ltBi^fe^^<gMK?JQ0GWaWJ<rKJMWB*egWaiOarffIMrgW5OC^^ 
 
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 PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 DuUe University 
 Rare books 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 i 
 
•05 N E W NOVELS^ 
 
 NARCISSUS ^ „. , „ „ 
 
 By Viola Meynell 
 
 THE IRON AGE 
 
 By F. Brett Young 
 
 MAKING MONEY 
 
 By Owen Johnson 
 
 THE KING'S MEN 
 
 By John Palmer 
 
 L. S. D. , , , 
 
 By Bohun Lynch 
 
 CASUALS OF THE SEA 
 
 By William McFee 
 
 THE TRUE DIMENSION 
 
 By Warrington Dawson 
 
 THE CREATED LEGEND 
 
 By Feodor Sologub 
 
 MARTIN SEGKER 
 ^ M C M X V I ^ 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 A FANTASY 
 
 BY H. M. VAUGHAN 
 
 F. S. A. 
 
 " Wile thoic know how farre the 
 Star res work upon us?" 
 
 Anatomy of Melancholy 
 
 (Parti., sect, ii., sub-sect, iv.) 
 
 LONDON 
 MARTIN SECKER 
 
 NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET 
 ADELPHI 
 
First Published igi6 
 

 U\oPxPi 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 PAQB 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 7 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 15 
 
 PART TWO 
 
 199 
 
 EPIGRAPH 
 
 308 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/meleagerfantasyOOvaug 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 {By the Editor of the Original MS., the late 
 Edward Cayley, F.S.A.) 
 
 In giving the following narrative to the Press, 1 
 feel, as its editor, I am bound to write a short preface 
 of apology or explanation to such of the public as 
 care to read these pages. But I shall be as brief 
 as possible. 
 
 The manuscript, which is here produced in printed 
 form, came into my personal possession through the 
 
 kindness of Sir W Y , the eminent traveller 
 
 and mountaineer, who chanced upon it under the 
 following circumstances. Whilst engaged in some 
 work of exploration in the Andes, at the height of 
 12,000 feet or thereabouts above sea- level, he and 
 his party had to traverse a dry stony ravine. On 
 their passage upward one of the attendant guides 
 chanced to espy amongst the loose stones and rubble 
 a plain white metal cylinder sealed at both ends. 
 Except for a conspicuous dent, evidently the result 
 of a heavy fall, the cylinder itself appeared un- 
 injured, and it was immediately brought by the 
 
 finder to Sir W , as the leader of the party. 
 
 Sir W stopped for a moment to examine this 
 
 strange treasure- trove, and, though much pressed 
 for time, was able to loosen the cover and to 
 
 7 
 
MEL EAGER 
 
 ascertain that the cylinder contained a large scroll 
 of fine vellum closely covered with minute writing. In 
 
 the fading light, Sir W , who had many matters 
 
 of professional importance to think of, gave only a 
 cursory glance at the manuscript itself, which he 
 fancied must be connected with some of the ancient 
 inhabitants of Peru. Without examining the parch- 
 ment closely, he thereupon packed away the cylinder 
 in his baggage and made no further effort to eluci- 
 date its nature until his return to Lima. My friend 
 was here considerably astonished to find that the 
 MS. which had so strangely fallen into his hands 
 was written, not in some antique or unknown 
 language and characters, but in neat though exceed- 
 ingly small English script, with the sole exception 
 of one short sentence in Latin — added apparently 
 by another hand and in a different ink — in which 
 the Latin writer begged the finder of the cylinder 
 to take the enclosed scroll of vellum to the nearest 
 English or American consulate. But for this Latin 
 request, which was inserted at the beginning of the 
 manuscript in a most prominent manner, the whole 
 was written in fair nervous Enghsh, which it became 
 easy to decipher, so soon as the reader had grown 
 accustomed to the crabbedness of the writing, that 
 had evidently been produced by an exiguity of 
 space. 
 
 By one of those curious but happy chances which 
 
 sometimes occur in life. Sir W was still more 
 
 astonished to discover that the name of the author 
 
 8 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 was not only familiar to him, but that he actually 
 had once owned a slight acquaintance with him. 
 
 More than this, Sir W , who is one of my dearest 
 
 and oldest friends, knew that I had been intimate 
 with the wiiter of this parchment, who (as he 
 
 thought) had been dead for some years. Sir W 
 
 therefore, though greatly puzzled by the whole 
 inscrutable occurrence, very wisely made no further 
 mention of his discovery, but on his return to 
 England brought the manuscript direct to me at my 
 room in the British Museum. After a long discus- 
 sion between us. Sir W voluntarily made over 
 
 all arrangements in the matter of publishing or 
 suppressing the contents of the scroll to myself, 
 and indeed, so to speak, washed his hands of all 
 further responsibility in the matter, which had 
 apparently somewhat affected his nerves or his 
 spirits. I have only to add, with regard to the 
 
 original owner of the MS., that Sir W , when 
 
 at Lima, showed the metal case to various persons 
 employed at the museum there, and that all these 
 experts unanimously declared that this object itself 
 could never have been produced by any of the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of Peru; whilst the metal, 
 a species of platinum, was, so far as they were 
 aware, unknown on our planet. And this verdict 
 of the officials at Lima is, I believe, perfectly correct. 
 As to the authenticity of the MS., I may at once 
 state that the account contained therein coincides 
 in every particular with the evidence that was 
 
 9 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 produced at the time of its alleged author's mysteri- 
 ous disappearance. I have had for many years 
 an intimate acquaintance, amounting to a cordial 
 
 friendship, with the writer, A B . I do not 
 
 necessarily concur with all that he states later on 
 as to his exceptional mental gifts ; nor do I consider 
 his close self- analysis as altogether a correct one. 
 Still, I think his own views on his attainments, his 
 natural genius, his complete failure, and his out- 
 look on life are sincere. Though highly nervous 
 ana sensitive by nature, and a prey to constant 
 fits of depression, neither I nor any of his friends, 
 would ever have suspected him of a tendency to 
 suicide. We were indeed, all of us, fully as sur- 
 prised as we were grieved to learn through the news- 
 papers of November , 19 — , the details of what 
 
 we most assm'edly at that date considered to have 
 been his own deliberate act of self-destruction. 
 
 For there can be no question but that A B 
 
 had made beforehand plans for his contemplated 
 disappearance; the letter of instruction he wrote 
 to his brother, the careful packing of his valuables 
 at his lodgings, and the sudden payment on the 
 morning that he was last seen of certain outstanding 
 bills clearly point to this surmise. We are however 
 now confronted since the strange discovery of the 
 manuscript with two theories as to his end ; did 
 
 A B really perish on the beach at Dover ; 
 
 or did he evanish from his own world of men in 
 order to start a new life under new conditions ? His 
 
 10 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 clothing, we know, was found lying on the bare 
 ground carefully held down by stones and boulders, 
 and in his pockets were some money and a few 
 personal trifles of value. Nevertheless, it is just 
 possible he may have changed into some other garb, 
 and thus disguised have made his escape whither 
 none could trace him. This second theory is 
 however highly improbable, seeing that his age was 
 over forty, his temperament on the whole normal, 
 and his health indifferent ; so that I merely mention 
 it here to show that the suggestion has not escaped 
 my own inquiring mind. The conclusion however 
 which both the police and his relatives held was 
 
 that A B had in some fit of frenzy or despair 
 
 plunged naked into the sea, wherein he had been 
 speedily drowned ; for it was a cold stormy night. 
 It is true the actual body was never recovered, but 
 professional and amateur alike were agreed on the 
 point of suicide whilst of unsound mind. That the 
 manuscript is a literary jest perpetrated in the name 
 
 of A B is also most unlikely, for though 
 
 he was an author of some talent and repute, his 
 mere name certainly had not the glamour requisite 
 to draw special attention to any posthumous pub- 
 lication. At the risk therefore of being considered 
 credulous, or even crazy, I have come to the deliber- 
 ate decision that the whole marvellous story as set 
 forth on the parchment is essentially true ; and 
 that the events described therein are not the 
 figments of any imagination, sane or insane. If 
 
 11 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 this is the case (which I do not for one moment 
 doubt), then we possess an inestimable account of 
 a planet other than our own. On the other hand, 
 were it a fraud of an elaborate nature, as has been 
 suggested, we have simply a treatise deahng with a 
 Utopia in the stars, just one of those sterile semi- 
 descriptive, semi- political elusions that the specula- 
 tive human mind has produced from time to time. 
 The record of Meleager and of its unique Secret, 
 of which the author claims to know the existence 
 but not the working details, is either a matter of 
 surpassing interest, or else it is but a literary trifle, 
 a jejune compound of material borrowed from 
 Plato, Sir Thomas More, Rabelais, James Harington, 
 Dean Swift, Samuel Butler, H. G. Wells, and 
 Heaven only knows how many other inventors 
 in a similar vein, both ancient and modern, English 
 and foreign. Once more I repeat my full belief 
 in the writer's veracity and in the substantial 
 truth of all his many adventures. As I write 
 this, I have lying on my desk before me that 
 same strange metal cylinder, and that exquisitely 
 prepared roll of vellum ; and whenever I take these 
 objects in my hands I really feel that I am fingering 
 a message in a tangible form from a friend and 
 fellow-mortal who has passed hence to another 
 planet. 
 
 I have only to add that in editing the MS. I have 
 deemed it expedient to omit here and there a few 
 passages which might perhaps tend to prejudice 
 
 12 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the reader against A B himself; the fact 
 
 being patent to me that the author, after some years 
 of residence in another and a wholly diverse moral 
 and physical atmosphere, has somehow imbibed 
 notions and theories that may clash with some of 
 the recognised conventions and standards of this 
 our world, which was also once his own. These 
 omissions do not however mar the general trend 
 of the narrative ; and if any authorised persons 
 may conceive a serious desire to peruse these 
 excerpts, I shall willingly acquaint them with what 
 is missing from the text. 
 
 13 
 
PART ONE 
 
I BEGIN my manuscript in the palace of the Child 
 of the Sun in a distant world, thus relieving a mind 
 that is apt to grow weary of mere splendour and 
 adulation by imagining the possibility of com- 
 municating on some future day with those who were 
 not so long ago my fellow- men and fellow- mortals 
 on the planet I have left, never to return. Though 
 brightness and beauty are around me in my new 
 abode, yet a constant longing for the drab unattain- 
 able past grips me with a feverish eagerness, so that 
 I find some small solace in placing on record from 
 time to time my impressions of a place and a people 
 whose existence I had never suspected until a few 
 hours before I was hurried, a humble subject out 
 of the Earth, to dwell as ruler of an alien sphere. 
 Whether or no I shall ever gain the opportunity of 
 committing this message to its desired goal I know 
 not ; but at the present moment it suits my fancy and 
 soothes my unquiet brain to believe in the ultimate 
 feasibihty of such an event. So I shall open by relat- 
 ing with the utmost brevity the earlier and earthly, 
 and therefore less interesting, portion of my career. 
 I had already passed by some few years the age 
 of forty, at which landmark of life, so Count Alfieri 
 discovered long ago, man ceases to cherish illusions, 
 B 17 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and seeks to look back upon the irredeemable past 
 with feehngs of self-satisfaction or of regret, as his 
 case may be. My own reflections after passing this 
 Eubicon of time were an3rfching but agreeable, when 
 I paused to consider the years that had slipped by 
 between my period of youth and that of middle age, 
 and had to confess that all my early ambitions had 
 petered out in nothingness. I had signally failed 
 in all things ; I had plainly proved myself 
 
 "too weak to put my shoulder to the wheel 
 Which Fortune offers all to push or leave." 
 
 And yet, despite my laziness, my lack of initiative, 
 my sacrifices to dull Convention, my timidity and 
 my vacillation, I could not help harbouring a dull 
 dim fury of resentment against Fate itself. I 
 reahsed that I was the owner of high and original 
 genius, yet this had omitted to imprint its proper 
 mark in the world ; and further, I argued that it was 
 not wholly through my own fault that my latent 
 virtues had never developed. The finest and most 
 useful piece of machinery remains valueless and 
 inert unless there be a skilled workman to set its 
 mechanism in motion, to oil its cogs, and generally 
 to supervise its action. So in my own case, the 
 mental mechanism was all there ready to perform 
 and needing but the touch of a sympathetic human 
 hand to inspire its dormant possibihties. Some of 
 the foremost characters in history have owed their 
 fame and their success to the judicious but un- 
 
 18 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 appreciated help of persons of an inferior calibre, 
 whose very names are often unknown to posterity ; 
 then why could not I have been permitted the 
 service of some exterior force, some understanding 
 coadjutor, to awaken the gigantic strength that 
 was slumbering in myself ? 
 
 Thus in my case a boyhood full of promise, yet 
 a boyhood ever repressed and misunderstood, ripened 
 into an early manhood of diffidence and irresolution. 
 The golden years glided by unprofitably, until at 
 length they reached the grand climacteric, when I 
 found myself straying in a barren and deserted 
 portion of the plain of life. A mental and physical 
 weariness began to enfold me ; the sense of failure 
 at times was certainly keen and cutting as a razor, 
 still I contrived by various devices to blunt its edge. 
 I had indeed obtained some shght distinction in the 
 sphere of literature, so that I was fain to feed my 
 hungry disappointed soul with such crumbs or stale 
 food of gratulation as fell to me from the small 
 circle of those who admired my works, concerning 
 which I myself can honestly say that I neither 
 professed nor felt the smallest pride. A few trifles 
 from my pen may possibly live in the general litera- 
 ture of Britain, mostly in verse, for poetry is often 
 less perishable than prose in such instances as mine. 
 Nevertheless, I recognised myself as a partial failure 
 in the domain of letters, as I was admittedly a 
 complete failure in the departments of pohtics, of 
 thought, of influence, of philosophy. 
 
 19 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Naturally, with such bitter matter for reflection, 
 my equanimity was liable to serious disturbance 
 what time the sharp edge of this haunting sense 
 of a Hfe's bankruptcy pricked my all- too- sensitive 
 skin. At such periods long-drawn fits of depression 
 would invade me. Though at first these would 
 dissolve and would often leave a marked flow of 
 gaiety and hopefulness behind them, yet such 
 attacks grew stronger and more frequent, whilst 
 the subsequent recovery was less ecstatic in its 
 nature. It was during one of these temporary 
 obsessions of brooding care that I encountered the 
 one and only adventure of my life, the adventure 
 indeed that, in one aspect, terminated it, as I shall 
 presently relate. For I have only written thus 
 much concerning my interior state of mind and 
 my physical health to impress on the reader that, 
 apparent failure as I was and void of all worldly 
 success, yet I still possessed the clear inner con- 
 sciousness of mental powers that far exceeded 
 those of all my more fortunate acquaintances, 
 and were perhaps equalled amongst very few 
 contemporary persons whatsoever. My call to 
 action came at last; the master hand at the 
 eleventh hour put the rusty machinery of my 
 unique mind in motion; and I have answered to 
 that call, and am now employing for a worthy 
 purpose those superior talents that, not altogether 
 by reason of my own laches, had so long lain idle. 
 
 20 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 One November evening in the year 19 — , whilst 
 under the shadow of one of my recurring moods of 
 melancholy, I made my way to the Cafe Koyale in 
 Regent Street, where I sat down and ordered a glass 
 of absinthe. And here I may as well state that I am 
 no drunkard, and that I have never sought to dispel 
 my fits of depression by the aid of the wine- cup. 
 Occasionally, however, I used to drink a glass of 
 absinthe, as an excuse for visiting this foreign 
 tavern, this latter-day Petty France in London, 
 whose alien quality always tended to reduce my 
 misery, for I found relaxation in the gruff Continental 
 voices of the guests, in the sight and scent of the 
 foreign liquors, in the garish Parisian decorations 
 of the long low room, and in the unceasing chink of 
 the dominoes on the marble-topped tables. I had 
 already poured the ice-cold water upon the thin 
 tablet of sugar reposing on the silver sifter that I 
 had placed across the goblet, and was watching the 
 clouded liquor below assume the yellow and green 
 tints of the peridot, when I noticed a stranger enter 
 the doorway, glance quickly round at the noisy 
 crowd assembled, and then seat himself deliberately 
 in the vacant chair opposite to me. With a languid 
 interest I observed the new-comer, trpng to recall 
 his face, which somehow seemed vaguely familiar to 
 me. As this personage is to figure presently as my 
 liberator, my mentor, my particular deus ex machind, 
 I may as well describe him here to the best of my 
 ability. He was short, and a little inclined to 
 
 21 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 stoutness; he was apparently about my own age, 
 and was fashionably but quietly dressed; he was 
 also obviously not an Englishman. His complexion 
 was swarthy, even hinting at some possible ad- 
 mixture of Oriental blood, but his features were 
 small, regular and far from unpleasing. His dark 
 hair and moustache were grizzled ; he had intelligent 
 brown eyes and regular teeth ; his voice showed 
 an agreeable intonation as he ordered Fran9ois 
 to bring him some coffee. Having given his order, 
 the stranger looked fixedly at me for a moment, 
 the while stroking his chin with a delicate well-kept 
 hand. Suddenly he addressed me, only to offer me 
 the evening paper which he had brought with him. 
 I thanked him, and seeing him thus anxious to 
 converse, I made some commonplace remark on the 
 badness of the weather. He replied with alacrity, 
 and by the time the waiter had returned with his 
 coffee the stranger and I were chatting affably. 
 He spoke excellent English, but with an accent that 
 caused me to speculate on his possible nationality. 
 After we had indulged thus in small talk for ten 
 minutes or more, my neighbour, assuming a graceful 
 hesitation of manner, inquired of me whether my 
 
 name were not A B . Greatly surprised, I 
 
 assented; whereupon the foreigner, with a well-bred 
 apology for what he called his liberty of attitude 
 towards me, stated that he was a sincere admirer of 
 my books, and then proceeded to allude to them in 
 a manner which showed plainly enough that at least 
 
 22 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 he had read them. He praised my work warmly, 
 compHmented me on the subjects I had chosen for 
 research, on my lucid style and on other points. 
 Now, there are few persons who are not susceptible 
 to praise or flattery, and I am no exception to the 
 general rule, provided only that the praise (or 
 flattery) be applied with a delicate brush and not 
 with a trowel. The discriminating approval there- 
 fore of this distinguished- looking foreigner acted 
 like a sedative to my jarred nerves, so that the cloud 
 of depression hanging over my head began rapidly 
 to disperse. We talked and argued with animation 
 over my books and their themes, with which my 
 unknown companion seemed to possess a most 
 intimate acquaintance. Time raced rapidly during 
 this congenial duologue, the clock above the bar 
 denoting the flight of a full hour before my comrade 
 broached the matter of his own identity, which could 
 scarcely in politeness be withheld much longer. 
 Taking a leather case from his breast-pocket, he 
 produced a visiting card, which he handed to me, 
 explaining to me at the same moment that he was 
 of Italian parentage though born in the Argentine, 
 where he followed the occupation of a merchant 
 in connection with a large English commercial 
 house holding concessions in Peru and Bolivia. The 
 card bore the name " Signor Arrigo d'Aragno," and 
 an address in Buenos Aires. Then, glancing hastily 
 at the clock, he made some remark about an im- 
 portant business appointment and expressed deep 
 
 23 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 concern at this abrupt ending of our agreeable 
 conversation. With some sHght hesitation however 
 he ventured to ask whether I would not give him 
 the extreme pleasure of my company at dinner that 
 night, provided I would excuse such an invitation 
 from a complete stranger after so short an acquaint- 
 ance. I happened to be disengaged that day, 
 with the uninviting prospect of a solitary evening 
 at my club before me ; and my alacrity in accepting 
 his hospitahty caused obvious satisfaction to Signor 
 d'Aragno, who named one of the large London 
 hotels for our trysting- place. We shook hands 
 cordially, and separated with a warm a rivederla. 
 
 Arrived punctually at eight o'clock at the 
 
 Hotel, I was shown upstairs to my host's private 
 apartment, and a few moments later we two were 
 sitting at table and resuming our interrupted dis- 
 cussion of the Cafe Royale. By the time we had 
 reached the stage of dessert, and the waiters had 
 retired, this topic had somewhat flagged, and the 
 conversation now took on a more personal com- 
 plexion. The praise that had hitherto been lavishly 
 accorded to my books was now deftly and tactfully 
 — though of course I was unaware of the change 
 at the actual time — shifted to myself and my 
 exceptional gifts of mind. Leading skilfully from 
 one point to another, d'Aragno finally stated his 
 opinion that my inherent genius, my political views, 
 and my remarkable culture were altogether such as 
 
 24 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 marked me out as a person born to rule, as a 
 Homeric anax andron. The generous wine I had 
 swallowed, the intoxicating but judicious adulation 
 and insinuating personality of my host alike operated 
 to arouse in me that keen desire for power I had 
 ofttimes secretly indulged in; whilst at the same 
 time they generated an indescribable sense of 
 bitterness against the world at large for its neglect 
 or ignorance of so marvellous a genius as mine. I 
 am certain now (though at the time I was quite un- 
 conscious of its employment) the will of my com- 
 panion was working with every force at its command 
 to communicate with my brain and to instil therein 
 the full appreciation of the special object he had 
 in view. We proceeded to higher and higher planes 
 of argument ; the famous names of history fell 
 frequently from our lips, as we spoke of the ideal 
 Prince of Machiavelli, of the demi-god of Corsica, 
 of the super- man of Nietzsche, of the mystical powers 
 wielded by the Pope of Eome and the Dalai Lama. 
 The hours flew by on rosy wings; midnight had 
 passed, and the gong of Big Ben had just hurled 
 its solitary stroke of one o'clock booming through 
 the dank foggy air without that enveloped a London 
 grown at last comparatively silent. How well do I 
 recall that precise moment ! The reverberation of the 
 clanging knell had scarcely subsided when my host, 
 making a brusque movement in his chair, bluntly 
 placed the great proposition before me, and offered 
 me a kingdom, though not a kingdom of this world ! 
 
 25 
 
II 
 
 Before attempting to give a short and, I hope, a 
 tolerably coherent account of my lengthy nocturnal 
 interview with Arrigo d'Aragno, of his amazing 
 statements and proposals, and of my own half- 
 hearted and intermittent struggles against his 
 invading powers of persuasion, I must state first of 
 all that the whole incident rises before me at this 
 moment with crystal clearness. Even now, in these 
 exotic surroundings, I can see with my mind's eye 
 that commonplace hotel parlour with its ugly 
 luxurious furniture and its flamboyant wall-paper 
 of scarlet patterned with a design of raised and gilded 
 vine- leaves. In this room for several hours my host 
 continued to address me with scarcely a pause, 
 except at one or two points when I feebly ventured 
 to stem the torrent of his extraordinary discourse. 
 The open allurements, the veiled warnings, the 
 cynical wisdom, the biting indictments of our own 
 existing conditions of society, together composed a 
 strange medley of arguments, which were intended 
 to convince me of the absolute necessity of my 
 immediate and unconditional submission to his 
 carefully prepared scheme. And this scheme was 
 no less than the complete surrender of myself, mind 
 
 26 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and body, into his keeping for the purpose of being 
 transported whilst in an unconscious or comatose 
 state and by some hidden means to another planet ! 
 I cannot of course recall the whole of that prodigal 
 information, nor all the astonishing things he con- 
 fided in me ; but I do remember vividly throughout 
 the whole of this mental ordeal that I always 
 remained fully aware of my host' s sanity. He talked 
 the dreams of madmen, as judged by our con- 
 ventional standards of science and belief; yet I 
 knew, instinctively knew, all his bizarre statements 
 to be fact and not fiction. Was some irresistible 
 hypnotic force, I wonder, emanating from that will 
 and besieging my own overwrought brain, to compel 
 my full credence in the apparently incredible ? In 
 any case, believe I did absolutely. I grew to realise 
 also, dimly at first, but with increasing clarity, that 
 a refusal on my part was now practically unthink- 
 able. Of a truth my choice lay between a swift and 
 certain death on Earth and a new career in another 
 planet ; and as the ties that bound me to Earth 
 were neither very strong nor very dear, whilst my 
 curiosity was boundless, I was filled with tense 
 excitement but not with real alarm at the prospect 
 opened before me. With hardly an attempt at 
 opposition, therefore, I allowed myself to become 
 permeated through and through with the psychical 
 current of my companion's will to power, ignoring 
 my shrewd presentiment of intense danger ahead in 
 the event of my seeking to decline that which I most 
 
 27 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 ardently longed for despite a few passing qualms. 
 Beyond a doubt I was completely in the toils, but I 
 experienced no anxiety to escape thence. 
 
 Directing his eyes full upon my face with a con- 
 centrated stare that held my attention fixed and 
 unwavering, d'Aragno started, and his harangue 
 proceeded with scarcely a break for four hours, of 
 which here I can only inscribe a few disjointed 
 fragments. " You progressive and enlightened 
 peoples of the important planet known as the Earth 
 have in your own estimation acquired an immense 
 store of knowledge, not only of things terrestrial 
 but also of the entire scheme celestial. Your 
 astronomers talk glibly of the presence of various 
 metals in the Moon, of the luminous rings of Saturn, 
 of artificial canals in Mars ; you reckon with accuracy 
 on the times and seasons of the wandering comets 
 which you christen by the names of their dis- 
 coverers — and yet, and yet you have not learnt our 
 secret. The Secret ! . . . 
 
 " On your aerial charts there is marked a tiny 
 planet belonging to our solar system which your 
 scientists, following an absurd method of nomen- 
 clature from the venue of classical mythology, have 
 dubbed Meleager. Being small, it is held of no 
 account by your star-gazing wiseacres, whilst the 
 average layman of intelligence has probably never 
 so much as heard its name. Is not that so ? Have 
 you yourself any knowledge of its existence ? ( I 
 
 28 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 shook my head.) Now let me tell you that Meleager 
 is an Earth in miniature ; its inhabitants, its natural 
 features, its vegetation, its fauna have all developed 
 mider identical conditions in the past, so that, were 
 any traveller from Herthus to be unexpectedly 
 translated thither, he would almost certainly imagine 
 he had only found his way to some hitherto un- 
 explored subtropical region of his own Earth. / 
 am a native of Meleager, and I am moreover one of 
 its small band of citizens who possess its secret, 
 which has been handed down from its original 
 inventors to their successors through comitless 
 centuries of time. How, when and by whom The 
 Secret came into existence I know not; and did 
 I know, I should not inform you ; but this much I 
 am empowered to say ; there is intercommunication 
 of long standing between our small planet and your 
 larger one ; or rather, to use exact language, a 
 limited knot of persons in Meleager own the power 
 of visiting your Earth from time to time for certain 
 purposes, one of which I shall presently disclose to 
 you, as it concerns intimately our meeting and 
 conversation this night. It is now five years and 
 more since I have been dwelling in an alien world, 
 making a careful scrutiny in connection with the 
 mission that has been entrusted me by the inner- 
 most circle of the ruling caste which alone controls 
 the polity of Meleager. I am, as it were, an 
 ambassador to the Earth, but one whose credentials 
 have never been presented, who has no staff of 
 
 29 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 legation, no chancellery, and whose position is one- 
 sided, for it is unknown to, and unacknowledged by, 
 the countries to which he has been sent. I have been 
 commanded to inquire into and report upon many 
 terrestrial matters of concern to us, but my leading 
 task is being brought to its termination to-day. . . . 
 " My supreme duty is to choose an earth-born 
 King for our planet. Our constitution, which is 
 the logical outcome of the most deliberate and 
 far-seeing policy for many generations, requires the 
 presence in our midst of a sovereign drawn from 
 another sphere, and that sphere is of necessity the 
 Earth, for we in Meleager hold no communication 
 with any other planet in Cosmos. At intervals, as 
 expediency or necessity may dictate, a new king has 
 to be sought and found by the Meleagrian envoy on 
 the Earth, whose task presents, as you may suppose, 
 extreme, well-nigh insuperable difficulties. I am 
 tied down by certain stringent rules, and to those 
 rules I must strictly adhere. We demand a man, 
 of intelligence, a man of good birth and breeding, 
 one of fine presence, and last of all an individual 
 of a fair complexion and with blue eyes. This final 
 condition may strike you as absurd, but then the 
 Meleagrians are a dark race with dark skins and 
 dark eyes and hair, as you may perceive in my own 
 person ; and in their fixed opinion their extraneous 
 ruler must be the scion of an immortal stock, a 
 member of the family of the Sun, who alone is 
 worshipped in Meleager. Our priests by the aid 
 
 30 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of cunning devices and mystical potions, as also by 
 means of the waters of a certain Fomitain of Re- 
 juvenation, whose exact locale is only known to our 
 Arch- priest and a few chosen colleagues, can improve 
 both mentally and bodily the individual who is 
 translated and handed over to their care. Never- 
 theless, the raw material counts for a good deal — as 
 you express it in one of your homely English 
 proverbs : ' One cannot make a silk purse out 
 of a sow's ear ' ; and on the same analogy even our 
 skilful ministers of state would be unable to con- 
 struct the true substance of a Child of the Sun- god 
 out of an inferior Herthian mortal. The nicest 
 caution has therefore to be observed in the work of 
 selection. For nearly three years now I have been 
 busily seeking, and can at last congratulate myself 
 on having obtained the requisite material, the 
 potential dross that will later be converted into pure 
 gold. For some time past I have been on your 
 track without arousing the smallest suspicion in 
 your mind, and now at length I have grasped the 
 favourable, the critical, the final moment in which 
 I claim you for this most exalted, and indeed most 
 sacred office. . . . 
 
 " You are thoroughly out of touch with your own 
 age and with your own country in a special degree, 
 and for my purpose yom' deep-rooted dissatisfaction 
 causes in me on the contrary the most intense 
 satisfaction. You have grown disgusted with the 
 decadence of your Royal House ; you are sick of the 
 
 31 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 greed and frivolity of your aristocracy ; you abhor 
 the mischievous methods and aims of your un- 
 scrupulous demagogues in power ; you shrink from 
 the violence and brutishness of your all-powerful 
 mob ; you lament the utter incapacity of the few 
 serious and honest politicians who yet survive. You 
 mourn over the industrial devastation and the 
 uglifying of your once- beautiful world ; you turn 
 with horror from the blatant arrogance of the ruling 
 gang of financiers, who with the besotted populace 
 mean to involve the whole world in a final sordid 
 struggle for mastery. On all sides you see nothing 
 but rapid change upon change, all for the worse; 
 the rooting- out of all that is good, artistic and 
 ennobling, and the substitution of all that is vile 
 and mercenary. . . . 
 
 " You are obsessed with the same hatred of this 
 evil transformation as are we ourselves, the ruling 
 body in Meleager, who utilise your planet now, not 
 as in the past for purposes of imitation and guidance, 
 but for serious warnings as to what to avoid in our 
 own future course of polity. For in Meleager we 
 still set before us as our main striving- point Univer- 
 versal Content, not so-called industrial and educa- 
 tional Progress and the mere amassing of wealth. 
 The happiness of all is, and always has been, the 
 sole aim of our statesmen, and we firmly hold that 
 the various theories of equality that are so advertised 
 and belauded on your Earth are in reality most 
 deadly poisons that are being injected into the 
 
 32 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 corporate mass of humanity. One of the leading 
 saints of your Christian Church has wisely said that 
 in every house are to be found vessels alike formed 
 to honour and to dishonour, yet that, as they are 
 all equally necessary, so viewed in that reasonable 
 hght are they all equally honourable. Thus in our 
 government of Meleager do we recognise the clear 
 necessity of the various grades of society which form 
 the total fabric of every healthy and happy state ; 
 whilst we reject with scorn and loathing the specious 
 notions that, under the guise of an equality that 
 has no real existence, endeavour to weld all society 
 into one drab dismal detestable whole. . . . 
 
 " Nowadays everything that is ordered or orderly 
 you worldlings have set out to destroy. Your 
 barbarian hordes broke up the stable Roman 
 Empire ; your fanatical reformers and greedy 
 monarchs destroyed the consolidating features of 
 the Middle Ages, which though very far from being 
 perfect yet presented many illuminating features 
 which we deemed expedient to copy in Meleager. 
 In recent years your death- dealing guns and your 
 proselji^ising emissaries have destroyed wantonly the 
 vast matured civilisations of China and Japan and 
 Burmah, which are now rapidly casting out all their 
 antique virtues and are fast absorbing all the vice 
 and vulgarity of the West. Every community, 
 howsoever poor or insignificant, yet content to work 
 out its own salvation and be governed by its own 
 ancient laws and customs, and consequently happy 
 c 33 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and healthy according to its own hghts, you have 
 disturbed and dismembered. . . . 
 
 " Everywhere and every day the beautiful is 
 retreating before the utilitarian; smoke and noise 
 pollute the greenest and loveliest valleys of Europe 
 and America ; dirt and disease increase in spite of 
 your imdoubted advances in medical science, whose 
 services are given over to the individual who will pay 
 for them rather than to the community at large. 
 One sees the feeble and the cretinous of your world 
 breeding like flies, whilst those of a better condition 
 and in sound health are found too selfish and too 
 tenacious of their ease to undertake the trouble 
 or expense connected with the rearing of a family. 
 Epidemics continue, and in the form of a gift of 
 Western civilisation are allowed to sweep away 
 whole tribes and nations of wholesome primitive 
 peoples ; your most loathsome and yet preventable 
 diseases of contagion still hold sway, either by 
 reason of your own indifference or from false ideals 
 of a prudery that, I confess, wholly passes my own 
 comprehension. Over all your Earth the universal 
 craving for wealth at any cost of morals or self- 
 respect has settled like a bhght. All pleasures of 
 the intellect are rapidly ceasing to attract, and the 
 extravagance and debauchery of the ostentatious 
 rich are announced by your odious vassal Press as 
 the sole objects worthy of attainment or imitation 
 to-day. . . . 
 
 " You slaughter and exterminate your rare 
 
 34 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 animals and your beautiful birds in order that your 
 women may adorn themselves with their pelts and 
 plumage, and even now in this cold weather I have 
 watched your fine ladies daily walking in your noisy, 
 crowded streets of London, half- naked yet wholly 
 unashamed, with their limbs and bosoms exposed 
 equally to the bitter wind and the lascivious eye of 
 the stranger, whilst masses of costly furs, the spoils 
 of innocent and peaceful animals, are heaped upon 
 their pampered bodies. . . . 
 
 " Whither are you being driven in this mad 
 stampede after so-called progress and knowledge ? 
 In what morass will this mocking will-o'-the-wisp 
 ultimately entice and overwhelm you ? ... I see 
 chicanery and disbelief possess your churches and 
 their priests ; a clinging to stipends and a craving 
 for personal leadership seem to me to have become 
 the sole guides of such as are themselves supposed 
 to guide their flocks. Everywhere change, restless- 
 ness, cynicism, vulgarity, extravagance, crime, 
 hjrpocrisy, covetousness, greed, cringing, selfishness 
 in every form are rampant; what sensitive mind 
 would not instinctively recoil from contact with 
 such a changing world ? Can a nature such as your 
 own endure to be associated with such a mass of 
 passive squalor and of active evil ? Are you not 
 more than ready to welcome some chance of escape 
 from such an uncongenial environment? . . . 
 
 " As you confess in your heart the utter collapse 
 of your early aims here on Earth — so must you 
 
 36 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 recognise your unique chance to attain to something 
 higher than even you dreamed of in your youthful 
 moods of hope and ambition. You will be re- 
 incarnated as the Child of the Sun, after you are 
 once translated to Meleager. That is a part, but a 
 part only, of The Secret, which perhaps already 
 you are inchned to regard as The Fraud. And yet, 
 if fraud it be, its ultimate aim is a beneficent and 
 unselfish one, for it has been practised in order to 
 keep a whole population happy and content. ..." 
 
 " And herewith I think I had now better give you 
 some instructions, or rather hints, as to your new 
 position and as to your proper attitude towards the 
 governing caste of Meleager on your arrival there. 
 As King, the Child of the Sun is invested with a 
 species of sovereignty that has no exact counter- 
 part on your Earth. Your high ojSice in Meleager 
 partakes in some respects of the nature of a King of 
 England, of a Pope of Rome, of an old-time Sultan 
 of Baghdad, of a modern colonial governor ; yet it 
 is itself no one of these things. To sustain your part 
 you will be reincarnated after your long sleep, and 
 you will awake to find yourself endued with a fresh 
 supply of youth and energy, whilst all your acquired 
 learning and ripe experience of a lifetime already 
 more than half consumed will abide in your brain. 
 There now remains for you the final stage of all on 
 Earth, that of putting yourself and your future 
 unreservedly and confidently in my hands. ..." 
 
 36 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 There followed an abrupt spell of silence in which 
 d'Aragno scrutinised me closely. I knew not why, 
 but I had begun to experience a sort of repulsion 
 against his arrogance in thus presuming obedience 
 on my part before ever I had signified my assent. 
 I felt in some wise bound to protest against this 
 assumption of my readiness to obey, and accord- 
 ingly I made a protest rather out of personal vanity 
 than from any depth of rebellious feeling. 
 
 " And suppose, sir, I decide not to accept your 
 proposal ? Suppose I refuse absolutely and 
 doggedly to accede to yoiu* demand, whatever the 
 consequence to myself ? What then ? " 
 
 D'Aragno rose from his chair, thrust both hands 
 into the pockets of his dress jacket, and took up a 
 position on the hearth-rug before the dying embers 
 of the fire. A curious expression, which I quite 
 failed to analyse, spread over his features, as he 
 regarded me sternly for some moments in silence. 
 At length he spoke : 
 
 " Your objection I do not regard as sincere. It 
 is idle, and has been prompted, I am convinced, 
 by a vague sense of wounded dignity on your part. 
 Perhaps I have been not sufficiently considerate to 
 your proper pride. You are anxious to ' save your 
 face,' as you express it in your Enghsh idiom. 
 I therefore refuse to take your question seriously. 
 You have, I know, in your heart the fullest intention 
 of complying with my arrangements." A pause 
 ensued, and he added with indifference : "In any 
 
 37 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 case, do you suppose for an instant that I have thus 
 spoken to you openly of The Secret with the 
 smallest possibihty of my sharing it with any Uving 
 mortal on your Earth ? In reality you have no choice 
 left you. Whether you follow or refuse to follow 
 my lead, your connection with your own world is 
 already severed. Need I make the case any clearer 
 to an intelhgence such as yours ? " 
 
 Again a spell of silence, which was ended by 
 the harsh five strokes of the Westminster clock 
 resounding through the heavy air. With the final 
 reverberation I bowed my head, and simply said: 
 " I am ready." 
 
 It may have been only my fancy, but I thought I 
 detected a shade of relief pass over that now sinister 
 face; at any rate, the pleasant earnest look had 
 returned when d'Aragno muttered quietly as though 
 to himself; " I never felt a moment's doubt! " 
 
 Again I essayed a question, this time, one that 
 was really agitating my mind : " As I am unalter- 
 ably and inevitably destined to fill the throne of your 
 kingdom in Meleager, surely I may be permitted to 
 ask you for how long a period I am to enjoy the 
 position that has been thus allotted to me ? How 
 many years can I expect to rule in this realm whence 
 there is obviously no return? Is my reign to 
 continue till the end of my natural mortal hfe, or 
 is it to be prolonged indefinitely by mysterious 
 measures, such as you have already hinted at ? " 
 
 D'Aragno stroked his chin meditatively for some 
 
 38 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 minutes and then replied in a placid voice ; " That 
 at least is a reasonable and proper question, though 
 I have not the knowledge to answer it as you could 
 wish or might reasonably expect. I was an infant 
 when our late king came to be crowned, and he has 
 ceased to rule since my sojourn on the Earth — that 
 is to say, his tenure of o£[ice must have lasted some 
 forty years. Thus for three years or more our realm 
 has been without a monarch, so that the whole 
 community in all its classes has begun to clamour 
 vigorously for a successor, and hence the task of 
 selection wherewith I have been entrusted, and 
 which I am now bringing to a close. Our late king 
 was, I fear, unfortunate in his relations with our 
 priestly or governing class, and by his own folly 
 rendered his office a source of real danger to our 
 whole system of administration. I have every 
 reason to believe no such catastrophe is likely to 
 occur in your case. Your native endowments of 
 head and heart, combined with the additional 
 advantages of youth and wisdom that you will obtain 
 on your arrival in Meleager, will protect you suffi- 
 ciently from such an untimely ending. Yet I warn 
 you, you will require all your faculties, especially 
 those of self-restraint and discretion, if you are to 
 win and retain the good will and co-operation of that 
 all-powerful hierarchy which is actually not only 
 your master but in a certain sense also your creator. 
 It used to be said in ancient Kome that two augurs 
 could never pass in the public streets without 
 
 39 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 smiling — well, you must first of all learn to repress 
 that classical grimace, and be content to abide 
 ever with a solemn countenance in an atmosphere 
 of make-believe. Moreover, the desirabihty of such 
 an attitude ought not to irritate a person who like 
 yourself is filled with a divine discontent. You will 
 be the glorious and adored figure-head of a com- 
 munity wherein the maximum of human happiness 
 and content has been already attained. But I shall 
 not pursue this dissertation further. With my 
 warning voice ever whispering in your ears, and with 
 your natural tact and intelligence to guide you, I 
 am sure you will not fail. As to the length of your 
 reign, I cannot tell you what I myself do not know. 
 But this much I can honestly say, and that is, its 
 duration will wholly depend on your own action, 
 and on your relations with the senators, who alone 
 possess the sources of power that are essential to 
 your continued maintenance in ofiice. For aught I 
 know to the contrary, our priests, by means of their 
 marvellous recipes and contrivances, may be able to 
 prolong your life, and even your youth, indefinitely 
 for centuries. But I do not speak with authority ; 
 I can only repeat that the extent of your reign 
 depends very largely on your own behaviour." 
 
 " On one other matter I should also like to be 
 informed," interposed I, " and I trust you will not 
 condemn this question as superfiuous. Tell me, 
 why out of all the inhabitants of the Earth have I, 
 a bankrupt in worldly glory and success, a person 
 
 40 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of mediocre attainments and the owner of no special 
 gifts of beauty or rank, thus been chosen to fill so 
 exalted a position ? I ask from sheer curiosity, 
 and from no subtle desire to plead my unfitness 
 as an excuse to decline your proffered, and indeed 
 accepted, honour." 
 
 My companion seemed to approve my question. 
 A humorous look flitted over his features as he dryly 
 answered : " You are fully justified in your inquiry ; 
 but you must recall that I have already mentioned 
 that, though your world is large, my own field of 
 choice is very limited. Our King, as I have already 
 said, must be naturally a true Child of the Sun ; in 
 other words, he must be tall, fair, blue- eyed. This 
 is essential, and such restrictions practically limit 
 my search to your northern races, and mainly to 
 such as are of Teutonic stock. Secondly, our King 
 elect must be of middle age, for past experience and 
 a ripe intelligence are also necessary to our plans. 
 Thirdly, he must be either a bachelor or a widower, 
 and preferably a misogynist at heart. He must not 
 quit the Earth homesick ; he must not be a natural 
 prey to the influence of women, so far as it is possible 
 to guard against this danger, the mainspring of all 
 our fears in Meleager. For the sheer possibility of 
 the founding of a royal race springing from the 
 union of the Child of the Sun with a maiden of 
 Meleager is a constant cause of alarm and watchful- 
 ness on the part of our hierarchy. Not to mention 
 the mischief resulting from any such intrigue to our 
 
 41 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 body politic, the possible birth of a Prince, a connect- 
 ing link between the Divine and the Human, might 
 in a few days, nay, in a few hours, shatter in pieces 
 the whole edifice of the present system of govern- 
 ment that it has taken so many centuries of un- 
 remitting wisdom and state craft to erect. Surely 
 I need not dwell on this all- important phase ? Last 
 of all, we must have a comely personality and gentle 
 birth combined with high intellectual gifts and 
 training. This combination of qualities is not so 
 easy to discover as it ought to be on your Earth. 
 Your handsome nobles are either illiterate or de- 
 bauched, and are often both simultaneously; or 
 else they are slaves to family ties or to female 
 influence in some form ; whilst those who are both 
 noble by birth and breeding and also highly culti- 
 vated are usually undesirable for our high purpose 
 owing to their physical defects. In spite of all this, 
 there are doubtless many hundreds of persons living 
 who would be eligible and would answer to all our 
 requirements as well as or even better than yourself ; 
 nevertheless, after much reflection I have good 
 reason to suppose that the hierarchy of Meleager, 
 whose envoy and servant I am, will find no cause 
 of quarrel with my choice." 
 
 Six o'clock struck out on the foggy morning air, 
 as d'Aragno finished speaking thus, and I grew 
 aware of the renewed vitahty pulsing once more 
 in the surrounding London streets. " One more 
 matter, however, I must speak of," suddenly 
 
 42 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 ejaculated my host, " before we can freely discuss 
 the final arrangements. I do not aspire to know 
 what difference, if any, your impending transit 
 to another planet will entail in regard to your 
 chances of existence in the Hereafter. On your 
 Earth, I understand, men hold the most varied and 
 contradictory opinions and theories on this subject ; 
 and even in your Christian section of humanity I 
 gather there is no real unanimity on this point. We 
 in Meleager have our own ideals and beliefs in the 
 Hereafter, but these are purely speculative, for none 
 has ever returned to us from the domain beyond 
 the grave to tell us the true details, and none other 
 can supply them; we accordingly let the great 
 question rest without laying down dogmas of neces- 
 sary belief. But whether in the Other Life you 
 will be judged or treated as a denizen of the Earth 
 or of Meleager, I cannot imagine. I think it my 
 duty however to remind you of this anomaly in case 
 it may have escaped your notice, for I am well aware 
 what strong hopes of endless happiness many 
 members of your Christian churches build on the 
 shadowy world yonder. From my own observa- 
 tions I know you yourself are fairly pimctual in 
 your rehgious prayers and duties, and I have always 
 welcomed such an attitude as edifying on your part ; 
 but as to what are your real views and beliefs on the 
 question of the Other Life I have naturally no clue. 
 On this one matter therefore I admit you run a 
 certain problematical risk in your translation to 
 
 43 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 our star; but at the same time I cannot conceive 
 that your future interest in an unseen, unknown, 
 undescribed and unsubstantial world could be of 
 sufficient import or strength to compel you to 
 struggle against your natural desire to rule as a king 
 in another sphere, perhaps for a stretch of time that 
 would be out of all proportion to your earthly span 
 of life." 
 
 He ceased suddenly, and kneeling at my feet said 
 slowly in a suave voice that was not wholly free 
 from irony; "And now let me tender my most 
 respectful homage to the King elect of the planet 
 of Meleager ! " 
 
 D'Aragno then rose, and for the next hour dis- 
 cussed with me the necessary steps to be taken 
 before the consummation of his mission on our 
 Earth. 
 
 U 
 
Ill 
 
 It was long after seven o'clock when I found myself 
 walking home in the grey drizzle of the early morn- 
 ing. As was my custom when in town during the 
 last few years I rented a bedroom at my club in 
 St James's, and the apparition of myself in evening 
 dress at the club doorway at that unusual hour of 
 return evoked a momentary look of surprise on the 
 face of the well- trained porter who was then sweep- 
 ing the hall in his shirt- sleeves. Making my way 
 up to my bed-chamber, I proceeded to carry out 
 the first portion of my late instructions from 
 d'Aragno. This consisted in swallowing a tumbler- 
 ful of cold water in which I had previously dissolved 
 the contents of a small packet he had given me 
 before leaving the hotel. After that I undressed 
 and crept into bed. On arising again I felt hght 
 as air, with the additional sensation of being several 
 inches taller than my actual stature. My mind too 
 had become singularly clear and active, so that I 
 was enabled to carry out all my intended prepara- 
 tions with ease. First of all I placed my valuables 
 in my trunk, which I locked ; then I dressed myself 
 in a tweed suit, and made my way downstairs to the 
 club smoking-room, where I quietly undertook the 
 final details I considered necessary before my 
 
 46 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 departure from this world. I had no parents living ; 
 my brothers and sisters were all married and had 
 their own homes ; I had no debts, and my few 
 outstanding bills could be easily settled by my 
 executors, for some few years before I had signed 
 a will that I deemed fair and adequate. There was 
 nobody to lose in any material sense by my sudden 
 demise ; on the contrary, my brothers would obtain 
 possession of my property, for I was the owner of a 
 small landed estate and of a meagre income that 
 was the source of secret but intense bitterness to me 
 under this present oppression of plutocracy. I had 
 therefore no more arduous task before me than to 
 compose a letter to my favourite brother, so that 
 he could easily infer from its contents that I had 
 decided to make away with my life. This might 
 have proved an unpleasant theme for composition 
 under different circumstances, but on this occasion 
 I experienced no difficulty in expressing myself to 
 my own satisfaction. 
 
 This last matter accomplished, and one or two 
 cheques to tradesmen signed and posted, I put on 
 my overcoat and hat, and sallied out of the club 
 towards noon. A feeling of lightness of body 
 combined with a sense of calm exaltation of mind 
 assisted me, as I walked slowly through the muddy 
 streets towards the National Gallery, one of my 
 most frequent haunts in London. Here I spent 
 about an hour in sauntering through the huge rooms 
 hung with the glowing works of the Old Masters, 
 
 46 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 stopping occasionally to admire some special 
 favourite, and even studying with interest a recent 
 addition to the collection that hung on a solitary 
 screen. Quitting the gallery, I crossed Trafalgar 
 Square, the while sensing the gush of its fomitains 
 and gazing at Landseer's stolid Hons; thence I 
 strolled down the length of Whitehall as far as 
 Westminster with its majestic group of Gothic towers, 
 and after filling my eyes with its bristling outhnes 
 against the murky winter's sky, I entered the north 
 portal of the Abbey. Here again I wandered in an 
 erratic but pleasurable frame of mind that I vainly 
 tried to analyse to myself, and after many pacings 
 to and fro in the ancient cloisters, that held so many 
 memories for me, I left the Abbey to proceed very 
 slowly towards Charing Cross by way of the Embank- 
 ment. According to our prearranged plan, I 
 boarded a certain train that same afternoon for 
 Dover. The journey seemed to me interminable, 
 and as I lay back on the cushions at times I fitfully 
 hoped for some collision that might prove fatal to 
 me; whilst at other moments I grew morbidly 
 nervous lest by some unforeseen accident I might 
 be prevented from reaching my destination in good 
 time. 
 
 I ahghted at Dover about five o'clock on a raw, 
 cold, windy, showery evening. From the station I 
 passed into the street, and thence, in pursuance of 
 my instructions, I followed a road leading westward. 
 Ere long I had left behind me the suburbs of the 
 
 47 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 town and was now tramping a dreary exposed 
 thoroughfare that ran between market gardens. 
 As I walked ahead slowly and deliberately, I 
 suddenly saw emerge from a mean inn beside the 
 road a short, thick- set man in seafaring dress and 
 bearing a bundle on his shoulder. I knew him to be 
 d'Aragno, and I continued to follow in his track. 
 He proceeded for some distance along the high 
 road, and then striking abruptly into a by-path 
 amongst the dismal vegetable plots led towards the 
 sea. The lights of Dover were now far behind me, 
 and I realised sharply the fact that I was saying 
 farewell to the kindly and accustomed world of men 
 for ever and aye, and was advancing towards a 
 doom whose nature I only dimly imderstood. Like 
 Rabelais, I was stepping into the Great Perhaps; 
 I was about to take a plunge into the ocean of the 
 Vast Unknown. 
 
 There was no human being in sight save the 
 mariner, and he took no notice of my presence. 
 We began to descend the steep and slippery path 
 towards the beach in the teeth of a tearing gale 
 from the west. The rain was drenching me to the 
 skin; the darkness had increased; once or twice 
 I stumbled heavily. Suddenly my guide turned 
 round and, noting my difficulties, halted to assist 
 me but never spoke a word. With a firm hand he 
 led me down the slope, and shortly we were walking 
 on level ground beside the sea, whose angry waves 
 I could hear close at hand, and could even dis- 
 
 4S 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 tinguish the white foam on their crests as they broke 
 on the shingle. After some minutes of skirting the 
 fore- shore my companion stopped, and, waiting for 
 me to approach, for a second time he seized my hand 
 and thus helped me to climb a small crag that jutted 
 out into the raging surf. Together we reached 
 its summit, where we rested for a moment. Then 
 d'Aragno in a sonorous whisper bade me remove 
 my clothes, and one by one I stripped myself of 
 every sodden garment in the midst of the pitiless 
 gale laden with rain and spray. When I was naked 
 as ever I was born, my companion signed to me to 
 lie down on the flat surface of the rock. I obeyed, 
 and he next produced a small phial which he gave 
 me to drink. Strangely enough in this brief space 
 as I lay numbed and bruised on the sharp clammy 
 bed, buffeted by the wind and stung by the lashing 
 of the rain- drops, two lines from an old Moravian 
 hymn kept buzzing in my brain ; 
 
 " Oh, what is Death ]— 'Tis Life's last shore 
 Where vanities are vain no more." 
 
 But it could have been only for a minute or so, 
 for d'Aragno was already forcing the phial to my 
 Ups, and at the same time helping me to raise my 
 aching head, the better to obey his command. A 
 burning- hot sweetish liquid now raced down my 
 throat; an indescribable sense of warmth and 
 repose began to trickle through every portion of 
 my body ; wondrous waves of violet and vermilion 
 D 49 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 were floating before my eyes or in my brain; in 
 a shorter space than it takes me to write this single 
 sentence I became insensible. 
 
 Hours, days, weeks, even months may have 
 elapsed before I happened on my next moment of 
 consciousness. A dim sensation first of floating, 
 and then of being swayed or rocked, filled the vacant 
 interval between my lying on the spray- wetted rock 
 at Dover and my awaking amid imfamiliar sur- 
 roundings. At the first quiver of sentient life I 
 could see practically nothing; I could only feel 
 that I lay in semi- darkness with my whole frame 
 stretched out vigorously but without pain on a 
 couch which contained a system of pulleys at its 
 head and foot. I was faintly aware of the pressure 
 of this innocuous species of rack, and was trying 
 to open my eyes wider, when an approaching figure 
 waved a censer before my face, and the thick 
 narcotic smoke issuing thence promptly forced 
 my half- awakened mind back into slumber. My 
 next impression was more definite. The chamber 
 wherein I reposed gradually took shape, as it were in 
 patches, such as occurs in cases of recovery from 
 the effects of chloroform after a severe surgical 
 operation. I was no longer extended by pulleys, 
 but rested supine on the couch, whilst three or four 
 persons were busily engaged in kneading and pinch- 
 ing every muscle in my body. My mouth too felt 
 very sore, and by exploring with my tongue I was 
 
 50 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 astonished to find that several new teeth, evidently 
 drawn from strange mouths, had been recently 
 inserted with exquisite skill in my own gums, for 
 what with the bhght of middle age and the in- 
 attention of youth my back teeth were by no means 
 numerous at the date of my recent withdrawal from 
 Earth. Whoever my dental surgeon might have 
 been, there could be no two opinions as to his skil- 
 ful performance on my jaws, for he had not only 
 removed such molars as were decayed or broken, 
 but had planted and made grow freshly plucked 
 substitutes with their bleeding roots. The whole 
 operation was complete, and its completeness has 
 led me to believe that a considerable period must 
 have intervened since my arrival in Meleager, where 
 presumably I was now lying. I noticed that the 
 figures around me were clothed in flowing white 
 robes, and I was beginning to satisfy my curiosity 
 still further when again someone approached with 
 a censer, which he deftly swung so close to my face 
 that once more I was compelled to swallow that 
 thick stupefying incense whose fumes speedily 
 plunged me in oblivion for a second time. 
 
 On the third occasion of my awaking, the obscure 
 chamber was still occupied by white- robed figures, 
 but the manipulation of my body had evidently 
 ceased. Among those present I noticed an old 
 man with a white beard, and some inches taller than 
 his colleagues, who paid him special deference. I 
 rightly conjectured this venerable person to be the 
 
 51 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Arch- priest, of whom d'Aragno had spoken, both 
 from his evident superiority of rank and his more 
 elaborate garments. I was still feehng very weak 
 and languid, but after staring around me for some 
 minutes with an ef!ort I managed to raise my arm. 
 The action was immediately noticed, whereupon 
 the individual with the censer once more prepared 
 to advance, but was checked by an imperious gesture 
 from the Arch- priest. The latter now approached, 
 and after peering long and steadfastly into my face 
 he made a sign to the others present, and all but 
 two left the room. He then signalled to me to rise, 
 but though I attempted to do so, my physical weak- 
 ness forbade me, and I sank back exhausted. The 
 two junior priests thereupon firmly raised me in 
 their arms, and half- walking, half- supported I was 
 led out of the chamber to a further and a much 
 larger room, in the centre of which I perceived a 
 wide circular hollow space with steps descending, 
 such as one sees in ancient Italian baptisteries. 
 From this hollow there issued a great sound of 
 gurgling and roaring, as well as a most horrible 
 stench of chemicals, and as I was dragged none too 
 willingly towards the edge I saw below me a pool 
 of dark, sinister- looking, stinking water that was 
 rising and falling in a constant state of ebullition. 
 I made a feeble attempt to struggle, but the Arch- 
 priest laid a firm grip upon my nerveless arm, whilst 
 the two attendant priests hastily proceeded to hook 
 a couple of chains to two stout rings inserted in the 
 
 52 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 farther wall of the chamber. To these chains was 
 attached a pair of strong leathern slings, which were 
 now skilfully fastened beneath my arm- pits. Thus 
 provided, I was pushed rather than persuaded to 
 descend to the lowest step of the awesome basin, 
 and was then unceremoniously thrust into its 
 bubbling and hissing depths. Down, down, down 
 I went into the icy surge, whose suction I could feel 
 dragging me as violently as though a pair of giant 
 hands beneath the water had hold of both my ankles. 
 Then suddenly gasping and spluttering I was pulled 
 up to the surface, only in spite of my protests to 
 be once again lowered into that awful gelid fountain, 
 whence again after a fearful interval of choking and 
 shivering my body was withdrawn. On the third 
 occasion, however, the two priests drew me towards 
 the steps, and their master signed to me to quit the 
 pool. I exerted myself only too eagerly, and with a 
 nimbleness that amazed me I hastened up the steps 
 towards the Arch- priest, who had been watching the 
 whole gruesome rite with the most solemn air. 
 
 No doubt it was as the result of certain rare pro- 
 perties in this ice-cold liquid that I now experienced 
 a rapid transformation from a state of mind and 
 body that was the limit of feebleness to one of 
 almost superhuman strength and capability. Even 
 before the two priests had armed themselves with 
 masses of warm soft towels to dry me I felt myself 
 glowing with health and youth. My brain seemed 
 to clear and expand in some unaccountable way; 
 
 63 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I could feel every artery and muscle in my body 
 thrill in joyous unison; to move my limbs was 
 sheer delight. I realised too that my normal height 
 had been increased by some inches, evidently due 
 to the recent painless racking that had caused me to 
 awake prematurely. " This must be the Fountain 
 of Kejuvenation of which d'Aragno spoke," thought 
 I. "I wonder he has never tried a bathe himself 
 in these waters ! " 
 
 I found an exuberant joy even as I stood thus 
 being rubbed and dried by the priests in the new 
 appearance of myself; I thought of the justice of 
 Vergil's comparison of the glittering young Neo- 
 ptolemus at the fall of Troy with a snake that has 
 just sloughed his scurfy skin in the warm spring 
 sunshine. I positively quivered with my new-found 
 pride of life. I had cast aside all care and terror ; 
 and as to the reflection of having lost the world of 
 my birth, what fresh worlds of adventure were there 
 not ahead of me to conquer or to enjoy in return 
 for the mean, squalid, ungrateful Earth that I had 
 deserted for ever and ever ! Had I now been on 
 the Earth itself and not on the planet of Meleager, 
 I felt no doubt but that in a month or so I should 
 be competent to lead an army to victory, or to 
 astonish the House of Commons with a speech 
 whose memory would outlive a generation, or to 
 write a poem or a novel that would last whilst the 
 English tongue endured, or to paint a picture or 
 to mould a statue that would cause Raphael and 
 
 64 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Michelangelo to turn in their graves with envy. 
 As Plato once held that the sum of all human know- 
 ledge is innate in every man, so I knew at last that 
 the old Greek's axiom was fundamentally correct, 
 but that I alone possessed the hidden key to unlock 
 that chamber of the human brain wherein this 
 mental wealth lies safely stored. I was the Semi- 
 divine; I was the Super- man; I was the new 
 Napoleon ahke of the arts of war and peace ; I was 
 the latter-day Euphorion, child of beauty, strength 
 and culture. 
 
 With this strange new sensation of power pulsing 
 within me, I was suddenly seized with a hot qualm 
 of indignation against those white- robed priests, 
 who had so lately been subjecting my sacred person 
 to a series of manipulations and tortures, and had 
 even more than once dared to thrust my awakening 
 dignity back to the dull chambers of sleep. I quite 
 forgot (though of a truth only for one brief instant) 
 that after all I in my newly acquired pride of strength 
 and intellect was but the creature of these flamens, 
 a mere Frankenstein evoked from a semi- defunct, 
 middle-aged, useless inhabitant of the Earth, who 
 in his agony of failure had volimtarily committed 
 an act of seK-efiacement. Nevertheless, I turned 
 almost fiercely on my companions, and with an 
 angry wave of my hand bade them turn aside their 
 prying eyes, whilst I completed the act of drying 
 my skin. They obeyed without protest, and a few 
 minutes later one of the priests, still keeping his face 
 
 05 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 averted, handed me a curious garment which it took 
 me some little time to adjust to my person. It was 
 a thin white woollen article of undress, which com- 
 pletely covered my body, inclusive of arms and legs, 
 like the chiton of the ancient Greeks. Its feet more- 
 over were distinguished by a contrivance for keeping 
 the great toes free, in the event of wearing sandals, 
 so I presumed. When I had at length fitted my 
 form into this enveloping garment, whose texture 
 felt dehciously light and warm, the priests once 
 more turned towards me and helped me to don the 
 remaining portions of my attire. These consisted 
 of a pair of buskins of soft dark blue leather that 
 reached half-way to the knee, a tunic of blue cloth 
 with a golden belt, and a flowing cloak of the same 
 rich shade of blue, Hned with pale blue silk, that was 
 fastened over the breast with a golden clasp set with 
 a splendid sapphire. Finally I was invited to seat 
 myself in a low chair, whereupon one of the priests 
 proceeded to comb out my hair with a large golden 
 comb. From a burnished metal mirror that was 
 held before me I now reahsed, to my astonishment, 
 that my hair was of such an inordinate length that 
 some weeks must have elapsed for its growth; it 
 had moreover been bleached, for it was of a pale 
 yellow shade and had a strange silky texture. On 
 the other hand, I may state here that all the hair on 
 the lower portion of my face had been eradicated, 
 nor have I yet had any occasion to use a razor. 
 As a finishing touch, a fillet of blue and gold was 
 
 56 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 bound round my luxuriant locks, much in the 
 manner one sees depicted on the royal heads of 
 antiquity in coins and medals. 
 
 With this last addition my toilet was now com- 
 plete, and I was bidden to rise. The Arch- priest 
 led the way, and I followed with the two junior 
 priests, one of whom upheld my flowing mantle, 
 whilst the other bore over my head an open state 
 umbrella of blue silk, heavily fringed with gold, 
 and closely resembling the same emblem of state 
 that is used to shelter the Host in processions of the 
 Roman Church. "We then traversed several broad 
 gloomy corridors before entering a chamber of 
 considerable size that was lit by flambeaux as well 
 as by lamps of classical form. Here were assembled 
 about a score of young men whose dress closely 
 resembled my own except that its dominant colour 
 was crimson instead of blue. On my appearance 
 all these persons threw themselves prostrate on 
 the floor and remained thus motionless. At this 
 juncture the Arch- priest for the first time addressed 
 me, and his spoken words were in the ancient Latin 
 language. Now I had always possessed an affection 
 and capacity for this tongue, which I have all my 
 hfe defended from the baseless charge of its being 
 a dead language that is constantly leveUed at it by 
 ignorant or prejudiced critics. My proficiency in 
 Latin both at school and at college had been note- 
 worthy, and now, thanks to the reviving effects of 
 my late immersion in those medicated^ waters, all 
 
 57 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 my former acquaintance with the Roman tongue 
 was suddenly restored to me. I was thus able to 
 grasp the gist of the Arch- priest's remarks, and my 
 replies through the same medium were more than 
 tolerable, a circumstance that evidently afforded 
 great satisfaction to the old man. I gathered then 
 that this group of youths kneeling before me was 
 composed of the flower of the nobility of Meleager, 
 from whose ranks I was bidden to choose a tutor 
 and two equerries suited to my needs. The Arch- 
 priest further stated that he deemed it preferable 
 for myself to make my own selection in this 
 important matter, for which reason he had devised 
 this plan. 
 
 I was quick to perceive that such a privilege must 
 be carefully exercised, so I reflected for a few 
 moments before deciding. I have often flattered 
 myself on being a good judge of human character 
 from the face, and in our world I often fell to specu- 
 late on the internal qualities of persons in every 
 station of life that I chanced to meet. Bearing 
 my past observations in mind, I gave a sign for the 
 band before me to arise, and on a word from the 
 Arch- priest the whole line leaped up and stood to 
 attention. Beckoning to one of the priests to hand 
 me a torch, I carefully scrutinised the row of candi- 
 dates for my favour. Now the youth who stood 
 seventh from the first at once challenged my atten- 
 tion ; his countenance showed me that he possessed, 
 consciously or unconsciously, the special qualities I 
 
 58 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 demanded — fidelity and discretion. Thrice with 
 calm deliberation did I pace up and down that 
 comely company, and on each occasion I felt myself 
 confirmed in my original judgment. I nodded to 
 the Arch- priest, who now handed me a golden rod 
 with which I lightly touched the shoulder of Number 
 Seven. The young man immediately fell at my 
 feet, which he embraced, the while murmuring some 
 words of gratitude in the language of the Meleagrians 
 which of course I did not at that time comprehend. 
 He then rose, and was about to take up a position 
 behind me, when his fellows at once advanced 
 and loaded him with their congratulations on the 
 exceptional mark of honour he had just received. 
 Some of his more intimate friends threw their arms 
 around him, others shook him by the hands, and 
 others again spoke words of encouragement. So 
 far as I could observe, the spirit of jealousy seemed 
 wholly absent. The Arch- priest, who appeared to 
 approve my choice, patted the young man's cheek 
 in a friendly manner, as he told me I had chosen 
 well in Hiridia, for such was his name. Nor have 
 I ever had reason to repent of my selection, for 
 Hiridia has always proved a most faithful friend, 
 and also a well-meaning guide according to his 
 Meleagrian lights, during the whole period of my 
 reign, as I shall relate in due course. 
 
 As to the two equerries, whose ofiice would not 
 entail such intimacy, I did not deem it necessary 
 to discriminate so closely amongst this band of noble 
 
 m 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 applicants, all of whom were doubtless adequate for 
 the purpose. So I simply touched the first and the 
 last of the row standing before me, and these fell 
 out of the line and made me obeisance. This matter 
 concluded, the Arch- priest signified to the remainder 
 to retire, whilst the chosen three tarried behind. 
 
 By this time I was beginning to feel the pangs of 
 hunger most acutely, and recollections of my last 
 meal partaken on Earth in the London hotel rose 
 greedily to my mind, as I began to guess how many 
 weeks must have passed since I had eaten. " Your 
 King is hungry and faint for need of food," I re- 
 marked in my best Ciceronian Latin to the Arch- 
 priest, who, so I had observed, was now treating me 
 with a degree of deference and even of obsequious- 
 ness that he had not shown in the chamber of the 
 fountain. The old man bowed low and long, gave 
 some instructions to Hiridia, whereupon he and I, 
 followed by the two equerries, proceeded to leave 
 the room. Before departing however, the Arch- 
 priest hung a heavy chain of gold round Hiridia' s 
 neck, and presented similar chains, but of silver, to 
 his two companions. One of these latter now bore 
 the umbrella of state over my head and the other 
 upheld the cloak, as with Hiridia beside me I pre- 
 pared to quit the chamber, after I had returned 
 with as much dignity as I could muster the sweeping 
 obeisances of the three priests, who did not offer to 
 accompany us. More corridors were traversed thus, 
 before we finally entered a lofty pillared hall, which 
 
 60 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I at once rightly conjectured to be the banqueting 
 chamber of the palace. Here were gathered many 
 men, both young and middle-aged, all wearing 
 clothes similar to those of my three companions, as 
 also a considerable crowd of individuals dressed in 
 short blue tunics and obviously of an inferior social 
 caste. The first were, of course, the members of 
 my Court, all eagerly expecting their new sovereign, 
 whilst the latter were the servants of the household. 
 On my appearance there were deep bows and 
 genuflexions from the nobles assembled, and still 
 lower bows from the menials, the latter raising their 
 left arms to cover their faces, as though the sight of 
 myself were almost too precious or sacred for 
 humbler eyes such as theirs to dwell upon. 
 
 I seated myself at a soHtary table on a dais, 
 shghtly raised above the pavement. The board 
 before me was covered with a coarse linen ^cloth 
 heavily fringed with blue, whilst the viands were 
 served in a number of glazed white earthenware 
 platters of elegant form, the appointments in general 
 reminding me of meals eaten years ago in old- 
 fashioned hostelries of the Romagna. Of the dinner 
 itself I need not say more than that the meats, 
 though unfamihar, were quite palatable, as was also 
 the rough red wine which was served abundantly 
 throughout the meal. To my rehef I found that 
 knives, spoons and forks were in use, and that the 
 drinking vessels and some of the dishes were of glass. 
 After a dessert of strange but dehcious fruits, and 
 
 61 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 many species of nuts, a crystal goblet of the most 
 elaborate workmanship was set before me and filled 
 with a rather thick sweet red wine, apparently a 
 kind of muscadel. I had sat down ravenous, and 
 in due course I rose from table satisfied, at which 
 movement on my part every person in the room 
 likewise stood erect and remained so standing till 
 I had passed through the doorway. 
 
 From the banqueting hall, guided by Hiridia, 
 I proceeded to my sleeping apartment, wherein I 
 found a low square bed of some richly carved dark- 
 coloured wood. A long open gallery occupied one 
 side of this room, and thither I hastened to obtain 
 a ghmpse of the outer world. It was a lovely warm 
 starry night, but without moonhght, so that I could 
 only discern my surroundings very dimly. I was 
 able, however, to perceive that this gallery was 
 situated at a considerable height above the sea, 
 whose expanse I could just distinguish in the far 
 distance, and that below me and around me there 
 lay a large city built on steep hillsides descending to 
 the shore. Falling waters made a pleasant murmur 
 in my ears; a faint hum of human activity arose 
 from the city beneath ; the shrill cries and chirrups 
 of insects and night birds were clearly audible at 
 intervals. There was nothing unearthly in these 
 darkened surroundings, and yet I knew I stood alone 
 in a fresh world of mystery and wonder, and how 
 vehemently I longed, as I paced that colonnade, for 
 the sun to rise so as to make manifest the scene 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 that was now all but hidden from my impatient 
 gaze ! Hiridia stood beside me, and I think he 
 tried to participate in and sympathise with the 
 thoughts that were agitating my mind, for he often 
 pointed into the gloom and made remarks which 
 were of course, as yet, unintelhgible to me. Long 
 did I continue thus to stare and speculate, and indeed 
 it was only out of consideration for poor Hiridia' s 
 many yawns and signs of weariness, vainly sup- 
 pressed, that I finally turned with reluctance from 
 the balcony and prepared for a night's sleep. 
 
 63 
 
IV 
 
 I SLEPT soundly, and was only awakened on hearing, 
 as one does whilst wandering in the misty caverns 
 of dreamland, a strange prolonged noise of pecuhar 
 timbre, the last reverberation of which had scarcely 
 died away by the time I was fully conscious and 
 had raised myself in bed. The room was filled with 
 the early light of dawn, and from my pillow I could 
 see beyond the open gallery the splendid disk of 
 the sun's majesty emerge from the distant watery 
 horizon. Hiridia was on his knees muttering prayers 
 with arms extended and face turned towards the 
 sunrise, whilst a servant of the palace, wearing the 
 short blue tunic and blue trousers and blue scarf 
 that constitute the royal livery, was also lying prone 
 on the floor with his head towards the east. Their 
 orisons, if praying they were, were extremely short, 
 for in a trice both men were on their feet and all 
 attention to my wants. I mean to speak later of 
 the minutiae of my daily life, but at this point I 
 wish to hasten my reader and not to weary or detain 
 him with petty diurnal details that I have settled 
 to describe in another place. Let it suffice to say 
 that I bathed, dressed and breakfasted to my com- 
 plete satisfaction, and that having duly performed 
 these matutinal duties I was glad to find myself at 
 
 64 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 leisure to contemplate by the brilliant light of 
 morning the veiled scene of the previous night. 
 
 From the vantage ground of my exterior gallery 
 I obtained a superb and intimate view of the great 
 city of Tamarida and its surroundings. Imagine 
 a compound of Naples, Algiers and Amalfi, each 
 of these Mediterranean cities being built on steep 
 slopes descending to the sea- shore, and yet such 
 compomid resulting in something totally dissimilar 
 from any earthly town of my acquaintance. In size 
 and arrangement Tamarida somewhat resembled 
 the older portions of Naples that stretch from Sant' 
 Elmo to the Monte di Dio ; in setting I was reminded 
 of Amalfi with its craggy headlands, though here 
 on a grander scale ; whilst in general character the 
 cascade of dazzling white flat- roofed square houses 
 of the Arab native town in Algiers suggested many 
 points of comparison in this case. But though it 
 was evident that my capital was very extensive, 
 and that much of its area was thickly populated, 
 nevertheless there seemed to be abundance of parks 
 and gardens in all directions, forming oases of vivid 
 greenery amongst the dense masses of small low 
 squat dwelhngs. Roughly speaking, the city was 
 divided into three portions, that were formed by 
 two deep valleys, down each of which flowed a rapid 
 clear torrent fed from the mountainous regions 
 above. The two outer sections of this curving site 
 were whoUy occupied, as I have said, by houses and 
 gardens of the citizens, apparently both rich and 
 E 65 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 poor intermingled ; whilst the central slope between 
 the two streams was reserved for the palace and the 
 main temple and other official buildings. Of these 
 the palace took up a considerable space about half- 
 way up the hillside, and below it, stretching to the 
 harbour, was a large tract of tilth and orchard, well 
 sprinkled with tiny white cottages and long low 
 barns that were presumably used by the labourers 
 
 ;-Z'JFiA ^^« 
 
 ,>!%J"j'^-''"ri 
 
 
 and other servants of the palace. The royal 
 residence itself was an immense rambling structure, 
 built without plan and at various periods, though it 
 was hard to classify its many architectural features 
 or to guess which were the older or more recent 
 portions of the fabric. Above the palace and its 
 adjacent enclosures could be seen hanging- gardens 
 traversed by immense flights of broad shallow steps, 
 
 6a 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 beyond which was another conspicuous group of 
 buildings situated at different levels. This pile 
 I rightly concluded to be the chief — it was the only 
 — temple of the city, both from its more ornate style 
 of architecture and from a circular tower which 
 crowned the main edifice. On this tower upreared 
 a tall column whereon rested a gilded copper repre- 
 sentation of the sun in splendour, making a brilliant 
 mass of golden hght under the fierce rays of its great 
 original, and offering a prominent landmark for 
 many miles aromid. Of the residential districts of 
 Tamarida on the two flanking slopes I have omitted 
 to mention that two main streets or arteries for 
 traffic could be distinctly traced by me, rimning 
 irregularly through the crowded quarters and parks 
 alike, and ending in the broad quays alongside the 
 waters of the harbour. Many ships of various 
 shapes and sizes, but mostly appearing to be fishing 
 vessels, lined these quays and were also visible in 
 numbers on the placid surface of the circular harbour 
 itself, which was contained by two outlying rocky 
 promontories crowned on either tip by a low light- 
 house. 
 
 I was interrupted in the midst of my many 
 interesting discoveries and observations by the 
 sudden entrance of one of my equerries, who was 
 followed by the Arch- priest demanding an audience. 
 Left alone together, I instinctively put myself on 
 my guard, assuming as well as I could an air of 
 naive simpHcity. Despite his deferential words and 
 
 67 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 attitude, I could not fail to detect the deep- set 
 twinkle in his eye as he proceeded to inform me 
 of the object of his mission. At the same time, 
 however, I felt certain that I must have produced 
 a favourable impression on the previous day, and 
 from my deportment both now and in the future 
 I warmly hoped to be able to hold the old man's 
 approval, for something in my inner consciousness, 
 a species of sixth sense, assured me he was ready to 
 show himself my friend, though doubtless a friend 
 within certain limits that I had yet to learn. The 
 Arch- priest opened our talk with an apology for 
 thus invading the privacy of my apartments without 
 previous warning, excusing himself for his intrusion 
 by the urgent necessity of the occasion. He then 
 informed me that on the next day the ceremony of 
 my coronation was fixed to take place in the temple, 
 which he pointed out to me from the balcony. 
 " You are in the eyes of your subjects, as you know, 
 the Child of the Sun, whom alone we worship in 
 Meleager, and who sends you as a king to rule over 
 his favoured people. You will therefore be pre- 
 sented in public by myself and my colleagues of the 
 Sacred College to the populace ; you will be robed 
 and crowned ; you will extend your formal blessing 
 to them ; you will offer incense at the crystal altar 
 of your Father the Sun, in the great courtyard of the 
 temple ; and after that you will mount the sacred 
 white horse so as to ride in full majesty through the 
 streets of the city in the presence of your subjects. 
 
 68 
 
M E I. E A G E R 
 
 It will be a long and tedious series of ceremonies, yet 
 I flatter myself that each one of these rites will not 
 be without interest to you, seeing the lengthy spell 
 of authority amongst us that lies ahead of you. 
 I myself shall be at your side throughout, and you 
 may rely with safety on my tutelage in any event." 
 Other advice and suggestions the Arch- priest 
 likewise imparted to me, amongst the rest that 
 Hiridia would in course of time teach me the spoken 
 language of Meleager. " Ever since your immersion 
 in the mystical well," so my companion proceeded, 
 " you will experience an acceleration of all the 
 faculties, which in your case were already highly 
 developed when on Earth. Moreover, the tongue 
 of the Meleagrians, which under Hiridia' s teaching 
 you will soon acquire, is not a written language, and 
 none outside our hierarchy of the Temple of the Sun 
 can read or write at all. Indeed, our only archives 
 are in Latin, since for reasons which it is not ex- 
 pedient for me to mention at this point we have 
 always vigorously opposed the casting of the popular 
 speech into a literary form." This last statement 
 the old man made in a very solemn manner, looking 
 me full in the face as though to catch any motion 
 or expression of surprise or disapproval. But I 
 had set my countenance unflinchingly, and received 
 his confidences with perfect outward composure, 
 whereupon the Arch- priest leaned back in his chair 
 with a faint sigh of relief which by no means escaped 
 my watchful notice. Having received this minor 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 secret of Meleagrian state craft so calmly and suit- 
 ably, I was hoping to glean yet more information 
 on the traditional polity of the governing cabal of 
 my kingdom, but on this occasion I was doomed 
 to be disappointed. For the Arch- priest arose 
 abruptly, and leading me to the balustrade of the 
 gallery began to point out and explain to me the 
 various buildings and salient features that were 
 discernible from this spot. In most cases I found 
 I had already guessed correctly, my inteUigence 
 and perspicacity evidently serving to strengthen 
 the favourable impression I had already created. 
 The Arch- priest then led me to the other side of the 
 building and introduced me to the private gardens 
 of the palace, a delightful pleasance, full of sub- 
 tropical verdure and flowers and overshadowed by 
 tall palms and cypresses. Fountains with marble 
 basins were frequent, and their constant plashing 
 made an agreeable sound in the intense quiet of this 
 retreat. I noted too that every foimtain was 
 circular in shape, and that everywhere were to be 
 seen endless representations of the sun, whilst the 
 many lackeys or slaves attached to the royal service 
 bore the same design woven in gold and blue on 
 their breasts. Returning to the gallery overlooking 
 the town and harbour, my companion bade me 
 Hsten to the hum of voices and the din of traffic 
 that rose from below into the warm air, striking on 
 my ears with the mingled sounds of a teeming city. 
 " Tamarida is filled to overflowing with your loyal 
 
 70 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 subjects," commented the Arch- priest; "who are 
 all agog to behold to-morrow's function ; and even 
 now the town is hourly receiving innumerable 
 visitors from the country districts and from your 
 Majesty's second city of Zapyro, which is ever jealous 
 of the capital for its possession of the person of 
 the Child of the Sun." He paused for a moment 
 to give me another of those arch glances from his 
 kindly, humorous old eyes ; but I only nodded and 
 smiled amiably. " Thousands of faithful citizens 
 too from your Majesty's colonies on the wild rocky 
 coasts of Barbaria yonder to the north (and he 
 waved his arm to indicate some distant land beyond 
 the enclosing hills) are hastening hither to behold 
 the reincarnation of the Child of the Sun, concerning 
 whom their parents have doubtless told them 
 wonderful tales. See those boats with bellying 
 sails that are even now entering the harbour's 
 mouth ; they are all freighted with excited pilgrims, 
 men, women and children, drawn hither to assist 
 at a spectacle of outward splendour and interior 
 sanctity that your Earth, notwithstanding its 
 illimitable wealth and its superior population, can- 
 not produce. They tell me (and here the old man's 
 eyes again twinkled mischievously) that one of your 
 own many religious cults is ruled by a priest who 
 claims and receives divine honours. He is said to 
 be elected by a college of saintly and venerable 
 brother priests, and to be borne aloft with pomp 
 and acclamation on the shoulders of men of noble 
 
 71 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 birth. I have, of course, never seen the ceremonies 
 of modern Rome (which city I hold in especial 
 esteem as having been in ancient times the origin 
 of our official written language), but in this one 
 crucial instance this consecration of an earthly high 
 priest must yield to ours. For there is (so I am 
 informed) no unanimity of opinion, no universal 
 acceptance of the chosen pontiff; whilst here the 
 King who is provided by our hierarchy is acknow- 
 ledged by all without hesitation or limit as the 
 connecting link between the divine and the human, 
 whose presence is absolutely essential to the welfare 
 of his subjects. Our King is the peculiar guerdon 
 of our sole Deity the Sun to his favoured people, 
 on whom from time to time he deigns to bestow 
 a member of his own family for guidance and 
 example." 
 
 At length the Arch- priest took his departure, and 
 I spent the remainder of the day agreeably enough 
 in the society of Hiridia, whom I set to teach me 
 the names of every object in sight. I had already 
 requested the Arch- priest for pen and ink and paper, 
 and after a visible tendency to demur he had yielded 
 to my demand, a plentiful supply of beautifully 
 prepared rolls of vellum, an ink-horn and some quill 
 pens being brought me. I now wrote down phonetic- 
 ally the name of each thing supplied me by Hiridia, 
 placing its English equivalent opposite. I was quite 
 astonished at my progress in the course of a few 
 hours' application of this nature, and the sun was 
 
 72 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 low in the western sky when my patient tutor made 
 respectful signs to me to rise and follow him. I 
 soon grasped his intention, for he led me through 
 the gardens to an open court where two young nobles 
 were playing at some sort of hand- ball. A slave 
 now removed my mantle and tunic, to exchange 
 them for a short linen garment, whilst a pair of hard 
 leather gloves were likewise supplied me. We four 
 now fell to play with zest a game that was so re- 
 miniscent of the hand- fives of my school- days that 
 I leg-rned the science, the rules and the method of 
 scoring in a very short space. I thoroughly enjoyed 
 the healthy exercise, which in due course produced 
 a copious perspiration, and thus we amused our- 
 selves till the final sinking of the sun brought our 
 game to a close for lack of light. At this moment 
 I heard the prolonged blare of a distant trumpet, 
 and straightway perceived my three companions 
 sink to their knees for a short but silent prayer. 
 Then they rose and led me to the thermal baths 
 attached to the palace, where I indulged in a further 
 bout of sweating followed by a plunge in cool water. 
 After resting I dressed myself again, and with an 
 excellent appetite made my way to the banqueting 
 hall, where I partook of the last meal of the day. 
 On this occasion a band of professional players with 
 unfamiliar instruments provided us with music, 
 which I found neither better nor worse than many 
 of the concerts I had been obliged to attend at 
 various times upon Earth. Pleasantly fatigued, 
 
 73 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 at last I sought my bed-chamber to ponder over 
 my late experiences of the first twenty- four con- 
 scious hours I had spent on the planet of Meleager. 
 
 Early on the following morning there were 
 abundant signs to warn me of the great impending 
 event. All was bustle and animation within the 
 palace, and at an early hour the Arch- priest himself 
 was announced to give me some final instructions. 
 Soon afterwards a litter was brought, borne by a 
 number of servants dressed in what was evidently 
 their gala livery, and in this equipage I was placed, 
 behind carefully closed curtains, and was thus 
 conveyed up many long flights of steps to the pre- 
 cincts of the temple above. Here on my arrival I 
 found the Arch- priest and several members of the 
 hierarchy awaiting me, and was informed that first 
 of all it was necessary for me to hold a levee of 
 the whole of the ruling Council of the Seventy. 
 I cannot say that this prospect afforded me any 
 pleasure ; still, I prepared to comport myself with 
 the necessary amount of calm dignity I deemed 
 fitting for the occasion. I was next ushered into a 
 large hall, where in a semicircle were seated a large 
 number of these all-powerful patriarchs clad in their 
 robes of flowing white. I was directed to a throne 
 opposite them, and at once began to hold my formal 
 reception, each member of the Council being pre- 
 sented to me in turn by the Arch- priest. In every 
 case, mindful of our royal Court procedure on Earth, 
 
 74 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I proffered my right hand for a kiss of salutation, 
 and at the same time set my face to exhibit no sign 
 of anxiety or self- consciousness, for I realised that 
 I was amongst the keenest and most critical in- 
 tellects of the kingdom, who regarded me not in the 
 light of a true monarch, but rather as their own 
 creature, a thing raised by their choice and efforts 
 from mere nothingness to a position of extreme 
 though false magnificence. Nevertheless, I was not 
 so much preoccupied with the mastery of my feel- 
 ings that I failed to note carefully the face and 
 expression of each individual member as the 
 councillors filed before me in a long moving stream 
 that seemed to flow interminably past the throne, 
 so prolix and lengthy was the Arch- priest in his style 
 of presentation. Vainly did I look for the appear- 
 ance of my Herthian friend Signor Arrigo d'Aragno 
 amongst their number, but either he was absent 
 or else was so skilfully disguised that I failed to 
 detect his presence. One little circumstance I 
 observed was that whereas all the Meleagrian men 
 I had hitherto seen wore moustaches, these grandees 
 of the governing caste were all either clean-shaven 
 or else owned beards of an imposing length. Nearly 
 two hours were consumed in this fatiguing occupa- 
 tion, and thankful I was when the last sharp-eyed 
 senator had returned to his seat. 
 
 I now arose of my own motion, and expressed a 
 desire to quit the chamber of the coimcillors, whose 
 atmosphere somehow oppressed and irritated me. 
 
 76 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 The Arch- priest accordingly led me into a closet 
 adjoining, where I sate down on the pretence of 
 fatigue. Ere long however to my relief I saw 
 Hiridia approach, followed by my two equerries 
 and by some servants of the palace bearing large 
 bundles, which I perceived contained the regal 
 robes of state. A priest certainly stood beside 
 me, but he made no attempt to interfere with 
 Hiridia' s arrangements. First of all, I was stripped 
 to my inner vesture, after which gorgeous blue 
 leather buskins with heavy gold tassels and laces 
 were fitted to my feet. Next a tunic far more 
 elaborate than my usual one was donned; then 
 a mantle of an appalling weight but of a sur- 
 passing splendour was hung from my yielding 
 shoulders. On the mantle itself was embroidered 
 a device of the blazing sun in heavy gold thread, 
 whilst the rest of the surface of the cloak was thickly 
 patined with golden stars. The mantle was fastened 
 by a clasp composed of a huge cabochon sapphire 
 of perfect water set in a circle of flashing diamonds. 
 At this moment the Arch- priest returned, resplendent 
 in festal robes of white silk fringed with gold and 
 with a tall golden mitre on his head. Thus habited, 
 he appeared a striking and venerable figure, for his 
 superior height, his flowing white beard, his pleasant 
 brown eyes and his delicate complexion all combined 
 to make a most favourable impression on the be- 
 holder. On a cushion he carried the regal crown, 
 of the type known to heraldry as " palisaded," and 
 
 76 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 not unlike the diadem worn by the Medicean Grand 
 Dukes of Tuscany, as shown in their pictures and 
 effigies. My crown was all of gold with the excep- 
 tion of one large oval sapphire surrounded by 
 brilUants for its central ornament. This object the 
 Arch- priest now carefully placed on my head, not a 
 little to my trepidation until I realised that, whether 
 by accident or as the result of forethought, the heavy 
 circle fitted my cranium to a nicety. The finishing 
 touch consisted in fastening sohd gold armillce, or 
 bracelets, set with sapphires on my wrists. 
 
 Thus gloriously apparelled, I must on standing 
 up have presented a truly noble and imposing 
 appearance, and I say so without shame of conceit 
 or vanity. I was many inches taller than the tallest 
 of my companions; thanks to my bath in the 
 Fountain of Rejuvenation I had a clear white skin, 
 a sparkhng eye, and an elegance of carriage that 
 have rarely been seen by mortal man; whilst the 
 extreme fairness of my complexion and the sheen of 
 my long locks in contrast with so many dusky skins 
 and black heads of hair seemed to attract to them- 
 selves some kind of shadowy semi- divine aureole, 
 such as Benvenuto Cellini describes as investing his 
 person after his colloquy with the Blessed Virgin 
 and St Peter in his cell of the castle of Sant'Angelo. 
 I was well aware of the sensation I aroused in all 
 present, even in the Arch- priest ; and a thrill of 
 elation, of confidence in the future, possessed 
 me through and through. Whether or no these 
 
 77 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 saturnine priests of the Temple of the Sun chose to 
 regard me as their puppet, their slave, what was 
 that to me ? I realised that my marvellous beauty 
 at this moment was an asset whereof nothing they 
 could say or do would lessen my influence in the 
 eyes of the mass of the people I was about to face. 
 All misgivings and tremors left me, as I prepared 
 boldly to move forward and take my part in the 
 coming pageant. 
 
 To a terrific blast of trumpets and to the ex- 
 plosions of some antiquated- looking mortars that 
 stood on the temple parapet, our procession filed 
 through a narrow doorway on to a broad marble 
 platform. First emerged the nobles attached to the 
 Court in their crimson gala robes, then the priests, 
 a long sinuous line of snowy white ; behind them 
 walked the Arch- priest, whilst last of all appeared 
 myself, a tall commanding majestic figure with 
 my equerries to uphold my ghttering mantle. My 
 entry into sight of the vast multitude that thronged 
 the courtyard below the platform on which we 
 stood was first greeted by a spell of perfect silence, 
 which in time changed to a long low murmur of 
 approval and awe, and finally to a resounding roar 
 of satisfied delight. Slowly did our long train of 
 nobles, priests, choristers and attendants unwind 
 and fall into proper groups in their assigned places, 
 the whole scene reminding me of some wonderful 
 ballet on an immense stage, with its blending and 
 massing and dividing of the colours of white, red, 
 
 78 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 gold and blue, like the intricate movements of some 
 stately dance. 
 
 At last only the Arch- priest and myself remained 
 standing in the central space of the platform, when 
 the former, after an obeisance of a cringing humility 
 of which I had hitherto deemed him incapable, con- 
 ducted me to a throne beneath a canopy of blue and 
 gold. From this point, during the performance 
 of some singing, I was enabled surreptitiously to 
 examine the component parts of the huge crowd 
 beneath. Immediately under the dais were numbers 
 of persons who were all characterised by wearing 
 green in some form or other, either green tunics or 
 mantles or scarves. As these seemed to occupy 
 the better and reserved space in the courtyard I 
 concluded (and rightly so) that they were members 
 of the middle or mercantile class, who were given 
 precedence over the general populace. The latter 
 were farther away, and were consequently more 
 difficult for me to distinguish. But it was a 
 picturesque throng in any case, and brilliantly 
 coloured, for the robes were mostly in tints of 
 yellow, orange, violet, pink, cinnamon and other 
 shades, though the four colours of blue, white, red 
 and green were conspicuously absent. Men, women 
 and children were visible in the crowd, all of them 
 being small dark people of the type already ex- 
 emphfied in the few persons I had hitherto seen. 
 Part of the court was enclosed by double colonnades 
 that supported upper chambers screened by lattice- 
 
 79 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 work from inquisitive eyes, like the discreet convent 
 windows I used to observe in the highest storeys 
 above the streets of Naples and Palermo. Behind 
 these screens were evidently many spectators, and 
 from the shrillness of the voices issuing hence and 
 from other indications I gathered that the occupants 
 of these galleries were mostly women. As a matter 
 of fact, one side was reserved for the ladies and 
 children of the nobility, and the other for the female 
 inmates of the college of nuns or recluses attached 
 to the Temple of the Sun, of whose duties I mean 
 to speak later. 
 
 After a long interval of chanting, at a sign from 
 the Arch- priest I rose and gave a benediction to the 
 assembled crowd by raising my right arm and slowly 
 turning round so as to envisage the whole assembly. 
 This was made the excuse for more applause, and 
 when this had subsided more canticles were in- 
 toned. Again I imparted the required blessing, 
 after which a golden censer was brought me and 
 I was assisted to advance towards a small altar, 
 formed apparently of solid crystal, whereon the 
 sun's rays were falling in blinding coruscations of 
 light. Here I offered up clouds of incense in the 
 direction of my supposed Parent, the whole multi- 
 tude kneeling in the most profound silence and 
 in the most decorous attitude of rapt attention. 
 For fully ten minutes I must have been swaying that 
 heavy censer, and what with the weight of my robes, 
 the scorching heat of the sun's beams, and the 
 
 80 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 extreme tension caused by the magnificence and 
 novelty of my situation, I felt almost at last ready 
 to drop from sheer exhaustion, when the Arch- 
 priest again came to my rescue and relieved me of 
 the smoking thurible. More cheering, more inton- 
 ing, more ceremonious movements, till ultimately 
 I found myself with the Arch- priest on one side of 
 me and Hiridia on the other, making my way off 
 the platform. I was forthwith led to a chamber 
 furnished with long tables whereon was served a 
 collation of which I stood considerably in need. I 
 then learned I was being entertained thus by the 
 body of the hierarchy, so that once more I felt 
 the necessity of exhibiting no sign of fatigue or of 
 astonishment. The meal was of brief duration, for 
 the day was well advanced by this time, and there 
 still remained the important state entry and pro- 
 cession through the streets of the capital. Quitting 
 the temple precincts I found a cavalcade, or guard 
 of honour, awaiting me, whilst some pages were 
 holding a horse in readiness for me. My steed of 
 state was of a remarkable aspect, for he was pure 
 white with a strong tint of flesh pink showing 
 through his coat, and with pink ears and muzzle. 
 His flowing mane and tail had also been dyed of a 
 blue colour, and, most marvellous thing of all, his 
 eyes showed of a clear Hght blue. Afterwards I 
 learned that this animal belonged to a breed that 
 is specially reserved for the use of the Child of 
 the Sun on state occasions, and that certain famihes 
 
 F 81 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 possess hereditary rights in connection with the 
 breeding and training of these uncanny quadrupeds. 
 With a saddle and bridle of blue leather richly 
 ornamented with gold this white stallion stood ready 
 caparisoned for my person, and with some assistance 
 owing to the weight of my cloak I managed to mount 
 without conscious loss of dignity. My long mantle 
 with its gorgeous devices was deftly spread over 
 the horse's back ; my feet were fixed in the clumsy 
 bucket- like stirrups, and the reins placed in my 
 hand. Thus seated, with Hiridia and other nobles 
 walking beside me, I was ready to start, whereupon 
 my mounted escort in their picturesque chain- 
 armour led the way with a clanking sound. 
 
 Leaving the temple gates we soon crossed a bridge 
 spanning a rushing river whose precipitous banks 
 were thickly clothed with rich vegetation of palm 
 ferns, poinsettias and other tropical plants. 
 Pursuing our course we turned sharply to the right, 
 whereupon I almost immediately found myself in 
 the streets of the capital with the prospect of 
 descending a very narrow steep paved roadway that 
 led eventually to the beach below. The streets 
 themselves being too narrow to permit of the pres- 
 ence of spectators, every window and flat house- roof, 
 and indeed every possible coign of vantage, was 
 occupied by the citizens of Tamarida, who all evinced 
 the liveliest enthusiasm in thus beliolding their new 
 sovereign in his progress. Much to my relief my 
 horse contrived to pick his way without mishap 
 
 82 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 down that fearful lane, which now and again broke 
 into actual steps, like the dingy mediaeval streets of 
 old Naples. Every second I was dreading a stumble 
 on the part of my queer- coloured steed, and a con- 
 sequent loss of majesty to myself ; each moment I 
 feared for the fate of my weighty diadem. Mechanic- 
 ally I continued to smile and to scatter benisons 
 upon the vociferous crowds of loyal subjects, the 
 while I trusted to my own good luck as well as to 
 Hiridia's careful guidance ; and it was with a sense 
 of unspeakable gratitude that eventually I reached 
 the water- side that was lined with shipping of which 
 every yard-arm was positively bristling with eager 
 brown humanity. For some little distance we now 
 pursued the curved hne of the shore, and then 
 crossing another archway entered a gate opening 
 into the lower portion of the palace gardens. Here 
 a large number of servants, gardeners and labourers, 
 with their families, was drawn up to cheer and to 
 prostrate themselves before me, and I concluded my 
 ride had drawn to an end. But it was not so, for 
 I had to cross the gardens and by means of another 
 bridge or viaduct to enter the southern quarter of 
 the city and to repeat my previous experience, with 
 the important difference that this time I had to 
 ascend instead of descend the long narrow winding 
 streets. This at any rate was an improvement on 
 my former trial, and I carried it through with 
 apparent unconcern, although it seemed an intermin- 
 able time before I was finally quit of the crowds 
 
 83 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and the streets and was once more on my feet and 
 in the purheus of the palace. Thus did I accom- 
 phsh successfully the not inconsiderable task allotted 
 me on my second day in Meleager, and albeit hot 
 and exhausted by my exertions, I flattered myself 
 internally that I had borne the long ordeal of my 
 coronation ceremonies with distinction. 
 
 It was almost dark when I dismounted from my 
 pecuhar but trustworthy palfrey, to seek the peace 
 and privacy of my bed-chamber, where I was assisted 
 to unrobe. A warm bath and a cool plunge soon 
 refreshed me, so that I felt capable of facing any 
 further demands on my bodily or mental strength 
 that might be required of me that night. There 
 was a grand banquet with music and some display 
 of dancing and conjuring, but nothing more occurred 
 of special interest, though I was glad to observe and 
 feel that I had won the warm approval of the nobles 
 of the Court, who sat feasting round me. Thus 
 ended my coronation day, and right glad I was to 
 retire to my bed and to sleep off the fatigue and 
 excitement of its many strange incidents. 
 
 I trust I have not wearied or disgusted the reader 
 with my lengthy accomit of all these events that 
 took place during the first two days of my reign in 
 Meleager. Portions of what I have thus described 
 will, I fear, seem somewhat disjointed and obscure, 
 but in excuse I can plead that so did they also seem 
 disjointed and obscure to myself at the time, for 
 at this early stage I had naturally learned next to 
 
 84 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 nothing of the pecuhar conditions prevaihng in 
 my new kingdom. These I intend to treat of in my 
 subsequent chapters, whereby I hope to throw some 
 light on my own anomalous position as a semi- 
 divine monarch, on the composition and aims of the 
 hierarchy, on the social status of the various classes 
 composing the realm, and on the daily life of myself 
 and of my people. 
 
 85 
 
At this very early stage I had naturally not acquired 
 the native language of Meleager, and my sole com- 
 munication was carried on with the Arch- priest in 
 a classical tongue. Besides this, apart from the 
 restricted nature of our intercourse, it was tolerably 
 clear to me that the members of the hierarchy as a 
 whole showed themselves anxious to suppress rather 
 than to explain to me their guiding principles of 
 polity. With this impression firmly fixed in my 
 mind, I became more than ever eager and deter- 
 mined to learn the native language with all speed, 
 so that for the next few weeks I abandoned myself 
 with the greatest diligence to this obj ect. What with 
 my sharpened wits and with my close application 
 I made unexpectedly rapid progress ; nor should I 
 omit to pay my tribute of gratitude to Hiridia's 
 pains and patience in this matter. For many hours 
 daily we engaged in our task, and, with the excep- 
 tion of taking the exercise necessary for health, 
 practically all my working time was occupied in 
 linguistic efforts. My toil was well rewarded, for 
 after no very great length of time I had the satis- 
 faction of perceiving that daily I grew more and 
 more proficient in my subject, so that I was able to 
 
 86 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 converse with Hiridia with some degree of fluency 
 and mutual understanding. 
 
 This interval of vigorous study must have lasted 
 about three months in all, and in spite of many 
 hints from the Arch- priest I firmly refused to leave 
 the precincts of the palace until I had gained the 
 mastery of the native tongue. As to whether this 
 attitude of close seclusion caused disappointment 
 in the capital or annoyance among the members 
 of the council I paid no heed, but only showed 
 my inflexible resolution on this head. Having once 
 succeeded completely in my design, I made every 
 effort to draw from Hiridia all conceivable informa- 
 tion about the land and people I had been called 
 upon to rule, my questions ranging over the whole 
 field of possible inquiry. I certainly did in this 
 way contrive to amass a certain amount of valuable 
 knowledge, although I was by no means satisfied 
 with all the answers and explanations I received. 
 For, if it was plain that the Arch- priest and his 
 colleagues were averse to supplying the required 
 details, it was equally plain that poor Hiridia with 
 all the good intentions possible was excessively 
 ignorant of his own surroundings ; for instance, he 
 could tell me next to nothing of the mode of Hfe, 
 the general conditions and the interior afiairs of any 
 class of the realm save that of the nobility to which 
 he himself belonged. As to the hierarchy, on which 
 subject I plied him with the greatest tact, I had to 
 conclude that, whilst regarding the ruhng caste 
 
 87 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 with unmeasured awe and respect, he was at the 
 same time in nowise intimate with any of that 
 elusive body, though its members were drawn solely 
 from his own class and were in some cases his own 
 relations. Thus was I compelled to build my edifice 
 of knowledge and discovery of bricks without straw, 
 so that often I was fain to lose my temper in my 
 fruitless endeavours to attain the truth ; happily, 
 however, my patience and perseverance triumphed 
 over my natural exasperation. Daily I made care- 
 ful notes in English on my parchment, altering or 
 adding to these notes from time to time, as further 
 inquiry or observation served to throw more Ught 
 on the main subject of my study. And it always 
 amused me to observe the look of profound admira- 
 tion, even of alarm, wherewith Hiridia used to 
 regard the cabalistic scrolls I daily annotated on my 
 table, which stood in the long gallery facing the sea. 
 At the same time I grew to learn that my tutor's 
 reverence was mingled with an intense feeling of 
 loyalty and devotion to myself, so that I instinc- 
 tively knew that his hfe would be wilhngly risked 
 in my service, should any evil chance arise. Thus 
 my reputation of semi- divinity in this instance 
 certainly carried some advantages with it ! As to 
 the Arch- priest, who always insisted on speaking in 
 Latin to me, I did not indeed look for the same 
 unwavering fidehty as I found in Hiridia, yet 
 with that curious extra sixth sense of mine, that 
 is never at fault, I knew he was pleased with my 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 painstaking efforts, and that he was for the 
 present at least very much my sincere friend and 
 champion. 
 
 I think I had better at this point in my narrative 
 offer a brief description of the average day that I 
 spend, so as to afford the reader some notion of my 
 duties, my pleasures and my occupations — that is, 
 of course, after I had succeeded in mastering the 
 language of my kingdom. The course of time being 
 reckoned in Meleager after the old Italian mode of 
 counting the twenty- four hours from the uprising 
 of the sun, at the first streak of dawn watchers in 
 the temple proclaim the new-born day, by firing 
 a piece of ordnance. This is succeeded by loud 
 trumpet calls in the barracks of the soldiery, and 
 the whole city awakens. Every one leaps from bed, 
 and kneeling repeats the following short prayer to 
 the Sun : 
 
 " Sun, mighty King, Father of Lights, I bless 
 thee and thank thee for another day ! It is Thou 
 alone that canst gladden our hearts, warm our 
 homes, nourish our crops, sweeten our grass, ripen 
 our fruits. By Thy Light alone Thy servants can 
 live and adore Thee. Blessed be Thy Face once 
 more appearing ! " 
 
 This simple formula is the universal morning 
 prayer on Meleager, whose inhabitants are true sun- 
 worshippers, in the sense that they attribute all 
 good and all gifts to the sun's visible power and 
 
 89 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 majesty that are daily revealed to them. As for 
 myself, however, being deemed the Child of the Sun, 
 I do not consider it incumbent on me to indulge 
 in this matutinal act of worship, though each dawn 
 I wake to see my servant lying prostrate on the 
 floor with face turned reverently towards the east. 
 The act of prayer performed, he approaches my 
 couch with a goblet filled with some sort of mineral 
 water of a sUghtly bitter flavour, that is invariably 
 swallowed before arising. I then have a rather 
 perfunctory bath in an adjoining room, submitting 
 myself to a rapid ablution with water slightly 
 perfumed with verbena, a scent that is reserved 
 exclusively for the royal use. I dress in the manner 
 previously described, and am then ready for my 
 breakfast, which is usually set out in the open gallery 
 that is already flooded by the warm early sunlight. 
 My repast consists of coffee (which is extensively 
 cultivated here), together with thick cream, a 
 manchet of fine white bread, and a platter heaped 
 with superb fruit. I leisurely enjoy these dainties 
 and then (what on my first acquaintance afforded 
 me equal pleasure and surprise) I proceed to smoke 
 a cigar, or large cigarette, consisting of coarse 
 granular tobacco rolled in maize leaf, like the type 
 of cigarette affected by the natives of Brazil. For 
 tobacco is largely grown here, and its leaves are 
 put to many uses, including this last- mentioned 
 agreeable purpose. 
 
 Whilst I am enjoying my fragrant cigarette, 
 
 90 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 Hiridia invariably appears, bringing me the news 
 of the day, and thus conversing we soon stroll into 
 the gardens that are still fresh and gleaming with 
 the dew. As I stand about six feet three inches, 
 and perhaps a trifle more, and my tutor is of the 
 average Meleagrian height of five foot live inches, I 
 used at first to find our walks on the terrace rendered 
 unsatisfactory by reason of our disparity in stature. 
 To remedy this, I have caused a low platform of 
 stone to be constructed the whole of its length some 
 ten inches above the ground, and along this erection 
 Hiridia now walks beside me so that we can chat 
 at a convenient level. I thought the Arch- priest 
 rather inchned to boggle at this suggestion, but I 
 contrived to carry my point all the same. 
 
 At the third hour of the day begins my work. 
 First of all I hold an audience, which is attended 
 by the Arch- priest and some other members of the 
 hierarchy, whereat various matters of state concern- 
 ing the needs of the community, or the colonies, or 
 the troops are broached and discussed. An hour 
 or more is generally exhausted in this business, and 
 by the fourth hour or a little later I issue from the 
 palace with a mihtary escort and shadowed by the 
 umbrella of state to the judgment hall of the people, 
 which is situated in the city itself. ( Or rather, to 
 be quite expHcit, I visit thus the two courts of 
 the northern and southern quarters of Tamarida 
 on alternate mornings.) Here I take my seat on 
 a dais, and dispense justice and advice to all and 
 
 91 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 sundry in a fashion that constantly reminds me of 
 the multitudinous duties of a London stipendiary 
 magistrate, though the conditions of the two cases 
 are happily very diverse. My supphants are drawn 
 almost wholly from the lowest estate of the realm, 
 and sometimes the points submitted to my judg- 
 ment are of the most trivial character. But I sit 
 and listen with all the patience I can command, and 
 then announce my verdict with all the care and 
 circumspection whereof I am capable. It is pathetic 
 to observe the intense faith my people have in my 
 decisions ; a suitor who has lost his plea may 
 perhaps feel disappointment, but he is obviously 
 fully resigned to my judgment, and accepts my 
 award as absolutely just and final. In short, the 
 popular confidence in my wisdom and sense of equity 
 is imbounded, as the large and ever- increasing roll 
 of my daily petitioners can testify. 
 
 At noon a discharge of cannon, such as one still 
 hears in the large Itahan cities at midday, resounds 
 through the air, and the business of the court is 
 hurried to a conclusion. Everyone now retires to 
 dine and sleep, for at least two hours' space of 
 rest is allotted to the whole community. I return 
 to the palace with my escort, quite ready for my 
 midday meal, which usually consists of eggs, fish, 
 bread and fruit, with plenty of the rough red or 
 white Meleagrian wine, that is both palatable and 
 wholesome. To this repast I am in the habit 
 of inviting various members of the nobihty, and 
 
 92 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I always find these small informal parties far 
 preferable to the rather dreary public supper of 
 the Court, which takes place each evening soon after 
 simdown. After eating, I sometimes play at chess 
 (which is a very popular game here) with one of 
 my invited friends, whilst my other guests amuse 
 themselves as best they may ; or at other times I 
 listen to tales or poems recited by such as aspire 
 to become distinguished in this department of 
 Meleagrian social life. About the ninth or tenth 
 hour I walk in the gardens, and after that I change 
 my clothes so as to enjoy a vigorous game of hand- 
 ball, which usually lasts till dusk. After my 
 exercise follows the bath, a lengthy but delightful 
 daily experience, for after the usual sweating and 
 course of rubbing in the heated chambers, one can 
 plunge into a deep basin of cool water. This pool 
 also contains a cascade of artificial construction 
 that one shoots, in the manner employed by some 
 of the islanders of the South Seas, the bather being 
 hurled over the falhng volume of water into another 
 deep pool below. By swimming rapidly for a few 
 strokes beneath the surface one emerges farther on 
 in the calm clear water of a large natural basin that 
 is fringed with ferns and verdure. A rapid stream 
 flowing down from the mountain- tops above through 
 a precipitous channel has at some time or other 
 been cleverly utilised in the construction of this 
 cataract and lower pool, which have been in- 
 corporated in these bathing arrangements for the 
 
 93 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 palace. Afterwards, I rest a while before dressing, 
 when I proceed at my own convenience to the large 
 banqueting hall, though not before a salvo of 
 trumpets has given the signal that the workaday 
 phase of Meleagrian daily life is ended. All toil 
 save that of domestic service now ceases, and the 
 whole city of Tamarida willingly resigns itself to 
 rest and recreation until the morrow's dawn. At 
 the evening meal eaten in public I remain but a 
 short time, and then retire to my own apartments, 
 whither I summon, if so disposed, such persons as 
 I feel inchned to honour with an interview. Often 
 however I sit or pace alone for hours in the darkened 
 or moonlit solitude of my loggia, meditating on my 
 strange fate and concocting plans for my future 
 course of conduct. 
 
 Such is the outline of my average day, but this 
 programme is often varied. In the first place, 
 every seventh day being a public day of thanks- 
 giving and rest from labour, I have to attend the 
 necessary ceremonies in the temple instead of 
 holding my informal court in the city. On these 
 days, too, I usually ride afield with some of my 
 courtiers, generally to go hunting into the wild 
 mountainous region behind the temple, where the 
 keen air and the wide views over sea and land seem 
 to freshen my body and my spirits. Occasionally 
 I pay a visit on horseback to the seat of some 
 hospitable nobleman, whence we return late at 
 night. At other times I honour some country 
 
 94 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 village with my presence, much to the dehght and 
 surprise of its inhabitants. There are no books, as 
 I have already explained, so that in reality my life 
 is necessarily compounded of action and meditation, 
 which on the whole has not hitherto caused me 
 weariness or disgust. Whether or no I shall always 
 rest thus contented with this monotonous routine 
 of splendour and duty is a disagreeable and anxious 
 question that I try, with only moderate success, to 
 thrust into the background of my thoughts. 
 
 95 
 
VI 
 
 Not a day passes here but that I lament my crass 
 ignorance of even the elementary principles of 
 astronomy. In my school- days I was never taught 
 the use of the celestial globe, though my young 
 brains were burdened with the problems and 
 theorems of Euchd, with Greek encUtics and other 
 scholastic lumber, dear to the dry- as- dust soul of the 
 Enghsh pedagogue. Such books deahng mth the 
 heavens as I chanced to read in later hfe failed to 
 leave an abiding impression on my adult mind, with 
 the result that now I can only bewail uselessly the 
 gaps in my early education. I mention this defect 
 for a special reason — namely, to crave allowance 
 for the tentative character and amateurish account 
 of the features of my planet, which I want to present 
 to the reader. 
 
 From such calculations as I have made for myself 
 and by myself I believe the planet of Meleager to be 
 insignificant in comparison with the Earth. Pos- 
 sibly I may be mistaken in stating that its whole 
 surface is barely equal to the area of Austraha, yet 
 that is my opinion. Its climate is subtropical in 
 the central zone, gradually tapering to temperate 
 and cold towards its poles. Roughly speaking, the 
 " Regio Sohs," the spreading peninsula that forms 
 
 96 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the main portion of the kingdom of the Child of the 
 Sun, possesses the cHmate of Egypt or Mexico. Its 
 summers are long and warm, though never disagree- 
 ably torrid; its winter is of brief duration and 
 normally wet rather than cold, snow rarely falling 
 near the coast. The changes of spring and autumn 
 are little marked, so that the whole course of the 
 year seems to consist of an extended warm season 
 followed by a spell of wet and cold. Southward of 
 the Region of the Sun there extends an apparently 
 trackless ocean, on whose waters, I am told, there 
 is no land visible save a few barren islets and rocky 
 reefs. But then exploration for exploration's sake 
 is wholly alien to the Meleagrian outlook, and I much 
 doubt whether the light sailing vessels of the fisher- 
 men (who alone tempt these southern seas) have 
 penetrated very far in this direction, especially in 
 face of the storms that are apt to arise without 
 warning in this quarter and are consequently much 
 dreaded by mariners. The ensuing little sketch 
 map according to Mercator's projection, though very 
 rough and imperfect, may perhaps ai?ord the reader 
 some idea of the lands and seas of Meleager, as I 
 conceive them to exist. 
 
 It will be observed that the capital lies, presum- 
 ably of intention, exactly on the line of the Equator 
 and that it faces due east ; whilst Zapyro, the second 
 city of the realm, is also situated in the same latitude 
 but looking towards the west. The whole coast- line 
 of the Regio SoHs is much indented, and it forms a 
 G 97 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 pendent peninsula to the large partially unexplored 
 region to the north, which I always speak of as 
 Barbaria, though it is commonly known merely as 
 the North Land. Of the size of the main kingdom 
 I am uncertain ; at times I conceive it to be as large 
 as Great Britain, at other times I think it can be 
 hardly more extensive than Ireland. The centre of 
 
 the kingdom is largely covered by mountain ranges 
 and elevated plateaux. None of these mountains 
 however are of any great height, with the sole 
 exception of a tall isolated rocky peak in the pro- 
 montory north of Tamarida, from which it is clearly 
 visible. This conspicuous cloven peak I have 
 named Mount Crystal on account of its shining crags, 
 but it is known to the Meleagrians as the Altar of 
 the Sun, and it is obviously invested in popular 
 behef with many mystical attributes. Below the 
 
 98 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 summit, which at a mere guess I should say was 
 about seven thousand of our feet above sea- level, 
 I can clearly distinguish a group of buildings on 
 a narrow ledge to eastward; and Hiridia has told 
 me that these belong to a temple of peculiar sanctity 
 which none save the priests and their trusted servants 
 are ever permitted to enter, or even to approach. 
 Naturally I often speculate as to the uses of this 
 lofty and jealously guarded shrine, and I have come 
 to the conclusion that here are preserved the para- 
 phernalia necessary to the due working of the details 
 of The Secret. Be that as it may, the solitary moun- 
 tain and its mysterious temple form a prominent 
 feature in all the eastern portion of the kingdom. 
 
 All round the coast tike soil is intensely fertile, 
 and produces food in abundance for the whole 
 population, which is nowhere very dense save in the 
 two large cities. These two are in fact the only 
 towns of any size in the whole peninsula, with the 
 exception of Fufani, situated at the head of a broad 
 inlet of the southern coast. These southern shores 
 are mostly rocky with huge beetling chffs that recall 
 the iron-bound shores of Capri and Cornwall. 
 Against this natural barrier the raging billows in 
 vain hurl themselves, and as I have stood watching 
 the storm- vexed waters from these heights, I have 
 often been reminded of the sounding seas and foam- 
 flecked waves I once delighted to gaze upon from 
 the heads of Sydney harbour that oppose the whole 
 fury of the Pacific. The northern coasts of the 
 
 99 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Region of the Sun are less romantic, and in many 
 places the coastal zone is marked by long stretches 
 of sand with marshes behind them. Everywhere 
 the vegetation both of cultivated and of wild growth 
 exhibits a close resemblance to and an evident 
 affinity with the flora of the Earth. In fact, there 
 appear such endless points of similarity between the 
 natural features of Meleager and of the Earth that 
 I have often found it difficult to realise I was not 
 living in some hitherto undiscovered corner of my 
 native sphere. Appreciating the vast depths of my 
 own ignorance in all matters scientific, I declare with 
 trepidation yet with a firm sense of conviction that 
 the geological history and development of the two 
 planets nmst have been practically identical. 
 
 Not far from Zapyro begins the long isthmus that 
 connects the warm subtropical Region of the Sun 
 with the great half- explored territory of the north, 
 or Barbaria. This large tract of land is said to widen 
 out to northward, but very little is known of its 
 interior, which at no great distance from the coast- 
 Une is blocked by a long chain of tall mountains, 
 many of whose rugged peaks are covered with 
 eternal snow. Large lakes and swamps are com- 
 monly reported to lie beyond these ranges, but in 
 reality next to nothing is known of the country 
 sheltered behind this great natural barrier. As I 
 have already stated, the average Meleagrian has no 
 taste for pioneering enterprise, so he remains quite 
 satisfied with the tales of more intrepid hunters 
 
 100 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 who have penetrated thus far and speak vaguely of 
 a barren soil, of dismal morasses and of uncouth 
 aborigines whose manners are fully as repellent as 
 is the aspect of the lands they inhabit. Equally 
 the coasts of Barbaria have been little examined, 
 except those of the Great Northern Bay and the 
 stretch of shore running north-west of Zapyro. All 
 this coast- hne is however sprinkled with stray 
 colonies of South Meleagrians, some of these settle- 
 ments being of a permanent character, whilst others 
 are merely occupied as temporary bases for fishing 
 or hunting. There are also a few colonies inland to 
 the south of the mountains, but though the whole 
 of this district is inhabited, no systematic occupa- 
 tion of this warmer portion of Barbaria has ever 
 been attempted. The colonists for the most part 
 consist of emigrants belonging to the people, but 
 not a few of the nobles own estates whereon they 
 breed cattle and sheep, or utilise for growing large 
 timber. Some marble and stone quarries are like- 
 wise worked, but all these mercantile projects are 
 evidently carried on in a distinctly haphazard 
 style. All the permanent inhabitants of this region 
 are subjects of my kingdom, yet they are not all of 
 pure blood, but must in the remote past have inter- 
 mingled with the original stock of this territory, 
 who may perhaps have belonged to the same race 
 as the yellow- skinned prognathous tribesmen who 
 still dwell in the unexplored and unannexed portions 
 of Barbaria beyond the mountains. In any case, 
 
 101 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 these natives of South Barbaria are fine, strong- 
 featured people, though easily distinguishable from 
 those of the Region of the Sun. Many men of this dis- 
 trict travel southward to enlist as soldiers, for which 
 their more hardy physique admirably suits them, or 
 else to offer themselves as indentured labourers and 
 servants for a term of years. Two members of the 
 hierarchy are charged specially with the interests of 
 this class of temporary immigrant, and, so far as I 
 could ascertain, they are always treated with fair- 
 ness and consideration, though they are somewhat 
 despised by the ruling populace of the south. 
 
 I have been informed that in times past these 
 South Barbarians have actually attempted to invade 
 the Region of the Sun, and in proof of this tradition 
 I noted that the isthmus near Zapyro is fortified 
 by a military wall running across its whole breadth 
 from sea to sea. These old fortifications are solidly 
 built, and are still kept in admirable repair, whilst 
 one of the regiments is always quartered here in 
 permanent barracks. There seems however, at the 
 present time, to be little fear or probability of a 
 repetition of any such incursion in spite of the 
 constant guard maintained on the isthmus. 
 
 Of the capital I have already spoken, and of its 
 picturesque situation on the hillsides sloping to the 
 waters of the broad deep harbour whose circular 
 form hints at a remote volcanic origin. Owing to 
 the absence of towers and lofty buildings the whole 
 town wears an Oriental aspect, for the Meleagrian 
 
 102 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 style of architecture strongly inclines to colonnades, 
 low domes and flat roofs. The streets are dark and 
 narrow, a perfect labyrinth of paved lanes, but they 
 are kept scrupulously clean by means of an excellent 
 system of scavenging, whilst the copious use of 
 disinfectant liquids renders them wholesome, so 
 that Tamarida is remarkably free from disease in 
 all forms. The houses own little external ornament, 
 and being all whitewashed recall the Arab quarters 
 of Algiers and Tunis. This similarity is increased 
 by the nature of their internal arrangements, which 
 contain courtyards, or patios, open to the sky, 
 these spaces in the case of the richer citizens being 
 embellished with fountains and flower-beds. A 
 happy combination of the dwelhngs of the classical 
 world as still visible at Rome or Pompeii and the 
 architecture of Islam may best describe the type 
 of home prevailing in Tamarida and elsewhere 
 throughout the kingdom. The houses of the poor 
 are smaller and less elegant, but are of the same 
 character as those of their wealthier neighbours. 
 There is an abundant public supply of water for 
 each house, with fountains in every garden and open 
 space. The instinct of family life in the two upper 
 classes is very strong, so that it is not easy for 
 strangers to penetrate into these compact, secluded 
 homes, where usually only near relatives are ad- 
 mitted except on the occasion of a wedding or a 
 feast. Indeed, the family itself in upper-class Ufe 
 offers a tiny imferium in imperio throughout the 
 
 103 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 country, and this attitude of aloofness is encouraged 
 by the hierarchy, who prefer to see all domestic 
 suits and quarrels settled within the walls of the 
 family mansion rather than in the court held daily 
 in public. 
 
 Zapyro, which traditionally claims to be con- 
 sidered the ancient metropolis of the realm, is only 
 about half the size of Tamarida. Its streets, though 
 equally clean and well tended, are less animated ; 
 its market is smaller ; its houses and gardens are 
 all on a less ambitious scale ; and this remark 
 especially apphes to the Temple of the Setting Sun 
 which crowns a large rock behind the town. This 
 sacred building, whose former ruinous condition 
 I have lately sought to improve and have thereby 
 acquired considerable merit in the eyes of the 
 Zapyriotes, cannot compare in size and splendour 
 with the magnificent fane at Tamarida. Only four 
 members of the hierarchy reside here, and though 
 the services connected with the hour of sunset are 
 impressive, they are not comparable with those held 
 in the great Temple of Tamarida. My own resid- 
 ence here consists of a block of buildings of moderate 
 size, but then I only spend one month in Zapyro 
 itself, my arrival being greeted with most flattering 
 rejoicing on the part of the Zapyriotes, who also 
 exhibit much despondency at the time of my 
 departure. One peculiarity of this city is worth 
 recording ; and that is the circumstance that, unlike 
 Tamarida, it possesses a civil governor who may not 
 
 104 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 belong to the priestly caste: a fiercely cherished 
 honour that is believed to derive from very remote 
 ages, when royalty resided here permanently. A 
 leading member of the nobility is always chosen 
 from his peers for this much- coveted distinction, 
 which also includes the right to inhabit a portion 
 of the rather exiguous palace at Zapyro, and the 
 duty of holding the daily court of judgment in the 
 absence of the King. The hierarchy is said to view 
 these privileges with disfavour, but has hitherto 
 hesitated to abolish the ofiice in face of the pride 
 and jealousy the Zapyriotes display in their reten- 
 tion of what is after all only a slight infringement 
 of their universal powers of rule. 
 
 With regard to the third town, Fiifani, I gather 
 it to be a place of recent growth. It is a large 
 rambhng unattractive seaport built on the marshy 
 flats at the head of the Gulf of Fiifani. Its popula- 
 tion consists entirely of families of the mercantile 
 class and the populace who are engaged in the mari- 
 time trade of the southern ocean. The growth of 
 Fiifani was, I understand, very rapid, so that the 
 sudden reahsation of this unauthorised collection 
 of large numbers of citizens caused much misgiving 
 amongst the senators at Tamarida, who took 
 measures to scatter the community thus formed 
 against their wishes. In this aim however the hier- 
 archy was unsuccessful, largely, it is rumoured, owing 
 to the sympathy of the reigning king, who found 
 in the question of Fiifani a convenient occasion 
 
 105 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 for pitting his authority against that of the priest- 
 hood. FaiHng to induce the inhabitants of this 
 new- sprung town to disperse themselves throughout 
 the neighbouring districts, the priests now came to 
 consider it the lesser of two evils to recognise Fiifani 
 as a city, and accordingly erected a Temple of the 
 Sun at this spot and nominated three priests to 
 reside there. This measure has brought the people 
 of Fufani, who must evidently have shown some 
 fierce spirit of opposition, if not of flat rebellion 
 against the government, directly under the arm of 
 the hierarchy, whose rule here is strengthened by 
 a garrison of soldiers. I cannot help thinking it 
 must have been my predecessor who thus encouraged 
 the spirit of revolt, not wholly without success, at 
 Fufani, with the ultimate result that he " ceased to 
 reign," as his fate is euphemistically described to me. 
 I have so often longed to discover what is the end 
 of undesirable or obnoxious monarchs ; are they 
 secretly murdered, I wonder, or are they confined 
 in that sinister temple on Mount Crystal or some 
 other retreat ? Or are they merely deprived of the 
 benefits of the Fountain of Rejuvenation, and so 
 allowed to fall to decrepitude and old age, and 
 finally death ? What would I not give for some true 
 guiding details of these concealed tragedies, of these 
 unequal struggles between palace and temple ! 
 On the only occasion I have visited Fufani I could 
 not detect any overt sign of disaffection among the 
 populace, though I did not fail to note the sour looks 
 
 106 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of the priests accompanying me, as we rode through 
 the rather squalid streets of the straggling feature- 
 less town, so different in its natural setting from 
 Tamarida or Zapyro. There is no royal residence 
 in Fiifani, and my visit hither was undertaken from 
 the country seat of a neighbouring nobleman, who 
 spoke of the town and its people with contemptuous 
 dislike. 
 
 Before bringing this meagre and feeble sketch 
 of Meleager to a close, and before proceeding to 
 enlarge on the more interesting subject of the 
 Meleagrians themselves, one final point of some 
 importance occurs to my mind. This is the matter 
 of their coinage, or rather medium of exchange. 
 Although barter on an extensive scale and in a 
 very sensible manner is largely utilised amongst 
 merchants, and wages are frequently paid in kind, 
 a system of coinage is in general use, the currency 
 being limited to three coins. These are the golden 
 " bezant," rather larger than our own half- 
 sovereign ; the silver " platera," about the size of 
 a two- franc piece ; and the bronze " denar," a 
 little bigger than a penny. Each coin bears on its 
 face the device of the sun, and on its reverse a 
 raised lozenge in the case of the bezant, a square of 
 the platera, and a circle of the denar, which marks 
 can be distinguished in the dark. As the golden 
 bezant is worth ten silver plateras, and each silver 
 platera again is worth ten bronze denars, a simple 
 system of decimal coinage may be said to prevail. 
 
 107 
 
VII 
 
 Having described some of the natural features of 
 Meleager, I now propose very shortly to speak of 
 the various functionaries and classes of the realm. 
 These may be divided into (1) the Iving; (2) the 
 Hierarchy; (3) the Nobility; (4) the Mercantile 
 class; (6) the Populace; and (6) Indentured 
 servants or slaves. 
 
 As the King is the first official in the state, as 
 well as its resident incarnated deity, I shall begin 
 by speaking of my own powers and their many 
 limitations. I have already explained the extra- 
 ordinary genesis of the King of Meleager, how he 
 is a native of the Earth, and is consequently on his 
 arrival here utterly ignorant of the laws, traditions, 
 polity and ideals of his new kingdom. At the end 
 of five years I may add it is astonishing to reflect 
 how terribly ignorant of all these matters I still 
 remain, not through any fault of mine, but owing 
 to the fixed intention of my practical masters, the 
 hierarchy, to keep me in the dark concerning many 
 affairs of importance in the realm for which they 
 have themselves deliberately chosen me as monarch. 
 The Arch- priest, whom I infinitely prefer to any of 
 his colleagues, can be a perfect Sphinx of the most 
 provoking silence at times, although, to do him 
 
 108 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 justice, he does occasionally impart information, 
 which is invariably accurate and useful for my real 
 guidance, whereas I cannot trust any statements 
 made me by other members of the college. What 
 I glean from Hiridia is of some general service 
 certainly, but from the political standpoint it is 
 valueless. This is not surprising, seeing that 
 education, in the restricted meaning of that term, 
 is practically confined to the members of the 
 hierarchy; still, from the social side Hiridia has 
 proved of great assistance to me in my relations 
 with the nobles and other estates of the realm. 
 
 The King here, even making full allowance for the 
 peculiar bonds wherein he is tied and bound to the 
 hierarchy, wields considerable powers. He is, as I 
 have already shown, the judge of the people in their 
 courts, and to them his decisions are final and un- 
 disputed. The behef and devotion of the populace 
 are therefore wholly concentrated in their resident 
 King, who appears to them — and who can marvel 
 at it ? — as the authentic Child of the Sun, whose 
 father they daily worship and praise for the Hght 
 whereby they live, for the food they eat, and for 
 the warmth they enjoy. I can easily understand the 
 strong temptation that has driven one, and probably 
 more, of my predecessors to utiHse the undoubted 
 creduhty and loyalty of the populace in a struggle 
 against the repressive influence of the ruling caste, 
 and I can also, for I am fair-minded, perceive the 
 reasonableness of the continual panic that animates 
 
 109 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the hierarchy with regard to the relations existing 
 between an alleged semi- divine monarch and a 
 blindly adoring multitude. Any prospective under- 
 standing or union between these two forces of King 
 and people is a constant source of jealousy and 
 alarm to the priesthood, who are ever on the watch 
 to prevent and stifle such intrigue should ifc arise. 
 Yet, on the other hand, if once the King were goaded 
 by indiscreet espionage or by harsh interference into 
 revolt against official tutelage, then a personal appeal 
 by the outraged Child of the Sun to his faithful 
 people might very possibly result in the overthrow 
 within a few hours of the whole fabric of govern- 
 ment that it has taken so many centuries to rear. 
 The open policy of the senators therefore must not 
 tend to thwart or irritate the King ; it must merely 
 keep the sharpest outlook without awakening his 
 suspicions ; yet it must always be ready to guard 
 against any sudden plot or combination between 
 an ambitious King and a subservient populace. 
 On the contrary, there must exist a mutual but 
 unspoken compact between the monarch and the 
 priesthood, in which the former should clearly and 
 willingly realise his complete dependence on the 
 latter, and submit in all things with a good grace. 
 He is to be 'particeps fraiidis, a sharer in the Great 
 Imposture with its contrivers, and if he is content 
 to play this role, well and good ; but if he elects 
 to kick against this tacit arrangement, the situa- 
 tion thus created must prove equally dangerous 
 
 110 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 both to King and hierarchy, and in such a crisis 
 the priesthood never mean the King to triumph, no 
 matter what measures they may be reduced to take 
 in order to preserve their ascendency. For my own 
 part I have done my utmost to make the priesthood 
 realise that I comprehend and agree in and respect 
 this silent bargain. Some of the councillors are 
 however too suspicious and nervous by nature to 
 appraise my attitude at its true value ; and though 
 I am on fairly friendly terms with the majority of 
 my masters, there are certain members of the council 
 whose evident hostility I can never hope to disarm. 
 
 From the deliberations in the council chamber in 
 the Temple of the Sun I am invariably excluded, yet 
 no measure within the realm is essayed without my 
 knowledge, the Arch- priest acting as intermediary 
 in all such cases. I am always permitted, and even 
 encouraged, to work with the hierarchy, but I could 
 never work against them, even if I would. The pecu- 
 liar relations between our two sets of authority must 
 necessarily always be most precarious and delicate, 
 and call for the utmost exercise of patience, restraint 
 and self-effacement on my part. Fortunately, so 
 long as it is realised on both sides that our mutual 
 powers are intermingled and interdependent, there 
 is httle fear of a collision such as either party would 
 naturally seek to avoid in its own interests. 
 
 Except for the short ceremony observed on the 
 morning of each weekly feast-day, the King rarely 
 visits the temple. Twice a year however, at the 
 
 111 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 seasons of mid- summer and mid- winter, prior to the 
 great public acts of worship before the crystal 
 altar, I am subjected to a lengthy course of 
 manipulation, followed by a dipping in the Foun- 
 tain of Rejuvenation. In spite of the invigor- 
 ating after-effects of this treatment, I confess 
 I detest these two occasions most cordially, and 
 their approach always fills my heart with intense 
 bitterness at the thought of the humiliation that 
 awaits me ; nor can I shake ofi my feeling of chagrin 
 for many days afterwards. Yet never a hint is 
 uttered in my presence as to my dependence on the 
 will of the hierarchy, nor has the Arch- priest ever 
 alluded even in our most confidential talks to the 
 intricacies of our unique relationship. To bear and 
 forbear has therefore been the guiding note of my 
 reign so far, and I earnestly hope that by following 
 a similar course of conduct in the future I may con- 
 trive to continue thus on the throne of Meleager, for 
 despite its many limitations and objections I am 
 tolerably happy in my present situation. I have 
 frankly accepted my anomalous position from the 
 first, and as time progresses I find my perilous 
 curiosity to peer behind the veil of The Secret 
 grow less persistent and irksome. 
 
 I hope I have now explained with some degree of 
 clarity the exact nature of the tie binding myself 
 to the College of Seventy. The worst feature of my 
 own position — and perhaps the worst also from the 
 point of view of the hierarchy — is the haunting 
 
 112 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 sense of uncertainty, or rather the knowledge that 
 I myself, my aims, my motives and my deeds are 
 continually under discussion by this mysterious 
 band of priestly potentates, with whom I am really 
 unable to get into touch and to whom I cannot 
 explain satisfactorily any matters that may arouse 
 their distrust or suspicion. I often wish the 
 members, at least of the outer circle, of the council 
 would decide to take me into their complete confi- 
 dence, so that we could all open our hearts freely to 
 one another. I feel sure in such an event all cause 
 of misunderstanding on their part would be speedily 
 removed, whilst a greater feeling of security would 
 result to themselves from this open alHance. But 
 I know only too well that at present any such 
 arrangement is utterly impossible, so I have to abide 
 in the same uncomfortable and strained position 
 which has already, I have every reason to believe, 
 proved too onerous and exasperating for more than 
 one of my fore-runners on the throne of Meleager. 
 
 With the nobility my part is naturally a far less 
 difficult one to play. In the eyes of my courtiers, 
 and of the many leading nobles who have access to 
 my personal society, I am regarded not merely in 
 theory but in very deed as a semi- divine creature, 
 and am treated with the requisite degree of honour. 
 But so natural and well bred are the manners of 
 the Meleagrian aristocracy that this intense defer- 
 ence never sinks to fawning, nor becomes personally 
 inconvenient, so that I can associate on terms of 
 
 H 113 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 easy familiarity with many of them. With their 
 private affairs I have no great concern, seeing how 
 strong is the patriarchal rule in each family ; but 
 sometimes as a last resort my opinion is invited, 
 especially by the younger nobles, and such advice 
 as I deign to supply is invariably regarded as the 
 acme of wisdom and is promptly acted on. 
 
 With the commercial class I am brought much less 
 into contact, so that I have smaller opportunity of 
 observing its members. From time to time, how- 
 ever, I take pleasure in receiving accounts of travel 
 by land and sea from some of the more intrepid 
 merchant adventurers who sail the southern ocean, 
 or penetrate the bleak hinterland of Barbaria. I 
 have also acquired some merit in their eyes by 
 making an expedition to the Barbarian coast, and 
 visiting some of the settlements whence timber, 
 furs and fish are exported to the south. The Arch- 
 priest has never expressed any opposition to this 
 display of interest on my part, and he certainly 
 encouraged my voyage to Barbaria ; but I know 
 well some members of the College of Seventy at 
 the time objected to my proposed tour of inspection 
 of the northern colonies. Their arguments, no 
 doubt voiced in the council chamber, must however 
 have been over- ruled, for my expedition was 
 permitted. 
 
 By the third estate, as also by the large mass 
 of indentured slaves or servants, I am of course 
 adored, worshipped and regarded as a Divine 
 
 lU 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Incarnation. My appearance in the judgment hall 
 calls forth diurnal blessings on my head, and persons 
 of this class seek to kiss the hem of my robe in 
 passing, or even manoeuvre so that my shadow may 
 fall upon them, much as the sick and decrepit of 
 antique Asia Minor sought a blessing in the shadows 
 of the early Apostles. I need not pursue this matter, 
 for I have already made clear elsewhere the whole- 
 hearted loyalty of the populace towards their King. 
 Apart from this deep attachment to my person 
 of the commonalty of the kingdom, I possess too a 
 certain amount of real power in the household of 
 the palace and in the regiments of horse and foot 
 that form my personal guards. All these wear my 
 royal colour of blue in their livery or uniform, to- 
 gether with my badge of the sim in splendour. I 
 can therefore well imagine the consequent jealousy 
 and alarm of some members of the hierarchy being 
 aroused by such an exhibition of potential strength, 
 and I feel pretty sure of the presence of a number 
 of spies both among my domestics and in the ranks 
 of the military, who are constantly on the watch 
 lest I should show any sign of pushing my advantage 
 by these means. As such never has been, is not 
 and never will be my intention, these official eaves- 
 droppers can have nothing but what is reassuring to 
 report to their employers. Nevertheless, the thought 
 of this particular form of distrust is not pleasant, 
 and it looms large among the various trials and dis- 
 advantages I have to endure in my exalted office. 
 
 115 
 
VIII 
 
 Undoubtedly the most important feature in the 
 whole body poUtic of Meleager is the ruhng caste of 
 the priests. I have at different times described 
 these personages as a hierarchy of priests, as a 
 college of senators, as a Council of Seventy, as 
 a committee of councillors; but in reality none of 
 these titles exactly expresses the nature or powers 
 of this small executive clique selected from the 
 nobility. The form, moreover, under which they 
 are universally saluted or addressed in Meleager is 
 simply " Arxattra," which signifies " Master." I 
 had therefore better open with an account of the 
 choice and composition of this body, whose sole 
 check consists in the King whom they themselves 
 call into being and can presumably dispose of in 
 certain events. The priesthood (to use a con- 
 venient though inexact term) consists of never 
 more than seventy- seven members nor less than 
 seventy, and these are recruited solely from the 
 aristocracy. The admission to this body is by 
 election of the whole, and the candidates for this 
 honour are confined to a number of probationers of 
 the seminary that is situated within the precincts 
 of the Temple of the Sun. These probationers 
 are jealously excluded from all outside social 
 
 116 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 intercourse, and are carefully educated for at least 
 five years with the object in view by members of 
 the council itself. No one under the age of thirty- 
 five may be admitted for election, and it is usual, 
 though not essential, for the candidate to be a 
 bachelor or a widower. On his election, the success- 
 ful candidate quits his college and retires to the 
 Temple of the Sun, where apartments exist for every 
 member of the council. This severe regulation as 
 to age and family ties is obviously intended to 
 preserve the conservative traditions of the hierarchy, 
 for the human mind naturally is inclined to hark 
 back affectionately to the conditions prevailing in 
 youth and to prefer such to any later standard of 
 morals and administration. At the same time the 
 many services and duties to be performed by the 
 junior councillors require the election of active and 
 able-bodied members, for though the Temple of the 
 Sun is the headquarters and official home of these 
 councillors, yet many of them are in constant pere- 
 grination throughout the kingdom. Four priests 
 reside at Zapyro ; three at Fiifani ; two are said 
 to be in residence within the forbidden temple on 
 Mount Crystal. All have their proper spheres of 
 work assigned to them, and membership of this all- 
 powerful council, far from being the sinecure I once 
 conceived it, entails an immense amount of exertion, 
 both mental and physical. 
 
 From the moment of his election there is an 
 amplitude of employment for the new-comer. Thus 
 
 117 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of the junior councillors four hold the onerous posts 
 of registrars of all births and deaths throughout the 
 realm, their business in this capacity taking them 
 far afield, for the whole system of Meleagrian 
 registration is closely bound up with its pubUc poHcy 
 and edicts. Two more are concerned with the 
 shipping and fishing industries ; two with the con- 
 trol and inspection of the colonies in Barbaria ; 
 two are entrusted with the interests of the many 
 indentured labourers ; two or more act as com- 
 missioners of forest lands ; at least four are charged 
 with the important and troublesome duties as 
 regards public sanitation and hygiene ; and so on 
 till every pubHc department falls under the direct 
 supervision of the nominees of this Council of Seventy 
 and more. Such a shuffling and allocation of pubHc 
 ofiices may seem arbitrary and detestable to the 
 windy demagogues of our twentieth- century civiHsa- 
 tion ; but I can assure my readers, as the result of 
 my most careful and unbiased observation, the 
 practical effect on the well-being of the community 
 at large far exceeds any vaunted results that ever 
 I saw or heard of in any democratic community on 
 Earth. Nor do I marvel ; for jobbery, sentimental- 
 ism, waste, financial dabbHng, denominational 
 intrigue, family influence are all necessarily absent 
 from the workings of a council that is composed only 
 of highly trained persons of gentle birth who, having 
 resigned all the domestic and material interests of 
 life, have no private or monetary ends to consider, 
 
 118 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 but act solely for the benefit of the state, which 
 they have chosen voluntarily to serve after a 
 long preliminary course of special education. 
 
 Whenever a member of the council dies, or through 
 failure of health is placed on an honorary footing, 
 the vacant place is quickly filled. The last elected 
 member of the hierarchy summons the chosen 
 probationer and leads him to the council chamber 
 where his brother members are assembled. Here he 
 kneels, whilst a homily on the nature of the high 
 honour conferred on him and the vast sum of con- 
 fidence reposed in him, is read aloud by the Arch- 
 priest, who acts as president. Impressive rites 
 follow, for nothing is omitted to prove to the new 
 member the terrible fate that awaits any councillor 
 who may be found guilty of any disloyalty, or of 
 even breathing a hint of The Secret, which he is 
 now empowered to learn. What is the fate reserved 
 for any indiscreet or treacherous councillor I cannot 
 say ; but I fancy breaches of confidence in the 
 council itself must have been as rare in the past 
 annals of Meleager as was the crime of Marino Faliero 
 in those of the old Venetian repubhc, whose con- 
 stitution, by the way, has evidently been carefully 
 digested by the hierarchy. The oath of implicit 
 obedience and of absolute silence having been 
 administered, the new member is then led forward 
 to have his crimson cloak and tunic removed and 
 replaced by the voluminous white robes of his new 
 order. He next receives the formal congratulations 
 
 119 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of all his colleagues, and is then made fully 
 acquainted with the nature of The Secret, though 
 I myself have a pretty shrewd notion his mind has 
 already been cautiously prepared beforehand for 
 its reception, so that he in fact possesses something 
 more than a mere inkling of the impending revela- 
 tion, which is announced with due solemnity. 
 Here however the new member's information 
 ceases, so that he possesses exactly the same limited 
 amount of knowledge of The Secret as do I myself. 
 Whether the new councillor will eventually arrive 
 at a position of such trust and reputation as to be 
 invited to enter the interior ring of the council, time 
 alone can show. And it is of this paramount inner 
 force within the council that I now wish to speak. 
 Of this small secret council within a larger secret 
 council I can only state with certainty that its 
 numbers vary from fourteen (the minimum) to 
 twenty, which latter figure is never exceeded. The 
 members of this inner clique are elected from the 
 other members of the council, but on what principles 
 I cannot say. The great difference between the 
 larger and the smaller sets within the council is 
 this: the latter not only know The Secret, but 
 they are the individuals who carry out its details 
 and work its machinery for the purposes I have 
 already explained. With one exception every 
 member of this interior circle has some time or 
 another performed the voyage between the Earth 
 and Meleager ; and how strangely does it strike me 
 
 120 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 in my utter solitude to reflect that here in Meleager 
 are nearly a score of persons whose acquaint- 
 ance with the planet of my birth is in some ways 
 more extensive than my own ! The sole exception 
 is the Arch- priest, who may not be transported to 
 Earth, because he is the one person who is in 
 constant and close touch with the King. The limita- 
 tion is subtle, but it is sound ; for I can imagine 
 some fine possibilities of intrigue between the King 
 and the Arch- priest, if the latter had not only 
 visited the Earth but was also familiar with the 
 extraordinary methods whereby that end was 
 attained. (I need hardly add that no senator of 
 the inner ring is ever allowed to address or visit 
 the King except in the presence of two other coun- 
 cillors.) This picked handful of the council chooses 
 the Arch- priest from the general body, so that this 
 functionary stands in an intermediate position of 
 knowledge concerning the working of The Secret, 
 for he thus knows more than the ordinary member 
 of the council and less than his brethren of the inner 
 ring. He is chiefly charged with the control of the 
 services and staff of the temple, and he has also to 
 superintend the estabhshment on Mount Crystal, 
 where (so I strongly suspect) are kept in honourable 
 confinement those aged members of the council who 
 have grown infirm or garrulous under stress of years. 
 What exact share these persons of the inner ring 
 partake in the working of The Secret I naturally 
 cannot tell; and I often speculate as to whether 
 
 121 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 they themselves are mechanicians possessing a skill 
 far beyond that achieved by any of our engineers 
 on Earth, or whether they merely control certain 
 servants who own the necessary technical know- 
 ledge to carry out the intricacies of the aerial 
 machinery under their instruction. In other words, 
 are these score of elderly men their own mechanics, 
 or are they only overseers of others ? For there are 
 certainly large numbers of assistants attached to 
 the service of the council, and a certain proportion 
 of these menials I know to be deaf and dumb, the 
 result, it is whispered, of a certain cruel operation 
 which is inflicted sometimes with the consent of 
 the patient, and sometimes (so I gather) by force 
 following on brutal seizure. Is it that the priests 
 are ever on the look-out for capable young mechanics 
 to train for this purpose, and are such promising 
 youths liable to disappear ? On the other hand, 
 many of these deaf and dumb servants of the temple 
 have families, and apart from their unknown duties 
 seem free to come and go ; being dumb, they 
 cannot chatter, and being deaf they cannot hsten ; 
 and since the native language is purely phonetic and 
 not literary, people so afflicted cannot converse 
 with their fingers, as is the case with our deaf-mutes 
 on Earth. My own theory is that these persons, 
 having a natural taste in things scientific, are first 
 carefully trained so as to acquire all the technical 
 skill necessary for the accomphshment of the details 
 of The Secret, and are then to their surprise 
 
 122 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 suddenly given the option of being rendered deaf 
 and dumb to be thus retained in the service of the 
 council, or of being instantly and privately executed, 
 for the hierarchy would have no scruples in so acting 
 if by their refusal to submit The Secret were in 
 any way endangered. All this reasoning however 
 on my part is, I admit, founded on pure supposition. 
 For aught I can adduce to the contrary, the journey 
 to and from the Earth may be accomplished by 
 means of some unknown power of levitation, such 
 as is only claimed on Earth by the mahatmas and 
 skooshoks of Tibet, whose wild theories are laughed 
 to scorn by all enlightened Europeans and Ameri- 
 cans. There are, I know, vast vaults beneath 
 the Temple of the Sun, and perhaps these may 
 shelter aeroplanes and cars of a type and capacity 
 undreamed of on Earth ; on the other hand, these 
 capacious cellars may merely contain treasure and 
 archives, or indeed nothing at all. Possibly there 
 may be elaborate machines concealed in the temple 
 on Mount Crystal, for I am convinced that it is 
 on this conspicuous mountain that the returning 
 Meleagrian envoys from the Earth aHght. But I 
 frankly confess I am completely at a loss to explain 
 the system of communication with the Earth ; it 
 is a fascinating subject for speculation, but I am 
 also fully cognizant of its perils to any would-be 
 investigator. 
 
 Although there can be comparatively little fear 
 of intrigue arising between the King and the 
 
 123 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 councillors of the second grade, yet there exists 
 no real friendliness or confidence between us. They 
 treat me outwardly with marked deference, whilst 
 I in my turn always show myself cordial and polite, 
 but I have no personal friend in the whole body 
 except the Arch- priest, for whom I have conceived 
 a genuine liking and respect. My intimate com- 
 panions are practically confined to the nobility, 
 and though they are ignorant and illiterate, yet I 
 prefer their honest prattle to any cautious discussion 
 or interchange of lofty ideas with the highly educated 
 priesthood. Nevertheless, I cannot refrain from 
 eulogising the unselfish devotion of these persons 
 to their tasks of administration, which is shown 
 equally by every member. The clique of the 
 interior circle do not of course participate in the 
 actual business of government, for they are pre- 
 sumed to have reached a higher plane of usefulness 
 to the state, but the junior councillors pursue their 
 avocations with unflagging zeal. The tedious work 
 of registration, which entails constant vigilance 
 and many journeys to remote places ; the settle- 
 ment of trade questions ; the management of the 
 twin departments of medicine and sanitation ; the 
 marshalhng of taxation ; the control of the army ; 
 — all these and many other duties occupy the whole 
 existence of the councillors who know no rest or 
 respite from their allotted tasks. 
 
 Take the instance of hygiene alone. The accumu- 
 lated wisdom of some two thousand years of the 
 
 124 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Earth's progress in the science of heahnghes all at 
 the disposal of the executive hierarchy of Meleager. 
 And I feel compelled to pay a sincere tribute to the 
 inteUigent industry of the councillors in their un- 
 tiring efforts to produce everywhere a " corpus sanum 
 in civitate sand.'^ The abundant water-supplies of 
 the cities ; the meticulous care wherewith every 
 source of contamination is traced ; the constant 
 experiments that are made daily in the hospitals 
 (less elaborately equipped than our own, but fully 
 as clean and serviceable) ; the thoughtful measures 
 to preserve existing health and to improve the 
 physical condition of the mass of the citizens ; — 
 all testify to the common- sense and thoroughness 
 of the means adopted by the ministers of public 
 hygiene and eugenics. Thanks to their wise 
 measures pure water, pure air, wholesome food, 
 the prompt eradication of all epidemics, and the 
 segregation of the physically or morally unsound 
 are gradually producing a race that for health 
 and happiness has no parallel on our progressive 
 democratic Earth, where the boasted advance of 
 European civiHsation only conveys in its train to 
 healthy but nominally uncivilised tribes and nations 
 every species of moral, physical and aesthetic evil 
 that did not exist under the old conditions of 
 isolation and ignorance. 
 
 Although belonging to the aristocratic caste, yet 
 these servants of the state wield their power with 
 magnificent impartiaUty, weeding out the weakhngs 
 
 125 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 alike in the families of noble, merchant or plebeian. 
 Adult degenerates are always removed to the island 
 of Madii ofi the northern coast. Here the sexes 
 are kept apart, but the poor creatures are permitted 
 to live in tolerable comfort and to receive visits 
 from their relatives, who however (it must be 
 confessed) usually display no very marked anxiety 
 to avail themselves of this privilege. For as time 
 advances, it is commonly coming to be regarded 
 as a social offence to harbour in one's household 
 any idiotic or misshapen being. Thus almost all 
 Meleagrians now heartily concur in the state reg- 
 ulations whereby all infants with obvious mental or 
 bodily defects are at once strangled by the officials 
 who attend in the train of the visiting coimcillors, 
 and they also make little or no objection to the 
 deporting of grown criminals to Madu. 
 
 This public acquiescence in a measure destined 
 solely for the improvement of the race as a whole is, 
 I believe, of comparatively recent date. For a long 
 time the removal of malformed and idiotic infants, 
 as well as the enforced deportation of lunatics or 
 seriously diseased persons, was strongly resented 
 by their families ; but firm persistence on the part 
 of the hierarchy and a gradual spread of reasonable- 
 ness among the whole community have slowly gained 
 the pubhc approval for severe regulations that were 
 at first as novel as they were distasteful. I particu- 
 larly mention this case, as it tends to show that 
 though concihation of the populace must always 
 
 126 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 form one of the leading tenets of the council's 
 policy, yet it can on occasion enforce an unpopular 
 edict throughout the nation in its own interest, 
 despite the indignant protests of all classes. I 
 have been told that the then reigning King, a most 
 enlightened Switzer, did splendid service for the 
 council by personally in his capacity of Child of the 
 Sun, ordering his father's own people to obey the 
 new regulations. How long ago this struggle arose 
 I have no notion ; and oh, how often have I yearned 
 to learn more concerning that predecessor of mine 
 whose memory is still gratefully held by the hier- 
 archy to-day ! How and under what circumstances 
 did he finally "cease to reign"? Did he later 
 on attempt to oppose the ruling body, after having 
 saved it from possible collapse ? But no questions 
 of mine, however artfully or artlessly addressed, 
 could ever secure me any but evasive answers. 
 
 I can never fix in my inconstant mind my exact 
 feehng towards these " potent, grave and reverend 
 signiors " of the council, these impassive and in- 
 dustrious priests (who are in reality not priests at 
 all, for their task is almost purely a secular one, the 
 priestly office being practically merged in that of 
 the statesman). And in the performance of these 
 duties they are as unselfish as they are indefatig- 
 able ; nor is there any apparent taint of personal 
 jealousy or internal intrigue amongst the hierarchy. 
 When during my rides abroad for pleasure or for 
 hunting I see a pair of these white- robed councillors, 
 
 127 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 equally servants and rulers of the state, visit some 
 remote hamlet and observe the scrupulous care and 
 the genuine interest wherewith they inquire into 
 and carry out every necessary arrangement for the 
 public weal ; and when I consider the implicit faith 
 placed by the country folk in their rulers, I am 
 somehow reminded of the mission of the Apostles 
 of old as they wandered through the towns and 
 villages of the Roman world healing and assisting 
 helpless humanity. At other times, however, I 
 am inclined to regard them with a mixture of 
 hatred and contempt, whenever I reflect on the 
 unprecedented system of conscious fraud whereon 
 all their beneficent action rests. How strange, for 
 example, must it seem for a newly elected candidate 
 to learn for the first time that the religious teaching 
 he has imbibed from infancy is a deliberate fabrica- 
 tion, which he himself is now called on to champion 
 and perpetuate; that the divinity of the Sun is a 
 hollow myth ; that his Child is a mortal from 
 another planet ; that the world of Meleager, far 
 from being the special creation and care of the Sun- 
 god, is in reality a mere speck in a vast solar system, 
 such as has been propounded by our own astronomers 
 Copernicus and Galileo. What a terrible moment 
 it must prove for a sensitive soul, implected with 
 the beautiful mythology of a lifetime, when in a 
 trice the whole of his religious environment is 
 stripped rudely from him like a garment ! I often 
 meditate on the unique moral dilemma that must 
 
 128 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 face every new councillor. How fearful an awaken- 
 ing ! How difficult for a conscientious nobleman 
 to combine the two phases of a public benefactor 
 and of a promulgator of an elaborate lie ! Has 
 any Meleagrian noble of high integrity I wonder 
 ever had the courage or conscience, at the supreme 
 moment, to protest, even at the risk of death ? 
 But I presume the preliminary training and pre- 
 paration bestowed on all probationers are carefully 
 contrived to soften so great a shock, and to lead 
 the postulant gently towards the amazing revela- 
 tions made at the time of his reception into the 
 council. 
 
 The dress of the hierarchy is simple, consisting 
 outwardly of a white woollen toga- like garment that 
 is free from all ornament. I suspect the adoption 
 of this style of dress is borrowed from that of 
 classical Rome, whose laws and customs evidently 
 form the basis of the Meleagrian constitution. A 
 white wand is carried in the hand, and a white fillet 
 is bound round the temples; only on the. two great 
 half-yearly festivals are the ornate go Id- fringed 
 garments worn in pubHc. The robes of the Arch- 
 priest are likewise of a white woollen material, 
 which in his case are relieved by a bordure of gold 
 brocade, whilst the wand and fillet are also of gold ; 
 but on state occasions he dons magnificent vest- 
 ments of cloth of gold and wears a golden mitre on 
 his head. The Arch- priest's office is natui'ally more 
 sacerdotal in its nature than that of his comrades, 
 I 129 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 for it is he who is entrusted with the due performance 
 of all the services of the temple, and he too assists 
 at the solemn ceremony of censing the crystal altar 
 of the Sun, as I have already shown. He is also 
 the custodian of the awful Fountain of Rejuvena- 
 tion, though his guardianship is shared by other 
 members of the inner ring. One day, finding the 
 venerable head of the council in an unusually ex- 
 pansive mood, I ventured to question him openly 
 upon the properties of this sacred well, this Zem- 
 Zem of Meleagrian un- faith. He rephed that its 
 medicated waters, though highly beneficial to a 
 mortal born of the Earth, would prove fatal to 
 any Meleagrian rash enough to attempt their use. 
 Moreover, he added that should anyone plunge 
 alone and unattended into this well, the terrific 
 suction of the current beneath would infallibly 
 drag the body under, never to reappear. I then 
 questioned him if many such accidents had ever 
 occurred, whereupon he answered dryly that none 
 had happened in his own experience; which 
 equivocal reply I interpreted as admitting that 
 fatal incidents in the past were by no means 
 unknown. I then twitted him jokingly for not 
 renewing his own youth, of course with all proper 
 precautions, in the fountain of his charge, to which 
 he replied with considerable asperity and horror, 
 using the most solemn Meleagrian form of denial : 
 " May the God perish first and the Sun be darkened ! " 
 After this vigorous negation he took his departure 
 
 130 
 
MEL EAGER 
 
 with some abruptness, nor could I ever entice him 
 to speak again of the fountain, 
 
 I fully realise that my account of the hierarchy 
 or governing class of Meleager is both incomplete 
 and unsatisfactory, but I must plead again the 
 many difficulties of obtaining information which I 
 have already mentioned. In fact, it is from two 
 sources only that I can derive any details whatever, 
 these being my own limited opportunities of observa- 
 tion and discovery and the rare statements that 
 the Arch- priest lets fall from time to time, for I am 
 not on confidential terms with any other member 
 of the council. From Hiridia and my friends of 
 the nobihty I can gather absolutely nothing, for the 
 simple reason that their own ignorance of the private 
 affairs of their ruling caste is even greater than mine. 
 Indeed, the marvel is that I have been able to 
 compile even the small amount I have inscribed 
 here, considering the obstacles in my way of acquir- 
 ing knowledge. I must sum up therefore by stating 
 that I have very httle communication with that 
 body of councillors with whom my own position 
 and prerogative are so closely interwoven, this state 
 of af!airs being due wholly to the persistent refusal 
 of the latter to take me into their confidence. 
 
 131 
 
IX 
 
 Of the nobility I can speak with more confidence, 
 for with many of them I am on terms of intimacy 
 and friendship. The well-bred gentleman is not 
 confined in our own world to any special chmate or 
 nation, for he is to be found equally under a white, 
 a yellow, a brown and even a black skin ; and the 
 gentle type is also indigenous on the planet of 
 Meleager. 
 
 The aristocracy of Meleager is closely connected 
 with the land, and it is to some extent strongly 
 impregnated with feudal principles. Every noble 
 is either the owner of an estate, be it large, moderate 
 or small, or else is connected by family ties with the 
 actual landowner. Each house forms a distinctive 
 gens in itself, and all its male members are entitled 
 to bear a badge, which is its peculiar mark. These 
 badges at first suggested to my mind a relic of totem- 
 kin, but I soon changed my opinion on this point, 
 and now hold the family badge to be heraldic in its 
 aim and use. I gather that the adoption of a con- 
 spicuous badge or emblem for each family is of con- 
 siderable antiquity, and perhaps derives from reports 
 made by the Meleagrian envoys on Earth at the 
 period of the Crusades, when coat- armour came into 
 fashion among the chivalry of Western Christendom. 
 
 132 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 The mass of the nobles exhibits various degrees 
 of wealth and influence, and I have noted the 
 existence of some ill-feeling between the leading 
 magnates and the smaller landowners. The social 
 cleavage between the two sets is however im- 
 perceptible, and the constant intermarriage between 
 the families of what I may call the major and the 
 minor barons tends to eradicate many cases of 
 jealousy. This landed aristocracy has, of course, 
 its chief residence in the country districts, though 
 the wealthier families possess houses in the cities 
 in addition. The country house of Meleager is 
 usually of moderate size, and consists of a low square 
 white- washed mansion enclosing a courtyard. The 
 native love of colonnades is prominently exhibited 
 in these houses, which are frequently surrounded on 
 all sides by loggias that can be utilised according 
 to the varying conditions of weather. The arrange- 
 ments within are somewhat primitive according 
 to our own luxurious standards of the twentieth 
 century, but they are not without a sufficiency of 
 comfort. The floors are generally tiled; there are 
 no rugs or carpets, save some skins of beasts ; the 
 furniture, though often elaborately carved, is not 
 plentiful. There are no family portraits, for the 
 art of painting pictures is unknown, but in com- 
 pensation for this defect there is always the curious 
 family chapel or mausoleum. This has usually 
 a low domed roof pierced by windows of coloured 
 glass that admit only a dim light within tlie chamber 
 which seems very similar to the colutYibana of the 
 
 133 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Romans, from whom I conclude this idea has been 
 borrowed by their unknown admirers. Rows of 
 small semicircular apertures line the walls, many 
 of these standing empty, whilst not a few are 
 occupied by busts of deceased members of the 
 family. Beneath these effigies are placed small 
 urns of metal or marble which contain the ashes, 
 for cremation has for sanitary reasons been made 
 compulsory in Meleager for many centuries past. 
 Some of these busts are of no small artistic merit, 
 and evidently well portray the features of the 
 noble ancestors ; others again are of inferior work- 
 manship ; whilst some are obviously merely con- 
 ventional in their treatment. Such a collection 
 certainly forms rather a gruesome substitute for a 
 family portrait gallery, but its atmosphere does not 
 seem to depress the spirits of the present generation, 
 for I am always cheerfully invited to enter and 
 inspect these queer oratories. The surrounding 
 gardens are often beautiful, but are far less artificial 
 than our own. One broad long flagged terrace 
 usually suffices for the family to stroll ; otherwise 
 the paths and lawns are unkempt and neglected. 
 These pleasances are however full of a luxuriant 
 growth of wild or half- wild flowers, so that I found 
 myself often being reminded of the exuberant gardens 
 of old-world Itahan villas in past days, before the 
 late irruption of wealthy cosmopolitan tourists 
 had succeeded in thoroughly vulgarising Italy and 
 modernising all its old peaceful haunts. 
 
 134 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Country life as pursued in Meleager varies little 
 in its essence from that of our Earth, mutatis 
 mutandis, for time is pretty evenly divided between 
 the attractions of sport and the claims of estate 
 management and domestic concerns. Everything 
 is, of course, conducted in a manner that would 
 appear as primitive to our pampered sportsmen as 
 it would seem suggestive to the antiquary, for both 
 field sports and agriculture have remained here 
 in the mediaeval, or even sometimes in the archaic, 
 stage of development. Firearms, though not un- 
 known, are at least never employed, so that in 
 hunting the spear, the net, the trap and even the 
 bow still constitute the chief weapons of the chase. 
 All ploughing is performed by oxen with wooden 
 implements, and the thorough cultivation of the 
 crops is on a tiny scale. Again and again have the 
 conditions of Meleagrian rural life recalled to me the 
 old-world bucolic practices of Tuscany and Castile, 
 that even down to the close of the nineteenth century 
 retained so many picturesque features of remote 
 classical times. The tenor of existence in the 
 coimtry is quiet enough, and would prove unspeak- 
 ably dull and irksome to the majority of our modern 
 squires ; but it must be remembered that the 
 Meleagrian landowners have no newspapers, no 
 novels, no Stock Exchange, no party politics to 
 sweeten and distract their daily round, so that they 
 are perfectly content to follow in the secure footsteps 
 of their forefathers. Should the younger men find 
 
 135 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the calm routine of country life wearisome, there 
 are other avenues of occupation open to such rest- 
 less souls. In the first place there is the army, 
 which is officered solely by members of the aristo- 
 cracy, some of whom make a permanent profession 
 of their mihtary duties and attain in due course to 
 the higher commands therein. The usual plan is, 
 however, for the younger sons of the noble houses 
 to spend some three or four years in the army, after 
 which they marry and come to settle in homes of 
 their own, where they busy themselves for the rest 
 of their lives with a medley of sport, agriculture 
 and domestic economy. Again, the life at Court is 
 open to a certain number of those who care neither 
 for a career in the army nor for the monotony of the 
 countryside. Here they participate in the constant 
 variety of the palace, and hope to win honorary 
 appointments in the royal household. A few, more 
 adventurous still than their fellows, proceed to 
 Barbaria either for the purpose of better hunting, 
 or for the sake of the harder and more exciting life 
 in a new sphere of energy. Some proportion of these 
 latter obtain grants of land in this less than half- 
 occupied territory, where they found new estates 
 modelled on the old lines, much as the younger 
 scions of our gentle English houses emigrated and 
 settled in Virginia. Such experiments moreover 
 are strongly commended and encouraged by the 
 special councillors who are charged with the conduct 
 of colonial affairs. 
 
 136 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Yet another and a far more important means of 
 escape from the alleged tedium of family or rustic 
 routine is the career of the probationer, who aspires 
 eventually to be elected a member of the hierarchy. 
 This ambition cannot, however, be gratified before 
 the age of thirty, when the intending candidate is 
 admitted to the school of the neophytes. Here for 
 a year he receives a course of lectures on Meleagrian 
 history and is taught the rudiments of Latin 
 grammar, but no instruction in reading or wiiting 
 is yet afforded him. At the end of a twelvemonth 
 of such preliminary training, the neophyte is either 
 rejected as unfit or unsuitable, or else he is admitted 
 a probationer of the seminary attached to the 
 Temple of the Sun. In that case he receives a five 
 years' course of far more advanced tuition ; he is 
 taught to read, write and speak the Latin language ; 
 and presumably he is also instructed in astronomy, 
 pontics, theology and other subjects concerning 
 which his existing notions must be strangely vague 
 or wholly erroneous. This long period of instruc- 
 tion entails a severe strain on the pupil, who is 
 henceforth cut off from all private and external 
 ties and interests, for he is never allowed to quit 
 the precincts of his seminary. Of his final election 
 and reception into the council of the hierarchy I 
 have spoken elsewhere. Whether or no any candi- 
 date has ever failed to obtain his election and has 
 been consequently compelled to remain in the 
 institution for years, perhaps for the term of his 
 
 137 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 lifetime, I cannot say ; yet I do know for a fact 
 that for its inmates there is but one door leading 
 out of the seminary of probationers and that is the 
 door which admits to the council chamber. 
 
 I always enjoy my occasional visits to the country 
 seats of the nobility, where the calm useful healthy 
 life affords an agreeable change to me from the 
 atmosphere of the palace, which seems always 
 charged with mystery and intrigue. The genuine 
 greeting of my host and the members of his family, 
 the delightful blend of divine honours and of frank 
 hospitahty wherewith I am everywhere received, 
 the pride shown in their farms and agricultural 
 schemes, the general air of repose and safety, all 
 tend to soothe a mind that has grown perplexed 
 and wearied with the endless cares of an exalted 
 but anomalous office. The conversation of these 
 uneducated but well-bred persons is certainly not 
 exciting, and might fairly be described as trivial, 
 but really I do not think, from past experience, that 
 it is more trifling or banal than the average talk of 
 the British aristocracy which of recent years has 
 elevated sport and money- making to be the preva- 
 lent topics of society (using that term in its narrow 
 technical application). And though all these ex- 
 cellent folk in Meleager are of necessity quite ilhter- 
 ate in the sense that they cannot read and write, 
 their memory is marvellous, so that often after the 
 evening meal the different members of the house- 
 hold recite whole poems in the Meleagrian language, 
 
 138 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 or else tell stories that are by no means devoid of 
 wit and imagination. Often too there is singing 
 to the native lute of sweet melodious songs, which 
 are well rendered by the fresh voices of the young 
 performers. 
 
 The land tenure of Meleager may perhaps be 
 best described as a modified form of primogeniture. 
 The family estate, whether large or small, descends 
 in tail male, and only in the failure of masculine issue 
 in the whole family to the female heirs of the last 
 possessor. This strict entail is, however, subject 
 to certain limitations, which tend to allov/ provision 
 for the widow and daughters of the landowner. 
 Moreover, all members of the family have a species 
 of hfe interest in the estate, so long as they continue 
 unmarried. Thus on the death of a father, the 
 eldest- born will inherit, but the new owner's younger 
 brothers (and also his unmarried uncles), if still 
 residing under the family roof, own the right to 
 remain in their old home. Patriarchal life in this 
 manner becomes highly developed, and the family 
 council consisting of all its male and all its un- 
 married female members can exercise considerable 
 power over all private affairs within the scope of 
 the family circle. Thus the expulsion of an un- 
 worthy relative can be arranged, and this inherent 
 family rule is admitted and upheld by the hierarchy. 
 A noble thus expelled forfeits his right to bear the 
 family badge, and also has to relinquish the crimson 
 cloak and tunic of his order. A member so 
 
 139 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 degraded sinks automatically into the ranks of the 
 plebeian or third estate, and is generally lost sight 
 of. Such incidents are rare, but they do occur 
 occasionally, and this private form of prerogative 
 to drive into social exile is undisputed. 
 
 Although a very distinct line is drawn between the 
 ■Reds and the Greens, between the noble and the 
 mercantile classes, there seems no contempt or envy 
 of class on either side. Such jealousy as exists is 
 rather noticeable within the ranks of the aristocracy 
 itself, wherein, though nominally all are of equal 
 rank, some are rich and some poor, some influential 
 and some of little account. And the same remark 
 holds good of the conditions prevailing in the 
 mercantile class. Taxation of the landed interest 
 is raised in two ways : first by a direct tax on land 
 itself, which is apportioned at certain intervals; 
 and second, by a poll-tax on every noble. Occasion- 
 ally a landed estate left without any male heirs is 
 sold for the benefit of the female inheritors ; but 
 it is clear that in the vast majority of cases the 
 present estates in Meleager have descended in 
 unbroken succession and unreduced in area for 
 many generations. 
 
 As to the characteristics of the Meleagrian nobles, 
 doubtless they have their faiHngs, but these in my 
 estimation are fully redeemed by their many good 
 quahties. There is apparent some display of 
 haughtiness in the higher nobility towards other less 
 wealthy members of their own caste, but their 
 
 140 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 attitude and bearing towards their many dependents 
 and also towards the general populace would be 
 worthy of imitation even in our so-called democratic 
 world. Of course such intimacy as I can attain 
 with them is necessarily limited, when one considers 
 my own range of knowledge and their utter inability 
 to grasp the meaning of any one of the many serious 
 questions that perpetually vex my mind. I some- 
 times have the sensation of living in a world of 
 shadows, with which I sport and even converse, 
 for the mental gulf fixed between me and them is 
 fathomless and unbridgeable. Even my Hiridia, 
 faithful friend and delightful companion though he 
 be, seems often a plaything rather than a co-equal 
 being of the same flesh and blood as myself. I can 
 study all these people and analyse with ease their 
 simple empty minds ; I can sympathise with their 
 artless pleasures and pastimes ; I can play and sing 
 and hunt and bathe and feast with them ; — but I 
 cannot talk with them seriously any more than can 
 a septuagenarian professor carry on a rational 
 conversation with a child. Yet all the same they 
 are charming grown-up children ; and was it not 
 the Divine Master of our world who more than once 
 insisted that to share His promised kingdom all His 
 grown-up hearers must become as little children? 
 Nevertheless, despite such consoHng thoughts, the 
 fact remains that I am always lonely. 
 
 Of the mercantile class I intend to say very Httle. 
 
 141 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 So much that I have just written applies with equal 
 force to the Greens, or second estate of the realm. 
 I am often entertained by the leading merchants 
 of Tamarida and Zapyro, but these occasions really 
 produce little more than the exchange of polite 
 formahties, and I Imow far less of these persons 
 than I do of the nobility. A portion of this class 
 is connected with the land in the form of yeomen, 
 or small freeholders, whose properties are however 
 confined to Barbaria or to the poorer districts of 
 the Eegio SoHs. In their case the law of primogeni- 
 ture is enforced more strictly than amongst the 
 landed aristocracy, for as the yeoman's estate is 
 reckoned insufficient to provide for all the males 
 of the family, only the eldest son enjoys the paternal 
 acres. The younger sons are accordingly dispatched 
 to make their living or fortune in some trade, and 
 it is usually the stalwart young men of this small 
 landed stock who supply the greater part of the 
 petty officers in the army. The great majority 
 of the Greens, as they are commonly termed, are 
 traders either on a large or a small scale, though a 
 certain number fill some of the lesser official posts 
 of stewards and assistants in connection with the 
 work of the hierarchy. In the case of members of 
 this order who have amassed considerable wealth 
 and are desirous of entering the class of the nobles, 
 apphcation is made to the council, and such appeals 
 are either granted or refused after a fuU hearing of 
 the circumstances. The royal consent is likewise 
 
 142 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 necessary for the bestowal of this coveted privilege ; 
 and I may add that such applications constitute 
 the sole exception to the general rule, that the 
 nobles are never given to intrigue with myself. 
 Naturally they are jealous concerning the pre- 
 rogative of their order, and some at least are certain 
 to resent fiercely any such attempts of outsiders to 
 be admitted to their ranks. A good many of such 
 appeals are rejected, but in the event of a successful 
 application a large contribution has to be paid to 
 the coffers of the temple and the palace ; a landed 
 estate has somehow to be purchased, usually in 
 Barbaria, and then the fortunate postulant doffs 
 the green robes and dons the red, which he is now 
 permitted to wear, and also assumes the use of a 
 badge granted him by the King, who selects the 
 emblem he deems most suitable. The position of 
 the new-comers for a considerable time, perhaps for 
 a couple of generations, is not an enviable one, for 
 they are treated coldly and looked at askance by 
 the majority of their fellow- nobles. But as the 
 older folk pass away, and memories grow shorter, 
 the new lord, or rather his progeny, becomes gradu- 
 ally absorbed by matrimonial connection into the 
 mass of the nobility, and intermingles wth the rest. 
 Still, the stigma of having risen from the Greens 
 cUngs, I fancy, to this type of pseudo- aristocratic 
 house for a long time. On the other hand, marriage 
 with a junior member of the nobihty at once confers 
 the husband's rank on a bride of the second estate, 
 
 143 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 who henceforth ceases to hold open intercourse with 
 her own family. Contrariwise, ladies of the nobihty 
 who ally themselves with merchants or yeomen 
 sink to the level of their husbands' station. 
 
 With the populace again I have more intimacy 
 and sympathy than with the Greens, and through 
 my attendants and bodyguard at the palace I am 
 brought more closely into touch with the people at 
 large. This third estate of the realm consists of all 
 the manual labourers, the artisans, the fisher- folk, 
 and in short all such persons as live by receiving 
 wages, whether in money or kind. I have already 
 hinted that their condition and well-being form 
 the constant care of the councillors, who see that 
 their homes are sanitary, well built and generally 
 adequate, whilst the wages paid must be deemed 
 sufficient to support the individual or his family 
 in decency and comfort. In fact, the supervision 
 of this, the largest and economically the most 
 important section of the community, constitutes 
 the first care of the hierarchy. The people seem hale 
 and happy, nor do they exhibit any envy of the 
 better- fed and better- clad Greens, nor yet of the 
 majestic and privileged Reds. The rules of family 
 life prevail less strongly here owing to the wider 
 dispersal of its members, but they are nominally 
 identical with those in the classes above. There are 
 no law courts in Meleager, and usually disputes and 
 difficulties in this class are settled, as I have already 
 
 144 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 shown, in the judgment hall of the capital, where 
 I sit on most days. The women- folk of the third 
 estate live in less seclusion than do those of the 
 nobihty and merchants, a result that is due (as in 
 our Mohammedan countries) to the necessity of the 
 poor having to perform their marketing and daily 
 business in public. This same class also may be 
 said to include the numerous tribe of indentured 
 labourers, mostly from Barbaria, whose status some- 
 what resembles that of the Roman slaves under 
 the Empire. Vice and drunkenness, though by no 
 means unfrequent, are not conspicuous in this class ; 
 whilst the poHce patrols keep a pretty sharp eye on 
 the landlords of the lower sort of wine- shop and 
 brothel. These resorts of the more dissipated of the 
 people are also visited at times by the councillors 
 charged with their management and reputation, 
 so that the streets of Tamarida at night would 
 compare favourably with those of most European 
 cities, and such debauchery as does exist is assuredly 
 kept well concealed behind doors and is not allowed 
 to offend the eyes or the ears of the passer-by in the 
 streets, which, though dark and narrow, can be 
 safely traversed by all after nightfall. A few cases 
 of quarrelhng and use of the knife occur and are 
 severely punished by the lash whenever the culprits 
 are brought to book ; deliberate murder is very 
 rare ; theft is not frequent ; assaults on women 
 and children are practically unknown. So far as 
 my observations tend, I can sum up without hesita- 
 K 145 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 tion by sa3ning that the proletariat of Meleager 
 is a remarkably happy, healthy, well-behaved, in- 
 dustrious and sober body under what I may call the 
 benign despotism of councillors who have not only 
 been educated to command by years of special 
 training, but also possess a natural gift for such 
 functions. 
 
 146 
 
X 
 
 I SHOULD not like the reader from anything I have 
 written hitherto to carry away the impression that, 
 because I am myself debarred from their society, 
 the women of Meleager own a status at all similar 
 to that prevailing in Mohammedan countries. On 
 the contrary, setting aside the exceptional case of 
 their semi- divine monarch, the sex has little to 
 lament on the score of inferior or unfair treatment. 
 The Council of Seventy, it is true, contains no female 
 element, but to balance this, the college of the 
 priestesses of the Sun, which I shall describe pre- 
 sently, wields considerable powers in the govern- 
 ment of the state. Moreover, the severe restrictions 
 concerning their relations with the King rest, at 
 least nominally, on religious grounds and would 
 therefore naturally be less Hkely to cause resent- 
 ment. I think therefore I had better first discuss 
 the existing attitude of my female subjects towards 
 myself, for on this point I can at least offer some 
 correct and detailed information, both from personal 
 knowledge and as the result of inquiries I have from 
 time to time cautiously ventured to make of the 
 older women, with whom alone I am permitted to 
 hold social intercourse. 
 No unimportant part of the rehgious training 
 
 147 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 which every girl receives at her mother's knee in 
 Meleager is the Sun Myth, with its picturesque 
 fables of the Sun- god and his incarnated Child. 
 The divine nature and mission of the latter are 
 always dwelt on by the teacher with particular 
 insistence and with due solenmity ; and his sanctity 
 is described as placing him outside the pale of 
 ordinary men with ordinary passions. And not 
 only this. Should the Child of the Sun forget the 
 sacred character of his entrusted mission to his 
 father's people and flout his father's precepts so 
 far as to stoop to philander with any maiden of 
 his kingdom, not only will the disobedient monarch 
 i-ncur his divine parent's grave displeasure, but also 
 a most terrible fate awaits the unhappy object of 
 his attentions. From this last portion of the 
 advice instilled into the growing female mind, I 
 conclude that alarming scandals have actually 
 occurred in the past ; and who can marvel at it ? 
 But how recent or remote are these love intrigues 
 in date ; and how or where or when they were 
 detected and punished I am quite ignorant, nor am 
 I ever likely to receive enlightenment thereon. But 
 it is also in harmony with my theory of past troubles 
 of this nature that a salutary story (which is by no 
 means regarded here as a legend) has long been in 
 circulation. The tale itself is strongly reminiscent 
 of the old Greek myth of Zeus and Semele, and in 
 Meleager it takes the shape of an intrigue between 
 a fooHsh maiden of the people, Anata by name, and 
 
 14S 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the tlien reigning Child of the Sun, who fell a victim 
 to her charms or her advances. For it is gravely 
 related that Anata actually made her way to the 
 private apartments of the King by stealth. Whether 
 or no she obtained any satisfaction from her for- 
 bidden interview will never be known, but it is 
 certain her body was found next morning in the 
 royal bed-chamber charred and almost unrecognis- 
 able as the dire result of her clandestine embraces in 
 the arms of the son of the God of Fire. To become 
 the mistress therefore of the Sun- child, should the 
 monarch descend so low as to forget his divine 
 calling, is but the certain prelude to an ignominious 
 and horrible death ; and such a belief is firmly held 
 by all women dweUing on Meleager. It is also 
 pronounced dangerous (as it is voted most decidedly 
 immodest) for any young woman, whether maiden 
 or married, to allow even the casual glance of the 
 Sun- child to fall full on her face ; so that it is usual 
 for all girls to fling the light veil, or mantilla, which 
 every Meleagrian woman wears, over her features 
 in the event of her encountering accidentally the 
 person of the King. This custom, however, is not 
 an actual regulation, and I have often noticed girls, 
 especially those of the populace, indulge in a good 
 solid stare as I have come riding or walking down 
 the streets of the capital, though sooner or later 
 some pretence of covering the eyes with the veil 
 was carried out. Amongst the nobility this formal 
 hiding of the face is more strictly insisted on, if 
 
 149 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 only as a detail of good breeding. From what I 
 have seen, the young women of Meleager are short, 
 dark and comely, with fine brown merry eyes, small 
 features, and dark hair. In extreme youth they are 
 often remarkably pretty and attractive, but after 
 child-birth they are very liable to lose their elegant 
 symmetry, and to find what was an agreeable 
 plumpness exchanged for a rather prominent 
 bulkiness of figure. 
 
 I have never yet so much as spoken to a woman 
 below the age of thirty or thereabouts, and though 
 the fundamental law forbidding my intimacy with 
 any woman in the pride and beauty of her youth 
 is quite wise and logical, according both to the letter 
 and the spirit of Meleagrian state craft, yet it is a 
 rule that presses very cruelly upon myself. For re- 
 member, / do not grow old and languid ; my own 
 vitality is mysteriously renewed at short intervals, 
 and male youth craves the society and companion- 
 ship of female youth ; whilst also in my case this 
 natural desire can never diminish with the passing 
 of the years. In this respect I stand therefore 
 betwixt the devil and the deep sea, between Scylla 
 and Charybdis. On the one hand, I have to curb 
 my juvenile longings and tastes which tend rather 
 to grow stronger and more insistent ; whilst on 
 the other, any attempt to circumvent this ordinance 
 of the hierarchy would not only end in my own 
 discomfiture, and possibly removal, but would most 
 certainly result in the miserable fate of any poor 
 
 150 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 favourite of my choice. The story of silly Anata's 
 disgrace was not invented by the hierarchy merely 
 to serve as an empty fable, one may be sure of that. 
 I feel convinced, too, that the palace teems with spies 
 for this very purpose of thwarting any such intrigue, 
 and though hitherto I have given no cause even for 
 suspicion, I feel my position most acutely. It is so 
 false, and I know it to be false, and so do those who 
 have manoeuvred this particular piece of policy 
 concerning their monarch. 
 
 When women have once exceeded the age of 
 thirty (which is considered the child-bearing limit 
 in Meleager), and have presumably lost all officially 
 suspected attraction in the eyes of the Child of the 
 Sun, the embargo is removed, though there is never 
 much intercourse between the King and the middle- 
 aged or elderly ladies of the nobihty. Whenever I 
 honour the country home of one of my nobles with 
 my presence, all the young women of the household, 
 married or unmarried, are removed elsewhere, but 
 such as are above the fixed age of thirty are suffered 
 to remain, though even in these cases I note that I 
 am seldom left alone with women, no matter what 
 their age. No doubt the female mind, so strongly 
 imbued in childhood with the inherent mystical 
 terrors of their monarch, still shrinks with awe 
 from too close proximity with such a force of 
 potential danger. Possibly, however, I may err 
 on this point, and in reality some ancient notion of 
 etiquette unknown to me is being served by this 
 
 151 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 noticeable self-effacement on the part of the older 
 women. Of course, the deference wherewith I am 
 treated by the male folk is intensified in the case of 
 the ladies, who regard me much in the same light 
 that a bigoted Catholic would regard a tangible 
 apparition of St Peter or St Paul in their houses. 
 
 Politically, women possess no rights, but then no 
 more do the men, except the handful who compose 
 the executive council, so they cannot well complain 
 of invidious treatment on this score, even were they 
 anxious to discover grievances of sex. As with the 
 historic Prussian queen, their empire admittedly 
 lies in the nursery, for all children are completely 
 under the charge of their mothers according to 
 immemorial custom. In the nobility the tacit law 
 seems to be that the man is master outside the house, 
 whilst the woman is mistress within doors ; and this 
 maxim is generally o-cted upon throughout all 
 spheres of social life. Women are exempt from the 
 poll-tax, which is levied on all males, and indeed 
 no taxes are exacted from women at all, except 
 in the rare and transitory instances of unmarried 
 heiresses of landed estates. Whether or no, vague, 
 restless, unsatisfied aspirations and longings occa- 
 sionally assail the minds of some of the younger 
 men I cannot say for certain ; but I do feel sure that 
 the womanhood of Meleager is absolutely satisfied 
 with its present lot and cannot so much as conceive 
 of any betterment of existing conditions. The 
 conversations I have had with the wives or sisters 
 
 152 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 of my hosts at different times were usually of 
 a rather stilted and uninteresting nature ; but I 
 never failed to note their supreme content and 
 buoyant cheerfulness. 
 
 Nevertheless, although women have never been 
 admitted into the ranks of the hierarchy, and 
 presumably never will be, yet they possess a species 
 of council of their own sex in the college of the 
 priestesses of the Sun, who inhabit a large block 
 of buildings contiguous to the great temple. This 
 institution is based on rules somewhat similar to 
 those which prevail in the Council of the Seventy, 
 but it is worked and administered on broader Hues, 
 and the age limit is not so strictly drawn as in the 
 case of the hierarchy. Girls who have no desire or 
 vocation for matrimony may enter the portals of 
 this convent (if I may so term it) as novices ; nor is 
 the acceptance of applicants confined to one social 
 class, as is the rule concerning the probationers of 
 the hierarchy. On the contrary, a fair proportion 
 of the inmates of this convent are drawn from the 
 middle and lower classes, and thus the atmosphere 
 of the convent is of a distinctly democratic type. 
 Even the highest office of all, that of Domina, or 
 lady abbess, is occasionally attained by a plebeian, 
 for the rules of election here are carefully compiled 
 so as to secure the choice of the most popular and 
 capable of the candidates. The senior ladies of 
 the convent are kept in constant touch with the 
 members of the council, who frequently apply to the 
 
 153 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 priestesses of the Sun for advice in various matters 
 of a social and remedial nature, which may be 
 deemed expedient. Thus all regulations concerning 
 the welfare of women and children have been care- 
 fully scrutinised and approved by the Domina and 
 her assessors before ever they are enforced by the 
 officials of the council. But how closely and on 
 what hues the temple and the convent work together 
 is of course beyond my knowledge, though it is 
 evident that the two institutions are conducted in 
 apparent harmony with one another. 
 
 154 
 
XI 
 
 It is scarcely fair to offer any comparison between 
 the moral progress as shown in Meleager and that 
 prevailing on the Earth, and in any case such a 
 comparison would prove impossible, seeing how 
 varied and how complex are the many moral 
 systems of the greater planet. With our numerous 
 nationalities it is only logical there should result 
 great diversities of opinion on ethics, and we are 
 made to realise om^ difficulty in estimating any 
 average sum- total of earthly morals to bring into 
 the field of comparison. Has not one writer of 
 note averred that the views of sexual morality held 
 by the phalhc worshippers of old and by the extreme 
 Puritans of to-day rest equally on a common rehgi- 
 ous foundation ? And has not our British poet of 
 empire somewhere written that 
 
 " The wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Khatmandu, 
 And the crimes of Clapham chaste ip. Martaban " ? 
 
 In the instance of my own kingdom the many 
 defunct and surviving systems of the nations of the 
 Earth have all been studied and have doubtless 
 been partially adapted here and there, so that in a 
 sense the Meleagrian outlook on morals is extremely 
 interesting, as affording the result of careful un- 
 
 155 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 prejudiced investigation over a wide space of time. 
 But of course the outcome of these secret researches 
 and deductions cannot possibly be agreeable or 
 ob\aous to any one people or set of thinkers on 
 Earth, for it will be remembered that whereas the 
 Earth is a congeries of tribes and climates and faiths, 
 so Meleager is homogeneous, imless one takes into 
 account the colder and almost unexplored parts of 
 Barbaria. And thus, as the consequence of careful 
 study for many, many generations by acute well- 
 trained intellects, a sort of eclecticism has been 
 created here in the field of morals, as has already 
 arisen in the case of rehgious tenets. 
 
 Here there are no hard and fast rules on moral 
 behaviour, but each individual is supposed to be 
 guided by his or her instincts, which it is considered 
 expedient to depress or encourage, according to the 
 benefit or damage that may accrue thereby to 
 society at large, or to the state, if you prefer to 
 regard it as such. The open exhibition of harmful 
 instincts then is looked on by the ruling caste of 
 Meleager as an occasion not for pmiishment but for 
 segregation; such tendencies in themselves being 
 disregarded so loTig as they are practised in secret 
 and kept, as it were, under personal control. And 
 here I am speaking only of traits and tendencies, 
 not of actual crimes, of fraud or violence, for the 
 punishment of which there exists a severe code based 
 apparently on the Mosaic laws. A cold-blooded 
 murder is repaid by a death penalty, which is 
 
 156 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 carried out privately in the case of a nobleman, by 
 beheadal in prison of a merchant, and by pubHc 
 hanging in the case of a plebeian. Crimes of assault 
 are met with strokes from the lash coupled with a 
 fine ; outrages on children are punished by death. 
 But vile crimes and executions are very rare indeed, 
 and this highly desirable state of things I attribute 
 to the long period wherein the rulers of Meleager 
 have been gradually ehminating the feeble-minded 
 and evil- disposed members of the community by 
 their careful and judicious system of segregation. 
 Other cases of wrong- doing of a more venial type 
 are usually met by a scale of fines, which are in- 
 tended to compensate the injured party for any 
 damage he may have incurred ; whilst minor 
 instances of violence or disturbance of the peace 
 are frequently punished by an order to administer 
 a certain number of lashes there and then in open 
 court, this penalty being not uncommonly awarded 
 to drunken or refractory persons belonging to the 
 seafaring, peddling, long- shore and such humbler 
 sections of the populace. 
 
 Thanks again to the past measures taken to 
 repress crime and to ensure good behaviour, the 
 physical health of the kingdom leaves almost nothing 
 to be desired. Epidemic diseases are practically 
 unknown, as are also contagious venereal maladies. 
 It is the constant, and possibly rather trying and 
 officious, visitations made by the sanitary inspectors 
 into every homestead, small or great, patrician or 
 
 157 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 plebeian, which have doubtless helped to induce this 
 highly commendable condition of afEairs. Disease 
 and dirt are the two evils which are attacked with- 
 out rest or mercy by the councillors appointed 
 for their control, and by their equally energetic 
 representatives. Cleanliness is not reckoned as 
 next to godliness in Meleager ; it is an inherent 
 part of religion itself, and hygienic regulations are 
 perpetually being enforced upon what is now 
 become a willing, though no doubt in past times 
 it was an unwilling, population. I suppose many 
 English Puritans would look askance at the thermal 
 establishments which exist both in the cities and 
 in the rural districts, seeing that the two sexes 
 have here opportunities of studying one another 
 in a nude state ; but then, as I have said before, 
 Meleagrian morals do not exist for moraUty's sake, 
 but have evidently been framed for the special 
 purpose of securing a healthy vigorous race. Early 
 marriage is encouraged, but, paradoxical as it may 
 appear, large families are not considered desirable ; 
 whilst there is a curious custom which permits of a 
 husband no longer cohabiting with his wife after 
 she has borne him three children living. I have 
 heard that this eccentric, and no doubt to many 
 offensive, notion also prevails in the upper ranks 
 of the civilised Latin races, though possibly my 
 informant may have been mistaken in his statement. 
 I gather that such a tacit understanding has its 
 origin in the fear of over- population, and certainly 
 
 158 
 
M E L E A G E R 
 
 the limited land surface of Meleager possessing a 
 desirable climate may plead as a reasonable excuse 
 for the holding of this whimsical tenet, which seems 
 to savour of the school of Malthus. Apparently 
 the growth of population in Meleager is somewhat 
 analogous to that of modern France, and seeing 
 the high place in which French philosophy and 
 culture are held by the leading nations of the Earth, 
 the Meleagrians are at least erring in good company. 
 
 Turning to the coarser side of the question of 
 public morals, prostitution exists, but neither to a 
 great extent nor openly. Those who can recall the 
 nocturnal conditions of the main London thorough- 
 fares during the latter part of Queen Victoria's 
 reign would be agreeably surprised to detect no 
 outward flaunting of vice after dusk in the streets 
 of Tamarida ; and the least tendency to riot or dis- 
 turbance is promptly quelled by the military patrols. 
 Not that licence and debauchery do not abound, 
 for there are, I believe, plenty of resorts of a certain 
 class in the towns ; but the doings of such places do 
 not rise to the surface, and those who frequent them 
 dare not offend the quiet of their neighbours. 
 
 Meanwhile the priestesses of the Sun are con- 
 stantly busied with the ultimate fate of the harlot, 
 and their emissaries are often engaged in reclaiming 
 girls from a licentious career and in training them 
 to become useful wives, for such early lapses are 
 held hghtly by the mass of the people. And in not 
 a few instances these " filles de joie " become wedded 
 
 159 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to their paramours, and make good mothers. Such 
 an outlook is of course utterly unmoral to large 
 sections of the civilised and Christianised nations of 
 Europe and America ; but the Meleagrian view is 
 shared by many other races of the Earth who have 
 enjoyed a longer and perhaps a better record of 
 civilisation than have these complacent modern 
 nations whose ancestors were half- naked savages in 
 the days of the Roman Empire. Universal chastity, 
 in short, is a feature almost exclusively confined to 
 northern tribes of barbarians, for whom it has great 
 natural advantages certainly, for it tends to breed 
 a hardy and prohfic race. But I do not think it can 
 be classed as a genuine virtue in itself, and it always 
 tends promptly to disappear the moment the 
 trammels of education and development are assumed. 
 Now the Meleagrians can lay claim to be an intensely 
 civilised race, whereby I mean their rulers have been 
 engaged in the study of the arts of peace and pro- 
 gress for many centuries, and have consequently 
 left behind them the old barbarian necessity for 
 absolute chastity, though they still recognise its 
 value as a wholesome ingredient of married family 
 life. For with marriage chastity in their eyes takes 
 on another aspect, which must not be confounded 
 with the former, and that is faithfulness. A faith- 
 less wife is very rare indeed in Meleager, and her 
 treatment at the hands of her neighbours is not 
 enviable. 
 
 160 
 
XII 
 
 Religion has already entered so significantly into 
 my narrative that I feel I must apologise for a 
 special dissertation on this subject. Yet I have 
 never so far described the exact nature or scope of 
 the Meleagrian faith which may be said to permeate 
 and regulate the whole private and public existence 
 of the people. 
 
 The inhabitants of Meleager — and in the ensuing 
 statements, of course, I always except the hierarchy 
 — are worshippers of the Sun, who is their sole deity. 
 He is visible to them for a large portion of almost 
 each day ; he is tangible, in so far as they can feel 
 the warmth of his beams ; he is alive and in constant 
 motion, as they watch him " ride the heavens like 
 a horse" and disappear into the waters of the 
 western sea only to uprear again next morning 
 above the eastern horizon. As in the old Greek 
 mythos, the Sun is popularly supposed to drive his 
 golden chariot with its flaming wheels and with its 
 yoke of fretting stallions across the dome of heaven, 
 till finally god and car alike pass over the containing 
 rim of the Meleagrian world. Below the fiat surface 
 of the land and sea the Sun- god inhabits a vast 
 palace, whose splendours far exceed anything known 
 to men. Here he rests after his daily labours 
 
 L 161 
 
MEL EAGER 
 
 amongst his numerous progeny, and refreshes him- 
 self after his late exertions imdertaken solely for the 
 benefit of the favoured race, that in the ilhmitable 
 past he created in his own image. The firmament 
 is his field of action ; the space below the ground 
 is his haven of retirement. At night the dome of 
 heaven shorn of his effulgent presence is lighted only 
 by the sparkling stars'; " jewels of the Sun," as they 
 are termed in Meleagrian parlance ; or else the great 
 vacant arc is illumined by the sickly lustre of the 
 Moon. For the Moon stands to the Meleagrian 
 mind, as it did largely to the antique and mediaeval 
 imagination, for all that is uncanny and mahgn. 
 Few Meleagrians will walk abroad in clear moon- 
 light, if they can reasonably avoid so doing ; and 
 in the many tales and legends that are current 
 the Moon in her various phases and with her evil 
 influence always occupies a prominent place. The 
 oldest legend concerning the Moon, that is a legend 
 parallel with such theories as the origin of the rain- 
 bow or the story of the Ark on Mount Ararat of 
 the Jewish Pentateuch, relates how in the days of 
 chaos there were two Suns, rivals, who fought one 
 another for the possession of the beautiful world of 
 Meleager ; and that after a titanic combat, wherein 
 the heavens thundered and the mountains belched 
 forth fire and smoke, and the waters tossed and 
 hissed furiously, the benign Sun conquered and 
 slew the opposing deity, whose dead body still floats 
 abroad in the sky, wherein it serves as an eternal 
 
 162 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 trophy to the prowess of the victor. In the popular 
 imagination however the corpse of the vanquished 
 Moon is not wholly impotent for ill. A scintilla of 
 mischievous vitality is still believed to lurk in its 
 form, during the hours of the night, what time the 
 Sun himself is absent from the heavens. The 
 average Meleagrian therefore has a pecuHar dread 
 of the night, and of a moonlit night in a special 
 degree. The practice of magic, both of the black 
 and white types, is fairly common in all ranks of 
 Meleagrian society, and its preparations and philtres 
 are always popularly associated with the period of 
 the Moon's fulness, when that deity's surviving 
 spark of life is deemed most active. 
 
 The cult of the Meleagrians for the Sun not only 
 recognises his vital warmth and fructifying pro- 
 perties, but also attributes to him the gathering or 
 dispersal of the clouds which drop the refreshing 
 rain upon the thirsty soil and swell the opening buds 
 of tree and plant. The winds are also under the 
 Sun's control, and are apparently regarded as his 
 offspring, who sometimes disobey their august 
 parent's injunctions, and either sportively or malici- 
 ously vex the people of Meleager with unwelcome 
 gales that imperil the fisher- folk at sea, and injure 
 the springing crops on land. But speaking broadly, 
 the Meleagrian is of St James's opinion that " every 
 good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and 
 Cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom 
 is no variableness neither shadow of turning." 
 
 163 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 And in truth the unchangeable benignity and 
 faithfubiess of the Sun- god are so evident to 
 his people that one can scarcely wonder at their 
 fixed behef in his omnipresent power for good, 
 and at his unsullied reputation of their sole 
 benefactor. 
 
 The scheme of public and private worship has 
 evidently been modelled on features found in Pagan, 
 Mohammedan and Christian rehgious systems. The 
 brief prayer to the Sun's majesty, which I have 
 quoted elsewhere, that is uttered by all on their 
 knees at the hours of sunrise and sunset, savours in 
 principle of the terse invocations to Allah, deemed 
 by Mahomet as most suitable to the human 
 temperament and understanding. On the other 
 hand, the weekly obUgatory holiday derives prob- 
 ably from Jewish tradition. Again, the elaborate 
 ceremonies held annually in the principal temple 
 whereat the King offers incense in public at the 
 crystal altar of the Sun seem to recall the mediaeval 
 pageants of the Roman Church, though possibly 
 they may be copied from much older forms of 
 worship on the Earth. But in contrast with these 
 strictly spiritual forms, it is noteworthy that the 
 occasions of births, deaths and marriages are treated 
 in a civihan spirit, if I may so express it. Births 
 are merely registered or reported to the appointed 
 members of the council or their itinerant officials; 
 marriage is almost wholly a betrothal within the 
 family circle, and consists of an exchange of rings 
 
 164 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 between the bride and bridegroom in the presence 
 of their respective relations. Death is accompanied 
 with small display of ceremony. Cremation is 
 compulsory here, and after the corpse has been 
 duly prepared, a pyre is made either in the garden 
 of the deceased's home or else in a public enclosure 
 utihsed for the purpose. In aristocratic or wealthy 
 families the ashes are generally preserved within 
 the family chapel or mausoleum; those who are 
 poor or indifferent merely leave the little urn in the 
 public columbarium. There are regular charges by 
 the Government for the performance of cremation, 
 varying with the opulence or poverty of the family 
 applying. Death is never attended with any 
 demonstration of woe or wailing, or indeed by any 
 sort of openly expressed mourning, except in the 
 case of widows and orphans, who usually hold them- 
 selves in retirement for a month or so after the 
 event. To mourn loudly or to give vent to excessive 
 grief is regarded as ill-bred, at any rate in the upper 
 classes, as also indicating the fear lest the departed 
 one may not through his life have earned the full 
 benefits of the Hereafter, which is the due reward 
 of every well-behaved citizen. Of course, genuine 
 sorrow and desolation are not scorned or mocked ; 
 such feehngs are respected by those outside, but 
 it is the custom and aim of the Meleagrians to 
 conceal their feelings as assiduously as possible; 
 and indeed to hide a stricken heart under a 
 smiling face is accounted no small virtue in itself, 
 
 165 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and in the nobility a necessary proof of gentle 
 manners. 
 
 Death is universally regarded as the portal to 
 another Hfe, which may be either material in the 
 form of a reincarnation on the planet itself, or of 
 a spiritual or higher phase of existence in the 
 mystical realm of the Sun- god. In any case, it is 
 held that the continuity of personal existence is not 
 intermpted by the accident of death, though there 
 is no definite opinion or belief as to the nature of 
 the new life that succeeds. Having no literature 
 in print or script, naturally all such theories of the 
 Hereafter are very nebulous, so that numerous views 
 as to the nature of the future hfe are held, though all 
 such views are variable rather than contradictory 
 or combative. Thus many aver that the Meleagrian 
 never really dies, but that a death in one spot merely 
 connotes a birth in another ; and that the individual 
 is born again and again, each time into a different 
 social sphere, till finally he becomes a member of 
 the hierarchy, whose priests when they expire 
 are absorbed directly into the family of the Sun- 
 god. 
 
 And here I may state that, paradoxical though it 
 may appear, the theory of the Hereafter is apparently 
 held as firmly by the hierarchy as by the people at 
 large. Of course the opinions of these enhghtened 
 persons difier fundamentally from those of the 
 ignorant mass of the Meleagrians, whose easy-going 
 theory of transmigration of soul, or rather of vital 
 
 166 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 personality, is naturally repugnant and absurd to 
 their educated minds. Their aspirations are neces- 
 sarily more lofty, though what their actual fixed 
 behef is I cannot tell, and I much doubt whether 
 any member of the hierarchy could explain it 
 satisfactorily himself. For these councillors have 
 full cognizance of all the faiths and creeds, to say 
 nothing of the numerous forms of unfaith and 
 philosophic doubt, that flourish on our Earth, to 
 guide or hinder them in their choice of a definite 
 rehgion ; yet I am assured, and I believe the assur- 
 ance, they all cling to the belief of the Hereafter in 
 spite of the knowledge of their own Great Imposture 
 and their close acquaintance with terrestrial ethics. 
 Probably the simple but precise religious education 
 of their childhood produces a mental soil wherein 
 agnosticism and infidelity positively refuse to take 
 root and flourish ; and though they must have 
 received a most painful rebuff in the total destruc- 
 tion of their early religious teaching, yet their minds 
 are so attuned thereby that they merely cast about 
 with more or less success to find some suitable 
 theory or form of belief that will fill the aching 
 void created by the recent revelation of The Secret 
 and all that it implies. That any one of them has 
 actually been converted to any Herthian creed, I 
 very gravely doubt. From generation to genera- 
 tion for some two thousand years these comicillors 
 have watched so many prophets and messiahs arise 
 in all corners of our Earth, and again they have 
 
 167 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 noted the beginning, the rise, the zenith, the decline 
 and the extinction of so many cults ; — how can they 
 possibly assert which is or was the genuine form 
 of belief ? Their conclusions, if conclusions they 
 can be called, remain as a sealed book to me ; and 
 though I have taken part in many arguments on 
 this weighty subject with the Arch- priest and also 
 with other members of the hierarchy, I shall never 
 really catch a firm grip of this elusive rehgious/a^a 
 morgana of the Meleagrian intellectuals. In one 
 important respect however I have learned that the 
 councillors are pretty unanimous — namely, in ex- 
 tolling the expressed opinion of St Paul that the 
 blessing of the Hereafter is not necessarily an in- 
 aUenable gift to man. " The wages of sin is death," 
 and " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
 world and lose his soul ? " are, I know, maxims that 
 are admitted and approved by these all- knowing 
 members of the hierarchy. Sin, they hold, is any 
 disobedience or treachery in connection with their 
 sacred trust of ruling the people of Meleager for 
 their own good ; and the failure or omission to 
 perform plain duty brings its own punishment in the 
 shape of Death, not the casual death of the body but 
 a complete blotting out and annihilation of the soul, 
 the termination of progressive personahty both 
 now and for ever. This view of their responsibilities 
 acts as a warning voice in the ear of each councillor, 
 who may ever be tempted to a possible betrayal of 
 his trust either towards his own order or towards 
 
 168 
 
MEL EAGER 
 
 the Meleagrian people ; and it is perhaps this sense 
 of an automatic obHterating Nemesis that makes 
 the elaborate machine of Meleagrian state craft work 
 so smoothly in the hands of those who are alike 
 strictly accountable both as rulers and servants 
 of the community. 
 
 169 
 
XIII 
 
 Although I have described the three estates of the 
 realm as being clearly dehneated by their social 
 boundaries, yet there is one element of union be- 
 twixt them all that I have so far left unnoticed. 
 This I may call the intellectual bond that in some 
 degree seems to weld together these three well- 
 defined classes. There is, of course, no hterature 
 in the accepted term amongst the Meleagrians, for 
 they own neither books nor manuscripts, the power 
 to read and write being vested solely in the educated 
 hierarchy. On the other hand, the brains of the 
 people are at least as quick and comprehensive as 
 are those of Earth- dwellers, whilst the tenacity of 
 memory in the more gifted individuals is amazing. 
 In our English life, even in this generation of com- 
 pulsory popular education, it is no uncommon thing 
 to meet with persons in the humbler ranks of society 
 who despite all these modern boasted advantages 
 have for one reason or another failed to acquire or 
 to remember the arts of reading and writing. Some 
 proportion of such illiterates is undoubtedly of 
 inferior mentality, but a large fraction also consists 
 of persons whose minds are conspicuously acute and 
 retentive. Again and again when on the Earth 
 have I been struck by the marked ability of in- 
 vention and memory displayed by certain individuals 
 
 170 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 who cannot decipher a journal nor write a letter. 
 On the other ha.nd, the mass of the semi- educated, 
 who are all voracious readers of the trashy or un- 
 wholesome printed stuff of the present time, are 
 appallingly, hopelessly ignorant of all things that 
 are worth learning or remembering. In Meleager, 
 with its Hterary limitations, intellect is shown not 
 in a smattering of ill- digested education, but in 
 natural taste, in the exercise of memory, and in 
 exceptional powers of invention. One reads in 
 works belonging to the past of the improvvisatori 
 of Italy, of the bards of mediaeval Wales, of the 
 minnesinger of Germany, of the troubadours of 
 Provence, and it is this obsolete type of self- culture 
 that dominates and guides the aspiring Meleagrian 
 mind. There exists hardly a family or household 
 in each estate that does not possess at least one 
 member who is born with a definite taste or instinct 
 for mental prowess, which is shown in his capacity 
 to learn and retain in youth the myths or poems 
 repeated to him by his elders. From these early 
 and simple efforts of the mind such an one passes to 
 the higher plane of invention and of composition. 
 A striphng so endowed is almost always persuaded 
 to persevere ; his tales or verses are Ustened to and 
 discussed with all seriousness by his friends and 
 family ; and if his efforts come to find favour he 
 may by degrees win a reputation that will tend to 
 spread. The popular class in particular produces 
 many such orators, whether they declaim original 
 
 171 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 matter or the works of others. These persons 
 are in frequent demand at all gatherings in their 
 immediate circle, whilst a certain proportion of 
 them are able to obtain a wider notoriety and to gain 
 their hving from the fees they receive for their powers 
 of entertainment. In these successful instances the 
 poet or entertainer, if he be of humble origin, will 
 often be invited to appear and recite in the houses 
 of his superiors ; and if his good luck or genuine 
 talents lead him yet further, 'it is not unlikely he 
 may eventually, if he be so minded, obtain a species 
 of social adoption into a higher sphere than that of 
 his birth. It is no very uncommon thing for an 
 improvvisatore so endowed to be finally elected into 
 the estate of the nobility, and to be allowed the use 
 of the crimson robe, though such a privilege is never 
 extended to his wife or family. Having once 
 attained to this eminence, in spite of his plebeian 
 origin he is of course ehgible to be entered as a 
 neophyte, which is the first step towards ultimate 
 admission to the ranks of the hierarchy. 
 
 This then is the ladder that has occasionally 
 assisted certain naturally gifted members of the 
 lower social orders to ascend even to the council 
 of state ; thus it is that the intellectual cream of the 
 Meleagrian populace is enabled to rise to the surface. 
 No doubt the proportion of plebeians in that ex- 
 clusive assembly is very small ; still such a con- 
 summation is shown to be not wholly unattainable, 
 and the hope of so exalted an honour, however 
 
 172 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 remote and improbable, acts as a spur to such 
 persons of the middle and lower classes as own 
 exceptional abilities and possess the ambition to 
 serve their country in this wise. 
 
 Meleagrian poetry, to which I am of necessity or 
 politeness compelled to sit a constant Hstener, seems 
 to me to be at least on a level with that of my former 
 country ; whilst the tales, be they amorous, didactic, 
 gruesome or comical, are often delightful in them- 
 selves and are moreover always related with a 
 charm and restraint of manner that might well be 
 adopted by our own professional lecturers who have 
 the backing of innumerable libraries behind them. 
 There is in fact an enormous quantity of what I 
 may call floating unwritten hterature of considerable 
 value ; for any tale or poem which happens to hit 
 the taste of an audience soon becomes public pro- 
 perty, and is learned by rote and repeated by other 
 less successful orators, so that the author's fame 
 becomes widespread. I have only to add that the 
 ear, the wit and the memory of this illiterate race 
 are all so delicately adjusted and attuned that it is 
 no easy matter for the average would-be entertainer 
 to acquire popularity and high recompense in his 
 self- chosen profession. It is only a very few who 
 rise to general esteem and to high honour and 
 affluence ; whilst of the others a large proportion 
 are content to cultivate a good method and modest 
 style of recitation, and only to declaim the works 
 of such as have already attained a definite celebrity. 
 
 173 
 
XIV 
 
 Since I wrote these pages I have met with an extra- 
 ordinary but most fortunate experience, which I 
 have been able to turn to my own profit with regard 
 to the safe dehvery of my manuscript. I shall relate 
 the circumstances as briefly as I can, for I have not 
 overmuch space left on this scroll, and I find my 
 message must be hmited to one piece. 
 
 Yesterday, being the holiday of the week, I rode 
 out a- hunting with Hiridia and other members of 
 my Court amid the hilly region of forest that lies 
 behind the city. We were engaged in hotly pursu- 
 ing a wounded doe, and in the course of our chase 
 came upon a wide open plateau in the midst of the 
 woods. Across this we all galloped, and my mount 
 being far fleeter than those of my companions, I soon 
 outstripped them all and rushed forward into the 
 forest beyond. I am not usually very intent on 
 hounding down a stricken animal, but on this 
 occasion I continued to charge wildly ahead, dodg- 
 ing the many trunks and branches in a manner that 
 would have done credit to a colonial Bushman. 
 The hot lust of the chase for once fired my blood, 
 and I felt the true aflSatus of the eager sportsman 
 in my brain, as I tore madly onward, recking 
 
 174 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 nothing of the surrounding danger or the possibility 
 of getting lost. Suddenly I was stopped in my 
 headlong career by the bough of a tree striking me 
 full across the breast with considerable force. A 
 quick struggle to retain my saddle and stirrups, an 
 unusually fierce plunge from my excited horse, and 
 a moment later I found myself clinging with both 
 arms to the opposing branch with my steed escaping 
 from under me. I watched his quarters disappear 
 into the enveloping scrub, and for a few seconds 
 could distinguish the crackhng sound of his tearing 
 through the undergrowth till all was silent. I now 
 dropped cautiously to the ground below, where I 
 found myself none the worse for my misadventure, 
 save for a few scratches and bruises. My plight, 
 if disagreeable and untimely, was not in the least 
 fraught with danger, for I was sure to be sought 
 and discovered by my comrades at any rate before 
 many hours could pass, I felt however no inclina- 
 tion to he quietly where I had fallen, so I decided 
 to retrace my steps in the direction whither I 
 imagined my friends to be approaching. So I rose 
 and began guessing my way by means of the broken 
 twigs and trampled grass caused by my horse's late 
 gallop in the forest. But I must evidently have 
 soon strayed from the desired direction, for after a 
 time I lighted upon a well-defined track or pad, such 
 as used to be famihar to me in the Austrahan bush ; 
 and thinking this track would certainly lead me 
 towards some habitation, I followed its meanderinj^s 
 
 175 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 beneath the tall trees, whose leafy heads served to 
 exclude a good deal of the waning afternoon light. 
 Having threaded this little path for no small distance 
 I suddenly found it emerge from the woodlands into 
 a charming secluded little valley, watered by a 
 clear purling stream trickling through bright green 
 pastures that were thickly set with masses of the 
 fragrant yellow narcissus. Beyond the brook and 
 facing me stood a house of some size, recalling one 
 of the mysterious Algerian Jcoubbas with its plain 
 white- washed walls and its low cupolas. I hastened 
 forward with the intention of demanding assistance, 
 itnd had already leaped the narrow stream and was 
 ankle- deep amongst the perfumed yellow blossoms, 
 when I caught sight of a figure in long white 
 draperies seated in a chair that was set on the usual 
 low gallery outside the house. As I drew near 
 enough to distinguish the man's countenance, I was 
 seized with a sudden spasm of intense astonishment, 
 for the white- robed senator sitting there full in the 
 golden light of the setting sun was no other than my 
 old acquaintance on Earth — Arrigo d'Aragno ! 
 
 But if real surprise were manifested (as I have no 
 doubt must have been the case) on my own visage, 
 I am sure I never saw terror, genuine abject terror, 
 ever depicted so plainly on any face before. Some 
 hideous apparition or the sudden realisation of an 
 impending doom could alone have produced that 
 look on any countenance. D'Aragno' s complexion 
 turned ashy- grey, his thick lower lip fell, his eyes 
 
 176 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 took on a glassy stare, as they surveyed my approach- 
 ing form ; yet so stupefied was the poor man from 
 shock that he was obviously unable to arouse 
 himself. Naturally, I was the quicker to recover 
 from the effects of this unexpected meeting, and 
 with a voice fairly well under control I merely 
 remarked in English : " Have you no word of 
 greeting, Signor d' Aragno, for your King, who stands 
 in some slight need of your help ? ' ' My words 
 seem to have brought the required force to break 
 the spell of temporary paralysis, for the poor fellow, 
 half- rising from his seat, began to blurt out some 
 incoherent sentences. I drew still nearer, and my 
 advance, whilst certainly increasing his horror, at 
 least served to render d' Aragno more active in his 
 movements, for hurriedly bestirring himself and 
 casting a furtive look round the peaceful empty 
 scene, he motioned to me to enter the house by an 
 open doorway just behind his chair. When we were 
 both inside the room, he hurriedly bolted the door, 
 and then sank utterly exhausted on to a couch, 
 whereon I feared for a moment he was about to 
 indulge in a prolonged, or perhaps even a fatal, 
 fainting fit. Presently however, to my rehef, he 
 exhibited signs of recovery, whilst I stood motionless 
 at a little distance from him, patiently waiting for 
 him to speak and feeling to my intense inward 
 satisfaction that somehow or other I had in this 
 unsought and unexpected interview the advantage 
 over my late captor on Earth. 
 M 177 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 " Why, why have you entered my house ? How 
 have you managed to find me ? Who can have told 
 you of my whereabouts ? " Such were the first 
 questions the prostrate d'Aragno contrived to hiss 
 out from his swollen purple lips. But I continued 
 to maintain my calm not to say haughty attitude, 
 and thus allowed the unhappy councillor for some 
 time longer to imagine that I had found my way 
 hither with the special purpose of his discomfiture, 
 for from his confused and disjointed ejaculations 
 I grew quickly to comprehend that our strange 
 encounter was liable to prove a fatal catastrophe 
 for him, d'Aragno. After keeping silence thus for 
 several minutes, with a contemptuous smile of 
 amusement and pity, I told him of my accident 
 out hunting and how I had wandered hither by 
 the merest chance. My statements seemed at first 
 shghtly to molhfy his alarm, but an instant later 
 he was again in contortions of renewed terror lest 
 my comrades should trace me to this spot and 
 report the matter to the hierarchy. I began to 
 grow impatient and rather angry with this un- 
 edifying exhibition of selfish cowardice, so I spoke 
 at last sharply to the agonised senator. But I 
 need not trouble my readers with a detailed account 
 of our lengthy conversation, beyond that its salient 
 points were these, and very interesting they were 
 to me. It seems that d'Aragno did accompany 
 me in my strange aerial voyage to Meleager, which 
 terminated (as I had so often expected) at the 
 
 178 
 
 J 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 temple on Mount Crystal. From that time up till 
 the present moment he had been living in strict 
 retirement in this remote sequestered valley, in 
 accordance with the inexorable rule of the hierarchy, 
 which positively forbids under pain of immediate 
 death any meeting or communication whatsoever 
 between the Earth-born King of Meleager and the 
 envoy who has selected him for that royal office. 
 And now in truth a deadly bolt had fallen out of 
 the blue into the quiet existence which d'Aragno 
 looked to enjoy for the remainder of his days in this 
 pleasant place of hiding. I could not repress some 
 qualms of sympathy for my unwilling host ; still, 
 such feelings were not a little tempered by the secret 
 sense of gratified vengeance, when I reflected on the 
 dictatorial advice and threatening attitude of which 
 I had had experience some few years ago in London. 
 However I brushed aside my rancour, and assuming 
 a cheerful countenance I patted the lamenting 
 senator familiarly on the back, bidding him take 
 courage, as my courtiers were not likely to seek me 
 in his house, and even if perchance they did come 
 this way, what was to prevent the concealment of 
 my presence here ? So we fell to less dismal dis- 
 course, and hkewise to food, for I was very hungry 
 and insisted on my host supplying me with a sub- 
 stantial meal, which he fetched himself. I sate down 
 to eat with a good appetite, the while poor d'Aragno, 
 too agitated to ply a knife and fork, watched me 
 do justice to the cold meats, rolls, fruits and 
 
 179 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 excellent home-grown wine he had placed before 
 me. 
 
 During this time d'Aragno gave me information 
 on several points that had hitherto puzzled me. I 
 learned from him that the Meleagrians always keep 
 two ambassadors on the Earth, who are replaced 
 from time to time, and need nevermore repeat their 
 excursion thither. I also gathered — indirectly, it 
 is true, for d'Aragno was discreet to the verge of 
 obstinacy — that constant intercommunication is 
 maintained between their envoys on the Earth and 
 the hierarchy in Meleager by means of crystal- 
 gazing globes, whose properties allow of a code of 
 signalling, no matter what the intervening space 
 may be. Possibly there are other sources of mutual 
 information between the two planets, but this use 
 of crystal-gazing I conclude to be one of their 
 principal means employed. On the subject of my 
 own levitation or conveyance whilst in an uncon- 
 scious state to Meleager, d'Aragno simply pursed 
 his lips and steadfastly refused to reply ; so seeing 
 any attempt on this head would prove idle, I finally 
 turned the conversation. In the matter of his own 
 position and safety in Meleager, my host was more 
 communicative. He was, he said, treated with the 
 greatest distinction by the whole hierarchy, with 
 whom he was in constant touch, by means of a 
 subterranean passage running from his chosen place 
 of retirement to the Temple of the Sun in Tamarida. 
 He assisted at all the more important meetings of the 
 
 180 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 inner ring of the council, and was frequently visited 
 by members of the hierarchy in his country home. 
 Nevertheless, this sword of Damocles, in the shape 
 of the ancient stern enactment, ever hung above 
 his honoured head, should he by any evil chance, 
 such as the present, come into personal contact with 
 the monarch he had himself enticed and brought 
 to reign in Meleager. Any collusion or meeting, 
 so he informed me, between these two personages, 
 was if discovered to be followed by the immediate 
 death of the hapless envoy, no matter how innocent 
 he might be, nor how accidental and unforeseen his 
 encounter with the Child of the Sun. This death 
 penalty was a fundamental law, which could never 
 be broken nor abrogated. I suppose the very 
 notion of a combination between these two persons 
 seemed so fraught with danger to the state as to 
 have been the original cause of so savage and 
 sweeping an edict. No wonder then that poor 
 d'Aragno, who was obviously in no hurry to 
 terminate his quiet but highly agreeable evening of 
 life, seemed overwhelmed with fear at the unlooked- 
 for apparition of myself. I perceived a distinct 
 cooling of my recent dislike towards him as he 
 proceeded to tell me of the pleasant years he 
 hoped to spend in this delicious retreat, where he 
 was served by attendants who were deaf and dumb. 
 He showed me with affectionate pride the many 
 rolls of manuscript filled by his own pen with choice 
 passages from our worldly authors that had lain 
 
 181 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 embedded in his marvellous and highly trained 
 memory, which he daily continued to transcribe. 
 With a sly expression he also rose and sHd aside a 
 panel of the wall, revealing within a small space, that 
 sheltered about a dozen tiny volumes of printed 
 matter, which (so I conjectured) he had brought 
 away with him from the Earth hidden on his person 
 to his final destination. These consisted chiefly 
 of English and Italian classics, and amongst their 
 number I can recall the Shakespearean Plays, the 
 Essays of Montaigne and Bacon, the Divine Comedy 
 of Dante, the Faust of Goethe and the Travels of 
 Gulliver. These books were of very small size and of 
 such minute print that their owner confessed they re- 
 quired to be studied through a magnifying glass. For 
 a moment I paused to wonder whether these treasures 
 were ever produced in the presence of any of those 
 white- robed brethren of the council who were in 
 the habit of paying d'Aragno visits in his home of 
 honourable exile. Nor could I resist asking d' Aragno, 
 as I fingered these mementoes of his sojourn on our 
 Earth, whether he had included in his library any 
 of my own works, seeing how extravagantly he had 
 praised them during our interviews in London ; 
 but my host gravely shook his head, for a sense 
 of humour is rather rare amongst the more exalted 
 members of the hierarchy. 
 
 At length I came to business, the business I stoutly 
 intended to transact ere ever I quitted this secluded 
 house, the business which a lucky chance had thrown 
 
 182 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 in my way towards a possible fulfilment of my 
 present desire. " And now," began I, " Signor 
 d'Aragno, for I know you by no other title, pray 
 what return do you propose to render me, if I 
 do not immediately on my arrival at Tamarida 
 inform the Arch- priest of this delightful but alto- 
 gether informal meeting between us ? " My hearer' s 
 fat face waxed pale and puffy as he almost cringed 
 before me at the bare thought of the possibility 
 of such a catastrophe. " What is your wish ? " 
 proceeded as a hoarse whisper from between his 
 bloodless lips. I thereupon set to explain to him 
 the exact nature of the boon I demanded — namely, 
 the safe transmission of my message to Earth ; and 
 I also declared to him that it was the ambition to 
 overcome what all the wiseacres of our planet would 
 deem insuperable that largely prompted my inten- 
 tion. At first d'Aragno' s face betokened blank 
 dismay at my request, yet when I went on to tell 
 him that I had no wish for my packet to be delivered 
 to any particular individual, but that I was fully 
 content for it to be deposited on the Earth's surface, 
 provided only it were dropped on dry land, he 
 assumed a less despondent bearing. 
 
 After a pause for meditation d'Aragno replied : 
 " Your scheme is not altogether incapable of accom- 
 pHshment, for I who brought you hither own at 
 least the means of conveying an object of moderate 
 compass to your Earth. I am implicitly trusted 
 here, and as to any missive I may care to dispatch 
 
 183 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to Earth no question will be asked, and it will be 
 sent on the next occasion. But remember, I can 
 only undertake to do this once, and once for all. 
 If therefore you will hand over to me your manu- 
 script, written closely as you will but confined 
 within one solitary sheet of our vellum, I will engage 
 to have it conveyed whither you ask. You, however, 
 on your part must swear never to divulge the in- 
 cident of our chance encounter to-day, and for this 
 mutual exchange of oaths it is expedient for us both 
 to have recourse to the Meleagrian formula in its 
 most solemn aspect. And I must notify you here 
 that we in Meleager are all believers in the Here- 
 after, which we hold is arranged for us according 
 to our merits in this our present life. We all (and 
 I am no exception) build much on the Hereafter, 
 albeit we may seem overmuch attached to life 
 itself; we therefore dread the forfeiture of our 
 future prospects in the mysterious world to come, 
 however uncertain we may feel of their precise 
 nature or degree. Now we hold also that the 
 breaking of a formal oath of special sanctity on the 
 part of a councillor of Meleager of itself brings 
 this punishment or disability in its train, so by 
 binding myself by this most sacred rite I run the 
 risk of losing what I deem of intense value — namely, 
 every chance of spiritual growth in the Hereafter. 
 You, on your side, must also perform your share of 
 the contract faithfully, and for that joint purpose 
 I now propose that we two participate in the sacred 
 
 184 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 act of an interchange of oaths. Have I your consent 
 to this ? " 
 
 I agreed, being anxious to learn the nature of this 
 solemn binding covenant, whose rupture is regarded 
 as the prelude to such serious spiritual losses 
 and disadvantages. I therefore closely watched 
 d'Aragno busy himself with the necessary pre- 
 liminaries. First he fetched a vase of gold into 
 which he stuck a few thin rods, that he subsequently 
 lighted to the accompaniment of a prayer, where- 
 upon a strong aromatic odour began to pervade 
 the room. He then bade me stand opposite to him 
 and at the same time bend over the vase so that we 
 obtained the benefit of the pungent incense smoke 
 full in our nostrils. He next clasped both my hands 
 in his, entwining our respective fingers, and then 
 pressed his forehead against mine. This attitude, 
 however sacrosanct and traditional, rather tickled 
 my natural propensity to mirth, as I noted the 
 incongruity in this close semi- embrace between my 
 own six feet four inches and squat d'Aragno' s five 
 feet and little over. Nothing however in this pose 
 seemed to strike my host in a humorous light, for 
 he continued with the most serious expression to 
 clutch me with all his force till the drops of sweat 
 were pouring from his face. Meantime he kept 
 muttering prayers or threats with ceaseless energy 
 in an undertone, until, when I myself was almost 
 wearied out with my stiff and stooping attitude, he 
 suddenly with a final burst of imprecation snatched 
 
 185 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the burning incense sticks from the vase and 
 trampled them vigorously underfoot till they had 
 ceased to smoke. The compact, or rite, or oath 
 was now completed, so that we were mutually 
 bound, I to the strictest secrecy and silence, and he 
 to the task of dispatching my scroll of manuscript 
 to Earth. D'Aragno now unfolded his plan of 
 campaign to me. " In your own private garden 
 at the palace," said he ; " beneath a group of seven 
 tall palms stands a marble seat where I am told you 
 are often in the habit of sitting in meditation. 
 Behind that same seat is a flagstone of the paved 
 terrace which has a copper ring inset. Bring your 
 piece of parchment concealed in your mantle to 
 this spot when there will be none to observe your 
 actions, for the palace spies do not penetrate thither. 
 Pull up the ring, which will yield easily to your 
 effort, and then throw down the scroll into the 
 hollow that exists beneath. That is all, but see 
 that you do this on the seventh day from to-day 
 between the sixth and seventh hours. I shall be 
 waiting in the gallery below, which ramifies from 
 the underground passage that connects the temple 
 with my place of retreat. For three days in 
 succession I shall come to this spot below the 
 marble bench ; but if by the third day no scroll is 
 thrown down to me, I shall deem myself absolved 
 of my oath, for I dare not attend thus more than 
 three days running. But you may rely on my 
 punctuahty and good faith. Having duly obtained 
 
 186 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 your scroll, I shall encase it in a metal cylinder and 
 it shall then be transmitted to Earth on the first 
 opportunity, which ought to occur within the next 
 few weeks. The case with your manuscript enclosed 
 will be dropped in some lonely place inland, where 
 it may or may not be ultimately discovered, brought 
 to a civilised city, deciphered, studied, discussed and 
 published. For myself, I fail to grasp your evident 
 sense of satisfaction in so trivial and futile a scheme ; 
 but it is clear you are obstinately bent on your 
 purpose, and by my recent oath I am^ bound under 
 the severest spiritual penalties to aid you. Yet 
 who on your Earth will ever be found to believe in 
 your fantastic story ? And even if it were held 
 worthy of credence, of what value would it prove 
 to your fellow- men? Or again, what possible tittle 
 of benefit would you gain by stirring up Herthian 
 interest in this account of your adventures in 
 Meleager ? " And d'Aragno's face for a moment 
 took on the quizzical yet imperious look I had noted 
 when he was addressing me at length in the parlour 
 of the great London hotel some five years ago. 
 
 By this time darkness had fallen outside, and 
 this circumstance now urged my host to speed 
 my departure. Quickly leaving the house in the 
 obscurity of the encroaching nightfall, together 
 we crossed the glen with its murmuring brook, and 
 scaled the opposite bank to enter the depths of the 
 enclosing forest. Following a rough path we ad- 
 vanced for some time without exchanging a word, 
 
 187 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 till at last we debouched into a wide open space 
 where we halted. The sharp dewy freshness of the 
 night air was now upon us, whilst the hooting of 
 distant owls and other nocturnal sounds filled our 
 ears, as we stood gazing into the dark blue vault 
 overhead. The stars ghstened with the pecuhar 
 brilhance associated with a touch of frost, and 
 shining above the tree- tops was a conspicuous 
 planet far surpassing its companion stars in size and 
 lustre. D'Aragno paused, and pointing towards the 
 ascending orb quietly informed me it was the Earth, 
 my old domicile ; and somehow this piece of 
 information caused in me an indefinable thrill, so 
 that I could not repress a sHght shiver, as I fixed 
 my eyes on my far-away abandoned home. At the 
 same time a curious tale of my childhood leaped, 
 as it were, into my memory, for I began to under- 
 stand with a greater clarity than ever before the 
 extraordinary nature of the fate that had befallen 
 me. 
 
 I recalled the story, the conceit of a long- for- 
 gotten evangelical writer whose works were popular 
 with my parents, of how a certain inhabitant of the 
 Evening Star was so struck by the surpassing beauty 
 of the planet we call the Earth that he prayed to his 
 Deity for permission to visit this unknown world. 
 His entreaty was granted, but upon one condition 
 — namely, that on his being translated thither he 
 should never return, but should share in whatever 
 conditions and laws of existence might prevail on 
 
 188 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the star of his choice. He eagerly consented to this 
 pact, so overwhehning was his desire or his curiosity ; 
 and falhng into a deep slumber he was transported 
 ( much as I had myself been conveyed) to his elected 
 sphere, wherein he awoke to find himself in an 
 ancient city of the Levant. The strange visitor was 
 well received by the reigning sultan and the citizens 
 of the plade, who did all that lay in their power to 
 make life pleasant for their interesting guest, whose 
 unique story they thoroughly believed. Time sped 
 by agreeably enough amid these novel surroundings, 
 so that the stranger daily grew fonder of his environ- 
 ment till one evening, when he chanced to stroll by 
 himself without the city walls and to enter an 
 attractive garden that was filled with curious erec- 
 tions of stone and marble set amid masses of flowers 
 and shaded by lofty trees. It seemed a peaceful 
 spot, but the Stranger was so puzzled by the solitude 
 of the garden that on his return to the city he asked 
 the sultan whose property was the beautiful shady 
 enclosure with the carved monuments and the 
 groves of cypresses, and for what purpose was it 
 used. The monarch looked astonished at the 
 question, but told his guest it must have been a 
 cemetery, a burial-ground, the garden and final 
 home of the Dead. Again the Stranger was per- 
 plexed : " And what are the Dead ? " Then the 
 sultan tried to describe death and the common lot 
 of all the sons and daughters of Adam to his hstener, 
 who grew more and more amazed as he endeavoured 
 
 189 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to grasp the prince' s unfamiliar explanations. ' ' But 
 will you yourself die also ? " he finally asked the 
 sultan. " Most assuredly," answered the latter ; 
 " all of us, from the highest to the least, king and 
 beggar, man, woman and child, we must perforce 
 all obey the summons of Death when it comes." 
 Without speaking another word, the Stranger 
 quitted the palace in profound silence and with 
 head bent in cogitation over this astounding law of 
 nature he had just heard for the first time. It took 
 him many days of further inquiry and self- commun- 
 ing before he could realise this sudden compulsory 
 cessation of active life which inevitably awaited 
 himself, sooner or later, whether as the result of 
 disease, of accident, of violence or of decay. Long 
 did he reflect, and finally he came to the conclusion 
 that, seeing how soon and how suddenly Death 
 might call him. Life itself so far as its pleasures and 
 its interests and its intrigues were concerned was 
 but a step on the road to Death, which was the 
 final goal with its vista of eternal joy or pain or 
 obhvion. Naturally, the pious writer of this 
 ingenious allegory had sought therefrom to point 
 a lesson of the vanity of all worldly pleasures and 
 success, and of the consequent need of preparation 
 for the after-life, which alone matters ; but I had 
 always loved the simple conceit for its own sake 
 without troubling myself much about the inevitable 
 moral. And as I continued to gaze upward at the 
 scintillating orb slowly rising over the topmost 
 
 190 
 
M E I. E A G E R 
 
 branches, I could not refrain from a comparison 
 between my own conditions in Meleager and those 
 of the mysterious stranger in the Oriental city of 
 his adoption. It seemed a notable coincidence, and 
 I vaguely wondered whether the author had really 
 possessed a true inkling of the possibility of such 
 an exchange of planets as had been suggested in the 
 tale. 
 
 D'Aragno's harsh whisper recalled me from my 
 reverie, and from the contemplation of my former 
 sphere to that of tangible objects in my present 
 abode. He bade me follow him across the open 
 starht glade, all gleaming with heavy dewdrops, 
 and so led the way up-hill to a point whence there 
 was a wide open view bounded by the sea. Far 
 away below us against the misty horizon I could 
 discern two specks of pale yellow light, and I 
 scarcely needed my companion's information to 
 make me realise that these were the twin lanterns 
 of the lighthouses guarding the entrance of the 
 harbour of Tamarida. We were standing also on 
 a fairly wide pathway, apparently a bullock track, 
 and I saw that d'Aragno had led me to one of the 
 chief inland routes of traffic, which I had merely 
 to follow down- hill in order to descend directly into 
 Tamarida. He bade me farewell with some shght 
 show of approval, even stooping so far as to imprint 
 a perfunctory kiss on my hand, the while he pointed 
 out the guiding beacons beneath me. He now bade 
 me farewell and a safe arrival before tui'ning from 
 
 191 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 me with rapid steps. I watched his dwindHng 
 white - robed figure cross the exposed glade and 
 then disappear, a tiny luminous speck, into the 
 enclosing forest, and that was my last glimpse of 
 d'Aragno. 
 
 Left to myself I strolled leisurely along the stony 
 but clearly perceptible track, which from this eleva- 
 tion began to wind down the mountain slope towards 
 the coast. I had not walked much above a mile 
 when a sound, at first faint but ever growing in 
 intensity, smote upon my alert ears. I stood still to 
 listen, and soon recognised voices calling in unison, 
 together with the barking and yapping of dogs. It 
 was evidently the search-party that was on its way 
 to rescue me in the forest. Calmly I proceeded, and 
 at a turn in the pathway I could just detect the 
 advancing throng of men, both mounted and a- foot. 
 So soon as these had realised the identity of the 
 figure approaching in the subdued starlight, the 
 whole band halted an instant as if struck stupid, 
 and then from their midst rushed forth Hiridia with 
 a shrill cry of delight and threw himself on the rough 
 ground at my feet, which he covered with kisses. 
 The other members of the party now hurried to- 
 wards me to show their joy and relief in a manner 
 fully as rapturous if more restrained. I received 
 their felicitations and answered their questions in 
 an indifferent tone, making light of my late mis- 
 adventure and only expressing concern for the loss 
 of my favourite horse, which however they assured 
 
 192 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 me had been caught riderless in the woods. Appar- 
 ently the notion of the wild beasts roaming in the 
 thickets had chiefly aroused their anxiety for me, 
 but this last suggestion I repudiated with quiet 
 scorn. " What has the Child of the Sun," I asked, 
 " to fear from his Father's humblest subjects, 
 the beasts of the forest ? Would they have dared 
 to approach his sacred person save to crouch at 
 his feet and lick them in token of his divinity ? " 
 At this rebuke all my attendants stood crestfallen 
 and ashamed. Nevertheless, they ventured to ex- 
 press concern for my presumed state of hunger — 
 the Meleagrian is invariably a good and frequent 
 trencherman — but I merely remarked that in no 
 wise was I suffering from want of food : a state 
 of things by the way which was by no means so 
 remarkable as it appeared to my devoted retainers, 
 in view of the hearty meal I had swallowed at 
 d'Aragno's house, that I naturally forbore to 
 mention. Altogether the genuine pleasure and the 
 awestruck feelings wherewith I had been received 
 by my followers afforded me no little satisfaction, 
 as, mounted on a pony with Hiridia proudly holding 
 my bridle, I was escorted by this adoring throng 
 down the steep circhng path that led towards the 
 capital. The night was well advanced when finally 
 we arrived at our destination, where I found the 
 whole household in a condition of intense alarm, 
 which speedily was converted into a frantic demon- 
 stration of joy on the news of my safe return and 
 N 198 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the subsequent sight of myself in their midst. I 
 thought it prudent to attend the pubHc supper in 
 the great hall despite the lateness of the hour, 
 although after my recent refreshment at d'Aragno's 
 I had little appetite left. 
 
 The ensuing morning I was visited by the Arch- 
 priest, to whose ears had been brought tidings of my 
 mishap of the previous day. He came ostensibly 
 to inquire for my health, but his face betrayed not 
 a little anxiety. I was able to soothe him however, 
 telling him the story of my accident had been grossly 
 exaggerated by the palace servants, and that I was 
 none the worse for a few hours' solitary wandering 
 on foot in the woods, and that I had already chanced 
 upon the right path before ever I had met with the 
 party of searchers. By thus truthfully reciting the 
 half (in this case so much more valuable than the 
 whole !) of my late movements, I was easily enabled 
 to set his fears or suspicions at rest, and after some 
 further conversation on other topics he left my 
 apartment wholly satisfied with his interview. 
 
 194 
 
XV 
 
 I AM writing these last few lines by the light of my 
 flickering lamp, as I sit in my favourite gallery that 
 overlooks the city and the harbour of Tamarida. 
 There is a multitude of things I still dearly long to 
 add to what I have already written, but the swift 
 flight of time and this closely covered scroll forbid 
 any such intention on my part. There are, how- 
 ever, two matters, one of public and the other of 
 personal concern, that I should like to hint at before 
 I finally consign my manuscript to its appointed 
 bourne within the next few hours. 
 
 First of all, in my bald, inadequate account of the 
 people and polity of Meleager, I fear I have not 
 dwelt sufficiently on the unswerving loyalty of the 
 hierarchy to their own order and to their fixed 
 devotion to what they consider the perfect common- 
 weal ; to the general happiness and content of the 
 whole population, and to the universal sense of 
 peace and plenty that prevails here. But re- 
 member, I neither praise nor blame, neither approve 
 nor condemn the system that produces ends so 
 desirable in themselves, which form the recognised 
 aim of every conscientious statesman. I have 
 merely described things in Meleager as I have found 
 them. I have made no comment thereon, but only 
 
 195 
 
IMELEAGER 
 
 suggest to the thinkers and pohticians of the Earth 
 to discover better and more honourable methods of 
 attaining equal results. 
 
 The other question that vexes my mind is purely- 
 personal, or rather egoistic. I wonder greatly 
 whether my present phght in Meleager will excite 
 feelings of pity, of contempt or of envy in the minds 
 of my readers. As to the first, I am cut off from all 
 domestic ties and affections ; I am unspeakably 
 lonely with the oppressive sense of soHtude in a 
 crowd ; in certain lights I may even be regarded as 
 a prisoner on parole ; I am perpetually spied upon, 
 and every action on my part, however innocent or 
 well-intentioned, is apt to be regarded with uneasy 
 suspicion by those who are my real masters. Again 
 I am in the position of a conscious participant 
 in that gigantic scheme of fraud. The Secret, by 
 means of which all the state craft of Meleager is 
 worked. I am also, to fit me for the continuance of 
 my royal office, subjected at fairly short intervals 
 to a series of personal indignities that may endow 
 me with the requisite strength and youth at the 
 moment when my body is beginning to exhibit 
 signs of languor and dissolution. In compensation 
 for these trials and disadvantages, I enjoy perfect 
 health ; I dwell in a magnificent palace surrounded 
 by adoring courtiers and servants ; I even experi- 
 ence the inestimable delight of performing public 
 duties which are gratefully and rapturously accepted 
 by my deluded subjects ; I taste the sweets of 
 
 196 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 divine honours, and at the same time can gratify 
 some of the natural tastes of a mortal man. It 
 amuses me to leave to others I shall never meet the 
 solution of a question I cannot answer for myself ! 
 
 As I lift my eyes from my parchment, I note a 
 thin streak of oriflamme above the eastern horizon, 
 and I know that very soon the new-born day will be 
 heralded by clarion and cannon from the battle- 
 ments of the great temple overhead. I have but 
 time and space left me to add the word Farewell 
 and the name I bore on Earth. . . , 
 
 197 
 
PART TWO 
 
" I love to lose myself in a mystery : to 'pursue 
 my reason to an Altitudo! " 
 
 Religio Medici (sect. ix,). 
 
How passing wonderful it is that I should be enabled 
 to send another message to the Earth, and still more 
 wonderful, wonderful out of all whooping, that I 
 should be writing it not as sovereign of an unsus- 
 pected planet but as a humble member of the 
 human hive on Earth itself, here in this mean 
 Welsh seaside imi ! As to my former missive which 
 I dispatched to my present abode through d' Aragno's 
 kind offices some two years ago, I have, of course, no 
 notion as to its final fate. That it really did reach 
 the sphere of its destination I am convinced ; but 
 whether it is still lying unheeded on some roUing 
 steppe or sterile mountain range ; or whether it has 
 been ascertained, deciphered, discussed, nay even 
 printed, I am wholly in the dark.^ Not that I seek 
 to vex my mind in this matter. Nevertheless, it 
 amuses me to assume that my former letter from 
 Meleager has been duly found, debated and published, 
 even though such assumption likewise includes the 
 theory that its veracity is discredited by all who 
 have cared to study its contents. Are we not 
 assured in The Book that one arising specially from 
 the dead and scorched with the flames of hell will 
 
 ^ This was obviously written before the interview described 
 in a later chapter. — C. W. 
 
 201 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 not arouse belief in the living man ? And if the 
 mission of Dives to his careless brethren be a 
 predestined failure, what chance of credence can 
 possibly await such a message in manuscript from 
 Meleager ? Leaving these barren speculations, I 
 intend to resume the tale of my adventures at the 
 point where I halted — namely, on the eve of my 
 entrusting my scroll to the custody of the Meleagrian 
 councillor. 
 
 Tt is not so easy to judge of the exact passage of 
 time in Meleager, but I fancy about two years must 
 have flowed past without any incident worthy of 
 record since I parted with my cherished manuscript. 
 The diurnal revolution of duty, sleep, exercise and 
 meditation marched so smoothly onward that it 
 came to my unprepared mind as a crashing shock 
 to learn that my cycle of calm existence was hable 
 to fierce disturbance. My sharp awakening was on 
 this wise. For some days I had received no visit 
 from my dear old friend, the Arch- priest (for by this 
 time, in spite of certain barriers of circumstance 
 and pohty, he had grown very dear to me), and this 
 omission caused me to feel some degree of anxiety 
 concerning his absence. More curious than alarmed 
 I therefore asked one of the hierarchy, Vailo, who 
 was in attendance, the cause of this suspension of 
 the usual visits. The councillor, discreetly casting 
 his eyes to the ground, replied that the Arch- priest 
 was expecting shortly to be absorbed into the family 
 
 202 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of the Sun- god. Albeit enigmatically thus ex- 
 pressed, I could not fail to reaHse the gravity of the 
 news ; in plain parlance, my friend and adviser 
 was on the point of dissolution. A horrible chill 
 invaded my heart, and I felt sick with a sense of 
 genuine sorrow and of deep misgiving. I knew him 
 to be old, and I ought therefore to have anticipated 
 the propinquity of his death, but with blind egoism 
 I had overlooked such eventualities. My first 
 impulse was to ply Vailo with questions as to his 
 condition and chance of recovery, but the guarded 
 rephes afforded me no ray of hope. I even begged 
 to be conducted to the old man's bedside to take 
 a last farewell, but this request Vailo (I think and 
 trust with a touch of pity in his harsh voice) assured 
 me was illegal. I then lapsed into sullen silence, 
 whereupon the councillor took the opportunity to 
 depart, leaving me a prey to unspeakable misery 
 and agitation. 
 
 All that night I tossed and turned on my luxuri- 
 ous bed, and such short spells of sleep as I snatched 
 only reflected the dour images that were passing 
 through my brain. Mechanically I undertook my 
 usual duties in the morning, and later in the day I 
 was sitting beside a solitary and untasted meal in 
 my balcony, moodily staring with fixed unseeing 
 eyes at the beautiful prospect sweltering in the 
 noontide sunshine, when Hiridia suddenly entered 
 to announce that a litter was being borne up 
 the palace steps. A moment later appeared a 
 
 203 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 messenger with the request for an audience of the 
 Arch- priest, who was too feeble to approach on foot. 
 With my black despair of a moment past converted 
 into temporary relief, I signed my assent, and all 
 expectation I watched the palanquin being carried 
 through the ante- chamber and finally set down on 
 the pavement of the balcony. With my own hand 
 I assisted its venerable occupant to alight and to 
 install himself with some degree of comfort in a 
 large chair. It was distressing to mark the changes 
 that the past few days had wrought in my beloved 
 friend, whom I had always regarded as a subUme 
 picture of hale and hearty age, sound alike in body 
 and intellect. Now the skin drawn taut over the 
 face appeared like yellow parchment; the hands 
 were dry and osseous ; the gait was languid and 
 hesitating ; verily, the seal of impending death was 
 firmly set alike on limb and lineament. So soon 
 as we were left alone, the Arch- priest, gazing at 
 me steadfastly with an expression in which were 
 blended at once pity, affection and grave concern, 
 held out his poor trembling arms towards me, 
 whereupon I sank to the floor so as to lay my head 
 on the thick white folds of the robe that covered his 
 emaciated form. Long time he continued to stroke 
 my hair or gently trace my features with his dry, 
 feverish hands, much as a blind man might seek to 
 feel or sense some precious object, the while I wept 
 unrestrained tears, whose bitter flow seemed toreheve 
 my heart of some of its accumulated anguish. Thus 
 
 20i 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 we remained, age comforting and supporting youth, 
 and both finding mutual consolation in this belated 
 concession and yielding to an open afiection from 
 which we had so long been debarred. At length a 
 warning voice in gentle, feeble tones bade me dry 
 my eyes and rise to my feet. 
 
 " My son," began the old man, " my son, for in 
 my heart I have long adopted you as such, your 
 image and your fate have been troubling me in 
 dreams upon my bed. Be strong. Be prepared for 
 evil tidings. My Hfe is ebbing fast, as you may see, 
 but there are matters I must announce to you before 
 my small stock of vitahty is exhausted. Seat your- 
 self in that chair facing me, and give me your hand 
 to clasp, whilst I tell you what I specially desire to 
 impart. . . . 
 
 " I am a very old man, and though I have re- 
 tained my powers of mind and body in a degree that 
 is unusual in Meleager, whose denizens fade as they 
 mature earlier than do those of the Earth, the 
 inevitable call has sounded at last, and in my case 
 more swiftly and suddenly than I could have wished. 
 For many months past I have been deeply dis- 
 tressed on your behalf, my son. I have been rent 
 and vexed by the rival claims of duty towards my 
 office and of my pity and affection towards yourself. 
 Or rather, I have been speculating with ceaseless 
 anxiety as to where my real duty lay. As a 
 councillor of the hierarchy of Meleager and a keeper 
 of The Secret I am impelled to abandon you to 
 
 205 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 your fate, be what it may ; yet as one who is about 
 to say farewell to all things in this existence, I feel I 
 cannot, I must not depart thus without lifting from 
 you the cloud of subtlety and intrigue wherewith 
 your young life is overshadowed. I have endured 
 hideous visions upon my bed ; I have heard your 
 voice of reproach and pictured your final struggle ; 
 I have communed with my own soul in perfect 
 frankness ; and as the result of this spiritual 
 conflict, involving so many diverse arguments, I 
 am here to-day to warn you." 
 
 Again the old man extended his wasted arms 
 towards me and embraced me with a renewed burst 
 of tenderness. Then he motioned to me to resume 
 my seat. 
 
 " I must hasten to divulge what is lying like a 
 load upon my heart, for my span of life can now but 
 be reckoned by hours, not days. In the first place 
 you have been grievously, wilfully deceived by our 
 envoy on Earth and also by myself (though herein 
 I have been merely following the normal trend of our 
 polity) in one most important matter. For you 
 have been permitted, even encouraged, to beheve 
 that your reign here in Meleager can be indefinitely 
 prolonged, provided you do not set yourself to 
 withstand or embarrass the ruling hierarchy of this 
 planet. Only theoretically is this true. It is a 
 fact, I admit, that our kings can be rejuvenated 
 over and over again, and by this means be enabled 
 to survive generation after generation of Melea- 
 
 206 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 grians — but this never happens in reaUty. Not a 
 few monarchs have these aged eyes of mine wit- 
 nessed in Meleager, and I have heard tell of others, 
 but not one of these has attained to so much as two 
 lustres of regnant power in the star to which they 
 had been translated under circumstances similar to 
 your own. It is true our kings have often brought 
 premature and well- deserved disaster on their own 
 heads, but of such I am not now thinking. I am 
 speaking of our hierarchy who are by no means 
 immaculate, and whose intrigues and jealousy will 
 not permit any monarch to escape his predeter- 
 mined end, no matter how conspicuous his merits. 
 Not that all our members are tainted with this dis- 
 ease of treachery, that is far from being the case ; 
 but in every executive body so strong is the spirit 
 of self-interest that no scruples will stand in the 
 way of preserving power, from whatsoever cause it 
 is once threatened. Men are mostly evil, as your 
 great Italian thinker, Nicholas Machiavelli, was 
 bold enough to proclaim, and their guides or 
 politicians are crafty animals who suck advantage 
 from every weakness of humanity. Such being the 
 inevitable state of things politic, our poor monarchs 
 are placed in a hopeless dilemma, whereby they are 
 doomed to failure, and for the following reasons. 
 If they avoid the snare of politics, they grow vicious 
 or oppressive of the populaoe, so that they lose the 
 general esteem, and the watching hierarchy is swift 
 to annex this alienated favour and to transfer it to 
 
 207 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 its own body by ridding Meleager of an obnoxious 
 semi- divine King. Again, it has happened on not 
 a few occasions that the King has set to combine 
 with the subservient populace against the real 
 ruling caste. I myself have seen these palace 
 courts and halls slippery with the blood of slaves 
 and soldiers who have sought at the royal bidding 
 to overthrow the executive council, and have them- 
 selves been overwhelmed and massacred in the 
 attempt. Or else, commonest and most dreaded 
 event of all that we prepare to circumvent, our 
 monarch will seek to found a dynasty. This is 
 a danger we are compelled to nip in the bud by 
 eliminating the erring sovereign rather than by 
 destrojang the victim or tool of his designs. But 
 you yourself belong to none of these categories of 
 undesirable rulers — the ambitious, the despotic, the 
 brutal, the licentious, the knavish ; and it is for 
 this very distinction that I now have come hither 
 to inform you of certain things. 
 
 " You alone of all the earth- rapt monarchs of 
 Meleager that ever I have known or heard of have 
 pursued an even tenor of deportment, holding 
 yourself strictly aloof from the besetting snares 
 of popular adulation and of selfish indolence. You 
 have never strained to encroach on the prerogative 
 of the hierarchy, yet you have openly and boldly 
 clung to such shreds of power as our constitution 
 legally permits you to exercise. You have never 
 stooped to flatter the priestly caste ; although you 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 have given proof again and again that you clearly 
 understand and appreciate the intertwining nature 
 of the bonds that unite the offices of King and council. 
 You have shown yourself affable and gracious to our 
 nobility ; kindly and sympathetic to the people 
 without any ulterior object in your behaviour. 
 You have forborne to break our laws with regard 
 to dalliance with women, for in your case no spy has 
 as yet reported any such derehction on your part. 
 You have worked well, within the limits assigned 
 to you, to assist the well-being of the community; 
 and it is also evident that you are a cordial upholder 
 of our fundamental theory that human happiness 
 rather than human progress offers the truest mark 
 for statesmanship, and that those who enjoy the 
 sweets of office and power must alone taste of the 
 bitter punishment entailed by their own failure or 
 disloyalty. In my eyes, therefore, you are the ideal 
 King; and yet, and yet, you will not survive to 
 behold the complement of the half score of years 
 of sovereignty, which has only once been attained 
 hitherto in the whole course of Meleagrian annals. 
 Your very virtues of self-restraint and implicit 
 honour have only contrived to arouse in its direst 
 shape that spectre of suspicion which is the guiding 
 genius of our state craft. In other words, even a 
 good King of Meleager is likewise foredoomed, 
 whatever struggles and sacrifices he may make to 
 gain and hold the approval of his virtual masters. 
 " To divert my warning now from the general 
 o 209 
 
]M E L E A G E R 
 
 to the particular, I must tell you that on my depar- 
 ture hence to the Hereafter, every signal points 
 clearly to the approaching cessation of your reign. 
 Unless I am gravely mistaken, the councillor who is 
 marked out to succeed me as Arch- priest leads our 
 most truculent faction, and under his auspices no 
 long period will elapse before the order will go forth 
 for a change of monarch. Doubtless not a few 
 voices will be raised in your behalf, for you have 
 grown dear to many of us ; but I feel convinced such 
 pleading will not prevail. By this time you must, 
 with your acquisitive mind, have guessed at the fate 
 which awaits yourself, the fate that has engulfed 
 so many of your predecessors, the Fountain of Re- 
 juvenation. The sustaining ropes will be cut during 
 your plunge therein, so that the fierce undercurrent 
 may draw you into the bowels of the underworld. 
 Thus will you cease to reign, as we phrase it with 
 euphemistic delicacy. Should you perchance be 
 cunning enough to elude this mode of execution, 
 rest assured there are other means in plenty equally 
 awful and drastic, once the fiat of your removal 
 has been definitely pronounced. My son, you must 
 prepare to meet your fate, for though I still hope 
 some unexpected turn of Fortune's wheel may yet 
 operate for your preservation, in my opinion your 
 doom is already imminent. But one ray of comfort, 
 or rather one spell of delay, I am able to promise 
 you. By our immutable laws the newly elected 
 Arch- priest, who guards the rites and mysteries of 
 
 210 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 that dreadful fountain, is compelled to retain in 
 office the two attendant councillors who assist in 
 carrying out the process of the lustration. Thus 
 on the first occasion of this ceremony under my 
 successor you will be absolutely safe, for I have 
 obtained the most solemn assurances to this efiect 
 from the two colleagues who have lately served me 
 in this capacity. But this arrangement will only 
 affect the next ceremony, for thenceforth the new 
 Arch- priest is empowered to select assistants of his 
 own, and naturally he will choose his own creatures 
 for the required purpose. Still, such a respite will 
 afford you some breathing-space for preparation 
 and self- communing, as it will prolong your exist- 
 ence for the space of a further half-year. Perhaps 
 fresh developments may arise within that span of 
 time — who knows ? 
 
 " One thing I implore of you, and I know I do not 
 ask in vain. Do not stir up strife in our planet, as 
 other kings have done before you. Your chance of 
 success is almost hopeless, as no doubt you already 
 realise, knowing the intensity of the suspicion 
 wherewith every movement on your part is regarded 
 and provided for. Because you are destined to die, 
 die alone, and forbear to drag a number of innocent 
 persons along with you to your doom. You have 
 performed your manifest duty for the past seven 
 years with a steadfast beneficence that is worthy of 
 your alleged father, the Sun ; and remember, it is 
 the fulfilment of duty alone that counts in the future 
 
 211 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 life of the Hereafter, whose prospective blessings 
 will eventually be yours." 
 
 I cannot describe the tender and earnest manner 
 of the dying man's discourse, terrible though its dis- 
 closures were to myself. Even the final piece of 
 advice, platitude of every creed and cHme though it 
 was, seemed to come as a help and a spur to me at 
 this critical juncture. After all, what is a platitude 
 but the untimely expression of some great basic 
 truth ? And here, from the venerable hierophant, 
 who from a strict sense of duty had left his sick-bed 
 to come hither and instruct me, the words seemed 
 to possess a pecuhar meaning and value ; his simple 
 appeal to my own sense of rectitude had all the 
 force of a profound thought extracted from a world 
 of thinking. I could only press the hot, dry, bony 
 hand, as I shrouded my head in the folds of my 
 royal mantle in a vain endeavour to subdue a fresh 
 bout of weeping. 
 
 " And now," continued my companion, making 
 an effort to rise, " I must depart with my blessing 
 upon you. Long may you be spared to rule in 
 Meleager ; and if not so, then we shall meet in due 
 sequence within that narthex of silence and shadows 
 which forms the vestibule to the temple of the 
 Hereafter." 
 
 Once more he embraced me long and lovingly, 
 after which he bade me strike the bell reposing 
 on the table. At his request too I passed to the 
 farthest end of the balcony, so as to keep my face 
 
 212 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 averted from the little group of attendants who now 
 assisted the dying man to his litter. I could hear 
 the shuffling of feet and whispering of voices in- 
 volved in the task of transporting my old friend, 
 whilst with swimming eyes I gazed blankly at the 
 white cheerful city, the cool greenery of the palace 
 gardens and the flashing liquid mirror of the haven 
 of Tamarida. Nor did I budge from my stiff, 
 comfortless pose till at length I felt a light touch on 
 the shoulder, the respectful touch of a privileged 
 dependent. On turning my eyes, still red and 
 swollen with my lately shed tears, they met the 
 honest, inquiring face of Hiridia, who was regarding 
 me reproachfully, as though rebuking me in silence 
 for such an unseemly lack of control. I made the 
 necessary attempt in the form of a wan smile and a 
 request for a cup of wine ; for a true public ruler 
 must exhibit no private sorrow. Was it not the 
 magnificent Giovaimi dei Medici, Pope Leo the 
 Tenth, who was reprimanded by his punctihous 
 chamberlain for falling to tears openly on the news 
 of the death of his favourite brother, " seeing that 
 the Roman pontiff was a demi-god and not a man, 
 and must therefore display a serene and smiling 
 countenance on all occasions to the people"? It 
 was in this spirit then that I accepted Hiridia' s 
 tacit reproof ; sometimes the \vill of man imposes 
 itself on the weakness of the gods. 
 
 213 
 
II 
 
 Three days later I was informed of the passing of 
 Anzoni, Arch- priest of Meleager, and of the election 
 of Marzona as his successor. For the former part 
 of this intelligence I was, of course, fully prepared, 
 but the latter intimation aroused my worst appre- 
 hensions and depressed my spirits to their lowest 
 depth. For I understood only too well the hard, 
 intractable, suspicious nature of the councillor who 
 had just been chosen — by what means or on what 
 system I knew not — to fill the vacant office of my 
 dear old friend. All I could do was to conceal with 
 equal adroitness both my sorrow for the first 
 calamity and my anxiety over the second, and to 
 pursue my normal course of life with all the com- 
 posure at my disposal. Nevertheless, my first 
 formal interview with the new potentate only served 
 to strengthen every foreboding on my part. Mar- 
 zona always treated me, I admit, with a courteous 
 demeanour whether in public or private ; but I was 
 only too conscious on every occasion of our meeting 
 that I was in the presence of a crafty, unrelenting 
 foe, whom' it would be useless to attempt to placate. 
 As for Marzona' s prior career, I had gathered some 
 time ago that he was by birth a plebeian " in- 
 tellectual," who had risen by his talents (in the 
 
 214 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 manner already described by me in my former 
 letter) to the order of the nobiUty, and from the 
 ranks of the nobles had contrived to pass through 
 the school of the neophytes and the college of the 
 probationers, and thence into the coveted oligarchy 
 beyond. For private reasons he had always aimed 
 at the office of Arch- priest, sedulously declining, 
 with this particular objective in view, to undertake 
 the voyage to the Earth, with the result that now 
 at last he had attained to that eminence on which 
 for years he had concentrated his hopes, his desires 
 and all his immense capacity of intrigue. In 
 appearance Marzona was not unprepossessing, and 
 his face, which showed of a somewhat hghter tint 
 than is usual in Meleager, would have been accounted 
 handsome, were it not for the dull hazel eyes, 
 which, however, constantly emitted from their 
 recesses a ruddy gleam, reminding me of the hidden 
 tongue of flame that lurks in the so-called black 
 opals of Queensland. To a nature so sensitive as 
 mine, the very approach of this personage caused an 
 involuntary tremor of repulsion, and in my heart I 
 always quailed when those expressionless, opalescent 
 orbs were directed at me. 
 
 In estimating our misfortunes and brooding over 
 them, we are unwittingly given to exaggerate, so 
 forcibly works within us the irrepressible spirit of 
 egoism. We oftentimes hold ourselves to be the 
 absolute sport of some malign fury, whereas, did 
 we but know it, we have in reahty but commenced 
 
 215 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to drink of that bitter cup which we imagine we have 
 almost drained to the dregs. So it was in my own 
 case of despondency. I could not figure to myself 
 a worse disaster than what had just befallen me 
 in the double blow caused by my old protector's 
 death and the election of his odious supplanter ; 
 and accordingly I set to lament my grievances as 
 though they were incapable of further extension. 
 My mental blindness on this point was however 
 swiftly and suddenly illumined by means of a 
 recurring stroke of evil that was dealt me within 
 three weeks of the election of the new Arch- priest. 
 On awaking one morning I missed Hiridia's 
 customary entrance into my chamber, an omission 
 of duty that had never occurred previously except 
 with my consent and knowledge. The day passed 
 slowly without any sign of my chamberlain, so that 
 I grew angered, puzzled and finally alarmed. Still, 
 some inner shrinking urged me to restrain my 
 natural annoyance and curiosity as to this mysteri- 
 ous lapse, and it was not till nightfall that I 
 summoned Zular, my senior equerry, and questioned 
 him with such nonchalance as I could assume con- 
 cerning the cause of Hiridia's abstention. Zular, 
 who seemed terribly nervous, at first sought to 
 evade my inquiries ; but on my growing stern and 
 insistent, he admitted to me what I reahsed at once 
 to be the truth, or at least a portion of the truth ; 
 Hiridia had entered the school of neophytes the 
 preceding night, having lately developed a vocation 
 
 216 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 for the hierarchy, for which his age now rendered 
 him ehgible. So far, this was strictly accurate, for 
 I knew that the graceful stripling of some seven 
 years ago had quite recently attained the prescribed 
 age, being indeed a youth no longer ; also I was 
 convinced he really was interned within the walls of 
 the seminary. On the other hand, it was incon- 
 ceivable that Hiridia should have deserted his 
 master in so abrupt and so insolent a fashion, even 
 supposing he had honestly wished to graduate for 
 the hierarchy, of which intention on his part I had 
 never observed the least indication. His loyalty 
 and devotion to myself and my interests were be- 
 yond question, and I had the anguish to realise that 
 my poor favourite had been treacherously kidnapped 
 and was now a veritable prisoner within the walls 
 of that hierarchical castle. 
 
 Fortunately indignation rather than grief was 
 the predominating emotion of the moment, so that 
 I at once dispatched the affrighted Zular to bear 
 a message from me to the Arch- priest, bidding him 
 attend with all speed at the palace. For hours I 
 waited in wakeful fury the arrival of Marzona, who 
 on some pretext contrived to delay his coming until 
 the following morning was well advanced. Perhaps 
 this shghting of my command was not wholly with- 
 out benefit to myself, for by the time of his belated 
 appearance my mood had grown calmer and I was 
 disposed to regard the situation with some degree of 
 diplomatic restraint. Without, therefore, directly 
 
 217 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 assuming his influence in the matter, I bade Marzona 
 explain to me this sudden resolve on Hiridia's part, 
 whereby I had been unexpectedly deprived of an 
 official whose services I valued so highly. I also 
 laid stress on the erratic and disrespectful manner 
 of his withdrawal from my Court. Coldly and 
 steadily those dull, jade- coloured eyes scanned my 
 face, as I expatiated on my wrongs, so that I could 
 easily gather there was no help forthcoming from 
 this quarter whence doubtless had emanated this 
 cunning stroke of malevolence. When I had made 
 an end, the Arch- priest began in suave tones of 
 pseudo- sympathy to express his regret for my loss, 
 whose extent he did not seek to minimise. At the 
 same time, so he explained to me, the laws of Mel- 
 eager with regard to postulants for the hierarchy 
 were fundamental in their scope, and consequently 
 utterly beyond the control or interference of the 
 Arch- priest. Hiridia had exceeded his thirtieth year, 
 and was therefore free to choose and inaugurate 
 such a career at any moment ; at the same time he 
 agreed with me in thinking that Hiridia's conduct 
 in so quitting my service showed a lamentable lack 
 of gratitude and consideration to a most indulgent 
 patron. And he again offered me his condolences 
 for my loss and resulting inconvenience. 
 
 No Medicean Secretary of State could have 
 exhibited greater reserve and finesse in argument 
 and deportment than did the new Arch- priest of 
 Meleager in this interview with myself. Had it not 
 
 218 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 all been so tragical and alarming, I could almost 
 have been won to admiration of the easy duplicity 
 of Marzona, who parried my questions and pre- 
 tended to soothe my complaints of ill-treatment, 
 the while wholly indifferent to the patent fact that 
 I was clearly reading his black hostile heart. The 
 moral prototype of this man must have flourished 
 centuries ago at the venal courts of Rome and 
 Ferrara ; had the state craft of the petty Italian 
 despots of the Renaissance been transplanted into 
 the fertile soil of Meleagrian hearts, here in the 
 twentieth century of our Herthian Christian era ? 
 Disgusted and wearied at last from this verbal 
 fencing with an invulnerable antagonist, I nodded 
 my head in token that the interview was at an end 
 and the incident .closed, my sole ray of consolation 
 being that Marzona did not perhaps truly appraise 
 the full extent of the injury he had dealt me by 
 his recent seizure of Hiridia's person. Possibly he 
 may have relied on my being goaded thereby into 
 indiscreet abuse, and if such were his main object, 
 in this design he had at least been foiled. Verily, 
 this reflection was a sorry crumb of compensation 
 for the bhghting loss I had sustained ; still, it 
 offered some moral support in itself to think that I 
 had successfully curbed my natural fury. At the 
 same time I did not wholly veil my attitude of 
 intense displeasure, for I argued it might possibly 
 excite fresh suspicion in another guise were I to 
 bear my late discomfiture too Hghtly in outward 
 
 219 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 appearance. With my heart therefore secretly 
 wrung and tortured and with my brain afire from 
 impotent indignation, I sought to swallow my late 
 indignities with as good a grace as I could muster. 
 
 If man is incapable of estimating the full degree 
 of a visitation of evil, so also is he equally at fault 
 in appreciating his present advantages, until he be 
 suddenly deprived of them. So it fell in this matter 
 of Hiridia's removal, whose unhappy consequences 
 to myself only emerged gradually after the event. 
 Until a few weeks ago I could never have believed 
 that Hiridia's companionship had been of such vital 
 help to me or had so sweetened my royal existence. 
 I had been accustomed to regard my erstwhile tutor 
 rather as a favoured page whom it amused me to 
 confide in, to mystify, to scold, or to twit as might 
 suit my passing whim. That I should have deeply 
 regretted his departure I was quite ready to admit ; 
 but I never anticipated the serious nature of my loss 
 till that loss was effected. A veritable portion of my- 
 self seemed to have been lopped away by this devihsh 
 scheme ; whilst the haunting thought that the poor 
 boy — for I made scant allowance for his thirty years 
 now fulfilled — was almost certainly sobbing out his 
 faithful and afiectionate heart in a hateful prison, 
 only served to fan the flame of my torment. Yet I 
 was helpless and powerless, and could only await 
 the approach of the solstice, when the expected bath 
 in the Fountain of Eejuvenation might possibly 
 brace my brain for some successful plan of action. 
 
 220 
 
Ill 
 
 Happily this ceremony was not many weeks distant, 
 and its approach afforded me some objective, how- 
 ever uncertain and inadequate, for fixing my hopes 
 in the future. The lassitude too that usually pre- 
 ceded this half-yearly reinvigorating process had 
 appeared rather earlier than its wont, so that the 
 physical weariness and languor were already render- 
 ing my brain less active and thereby indirectly 
 supplying me with some measure of relief from my 
 tense anxiety. I continued to perform my daily 
 duties in the judgment halls of the city, but other- 
 wise I ceased to leave the palace during this time 
 of ineffable loneliness and humiliation. To fill 
 Hiridia's vacant place of chamberlain I nominated 
 Zular, and likewise selected another equerry. With 
 my daily routine thus proceeding outwardly much 
 as usual, I relied on my being left in peace through- 
 out the intervening weeks before the coming of the 
 solstice. But herein I was grievously mistaken in 
 supposing that the machinations of my enemies had 
 been even temporarily suspended, as the following 
 incident can testify. 
 
 I was in the habit, especially during the hot 
 weather, of sitting in the palace gardens to meditate. 
 Now, in my case, this daily custom of meditation 
 
 221 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 supplied the place of reading, and with constant 
 practice it was interesting to find how excellent a 
 substitute for books it became in course of time. 
 For I had gradually grown to appreciate the luxury 
 of solitary thought to such an extent that I should 
 have lamented the cessation of these opportunities 
 as many an earth-born mortal would regard his 
 deprivation of. all printed matter. "He is never 
 alone who is accompanied by noble thoughts," and 
 inasmuch as I felt myself in the cue for tragedy, 
 poetry, comedy or pure fantasy, so I had grown 
 an adept in attaching my prevailing humour to the 
 trend of my musings. Thus I passed long hours of 
 solitary communing in a world of my own peopled 
 with my intimate aspirations, ideals, conceits and 
 fancies. My favourite spot for the practice of these 
 cerebral gymnastics, if I may so describe them, was 
 a certain shady corner of the palace gardens which 
 terminated in a semicircular marble bench backed 
 by a close- clipped hedge of bay and daphne. The 
 path leading hither was likewise lined with thick 
 walls of aromatic verdure, so that the air was often 
 odorous with the clinging scent of aleagnis and 
 allspice. Overhead the branches of taller trees had 
 been artfully pleached, whilst the young leaves of 
 the topmost boughs in opposition to the fierce beams 
 of the invading sunlight caused a soft golden haze 
 to brood in the sylvan vaulting of this green alley. 
 As I lay on my marble couch I used to note the 
 penetrating shafts of sunshine discover the knots of 
 
 222 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 golden wire that bound together these over- arching 
 limbs, exposing the artificial origin of the bower 
 and reminding me of Leonardo da Vinci's Arbour 
 of Love with its gilded true- lovers' knots that still 
 flourishes in one of the vaulted chambers of the 
 Sforzas' gloomy citadel in Milan. True, I used to 
 miss in my leafy Meleagrian lair the mocking fauns 
 and nymphs of Boboli and Borghese, who seemed 
 set on their stone pedestals to watch with sly 
 glances as to whether Christian mortals would be- 
 have with more decorum than themselves in those 
 delicious and provocative groves, where in primitive 
 days they were 
 
 " Wont to clasp their loves at noon-tide, 
 Close as lovers clasp at night," 
 
 with none to call aloud Halt ! or Fie ! To make 
 amends for the absence of these simulacra of the 
 jolly pagan life of Herthus, there was a fountain 
 hidden somewhere behind the bosky screens, which 
 allowed its water to flow in a series of cadences and 
 pauses and ai-peggios, so that it sung a lullaby that 
 was by no means monotonous to the surrounding 
 thickets and to any stray inhabitant thereof. 
 
 Here I used to expend many an hour in perfect 
 solitude, seeking repose and release from the canker 
 of anxiety, trying more or less effectually to emulate 
 the advice of the poet and to annihilate my entity 
 to a green thought in a green shade. 
 
 It was on a hot afternoon that after the midday 
 223 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 meal I sought as usual my cherished retreat, wherein 
 I seated myself according to my custom, appreciat- 
 ing at once the melody of the unseen fountain, the 
 droning of the bees in the scented bloom without 
 and the amber radiance caught in the interwoven 
 branches overhead. Lying thus, I sought to hit on 
 some apposite theme whereon to concentrate my 
 powers of meditation. But the jaded brain and 
 the perturbed mind to-day refused to permit me 
 any relief from the engrossing melancholy of my 
 present situation. Thus I sate limp and despairing 
 on my bench, utterly oblivious of the passage of 
 time and only dimly conscious of the amenities of 
 art and nature wherewith I was surrounded. From 
 this drowsy mood of reflection I was suddenly 
 recalled by a rustling sound close beside me. With 
 ears alert I heard the sound increase, and a moment 
 later descried the thick wall of box and laurel 
 tremble and then divide so as to allow the figure 
 of a young female to emerge from its depths. In 
 sheer amazement I continued to stare, grasping every 
 detail of the intruder's face and dress, as she grace- 
 fully extricated her form out of the detaining under- 
 growth. She was taller and slighter in build than 
 the average type of her sex in Meleager ; her skin 
 was considerably fairer and of an elegant pallor ; 
 her hair had glints of gold and chestnut to relieve 
 its blackness; her eyes were like beryls. Clad 
 in her green robe and coif she certainly appeared a 
 natural incarnation, a veritable hamadryad, amidst 
 
 224 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 these secluded groves which had just produced her. 
 Instinctively I realised she was no true native of 
 Meleager ; her figure, her eyes, her skin, her gestures 
 were not those of my subjects ; on the contrary, 
 there was a subtle but pervading suggestion that 
 this interloper was of the Earth. Was she then the 
 daughter, or possibly the descendant, of some pre- 
 decessor of mine in this perilous throne who had 
 risked his crown in an amorous adventure ? Who 
 was she ? Whence was she ? Why was she here ? 
 Such questions naturally chased one another across 
 my perplexed brain, but the third of them at least 
 the new-comer was evidently only too anxious to 
 explain. I myself was the goal and aim of her 
 present vagary, for still crouching low she writhed 
 towards my feet, which she proceeded to clasp, whilst 
 with tears in her beautiful eyes and breakings of her 
 rich tender voice she began to implore my protection. 
 Beset thus unawares, I could do no less than 
 listen to the rambling tale of woe and injustice her 
 parted rosy lips delivered ; how she had managed to 
 escape from the hateful tutelage of the priestesses 
 of the Sun; how she knew she could rely on my 
 assistance ; and how many sanctuaries of easy 
 concealment existed in the purlieus of the palace. 
 All the while this torrent of entreaty, flattery and 
 self- commiseration was being poured forth in an 
 unbroken stream, my suppliant contrived to edge 
 nearer and nearer to myself, half- rising from her 
 knees and lifting her shapely white arms to the level 
 p 225 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of my shoulders. There was an influence, an aroma 
 about her that vaguely suggested the women of my 
 own planet. I realised the existence of some in- 
 definable link between my own nature and hers, 
 something of the Earth earthy, and therefore 
 inestimably precious here in Meleager. A warm 
 current of human sympathy and magnetic attraction 
 seemed to be circulating around me. One moment, 
 one second more, and I felt we should be locked 
 together in one another's arms, we two hapless 
 dwellers on Meleager belonging of right to another 
 world and meeting in an alien planet. One second 
 more, and we two waifs of different sexes would have 
 been caught in an embrace of commingled sorrow 
 and devotion, caring naught for the dangers ahead 
 and happy only in our new-found union of congenial 
 souls. The bewitching face, with eyes that sparkled 
 through the film of tears and with radiant youth 
 lurking in their wells of light, was almost touching 
 my own, when there flashed before me a vision 
 rather than a thought of my impending danger. 
 I glimpsed a sensation of orbs vigilant and sinister, 
 multitudinous as the eyes in the peacock's tail, 
 usurping the places of the leaves around me ; the 
 playing water's chant turned into a sudden note 
 of terrified warning and entreaty ; the golden haze 
 above grew lurid. With supreme energy I knit my 
 remaining strength together, as I battled with the 
 temptation to surrender. My bodily powers rose 
 in obedience to my guiding brain, and extricating 
 
 226 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 myself none too gently from the already twining 
 arms of the maiden, I caught her with my right palm 
 a resounding box on the ear which echoed through 
 that sylvan silence. At the same moment I shouted 
 aloud, and leaped to my feet. It was as if scales had 
 fallen from my mental eyes, for I could sense, even 
 if I could not actually see the enclosing hedges filled 
 with spies, some of whom were hurrying stealthily 
 hence, whilst others were preparing to enter the 
 alley in as natural a manner as they could assume. 
 These latter came forward sheepishly and stood 
 before me, as I pointed to the grovelling form of 
 the girl who was now weeping violently at my feet. 
 Whose duty was it, I asked, to prevent strange 
 women from invading these gardens and disturbing 
 the noontide repose of the Child of the Sun ? As 
 to my late reception of the charmer, even assuming 
 that every motion of mine had been carefully 
 observed by this battalion of eavesdroppers, there 
 could be no question as to the final rebuff her 
 advances had encountered. Her shriek of dismay 
 and the scarlet flush on her pale cheek were at least 
 sufl&cient witnesses of the fact that I had not fallen 
 into the trap that had been so elaborately prepared 
 for my ensnaring. Without proof positive I had good 
 reason to imagine that many of the persons concealed 
 in the bushes were not spies at all, but admirers and 
 supporters of my own, who had been specially invited 
 hither to test my faUibihty. If such were the case, 
 the Arch- priest and his satelHtes must have received 
 
 227 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 a distinct shock over this conspicuous miscarriage 
 of their scheme concocted for the express purpose 
 of aHenating and disgusting those members of the 
 council who upheld my honour and integrity. 
 
 Quivering with an anger that I did not attempt 
 to dissemble, I left the open-mouthed group beside 
 the girl who was still sobbing hysterically on the 
 ground. As for her, why should I waste a tittle 
 of compassion on her misfortune? Are not all 
 creatures and tools of cunning politicians always 
 treated with contumely both by employers and 
 unmaskers when their ignoble missions fail ? With 
 indignant mien therefore I strode from the gardens 
 and retired to the palace, where I gave the captain 
 of the royal bodyguard a rating for his alleged lack 
 of vigilance. One result at any rate this plot secured 
 for me, and that was a complete freedom from 
 further molestation during the remainder of the 
 period before the coming festival. A further inter- 
 view with Marzona however soon after this incident 
 only made me perceive yet more clearly the utter 
 impossibihty of my arriving at any compact with an 
 implacable and unscrupulous enemy, who was merely 
 biding his time to strike again and strike harder. It 
 was in vain that I essayed overtures ; all my attempts 
 at understanding and conciliation were met with 
 an icy condescension that made my task obviously 
 hopeless ; and indeed from this time forward the 
 Arch- priest rarely gave me the opportunity of an 
 interview save in the presence of other colleagues. 
 
 228 
 
IV 
 
 At length the expected date of my official rejuvenat- 
 ing process arrived, to which I submitted with 
 unusual docihty. Despite the murderous intentions 
 of Marzona, I endured the subsequent plunge into 
 the fountain without trepidation, although I dared 
 not face the baleful eyes of the personage whose 
 malignity was rendered powerless for this occasion 
 by the inevitable laws of Meleager. I fancied I 
 could detect an air of quiet reassurance to myself in 
 the bearing of the two inferior councillors ; but in 
 any case I swallowed my apprehensions to the best 
 of my ability and entered that malodorous but 
 invigorating fluid with a firm bearing. I duly 
 obtained my reward, for when I emerged all dripping 
 from the seething pool, I experienced a buoyancy of 
 mind and body beyond that of any previous occasion. 
 Thus refreshed and refortified, I deemed myself 
 capable of taking the initiative, and so cheerful 
 and confident did I feel that I was almost tempted 
 to snap my fingers in that saturnine face as it 
 grimly surveyed my drying and dressing. Before 
 ever I quitted the baptistery, severalj ^schemes 
 of policy, and even of escape, began to invade 
 my brain, so that I longed to be alone with 
 my own thoughts ; nor did many days elapse 
 
 229 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 before I had adumbrated a certain scheme of 
 procedure. 
 
 This plan was, it is true, somewhat shadowy in 
 its outline, but it was foimded on the assumption 
 that any active effort on my part was preferable 
 to mere stagnation, to a passive courting of future 
 disaster. My idea too was of a dual nature, for 
 it aimed both at self-preservation and also at an 
 unveiling of The Secret. For some time past I 
 had been speculating on the uses of Mount Crystal 
 with its temple of the Altar of the Sun, and from 
 many items of information I had acquired in devious 
 or accidental ways, I had come to the certain con- 
 clusion that on this rocky peak was to be sought the 
 key of the mystery. A presentiment, that was 
 already become an article of faith to me, told me 
 that by penetrating hither even at a venture, I 
 should be pursuing the sole avenue leading to ulti- 
 mate escape, to regained liberty, to a safe return to 
 Earth. In my fresh exuberance of mentality I kept 
 arguing to myself that as my translation to Meleager 
 had been successfully accompHshed, so also there 
 existed a chance, however difficult, of my returning 
 safe to my original domicile. My immediate object 
 therefore was to enter that distant temple on 
 the shoulder of the mountain, which I could 
 descry from my palace windows ; the goal once 
 attained, I must trust further to my sharpened 
 wits. The spirit of adventure flamed hot within 
 me, so that I found some diffi.culty in concealing 
 
 230 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 my vigorous excitement under an air of lazy 
 indifference. 
 
 My first piece of preparation caused me to smile 
 inwardly, but it at least implied belief in a successful 
 issue of my plan. It consisted in extracting a 
 number of gems from various ornaments which 
 had been bestowed on me for the decoration of 
 my person, had I been so minded. From these 
 I cautiously removed a quantity of sapphires, 
 alexandrites and other precious stones, which I 
 enclosed in a small leather bag attached to a stout 
 gold chain round my neck. Without such a reserve 
 of potential capital I scarcely relished the prospect 
 of my return in the form of a pauper to my native 
 Earth, where that ancient deity Mammon draws a 
 conspicuous following in every cult, and is likewise 
 the leading, if not the sole, guide of the irrehgious. 
 Without the possession of such a talisman, I knew 
 I should be liable to exposure to many ills and 
 indignities ; and I congratulated myself on my 
 forethought in this measure of precaution, and also 
 on my retentive memory concerning the universal 
 conditions of the Earth at the date of my removal. 
 
 Having completed this minor preHminary detail, 
 I proceeded to greater things. Now the sacred 
 mountain stands at a considerable distance from 
 Tamarida, and in no case would it have been 
 possible for me (setting aside the existence of 
 watchers and spies in the palace itself) to make 
 my way thither within the few hours of darkness 
 
 231 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 on which I was compelled to rely for the execution 
 of my plan. I therefore decided to pay a visit to a 
 nobleman named Lotta, who owned an estate that 
 was bounded by the ra\ane separating the area of 
 Mount Crystal from the mainland. For the moun- 
 tain itself is a peninsula, washed on three sides by 
 the sea, whilst the fourth side consists of a long 
 narrow arid gully which is crossed at one spot by a 
 viaduct. The precincts of Mount Crystal are, as I 
 have already said, the property of the hierarchy, 
 and nobody is permitted to enter this reserved 
 domain save the councillors and their servants, who 
 approach by this solitary bridge. In vulgar esteem 
 the thick forests and rocky glens of the forbidden 
 space are haunted by evil spirits, so that I felt sure 
 no Meleagrian of the people would venture to scale 
 its precipitous slopes, even by dayhght ; whilst no 
 noble would naturally intrude on this sacrosanct 
 spot. From these deductions therefore I concluded 
 that the sole means of ingress, the viaduct, was not 
 likely to be guarded with any great strength or 
 vigilance, seeing how little fear of a trespasser there 
 must be on the part of the custodians of the place. 
 Having reasoned so far, I had also formed the 
 opinion that, the bridge once safely traversed, there 
 would be little to hinder my speedy arrival at the 
 temple itself, beyond which my present calculations 
 did not extend. 
 
 Not many days after the solstice therefore I set 
 forth, accompanied only by Zular, on my proposed 
 
 232 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 visit to the country house of my indicated host 
 who received me with every sign of satisfaction and 
 respect. I had paid several visits here in the past, 
 so that my present resolution could not, and indeed 
 did not, excite the smallest suspicion on the part 
 of my enemies, who were in no wise disturbed by my 
 departure from the palace. On the second evening 
 of my visit I was talking to young Bavil, my 
 entertainer's son and heir, a special favourite of 
 mine, and in the course of our conversation I pro- 
 mised the lad a particular spear of my own invention. 
 The boy's eyes eagerly glistened at the mention of 
 this welcome gift, whereupon I summoned Zular 
 and bade him hasten to the palace after his supper, 
 fetch the required weapon, and return with it on 
 the following morning. Having thus contrived 
 to rid myself of Zular' s presence on so simple an 
 errand, I continued to sit with Lotta and his family 
 during the sociable interval that in Meleager extends 
 from supper till bedtime. 
 
 Retiring to rest at an early hour I crept into my 
 bed fully clothed, and waited anxiously thus until 
 the last sound of wakefulness in the household had 
 died away. When all was still, I rose cautiously 
 from my couch, crossed the room on tiptoe and 
 slipped through the open casement into the warm 
 greyness of a summer's night without moonshine 
 and without dew. Quietly I pursued the track 
 leading through the gardens and farm of my host 
 towards the lip of the ravine that separated his 
 
 233 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 estate from the forbidden mountain. From previous 
 hunting expeditions I was sufficiently famihar with 
 this stony narrow pathway, and under this luminous 
 crepuscule I experienced small difficulty in tracing 
 its sinuous progress along the edge of the clifEs. 
 An hour of slow steady walking thus at last brought 
 me to the desired point, a spot where the private 
 path merged into the road running from Tamarida 
 to the viaduct. With eyes now grown fully accus- 
 tomed to the gloaming I paused to scan the outline 
 of the bridge. As I waited thus in a silence broken 
 only by the ululation of wolves in the distant forests, 
 I could clearly distinguish the soft padding of human 
 feet at no great distance from where I stood. Very 
 carefully I removed my buskins, which I hid in 
 a neighbouring thicket, and thus reheved of my 
 tell-tale foot-gear advanced in the direction of the 
 sound. Peering ahead I soon obtained a better 
 view of the bridge, as well as of the adjoining guard- 
 house, whose faqade displayed two squares of pale 
 yellow light, from which I gathered that a guard 
 of men-at-arms was stationed within its walls. 
 Stealthily creeping forward, with body bent and 
 with eyes fixed on the two warning patches of 
 lanthorn light, I speedily espied the source of the 
 faint tramping sound. A sentry, a diminutive but 
 sturdy soldier, was dutifully patroUing the dusty 
 space before the guard- house. Poor httle doomed 
 creature, fulfilling his appointed task ! Poor little 
 subject of the Child of the Sun, loyal to his creed and 
 
 234 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 crown, and wholly innocent of all evil intent against 
 myself ! Very gently did I convey my sharp 
 serviceable hunting blade from its sheath to my 
 mouth, at the same time divesting myself of my 
 heavy mantle of azure silk, which I placed in both 
 hands ready for a dexterous throw in the manner of 
 the retiarius of the Roman amphitheatre. Crouched 
 low like some panther prepared to spring, and armed 
 with dagger and cloak, I waited to commit rank 
 murder, to terminate the life of a fellow- creature 
 with every right to enjoy health and happiness, to 
 turn a wife into a widow, to render her children 
 orphans, to wreck a peaceful home in a doubtful 
 effort to save my own skin. Never did I hate and 
 despise myself more heartily in my earthly career, 
 than I did now at this first desperate stroke for 
 freedom in Meleager. God knows whether after all 
 I might not have shrunk shamefacedly from the 
 loathsome act, had I allowed my thoughts thus to 
 ramble farther in these ethical convolutions of right 
 and wrong. But as I still hesitated, I suddenly 
 observed the unsuspecting soldier deliberately stop, 
 lay aside his spear, and with unconcern kneel down 
 to fasten the loosened thong of his sandal. At such 
 an opportunity some force — was it moral or 
 physical ? — impelled me, and with a spring that 
 would have done credit to a young cat- a- mountain, 
 I had leaped on the bending figure whose startled 
 head was swiftly swathed in the thick folds of my 
 royal robe. There was some struggling, as well as 
 
 235 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 faint muffled cries, whilst I tightly clenched the 
 half- smothered head beneath my left arm. I then 
 transferred the dagger from my teeth to my right 
 hand and skilfully inserted the keen blade into 
 my captive's reins. The struggles increased, then 
 relaxed, then faded into a series of convulsive twitch- 
 ings ; till I felt my hand grow wet and warm with 
 the blood I was shedding for my own selfish purpose. 
 Still I continued to hold the knife in its soft fleshy 
 socket, until with a final twisting of the steel in the 
 mode of the Spanish assassin, I slowly withdrew the 
 weapon from the fatal gash. All things appear 
 mercifully of a neutral tint on a moonless night, 
 so that I was spared the chief horror of my en- 
 sanguined hands and tunic, for I greatly dislike 
 the sight of blood. I next gently unwound my 
 cloak from the dead man's face, and then dragged 
 the corpse across the path to lay it behind a large 
 clump of agaves. A small pool of stagnant water 
 hard by enabled me to remove the gore from my 
 hands and garments, whilst a neighbouring bank 
 of lush couch grass assisted in the cleansing of my 
 dagger, which I wiped and wiped again before I 
 replaced it in its scabbard. These necessary opera- 
 tions afforded me space to breathe, to recuperate 
 and to reflect. 
 
 The primal instinct of self-preservation being thus 
 fulfilled, I returned to my scheme. With my un- 
 shod feet I walked slowly up to the guard- house, 
 whence issued unmistakable sounds of deep slumber. 
 
 236 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I even ventured to peep through the open window, 
 so as to catch a glimpse of four or five soldiers 
 within, all sleeping on mattresses beneath the 
 subdued rays of a great guard lanthorn. Quitting 
 the building I found no obstacle in crossing the 
 bridge, but soon after reaching its farther end I 
 nearly met with an unexpected calamity. Groping 
 in the gloom of a thicket of pines I suddenly felt 
 my movements hampered, to discover just in time 
 that I had inadvertently stumbled against a stout 
 cord. There could be little question as to its import 
 and object; it was a cord of inter- communication 
 that was stretched from the temple above to the 
 guard- house below. My good genius was certainly 
 in close attendance on me that most memorable 
 night, for had I tripped over this rope and set the 
 alarm signal in motion, there could have been only 
 one result to my escapade. As it so happened, I 
 was not a little assisted by my discovery. In the 
 first place, I neatly severed the cord itself, and then 
 proceeded to fasten each of the divided ends with a 
 clove hitch to a bough so that in the possible event 
 of the guard at the bridge or the watchers in the 
 temple wishing to communicate, their efforts would 
 be nullified. Also I perceived that by following 
 the direction of the cord, I should pursue the easiest 
 way of ascent to the temple itself. 
 
 Bestowing a delicate touch from time to time 
 on the friendly clue, I hurried upward, treading a 
 well-worn path through the hanging woods that in 
 
 237 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 daylight, or possibly even in moonlight, would have 
 been sufficiently simple and obvious to the pedestrian. 
 So rapid and unimpeded were my steps that I was 
 out of breath by the time I reached the huge bastions 
 that overtopped the forest trees and uplifted the 
 main platform of the temple. Here I rested a while, 
 and then once more, with the aid of the cord, lighted 
 on a narrow winding stairway which I ascended with 
 infinite caution. Arrived almost at the head of the 
 steps, I kneeled down and very slowly raised my 
 eyes above the level of the low parapet. What I 
 now descried was a long narrow space, perhaps 
 four hundred feet in length, which served as plat- 
 form to an immense plain building with a lofty roof. 
 Its long lateral extent disclosed a number of doors 
 flush with the exterior wall and all of identical 
 design. Even more exciting to me however than 
 this gigantic edifice was the apparition of a white- 
 robed guardian pacing slowly along the terrace. 
 Towards this new opponent I entertained none of 
 those scruples that had racked me before hurling 
 myself on the unfortunate sentry below ; but I 
 realised the extreme danger and dehcacy of the 
 situation. The councillor, whose identity I could 
 not discover owing to the prevaihng gloom, paraded 
 the terrace from end to end, the conclusion of his 
 paces bringing him within a few yards of the spot 
 where I knelt hunched below the parapet with my 
 fingers on the handle of my hunting knife. But he 
 noticed nothing, and turning again towards the east 
 
 238 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 began to retrace his steps. When he had retired 
 some distance, I darted from my hiding-place to 
 examine the nearest of the doors. But there was 
 no sign of any means of ingress either in that door, 
 or in its neighbour, or in the door beyond. Having 
 hazarded so much, I hastened back to my niche, 
 there to await the return of this nocturnal watcher. 
 In my mind, that knew time was of the essence of my 
 final success, I was still debating whether to spring 
 upon the approaching senator, or to make one more 
 effort to enter the temple, when my good genius 
 again solved my perplexity. Of a sudden I grew 
 aware of a curious rustling sound in the tree- tops, 
 and a second later a large drop of water plashed on 
 my upturned face. Soon rain was pattering heavily 
 on all around, and by the time the councillor had 
 reached the tether of his promenade he began to 
 feel the effects of this unexpected drenching. I 
 saw him pause, hold out both hands to test the 
 violence of the sudden shower, fling his cloak over 
 his head, and then make a precipitate and somewhat 
 undignified rush for the shelter of the building. 
 With straining eyeballs I watched him pass each 
 doorway till he paused at the seventh from the end, 
 which admitted him without impediment of any 
 kind. Still in bent posture I hurried in his footsteps 
 through the hissing dowaifall, caught the swinging 
 door before it had ceased to oscillate, and noiselessly 
 insinuated myself within the portal. I was fully 
 nerved for an immediate struggle, but on entering 
 
 239 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I perceived that the senator had already walked 
 ahead some paces towards the eastern end of the 
 huge building, and was evidently still unaware of 
 the presence of an unauthorised visitor. Shrinking 
 behind a pillar or buttress, I waited in patient 
 silence for the next turn of Fortune's wheel, which 
 was certainly revolving fast and furious that night. 
 
 So far as I could observe in the faint and flickering 
 light I was standing within a vast barrel- vaulted 
 erection with pillared alcoves on either side, re- 
 minding me somewhat of an immense Renaissance 
 church. There was artificial lighting somewhere, 
 but I failed to trace its whereabouts ; the western 
 end of the building lay in inky shadow, but its 
 eastern extremity was open and exposed to the air. 
 The central portion was largely occupied by a long 
 abyss which appeared to be a species of graving 
 dock, and resting on metal lines that ran the whole 
 length of this hollow space were four or more bulky 
 vessels constructed of some silver- ghnted material 
 not unhke aluminium. 
 
 Far from inspiring terror the sombre novelty of 
 the place engendered in me a thrill of exultation, 
 even of satisfaction, in the thought that I had indeed 
 penetrated to the very heart of The Secret. Of 
 my two guiding emotions at this moment an over- 
 whelming curiosity — the unflinching curiosity of 
 the Caliph Vathek and his mother Carathis in the 
 fatal halls of Eblis — was perhaps predominant ; but 
 almost equally potent was the itching to revenge 
 
 240 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 myself on the treacherous hierarchy of Meleager. 
 Meanwhile the footfalls of the unsuspecting guardian 
 of the place echoed faintly in the distance, and I 
 could detect the silhouette of his form against the 
 background of open space to the east. Slowly the 
 figure returned, perhaps to repass the door, for the 
 storm without had abated and the sky was clearing. 
 Nearer he drew and nearer, so that in the superior 
 light of the building I could at last distinguish 
 the individual features of the councillor. It was 
 Marzona, Arch- priest. 
 
 This sudden recognition caused me to start, so 
 that possibly I may have emitted some betraying 
 noise to call attention to my presence, though what 
 ensued before the actual impact I am still puzzled 
 to say. For in a trice I found myself and Marzona 
 locked together in a deadly but silent embrace, since 
 instinctively it would seem I had posed for action 
 with my cloak as on the previous encounter at the 
 bridge. For a second time I held my antagonist's 
 head enveloped in those ample folds, albeit his limbs 
 were unembarrassed. We were knotted, I say, in a 
 death grip, swaying from side to side, our hatred 
 oozing as it were from our very pores, as we strained 
 and wrestled with furious determination. Natur- 
 ally, I was the taller and the stronger of the two, 
 but intensity of hate gives an additional stimulus, 
 and that advantage perhaps Marzona could claim. 
 Vainly did I struggle to utilise my dagger ; try as I 
 would, it was all I could contrive with my superior 
 Q 241 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 strength to keep Marzona's head tightly swathed and 
 his Hmbs powerless to inflict an injury. How long 
 this embittered duel might have lasted, and with 
 what final result, I cannot tell, had not a false step 
 on my enemy's part brought him perilously near 
 the edge of the central abyss. Another step, and 
 his left foot was treading in vacuity. He reeled ; 
 made one despairing but ineffectual effort to drag 
 me with him in his disaster ; and then I saw him, 
 with my cloak still encompassing his head, fall 
 headlong into that gaping pit beside us. There 
 followed a dull faint thud of contact with something 
 far below, and then I found myself kneeling hot 
 and exhausted on the brink of that fatal chasm. 
 Very warily did I lean forward to peer down and 
 to listen, but there was nothing but blackness and 
 silence in those impenetrable depths. 
 
 242 
 
V 
 
 After some minutes spent in useless speculation 
 I rose from my knees and proceeded to explore the 
 building, for I knew I must hasten. With feelings 
 compact of awe and interest I approached the weird 
 monsters of metal that stood reposing on their 
 sustaining rails, and growing bolder I actually 
 entered the vessel that was nearest to the broad 
 eastern exit. I experienced no difficulty in descend- 
 ing into what I can best describe as a moderate- 
 sized cabin with two smaller closets adjoining. 
 Standing on its hinges at right angles to the cabin 
 was the great lid of the airship. In this modified 
 twilight I had no trouble in picking my steps, but a 
 minute survey of details demanded a much stronger 
 light. Nevertheless, I could distinguish directions 
 in Latin painted on various parts of the cabin, and 
 it was during a strained examination of one of these 
 notices that I must have inadvertently touched or 
 trodden on the concealed spring, which again was 
 destined by my abiding good angel to prove my 
 next instrument of salvation. A gentle humming 
 or whirring seemed to vibrate around me, beginning 
 very softly but gradually rising in intensity so that 
 in alarm I prepared to quit the ship and regain the 
 floor. But before I could collect my dazed thoughts 
 
 243 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 into sujSicient concert to act at all, I became aware 
 of a soft gliding motion and actually perceived the 
 long vista of the hall recede from my eyes, as I was 
 slowly drifting through some unseen mechanical 
 force out of the edifice and was being launched into 
 the infinite beyond. With a joyful bound, so it 
 seemed to me, my craft passed out of the open 
 arching portal and was now running swiftly as 
 though borne on invisible wires. I watched, as in a 
 vision, the temple, mountain and shores of Meleager 
 dwindle and diminish in my track, until they became 
 mere outlines in the grey dimness that precedes the 
 dawn. Still, as one fascinated, I could only stare 
 and marvel, for the superfluity of adventures and 
 wonders of this night had caused a sort of mental 
 congestion of my brain. Suddenly I was once more 
 recalled to the necessity of action, when I felt some- 
 thing hard pressing on my neck, and reahsed it was 
 the cover of the airship closing gently of its own 
 voHtion. Hurriedly I subsided into the well of the 
 cabin with my eyes fixed on the slow descending 
 cover, which finally settled down on the lower 
 portion of the vessel like the lid of some Brob- 
 dingnagian snufi-box. Meanwhile I lay below, 
 stupefied in an atmosphere which I soon found un- 
 pleasantly warm and also permeated with a subtle 
 indescribable odour that at first produced a sense 
 of nausea and of suffocation. However, by lying 
 prone on a couch, for the cabin was furnished with 
 tolerable comfort, these disagreeable symptoms 
 
 244 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 were mitigated, though throughout my long journey 
 I never felt any desire to rise and move about by 
 reason of my giddiness. I could see that the vessel 
 was well supplied with provisions, mostly in liquid 
 form; and in truth there was every arrangement 
 for two or three persons to inhabit this hold without 
 any marked discomfort for a considerable space of 
 time. At intervals around the walls of the cabin 
 were printed long sentences in Latin, interspersed 
 with many technical terms in English, French and 
 German wherever the classical tongue failed to 
 express adequately- the required meaning. All 
 these notices related to the working of various levers 
 and other pieces of mechanism on board, and as 
 I lay reclined in a state of semi- consciousness I 
 amused myself by deciphering these injunctions. 
 
 Time was practically non-existent during this 
 mad whirling through aerial space, and as my 
 capacity for further amazement was by now com- 
 pletely exhausted, I resigned myself to my present 
 condition of a not unpleasant drowsiness, which 
 made me indifferent as to whither my strange 
 vehicle was bearing me. Day and night chased 
 each other like alternate streaks of black and white ; 
 sunhght, moonhght, starhght, darkness, opacity in 
 no wise concerned me during my voyage from the 
 planet of Meleager. From time to time I sought to 
 allay my constant thirst, or rather the irritating 
 dryness of mouth and gullet (for I felt no hunger), 
 with the contents of some of the numerous bottles 
 
 245 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 near me; and thus refreshed, I gladly returned 
 to my couch and sank into my previous state of 
 lethargy. As I lay thus, I often meditated on the 
 past, but of the present and the future I felt utterly 
 careless and apathetic. 
 
 How long this hurtling through the empyrean 
 lasted I cannot say; presumably there were 
 instruments on board for computing the speed of 
 the machine and other statistics, but I never sought 
 to discover such appliances. Rarely too did I care 
 to gaze out of the many port- hole windows, for the 
 sight of the circumambient waves of empty space 
 induced in me a horrible sense of dizziness. So I 
 remained thus prostrate in a half- sleeping, half- 
 waking condition that for aught I knew or cared 
 might be prolonged for eternity, until at last I was 
 aroused from my somnolence by a faint icy breath 
 falling on my face. On looking up I perceived the 
 lid of my prison slowly opening, for all the world 
 like the upper shell of some gigantic oyster, and the 
 widening aperture was admitting draughts of fresh 
 bracing air into the vitiated atmosphere of the 
 cabin. Instinctively I knew we were entering the 
 air- zone of the Earth. Strange sounds and chckings 
 were now manifest in the unseen machinery ; our 
 motion became less rapid and regular; and these 
 phenomena together with the bitter cold soon dis- 
 pelled my torpor and brought me to my feet, for 
 I could stand upright now that the hd of the vessel 
 was raised on its hinges. Craning forward I saw 
 
 2i6 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 we were in truth nearing the Earth, though evidently 
 at a relaxed rate of velocity ; and fascinating it 
 was to me to note the steady aggrandisement of the 
 great orb of Mundus, as we drew perceptibly closer 
 to its surface. Already the Eastern hemisphere was 
 brilliantly defined, with Asia and the islands of the 
 Orient all glowing in the flush of dawn, which was 
 driving the lingering shadows of night to westward. 
 A colossal globe of gold and azure and sable was 
 slowly revolving under my eyes, which remained 
 in fixed contemplation of an expanding scene that 
 none save a few enraptured mystics or poets have 
 ever aspired to describe. 
 
 With the keen draughts of air on my face and in 
 my lungs I began to foreshadow my ultimate goal. 
 The vessel which had so far carried me faithfully 
 and smoothl)'' was now beginning to flag and oscillate 
 in so alarming a manner that I felt my attention 
 was urgently demanded for its mechanical needs. 
 The inscribed directions at once engaged my feverish 
 attention, but so excited and over- hasty was I, 
 that I set to working levers and pulling chains with- 
 out grasping the full import of my movements. 
 Eagerly I essayed to steer towards the British Isles, 
 on which my gaze was concentrated, but my efforts 
 to utiHse this superb masterpiece of mechanism 
 fell below my intentions. In a series of irregular 
 spirals the great airship continued to descend, nor 
 with all my frenzied manipulation of its levers and 
 handles and pulleys could I persuade it to alter its 
 
 247 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 course; down, down it dropped until I realised 
 nothing could save me now from the wilderness of 
 ocean beneath. How cruel my fate ! To sail thus 
 from the stars to the Earth only to be engulfed and 
 choked in the barren salt waters ! What a mean 
 conclusion to a divine adventure ! Not terror, but 
 fierce disappointment was my prevailing emotion, 
 as mounting to the rim of the cabin I made ready 
 to leap at the precise moment the misguided vessel 
 should strike the surface of the sea. 
 
 I have only a faint reminiscence of a sharp plunge 
 and recovery ; of a glimpse of my aerial chariot 
 being swallowed in the surge ; of a dull roar of 
 explosions, before I found myself swimming or 
 floating in calm tepid waters which were all tinged 
 with the carnation and primrose and pearly tints 
 of a glorious summer sunrise, whilst above my head 
 hung the vast impassive dome of heaven flecked 
 with cirrus clouds all gold and saffron. Even so 
 there sprouted in my brain the vain conceit that to 
 perish thus in mid- ocean all aglow with prismatic 
 hues was no ill-fitting termination to the career of 
 a monarch of Meleager. Thus did Icarus reason 
 perhaps when his pinions melted in the envious 
 sunbeams and he fell into the classic sea that hence- 
 forth assumed his illustrious name. It would have 
 been in keeping with the late web of wonders spun 
 around me if I were to find old Neptune in person 
 ready to receive me with a bevy of ivory- armed 
 nereids to bewail my comely corpse or an escort of 
 
 248 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 tritons to announce my passing on their raucous 
 conches. Like the hero of the Puritan poet, I still 
 contrived to hug my majesty even in my fall from 
 heaven ; and the sick fancy seemed to support me as 
 I stiniggled in the translucent swell. Involuntarily 
 my eyes closed, as I finally abandoned myself to 
 — what ? Surely but to the next miracle, to the 
 next freak of Fortune which had guided her favourite 
 hitherto ? 
 
 Strange noises echoed in my ears ; I was res- 
 cued ; I recognised my salvage without surprise and 
 without enthusiasm. It was my due. No dolphin- 
 mounted Neptune came to claim me ; no nereid 
 or triton stirred in my behalf; but the Man who 
 ascended to the Stars was not destined to die by 
 drowning. I sensed the familiar timbre of EngHsh 
 voices close at hand ; I felt a firm but kindly grip 
 upon my shoulder ; I suffered a painful but dex- 
 terous hoisting over a gunwale ; I was lying in the 
 stern of a boat, whose rowers were panting from 
 recent effort ; I was safe in the custody of my own 
 Herthian countrymen. 
 
 249 
 
VI 
 
 Perhaps I can plead insensibility for not recalling 
 my further experiences in the row-boat or in my 
 transmission thence to the steamship Orissa, to 
 which the smaller craft belonged. For I remember 
 nothing of the happenings between the moment of 
 my rescue in the water and my^deposition in a narrow 
 white- painted cabin of the British vessel. Here my 
 sodden tunic and vest were removed, not without ex- 
 pressions of astonishment on the part of the stewards, 
 to be replaced by some ugly flannel sleeping gar- 
 ments. An attempt on their part to detach the Httle 
 leather bag and gold chain from my neck was stoutly 
 resisted, and eventually I was pernaitted to retain 
 them. Some hot vinous potion was poured with well- 
 intentioned efiort down my reluctant throat, and 
 perhaps as a result of this characteristic Herthian 
 hospitality, I soon fell into a dreamless refreshing 
 slumber which must have endured some hours. 
 
 When I awoke it was still daylight, and on opening 
 my eyes they at once rested on the figure of a man 
 seated by my bedside, who was evidently watching 
 me with the deepest concern. His countenance, 
 which appealed to my fastidious taste, was honest, 
 inteUigent and kindly, though its features were 
 rugged and suggestive of humble origin. From his 
 
 250 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 grizzled hair and heavily lined face I concluded him 
 to be on the border-line of old and middle age, 
 perhaps some sixty years old. Our two pairs of 
 eyes met in a searching but friendly survey, after 
 which encounter I smiled graciously, as I should 
 smile upon one of my nobles in Meleager, and at 
 the same time extended my hand for salutation. 
 Naturally it was not kissed — how could I expect 
 such behaviour from a Herthian equal ?— but it 
 was clasped with a gentle reassuring pressure that 
 in no wise prejudiced me against my companion, 
 who after a pause began to address me. His voice 
 owned the same quality as his features, and was by 
 no means spoiled by a trace of north- country doric 
 that still hngered in his speech. His opening 
 questions were of the usual tjrpe that would be 
 found in the secular rituale (did such a compilation 
 exist), in the section relating to the case of a ship- 
 wrecked waif. To these I replied in a brief and 
 (I fear) obscurantist manner. That my questioner 
 was equally puzzled and interested, I could easily 
 see ; so that I found a somewhat malicious amuse- 
 ment in increasing his perplexity. Contrariwise, 
 I soon began to examine my would-be interrogator 
 much in the style I might have employed towards 
 dear old Anzoni or Hiridia. My new friend seemed 
 somewhat surprised, but good-naturedly supplied 
 all the information I sought, whereby I learned 
 that the ship now sheltering me was the Orissa, of 
 seven thousand tons' burden, a cargo- boat of the 
 
 251 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Pheon Line but also carrying first- class passengers, 
 on her way home to Liverpool from Rangoon. It 
 would appear that the officer on the bridge at break 
 of day had seen the airship strike the water and 
 disappear at no great distance on our port side, and 
 had promptly given orders for a boat to be lowered 
 to effect a rescue. On nearing the scene of the 
 recent disaster I had been found floating in an 
 apparently unconscious state but otherwise un- 
 injured by my late shock and immersion. He 
 himself was Doctor Charles Wayne, a native of 
 Cumberland and until lately a medical practitioner 
 in Burmah, where he had spent most of his life in 
 Government service. He was now returning home 
 on a pension in his sixty- second year. He was a 
 widower without children'. The Orissa had passed 
 through some exciting experiences in her voyage 
 from Suez to Gibraltar, for on their way they had 
 learned of the declaration of war between Germany 
 and Britain. They had hurried with a sharp look-out 
 by day and with darkened decks at night through the 
 Mediterranean for fear of prowhng German cruisers, 
 so that all aboard were impatient to make the mouth 
 of the Mersey without any dela/or mishap. 
 
 Here indeed was startling news ! I had been 
 absent barely seven years in Meleager, and now on 
 my return to the progressive Earth, which I had 
 left pratthng of universal peace, I was confronted 
 by the outbreak of a European conflict on a vast 
 scale. There had certainly been wars and rumours 
 
 252 
 
M' E L E A G E R 
 
 of war in plenty during the past half- century, but 
 such barbaric terrors I used to be assured were 
 the mere dying echoes of the moribund volcano of 
 militarism, and that before us there extended a 
 blessed and endless period of peace, wherein moral 
 education, increasing wages and salaries, dissent, 
 teetotalism and other blessings of equal value were 
 to be the special marks of a glorious democratic era 
 that would have no termination. 
 
 " They manage these things better in Meleager," 
 I half muttered to myself, whilst Dr Wayne con- 
 tinued to expatiate to me on the bellicose attitude 
 of the Hohenzollerns, on the magnificent patriotism 
 of the French politicians, of the foresight and skill 
 displayed by our own ministers of state, and of the 
 lofty altruism of the Tsar. I listened, but without 
 the attention that the exceptional nature of the case 
 seemed to demand. Somehow it merely appeared 
 to me that the mundane kaleidoscope had only 
 sustained another vigorous revolution, and that the 
 scarlet of human riot and unrest was in reality no 
 more predominant now than in the previous arrange- 
 ment of its component colours. And yet I should 
 be doing myself an injustice were I to speak of my 
 lack of interest concerning this stupendous piece 
 of news ; although at the same time I found myself 
 surveying this newest phase of the world's progress 
 with the cold aloofness of an external critic from some 
 distant planet — which attitude after all exactly fitted 
 my case. Thus I fell once more into a reverie on the 
 
 253 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 relative values of human happiness and human pro- 
 gress, that theme whereon I had so often argued with 
 my councillors in my deserted palace at Tamarida. 
 I spent a restful night lulled by the throbbing of 
 the engines and the swirhng of the waters displaced 
 by our keel. The good doctor slept on the cabin 
 sofa opposite my berth, and once or twice rose in 
 the night hours to attend to my wants. On the 
 following morning I had completely recovered, and 
 news to this effect having been bruited throughout 
 the ship, various uninvited visitors came to inspect 
 the castaway in Dr Wayne's cabin. At my urgent 
 entreaty I was spared a good many of these in- 
 trusions, but my kind protector could not well 
 exclude the baboon- faced captain, whose empurpled 
 visage framed in masses of ochre hair thrust itself 
 more than once through the doorway and inquired 
 in rasping accents after my welfare. The bibulous 
 ship's surgeon too invaded my retreat, and expressed 
 a desire to astonish my stomach with special con- 
 coctions of his own mixing. Good Dr Wayne did 
 all that was possible to save me from these well- 
 meaning persons, and finally he closed the cabin 
 door on the pretence of my exhaustion. Left thus 
 in peace, my companion began to address me 
 seriously in regard to certain matters. I had so far 
 refrained from giving the name I bore on earth, 
 and was firmly resolved not to betray it, nor could 
 any attempt draw the required information from 
 me. Acknowledging his failure, the Doctor with a 
 
 254 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 sigh of resignation desisted to apply, at the same 
 time begging me to mention some name, a fictitious 
 one if I were so minded, for the benefit of the 
 authorities on landing. The suggestion seemed 
 reasonable enough, and after some further parley 
 I agreed to accept temporarily the absurd name 
 of Theodore King, concerning which Dr Wayne 
 made some jocose observations. In the name then 
 of Theodore King, man rescued at sea in latitude 38 ° 
 by longitude 18° or thereabouts, was my official 
 report endorsed, and in this nominal disguise I was 
 eventually disembarked at Liverpool stage. 
 
 But for the all- pervading sensation caused by 
 the recent declaration of war and the many ramifying 
 minor excitements of the moment, I much doubt 
 whether this ingenious attempt at self- concealment 
 would have succeeded so easily. But for this crucial 
 event I might easily have become a centre of in- 
 quisitive interest that would have caused great 
 inconvenience and delay ; as it so fell, however, 
 everybody on board the Orissa was far too engrossed 
 with the supreme agitation of the moment to pay 
 much attention to the eccentric, not to say insane, 
 individual who had been picked up from a collapsed 
 aeroplane off the coast of Portugal. 
 
 With special insistence and appeal and with 
 arguments whose soundness I was forced to admit, 
 I had even allowed Dr Wayne to clip my super- 
 abundant locks, and had likewise consented to clothe 
 myself in a tolerable suit of blue serge, which he 
 
 255 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 had begged from a good-natured passenger of 
 unusual height. Thus clad and groomed, I managed 
 to leave the boat in company with my careful pro- 
 tector without exciting overmuch curiosity either 
 from my fellow-travellers of the Orissa or from the 
 crowd on the landing- stage. After a certain amount 
 of staring and a good many inquiries, which Dr 
 Wayne skilfully parried, I found myself in a cab 
 loaded with the Doctor's luggage jolting through the 
 squahd streets of Liverpool on our way to a hotel. 
 Here we spent a few hours in a private room, 
 surrounded by masses of newspapers which my 
 companion set to study with intense eagerness. 
 
 And here I shall digress a little in order to confront 
 a real difficulty of understanding which must have 
 already struck the reader. How evolved it that a 
 complete stranger hke Dr Charles Wayne allowed 
 himself to be so burdened with such an incubus as 
 myself ? That is a query, I admit, which none save 
 Dr Wayne is competent to answer, but I suspect 
 even he can hardly solve the difficulty satisfactorily. 
 When he comes to read these pages in due course, 
 he may conceivably be able to say, " It was this," 
 or " It was that, which not only aroused my interest 
 in this mysterious being but also impelled me to 
 serve and obey him henceforward." Yet even 
 then I think he will fail to analyse truthfully the 
 different motives which induced him thus to sur- 
 render his own freedom of action and to place 
 himself without a murmur at my disposal. It may 
 
 256 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 have been my piteous condition of solitude ; it 
 may have been my almost unearthly beauty of form 
 and face ; it may have been my uncanny misfortune 
 out in mid- ocean; it may have been my quiet 
 arrogance and originality of demeanour; it may 
 have been his professional curiosity in a prospective 
 patient; — it may have been one, or some, or all, 
 or none of these things which contributed to his 
 subservience. I cannot tell, and I feel Dr Wayne 
 may be no wiser in the matter than myself. Some- 
 times I imagine that some faint exhalation of the 
 supernatural must cling around my person, for it 
 does not seem impossible to me that after adventures 
 such as mine a delicate psychical fragrance (if I 
 may so dare to describe that which is in reality in- 
 describable) may permeate my bodily husk. Such 
 an aroma, though but dimly comprehended, might 
 admittedly prove of irresistible attraction to that 
 rare spiritual type of humanity to which I strongly 
 hold Dr Wayne to belong in spite of his homely 
 exterior. I trust he will pardon the apparent imper- 
 tinence of this statement, since it proceeds from the 
 sole being who has been able to discover and appre- 
 ciate the inherent sweetness and strength of his soul 
 within. And for my own part I am often haunted by 
 the notion, which I have scarcely the temerity to ex- 
 press in writing, that it was not the mere mundane 
 accident of an accident that led Dr Wayne to embark 
 on the Orissa where later on he was brought into 
 such close contact with myself in my hour of need. 
 B 257 
 
VII 
 
 We left Liverpool in the late hours of a brilHant 
 August afternoon on our way to London. Through- 
 out the journey southward I lay back dreamily in 
 my seat, watching each receding vista and appreciat- 
 ing all with the dual interest of recollection and 
 novelty. I preferred to recline thus in silence, 
 and my companion, whose frequent inquisitions of 
 my face in no wise disturbed me, seemed disinclined 
 to resent my mood. Arrived at Euston we pro- 
 ceeded to a certain hotel on the Embankment 
 which perpetuates a historic name and whose latter- 
 day luxury is tempered by the near presence of a 
 mouldy but modernised chapel, that can still claim 
 to be a royal appanage. Dr Wayne had at first 
 demurred to my choice of this particular hostelry, 
 which is decidedly not celebrated for the moderation 
 of its bills ; but as in all else his opposition soon 
 relaxed before my repeated desire. Accordingly it 
 was I who engaged what I deemed a convenient and 
 adequate suite of rooms, wherein we installed our- 
 selves without further ado. My new surroundings 
 in many ways attracted me, and we had not been 
 an hour in the hotel before I was ensconced in a 
 corner of the exiguous balcony outside our windows, 
 lost in contemplation of the noble tawny flood 
 
 268 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 swirling seaward through Hnes of sparkling lamps. 
 Before retiring to sleep, however, I deemed it only 
 fair to allay the evident apprehensions of Dr Wayne 
 concerning expense. Accordingly I produced and 
 untied my small leather wallet, emptying its shower 
 of flashing jewels on to a table beneath a powerful 
 electric lamp. The Doctor, who owned some super- 
 ficial acquaintance with the science of metallurgy, 
 was amazed at this sudden display of concentrated 
 wealth, and henceforward appeared fully refconciled 
 to our present mode of life. 
 
 [I may add here also that in the course of the next 
 few days my friend carried a portion of these superb 
 gems to a diamond merchant in the city who was 
 personally known to him. This London dealer, 
 so Dr Wayne informed me, could not repress his 
 admiration of these glittering trifles, which, in spite 
 of the unfavourable condition of the market induced 
 by the war, he was soon able to dispose of, presum- 
 ably with a handsome commission for his services. 
 Be that as it may, a sum of eight hundred pounds 
 was thus realised, and this money I insisted on Dr 
 Wayne, to his evident reluctance, placing to his 
 credit at his own bank. " Point d' argent ; point 
 de Londres " ; at any rate I had solved for the 
 nonce any question of financial difiiculties.] 
 
 My impressions of London were so confused in this 
 early stage of the great European War that I see 
 little gain in attempting to crystalhse my feehngs 
 into any sort of description. Indeed, I found it well- 
 
 259 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 nigh impossible to attune nay own thoughts to the 
 popular attitude of the moment ; but then I never 
 ceased to remind myself that of necessity I was 
 detached from a purely patriotic outlook owing to 
 my long residence in Meleager with its consequent 
 effects on a plastic mind that had definitely grown 
 to regard the Earth and all therein as things left 
 behind for evermore. The excited talk and scandal 
 of the hotel corridors, the sheaves of redundant 
 telegrams affixed from time to time on the public 
 screens, the yells of the newsvendors, the headlines 
 of the popular journals announcing English, French, 
 Russian, Belgian and Servian victories in endless 
 succession ; the brouhaha of the streets and the 
 gossip of the boudoir, all alike left me cold and 
 phlegmatic. Dr Wayne used to read aloud to me 
 daily from half-a-dozen papers, for I had signally 
 failed to reacquire my long- suspended love of 
 reading ; but I was unable to grasp more than the 
 patent fact that the fate of Paris was hanging in the 
 balance : — Paris, the city of light and leadership ; 
 Paris the capital of Saint Louis, of Henry of Navarre, 
 of Louis le Roi Soleil, of Napoleon Buonaparte; 
 Paris, the erstwhile acme of my earthly ideals. 
 Doubtless it was my own obliquity and rustiness 
 of mind that caused this lamentable lack of com- 
 prehension of the situation as a whole, and prevented 
 me from viewing it through those same rosy glasses 
 of insular humour wherewith the bulk of my country- 
 men were regarding the trend of passing events 
 
 260 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 on the Continent. I knew myself to be at best an 
 amphibian, with my body on Earth and my heart 
 in Meleager, yet capable of a residence in either 
 planet. I felt lost and lonely in this city of reek 
 and confusion, whose inhabitants probably out- 
 numbered the whole tale of my own forsaken people. 
 After a week or so I ceased to find solace in wander- 
 ing amid streets and churches and galleries, and spent 
 more hours than ever in musing with my eyes directed 
 towards the river, the shipping and the steeples that 
 clove the hot blue August sky. Dr Wayne meanwhile 
 was busied with many matters, such matters as would 
 presumably engage the attention of a time-expired 
 Indian pubHc servant; and from my peculiar tincture 
 of indifference I was equally resigned to his absence 
 or his presence, provided only he did not desert me, 
 of which contingency I had no fear whatsoever. 
 
 With the sudden salvation of Paris at a critical 
 moment and the ensuing German retreat from the 
 Marne, the cloud of foreboding was partially lifted 
 from me, without however quickening any fresh 
 growtli of interest within. Yet I listened to Dr 
 Wayne's daily budget of news, and comported myself 
 with conventional intelligence on the rare occasions 
 that I found myself brought into contact with the 
 Doctor's friends, who apparently regarded me as an 
 interesting case, a sort of God's fool, in Dr Wayne's 
 charge, in which impression I was naturally averse 
 to undeceive them, for such a view at present suited 
 my comfort and convenience. 
 
 261 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 September was now well advanced, and I much 
 doubt if ever I should have achieved the desire, still 
 less the determination, to leave a place I felt too 
 languid to dislike but for a critical incident which 
 I was half- hoping, half- dreading to occur. One 
 afternoon Dr Wayne entered my room in an excited 
 state and with unwonted heat began to dilate on a 
 curious adventure he had just experienced in the 
 hotel itself. It seems that on his return he noticed 
 in the vestibule of the hall two diminutive swarthy 
 foreigners seated in the middle of a miscellaneous mass 
 of rugs, shawls, laces, cushions, ornaments of brass 
 and other objects, all of Oriental appearance, though 
 the Doctor assured me of obvious British or German 
 manufacture. Dr Wayne, who, as I have already 
 hinted, was an enthusiastic patriot, became some- 
 what nettled on seeing all this trumpery displayed 
 for sale during so serious an epoch, albeit several 
 expensively dressed women were already hovering 
 round the men and their wares, like moths attracted 
 to some sugary compound. The vendors, who had 
 graceful manners and spoke fluent though broken 
 English, called themselves vaguely " Indians," 
 which statement on Dr Wayne's searching questions 
 they qualified by remarking they were loyal subjects 
 of the Indian Empire. The Doctor's rising sus- 
 picions were by no means appeased by this explana- 
 tion ; but on finding that the hotel servants as well 
 as the hovering females resented his method of cross- 
 examination, and were inclined to champion these 
 
 262 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Eastern peddlers, he ultimately desisted and retreated 
 upstairs to vent his tale into my ears. I listened 
 to him with that polite aloofness which has grown 
 to be a second habit of nature with me, at first with 
 faint attention, but ere long as he proceeded with 
 intense though concealed agitation. For the de- 
 tailed description of the pair of merchants in the 
 hall below promptly convinced me of the accuracy 
 of my first impression — that these Indian peddlers 
 were no other than envoys from Meleager who had 
 traced their erring King hither. 
 
 I wonder if my reader has ever experienced Fear. 
 And by Fear I do not mean mere fright, or terror, 
 or alarm, or other mental spasms with which Fear 
 is so often vulgarly confused. If he reads Mr 
 Kipling's poems about Mowgh, the little hunter 
 of the jungle, he will obtain some inkling of that 
 mysterious emotion which is in reality man's tribute 
 to a relentless destiny. 
 
 " Very softly down the glade runs a waiting watching shade, 
 And the whisper spreads and widens far and near ; 
 
 And the sweat is on thy brow, for he passes even now — 
 He is Fear, little Hunter, he is Fear ! 
 
 And thy throat is shut and dried, and thy heart against thy side 
 Hammers : Fear, O little Hunter — this is Fear." 
 
 Yes, Fear in one aspect is a physical recognition of 
 the existence and the approach of the Unknown ; and 
 its external symptoms are first of all an involun- 
 tary erection of the hair of the head, a sensation 
 
 263 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of intense heat in the scalp and a subsequent 
 exudation of chill sweat over the body, which last 
 offers some relief to the internal or psychical lesion 
 caused by Fear. I endured it then, as I suddenly 
 realised in the midst of Dr Wayne's half- humorous 
 discourse that I was a fly caught in the web of Fate ; 
 a victim rotating on the wheel of destiny ; an atom 
 of humanity that was urgently required for the 
 completion of some great cosmic design. . . . 
 
 It passed ; thank God, It passed ; and moreover 
 It left me stronger and wiser than before. Very 
 likely those honest penetrating grey eyes of my 
 companion detected my fleeting wave of anguish, 
 but he only kept an eloquent silence ; and when a 
 few minutes later I expressed a wish to descend and 
 interview these alleged Indian wanderers, he offered 
 neither comment nor opposition. 
 
 On reaching the vestibule I found the two foreign 
 traders conversing amiably with a youthful frock- 
 coated manager, for the fashionable ladies had 
 evacuated the hall in pursuit of the tea and the 
 music which were being provided in a distant 
 chamber. At my approach the Indians took no 
 farther notice of me than by smihng blandly and by 
 indicating the various articles spread at their feet. 
 Meanwhile the supercilious young manager addressed 
 me : " Your friend Dr Wayne seems to think we are 
 encouraging spies or bad characters here ; but so 
 far as I can judge, these men are only Indian 
 hucksters, and several of our ladies are very pleased 
 
 264 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 with the bargains they have bought this afternoon. 
 What do you make of them, sir ? " 
 
 " I beheve," said I slowly, envisaging the two 
 Meleagrian nobles, envoys to our Earth disguised in 
 the mean garments of Oriental mountebanks, " from 
 their features and their dress these men hail from the 
 Nicobar Islands, where I once held an official post." 
 
 And in the most natural and condescending manner 
 I could command I straightway began to question 
 the two smiHng pseudo- merchants in Meleagrian. 
 
 " Are you here in order to kill me ? " 
 
 To which sentence with a grin of pleased recogni- 
 tion and a sweeping obeisance the elder of the pair 
 replied with downcast eyes : 
 
 " Far be such evil thoughts from us ! We seek 
 to entreat your Majesty's return to your sorrowing 
 subjects in Meleager ! " 
 
 " Aha ! " cried I trumphantly in Enghsh to the 
 admiring clerk ; " they are Nicobarians ! " (I might 
 just as safely have styled them Baratarians so far 
 as he was concerned!) "I thought I could not be 
 mistaken." 
 
 And thus the serious farce continued to be enacted 
 for some Httle time in the presence of an outsider, 
 all blissfully ignorant of the fact that he was over- 
 hearing a colloquy of prime importance between 
 two ambassadors of another planet and their nm- 
 away king. 
 
 I need not add that I was successful in convincing 
 the worthy manager of the genuine character and 
 
 265 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 zealous loyalty of these two dwellers in one of the 
 obscure outlying dependencies of our Indian Empire, 
 so that he was in excellent temper when a sudden 
 summons called him away to the telephone. His 
 withdrawal enabled us to continue our conversation 
 with greater ease, my interlocutors imploring me to 
 reconsider my decision to remain on Earth. Not to 
 prolong this narrative, I shall only add here that 
 finally I consented to meet these envoys again after 
 an interval of one month, by which date I hoped to 
 arrive at a definite decision as to my future course 
 of action. In any event, I pleaded for a breathing- 
 space wherein to digest all the extraordinary adven- 
 tures of the past few months. Finally, though not 
 over- willingly, they consented to this respite, and 
 then in token of our mutual pact we three simultane- 
 ously in accordance with the Meleagrian practice 
 touched our breasts with all ten fingers, a gesture that 
 implies a most solemn oath in cases where the more 
 elaborate ritual is undesirable or difficult to effect. 
 
 My last question was directed to their possible 
 difficulty in tracing my whereabouts, for having 
 formed no plans I could not therefore inform them 
 of my movements. But such an objection evidently 
 offered no difficulties to the Meleagrians who only 
 smiled and straightway began to proffer me certain 
 of their goods with a noisy plausibihty that formed 
 a perfect imitation of the methods of that humble 
 class whose functions and personality they had 
 usurped. I at once set to chaffer with affected 
 
 266 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 eagerness, with the result that a returning queue 
 of bedizened leaders of fashion, the majority of them 
 with cigarettes in their mouths, entered the hall 
 in time to observe a tall, fair and distinguished- 
 looking gentleman (obviously an Englishman) 
 finally decide to purchase for three guineas a long, 
 soft chuddah shawl which its vendor was folding 
 and twirling before his eyes with easy grace. Hav- 
 ing secured my shawl with the requisite cash, the 
 second trader now sidled towards me holding in 
 both his slender brown hands an ornamental casket 
 which he pressed upon me with many encomiums 
 in quaint broken English. A mere flicker of hght 
 in the tail of his eye afforded me the necessary hint 
 to accept the box, for which I paid a pound or so. 
 The Indian then wrapped my bargain with much 
 ceremony in blue crinkled paper and carefully 
 deposited it in my hands, wherein it lay heavy as 
 lead. There followed a casual nod on my part, met 
 by elegant salaams to the wealthy sahib, and the 
 next moment I was ascending the staircase with 
 my shawl and box, pursued by the inquiring glances 
 of the astonished ring of ladies. 
 
 On gaining my bedroom I cautiously unlocked the 
 casket, which I found was filled to overflowing with 
 EngUsh sovereigns and bank-notes. I did not 
 happen to need them, but at least I was touched 
 by the agreeable thought that the donors did not 
 desire their king to suffer the straits of penury in 
 the coming interval of waiting. 
 
 267 
 
VIII 
 
 I FOUND Dr Wayne quite ready to acquiesce in my 
 newly formed decision to leave London ; indeed, I 
 fancy he still owned some qualms concerning the 
 style and expense of our present abode. The only 
 question that now remained was whither should we 
 proceed. It was the Doctor and not myself who 
 ultimately settled this point, for he had set to search 
 the advertisement columns of his numerous journals, 
 and after much hesitation had lighted on the notice 
 of a Welsh hotel which on reflection commended 
 itself also to my choice. The place was named 
 Glanymor and was situated on the southern shores 
 of Cardigan Bay at a convenient distance from a 
 small county town. It doubtless possessed the 
 double advantage of quiet and remoteness, the two 
 qualities of locale I especially demanded, so that 
 after some farther discussion I asked Dr Wayne to 
 make the necessary arrangements for our proposed 
 sojourn there. In four days' time therefore from 
 the date of the incident of the Indian peddlers, we 
 were able to leave Paddington Station on our way 
 towards the spot selected, where I looked to obtain 
 the peace and sohtude essential for me to refresh 
 my jaded brain and to provoke it to some definite 
 conclusion. I left London without a pang of regret, 
 
 268 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 but also without any pleasurable enthusiasm for the 
 change of air and scene I was seeking; so languid 
 and detached was my outlook towards the future. 
 
 After several hours of travelling westward, after 
 noon we reached a large market town of South 
 Wales where a hired motor car was awaiting us. It 
 was a glorious day, cool, calm and bright, with the 
 tang of autumn in the air but the guise of summer 
 still masking the face of Nature. Ere long we were 
 speeding through a district of tall hazel hedges and 
 small fields in endless succession, recalling at times 
 an immense rural chess-board set amidst steep hills 
 of no distinction of outline but with their grassy 
 flanks relieved in many places by patches of 
 autumnal gorse, of roseate ling and of murrey 
 bracken. Little rills, peeping through miniature 
 thickets of delicate lady fern, coursed here and 
 there down the slopes, and at times we were skirting 
 the bank of a torrent with golden- brown peat- 
 stained waters circling and curling around mossy 
 boulders. In many places the hedge banks were 
 still gay with hawkweeds, scabious and belated 
 foxgloves. Already the charm of the revisited 
 Earth was beginning to arouse my sluggish spirits, 
 and the sight of this mountain brook with its 
 suggestions of a happy childhood that dehghted in 
 rambling and fishing began to stir the clogged and 
 mantled pool of my earthly memory. Here at any 
 rate was still the Earth, the beloved Earth radiant 
 and unspoiled, the Earth untainted by the deadly 
 
 269 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 miasma of modern progress which is striving with 
 too evident success to convert the whole world into 
 grey suburban uniformity and ugliness. Next 
 we sped through a squalid hamlet compact of raw 
 stuccoed chapels, of tin- roofed cottages and blatant 
 villas of shrieking prosperity ; and the late burgeon- 
 ing of my earthy affections was rudely nipped. 
 Nevertheless, we had soon quitted the ghastly 
 modern township with its ill- dressed and ill- 
 favoured inhabitants, and started to descend by a 
 long gentle dechvity to a broad bottom, for we were 
 crossing the lofty watershed between two important 
 Welsh rivers. We finally reached a wide valley cleft 
 by a noble stream that was now a deep silent volume 
 of water overhung by woods of oak and larch, and 
 now a series of broad gushing shallows whose leaping 
 waves broke merrily over opposing snags and rocks. 
 At intervals we passed prosperous farms, old- 
 fashioned country houses that seemed haunts of 
 ancient peace, and stretches of rich pasture that 
 were contiguous with the river's meanderings. 
 Out of this delectable valley we ascended a sharp 
 rise and, avoiding a moderate- sized country town, 
 at length we reached an exposed hill- top which 
 afforded us the prospect of the estuary of the river 
 we had so lately left behind. Some two miles farther 
 ahead our goal was attained, after traversing a 
 tract of sand dunes whose desiccated soil gave 
 sustenance to clumps of glaucous sea- holly and 
 prickly bushes of the sand- rose that at this season 
 
 270 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 bore large sorbs of burnished purple. The hotel 
 itself, a gaunt, rambhng, recently erected structure, 
 was perched on the rim of a precipitous range of 
 cliffs. It was certainly a blot upon the landscape ; 
 but its interior promised solid comfort, whilst the 
 hearty welcome of the landlord, bereft of his usual 
 tale of summer boarders, made plenteous reparation 
 for the lack of such luxury as we had bidden adieu 
 to in London. 
 
 From the balcony outside our rooms upstairs there 
 was a spacious and comprehensive view of the 
 surrounding scenery. In front of us lay a broad 
 basin enclosed in a broken circuit of rising ground 
 and with the yellow sands and foaming bar of the 
 issuing river in the middle distance. The opposite 
 extremity of this half- enclosed sheet of water ended 
 in a projecting rocky headland dotted with white- 
 washed farmhouses and cottages, and barring the 
 farther view of the coast- line to southward. Nearer 
 at hand and adjacent to the inn there jutted forth 
 the northern horn of the little bay, backed by the 
 craggy islet of Ynys liar formed like a couched lion 
 with his visage set towards the sinking sun. The 
 rocky shores had assumed everywhere a purple- 
 black tint against the pale blue of sea and sky, 
 whilst inland the bleak unfertile soil showed brown 
 and bare in the walled fields now denuded of their 
 crops of oats and barley. I would not deny a 
 certain inherent charm to the quiet scenery of 
 Glanymor, and possibly some landscape painter of 
 
 271 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 an unambitious type might have felt tempted to 
 portray its sober tints and restful contours; but 
 I myself experienced a sense of disappointment in 
 what I deemed its negative character. Here was no 
 savage majesty of nature ; no sweep of limitless 
 ocean ; no thundering breakers on a boundless 
 strand ; no gloomy groves descending to the shore ; 
 no groups of gnarled and distorted pines that were 
 eloquent of furious gales. And yet the features and 
 general aspect of the place somehow imbued me with 
 regretful thoughts of Tamarida, its haven and its twin 
 promontories. For the first time a craving for my 
 lost palace struck at my heart, as I gazed upon the 
 encircling sweep of land and sea and sky. It may 
 have been my fancy, but I thought I perceived a 
 shadowy vision of that aerial city hover for a second 
 like a mirage in the greyness of the dull horizon. 
 
 Our daily life at Glanymor was placid and not un- 
 pleasant. The soft Welsh air, the perpetual sobbing 
 of the sea beneath our windows, the peaceful atmos- 
 phere, the wholesome food all reacted on my over- 
 strung nerves, which in time began to recover their 
 wonted tone. I was braced by bathing in the 
 Atlantic waters, icy- cold though they were ; I 
 appreciated my daily walks in company with Dr 
 Wayne along the crest of the indented shore that 
 faces the crags of Ynys liar. I mightily preferred 
 the cries of the curlew and guillemot to the shouting 
 of men and the hooting of cars in London. Alto- 
 gether I was tolerably happy but for one drawback, 
 
 272 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and this was my total inability to concentrate my 
 thinking powers on the very subject I had travelled 
 hither to study. Try as I would, I could not 
 marshal my reasonings and calculations to meet in 
 one point ; and so I allowed the crucial question to 
 remain unanswered, almost unattempted, and let 
 myself drift with the current of my own indecision. 
 Instead of racking my brain, I preferred to lie in 
 some sheltered hollow of the rocks above the water, 
 watching the waves collect and disperse with half- 
 shut eyes that idly noted the dull yellow riband of 
 tiny shells which marked the limits of the advancing 
 and receding tides along the line of cliffs. Dr Wayne, 
 in such hours as he could spare from his multiplicity 
 of newspapers, was evidently studying me and my 
 movements with silent interest, but we rarely spoke 
 during our long walks above the coast- line or over 
 the brown fallows and stony paths of the wind-swept 
 treeless countryside. 
 
 Thus passed day after day of that precious inter- 
 regnum, which ought to have been expended in 
 constant deUberation and with the nicest weighing 
 of advantages, instead of being frittered thus in 
 yielding to an insistent temptation to somnolence 
 and vacuity of mind. Perhaps there may have been 
 some external unsuspected force, which was being 
 directed against my own efforts of concentration 
 to prevent my arriving at any conclusion. I had 
 been the plaything of Fate for so long that possibly 
 I may be excused for harbouring such a notion, 
 s 273 
 
IX 
 
 A QUARTER of a mile behind our inn of Glanymor 
 stood the buildings of a fair- sized farna. I used 
 often to walk to Pen Maelgwyn, whose name re- 
 called that of a doughty Welsh chieftain slain in 
 Plantagenet days, ascending the slope thither by 
 means of a narrow footpath traversing the russet 
 stubbles wherein still lingered a few gay marigolds 
 and fragile poppies. The front of the house, a long 
 low erection, was coloured a Naples yellow, but its 
 roof and many clustering byres and sheds were all 
 thickly coated wth dazzhng whitewash. Above 
 the porch and many windows set with diminutive 
 panes had been painted ornamental stripes of black 
 and vermilion in a local style that has now almost 
 fallen out of fashion. Before the threshold lay a 
 broad stone slab marked in chalk with elaborate 
 patterns in rings and lines, which Dr Wayne, who 
 is skilled in Celtic folk-lore, tells me is a relic of the 
 dim past, when such tracery was designed to entice 
 the good fairies indoors and at the same time to 
 exclude any malignant elementals that might be 
 skulking near. The whole length of the fa9ade of 
 the dwelling was distinguished by a narrow walled- 
 in flower garden, wherein Mrs Mary Davies, the 
 farmer's wife, cherished a number of gaudy dahUas, 
 
 274 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Indian pinks, purple asters and tall spikes of golden- 
 rod, these last being much patronised by a pair of 
 elegant Red Admiral butterflies. 
 
 The messuage and its attendant buildings were 
 wholly enclosed within a low rampart of rubble and 
 loose boulders, also profusely daubed with the pre- 
 vaihng whitewash, this boundary wall surrounding 
 an irregular space which included a round weed- 
 covered pond and a number of middens for the 
 cackling fowls of every condition — geese, chickens, 
 ducks, turkeys and even peacocks. The yard was 
 dirty, stony and unkempt, yet it possessed a certain 
 fascination of its own, and there was a stile sur- 
 mounting its haphazard parapet whereon I often 
 sate, sometimes to watch the crowded life of the 
 haggard, but more generally with my face turned 
 towards the open sea. By directing my eyes hence 
 in a sou' -westerly direction, so as to avoid the con- 
 verging lines of the Welsh and Irish coasts, I had 
 been told that nothing but the ocean with no 
 intervening obstacle of land stretched between the 
 chffs of Glanymor and the far-away coast of North 
 America. There were no trees within a mile and 
 more of Pen Maelgwyn, but the rough stone waU 
 was heavily fringed with tall aromatic herbs such as 
 tansy, wormwood and wild reseda to make amends 
 for the total lack of arboreal verdure. 
 
 Hither then I often strolled during the morning 
 hours when Dr Wayne was absorbed in his news- 
 papers or his correspondence, and from the date of 
 
 275 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 my first intrusion at Pen MaelgT\'yn I always received 
 a courteous welcome from Mr and Mrs Davies, the 
 tenants of the place, who held a couple of hundred 
 acres of varied but indifferent land. That Mr 
 Hannaniah Davies belonged to the old school was 
 evident from his speech, his dress and his professed 
 outlook on life itself. Having served as baihff 
 for many years to a neighbouring squire he spoke 
 Enghsh easily and correctly, and moreover with a 
 well-bred accent. His wife Mary, on the other hand, 
 could scarcely aspire to a word of any language save 
 her native Welsh, so that our intercourse was of 
 necessity confined to gesticulation and smiles, or to 
 a few trivial phrases of which the expressions " Dim 
 Saesneg" on her part and of " Dim Cymraeg" on 
 mine, were perhaps the most lucid and useful. With 
 Hannaniah however I often held converse — on the 
 war, on politics, on travel, on rehgious controversy ; 
 and though he was bigoted and benighted in his 
 tenets yet he could argue with politeness and good 
 temper, which constitutes a virtue in itself, and that 
 no common one. Our debates were usually held in 
 the kitchen (which I vastly preferred to the chill 
 musty parlour with its garish modern furniture and 
 its repellent portraits of pastors and demagogues) 
 and in this low warm cosy chamber I loitered for 
 many a pleasant hour. The uneven stone floor 
 was generally strewn with lily-white sand; the 
 settle and chairs and dresser of pale Welsh oak 
 shone brightly with Mary's affectionate pohshing ; 
 
 276 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I loved the many quaint old jugs and plates which 
 had happily escaped the accursed hand of the 
 plundering collector. In the deep- set space of the 
 sole window flourished Mary's winter garden, a 
 miscellaneous series of pots and saucers containing 
 a fine geranium, a fuchsia, atrailing white campanula, 
 some musk and a bizarre vegetable of the leek 
 family that resembled a shining green octopus set 
 on end. Above our heads depended from the rafters 
 fine hams and bunches of odorous sage and marjoram. 
 
 In this old-time chamber I often partook of my 
 " merenda," which invariably consisted of a glass 
 of buttermilk with one or two square currant- 
 engrained biscuits known to the polite world as 
 Garibaldis, but owning a less romantic if more 
 descriptive name in the days of my boyhood. This 
 matutinal hospitality, I may add, was repaid not in 
 coin but by the loan of papers and periodicals which 
 Hannaniah read by the aid of a pair of antiquated 
 spectacles, that reposed on the great sheepskin folio 
 Welsh Bible always ready for use. Thus alternately 
 reading aloud and discoursing, with Mary's clogs 
 clattering in and out of the fragrant kitchen, I 
 often succeeded in making the worthy Hannaniah 
 waste an hour or more of his valuable agricultural 
 time in the course of the morning. 
 
 A calendar month had already elapsed since our 
 arrival at Glanymor, and I was beginning to wonder 
 in what guise the waiting Meleagrian envoys would 
 next present themselves. Yet although the month 
 
 277 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 had been fulfilled, with a few days to spare, I was 
 still speculating as to how, when and where they 
 would approach me. With my mind absorbed in 
 anticipation and replete with intense curiosity that 
 was not tinctured by any alarm, I went one morning 
 to Pen Maelgwyn on my usual errand, and on my 
 arrival found my friend Hannaniah much excited 
 over a matter of domestic concern, which he was 
 eager to impart to me. It appeared that both Mr 
 Da vies' s farm lads, Enghsh- speaking boys from a 
 large industrial school of the Midlands, had been 
 lately secured in the local recruiting nets, so that 
 the farm itself was suffering in consequence of their 
 departure. There were none to fill the vacant 
 places, and so pressed was the farmer that two days 
 ago he had been only too thankful to engage the 
 temporary services of what he described as a 
 " nigger tramp," who called himself an Indian. The 
 new-comer certainly did not seem very proficient 
 in the duties he declared himself willing to perform 
 but he seemed intelligent and anxious to please ; 
 whilst on his side the sorely tried Hannaniah was 
 thankful to obtain even such inferior assistance as 
 this. There were hopes expressed that the strange 
 heathen might in time develop into a fairly capable 
 farm hand, and in this expectation even the suspici- 
 ous Mrs Davies had agreed to lay aside her intense 
 prejudice against the man's colour and appearance. 
 Thus spake Hannaniah Davies ; and I need not say 
 that at this piece of news my heart began to hammer 
 
 278 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 at my ribs, though not (I can truthfully vouch) 
 with fear, but rather with suppressed exaltation. 
 For I felt thankful to be reHeved at last from my 
 long spell of uncertainty and indecision, than which 
 any definite evil seemed almost preferable. The 
 idea of coming action served to brace and vivify 
 me, so that it required some restraint on myself 
 to criticise the matter propounded by the farmer 
 with the proper degree of calmness. I approved 
 warmly his decision to employ the stranger, and 
 then remarked with an air of indifference: " I 
 wonder if by any chance I can speak your black 
 man's language, if he is really an Indian, as he 
 declares. I have spent many years among the 
 natives of Hindostan, and I should much like to 
 interview the man, whose name you tell me is 
 Hamid." 
 
 I had scarcely finished speaking when Hannaniah, 
 looking out of one of the tiny panes of thick greenish 
 glass of the kitchen window, spied the subject of our 
 conversation crossing the yard, and at my suggestion 
 he beckoned him to approach the homestead. Mrs 
 Da vies, too, who had paused from her usual routine 
 of scnibbing, was deeply interested, and in her 
 native vernacular expressed her admiration for the 
 powers of the Saxon gentleman who could speak the 
 language of the blacks, for in her simple philosophy 
 all dark-skinned foreigners owned but one Hugo, 
 whilst a multiplicity of tongues was a special privi- 
 lege reserved for the Aryan race. Hannaniah was 
 
 279 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 no doubt more enlightened on such a point, but I 
 fancy he had no fixed or correct views concerning 
 Indians and negroes ; it would therefore in no way 
 be surprising to him, a good bilinguist, that anyone 
 who had lived in the East like myself should under- 
 stand the language of a wandering Oriental. He 
 left the room, and I followed him into the soft breeze 
 and the mellow October sunshine which was reviving 
 Mary's rain- sodden dahhas round which the Red 
 Admirals were hovering with brilliant if somewhat 
 tattered wings. 
 
 The figure of the newly hired labourer could be 
 observed slowly descending the long yard, for he 
 was encumbered with a bundle of clover under his 
 left arm, whilst his right side was heavily weighed 
 down by a bucket of some provender for the calves. 
 His garments formed a sort of ugly compromise 
 between the costumes of East and West — a turban 
 of soiled mauve muslin, a shabby threadbare brown 
 coat and loose baggy trousers of canvas such as 
 Levantine sailors affect. In this cheap and un- 
 attractive garb I quickly recognised Fajal, a leading 
 member of the hierarchy of Meleager, and after 
 Anzoni the most trustworthy and agreeable person- 
 age of all that august body to my mind. On our 
 appearance in the yard the new servant halted a 
 moment, placed the dirty bucket on the ground, and 
 made an obeisance equally to Mr Da vies and myself. 
 As he bent before us in his squalid disguise, with his 
 delicate shapely hands encrusted with barley- meal, 
 
 280 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 and with his shoddy boots all caked with filthy mud, 
 I reflected and marvelled for a second or two on the 
 inexorable sense of duty or responsibility which 
 could compel such a man as Fajal, whose pedigree 
 could easily vie with that of a Habsburg or a Colonna, 
 to stoop to such abasement and to face such vicissi- 
 tudes. Yet though he bent ragged and grimy and 
 cringing before us, I could still detect the noble 
 fruit concealed within the rugged husk, albeit such 
 a gift of discrimination was wholly beyond the range 
 of the farmer's blunter powers of perception and 
 inferior knowledge of humanity. I addressed a 
 few commonplace phrases in Meleagrian to Fajal, 
 who replied with discreet modesty, only in his last 
 sentence bidding me seek him in the adjacent byre 
 as soon as it was feasible. Mr Da vies standing by 
 was certainly impressed with the fluency of our 
 conversation, but after an admiring " Well ! Well ! " 
 as a tribute to my linguistic attainments, he turned 
 away in order to visit his head labourer, John Lewis, 
 who was cutting bracken on the distant lea against 
 the sky-line. I accompanied my host so far as the 
 farm gate, but declined to walk with him to the 
 upland, whither I watched him proceed alone. 
 With the master and man busy over the fern stack- 
 ing, with the mistress and maids employed within 
 the dairy or kitchen, the way was clear before me. 
 I turned my eyes with mixed feehngs towards the 
 indicated byre, which stood next to a row of newly 
 thatched ricks of oats and barley, the spoils of the 
 
 281 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 lately garnered harvest. In that humble structure 
 I knew there tarried now for me the messenger of 
 Fate, the arbiter of my destiny. It was as useless, 
 as it would have been cowardly, to evade or postpone 
 the ine\a table interview, so without further ado I 
 carefully shut the yard gate and slowly picked my 
 steps through the stones and mire to the open 
 doorway of the shippen. 
 
 282 
 
X 
 
 The cow-house at Pen Maelgwyn was a lengthy 
 rather dilapidated building, and in its atmosphere 
 of semi- darkness and bovine stuffiness I groped 
 my way along the narrow passage between the 
 crazy old mud wall and the wooden raihng which 
 secured the beasts. At the farther end was a square 
 pen wherein the calves were kept, and it was here 
 that at length I chanced on Fajal who was busily 
 occupied in feeding his charges. On noticing me 
 approach, he made an end of his task, and letting 
 down the slip rail advanced to accost me in the 
 gangway. Here he sank on his knees upon the 
 slimy cobbles, at the same time catching hold of my 
 coat with uplifted hands. This unexpected attitude 
 of worship and devotion at once struck me un- 
 pleasantly ; I deemed it insincere and inappropriate ; 
 and I repelled my suppliant in no gracious manner, 
 striving to disengage myself from his grasp. 
 
 " I had a better esteem of you, Fajal," I began 
 in tones of reproachful chagrin, " than that you 
 should still attempt to mock me by persisting in this 
 threadbare pretence of a subject and his king. 
 You know who I am, and what I am in the eyes of 
 the body to which you belong ; so why indulge in 
 this sickly acting when there is no stage and no 
 
 283 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 necessity for hypocrisy ? Speak to me as man to 
 man. Tell me what you wish to say, but tell it in 
 the spirit of plain truth and reahty." 
 
 Nevertheless, crouching yet more abjectly into 
 the mire, Fajal still clung obstinately to my knees 
 and even endeavoured to kiss my feet as he started 
 to speak in a hollow voice that suggested intense 
 emotion kept with difficulty under control. 
 
 " Majesty ! Your rebuke is neither harsh nor 
 imdeserved ; and if it so pleased you, I should 
 willingly and joyfully feel the weight of your foot 
 upon my neck, or even on my face. Cheerfully 
 would I in my own person make the atonement justly 
 due to you for the treacherous ingratitude that has 
 been your Majesty's sole reward for your reign of 
 virtue and self-sacrifice in Meleager. But there is 
 no mockery in my attitude of subjection to the King 
 of Meleager who has thus successfully defied and 
 vanquished his fate, and now for a second time 
 receives the entreaty to come and reign amongst us. 
 And this time the loyalty I am authorised to proffer 
 will not be confined to the uneducated populace, 
 but it will also emanate freely from our hierarchy 
 who have delegated me, seeing that I was in the past 
 your most open admirer and warmest upholder, to 
 implore your pardon and to beg you to acquire 
 incalculable merit by returning and resuming that 
 unselfish and beneficent sway for which at this 
 moment all Meleager is sighing and praying. Do 
 not suffer me to plead in vain, King ! " 
 
 28 i 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Fajal paused, and then as I stood motionless and 
 showed no disposition to interrupt he continued to 
 entreat yet more vehemently, using at times the 
 old arguments I had heard years ago from d' Aragno, 
 and at times a novel system of reasoning based on 
 the present affection and anxiety of the Meleagrians 
 for my return. 
 
 " We are at the present time in a parlous state of 
 unrest and transition in Meleager. Our people cry 
 aloud for their vanished King, and threaten to over- 
 turn our ancient constitution, for some peculiar 
 instinct seems to have penetrated the common mind 
 — by what means or influence assuredly even I 
 cannot divine — that you have deserted our planet 
 in wrath and dudgeon to seek again your Father's 
 court. Already a revolution has taken place in the 
 hierarchy itself, and Marzona's satellites have shared 
 their leader's fate, the fate which you yourself 
 inflicted on him, most noble, puissant and wonderful 
 Being ! All, all pray daily for your speedy return ; 
 whilst amongst such old councillors as have survived 
 the late cataclysm and the newly elected members 
 of our caste, there is but one ardent all- pervading 
 desire — to see yourself installed again as our King, 
 our King who has of his own motion mastered The 
 Secret, who has flown back to Earth, who alone 
 is fitted to rule in Meleager. . . . 
 
 " And if you will but accept again our crown 
 under these changed conditions of tardy sincerity 
 in our hierarchy and of burning loyalty of our people 
 
 285 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 in all its ranks, what results may you not achieve ? 
 The periods of your rejuvenation will continue un- 
 checked ; you will be living and ruling and bending 
 life to your purpose for generations hence, nay, 
 centuries after my poor bones and those of my 
 colleagues have been converted to dust and ashes ; 
 for aught I know to the contrary you may even, 
 if you so will, achieve immortality thanks to the 
 unmatched potentialities of our marvellous fountain. 
 The very salutation ' King, live for ever ! ' that 
 occurs again and again in your Book of the Christian 
 cult will in your case cease to be the meaningless 
 compliment of courtier and sycophant. You will 
 rule and rule, always youthful, always dominant, 
 the one thing stable in a community of perpetual 
 change. There are certain limits perhaps which 
 you may not exceed, but these you already recognise 
 and will observe henceforward in the same spirit 
 that you have so nobly and unselfishly exhibited 
 in the past. And if the day should dawn — may it 
 be untold seons hence from my own day of recall ! 
 — when you will have grown weary of well-doing, 
 weary of your unending performance of duty even 
 under the lightest of moral yokes, when you sigh 
 for release and oblivion, and yearn to plunge into 
 the dusky mazes of the Hereafter, are there not 
 means accessible to gratify such a craving ? There 
 is but one mode of entering this world, and that 
 involves travail and tears, but there are a hundred 
 exits from the house of life, and many of these are 
 
 286 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 pleasant and free of dolour. Remember what one 
 of your own Herthian poets has dangled before the 
 eyes of those who are exhausted and sighing for their 
 euthanasia : 
 
 " ' There are poppies by the river, 
 There is hemlock in the dell.' 
 
 " Nevertheless, may the time be far removed when 
 the ideal King of Meleager thinks fit to abdicate, 
 preferring the unseen unsubstantial bliss of the 
 Other Life to the ceaseless routine of sovereignty 
 with its attendant pleasures and burdens. . . . 
 
 " Majesty, ponder all this in your present quiet 
 retreat which as yet has been scarcely touched by 
 the encroachments of the bloodshed and tumult 
 that have been released to complete the utter 
 downfall of your unhappy Earth. Have you not 
 dimly apprehended the dire prospects that even now 
 await your fellow- mortals on this devoted distracted 
 planet ? Is she not in the pangs of a fresh period 
 of travail, and seeing her thus threatened and know- 
 ing her past history, do you expect her to bring 
 forth a regenerating angel ? I tell you, no. The 
 horrors of carnage and greed and ambition have 
 only begun ; the stream of blood is trickling slowly, 
 but it will continue to creep onward with increasing 
 volume till scarcely a corner of the Earth will not 
 be saturated with human gore. . . . 
 
 " But enough of this awful theme, for my personal 
 argument there is unsound insomuch as you yourself 
 
 287 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 are concerned, for you at least will be spared the 
 sight and taste of the evils that will assuredly follow. 
 Your sojourn on Earth will be very brief ; already 
 the efltects of your last immersion in our sacred pool 
 are beginning to subside ; so that before this fateful 
 year draws to its bloody and hideous close, your 
 spark of life will be extinguished. Do not therefore 
 imagine that you will be permitted to achieve the 
 allotted span of mankind on Earth ; the hidden 
 waters of the Meleagrian spring are both lethal and 
 vitalising. Once the proper hour of renewal is 
 passed, a species of decay, even of disintegration, 
 will supervene, and you will sink into your miserable 
 grave, a loathsome object, a mass of disease, 
 impotence and decomposition. 
 
 " Reflect, King, reflect, ere it prove too late! 
 Make your choice between an inevitable, speedy 
 and revolting demise here on Earth, and the prospect 
 of a further reign in Meleager under such conditions 
 as I have already indicated to you." 
 
 With this last earnest appeal Fajal watched me 
 narrowly for some seconds, whilst I remained voice- 
 less and irresolute. Seeing me thus still obdurate 
 in my indecision, he sighed heavily and then sought 
 in the folds of his vest, whence he drew forth a thin 
 packet that he presented to me with these signi- 
 ficant words : "If you doubt my warning and 
 advice, look in this mirror steadily a while, and you 
 will then understand." 
 
 I had scarcely transferred the package to the 
 
 288 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 breast of my coat before I noticed an entering figure 
 darken the patch of simlight formed by the open 
 door at the other end of the byre. It was Mr Da vies 
 returned from his fern cutting and now bent on an 
 inspection of his stock. He saw nothing unusual 
 however in my seeking thus the society of his new 
 servant, who was now dihgently cleaning the racks 
 overhead. I delayed for a few minutes' talk with 
 the farmer before bidding him good- morning and 
 walking back to the inn. 
 
 In the verandah I found Dr Wayne smoking a 
 pipe and enjoying the rare sunshine of this fleeting 
 St Luke's Summer. We smiled at one another as I 
 passed within, but I did not pause to converse, for 
 I was impatient to open my concealed parcel. So 
 I went upstairs and seated myself on a chair in the 
 full light shed from the open window. Having un- 
 wound some folds of cloth I extricated the mirror 
 of which Fajal had spoken, and found it to be a 
 moderate- sized rectangular piece of thick glass 
 without any frame and offering no pecuharity of 
 aspect. Taking it in both my hands and in full 
 glare of the sunlit window, I set to gaze intently in 
 the expectation of some development whose nature 
 I already half divined. As I prepared for this 
 careful inspection of myself, or rather my counterfeit, 
 I recalled to mind a picture I had seen years ago in 
 the Wiertz Museum in what was then the capital 
 of the Belgian kingdom, representing a youthful 
 courtesan of the Mid -Victorian era stripped bare 
 T 289 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to the waist and contemplating herself in a cheval- 
 glass. But in the painter's canvas the glass itself 
 returned no true image of her comely complacent 
 face and her swelling breasts, but in their stead a 
 leering female skeleton, a revelation that seemed in 
 no wise to shake the lady's composure. So in my 
 own case I had a shrewd premonition I was destined 
 to receive some shock of this nature out of the 
 innocent- looking mirror lately presented to me. 
 Of this shadowy encounter before me however 
 I experienced no dread; very possibly the glass 
 would reveal to me my own anatomy as a suitable 
 memento mori to dissipate any lingering notions 
 I might still entertain as to the undesirability of 
 prolonging my life by a refusal to return to Meleager. 
 But why, I asked myself, should I be afraid to 
 survey my own basic framework ? Are we not all 
 mere skeletons clothed in an exiguous garment of 
 skin and tissue, and animated by some mysterious 
 internal engine which keeps intact the fleshy envelope 
 and supplies the motive power of mind and muscle ? 
 The perfectly smooth complexion that confronted 
 my inquiring look suggested nothing save the early 
 stages of manhood, though there was perceptible 
 in the eyes a weary nervous expression, that hinted 
 at a youth marred or tempered by experience and 
 disillusion. Many minutes must have been occupied 
 in contemplation of this beautiful and yet spurious 
 specimen of juvenile physiognomy before I began 
 to note a very slight alteration in the skin and out- 
 
 290 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 lines of the face before me ; tiny delicate pencillings 
 like the ghosts of hoar-frost tracery were forming 
 below the lids and at the corners of the temples; 
 the rotundity of the cheeks seemed to shrink ; queer 
 vindictive lines started here and there on the 
 countenance, spoiling its fixed impression of repose 
 and announcing anxiety and discontent. I grew 
 overwhelmingly interested in this whimsical exhibi- 
 tion of scientific magic (if I noay so describe it) ; of 
 alarm or disgust I felt no scintilla as yet, so absorbed 
 was I in my attitude of inquisitive observation. 
 Having once declared itself visibly, this meta- 
 morphosis of the face seemed to develop more 
 rapidly ; the skin was bereft of its freshness and 
 became sallow and somewhat transparent ; I could 
 tell the staring bones within, and the contours of the 
 skull were clearly defined. The hair had lost its 
 sheen, and the throat its firmness and fulness. But 
 it no more horrified me to detect my own skeleton 
 peeping forth through the imprisoning flesh than 
 it would have startled me to see my naked body on 
 stripping to bathe. Whatever might be my final 
 decision, whether to remain on Earth and perish, 
 or to proceed to Meleager and live, Fajal's device 
 could exercise no sort of influence over my well- 
 ordered mind. It was uncanny, unwholesome, un- 
 natural ; but as a practical argument for its acknow- 
 ledged purpose it must prove utterly unavailing, 
 and was in truth almost childish in its conception. 
 I was still absorbed in watching this phenomenon 
 291 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of the disunion of body and bones with complete 
 unconcern, when my nimble imagination suddenly 
 darted into a diverse channel of speculation. From 
 my present medical or scientific abstraction I found 
 myself sharply recalling Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes 
 in the Campo Santo of Pisa, wherein are depicted 
 for the edification of the careless Christian the three 
 stages of human decay after death. It was a morbid 
 but persistent theme, and not only did I fail to 
 exclude it from my unwilling brain, but other 
 paintings and representations equally or even more 
 gruesome, such as the decadent artists of the days 
 of the later Medicean princes loved to depict, arose 
 to my prolific fancy. I recalled Zumbo's horrible 
 wax figures, exhibiting at once the loathsome corrup- 
 tion of the flesh and the exquisite torments of hell- 
 fire, wherewith a certain Tuscan Grand Duchess was 
 wont to stimulate to self-denying piety a mind 
 engrossed by the pomps of rank and riches. With 
 these unwelcome but spontaneous memories there 
 now supervened a physical sensation that was most 
 repugnant. The room itself, despite the fresh sea 
 breeze and the cheerful sunshine, grew close and 
 oppressive ; there arose an intolerable smell of 
 putrefaction, the unmistakable bouquet of the 
 charnel-house ; and this insidious encroaching 
 odour filled my whole being with a sense of disgust 
 that I found impossible to expel. 
 
 Meanwhile in the mirror itself the process of dis- 
 integration was advancing apace. At first I sought 
 
 292 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to ignore the changing tints of the rotting flesh 
 and the entry of the worms and other vermin of the 
 abandoned dead, and haply I might have succeeded 
 in my mental struggle, had it not been for the in- 
 creasing and well-nigh overpowering stench of the 
 tomb which seemed to gather and enfold me in its 
 dank miasmatic embrace. The pure Hght of the 
 sunlit room had yielded to a dingy crepuscule, in 
 which alone was plainly visible that accursed 
 rectangle of glass with its surface churning out 
 horror upon horror not only for the retina but also 
 for the nostrils. And in the midst of this dissolving 
 creeping mutating picture of human corruption 
 there still shone out intact the feverish unfaded eyes 
 that were stretched wide with a blank despair. I 
 searched and searched with questioning dilated 
 pupils their awful counterparts in the cruel glass, 
 as though I were striving to force them to surrender 
 up their appalling secret. At length I seemed to 
 obtain the solution I sought yet dreaded to receive : 
 it was FinaHty. What I saw being enacted before 
 me by proxy was my own fate, my utter blotting 
 out from the page of life, and not a mere stage, 
 painful and ugly doubtless, but nevertheless only 
 an intermediate stage to another phase of existence, 
 as I had hitherto devoutly held. At last I realised 
 that my own appointed portion was but this mean 
 trilogy : the grave, corruption and nothingness ; 
 for the Hereafter owned no longer any concern with 
 myself, the amphibian of two worlds, who had evaded 
 
 293 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 his manifest duties alike on Earth and in Meleager. 
 I remembered with a shudder Fajal's soleum warning 
 as to the dire effects of that youth- bestowing and 
 yet death- deahng fountain wherein I had so often 
 been immersed. Was it really so ? Had I in my 
 fhght from my kingdom lost that priceless yet elusive 
 endowment, the soul ? A faint gleam of hope in 
 the midst of my terror shot suddenly into the mirk 
 of my anguish, when I recalled Anzoni's farewell 
 greeting to myself and his expressed desire for a 
 mutual meeting in the halls of the Hereafter. Ah, 
 but then Anzoni had assumed I was going to meet 
 my fate like a hero, and had no intention of sUnking 
 back to Earth ! 
 
 Thus, despite this vague consoling thought, this 
 clutching at a fescue in the whirlpool of my despair, 
 I became obsessed with a fierce longing and deter- 
 mination at all costs to cheat death and to chng to 
 every chance that is vital and physical. Fajal's 
 mission had triumphed. I grew frenzied at the 
 fearful prospect adumbrated for me on this glassy 
 screen ; I was frantic to quit the Earth, and equally 
 frantic to stake anything and everything on a second 
 translation to Meleager. I tried to dash the mirror 
 from my hands, only to discover that, like Medea's 
 poisoned coronet, the accursed thing clung to the 
 flesh of my palms and fingers, and refused to be 
 shaken off. In my madness of terror I screamed 
 aloud, and with the glass still adhering like burning 
 wax to my skin I dashed myself against the wall 
 
 294 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 repeatedly till I shattered to atoms the devihsh 
 instrument of torture in my ravings. 
 
 I can call to mind nothing further until I returned 
 to sufficient consciousness again to see Dr Wayne's 
 anxious and expectant face bent over me, as I lay 
 prone on the boards surrounded by a mass of 
 ghttering fragments and spHnters. My hands were 
 cut and bleeding, but already the kind Doctor was 
 tending them with some soothing antiseptic, and 
 the pain was endurable. I allowed myself to be 
 enticed to bed, where I passed the remainder of the 
 day recovering from the double shock of mind and 
 body I had so lately sustained. As usual, Dr Wayne 
 spoke very little, and though his honest face be- 
 trayed his keen curiosity over my latest adventure, 
 he asked no questions, and indeed scarcely ventured 
 any comment, except the remark that there was 
 a most pecuhar scent of violets in the room, which 
 was odd, seeing it was mid- October. 
 
 Violets ! 
 
 295 
 
XI 
 
 It required two or three days of repose and nursing 
 before I could recover from my recent shock and 
 the injuries to my hands. When at last I was 
 sufficiently restored to leave the house for a walk, 
 I felt small inchnation to proceed to Pen Maelgwyn, 
 and after hesitating as to my direction I eventually 
 turned my steps towards a small beach that nestled 
 below the northern promontory of the bay. In this 
 sheltered fissure of the coast I used sometimes to 
 sit on the shaly rocks covered with soft tussocks of 
 faded sea- pinks, or else used to linger by the tide 
 idly seeking amongst the wet shining pebbles for 
 stray moss- agates or the tiny cowries like roseate 
 pearls that a westerly gale invariably cast on these 
 shores. Accordingly I followed a path towards this 
 cove and descended the cart track that finally lost 
 itself in the dry sand and globular boulders of the 
 upper portion of this little haven. On advancing 
 thus far I perceived to my surprise and annoyance 
 that I should not obtain solitary possession of niy 
 accustomed haunt, for close to the water's edge 
 stood a horse and cart ; whilst I could detect the 
 grating sound of shovelling sea- gravel by some 
 person who for the moment was hidden by the cart 
 itself. I strolled down the long narrow space to 
 
 296 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 discover with a start of astonishment that the 
 individual occupied in digging the gravel was none 
 other than Fajal. He seemed in no wise dis- 
 concerted at my apparition, but merely continued 
 to ply his task till I almost touched him, when 
 he immediately dropped his spade and sank on his 
 knees amidst the dripping stones and weeds. He 
 then proceeded to kiss my hands, my knees, and 
 even my feet, but of this behaviour I took no 
 heed. 
 
 " I have examined my face in your mirror, 
 Fajal " I began. 
 
 " Your Majesty has no need to tell this to your 
 servant," replied he, with a sad, weary smile on his 
 face, which expressed neither pleasure nor interest 
 in my statement. 
 
 " — And I am now wholly convinced of the 
 necessity for my immediate return to Meleager," 
 continued I, rather nettled by Fajal' s nonchalance. 
 
 " A few minutes' study of self in its surface is of 
 more avail than a month spent in book- lore or close 
 meditation," retorted Fajal dryly. " It is our last 
 resource, our irresistible argument, although to the 
 best of my knowledge there has never arisen any 
 occasion to resort to it hitherto. Yet you perceive 
 we are fore- armed in Meleager against every 
 emergency, even for the case of a recalcitrant 
 monarch who will not return to the people he has 
 deserted." 
 
 " I should never have deserted Meleager," I 
 
 297 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 cried with some heat, " had not your caste set 
 before me the choice of death or flight." 
 
 " Your Majesty then holds that any deviation 
 from the course of fixed duty can be legitimately 
 excused ? " replied Fajal, arching his eyebrows. 
 " But this is neither the hour nor place to raise 
 a thorny question of political ethics which I look 
 forward some day to discussing at our leisure. I 
 have only to regret that in the course of my mission 
 I have been compelled to perturb your Majesty 
 so greatly in mind and body before I could impress 
 on you the inevitability of your return to Meleager. 
 It grieves and shames me to reflect that the argu- 
 ments and entreaties of myself and my colleagues 
 here and in London should have proved so futile 
 and barren of success." 
 
 Fajal then gently took my hands in his, removed 
 their wrappings of lint, and from a box of salve 
 carefully anointed the still sore and angry flesh. 
 (They were completely cured by the following 
 morning.) He then began to speak to me of many 
 matters concerning my return to Meleager and my 
 subsequent duties there which I do not deem it 
 desirable to inscribe in this place, and he ended 
 by enumerating the arrangements already made for 
 my second translation to my expectant subjects. 
 
 " This very night," said he, " I shall be dismissed 
 with ignominy from Pen Maelgwyn. John Lewis, 
 the old labourer, is already jealous and hostile, and 
 there will shortly arise a quarrel between us, wherein 
 
 298 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 I shall unsheathe this knife. A hubbub will then 
 ensue ; Mrs Davies will uphold her servant, and Mr 
 Da vies, who seems less unworthy than the majority 
 of his type, will reluctantly consent to my immediate 
 dismissal. I shall be given my wages ; I shall collect 
 my humble store of clothing ; and at early dawn 
 to-morrow I shall quit Pen Maelgwyn. This day 
 week, which will be the twenty- seventh day of the 
 month, you will prepare for my secret return. Wait 
 until midnight in your room, and then listen for the 
 unmistakable call for your presence without delay 
 at the farthest point of the headland yonder. All 
 will be in readiness for your easy departure from 
 the inn; even the lurcher in the stable- yard will 
 be silenced that night. Have no qualms or fears ; 
 your Majesty will only have to traverse the two 
 furlongs of ground between the inn and the rocky 
 cape, whereat our craft will rest till we have 
 embarked. 
 
 " One other matter however I wish your Majesty 
 to understand. Is it not the case that you dis- 
 patched a manuscript to Earth some three years 
 ago ? " (I nodded assent.) "That scroll was duly 
 delivered on Earth, was found, read, discussed and 
 printed, with the only possible result that could 
 arise therefrom. The person who gave your narra- 
 tive to the world was one Edward Cayley, a learned 
 recluse, and he was naturally only accounted a 
 credulous fool for his pains. The book was certainly 
 published, and though the absurd venture scarcely 
 
 299 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 deserved their serious attention, our envoys here 
 have contrived to destroy nearly all copies of the 
 volume. Perhaps also Cayley himself might have 
 succumbed later to some of our peculiar methods 
 of removal, had he not suddenly expired of the 
 heart disease from which he had long suffered. 
 The whole matter of your communication from 
 Meleager has however been entrusted uncondition- 
 ally to myself, and as I apprehend no danger what- 
 soever from anjrthing you may publish, it is open 
 to you to act freely in this connection. Here is Mr 
 Cayley' s book — keep it for any purpose you may 
 require. I assure your Majesty I fear no ill result 
 will accrue either from the late Mr Cayley' s romance 
 or from the manuscript which you yourself" (here 
 I gave a start of genuine astonishment) "have been 
 inditing almost daily in your chamber at Glanymor. 
 I cannot conceive either the contemporary pleasure 
 or the ultimate object of your Majesty's constant 
 occupation with the pen ; it may be the old literary 
 bacillus of Earth that is not yet eradicated from 
 your semi- divine system; it may be some fanciful 
 desire to benefit the planet of your birth by showing 
 its leaders that human happiness is not necessarily 
 involved in human progress, which is the funda- 
 mental error of these modern Herthians ; it may be 
 that a sheer sense of humorous amusement prompts 
 you to this action. But whatsoever your goal, it is 
 clear that you intend to charge your excellent friend 
 Dr Wayne with the editing of your manuscript." 
 
 300 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 (Again I gave an involuntary start.) "Be it so. I 
 have not the wish or the intention to thwart your 
 Majesty in this innocuous pastime ; nor shall I seek 
 to disappoint Dr "Wayne in his hungry expectation 
 of the unveihng of the complicated enigma whose 
 nature he dimly realises. Indeed, I am anxious 
 to do a service to that interesting man, for whose 
 hospitality to our errant King on Earth I am grate- 
 ful, and whose rare spiritual quahties I admire and 
 respect. Let him publish what you have written 
 here in Glanymor ; what benefit can happen to 
 you or what injury to us from proclaiming such 
 a farrago of the impossible and the improbable ? 
 Very few will read the book, and none will give 
 credence to its contents. Yours is not so much a 
 mad world, as it has been arraigned by your leading 
 poet, as an unbelieving world, which rejects with 
 fury of derision all evidence of whatsoever is not 
 obvious to its recognised scholars and astronomers." 
 
 I acquiesced in silence. It was astounding to me 
 to learn that so much was known of my most private 
 concerns, and I saw little use in arguing or asking 
 questions. It was evident too that Fajal regarded 
 my return to Meleager as a settled matter past all 
 debate, and this mental admission induced in me a 
 welcome sense of peace and deliverance. 
 
 Thus we stood on this misty solemn October 
 afternoon beside the grey placid sea, surely the most 
 extraordinary pair of mortals — if as mortals we 
 could be faithfully so described — on the surface of 
 
 301 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the globe. No sound save the regular silvery tinkle 
 of the tiny waves lapping on the beach and an 
 occasional movement from the stolid cart-horse 
 beside us broke the spell of oppressive stillness, so 
 that when finally Fajal spoke, his voice seemed to 
 proceed from some far-ofi unseen place, which had 
 no connection with our present environment. 
 
 " Has your Majesty no other aim than to escape 
 the terrors of the grave in thus deciding once more 
 to exchange your Mother Earth for Meleager ? 
 Do the loyalty and the prayers of your subjects 
 weigh as nothing in the scales of your predilection ? 
 Has your abandoned palace no remembered charms ? 
 Our temple bells, our sunht city, our shining harbour, 
 our dawns and our sunsets, do these count for 
 naught ? King, have none of the fibres of your 
 once generous heart struck root in our soil ? Have 
 you already forgotten your splendour, your king- 
 dom, your people, your friends in these few weeks 
 spent upon your blood- soaked insurgent Earth ? " 
 
 With a look of sorrowful reproach accompanying 
 these words of rebuke, Fajal bade me examine a 
 small tablet of crystal or of some transparent sub- 
 stance that he held in the hollow of his left hand. 
 I gladly lowered my ashamed and burning face in 
 its direction, but could perceive no more than a mass 
 of variegated colours that seemed to be perpetually 
 shifting and changing. I strained my eyes for 
 long, vainly seeking to identify any of the minute 
 objects thus depicted, till at last I ceased from the 
 
 302 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 attempt in despair of success. With a sigh of 
 resignation, Fajal now presented me with a pair of 
 large horn- rimmed spectacles, which I adjusted to 
 my eyes, with the immediate result that the scenes 
 in the crystal seemed enlarged and clarified. I saw 
 distinctly my palace at Tamarida with the warm 
 sunbeams flickering on marble pillars and dancing 
 in golden bars on the frescoed vaulting ; I saw the 
 gardens, cool and umbrageous, with their many 
 fountains spurting their foamy jets upon the 
 drenched fronds of fern and palm ; I saw my aery 
 balcony with its table of audience and faithful 
 Hiridia standing disconsolate beside my favourite 
 chair; under the external awnings of blue and 
 yellow I saw the deep purple line of the harbour 
 beyond the enclosing balustrade. A veritable wave 
 of nostalgia seemed to engulph me, as I watched 
 thus every familiar scene of my Meleagrian existence 
 pass in procession before my gaze. 
 
 As a lost soul might gaze on Paradise I beheld the 
 pillared court of the great temple displayed before 
 me, with its sunlit space filled with the usual throng 
 of worshippers upon a holy day. There was the 
 medley of colours, like some huge bed of gorgeous 
 tulips, the white of the hierarchy, the crimson of 
 the nobles, the green of the merchants, and the 
 many varied tints of the garments of the populace ; 
 what past memories of my reign did not such a 
 vision evoke in me ! I fretted to be gone, so as 
 to regain that rich and varied crowd beneath that 
 
 303 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 glowing sky, to reassume my accustomed place of 
 honour and adoration in their midst. And then, 
 even as I yearned, chafing at the ties which still 
 bound me to Earth, my companion was able to 
 inflame yet further my longing to return. With his 
 disengaged right hand he searched the pocket of 
 his coat and a moment later I beheld in his fingers 
 a strange- looking instrument bearing some resem- 
 blance to the mystical sistrum of ancient Egypt. 
 Bidding me continue to fix my eyes on the crystal 
 before me, Fajal waved aloft this curved and 
 stringed spherule, whereupon a soft murmuring 
 seemed to fill the languid heavy autumnal air, and 
 this muttering again developed into advancing 
 waves of harmony that concentrated in an ultimate 
 crashing note of triumph in my very face. The 
 sounds now appeared to shrink and retreat, now 
 to advance and expand in volume, but after some 
 moments of vague, desultory, erratic come-and-go 
 the music at length seemed to collect and pour as 
 through some invisible funnel into the actual crystal 
 lying in Fajal' s palm. The ambient air was now 
 completely free of its reverberations, and the music 
 subsided into moderate compass, convenable with 
 the scale and setting of the variegated scene that 
 still lay exposed on the crystal tablet. Finally, the 
 compressed sound blended with the multitude of 
 figures in this miniature reproduction of the temple 
 of Tamarida, so that I could distinguish the 
 articulation of the many worshippers as well as the 
 
 304 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 canticles of the choristers wafted from afar to my 
 ears. So might the Olympian Zeus in heroic days 
 have heard the daily orisons of his earth-born 
 suppliants, and have sought for the sparse note 
 of sincerity amidst that vast uproar of human 
 prayer ascending from a thousand altars to his 
 ivory throne set amidst the unattainable clouds 
 of highest heaven. But here from Meleager the 
 issuing petition rang out unanimous, solemn and 
 unfeigned. . . . 
 
 I had heard and seen sufficient ; there was no 
 more room nor any need for further colloquy with 
 Fajal. I have but a dim impression of my hands 
 being saluted, and of my striding rapidly with down- 
 cast head from the beach, leaving my fate behind 
 me in the person of the humble Indian labourer with 
 the horse and cart. In the waning light of the 
 October evening I hastened back to the inn, and 
 threw myself on my bed to digest my latest experi- 
 ence, the ultimate phase of my unique mission. 
 In an hour's time I had shaken off the bewilderment 
 of my encounter by the beach, and was able to 
 converse naturally with Dr Wayne. It was now 
 merely a matter of waiting seven days for the call, 
 and there was nothing to prevent my passing this 
 brief span of time pleasantly and profitably. I 
 hope I have done what lay in my power to con- 
 ciliate Dr Wayne, with whom I enjoyed some 
 interesting walks in the mild drizzling weather along 
 the summits of the rocky coast. Once or twice the 
 u 305 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 notion arose in me of taking the good man into 
 my complete confidence, but eventually I decided 
 against this course, and confined my efiorts to 
 preparing him for the task of pubhcation of my 
 second manuscript and of Mr Cayley's book which 
 I shall leave behind me when I am called to quit 
 this Earth. I have an overwhelming desire to see 
 this purpose fulfilled, and as Fajal has given me 
 express permission to do so, why should not I 
 indulge this innocent whim of mine, however useless 
 and trivial it may be deemed ? I think it was Dean 
 Swift who once declared that the man who contrived 
 to make two blades of grass grow where but one 
 had bloomed before bestowed more solid advantage 
 on the human race than all the combined clique of 
 the politicians. So, if I can attract one convert 
 into seeing through my own experienced eyes that 
 what is called progress is not the sole thing needful 
 and desirable for this sorely tried old world of my 
 birth, I shall have accomplished my most modest 
 aim. I shall have sown a seed of arresting reflec- 
 tion amidst the rampant tares of self- sufficiency and 
 materialism which now clog the Herthian soil. 
 
 It is my last night, my last hour on Earth. Mid- 
 night has struck some time ago, and already the air 
 is resonant with that strange haunting musical 
 susurration that Fajal' s spherule has made famihar 
 to me. My few preparations are all completed, 
 and I have but to descend quietly, loosen the bolt 
 
 306 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 of a certain door, cross the haggard, and follow 
 the path to the headland where the royal vessel 
 awaits the King of Meleager who now bids farewell 
 for ever and for ever to the World and all that 
 therein is. 
 
 307 
 
EPIGRAPH 
 
 By Charles Wayne, M.D. 
 
 The reader who has persisted so far in the present 
 voKime will doubtless recall the fact that the first 
 portion is heralded by a short foreword from one 
 Edward Cayley, who therein expresses his full 
 belief in the narrative he publishes. In this preface 
 
 also he makes allusion to the traveller Sir W 
 
 Y , the original finder and owner of the manu- 
 script. For the sake of convenience and explanation 
 therefore I shall state here that the Editor of Part I. 
 is the late Mr Edward Cayley, F.S.A., an official 
 employed in the British Museum, whose book was 
 issued in the early months of 1913. How this ob- 
 scure work came into my possession I shall explain 
 in due course, but I should like to add here that the 
 book in question evoked no public interest whatso- 
 ever, and that such scanty notices of it as appeared 
 were invariably unfavourable or contemptuous. 
 Such a fate seems natural enough to me, for I have 
 long observed how in all pubhcations concerning 
 the occult, nine out of ten readers are to be found 
 scoffers and unbelievers, whilst the tenth is over- 
 credulous. 
 
 But a few weeks after the appearance of the 
 
 308 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 volume, its editor himself was far beyond the range 
 of hostile jest or criticism, for one March evening 
 he was found dead of heart disease in the railway 
 carriage wherein he was returning to his home at 
 Harrow. Of " the exquisitely prepared roll of 
 vellum covered with close crabbed writing," as 
 also of its containing cylinder of some exotic white 
 metal, I have been assured by Mr Cayley's executor 
 that of neither can a trace be found — " suddenly, 
 as rare things will, they vanished," though I am 
 inclined to think that these gentlemen in common 
 with a good many others of Mr Cayley's friends have 
 never credited their existence save in the brain of 
 their late owner. Indeed, I am told not a few 
 persons openly denounced the ill-fated volume as 
 an indiscreet jeu d^ esprit of which Cayley himseK 
 
 was both author and editor. As to Sir W Y 
 
 I see no reason to withhold the full name of Sir 
 Wardour Yockney, head of an ancient Kentish 
 house which received its baronetcy so long ago as 
 the reign of Charles the Martyr. Sir Wardour was 
 a fine shot, an ardent mountaineer and no mean 
 scholar — alas ! that I must use the aorist here in 
 so speaking of him, for Sir Wardour, who started 
 for Flanders with a motor car soon after the out- 
 break of the War, was described as "missing" so 
 long ago as last October, nor have any further 
 tidings reached his household concerning his fate. 
 
 These two principal witnesses therefore being no 
 longer available, there remains none to whom I can 
 
 309 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 apply for information, none with whom it would 
 prove worth my while to communicate. It lies 
 therefore with myself alone to deal as I may think 
 fit with the manuscript, which is practically a 
 continuation or sequel of the extraordinary story 
 already accepted and published as solid truth by 
 Mr Cayley. This second manuscript was found by 
 me under circumstances I shall presently relate in 
 the bedroom of a sea- side inn in South Wales. With 
 the narrative was also a letter addressed to me 
 wherein the writer thanked me in warm and sincere 
 language for the small amount of assistance and 
 sympathy it had been my privilege to vouchsafe to 
 him during our past twelve weeks of companionship 
 on Earth, but the contents of the letter shed no 
 further light on the subject- matter of the manuscript. 
 In addition to these there was a copy of Mr Cayley' s 
 book, which is already become so scarce as to be 
 almost unattainable. The contents of this little 
 volume I have therefore placed at the beginning of 
 the present publication, so that the reader can follow 
 in due sequence all the amazing adventures of the 
 writer from the date of his first departure from the 
 Earth to the stars until the very moment when he 
 voluntarily chose a second time to quit this planet 
 in order to resume a state of sovereignty whose 
 tragical interruption he has already described with 
 his own pen. 
 
 I have always reckoned myself with perfect 
 
 310 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 contentment as a private person of no importance ; 
 de me igitur nefas omninb loqui. Nevertheless, I 
 have been propelled willy-nilly into obtruding some 
 portion of my personal affairs before the pubHc and 
 in what I conceive to be the pubHc's true interest. 
 For I myself have been requisitioned, so to speak, 
 for the solution of some gigantic problem which is 
 of deep import to our race, and my reaHsation of this 
 unsought attention on my part must serve as my 
 excuse for the short biographical details that follow. 
 I was born in the year 1853, one of a respectable 
 family of dalesmen in Cumberland, and after a 
 boyhood wherein the passionate love of solitary 
 wandering over the wild north country fells seems 
 the only trait I think worth recording, I was sent 
 to study medicine at Edinburgh. Here I had a 
 successful if not a distinguished career, and after 
 taking the required degrees I departed to the East 
 to practise my profession and to amass the con- 
 ventional fortune. In the former object I trust I 
 have performed my duty satisfactorily ; and as to 
 the second, I have at any rate acquired a sufficient 
 pension for the needs of my evening of life. I 
 have also found alleviation and no small degree 
 of pleasure in my chosen science, especially in the 
 study of certain tropical diseases, though my 
 natural inclination for privacy has hitherto pre- 
 vented my pubhshing some interesting notes and 
 observations covering many years' research in this 
 particular section of medicine. In my domestic 
 
 311 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 life however I have been less fortunate, for having 
 married an estimable woman with every prospect 
 of a joint happy existence before us, we were both 
 deeply wounded in the deaths at rapid intervals of 
 our four children, a series of blows that I myself, 
 thanks to my profession and other interests in life, 
 was able to bear with tolerable courage. Not so 
 my poor partner ; from the date of her last boy's 
 loss at Singapore she could support this prolonged 
 visitation of mahgn fortune no longer, and after 
 a short but terrible attack of violent dementia she 
 relapsed into a permanent condition of apathetic 
 melancholy, from which she either could not or 
 would not be diverted. I hope and trust I did all 
 that was possible by patience and calmness to soften 
 her hard lot ; but, needless to say, it was a cheerless 
 home wherein I moved, until after many years my 
 suffering wife was at last called to rejoin her lost 
 children. 
 
 From the date of her death I devoted myself with 
 increased ardour to my duties, whilst I occupied 
 my many spare hours in studying with care and 
 intelligence such literature as deals with the cult 
 of the supernatural, which has always possessed 
 a singular fascination for my mind, and has, I feel 
 sure, helped me to sustain with equanimity hitherto 
 so many sHngs and arrows of outrageous fortune on 
 this Earth. The years rolled by, so that in due 
 course I became ehgible for my retiring pension, 
 yet even then I was in no haste to turn my back on 
 
 312 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 the East, where I had passed practically the whole 
 of my life since adolescence, for during thirty- seven 
 years of service I had only twice returned home on 
 short leave. And now, when in professional decency 
 and according to the custom of my caste I was ex- 
 pected to resign, I felt small inclination to revisit my 
 native land, where the only contemporary relative 
 I owned was a married sister living at Aberdeen. 
 Of my various nephews and nieces I knew nothing, 
 and I felt a not unnatural dread of being exploited 
 or patronised by a coterie of self-satisfied young 
 persons of the present generation. At times I 
 thought of migrating to some sparsely peopled 
 British colony, such as Western Australia or Tas- 
 mania, where the advent of an elderly widower might 
 possibly be welcome, if only as tending to swell 
 the meagre tale of the approaching census. I was 
 still hesitating and pondering, when in July 1914 
 the tedious question was solved for me rather 
 arbitrarily in the following manner. 
 
 A friend of mine about to revisit England had 
 already engaged and paid for his passage from 
 Rangoon, and was eagerly looking forward to his 
 intended holiday, when almost at the last moment 
 the poor fellow met with a shocking accident, 
 whereby he was so unfortunate as to break both 
 his legs. Visiting the patient at his house in the 
 capacity of friend and not as physician, I found 
 
 Mr in a pitiable state of lamentation over the 
 
 money spent on his passage home, which he regarded 
 
 313 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 as practically lost ; indeed, this particular matter 
 seemed to oppress the invalid even more heavily 
 than his other far more serious disaster. I reflected 
 a while on the situation, and then deeming it a 
 special opportunity for me to break from my 
 thraldom of indecision and simultaneously to 
 perform a real kindness to a brother in distress, I 
 offered to relieve my sick friend of his ticket and to 
 have his cabin transferred to myself. As a result 
 of this suggestion I had at least the satisfaction of 
 the injured man's warm gratitude, though I confess 
 the homing 'instinct within me had grown so faint 
 that I could summon up little or no enthusiasm at 
 this new prospect of a speedy return to the land of 
 my birth. One external ray of consolation how- 
 ever I was able to draw from this new arrangement, 
 which was that the Orissa of the Pheon Line, the 
 boat selected by my friend, was timed to sail on the 
 seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year. 
 I have long held a secret veneration for the figure 
 seven, and in this case the circumstance of the 
 benign figures was combined with certain stellar 
 conjimctions in the heavens on which I need not 
 dwell here. 
 
 Be that as it may, this tardy decision to sail on 
 the Orissa at least put an end to my trials of irresolu- 
 tion, of which I could not help feehng heartily 
 ashamed; and as the very brief intervening time 
 was fully employed in packing my effects and in 
 making other preparations for departure, I was 
 
 314 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 spared the usual cycle of farewell visits of ceremony 
 whicli I greatly dreaded. On the day appointed 
 therefore I found myself settled on the Orissa, a 
 comfortable boat, and we proceeded on our home- 
 ward voyage, which proved wholly uneventful 
 until we reached the Suez Canal. Here for the 
 first time we received ominous reports of a colossal 
 upheaval amongst the Great Powers of Europe, 
 whilst our natural alarm was increased tenfold on 
 learning at Port Said of the impending declara- 
 tion of war between England and the German 
 Empire. I shall not linger over the seething excite- 
 ment on board our ship as we hurried at full speed 
 through the Mediterranean in hourly fear of being 
 sighted by the Goehen or some other German cruiser. 
 It was therefore with an immense sense of relief 
 that we found ourselves under lee of the guns of 
 Gibraltar before we emerged thence into the waters 
 of the Atlantic. We were about a day's sail from 
 the Straits, with the weather still very hot and 
 enervating, although we were north of the tropics, 
 when at my usual hour for retiring I sought my 
 cabin. I am generally a light but restful sleeper, 
 and have rarely experienced even in its most 
 transient form the curse of insomnia ; but on this 
 particular night, which was the seventh of August, 
 I found myself a prey to a perfect demon of unrest. 
 It was not the effect of the heat, to which I am 
 thoroughly accustomed ; nor was it the strain and 
 stress of the late intelligence of war, for my exten- 
 
 315 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 sive reading in the domain of the supernatural has 
 long divested my mind of all sublunary foreboding ; 
 no, it was, I am convinced, the close approach of 
 some event of the first magnitude in which I was 
 marked out to play a considerable part. ( But per- 
 haps I am describing my predominant sensations 
 by the light of subsequent happenings ; still I can 
 at least faithfully aver I was conscious of some 
 imminent crisis that demanded my fullest energies.) 
 
 For several hours I lay thus in my berth, my 
 brain active and alert and prepared to detect the 
 smallest sound or motion that was suspicious amid 
 the ordinary routine of ship life during the night 
 watches. But no such occasion arose, nor was 
 there any conceivable excuse for my nervous tension 
 and distressing wakefulness, which grew so un- 
 bearable that the first luminous flush of early dawn 
 forced me to leave my bed. With a deep sigh of 
 reUef I vaulted to the floor, donned my overcoat 
 and slippers, seized my pipe and tobacco pouch, 
 and thus lightly equipped sought the open air. 
 
 Day was breaking with more than the usual riot 
 of variegated colour over a calm, glassy sea when I 
 reached the boat deck, which I set to pace hurriedly 
 in order to quieten the throbbings of my unrested 
 brain. Scarcely had I thrice tramped the planks 
 before I heard a sharp shrill call from the bridge, 
 and casting my eyes in the direction of the sound, I 
 observed the officer on watch staring intently at 
 something high in the air on the port side of the 
 
 316 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 vessel. Leaning over the tafirail I quickly espied 
 an object in the sky at no great distance from the 
 Orissa — an object which 1 can best compare in 
 shape to a huge carp and of a silvery hue in the 
 encroaching sunlight. Even as I gazed intently, I 
 perceived the thing fall swiftly in a wavering course 
 till it touched the sea, its actual collapse synchronis- 
 ing with the blast of the officer's whistle and the 
 tinkle of two bells, for it was just five o'clock in 
 the morning. All was now bustle, though without 
 confusion ; the steamer's reversed engines echoed 
 with resounding thuds ; the boat deck was peopled 
 by bare- footed seamen who were disengaging one 
 of the boats from its davits ; there were calls for 
 this person and that, including the ship's doctor, 
 who I knew to be heavily sleeping off the potations 
 of the previous night. All the hands required were 
 quickly on the spot with the sole exception of the 
 dissipated surgeon, whom a steward had hurried 
 below to awaken. But the captain was too im- 
 patient to brook the least delay, and suddenly 
 turning to myself, begged me to enter the waiting 
 boat instead of the laggard absentee, a proposal 
 I willingly accepted. Our boat was now lowered to 
 the water ; our swift strokes brought us closer and 
 closer to the scene of the late mishap ; we duly 
 reached the spot. Not a sign of any wreckage, not 
 a ripple on the surface, only the figure of a solitary 
 survivor swimming or floating in the tepid crystalline 
 sea. 
 
 317 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 We steered straight towards the supposed aeronaut 
 and soon pulled him aboard without difficulty. 
 He was certainly a remarkable man ; slender but 
 of immense height and clothed in a strange out- 
 landish attire such as I had never seen before ; 
 yet he appeared to be of English or possibly of 
 Scandinavian nationality from the extreme whiteness 
 of his skin and the flaxen yellow of his hair, which 
 was of a prodigious length. His eyes were tightly 
 closed and the face was palHd, but I quickly re- 
 assured myself on testing the action of the heart and 
 pulse that our derelict was practically uninjured by 
 his recent fall. During our passage back to the 
 Orissa, I placed the rescued man in as comfortable 
 a pose as I could contrive, keeping his head with its 
 dripping golden mane on my knees. I tried to pour 
 brandy down his throat, but failed to open the 
 clenched white teeth that resisted stoutly, and I 
 saw no special reason to persist in my endeavour. 
 Once during our transit my patient for an instant 
 opened a pair of great sapphire- blue eyes and smiled 
 faintly up to my face; and the strangeness of 
 that fleeting glance increased the compassion and 
 curiosity and interest which had already, naturally 
 enough, been awakened in me. 
 
 Conveyed to my cabin, the strange man had to be 
 stripped of his soaked garments consisting of a 
 tunic and under- vest of fine texture ; a small bag 
 depending by a chain from his neck he fiercely 
 defended, but otherwise was tractable enough, and 
 
 318 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 seemed grateful for our attentions though he never 
 uttered a word. With no small difficulty I managed 
 to dismiss inquisitive stewards and fellow- passengers 
 and ministered myself to the needs of my unexpected 
 guest, who finally fell into a deep refreshing sleep. 
 
 Towards evening he awoke, smiled on me 
 graciously, and then extended his right hand towards 
 me with a gesture that was at once half- wistful, 
 half- imperious ; but when I grasped it according 
 to wont, he seemed manifestly surprised. This 
 puzzled me, but since that time I have grown to 
 learn and understand many matters, great and 
 small, which I failed to comprehend in these early 
 days of our acquaintance. At first, I confess, I 
 harboured some doubts as to the sanity of my 
 mysterious stranger, but I soon perceived that 
 though he spoke English in somewhat halting fashion 
 and his brain worked with some degree of delibera- 
 tion, yet of the acuteness of his reasoning powers 
 there could be no question. In certain appeals of 
 mine he deferred eventually to my arguments and 
 acknowledged their justice, submitting amongst 
 other things to have his thick chevelure clipped to 
 a more conventional length, in order to avoid vulgar 
 comment. After some reflection too he ultimately 
 agreed with me as to the desirabihty of his adopting 
 some name in consonance with the regulations for 
 landing at Liverpool. Nevertheless, he utterly 
 refused to declare his identity, but merely kept 
 repeating with a smihng face, " Call me King! " 
 
 319 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 to which pseudonym of his choice I ventured to 
 add the Christian name of Theodore, promptly re- 
 caUing the case of the impoverished King of Corsica 
 on whom " Fate bestowed a kingdom yet denied 
 him bread," for (quite erroneously) I then deemed 
 him fully as destitute as that historic royal pauper. 
 I do not think I need dwell on our subsequent 
 adventures in London and in Wales, for they have 
 all been amply and faithfully set forth in the 
 narrative of "Theodore King" himself. In his 
 manuscript he mentions my name on many occasions 
 in kindly but perhaps not always in highly flattering 
 terms. Not that I rebel, for I am now well aware 
 how often my petty scruples and my lack of per- 
 ception must have irritated the Superior Being 
 whom I was thus privileged to assist during his brief 
 sojourn on our Earth. Nor shall I attempt here 
 to analyse the causes that operated to attach me 
 so closely to the service of one who drew first my 
 interest, then my devotion, and lastly my whole 
 fund of loyalty. Imagine me then at an early stage 
 of our strange alliance as placing myself wholly at 
 the disposal of this stranger, whose semi- divine 
 attributes I was quick to perceive and acknowledge ; 
 and merely venturing at certain times to profier 
 such humble aid in mundane details and trifles as 
 would naturally fall beneath the notice of a I^ng 
 of Meleager, transported to Earth and torn with 
 celestial anguish as to his future duties towards 
 his rehnquished realm. And in this bUnd mental 
 
 320 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 servitude I refuse to see anything dishonourable ; 
 on the contrary, my feehng is that of a man who 
 has for a few moments been permitted of grace so 
 to clutch at the fringe of the robe of the Superhuman ; 
 as a child of Earth who has succeeded in tracking 
 the rainbow to its hidden source and bathed his 
 hands in its fabled shower of golden dew. 
 
 Whither our strange alliance was tending or what 
 would eventuate with regard to my companion, I 
 purposely refrained from debating even with myself. 
 I merely stood aside and awaited all developments 
 with perfect calm. I never sought to pry into the 
 nature of the visits of the outlandish wanderers who 
 pursued our steps both in London and at our quiet 
 Welsh retreat. Yet I was fully aware of the gradual 
 unravelling of some wondrous skein of Fate, where- 
 with I had only an indirect and subsidiary interest. 
 For " Theodore King" was usually silent, and it 
 was only during his last days prior to his final 
 disappearance that he ever exhibited the smallest 
 desire to take me into his confidence, and even then 
 his statements to me were vague, and rather hinted 
 at services to be rendered by me in the future 
 than at an elucidation of the past. At the same 
 time I was not overtaken by surprise when the final 
 event supervened, and I awoke one morning to find 
 my Superior Being flown from this Earth whereon 
 he felt so httle inclination to linger. 
 
 In the manuscript the reader will observe the 
 writer describes his feehngs and movements till the 
 X 321 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 supreme moment of leaving his abode in order to 
 sail back to Meleager. Up till that point therefore 
 I shall not presume to interpose my own account, 
 and there is little further to report after that cHmax 
 to my unique adventure. It was my daily custom 
 to enter " Theodore King's " bed-chamber at about 
 eight o'clock, and on fulfiUing my normal visit on 
 the morning of 27th October I saw at once the bed 
 had never been slept in, whilst a large package 
 addressed to myself lay in a prominent place on the 
 table. It contained the manuscript, the copy of 
 Edward Cay ley's book, a private letter to myself 
 and the bag of gems. At the same time I found in 
 another place an envelope containing a short but 
 perfectly drafted will signed by Theodore King and 
 witnessed by two persons at Pen Maelgwyn farm, 
 bequeathing everything he possessed to "his excel- 
 lent friend and physician, Charles Wayne, late of 
 Eangoon." Nor had I later on the least difficulty 
 in obtaining probate. Apparently there was nothing 
 of value to leave, for I did not think it necessary to 
 mention the existence of the Meleagrian jewels to 
 any outsider, whilst I was touched and flattered by 
 the kind thought. I have my own intentions with 
 regard to applying the considerable sum of money 
 represented by those splendid gems ; and if God in 
 His mercy be pleased to bring back our unhappy 
 land into the old paths of peace and prosperity I 
 hope to carry out my plan. But this lies altogether 
 outside the pale of my present task. 
 
 322 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 Having mastered the contents of the letter and 
 the concluding portion of the manuscript I duly 
 aroused the household, affecting an anxiety I did 
 not feel, for of course I thoroughly understood what 
 had occurred. An excited crowd, we searched hither 
 and thither for traces of the missing stranger, and 
 it was not long before Deio, the old ostler, had made 
 a discovery which did not in the least astonish me. 
 This was the finding of some clothing held down 
 with heavy stones at the edge of the promontory 
 only a quarter of a mile from the inn. Here the 
 demented man, long recognised as an eccentric by 
 the neighbourhood, must obviously have committed 
 the act of self-destruction by throwing himself over 
 the cliff into the cold grey surge below. Although 
 it was wet and stormy, boatmen attempted to find 
 further evidences of the suicide at the base of the 
 crags, but needless to add their search was fruitless. 
 There followed the usual tale of police inquiries 
 ending in nothing; of long columns in the local 
 journals, and of short paragraphs in the bigger organs 
 of the Press, concerning the mysterious affair at 
 Glanymor ; but all this excitement died down with 
 a rapidity that might only have been expected in 
 that period of tense anxiety which marked the 
 furious campaign on the Belgian frontier towards 
 the close of October. Interest in the strange occur- 
 rence soon flickered out before such engrossing 
 themes of comment and speculation, even in so 
 remote a spot as Glanymor. Certainly a farm-hand 
 
 323 
 
MELEAGER 
 
 at Pen Maelgwyn affirmed he had heard the buzzing 
 noise of an aeroplane that very night above the 
 Glanymor cHffs, despite its being too dark for him 
 to distinguish any object; and though everybody 
 behttled or disbeheved this statement, its author 
 stoutly maintained to the last that he was positive 
 he had not been mistaken in his surmise. 
 
 I know John Lewis, the cow- man, was right ; and 
 I also know it was the call of the craft wherein my 
 late companion, the Iving of Meleager, went up into 
 a world of light and left me alone and sorrowing 
 here. 
 
 THB RIVBRSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBUROH