PARADISE POSTPONED
SOLARION caught the crystal cup as it dropped from Jack’s hand, and with
his other arm supported his body as it fell. Argon uttered a cry of
dismay. But meeting the other’s eyes, which were now filled with a soft
but almost insupportable light, he recognized the benign significance
behind the apparent calamity.
“We will let the body rest in the plinth,” Solarion said, lifting it as he
spoke into the cavity, and replacing the cup and its golden receptacle.
“He is honest and brave, all will go well with him. Tell Lamara he stood
the test, and that I will meet her here on the hour appointed.”
The light grew brighter and Argon, perforce, closed his eyelids. When he
looked again the column of the portal occupied its former position, and he
was alone.
Of these things Jack knew nothing.
The reaching out of his spirit toward Miriam, at the moment of swallowing
the elixir, had dominated all other thoughts and impulses, and by
operation of spiritual law, his immaterial entity, disembarrassed from the
physical, at once was swept in her direction. Distances between persons,
on the spiritual plane, where nothing operates to delay the inclinations
of the mind, are necessarily and immediately determined by sympathies or
repulsions, as the case may be, existing between them; and, as the
separation from each other of the poles of the sidereal universe hardly
suffices to indicate the gulf that yawns between incompatible natures and
temperaments, so, between those who love each other, a handbreadth is
still too far apart. Nothing else is possible in a sphere where all things
live and the inertia of lifeless matter is not.
Jack, accordingly, soon became aware that he was in Miriam’s vicinity; but
he was at first perplexed by an unconsidered circumstance of their mutual
conditions.
The physical eye is fashioned to perceive material objects only; it is
powerless to discern the forms of thoughts or the color of emotions. And
in the spiritual plane, emotion and thought constitute, respectively, the
substance and the shape of things seen. On the other hand, the spiritual
eye is not less unable to have cognizance of material things; and the two
worlds are thus effectively disjoined one from the other. Of course, the
spirit incarnate is none the less in constant relations with the spirit
disincarnate; but both alike are insensible, normally, to that fact.
Jack, during his journey from our earth to Saturn, had already experienced
disincarnation; but inasmuch as his environment had then been also
spiritual, he had felt no discrepancy between it and himself. Now,
however, he, a spirit, was confronted with material surroundings, and must
depend on methods of communication more subtle than those of spiritual
sight and touch in order to make his presence felt, or himself to
establish consciousness of the medium in which he sought to operate.
How was he to bring the world in which he was into practical relations
with that which she occupied, since neither could she see nor touch him,
nor he, her? This seemed like to prove an awkward obstacle in the way of
what he aimed to accomplish.
But must not Solarion have foreseen this difficulty? And would he have
deliberately mocked him, through the agency of the elixir, with a useless
gift? The idea was preposterous! There must be some way of solving the
problem.
He stood motionless, like a man in the darkness of an unfamiliar place,
and set himself to the task of withdrawing from his outward sphere of
consciousness. He was presently rewarded by the perception of the gradual
emergence of an inner consciousness; it was as if the pupils of the eyes
of the man in the dark place, slowly expanding, were becoming sensitive to
rays of light before unperceived.
A path of communication between the two worlds did, then, exist. It was
not normally accessible, because its existence was unsuspected; but when
intelligently sought, it might be found. And Jack realized that if it were
accessible to him, from his side, it must also be accessible to Miriam
from hers. The inner consciousness, in her and in him, was a sort of
common ground between them, in which they could meet and have intercourse.
It was neither spiritual wholly, nor wholly material, but an intermediate
region. Nor was there anything radically strange in this; had he not, in
the earthly life, often felt aware of her proximity before his corporeal
senses informed him of it, and had he been blindfolded, would not the
touch of her hand have exerted an influence distinguishable from the touch
of any other? If he were alive to such intuitions, much more should she,
with her finer organization, be so.
Greatly encouraged by his discovery, Jack proceeded to put it to the
trial.
Without having intelligently traced his course, he had been brought to the
suite of rooms which Miriam occupied. They appeared to him in shadowy
form, much like the reflection of objects seen in a plate of glass, and
not so distant as in a mirror. But as he grew more accustomed to the
situation, the distinctness increased.
He was at first puzzled by the similarity of the rooms to those seen on
his own earth; and he wondered for a moment whether Miriam could have
returned to their planet during the interval of their separation. But a
more concentrated scrutiny soon revealed the magical character of the
appearance. Whether the magic were black or white he did not pause to
determine. Here, at all events, was a laboratory, and he recognized it as
the one which he had already seen in Lamara’s water-mirror. It was perhaps
because of the intense emotional stress which Miriam had undergone here
that he had been first led to it. But she was not here now. He glanced at
the apparatus on the table and comprehended the method of its operation.
He could even discern the electrons in the atom in their revolution around
one another, and form an estimate of the stupendous force which would be
liberated by their dissociation. But matters more urgent claimed his
attention.
He passed through the doorway into the adjoining chamber; the door had
been left ajar, and he was careful to go through the opening, which was
somewhat narrow for his bulk, and to keep his feet to the level of the
floor. He felt that he could not push the door farther open, and he did
not know that he could have passed through the substance of it; it seemed
to him proper to observe, so far as possible, the natural limitations amid
which he found himself. It aided his recognition of them.
Upon entering the chamber he saw Miriam, with two others, standing near
the window. He paid no heed to the others, nor did he see them with nearly
the distinctness with which the woman he loved appeared to him. Was it
her, or her spirit, that he saw? At moments it seemed to be the one, then
the other. From one standpoint, indeed, they were identical. Yet there was
a difference; but it was she!
A powerful irradiation of joy streamed forth from him. It was both visible
and invisible to Jack himself. As a spiritual emanation, it welled out
toward her and enveloped her, so that he fancied she must be aware of
it—the roseate glory of it, shot through with golden quiverings. Then,
remembering that the natural eye could not discern it, he was surprised to
see her move slightly, as if some faint sound or remembered scent had
caught her attention. But in a moment she again turned her gaze out of the
window.
He approached the group. What—Jim! Undoubtedly it was Jim, but something
in the presentation perplexed him—two quite distinguishable Jims, though
the same; but one was the grotesque little urchin he knew, the other—he
had known nothing of this wonderful brightness, as if the boy were full of
light; and surely there were two complete and well-formed legs! That
crutch, too; was it a crutch—or was it—what was it? Jim was speaking; it
was the familiar street-gamin lingo; but within it, or above it, was
another language, which Jack understood with his spiritual hearing, which
conveyed beautiful things—affection, loyalty, courage, resource—qualities
which the terrestrial Jim would stare even to hear mentioned. Yet they
belonged to him as much as did his own patter—far more so, indeed.
The young woman who made the third of the group was manifested but dimly,
for Jack had never made Jenny’s acquaintance, and perceived no more than
an agreeable something of feminine purport. In truth, it had been with the
side-glance only of his mind that he had observed these persons; it was
Miriam who filled and overflowed the central scope of his vision. How
beautiful and adorable she was! He had loved and adored her previously to
the poor extent of his mortal compass; but now he saw loveliness and
splendor—an harmonious interfusing of soul and flesh—an illumination of
the transient with the deathless—such as made him blush with a kind of
divine embarrassment, as if he had no right to such a revelation. Was it
possible that a creature so transcendent loved him?
“Miriam, Miriam!” he muttered.
Ah! She had heard him! What a start she gave; and as she turned, the
marvelous glory of her aura flashed out and mingled with him. He felt the
beating of her heart as if it were his own, and her nerves thrilling in
rime with his. She was about to utter his name, but something prompted him
to make a gesture of silence. This was not the moment to make known their
secret. Gazing at her, he saw the misgiving of his death shudder through
her, and spontaneously there surged from him a response so tumultuous with
inexhaustible life that she was at once reassured. She did not yet
understand, but she knew!
He had learned much concerning his own state and powers in the few moments
of his sojourn here, but Miriam’s initiation was almost instantaneous.
Love opened all gates and shone through all windows; and her incarnate
self took him by the hand and gave him full consciousness on the earthly
plane, while retaining his spiritual powers. She, on her side, combined
with her natural senses the perception of what was above the natural, and
saw him and what belonged to his state as he saw her and hers. Such a
fulness of communion was ineffable. Their auras blended and kindled into
new exaltations, brimming with speech and vision. The pages of their
memories lay open before them as living pictures of the events recorded,
to be comprehended at a glance; and words spoken in the spirit conveyed
significances which no eloquent volubility of earthly tongues could rival.
Nevertheless, this boundless speech, descending from its superior degree
into the lower, took on there the outward form of mortal utterances, as
the endlessness of productivity is enclosed in the simple seed sown in the
soil. Conversing together in what, to earthly ears, would seem the
simplest terms, they could impart to each other kingdoms of meanings
intelligible to the imperial soul.
He and Miriam now stood side by side at the window, and he found himself
able to look freely through her material eyes. The swaying and struggling
of the mob and its confused uproar were visible and audible to him. A
sorry spectacle! But though immeasurably remote from him, and unimportant,
he realized that Miriam was still in the toils of it. And he had come
hither to rescue her!
Her thought spoke to him. “Dearest, will you not take me where you are?
You are free from earth; why may not I be so, also?” The death of the
body, the deliverance of the spirit, and immortality of love unhindered
for them! A touch on the instrument in the next room could compass it!”
“La, miss, it’s gone that hot, all of a sudden!” remarked Jenny, pushing
back the hair from her moist forehead; “like them July days on the beach
last summer! Whatever ails me I don’t know!” She was enveloped in the
fervent sphere of the lovers’ hearts.
“Dere he comes! Pipe ol’ Torpy over dere!” cried Jim, pointing excitedly
to the outskirts of the crowd. “Good t’ing de boss ain’t here; he’d be
runnin’ out and git his nut busted! Don’t yer worry, miss; I’ll pertect
yer!”
Jack had been exquisitely sensitive to the temptation which Miriam
suggested. One stroke for freedom, and all these crudities and absurdities
would pass away from them forever! But the roseate atmosphere that
surrounded them chilled and darkened a trifle as the impulse knocked at
his heart; and the words of the two unconscious mortals made him pause.
What would become of them? Had they not the right to live out their
earthly lives to the end? Clear perception came to him, also, on the
instant, of the greatness of Jim’s devotion and self-abnegation. He felt
humbled before him!
Miriam perused his mind and saw his answer to her plea. She sighed, and
fortified herself to postpone paradise. The thought of her father
strengthened her.
“Yes, love, we will not slight God’s gift,” was her response. The luminous
gold and rose brightened and deepened again, and the delicate filaments
were interwoven in a warp and woof of lovely figures, dancing lightly
through the aerial fabric, keeping time to the measure of their hearts.
They drew nearer.
Contemplating with spiritual sight the scene without, they beheld these
bewildered souls groping pitifully in darkness and ignorance, seeking
through evil and unknown good. Driven helplessly hither and thither by
monstrous spirits of hatred, greed, and terror, they fought and yelled and
reeled in blind frenzies, lost to love and sanity.
And yonder loomed Torpeon, a dark shape of wrath and tyranny, like the
black twist of a tornado reddened with lightnings. He, too, was driven
helpless by accursed powers he knew not, most a slave when he deemed
himself most dominant. He struck vengefully to right and left, laughing
terribly as his victims tumbled, blasted, at his feet, blind to the souls
thus freed who hurtled up unseen to assail him. At times the whole scene
assumed the appearance of a writhing mass of poisonous serpents stinging
one another to death, and the great serpent in the midst, venom oozing
from his bloody jaws, burying his fangs in his own swollen coils. And
Jack, an hour since, had longed to add his strength to make this horror
yet more horrible! He groaned in humiliation.
“They are our fellow creatures; let us go out and save them!” said Miriam.
“You!” he exclaimed, disturbed. “Remember Torpeon’s mark! I will go!”
She smiled into his eyes. “I no longer fear it, or him; and you cannot
prevail alone.”
Jenny and Jim were absorbed in the excitement of the battle. Neither saw
Miriam turn from the window and pass out of the room, apparently alone.