"On his breast," said the chief of the Illuminati, "he wears a diamond
star, in the core of which shines the three initials of a phrase known
to him alone."
"State those initials."
"L. P. D."
With a rapid stroke the stranger opened his overcoat, coat and
waistcoat and showed on the fine linen front, gleaming like flame, a
jeweled plate on which flared the three letters in rubies.
"HE!" ejaculated the Swede: "can this be he?"
"Whom all await?" added the other leaders, anxiously.
"The Hierophant of Memphis--the Grand Copt?" muttered the three hundred
voices.
"Will you deny me now?" demanded the Man from the East, triumphantly.
"No," cried the phantoms, bowing to the ground.
"Speak, Master," said the president and the five chiefs, bowing, "and
we obey."
The visitor seemed to reflect during the silence, some instants long.
"Brothers," he finally said, "you may lay aside your swords uselessly
fatiguing your arms, and lend me an attentive ear, for you will learn
much in the few words I address you. The source of great rivers is
generally unknown, like most divine things: I know whither I go, but
not my origin. When I first opened my eyes to consciousness, I was
in the sacred city of Medina, playing about the gardens of the Mufti
Suleyman. I loved this venerable old man like a father, but he was
none of mine, and he addressed me with respect though he held me in
affection. Three times a day he stood aside to let another old man
come to me whose name I ever utter with gratitude mixed with awe. This
august receptacle of all human wisdom, instructed in all things by the
Seven Superior Spirits, bore the name of Althotas. He was my tutor and
master, and venerable friend, for he is twice the age of the oldest
here."
Long shivers of anxiety hailed this speech, spoken in solemnity, with
majestic gesticulation and in a voice severe while smooth.
"One day in my fifteenth year, in the midst of my studies, my old
master came to me with a phial in hand. 'Acharat,' he said--it was my
name--'I have always told you that nothing is born to die forever in
this world. Man only lacks clearness of mind to be immortal. I have
found the beverage to scatter the clouds, and next will discover that
to dispel death. Yesterday I drank of this distillation: I want you to
drink the rest to-day.'
"I had extreme trust in my teacher but my hand trembled in taking this
phial, like Eve's in taking the apple of Life.
"'Drink,' he said, smiling. And I drank.
"'Sleep,' he said, laying his hands on my head. And I slept.
"Then all that was material about me faded away, and the soul that
solitarily remained lived again, like Pythagoras, for centuries through
which it had passed. In the panorama unfolded before it, I beheld
myself in previous existence, and, awaking, comprehended that I was
more than man."
He spoke with so strong a conviction, and his eyes were fixed
heavenward with so sublime an expression that a murmur of admiration
hailed him: astonishment had yielded to wonder, as wrath had to
astonishment.
"Thereupon," continued the Enlightened One, "I determined to devote my
existence at present, as well as the fruit of all my previous ones,
to the welfare of mankind. Next day, as though he divined my plan,
Althotas came to me and said:
"'My son, your mother died twenty years ago as she gave birth to you;
for twenty years your sire has kept hidden by some invincible obstacle;
we will resume our travels and if we meet him, you may embrace him--but
not knowing him.' You see that all was to be mysterious about me, as
with all the Elect of heaven.
"At the end of our journeys, I was a Theosophist. The many cities had
not roused my wonderment. Nothing was new to me under the sun. I had
been in every place formerly in one or more of my several existences.
The only thing striking me was the changes in the peoples. Following
the March of Progress, I saw that all were proceeding toward Freedom.
All the prophets had been sent to prop the tottering steps of mankind,
which, though blind at birth, staggers step by step toward Light.
Each century is an age for the people. Now you understand that I come
not from the Orient to practice simply the Masonic rites, but to say:
Brothers, we must give light to the world. France is chosen to be the
torch-bearer. It may consume, but it will be a wholesome conflagration,
for it will enlighten the world. That is why France has no delegate
here; he may have shrunk from his duty. We want one who will recoil
from nothing--and so I shall go into France. It is the most important
post, the most perilous, and I undertake it."
"Yet you know what goes on there?" questioned the president.
Smiling, the man called Acharat replied: "I ought to know, for I have
been preparing matters. The king is old, timid, corrupt, but less
antiquated and hopeless of cure than the monarchy he represents. Only
a few years further will he sit on the throne. We must have the future
laid out from when he dies. France is the keystone of the arch. Let
that stone be wrenched forth by the six millions of hands which will
be raised at a sign from the Inner Circle, and down will fall the
monarchical system. On the day when there shall be no longer a king in
France, the most insolently enthroned ruler in Europe will turn giddy,
and spring of his own accord into the gulf left by the disappearance of
the throne of Saint Louis."
"Forgive the doubt, most venerated Master," interrupted the chief
on the right, with the Swiss accent, "but have you taken all into
calculation?"
"Everything," replied the Grand Copt, laconically.
"In my studies, master, I was convinced of one truth--that the
characteristics of a man were written on their faces. Now, I fear that
the French people will love the new rulers of the country you speak
of--the sweet, clement king, and the lovely amiable queen. The bride of
the Prince Royal, Marie Antoinette, is even now crossing the border.
The altar and the nuptial bed are being made ready at Versailles. Is
this the moment to begin your reformation?"
"Most illustrious brother," said the supreme chief to the Prophet of
Zurich, "if you read the faces of man, I read the features of the
future. Marie Antoinette is proud and will obstinately continue the
conflict, in which she will fall beneath our attacks. The Dauphin,
Louis Auguste, is good and mild; he will weaken in the strife and
perish like his wife, and with her. But each will fall and perish by
the opposite virtue and fault. They esteem each other now--we will not
give them time to love one another, and in a year they will entertain
mutual contempt. Besides, brothers, why should we debate on the point
whence cometh the light, since it is shown to me? I come from out of
the East, like the shepherds guided by the star, announcing a new birth
of man. To-morrow, I set to work, and with your help I ask but twenty
years to kill not a mere king but a principle. You may think twenty
years long to efface the idea of royalty from the hearts of those who
would sacrifice their children's lives for the little King Louis XV.
You believe it an easy matter to make odious the lilyflowers, emblem of
the Bourbon line, but it would take you ages to do it.
"You are scattered and tremble in your ignorance of one another's
aspirations. I am the master-ring which links you all in one grand
fraternal tie. I tell you that the principles which now you mutter
at the fireside; scribble in the shadows of your old towers; confide
to one another under the rose and the dagger for the traitor or the
imprudent friend who utters them louder than you dare--these principles
may be shouted on the housetops in broad day, printed throughout
Europe and disseminated by peaceful messengers, or on the points of
the bayonets of five hundred soldiers of Liberty, whose colors will
have them inscribed on their folds. You tremble at the name of Newgate
Prison; at that of the Inquisition's dungeon; or of the Bastile, which
I go to flout at--hark ye! We shall all laugh pity for ourselves on
that day when we shall trample on the ruins of the jails, while our
wives and children dance for joy. This can come to pass only after the
death of monarchy as well as of the king, after religious powers are
scorned, after social inferiority is completely forgotten, and after
the extinction of aristocratic castes and the division of noblemen's
property. I ask for a generation to destroy an old world and rear a
new one, twenty seconds in Eternity, and you think it is too much!"
A long greeting in admiration and assent hailed the somber prophet's
speech. It was clear that he had won all the sympathy of the mysterious
mandatories of European intellect. Enjoying his victory just a space,
the Grand Copt resumed:
"Let us see now, brothers, since I am going to beard the lion in his
den, what you will do for the cause for which you pledged life, liberty
and fortune? I come to learn this."
Silence, dreadful from its solemnity, followed these words. The
immobile phantoms were absorbed in the thoughts which were to overthrow
a score of thrones. The six chiefs conferred with the groups and
returned to the president to consult with him before he was the first
to speak.
"I stand for Sweden," he said. "I offer in her name the miners who
raised the Vasas to the throne--now to upset it, together with a
hundred thousand silver crown pieces."
Drawing out tablets, the Hierophant wrote this offer. On the
president's left spoke another:
"I am sent by the lodges of England and Scotland. I can promise nothing
for the former country, which is burning to fight us Scots. But in the
name of poor Erin and poor Scotia, I promise three thousand men, and
three thousand crowns yearly."
"I," said the third speaker, whose vigor and rough activity was
betrayed beneath the winding sheet fettering such a form. "I represent
America, where every stick and stone, tree and running brook, and drop
of blood belong to rebellion. As long as we have gold in our hills,
we will send it ye; as long as blood to shed, we will risk it; but we
cannot act till we ourselves are out of the yoke. We are so divided as
to be broken strands of a cable. Let a mighty hand unite but two of the
strands, and the rest will twist up with them into a hawser to pull
down the crowned evils from their pride of place. Begin with us, most
venerable master. If you want the French to be delivered from royalty,
make us free of British domination."
"Well spoken," said the Hierophant of Memphis. "You Americans shall be
free, and France will lend a helping hand. In all languages, the Grand
Architect hath said: 'Help each other!' Wait a while. You will not have
long to bide, my brother."
Turning to the Switzer, he drew these words from him:
"I can promise only my private contribution. The sons of our republic
have long supplied troops to the French monarchy. They are faithful
bargainers, and will carry out their contracts. For the first time,
most venerated Master, I am ashamed of their loyalty."
"Be it so, we must win without them and in their teeth. Speak, Spain!"
"I am poor," said the grandee, "and have but three thousand brothers to
supply. But each will furnish a thousand _reals_ a year. Spain is an
indolent land, where man would doze though a bed of thorns."
"Be it so," said the Grand Master. "Speak, you, brother."
"I speak for Russia and the Polish clubs. Our brothers are discontented
rich men, or serfs doomed to restless labor and untimely death. In
the name of the latter, owning nothing, not even life, I can promise
nothing; but three thousand rich men will pay twenty louis a head every
year."
The other deputies came forward by turns, and had their offers set down
in the Copt's memorandum book as they bound themselves to fulfill their
plight.
"The word of command," said the leader, "already spread in one part of
the world, is to be dispensed through the others. It is symbolized by
the three letters which you have seen. Let each one wear them in the
heart as well as on it, for we, the Sovereign Master of the shrines
of the Orient and the West, we order the ruin of the Lilies. L. P. D.
signifies _Lilia Pedibus Destrue_--Trample Lilies Under! I order you of
Spain, Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland and America, to Trample down the
Lilies of the Bourbon race."
The cheering was like the roar of the sea, under the vault, escaping by
gusts down the mountain gorges.
"In the name of the Architect, begone," said the Master. "By stream and
strand and valley, begone by the rising of the sun. You will see me
once more, and that will be on the day of triumph. Go!"
He terminated his address with a masonic sign which was understood
solely by the six chiefs, who remained after the inferiors had
departed. Then the Grand Copt took the Swede aside.
"Swedenborg, you are really an inspired man, and heaven thanks you by
my voice. Send the cash into France to the address I shall give you."
The president bowed humbly, and went away amazed by the second sight
which had unveiled his name.
"Brave Fairfax," said the Master to another, "I hail you as the worthy
son of your sire. Remind me to General Washington when next you write
to him."
Fairfax retired on the heels of Swedenborg.
"Paul Jones," went on the Copt to the American deputy, "you have spoken
to the mark, as I expected of you. You will be one of the heroes of the
American Republic. Be both of you ready when the signal is flying."
Quivering as though inspired by a holy breath, the future capturer of
the _Serapis_ likewise retired.
"Lavater," said the Master to the Swiss, "drop your theories for it is
high time to take up practice; no longer study what man is, but what
he may become. Go, and woe to your fellow countrymen who take up arms
against us, for the wrath of the people is swift and devouring even as
that of the God on high!"
Trembling, the physiognomist bowed and went his way.
"List to me, Ximenes," said the Copt to the Spaniard; "you are zealous,
but you distrust yourself. You say, Spain dozes. That is because no one
rouses her. Go and awake her; Castile is still the land of the Cid."
The last chief was skulking forward when the head of the Masons checked
him with a wave of the hand.
"Schieffort, of Russia, you are a traitor who will betray our cause
before the month is over; but before the month is out, you will be
dead."
The Muscovite envoy fell on his knees; but the other made him rise with
a threatening gesture, and the doomed one reeled out of the hall.
Left by himself in the deserted and silent hall, the strange man
buttoned up his overcoat, settled his hat on his head, pushed the
spring of the bronze door to make it open, and went forth. He strode
down the mountain defiles as if they had long been known to him, and
without light or guide in the woods, went to the further edge. He
listened, and hearing a distant neigh, he proceeded thither. Whistling
peculiarly, he brought his faithful Djerid to his hand. He leaped
lightly into the saddle, and the two, darting away headlong, were
enwrapped in the fogs rising between Danenfels and the top of the
Thunder Mountain.
