On leaving the Zoo, I said, ’The cross you were just now looking at is as remarkable for its history as for its beauty.  It was stolen from the tomb of a near relative of mine.  I was under a solemn promise to the person upon whose breast it lay to see that it should never be disturbed.  But, now that it has been disturbed, to replace it in the tomb would, I fear, be to insure another sacrilege.  I wonder what you would do in such a case?’

He looked at me and said, ’As it is evident that we are going to be intimate friends, I may as well confess to you at once that I am a mystic.’

‘When did you become so?’

’When?  Ask any man who has passionately loved a woman and lost her; ask him at what moment mysticism was forced upon him—­at what moment he felt that he must either accept a spiritualistic theory of the universe or go mad; ask him this, and he will tell you that it was at that moment when he first looked upon her as she lay dead, with Corruption’s foul fingers waiting to soil and stain.  What are you going to do with the cross?’

‘Lock it up as safely as I can,’ I said; ’what else is there to do with it?’

He looked into my face and said, ‘You are a rationalist.’

‘I am.’

‘You do not believe in a supernatural world?’

‘My disbelief of it,’ I said, ’is something more than an exercise of the reason.  It is a passion, an angry passion.  But what should you do with the cross if you were in my place?’

‘Put it back in the tomb.’

I had great difficulty in suppressing my ridicule, but I merely said, ’That would be, as I have told you, to insure its being stolen again.’

’There is the promise to the dead man or woman on whose breast it lay.’

’This I intend to keep in the spirit like a reasonable man—­not in the letter like—­’

’Promises to the dead must be kept to the letter, or no peace can come to the bereaved heart.  You are talking to a man who knows!’

’I will commit no such outrage upon reason as to place a priceless jewel in a place where I know it will be stolen.’

‘You will replace the cross in that tomb.’

As he spoke he shook my hands warmly, and said, ’Au revoir.  Remember, I shall always be delighted to see you.’

It was not till I saw him disappear amongst the crowd that I could give way to the laughter which I had so much difficulty in suppressing.  What a relief it was to be able to do this!

VI

THE SONG OF Y WYDDFA

I

After this I had one or two interviews with our solicitor in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, upon important family matters connected with my late uncle’s property.