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Upon each of the thirty mornings he had sat in this same position in his ivory chair, while, one after another, the members of the sect had claimed audience with him. Morning after morning he had exhibited the same grave, aloof interest his hands clasped, his eyes upon the Scitsym while the fearful, the fanatical, the hysterical had poured forth their tales of struggle or aspiration.
He attempts no division of allegiance except, perhaps, in the matter of the heart " The Prophet glanced up and smiled. "The heart? Do my faithful Watchers permit themselves hearts? The Scitsym makes no provision for such frail organs." The Precursor laughed again. "Oh, we Elect are by no means free from little saving weaknesses! That's where we become dramatic.
"Go!" he commanded, in an unsteady voice. And as the man slunk away, he wheeled round and confronted Enid. "So this is your action?" he said, tremulously. "This is your conception of honor? Truly, woman is the undoing of man!" With an excited gesture, he lifted his hand and extended it towards the white Scitsym lying upon the lectern.
My uncle, Andrew Henderson, was an Arch-Mystic of your sect; and on the night he died, your sacred Scitsym was in his house!" The congregation thrilled, and the blind Arch-Councillor turned and clutched Bale-Corphew's arm. "My first impulse was to destroy that book. Look at it, look at it!" He pointed to the lectern.
And in the pages of the Scitsym were contained the attributes, the secret signs, the manifold ways in which he was to make good his claim. "I come of an obstinate stock of a stock that in the past has overcome many obstacles. That night I copied out the whole of your Scitsym, and afterwards, as soon as I reasonably could, I left Scotland.
The heavy purple curtains that shielded the windows were partly drawn, throwing a subdued, almost a devotional, light over the wide, imposing apartment and across the ebony table, on which rested the sacred Scitsym, surrounded by an array of smaller and more ancient books, several rolls of parchment, a number of quill pens, and a dish of ink.
Long after she left him, he had paced up and down the room in perplexity of spirit, until at last, with a sudden contempt for his own weakness, he had turned to where the white binding of the Scitsym caught the subdued light.
Very quietly the Prophet advanced to the Scitsym and, following the customary routine, opened it and began to read. The words were a strange jargon of mystical counsel interspersed with the relation of mystical visions and ecstasies.
"In desperate need. And you can help me." Her tone was urgent, her compelling gaze never faltered. She knew that this was her last chance that, if this man failed her, catastrophe was inevitable. The Mystic stirred uncomfortably, and his glance turned half fearfully from the intent, appealing face to the lectern on which rested the white-bound Scitsym.
He had been stirred to a passing awe by the discovery that his uncle was, in his own person, actually one of the profound Six who formed the Council of the sect and to whom alone the secrets of its creed were known; and for three successive years his interest and curiosity had been kindled when Andrew Henderson travelled to England and returned with the Arch-Councillor an old blind man of seventy who invariably spent one day and night mysteriously closeted with his host and then left, having deposited the sacred Scitsym with his own hands in the tall iron safe that stood in Henderson's study.
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