What they saw or did not see
I know not, and did not then care to think. The following formula,
pronounced by Esmo, had fallen not unheard, but almost unheeded on my
ears, though one passage harmonised strangely with the sight before
me:--
"Passing sign and fleeting breath
Bind the Soul for life and death!
Lifted hand and plighted word
Eyes have seen and ears have heard;
Eyes have seen--nor ours alone;
Fell the sound on ears unknown.
Age-long labour, strand by strand,
Forged the immemorial band;
Never thread hath known decay,
Never link hath dropped away."
Here he paused and beckoned us to advance. The sign, twice repeated
before I could obey it, at last broke the spell that enthralled me.
Under the most astounding or awe-striking circumstances, instinct
moves our limbs almost in our own despite, and leads us to do with
paralysed will what has been intended or is expected of us. This
instinct, and no conscious resolve to overcome the influence that held
me spell-bound, enabled me to proceed; and I led Eveena forward by
actual if gentle force, till we reached the lower step of the
platform.
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