The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE EYES OF ST. LJUBOV I “TELL it us! O tell us it!” Elphénor Pistouillat de la Ratiboisiére, the Master Magi- cian, hearkened unto his disciples, who sat cross-legged around his incense-bowl. His lips parted in that unapeable grin of his, and he stopped his nostrils awhile with his two fore- fingers. Then he blew on the charcoal and began. “Yes, I will tell it to you, intellectual infants, I will. Listen. Two hundred and one years ago—when I was thin and thirty—I chanced upon a couple, living in South Russia. Boy and girl they were still; but, as it were, they unwittingly founded a strange sect of self-mutilated followers, and, being the only man alive who witnessed the beginnings thereof, I will undertake to keep you interested for more than sixteen minutes with their history.” The room was now darkened, and three large globes of crystal, set under the rays of a lamp, stood alone, attracting the eyes. The first globe was limpid and colourless, the second was of the palest amethyst, the third of a rich yellow. Worlds were revolving within. Then Elphénor broke the silence again. “She was a little girl and he was a little boy . . .’ 295