When he waked, the talk, still in spate, was more within his comprehension.
'And thus it was, O Fountain of Wisdom, that I decided to go to the Holy Places which His foot had trod--to the Birthplace, even to Kapila; then to Mahabodhi, which is Buddh Gaya--to the Monastery--to the Deer-park--to the place of His death.' The lama lowered his voice.

'And I come here alone.

For five--seven--eighteen--forty years it was in my mind that the Old Law was not well followed; being overlaid, as thou knowest, with devildom, charms, and idolatry.

Even as the child outside said but now.

Ay, even as the child said, with but-parasti.' 'So it comes with all faiths.' 'Thinkest thou?
The books of my lamassery I read, and they were dried pith; and the later ritual with which we of the Reformed Law have cumbered ourselves--that, too, had no worth to these old eyes.