Ebook The Tree of Heaven

AS he sat there in his immaculate evening dress, bronzed, youthful looking, presiding so quietly at the little dinner which he had given to us as a half formal, half-intimate leave-taking before he sailed, it seemed to us incredible that this man, now on his return journey to Trebizond via Lhassa, could be the beloved and dreaded arbiter of Asiatic poli tics — the one White man in all the Orient who had ever been Wholly respected, and absolutely feared by the temporal and spiritual heads of nations, religions, clans, and sects. That, of course, he was what is popularly known as an adept, we supposed. What his Wisdom, his insight, his amazing knowledge Of the occult might include, we preferred, rather uncomfortably, not to conjecture. There is, naturally, in all Of us a childlike de sire to hear of marvels; there is also a stronger and more childish desire to see miracles performed.