The confidence of Miss Church-Member was fully won by the appearance of the interior and the courteous attention she received from the managers.

The consulting physician examined the eyes of Mr. World, then congratulated him upon the clear vision he enjoyed, and informed him that his eyes required no immediate treatment.

Turning to one side, Mr. World whispered to his companion: "While we are here you had better improve this opportunity and also get the benefit of an expert opinion."

"I have not come prepared financially," she blushingly and faintly replied. "I did not even dream of seeking the service of a specialist."

"That obstacle is easily overcome, for the examination is free, and if you should need further attention and would wish to receive it, I would deem it only a great pleasure to bear all the expenses."

After a brief, thoughtful silence she consented to the preliminary examination. "Will you examine the eyes of my friend?" requested Mr.

World as he stepped toward the chief oculist.

The expert accordingly tested her sight. First he held up, at a distance, the "Delusion of the New Jerusalem," but she was totally blind to it. Then he submitted the "Deceptions of the Holy Bible" of which she could again see nothing.

"Look through these windows to the Broad Highway, far out into the distance over rolling stretches of country. Can you see the gates of Heaven, at the end of the way?"

Miss Church-Member looked carefully, but declared that she could not see anything that appeared like Heaven or the gates thereof.

"Can you see that place called 'Perfect Peace' along the Broad Highway,"

continued the oculist as he pointed to a far-off region.

"I can see nothing that looks like it," she honestly confessed, quite surprised to discover the existence of these apparent defects of her vision.

"A very sad and extreme case," murmured the examiner as he requested her to open her Bible.

"Can you see, in that book, that all people shall be saved, and none perish?"

"I am surely blind to that and always have been," she readily admitted with a little more boldness.

"Perhaps you can see the justice of G.o.d in punishing the sinner?" he continued with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Plainly visible."

"So I expected."

He then proceeded to a more minute examination, after which he wrote a brief diagnosis and commended her to a specialist in the next building.

She hesitated somewhat, but Mr. World, handing her, confidentially, a handsome sum of yellow coin from his bag of gold, brought words of deep thankfulness from her lips, and gave decision to her steps in the direction he desired.

From the great dome they were taken in a closed car over the high suspension bridge to the adjoining building which was of still greater magnitude.

The room into which they entered, at such a dizzy height, surpa.s.sed, in its unique arrangement, anything of the kind that they had thus far seen. In long and high gla.s.s cases lay all the modern appliances used by the most skillful hands. The furnishings blended harmoniously with the general environments. All this won the utter confidence of the new and unsuspecting visitor. "With pleasure," politely began Mr. World, "I present my friend, Miss Church-Member, who comes. .h.i.ther with defective eyes and a duly subscribed diagnosis from the chief of the oculists."

The specialist whom he thus addressed made an additional examination, plying his craft with all the ingenuity he had learned from his master.

At the conclusion he delivered himself in this wise:

"I find, Miss Church-Member, that your eyes are very much out of order.

A complex case, indeed. I have discovered ametropia in the particular form of irregular astigmatism. The pupil, covered by the unabsorbed remains of the pupillary membrane, is occluded by a deposition of inflammatory substance, occasioned by inflammation of the ciliary body.

"I have also noticed a severe type of hemianopsia, which, I presume, had its origin in congeniture. Minor defects are also apparent, but it is unnecessary for me to give further details,"

Miss Church-Member could not refrain from weeping bitterly at this sad announcement. "Is it possible to effect a cure?" she sobbed.

"Ah! you need not thus lament," said the specialist in a tone of sympathy. "Millions have been altogether cured whose eyes were more diseased than are yours. Forget your tears and be at perfect peace.

Calmly confide in our skill."

She consented to their method, and was first subjected to a course of preliminary treatment. Many an hour she lay while her eyes were covered with cloths saturated with strange liquids. And when her eyes were uncovered she was compelled to sit in darkness, for the physician told her that her eyes had already suffered much on account of light. At times the pain was well nigh intolerable, but she endured it all heroically, hoping to gain thereby the boon of a complete cure.

After this preparatory work one who was skilled in the best methods of the age performed the operation, and Miss Church-Member was comforted by the a.s.surance that her eyes would be fitted with special lenses, and soon she could again behold the natural light of day.

Mr. World was busily engaged during the treatment of Miss Church- Member, but he came repeatedly to her side and spoke words of cheer and urged her strict obedience to all directions.

Finally her new lenses were pub to service, and Mr. World proffered his compliments profusely until the first impulses of vanity moved within her. _To be admired, on account of her appearance, seemed never so attractive as now!_

What a new world opened to her view! She looked down upon the Broad Highway with a degree of pleasure hitherto unsuspected, and also upon the King's Highway, but only to see that the path was indeed a rough one and beset with trials and difficulties which, to her mind, now seemed unnecessary to a Christian life.

In the same manner I looked into all the apartments of each building, and was astonished at the presence of so large a number from the King's Highway, and a still greater throng from the way of the world.

"O Blackana!" I cried, "how long will this continue? Is there no end to deception? With such a changed view of things, how can Miss Church-Member crave for the King's Highway or urge Mr. World thither?"

"Miss Church-Member will be happier where she is," answered my uncanny companion as he grinned horribly. "By the aid of her gla.s.ses she can both see and enjoy the wonderful scenes along the way." I knew that Blackana was covering the truth, but hesitated to insinuate as much.

"Can you explain," I questioned in a half hopeful mood, "how those specialists can do their deceptive work so brazenly? Poor Miss Church-Member, deluded and defrauded, now stumbles rapidly onward with the fiendish Mr. World. Tell me, O agent of the Devil, do those creatures find delight in such horrible deeds?"

"It is not a matter of pleasure or delight with them, but rather one of loyalty to their king, whom you call 'Devil.' To serve him poorly means a more bitter h.e.l.l, but to serve him well brings honor from his hand."

"But such honor!" I exclaimed, and then said: "I observe that Miss Church-Member wears colored lenses--tell me the meaning of this; and you, Blackana, hereafter deal no more in falsehood with me!" I demanded.

Blackana shifted his position, and with marked reluctance proceeded to answer:

"The Devil, my master, uses in his work all imaginable kinds of gla.s.ses, invented in the Wizard City. Every conceivable shade of color is made, each for its particular use. Through his agents Satan selects the lens for the patient's eye, and if it is worn as selected and directed, he has won a decisive victory."

"Foul and fiendish plots of h.e.l.l," I involuntarily muttered; but Blackana listened in silence.

CHAPTER IV.

SATAN INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE.

1. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member now take an easier method of traveling, for they ride on a strange vehicle down the gravity road.

2. Miss Church-Member reads her Bible by the aid of her new gla.s.ses.

3. She is a.s.sisted in understanding it by a minion of Satan who comes robed as an angel of light.

4. Her gla.s.ses enable her to distinguish between the inspired and the uninspired parts of the Bible; for this ability she is highly complimented.