"Where all things end!" I repeated--"Surely where life exists there is
no end?"
She gave me a fleeting smile.
"Life is a dream,"--she said--"And the things of life are dreams within
the dream! There are no realities. You imagine truths which are
deceptions."
I looked at her in wonder and bewilderment. She was beautiful--and the
calm sadness of her eyes expressed compassion and tenderness.
"Then--is Creation a lie?" I asked.
She made no immediate answer, but pointed with one hand towards the
dark water. I looked, and uttered a cry of ecstasy--there, shining in
the heaving blackness like a vision from fairyland, was the
'Dream'--glittering from stem to stern with light that sparkled like
millions of diamonds!
"Your Dream of Love!" said the woman beside me--"Behold it for the last
time!"
With straining eyes and beating heart I watched--and saw the shining
vessel begin to sink slowly into the deep watery blackness--down, down
still lower, till only her masts were visible--then something defiant
and forceful sprang up within me,--I would master this torture, I
thought--I would not yield to the agony that threatened to drive me to
utter despair.
"This is a phantom of sorrow!"--I said--"It has no meaning! The love
that is in my heart is my own!--it is my life, my soul, my inmost
being!--it is eternal as God Himself, and to Him I commend it!"
I spoke these words aloud, holding the book of the 'Secret of Life'
clasped to my breast--and raised my eyes trustfully to the dense
darkness which should have been the sky. Then I felt the woman's hand
on mine. Her touch was warm and gentle.
"Come!" she said, softly.
And I saw a small boat slip out on the gloomy water, guided towards me
by One whose face was hidden in a fold of black. My companion drew me
with her and signed to me to enter. Something in myself, as well as in
her looks, impelled me to obey, and as she stepped into the boat I
followed. We were borne along in silence for what seemed to me a long
time, till suddenly I began to hear strange sounds of wailing, and
shuddering cries of appeal, and our darkness was lightened by the
drifting to and fro of pale forms that were luminous and human in shape
though scarcely of human resemblance.
"What are these?" I whispered.
My companion took my hand and held it.
"Listen!" she answered.
And gradually, out of a clamour of weeping and complaint, I heard
voices which uttered distinct things.
"I am the Phantom of Wealth"--said one--"For me men and nations have
rushed on destruction,--for me they have sacrificed happiness and
missed the way to God! For me innocence has been betrayed and honour
murdered. I am but a Shadow, but the world follows me as if I were
Light--I am but the gold dust of earth, and men take me for the glory
of Heaven!"
"I am the Phantom of Fame"--said another--"I come with music and sweet
promises--I float before the eyes of man, seeming to him an Angel!--I
speak of triumph and power!--and for me brave hearts have broken, and
bright spirits have been doomed to despair! I am but a Shadow--but the
world believes me Substance--I am but a breath and a colour, but men
take me for a fixed Star!"
"I am the Phantom of Pride!"--said a third voice--"For me humanity
scales the height of ambition--for my sake king's and queens occupy
uneasy thrones, and surround themselves with pomp and panoply--for me
men lie and cheat and wrong their neighbours--for me the homes that
should be happy are laid waste--for me false laws are made and evil
conquers good I am but a Shadow--and the world takes me for the Sun!--I
am but a passing flash of light, and men take me for the perfect Day!"
Other voices joined in and echoed wildly around me--and I rose up in
the boat, loosing my hold from the clasp of the woman who was with me.
"You are phantoms all!" I cried, half unconscious of my own words--"I
want God's angels! Where is Love?"
The voices ceased--the strange flitting figures that wailed round me
faded away into mist, and disappeared--and a light, deep and golden and
wonderful, began to shine through the gloom. My companion spoke.
"We have been looking at dreams,"--she said--"You ask for the only
Real!"