Page:The Great Secret.djvu/90

74 Romans with the Sabine women, and so get a new race. At present he only wanted women to allure and keep the men interested in their fell work. He did not want domestic sloth and content, and these women were all vicious enough to serve his purpose.

He would take them to this sterile land in the South Seas, where the Antarctic stream encircled and chilled, and there he would perfect his plans. There were forces of Nature there that suited his purposes exactly, and his followers would not be too happy, for a happy ease of life never yet made a good Anarchist. They would have to do much and suffer much to make life even endurable on that sterile land; therefore they would be eager to take their leave of it when he bade them.

As for the false and depraved Jezebels who were with them, who were more soul-wearying than the shores they were hastening towards, how gladly would the victims of their stale witcheries hail action to be rid of such companions.

The doctor smiled gently as he thought on these matters, and poured oil on the little stormy waters that so constantly bubbled up around him. He was of cleanly habits himself, and dainty and precise in his tastes, but he was too profound a philosopher to be in the least degree disgusted at the dirt about him. He liked a sumptuous chamber, yet he would be content with the commonest doss-house, for he felt Jove-like with his infernal knowledge and power.