Page:The Great Secret.djvu/133

Rh you the rest, for she has been here a long time and knows everything,"

"Hardly anything yet," answered the beautiful woman, "but I am learning some of the wonders of creation. But you are thirsty and hungry, therefore eat, for we have a journey to take as soon as you are satisfied."

It seemed strange, if they were spirits, how they should want to eat and drink, yet for all its apparent incongruity the invitation was grateful to one and all; therefore they sat down and permitted their beautiful attendants to wait upon them while they partook of the viands placed before them.

"Philip," said Adela, looking up with shining eyes, and a face so transfigured with joy that Philip Mortlake could hardly recognise her, "I did not tell you about that one sorrow of my past which has now become my joy, for I thought that she was lost to me forever."

"What has been is never lost," said the queen-like woman calmly.

Philip observed that the food which they were eating was composed entirely of the produce of the earth—grain and fruit, with what animals give without sacrifice. No life had been taken to cater for this repast, yet it was delicious and satisfying. He looked towards the miserable criminals by the wall and felt a sudden pity for them, and a desire to share with them also. The woman Hesperia, as if she had heard his desire, looked at him and said gently,—

"We have come for you, the victims. Our food would be insipid and distasteful to those blood-stained spirits. They will be taken care of presently by their own kind."

Even while she spoke and pointed towards the