaning than appeared upon the surface. His conversation had filled my soul with new and strange ideas and emotions; and I felt that he had left me at the inner door of a vast edifice, after skillfully conducting me through the vestibule. What worlds of mystery and meaning lay just beyond, was a theme of profound and uneasy conjecture. I felt and knew that he was no common or ordinary man; and well and strangely was this proved afterwards. “I had solaced myself with the hope that, by deferring my contemplated tour through Picardy and La Normandy, I should draw closer the bonds of common sympathy between us, and be made wiser through the abrasion of such an intellect as his. How suddenly and how rudely was this hope shattered! “When he dismissed me so abruptly, after baiting my soul with such a splendid lure, I could but feel both astonished and aggrieved. Thousands would have been too small a price to pay for even one day more of his society; but, alas! thousands could not purchase it. Still, I learned a lesson. There are things in this world more valuable than even boundless material wealth--knowledges, that neither Peru’s treasures nor the mines of Ind can buy; and that Ravalette possessed an abundant store of these priceless riches, there was not a single lingering doubt.