The Equinox (Volume I, Number III)

THE EQUINOX And, acting upon an impulse, she dropped her eyes in her hand and threw them behind her without a sigh. I picked them up, my friends, while the two children stood, their arms linked together, a sad but resigned ex- pression gradually coming over their faces. Ay, I picked them up, but I won’t shew them to you, un- worthy foxes. And now, Lights please . . . let us take to the ritual. Brother H., fill the Holy Cups . . . Holy be the Lamps of Joy! Holy be the Lamps of Sorrow! Let us enter the Ark of Increased Knowledge!” VII A little later one of the Disciples inquired of the Master: “You spoke of a strange sect of self-mutilated followers, O Master, what of them?” “What of them?” Elphénor repeated. “ Well, they were those who listened to Ljubov, and took her word for it—that one sees a better world if one has no human eyes. They put it into practice and their ranks were soon filled. They blinded themselves; they blinded their children almost in their cradles. Oh yes, there were soon hundreds of them who worshipped the Lord our God in that manner; and Ljubov and Piotr were their ministers. Is that all you want to know? “ Master, what of the Lady?” “The Lady? Faugh! She went away; the Spirits of the Earth prevented her from lodging a complaint; she hid her 308