



Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.









THE LIFE EVERLASTING

A REALITY OF ROMANCE

BY MARIE CORELLI

AUTHOR OF THELMA, ETC.





CONTENTS

          AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE
     I.   THE HEROINE BEGINS HER STORY
    II.   THE FAIRY SHIP
   III.   THE ANGEL OF A DREAM
    IV.   A BUNCH OF HEATHER
     V.   AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
    VI.   RECOGNITION
   VII.   MEMORIES
  VIII.   VISIONS
    IX.   DOUBTFUL DESTINY
     X.   STRANGE ASSOCIATIONS
    XI.   ONE WAY OF LOVE
   XII.   A LOVE-LETTER
  XIII.   THE HOUSE OF ASELZION
   XIV.   CROSS AND STAR
    XV.   A FIRST LESSON
   XVI.   SHADOW AND SOUND
  XVII.   THE MAGIC BOOK
 XVIII.   DREAMS WITHIN A DREAM
   XIX.   THE UNKNOWN DEEP
    XX.   INTO THE LIGHT




THE LIFE EVERLASTING

A REALITY OF ROMANCE




AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE


In the Gospels of the only Divine Friend this world has ever had or
ever will have, we read of a Voice, a 'Voice in the Wilderness.' There
have been thousands of such Voices;--most of them ineffectual. All
through the world's history their echoes form a part of the universal
record, and from the very beginning of time they have sounded forth
their warnings or entreaties in vain. The Wilderness has never cared to
hear them. The Wilderness does not care to hear them now.

Why, then, do I add an undesired note to the chorus of rejected appeal?
How dare I lift up my voice in the Wilderness, when other voices, far
stronger and sweeter, are drowned in the laughter of fools and the
mockery of the profane? Truly, I do not know. But I am sure that I am
not moved by egotism or arrogance. It is simply out of love and pity
for suffering human kind that I venture to become another Voice
discarded--a voice which, if heard at all, may only serve to awaken the
cheap scorn and derision of the clowns of the piece.

Yet, should this be so, I would not have it otherwise, I have never at
any time striven to be one with the world, or to suit my speech
pliantly to the conventional humour of the moment. I am often attacked,
yet am not hurt; I am equally often praised, and am not elated. I have
no time to attend to the expression of opinions, which, whether good or
bad, are to me indifferent. And whatever pain I have felt or feel, in
experiencing human malice, has been, and is, in the fact that human
malice should exist at all,--not for its attempted wrong towards
myself. For I, personally speaking, have not a moment to waste among
the mere shadows of life which are not Life itself. I follow the
glory,--not the gloom.

So whether you, who wander in darkness of your own making, care to come
towards the little light which leads me onward, or whether you prefer
to turn away from me altogether into your self-created darker depths,
is not my concern. I cannot force you to bear me company. God Himself
cannot do that, for it is His Will and Law that each human soul shall
shape its own eternal future. No one mortal can make the happiness or
salvation of another. I, like yourselves, am in the 'Wilderness,'--but
I know that there are ways of making it blossom like the rose!
Yet,--were all my heart and all my love outpoured upon you, I could not
teach you the Divine transfiguring charm,--unless you, equally with all
your hearts and all your love, resolutely and irrevocably WILLED to
learn.

Nevertheless, despite your possible indifference,--your often sheer
inertia--I cannot pass you by, having peace and comfort for myself
without at least offering to share that peace and comfort with you.
Many of you are very sad,--and I would rather you were happy. Your ways
of living are trivial and unsatisfactory--your so-called 'pleasant'
vices lead you into unforeseen painful perplexities--your ideals of
what may be best for your own enjoyment and advancement fall far short
of your dreams,--your amusements pall on your over-wearied
senses,--your youth hurries away like a puff of thistledown on the
wind,--and you spend all your time feverishly in trying to live without
understanding Life. Life, the first of all things, the essence of all
things,--Life which is yours to