“No. Not till the daylight goes. Then it will gradually cease revolving of itself. It is only a very inadequate man-made exposition of one of the Divine mysteries of creation,--the force of Light which generates Motion, and from Motion, Life. Moses touched the central pivot of truth in his Book of Genesis when he wrote: ‘The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.... And God said, Let there be Light. And there was Light.’ From that ‘Light,’ the effulgence of God’s own Actual Presence and Intelligence, came the Movement which dispelled ‘darkness.’ Movement, once begun, shaped all that which before was ‘without form’ and filled all that had been ‘void.’ Light is the positive exhalation and pulsation of the Divine Existence--the Active Personality of an Eternal God;--Light, which enters the soul and builds the body of every living organism,--therefore Light is Life.” CHAPTER IX Diana listened to the quiet, emphatic tones of his voice in fascinated attention. “Light is Life,” he repeated, slowly. “Light--and the twin portion of Light,--Fire. The Rosicrucians have come nearer than any other religious sect in the world to the comprehension of things divine. Darkness is Chaos,--not death, for there is _no_ death--but confusion, bewilderment and blindness which gropes for a glory instinctively felt but unseen. In these latter days, science has discovered the beginning of the wonders of Light,--they have always existed, but we have not found them, ‘loving darkness rather than light.’ I say the ‘beginning of wonders,’ for with all our advancement we have only become dimly conscious of the first vibration of the Creator’s living presence. Light!--which is ‘God walking in His garden,’--which is colour, sound, heat, movement--all the Divine Power in eternal radiation and luminance!--this is Life;--and in this _we_ live,--in this we _may_ live, and renew our lives,--ay, and in this we may retain youth beyond age! If we only have courage!--courage and the will to learn!” His brilliant dark eyes turned upon her with a searching steadfastness, and her heart beat quickly, for there was something in his look which suggested that it was from her he expected “courage and the will to learn.” But she made no comment. Suddenly, and with an abrupt movement, he pulled with both hands at a lever apparently made of steel,--like one of the handles in a signal-box,--and with his action the level floor beneath the great revolving wheel yawned asunder, showing a round pool of water, black as ink and seemingly very deep. Diana recoiled from it, startled. Dimitrius smiled. “Suppose I asked you to jump in?” he said. She thought a moment. “Well,--I should want to take off my dress first,” she answered. “It’s a new one.” He laughed. “And then?” “Then?--Why, then I shouldn’t mind!” she said. “I can swim.” “You would not be afraid?” She met his eyes bravely. “No--I should not be afraid!”