I cannot, with all my best effort, discover WHAT this darkening obstacle is--but YOU, yes, YOU"-- for I had started up in surprise--"you, when you are lifted up high enough to behold these things, may, being perfectly unselfish in this research, attain to the knowledge of it and explain it to me, when you return.

In trying to probe the secret for myself, it is of course purely for my own interest; and nothing clear, nothing satisfactory can be spiritually obtained, in which selfishness has ever so slight a share.

You, if indeed I deserve your gratitude for the aid I have given you--you will be able to search out the matter more certainly, being in the position of one soul working for another.

Still, I cannot compel you to do this for me--I only ask, WILL you ?" His entreating and anxious tone touched me keenly; but I was amazed and perplexed, and could not yet realize what strange thing was going to happen to me.

But whatever occurred I was resolved to give a ready consent to his request, therefore I said firmly: "I will do my best, I promise you.