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“Then he looked at me awhile, and asked slowly:

“‘Say, brother, are you sick at heart?’

“Now, lord, when I heard those words whereof you know the meaning, I was so astounded that I almost fell backwards down the ruined stair, but, recovering myself, I tried him with a sign, and lo, he answered it. Then I tried him with the second sign, and the third, and the fourth, and so on up to the twelfth, and he answered them all, though not always as we use them. Then I paused, and he said:

“‘You have passed the door of the Sanctuary, enter, brother, and draw on to the Altar.’

“But I shook my head, for I could not. Next he tried me with various signs and strange words that have to do with the inmost mysteries, but I was not able to answer them, though at times I saw their drift.

“‘You have some knowledge,’ he said, ‘yet you do but stand at the foot of the pyramid, whereas I watch the stars from its crest, warming my hands at the eternal fire.’

“‘None of my order have more, lord,’ I answered, ‘save the very highest.’