• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“That is so.”

“The Irish people need those leaders who remain to them more now that Parnell is dead,”M aud said. “They need inspiration, or the cause will be lost, buried in the earth even as Parnell has been buried. The factions since his exile have been pulling us apart. Now that Par-nell can never return, factionalism will grow worse as his successors seek to claim leadership.”

The Lady in Grey picked up the thread, her voice coaxing, “Can you rob the people of inspiration at such a critical time? Can you set the Lady of the Sidhe up for attack when she is most needed? Can you deny them their Irish Joan of Arc?”

Maud shook her head.

“I cannot. I feel that my debasement would end the Irish national cause as surely as if Ireland were sunk into the sea.”

They stared at each other in silent consideration. Now Maud heard Willie’s voice calling as though across a great distance,“Maud, tell me what she is saying!”

She remembered that Willie knew nothing of who the Lady in Grey truly was.“I cannot tell him who you are!”M aud protested aloud.

“Lie to him,”th e other sneered. “You’re good at that. I warn you. Shape your lies not too far from the truth, for William Butler Yeats is already sensitive, and this rending of the veil will sharpen his ear to lies.”

Maud nodded, then turned away from the Lady in Grey. As she pulled closed the rent in the veil, she felt as never before the other’s cold hand upon her heart.

WILLIE

At last she heard him!

Maud turned and, stumbling slightly, felt her way into the nearest chair. She reached for her cup of tea, surely cold by then, but drank it thirstily and poured another from the still-warm pot.

Shaking slightly, the slender length of her hand quested after the sugar bowl. Willie took it from her and spooned a liberal measure into the steaming tea, his heart wrung with pity for that tremor in a hand usually so steady.

“Maud,”h e asked gently, eager to gather impressions while they were fresh in her mind. “What did you see? What did she say to you?”

“The Lady in Grey,”M aud murmured as if partially entranced. “She said she was me, a part of me, from a past life.”

Willie nodded, his mind racing.

I wonder if Russell’s talk of reincarnation colors Maud’s memories? That does not invalidate the experience. She mentioned the woman soon after Russell’s departure. His words may be what brought the woman to mind. Unconsciously, Maud may have been aware of their connection even before my agency brought them face-to-face.

“A past life?”he prompted.

“In Egypt,”Maud replied, speaking more quickly now. “She—or I—was a priestess responsible for oracles in a great temple. She had a lover, a priest, and he persuaded her to give false oracles to serve some purpose of his—for money.”

The last phrase was added hastily, and Willie felt a flicker of unease, as if Maud might have said something she did not wish him to hear and had added the words to distract him.

Does she think I would be jealous of this past-life lover? Willie thought. Perhaps she is right to so dread. I am jealous, but I can hide that jealousy.

“I don’t understand this next,”M aud went on, casting him a pretty look of appeal. “The Lady in Grey spoke as to how this betrayal of her sacred trust was so great a violation of her vows that the part of her that had been responsible for the betrayal split off from the greater soul and became a wandering spirit.”

Willie felt a surge of satisfaction that quite drowned his momentary jealousy.His studies with the Theosophical Society had included just such theory. Although Maud was interested in psychic phenom- ena, hers was not a scholar’s interest. It was unlikely she had encountered the theory before. Therefore, not only was her report reasonable, it confirmed established thought.

“I have studied this phenomenon,”h e said, patting her hand. “You must take care. Although rejected by the greater soul, the fragment will always seek reunion. It must always be refused. The generative seed of its being is an evil deed—so evil the