Lives of Alcyone

The tie between Sirius and his wife was peculiarly close, and their affection unusually
strong; they understood each other thoroughly, and thought - transference between them was by
no means uncommon. On one occasion, when there was war with a southern kingdom, and Sirius
was away fighting, Naga and Yajna were sitting together in earnest conversation in the house of
the former. Suddenly Sirius walked in at the door, approached them with a radiant smile, and --
vanished ! The ladies were greatly startled, and Yajna cried:
like that."
"O my poor sisters, he must be killed ! It is only at the moment of death that men come
Naga was troubled at the saying, yet she replied,
" I do-not think he is dead; I am sure he is not, for I should know inside it he were."
She clung to this faith, even though presently news came from the seat of war that he was
missing, and even an account from one who had seen him struck down, apparently at the very
hour when he had appeared to her. But still she trusted to her inner conviction; still she affirmed,
"My husband is not dead; we shall hear from him some day."
Surely enough, her confidence was justified, for after a long time came a letter from him
telling her how he had been severely wounded, and how at the very moment of falling his one
thought had been of her, and he had seen her and her twin sister, looking at him in glad surprise;
but as he advanced to speak to them, they somehow vanished, and he sank into unconsciousness.
When he came to himself again, he found himself a prisoner with Egeria, one of his captains; and
he went on to say how Egeria had nursed him until he was strong again, and how they had then
contrived to escape and rejoin the Army, which was now entirely victorious. Naga rejoiced greatly
over the news, and still more when, a few weeks later, her husband was once more with her,
strong, active, loving as ever.
In course of time Mars and Saturn succeeded Herakles and Athena. Still the covenant of
Ajax and Fomal was religiously carried out, and the eldest son of each house married the eldest
daughter of the other, and since all of them were intimate friends from of old, the arrangement
always worked well. Thus Mizar, the eldest son of Mars, married Fides, and his sister Rama was
joined to Brihat, and the destinies of those favoured kingdoms remained for many years in the
hands of our band of Servers. Naga's Eldest daughter Selene, and Yajna's second daughter
Euphra proved specially responsive to the influence of the Mahaguru, and so were able to take the
place of their mothers when the latter grew older. The twin sisters and their husbands lived to a
great age, and showed forth to the last the strong affection which had been the key-note of their
lives. This was a life of great happiness for all concerned in it, of high aspiration nobly realised; for
under the inspiration of the Mahaguru, the ruling families of whom we have written, set themselves
to elevate the thought and life of a nation; and to a great extent that effort succeeded.
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