“Yes, that too,” said the leech with stern gravity.  “Feeling, too, may change.  Or do you range yourself on the side of the Arab merchant and his fellow-Moslems, who regard man as the plaything of a blind Fate?—­But our spiritual teachers tell us that the evil to which we are predestined, which is that born into the world with us, may be averted, turned and guided to good by what they call spiritual regeneration.  But who that lives in the tumult of the world can ever succeed in ‘killing himself’ in their sense of the word, in dying while yet he lives, to be born again, a new man?  The penitent’s garb does not suit the stature of an Orion; however, there is for him another way of returning to the path he has lost.  Fortune has hitherto offered her spoilt favorite so much pleasure, that sheer enjoyment has left him no time to think seriously on life itself; now she is showing him its graver side, she is inviting him to reflect; and if he only finds a friend to give him the counsel which my father left in a letter for me, his only child, as a youth—­and if he is ready to listen, I regard him as saved.”

“And that word of counsel—­what is it?” asked Paula with interest.

“To put it briefly, it is this:  Life is not a banquet spread by fate for our enjoyment, but a duty which we are bound to fulfil to the best of our power.  Each one must test his nature and gifts, and the better he uses them for the weal and benefit of the body of which he was born a member, the higher will his inmost gladness be, the more certainly will he attain to a beautiful peace of mind, the less terrors will Death have for him.  In the consciousness of having sown seed for eternity he will close his eyes like a faithful steward at the end of each day, and of the last hour vouchsafed to him on earth.  If Orion recognizes this, if he submits to accept the duties imposed on him by existence, if he devotes himself to them now for the first time to the best of his powers, a day may come when I shall look up to him with respect—­nay, with admiration.  The shipwreck of which the Arab spoke has overtaken him.  Let us see how he will save himself from the waves, and behave when he is cast on shore.”

“Let us see!” repeated Paula, “and wish that he may find such an adviser!  As you were speaking it struck me that it was my part.—­But no, no!  He has placed himself beyond the pale of the compassion which I might have felt even for an enemy after such a frightful blow.  He!  He can and shall never be anything to me till the end of time.  I have to thank you for having found me this haven of rest.  Help me now to keep out everything that can intrude itself here to disturb my peace.  If Orion should ever dare, for whatever purpose, to force or steal a way into this house, I trust to you, my friend and deliverer!”

She held out her hand to Philippus, and as he took it the blood seethed in his veins with tender emotion.

“My strength, like my heart, is wholly yours!” he exclaimed ardently.  “Command them, and if the devoted love of a faithful, plain-spoken man—­”