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A MOD'TRN
PRIESTESS OF^ ISIS
ABRIDGED AND TRANSLATED ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY FOE PSYCHICAL

RESEARCH FROM THE RUSSIAN OF 111!
VSEVOLOD SERGYEEVICH SOLOVYOFF ,
BY
WALTER LEAF, Litt.D.
WITH APPENDICES
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK : 15 AST i6th STREET
1895
'
PREFATORY NOTE.
I AM authorised hy the Council of the Society for Psychical

Research to state formally on their behalf' that the present
translation of Mr. Solovyoff's Modern Priestess of Isis
has been made and published with their approval, and
to express their sense of the service which Mr. Leaf has
rendered to the Society by midertaking the labour of

translation. When the contents of Mr. Solovyoff's booh
became known to the Council, it seemed clear that certain
portions of
it especially the accownts qf the events at
Wurzburg described in chaps, xviii.-xx., the " Confession '
qf Madame Blavatsky given in chap, xxii., and the

letters to Mr. ATcsakoff given in chaps, xxvi. to xxix.
constituted an important supplement to the statement of
the results qf the inquiry into " Theosophical phenomena"
carried out by a Committee qf the Society in 1884-5.
Our original idea was to publish a translation qf these
portions in the supplement to our Proceedings
'
: but on
further consideration it seemed to us clearly desirable, f
possible, that the greater part qf Mr. Solovyoff's entertain-
ing narrative should be made accessible to English readers.
For such English readers as were likely to be interested
in learning anything more about Madams Blavatsky
would not so much desire additional proof that she was a
charlatan
a question already judged and decided but
rather some explanation qf the remarkable success qf her
iv Prefatory Note.
imposture ;and Mr. Sohvyoff's vivid description of the

mingled qualities of' the woman's nature her supple
craft and reckless audacity, her intellectual vigour and
elastic vitality, her genuine bonhomie, affectionateness
and (on occasion) persuasive pathos afforded an impor-
tant element of the required explanation, such as probably
no one but a compatriot could have supplied. Whether
the Theosophical Society is likely to last much longer, I
am not in a position to say ; but even if it were to expire
next year, its twenty years' eocistence would be a pheno-
menon of some interest for the historian of European
society in the nineteenth century ; and it is not likely
that any book will be written throwing more light on its
origin than A Modern Priestess of Isis.
HENRY SIDGWICK.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
Mr. Solovyoff's Modern Priestess of Isis

appeared monthly numbers for
in eight of the
1892 of the Russky Vyestnik (Russian Messen-

ger), the leading literary magazine of Russia,
and once the organ of the well-known Mr.
Katkoff. The articles have since been pub-
lished separately in book-form. The Council
of the Society for Psychical Research, having
had their attention called to the work, think that
it is of such interest and importance, in rela-
tion to the inquiry carried out by them into
" Theosophical Phenomena" in 1884-5, as to
justify the publication of a translation. It
should be stated at the outset that the accuracy

of the translation is guaranteed by the fact of
its revision by Mr. Michael Petrovo-Solovovo
of St. Petersburg, an active member of the
Society, to whom the hearty thanks of the
Council and the translator are tendered for his
assistance and advice.
It has been thought desirable to make con-
siderable abbreviations from the original, falling
vi Translator's Preface.
generallyunderoneorotherofthefollowingheads:
(i) It was clearly unnecessary to reproduce Mr.
Solovyoff's long and excellent abridgment of
the Report of the Committee on Theosophical
Phenomena, and Mr. Hodgson's Report issued
with it ; those who will may find the original in
vol. iii. of the Proceedings. (2) Mr. Solovyoff
makes many references to previous articles
published by Madame Jelihovsky, Madame
Blavatsky's sister, in various Russian periodi-
cals. These are not essential to his argument,
and would be useless to readers to whom the
articles in question are not accessible. (3) Mr.
Solovyoff's pages are enlivened by many graphic
descriptions of persons whom hp met in
connexion with Madame Blavatsky, especially
members of the Paris Theosophical Society.
But these again, however skilfully drawn, are yet
only secondary to the principal portrait, and it is
certainly better thatwhat is merely personal should

be excluded. (4) A certain amount of matter
has been omitted as of insufficient interest for
English readers, or as involving doubtful ques-
tions to which it was for various reasons not
desirable to give further currency. But even
with these considerable deductions itwill be
seen that the mass which remains not only
presents us with an admirably told narrative
and a psychological study of extreme interest,
Translator's Preface. vii
but adds materially to the evidence touching

the Theosophical Society and its foundress.
Theappearance of the articles called of
necessity for a reply from Madame Jelihovsky.
This appeared in April, 1893, under the title of
//. P. Blavatsky and a Modern Priest of
Truth, in the form of a separate pamphlet.
This too is given in an abridged form in
Appendix A. I may say at once that the
preparation of this abridgment has been by far
the most difficult and anxious part of my task.
There could be no hesitation as to the propriety
of presenting the evidence offered on one side
as well as on the other. But an examination
of Madame Jelihovsky's pamphlet showed that
only a small portion of it could be considered
in the light of evidence at all. It consisted
largely of mere personal attacks on Mr.
Solovyofif, often in the form of innuendo and
insinuation, rather than of open assertion ; and
was, to a great extent, irrelevant to the question
of his trustworthiness as a witness. It covered
177 pages and that this bulk of matter should
;
be reprinted in full for the benefit of English

readers was not to be thought of I have
therefore had to undertake the somewhat diffi-
cult task of preparing an abridgment which

should contain all that could be considered
evidential.
viii Translator's Preface.
Much, however, I was able to cut out at

once. All that dealt with passages omitted
from the original narrative could, of course, be
dropped without hesitation. This at once
accounted for a large portion of a pamphlet
where the strength of the attack was concen-
trated upon matters which did not directly
touch the real question at issue. But the
object of the rest was produce disbelief in
to
Mr. SolovyofTs veracity, pardy by the evidence
of letters written by himself, partly by comments
and assertions of the authoress. As regards
this I can only say that I have honestly and
conscientiously endeavoured to give everything
which is in any way to be regarded as of the
nature of relevant fact. Two or three letters of
Mr. Solovyoff 's, and parts of some others, have
been omitted. This has been done after
careful consideration on the ground that they
in no way whatever bear on the question at
issue. They contain personal matters only, or
refer to questions which it was thought right to
omit from the principal narrative. The leading
members of the Society for Psychical Research
whom I have consulted with respect to these
omissions, and who share the responsibility for
them, are unanimous in holding that the letters
are in no sense evidential.
In republishing his articles from the Russky
Translator's Preface. ix
yyestmk, Mr. Solovyoff added to them an

Appendix containing a rejoinder to Madame
Jelihovsky's answer. Of this again an abridg-
ment is here given (Appendix B). The scale
of the abridgment is about the same as in the
case of the pamphlet with which it deals.

Here, too, large omissions have been possible,
as much of the rejoinder deals with matter
which I have left out of Madame Jelihovsky's
attack. With this Appendix the controversy
appears to have stopped. The following pages
will therefore give a fairly complete history of
it,and enable readers to draw their own con-
clusions. But a few words of comment will
perhaps not be out of place.
The evidence offered by Mr. Solovyoff falls
into two distinct classes, which require separate
consideration. There is, firstly, that which rests
upon his own narrative secondly, that which
;
consists of documentary evidence, chiefly in

the shape of letters written by Madame Blavat-
sky herself
The authenticity of the letters has in no case
been impugned, and in the case of the " Con-
fession"-^ has been explicitly admitted by
Madame Jelihovsky herself. The correspond-
ence with Mr. Aksakoff^ is further guaranteed
^ See chap. xxii.
^ See chaps, xxvi. to xxix.
;
X Translator's Preface.
by the name of the recipient, whose long Hfe of

devotion to psychical studies forms the best
assurance thatit would be as ridiculous as cruel
to him guilty of complicity in an
suppose
attempt to palm off forged letters upon the
public. And, indeed, the letters m question
need litde guarantee beyond the evidence of
style which they carry with them. It may,
therefore, be taken as certain that the letters

are what they purport to be, the work of
Madame Blavatsky's own hand.
The correspondence with Mr. Aksakoff
proves beyond the possibility of refutation,
(
I
that at one time, in spite of her subsequent
)
vehement denials of the fact, Madame Blavat-

sky was a professed and thorough spiritualist in
the ordinary sense of the word. She therefore
adopted the " theosophical " attitude of hostility
to spiritualism only after 1874, and had recourse

to deliberate falsehood to conceal the fact. (2)
At this period she is entirely silent as to the
Mahatmas who guided her action her guardian ;
and teacher is the "pure spirit" John King,

well known at the stances of Williams and other
professional mediums in both hemispheres
he is her "only friend" and thus occupies the
place later taken by Morya and Koot Hoomi.
With these two facts the whole legend, accord-
ing to which she had, before her stay in
Translator's Preface. xi
America in 1874, received initiation and in-

struction from her Mahatmas in Thibet, and
ever since stood in continuous relations with
them, is shown to be a later fabrication. The
foundation of her whole theosophical teaching
is a mere lie. The steps by which John King
isdeveloped into Morya are moreover clearly
indicated. This correspondence alone forms a
complete refutation of Madame Blavatsky's
later doctrine.
When we come to Mr. SolovyofTs own nar-
rative, the documentary evidence, important
though it is, takes a secondary place though ;
it may either confirm or contradict the nar-

rative, it is not such as to form by itself a proof
positive of Madame Blavatsky's fraudulence.^
The vital question is, does Mr. Solovyoff tell
the truth in his account of the Wiirzburg

conversations?^ he does, then, of course,
If
there is an end of theosophy as a system of
doctrine based upon communication from hidden
Masters, of whom Madame Blavatsky w-as the
prophet. The defenders of Madame Blavatsky
are therefore bound contend that Mr. Solo-
to
vyoff is a man of so debased a character that
'
Though indeed phrases such as those on pp. 181,
184, 185, are enough to carry conviction to any impartial

reader.
^ See chaps, xix. and xx.
xii Translator's Preface.
he would not hesitate to invent a false accusa-
tion, in order morally to destroy a woman for

whom he all the time professes a real sym-
pathy and pity.
So far as the attack on the mere

on him rests
assertions of the assailant, it may, I think, be
disregarded for whatever may be the outcome
;
of the controversy as affecting Mr. Solovyoff's

character for veracity, it can hardly fail to
prevent a careful reader from placing any
reliance on the unsupported statements of
Madame Jelihovsky's accusation. As to this,
Mr. Solovyoff's reply, with M. Baissac's letter
(p. 351), and that in which Colonel Brusiloff,

Madame Jelihovsky's own witness, entirely
contradicts her positive statements, is decisive.
And another striking piece of evidence seems
not to have been known to Mr. Solovyoff On
p. 292, Madame Jelihovsky triumphantly con-
tradicts a statement of Mr. Solovyoff's, by a
supposed quotation from a document which she
states that she has in her possession. I have
pointed out how a translation of this very

document, issued under theosophical authority,
confirms Mr. Solovyoff on this point and refutes
Madame Jelihovsky. After this we may be
excused if we pay no attention to her statements
unless supported by positive proofs.
But I must turn aside for a moment to deal
Translator's Preface. xiii
with an accusation which, though it is not con-

tained in the pamphlet, has been published, on
the authority of Madame Jelihovsky or of one
of her daughters, in a speech made by Mrs.
Besant at a meeting of the Society for Psychical
Research. Into the details of this accusation
it is not necessary to go ; for it is one which
solely affects Mr. Solovyofifs private life, and
has nothing to do with his character for veracity.

But it is clearly the accusation to which Madame
Jelihovsky alludes in her pamphlet, and which
she says she will not publish, " because she has
no clear proofs " and whatever the nature of
;
Mr. Solovyoffs offence, it was not, in Madame

Jelihovsky's eyes, such as to prevent her from
continuing on terms of intimate friendship with
Mr. Solovyoff, and Eillowing him to be on an
equally familiar footing with her unmarried
daughters he even married his second wife
:
from her house.

Madame Jelihovsky is, moreover, a danger-
ous witness for her own side ; for not only did
she herself first warn Mr. Solovyoff against the
moral danger of any dealings with her sister,
but it is admittedly she who supplied him with

information such as should render it impossible
to represent Madame Blavatsky as a lady of
exalted moral character.
So far then as Madame Jelihovsky's own
xiv Translator's Preface.
testimony goes, we shall not allow it to weigh

against Mr. Solovyoff's high position in Russian
society and literature. The only question for
us is whether any of his letters, quoted by
Madame Jelihovsky, are so inconsistent with
his narrative a.s to lead us to refuse him cre-
dence.
It is clear and Mr. Solovy-
that these letters
off's own narrative present two very different
pictures of his mental attitude during 1884 and

1885. The narrative represents Mr. Solovyoff,
with the exception of short phases when he was
carried away in spite of himself, as a cool-
headed critic engaged on a scientific inquiry.
The tetters show that he was more than
coquetting with belief during the greater part
of this period. Readers have the materials for
a judgment before them, and must decide for
themselves as to the bearing of this on Mr.
Solovyoff's credibility. It will be only reason-
able that in so doing they should remember the

inevitable tendency which a man has after the
event, especially at an interval of several years,
to consider himself wiser from the first than he
was in reality and they will also remember
;
that Mr. Solovyoff is amply justified by his

letters in stating that from the first he never
professed an absolute belief in Madame Blavat-
sky and her doctrines ; and that she was
;
Translator's Preface. xv
throughout well aware of the fact. Nor should

it be forgotten that the letters are not entire
they are selected by a bitter personal enemy

with the purpose of damaging their writer, who
is entitled to the benefit of his assertion that,
if quoted in full, they would have strengthened
his case.
The letter which raises most serious
the
question is, in my mind, the letter marked [B]
on p. 288. This does, so far as I can judge,
imply a real inconsistency with Mr. Solovyoff's
narrative it implies that he has not correctly
;
represented the mental attitude in which he

found himself after the Widrzburg conversations.
I confess that I am not satisfied with his own
explanation that the whole letter is merely
bantering. In fact under the circumstances the
" bantering tone " itself requires explanation.
It seems tb be the letter of a man who is
me to
" hedging " no
doubt in a more or less jocose
tone, but still with an undercurrent of serious
meaning and I cannot doubt that he was at this
;
"
time waiting in the hope that the " master's
prophecies might turn out to be true, and thus

after all enable him to believe in the Mahatmas.
Had the prophecies been justified by the event,
I believe that Mr. Solovyoff was prepared to
accept Madame Blavatsky's explanations, that
she had confessed under the influence of the
xvi Translator's Preface.
"black magician," or in order to satisfy the

"master" by a test. In consenting to wait
the two months, Mr. Solovyoff had in fact
committed himself to take this position;
logically
he must have taken it more thoroughly, and
been more deeply impressed by the prophecies,
than he is now willing to admit to himself
On this supposition the letter becomes
intelligible. The inference which Madame
Jelihovsky wishes us to draw, however, is that
at this time Mr. Solovyoff, after his visit to
Wurzburg, was still a believer in Madame
Blavatsky and her powers but that shortly
;
afterwards, disgusted that she would not initiate

him into the higher occultism, he for the first
time invented the whole of the Wurzburg
conversations by way of revenge. If he did
so, he must have written his intentions to
Madame before she wrote
Blavatsky the
" Confession," which evidently refers to them.
How then are we to account for the fact that no
letter has been produced in which he even hints
at such a monstrous design? Madame Blavatsky
must have been aware that in the struggle
which was about to begin a letter even in-
directly hinting at such a sudden change of
attitude would have been an arm of inestimable
value in her hands. Nor is the tone of the
"Confession" that of a woman who has been
Translator's Preface. xvii
.falsely accused. "You are driving me to

desperation " is the burden of that remarkable
document ; but not " you are covering your-
self shame by your vile and baseless
with
calumnies". It is far more natural that a man
wavering between two opposite hypotheses, one

of which he has reason to believe, the other
of which he wishes to believe, should have
written letter [B] than that a woman knowing
herself to be falsely accused should have
written the " Confession ".
Thus though Mr. Solovyoff's letters give us

a decidedly different picture of his mental atti-
tude from that drawn by the narrative, I cannot
see that either they or Madame Jelihovsky's
statements can cast any material doubt on the
truth of the facts which he states. In matters
of verifiable fact, as distinct from mental atti-
tude, he remains unshaken. In one or two

small points indeed he has been convicted
of error ; but they are ludicrously irrelevant to
the question at issue, and the fact that nothing
more serious has been discovered in a narrative
written seven years after the events which it
describes, be regarded, considering the

is to
ordeal through which it has had to pass, as a
strong testimony in favour of Mr. Solovyoff's

accuracy.
I have endeavoured to examine Mr. Solo-
xviii Translator's Preface.
vyoffs evidence impartially on its own merits ;
but it must not be forgotten that it is only the

last stone on a cairn. Those who have studied
Mr. Hodgson's report Wiirzburg
will find in the
conversations only what they had already been
taught to expect by overwhelming testimony
with which Mr. Solovyoff had nothing to do.
To the vast majority of sensible people, the
question of Madame Blavatsky's honesty has
been already so convincingly disposed of, as to
remove any a priori doubts concerning the
veracity of any person who declares her an
impostor. For them the simple assertion of a
gentleman in Mr. Solovyoff's position is suffi-
cient ; as he cannot add to the force of evidence

already unanswered and unanswerable, so there
can be no presumption against him when he
adds to its His narrative is in fact, as
variety.
he himself calls it, a supplement to the damning
act of accusation drawn up by the Committee
on Theosophical Phenomena.
Finally I should like to express my sense
of the extreme literary ability with which Mr.
Solovyoff has drawn his picture. But for this
literary charm I should hardly have cared to
face the labour of translation ; I trust that it
may not have entirely perished in the rendering.

In my own case and
believe that the same
I
will be felt by many others Mr. Solovyoff has

'
Translator's Preface. xix
rather raised than lowered my opinion of

Madame Elavatsky. That she was an arch
impostor I knew before but my very sHght
;
acquaintance with her had not enabled me to

grasp the secret of the fascination which she
exercised over so many of those with whom
she came in contact. Still less could the
fabulous stories of her admirers explain the
riddle. In translating the Modern Priestess of
/sis I have for the first time felt that I could
see her as a human being, and to some extent
sympathise with her in the troubles the self-
made troubles of her unique career. Whether

his story be true or no, and I at least have no
doubt of its substantial truth, Mr. Solovyoff
has at all events given us a psychological
study of extraordinary interest.
Mr. W. Emmette Coleman has kindly offered
the Society for publication a summary of his
analysis of the sources of Madame Blavatsky's
theosophical writings. His conclusions so
entirely confirm and expand what Mr. Solovyoff
has .said on this head that no apology is needed
for the addition of his paper (Appendix C).
WALTER LEAF.
November, 1894.
A MODERN PRIESTESS OF ISIS.
I.
On May 8th 1891, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

(n.s.),
died in London. She was known in Russia as the
authoress of certain interesting and able stories,
From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, and The
Enigmatical Tribes of the Blue Mountains, published
in the Russky Vyestnik under the pseudonym of
"Radda Bay".
But about her writings of another sort, and about
her career in general, was known in
very little
Russia. A correspondence from London in the

Novoye Vremya alluded to the exposure of the
supposed miraculous phenomena which she pro-
duced. Recently too, indeed, after her death there
was published in a professional journal, the Review
of Clinical and Forensic Psychiatry and Neuropathology,

a critical sketch by Dr. Rosenbach, entitled
" Modern Mysticigm ". This sketch was also issued
as a separate pamphlet. A whole chapter of it is
headed " The Theosophical Cult," and is devoted to
the investigation by the London Society for Psychical
Research of the theosophical phenomena, and the
exposure of their fraudulence.
The correspondence of the Novoye Vremya had
been quite forgotten, and Dr. Rosenbach's essay was
2 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
known to few, so that the Russian public had a

very scanty acquaintance with the career of the late
Madame Blavatsky; when suddenly there appeared,
firstin a newspaper, the Novosti, and then in a
magazine, the Russkoe Obozrenie, lengthy articles by
Madame Jelihovsky. In these articles the writer,
Madame Blavatsky's own sister, amazed at the
silence of the Russian press about the creatress of
theosophy, undertakes to introduce to our public a
woman whom her followers in America, India and
Europe call "a chosen torch," her enemies "the
greatest impostor of the age " whom all who are
;
acquainted with her writings and her career for the

twenty years regard as " the sphinx
last fifteen or
of the nineteenth century," and whose death was
recorded by the whole of the foreign press.
It was also in the Novosti, it seems, that there
was published some two years ago a long article by

another lady contributor to this newspaper. In this
article there was an account of life in Paris, and
allusion was made to the Paris " Theosophical
Society," as well as to the fact thatit was broken up
in consequence of revelations made by myself.

I do not deny the fact thus stated by the contribu-
tor to the Novosti. In fact, apart from Helena

Petrovna Blavatsky's own family, I am the only
Russian who knew her intimately and well in the
period from 1884 to 1886, the period, that is, which-
followed her appearance in Europe from India and
during which there started up the European " Theo-
sophical Societies," organised by her and by her
assistant, Henry Olcott, an American known by the
title of " Colonel " Olcott. It is a fact that, in 1886,
:
A Modern Priestess of his. 3
I assisted in the breaking up of the first French

Theosophical Society, which had been founded under
the title of the " Soci6te Th6osophique d'Orient et
d'Occident " by the Duchesse de Pomar, Lady
Caithness, and had been confirmed by Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky in Paris in 1884.
Since my return to Russia to this day, I have not
written a word about Madame Blavatsky and her
Theosophical Society. I have held it worse than
useless to allude to this anti-Christian movement,
so long as remained a matter which was little
it
known in Russia. I kept to myself all I knew, and

the documentary evidence I possessed, against the
time when a panegyric of Madame Blavatsky might
appear in the Russian press,, and with it, in one
form or another, the propaganda of her name and
her newest theosophy. One thing only I desired
that such a time might never come, and that I
might be absolved from the moral duty of again
alluding to the question.
Hitherto it has been possible for me to keep
silence. But the lengthy articles of Madame
Jelihovsky, in which she proclaims her sister, not
without grounds, a universal celebrity, and speaks
of the "new religion" preached and created by her
as a " pure and lofty " doctrine, are in fact the
propaganda in Russia of this "pure and lofty"
doctrine, and of the name of its apostle.
These articles on our famous countrywoman
whom we did not appreciate enough, and on the
world-wide importance and dissemination of her
doctrines, cannot but interest our public, credulous
as it is, and prone to every sort of "new doctrine".
4 A Modern Priestess of his.
"Churls are lords beyond the mountains," ["a beau

mentir qui vient de loin"] and as one reads
Madame Jelihovsky's articles, a most attractive
picture is in fact presented, a picture calculated to
fire the imagination thirsting for every novelty,
especially if it promises satisfaction to our highest
spiritual interest.
In these circumstances to keep silence and to
hide the truth, one knows it, becomes a crime. I
if
therefore find myself compelled to break silence

about my intimate knowledge of Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky and her society. This is to me most
painful and repugnant, as it must be painful and

repugnant to any man who
is obliged, even for the
holiest object, to breakopen a tomb and to bring forth

the corpse hidden in it. Moreover, in addition to pain
and reluctance, I cannot rid myself of the feeling of
pity which was always inspired in me by this woman,
who was in any case beyond the common, and
richly endowed by nature.
Because of this involuntary feeling of pity I
should be only too glad to forget all I know. Obli-
vion, complete oblivion, that is the one thing which
isnow to be desired for Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
But for her there is neither oblivion nor death,
though her body was destroyed by cremation in
London, and her ashes are preserved in three urns.
For her there is no death, so we are told in print
by her own sister, whose articles are at this moment
the only reason which forces upon me the moral
necessity of turning to those painful and repugnant
reminiscences, and publishing the bundle of docu-
ments which I have preserved.
Unhappy Helena Petrovna ! I see her before me

as though' she were ahve ; but her picture is not
only a double one, it is treble. There were in her
three perfectly different persons. There was indeed
a fourth person in her, but that is one which I never
knew personally, and only the last extremity will
force me to touch on it in what follows. There are
still alive many who knew
her in her youth and her
mature years; and wonderful tales they tell about the
adventures of her stormy and wandering life.
I made her acquaintance at a time when, for her,

the " woman's life " was over, and she had started on
a period of very different activity. The end of this
stormy "woman's life" proved for her to be no end
such as it generally is with ordinary women, but
only the beginning of her real existence, and of the
manifestation of all the gifts which nature had
bestowed upon her.
As I know her, she is elderly and ill, but full of
fire and energy I cannot imagine her otherwise.

;
As I have said, there were in her three persons.

The first of these was " Helena Petrovna " on her
quiet days, far away from the business of the Theo-
sophical Society, a cheerful, witty companion, with
an inexhaustible store of rough but real humour, of
narratives, interesting, though, alas by, no means !
always founded on strict truth, and of anecdotes;

droll and sympathetic, with a sort of magnetic
attraction, and even capable of good impulses.
Her second character was that of " Radda Bay,"
H. P. Blavatsky, or H. P. B. the author of the ;
Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, The Enigmatical Tribes,

Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, The Key to Theo-
;;
sophy ; the editor of the Theosophist, Lucifer, etc. ; a

writer wonderful for her literary talent, her immense
memory, and her power of rapidly grasping the most
heterogeneous subjects and writing on them at will
writing interestingly and attractively, though often
disconnectedly and with digressions in every direc-
tion.
If the writings of Madame Blavatsky had been, as
Madame Jelihovsky says, the work of her mysterious
teacher, a mighty sage, half god, living in the dales
of Thibet and dictating to her, in complete indiffer-
ence to distance, when she was in America or

Europe, they would have done but little credit, in
view of their imperfections, to such a sage. To
her, who in her youth had but ill acquired the
rudiments of elementary education, and till she was
forty
I speak again on her sister's authority had
learnt but little, they do the greatest credit ; they
prove her immense capabilities, and her ardent love
of work, thanks to which she was able to forget, as I
myself saw, the grievous sufferings of the various
diseases which for long tormented her.
In this respect her writings are really a miracle
but the explanation of this miracle we must seek in
the secrets of the human intellect and soul, not in
any invisible and problematical "Mahatma," dictat-
ing to her and guiding her hand from Thibet, nor
in the aerial transmission of the books which she
needed for reference. But to all this I shall return
in its proper place, as well as to the question of what
her doctrine is, whether it is hers at all, and how
she came to declare herself its apostle.
The third character of H. P Blavatsky, behind
A Modern Priestess of Isis.
7
which, unfortunately, the two others have but too

often been hidden and vanished from sight, is that
of " Madame," as all the theosophists, without dis-
tinction of nationality, used to call her, the foundress
of the Theosophical Society and its mistress, the
femme aux phenomenes.
When she comes to deal with the phenomena,
Madame Jelihovsky says in her articles that
Madame Blavatsky herself " personally despised
these marvels"; but that her followers attest them,
orally and in print, with the greatest confidence.
" The best of those who surrounded her did not
value her for them, and she herself, especially in
the later years of her life, referred to them with
contempt, saying that they were the least important

work of forces known to every conjuring fakir.
Many of the '
Reminiscences,' published by those
who knew her best, show how often she stopped with
irritation the curiosity of her numerous outside
visitors."
Alas, it is not so. The whole question lies precisely
in the phenomena. It was with their help that H.

P. Blavatsky founded her Theosophical Society, they
were her panoply when she appeared in Europe to
disseminate her doctrine, by them she advertised
herself and gathered about her those who for one
purpose or another wished to see them. It was
these phenomena only which interested and brought
into her circle of acquaintance such men as Crookes,
Flammarion, Charles Richet and the English savants
who had established the London Society for
Psychical Research.
These phenomena were, unhappily, indissolubly
bound up alike with her and with her Theosophical

Society, as will be shown
later. In them might have
been her real strength, and in them was shown her
weakness. Through them she morally ruined her-
selfand many others, for them she tortured and
enraged herself, deadened her own soul and heart,
grew into a fury, and was compelled to endure
everything about which Madame Jelihovsky is
silent.
When these phenomena were exposed, as will be
clearly proved hereafter, by many proofs, particu-
larly by the original proofs and documents of the
London Society for Psychical Research, Madame
Blavatsky thought herself lost. What was to be
expected by a woman who had taken for her motto,
" There is no religion higher than truth " a motto
which was printed even on her note-paper and

envelopes and had established the most important
positions of her doctrine by phenomena which
proved to be undoubtedly and incontestably the
coarsest and most shocking deceit and trickery ?
It seemed that she was right in considering herself
lost.
But the fact is that in human society there is

always a multitude of men for whom truth is truth
only when it agrees with their own wishes. Those
who in one way or another were interested in the
success of the Theosophical Society, and moreover felt
themselves compromised, began to cry out that the
famous " emissary of the Thibetan Mahatmas " was
calumniated; and at the same time they did not
stick at any calumny, even the vilest, in order so
far as they could to blacken and crush her "enemies,"
A Modern Priestess of Isis. g
is to say, who had not allowed themselves

those, that
to beduped by her.
Not a few of those who hunger and thirst after
fresh pastures made no attempt to inquire into
Madame Blavatsky's record, and joined her flock.
She thus found that she was not lost at all. She
defended herself, and set about continuing and even
widening her career, save only in respect to pheno-
mena, which she renounced they, it would seem,
;
were a " vain expenditure of vital force," " non-

sensical manifestations," and so on.
But now, when Madame Blavatsky is no more,
and it is consequently no longer possible to convince
oneself of her phenomena in person, "Colonel" Olcott
marches out once more, at the head of a whole
regiment of persons of both sexes, who attest the
most astounding miracles as having been wrought
by " Madame". Even Madame Jelihovsky cannot
refrain from addressing the Russian public on the
subject of these miracles, and telling strange stories
about them.
In view of all this I too feel it to be my bounden
duty to publish for general information the " as-
tounding phenomena" of which it has been my
fortune to be a witness. " There is no religion
higher than truth;" so the unhappy Helena Petrovna

said, wrote, and printed on her letter-paper and her
envelopes.
II.
In May, 1884, I was living in Paris, and planning

some works, bellettristic or otherwise, which should
touch on certain little-known subjects ; on_the rare ,
but i n my opini on reaj , manifestations of the im-

perTectly investiîted spiritual powers of man. I
was occupied, among other things, with mystic and

so-called "occultist" literature.
As I was going through my notes from the
Bibliotheque Nationale, there came into my mind
the very interesting narratives of Radda Bay, in
other words of Madame Blavatsky, published in the
Russky Vyestnik under the title of From the Caves
and Jungles of Hindostan, which had been read
with so much interest in Russia. The subject of
my studies was closely connected with the essential
motive of these narratives.
" Should I not make up my mind in earnest ? " I
thought. " Should I not stall for India, to see our

wonderful countrywoman, Madame Blavatsky, and
convince myself in person as to how far the marvels
"
of which she speaks are accordance with fact ?
in
Just at this time a friend showed me a copy of the
Matin, and there, among the news of the day, was
an announcement that the famous foundress of the
Theosophical Society, H. P. Blavatsky, was in
Europe; that a day or two before she had arrived
A Modern Priestess of Isis. ii
in Paris from Nice; that she had settled in Rue

Notre Dame des Champs, and would there receive
any one who was interested in the theosophical
movement which she had set on foot. It was but
a short note ; but two or three phrases sketched out
to me the surroundings of the newly-arrived celebrity,
to whose temple were flocking from all sides those
who were thirsting to become acquainted with
her and her marvels.
I immediately wrote to St. Petersburg to Mr. P.,
who, as I knew, was in correspondence with Madame

Blavatsky. I begged him to acquaint her at once
with the fact that a certain resident in Paris would

like to make her acquaintance, but would not do so
till he had first received her assent.
A few days after, much sooner than I could have

expected, I received an answer from St. Petersburg,
informing me that H. P. Blavatsky expected me,
and would receive me whenever I liked.
It was not without some emotion that I went to
Rue Notre Dame des Champs, selecting an hour

which I thought would be the most suitable, not too
early and not very late. During the time when I
was awaiting my reply from St. Petersburg I had
quite electrified myself with the idea of the interesting
acquaintance which I was about to make.
Though I had not in my possession the Caves
and Jungles of Hindosian, I remembered it from
beginning to end, and felt all the fascination of this
skilful narrative, which combines realism with the
most wonderful mystery.
From the impression produced upon me by the
little notice in the Matin, I expected to see
something which in many ways would be mag-

nificent, and had prepared myself for the solemn
audience which Madame Blavatsky would vouchsafe
me. I was convinced that I should find a row of
carriages at her door, and that I should present
myself in the midst of a great and varied company
of her visitors.
But I found myself in a long mean street on the
leftbank of the Seine, de I'autre cote de I'eau as the
Parisians say. The coachman stopped at the
number I had told him. The house was unsightly
enough to look at, and at the door there was not a
single carriage.
" My
dear sir, you have let her slip ; she has left
Paris," I said to myself with vexation.

In answer to my inquiry the concierge showed
me the way. I climbed a very, very dark staircase,
rang, and a slovenly figure in an Oriental turban
admitted me into a tiny dark lobby.
To my question, whether Madame Blavatsky
would receive me, the slovenly figure replied with
an " Entrez, monsieur," and vanished with my card,
while I was left to wait in a small low room, poorly
and insufficiently furnished.
I had not long to wait. The door opened, and
she was before me a rather tall woman, though she
;
produced the impression of being short, on account

of her unusual stoutness. Her great head seemed
all the greater from her thick and very bright hair,
touched with a scarcely perceptible grey, and very

slightly frizzed, by nature and not by art, as I
subsequently convinced myself
At the first moment her plain, old, earthy-
coloured face struck me as repulsive ; but she fixed

on me the gaze of her great, rolling, pale blue eyes,
and in these wonderful eyes, with their hidden
power, all the rest was forgotten.
I remarked, however, .that she was very strangely
dressed, in a sort of black sacque, and that all the
fingers of her small, soft, and as
were boneless it
hands, with their slender points and long nails,

were covered with great jewelled rings.
She received me so simply, affectionately and
kindly, it was so pleasant to me to hear her Russian
talk, that my disappointment passed off, and all

the unexpectedness of the surroundings ceased to
surprise me on the contrary, I was very pleased
;
to find something quite different from what I had

looked for.
At the end of a quarter of an hour I was talking

to Helena Petrovna as though she were an old
friend, and all her homely coarse appearance actu-
ally began to please me. And her eyes gazed at
me so graciously, and at the same time pierced me
so attentively.
I it was not mere idle curi-
explained to her that
osity thathad brought me to her that I was busied
;
with mystic and occult literature, and had come for

an answer to many questions of the greatest serious-
ness and importance to myself.
" Whatever it was that brought you to me," she
said, " I am excessively glad to make your acquaint-
ance ^you see I am a Russian and if you come
on serious business besides, you may be sure that I
shall be entirely at your service. Where I can, I
will help you with the greatest delight."

;
As she spoke, she laughed with. a good-humoured

kindly laugh.
"You have to begin at the
will Helena ABC,
Petrovna. I know about yourself, your work
All
and your society is what you have yourself published
in the Russky Vyestnik."
"Well, my little father,'' she went on, " since that
day 'much water has flowed down'. At that time
our society had hardly hatched out from its egg
but now " !
Then she began eagerly to tell me of the successes

of the theosophical movement in America and
India, and, in the immediate past, in Europe as well.
" Are you here for long ? " I asked.
" I do not know myself yet ; the master sent me."
" What master ? "
"My master, the teacher, my Guru; you may
call him Gulab Lai Singh, from the Caves and
Jungles of Hindostan."
I remembered this Gulab Lai Singh in every
detail ; the mysterious being of whom she had told
her Russian readers such incredible stories, a being
who had attained the highest degree of human
knowledge, and
produced the most marvellous
phenomena. at once that the ground was
I felt
shaking beneath my feet. I have no fear of any-

body's smile when I declare that I then admitted
and still admit the possibility of the existence, wher-
ever it may be, in the caves and jungles of Hindostan
if you will, of such a man, whose knowledge far
surpasses all that is known to our modern science.
If I had known such a man cannot
for certain that
exist, I could only, after her first words about the
A Modern Priestess of Isis. 15
" master," have continued the conversation with the

aim of revealing her falsehood and deception. But
at that time I was far from having any such aim.
Helena Petrovna spoke of this master of hers
with entire simplicity, as though of a most ordinary
phenomenon. Still, in spite of all, I immediately
felt something, a sort of intangible falsehood it was ;
as though I had had a douche of cold water.

" Helena Petrovna," I said, " listen to me, and
if you have the power of gazing into a man and
seeing him as he really is, you may convince your-

self how far my words are serious. I come to you
in all honesty, without any mental reservations,

with a great spiritual problem I come to you to ;
obtain the fulfilment of what you promise, of the

allurements you hold out in your Caves and
Jungles of Hindostan. If you can answer this my
spiritual question seriously, promise me to do so ;
ifyou cannot or will not, it shall be all the same,

we will remain friends, as fellow-countrymen and
brothers of the pen, but let there be no more talk
between us of all your marvels or of your Theo-

sophical Society."
She did not answer me at once, but gazed into my
eyes enigmatically and long with her bright magnetic
gaze, and then solemnly said, "I can," and stretched
me out her hand.
" Excuse me," she said, getting up ; "I will be
back in a second, but I must tell Babula, my servant,
the Hindu who opened the door to you, to see
about my dinnernot that I am hungry."
She went out, and came back again in two or
three minutes.
6
" Now, my good fellow-countryman, my dear Mr.

Vsevolod Sergyeevich," she began with a friendly
smile as she sat before me, "sure enough you do
not believe me, but all the same when once I have
said, 'I can,' that means can and will. It
that I
is true
believe it or not, as you like that I knew
you before P. wrote to me, I knew that you were
being drawn towards me. Listen."
She made a sort of flourish with her hand, raised
it upwards, and suddenly, I heard distinctly, quite
distinctly, somewhere above our heads, near the
ceiling, a very melodious sound like a little silver
bell or an ôlian harp.

" What is the meaning of this ? " I asked.
" This means only that my master is here,
although you and I cannot see him. He tells me that
I may trust you, and am to do for you whatever I can.
Vous etes sous sa protection, henceforth and for ever."

She looked me straight in the eyes, and caressed
me with her glance and her kindly smile.
" So there, sir."
I involuntarily liked her more and more. I was
attracted to her by a feeling of instantaneous

sympathy, and yet, if her "master" was really pre-
sent, and could penetrate the inmost nature of
things and of human thoughts, il ne m'aurait pas pris
sous sa protection, for I was asking myself all the time :
" Why was the sound of the silver bell not heard at
once, but only after she had left the room and come
"
back again ?
" Do you speak English " she asked me.
?
" Unfortunately, no. I once took lessons in the

language, but now I have almost forgotten it."

" What a pity Well, we must get on with-

1
out it somehow, and you can set about learning

it."
" Yes, certainly."
I here purposely indicate my ignorance of the
English language, which I to some extent exag-

gerated as I did not wish to embarrass anybody by
my imperfect pronunciation and my blunders. This
ignorance, as will appear in the course of my
narrative, far from being an impediment to me
for all the time of my connexion with the Theo-
sophical Society I could get on perfectly with
Russian, French and German actually rendered
me the greatest service, as it brought me into a
position of isolation, and besides, at certain im-
portant moments, enabled me to give myself up to
undisturbed observation. But I have no wish to
anticipate.
" Stay, I will introduce you at once to Mohini, a
young Brahmin who has come here with me," said

Helena Petrovna. " He is a chela,' a disciple of
'
another Mahatma, Koot Hoomi by name, an ascetic

sage like my master, but much more communicative."
" Mohini," she cried and in a moment the door
;
of the next room opened, and gave admission to a

rather strange young man. From his appearance
he seemed to be not more than from twenty-five to
twenty-seven years of age. His figure, which was
narrow-shouldered and not tall, was clad in a black
cashmere cassock his thick blue-black wavy hair
;
fell to his shoulders. The upper part of his bronze

face was strikingly handsome a wise forehead, not
very high, straight eyebrows, not too thick, and most
8 ;
magnificent velvety eyes with a deep and gentle

expression. Later on I saw a very different glance
from these eyes, but now they were deep and gentle.
It was only his nose, straight but too broad, and his
thick dark blue lips, projecting through a not over-
abundant growth of moustache and beard, which
prevented his being perfectly beautiful. In any case
his appearance might be considered very attractive,
and several female hearts in Asia and Europe could
tell tales of the beauty of this young apostle of the
newest theosophy.
Madame Blavatsky raised her hand, and Mohini
bowed himself to the earth and almost crawled as
though to receive her blessing. She laid her hand
upon his head, he raised himself and bowed to me
with the greatest courtesy.
I put out my hand to him, but he shrank from
me, and said, with a low bow: " Excuse me, sir, I
may not ".
" What mean ? Why cannot he take
does this
my hand ? "
asked Helena Petrovna.
I
" Why, there is no helping it," explained she
"you see, he is a chela, just the same as a monk,
an ascetic, you understand; he has to keep off all
earthly influences ; do you know, he never so much
"
as looks at a woman ?
" That no doubt one can understand, but
as for
refusing to take men's hands "
" He has acquired a very delicate organisation,

he
feels too much the influence of human magnetism,
which can be transmitted by too close intercourse,
by the touch of a hand or a kiss so he refrains from
;
it, in order to keep himself perfectly free."

A Modern Priestess of Isis. ig
Mohini stood looking now at me, and now at

Helena Petrovna.
From the chelas of the Mahatmas she passed on
own Theosophical Society.
to her
"First of all you must know," she said, "that
the aim of our universal brotherhood is perfectly
devoid of any political character, and that the
society in no way interferes with the religious or
other convictions of its members. Our problems
are purely scientific, we bring back from darkness
and oblivion the mighty and ancient doctrines of
the East, which leave behind all which modern
European science knows, and of which it is so proud.
Our society undermines and destroys mean material-
istic science, and shows all its folly and inconsistency.
Only look all this civilised world is decaying

;
'
'
and perishing from want of faith. On one hand the

materialism of so-called science, on the other the
revolting conduct of the clergy, the Catholic clergy,
have led all We bring them, not to
into infidelity.
believe, but to know, the immortality of the soul,
and what man can attain to, even on earth, by
the purification and education of the inner man '. '
Look at me I am by no means a saint I am far

; ;
from being one, little father But still I know and

!
can do a good deal. You heard the silver bell you ;
shall hear and see still more, if you only wish."

" Of course I wish, Helena Petrovna."
"Why, that is right. Only, please, my good sir,
do not look at me in that suspicious way you know ;
you have come to me in earnest, the master says so,

and he cannot err so you must just put your
;
suspiciousness in your pocket, and wait; all will

come good time, and you will be ashamed of

in
this European suspiciousness of yours. How many
savants, unbelievers, materialists, yes, and thoroughly
convinced ones, have come to me, with just this
same bon ton suspicion of yours, and have gone

away quite mauvais ton, believing everything,
thanking me and calling me the saviour of their
souls! What good is their gratitude to me?
But if, out of a man defiled with all the abominations
of life, theosophy makes an all but sinless saint,
that, I fancy, is not so bad."
She continued to explain to me the meaning of her
society, and from her words it appeared to be a
really beneficent and intensely interesting institu-
tion. The inexhaustible treasure of ancient doc-
trines, hitherto jealouslyguarded in the mysterious
sanctuaries of India by the sage Raj -yogas, and com-
pletely unknown to the civilised world, was now,
thanks to her communications with the Mahatmas
and their confidence in her, being revealed to
Europeans. The world was to be renovated by the
true knowledge of the forces of nature. This
knowledge could not disturb the conscience of the
Christian, for even if it could not be explained by
the Christian creed, at least it did not contradict it.
"And have you remained a Christian yourself?"

I asked.
" No, I never was one," replied Madame Blavatsky.
" Until my regeneration, till the time when I became
a wholly, wholly new creature, I never thought of
religion ofany sort. So I was obliged solemnly to
embrace Buddhism, and entered into it with all its
rites. I do not attempt to conceal the fact, and do
not attribute any importance to it ; that is all
external ; in the essence of the matter I am just

as much a Buddhist as I am a Christian or a
Mahometan. My religion is truth, for there is no
religion higher than truth."
"
Then would you advise me also, pray, to embrace
Buddhism, on the ground that there is no religion
higher than truth ? " I interrupted with a smile.
" There you are with your pin again," said she
also with a smile " pray be so good as to go on
;
pricking. You see how fat I am, I don't feel it.

Don't make fun, you are such a mocker. The ques-
tion is not one of words, but once again, of truth."
" Madam, I obey."
I had remained too long already, and so took
my leave.
"
" Now you will come back again ? When ?
" When you command me."

"
Then I command you to come back every day
ifyou like. Make the most of me while I am here,
you will never be in my way if I want to work, I ;
will tell you so, I shall not stand upon ceremony.

Come and see me to-morrow."
" To-morrow is impossible, but I will come the
day after, with your permission."
" Come rather earlier,'' she called out to me, when
I was already in the lobby and Babula was opening
the door on to the staircase.
went home with a somewhat confused impression.
I
All this was certainly not what I had calculated on.

Yet what was it that did not satisfy me ? was it the
reclame in the Matin, Madame Blavatsky's poor
surroundings, and the complete absence of visitors ?
I certainly could not approve this reclame, in-
serted, if not by herself, then, in all probability, by

the efforts of one of her nearest friends and as-
sociates, with the obvious intention of attracting the
absent visitors, and spreading her notoriety in Paris.
Still in any case the obscurity and solitude in
which she was living proved nothing in themselves,

and as for myself, it was much more agreeable and
satisfactory to be able to pay her numerous and
long visits without interruption.
What she said was interesting, but so far it was
only words. As for her silver bell, that looked like
a trick ; had no right to suspect her of
but so far I
such shocking and cruel

cold-blooded deceit, such
mockery of the soul of man.
And herself? How came it that this old, ill-
favoured woman had such a power of attraction ?

How could this peculiar humorous good-nature and
simplicity combined in her with the sort of
be
"
painful mystery hidden in her wonderful eyes ?
However that might be, though P was thoroughly
dissatisfied, I felt one thing that I was drawn to
:
her, that I was interested in her, and that I should

look forward with impatience to the hour when I
should see her again.
The fact is that my Parisian solitude, however
good for sick nerves, was evidently overdone;
Madame Blavatsky appeared as the one fresh and
living interest in this lonely life.
III.
In two days I did in fact go to see Helena Petrovna,

and, at her request, a good deal earlier, that is to
say, between eleven and twelve. I again found her
alone, in the complete quiet of her little lodgings.
She was sitting in the same black sacque, her hands
sparkling with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, and
she was smoking and playing patience.

" Welcome, welcome," she rose a little to meet
me, and held out her hand " please take a chair
;
and come and sit here, a little nearer. I am

amusing myself with a little patience, it is my
favourite occupation."
I felt as though, from this Indian miracle-worker,
in this Rue Notre Dame des Champs, there came
a fragrant atmosphere of an old-fashioned Russian
country house. This American Buddhist, who had
been away from Russia God knows how many years,
who had dissipated her life in unknown parts,
among unknown people, was an incarnation of the
type of the old-time Russian
country lady of
moderate means, grown stout in her farm-house.
Her every movement, her every gesture and word
were full of the true " Russian spirit," which it would
seem all the Mahatmas in the world cannot drive
out where once it is firmly settled. I quite expected
the door to open, and some such housekeeper a

'
Matrena Spiridonovna to come

in for her mistress's
orders. The door did open but in came the
;
slovenly Babula with his turban and his ugly

roguish face.
He gave Helena Petrovna a letter in silence.
She asked me to excuse her, opened it and glanced
through it, and I could see by her face that she
was pleased. She even forgot her patience, and
carelessly mixed up the cards. She began to talk
about her " universal brotherhood," and captivated
me by her account of the interesting materials
accessible to members of the "society" who wished
to acquaint themselves with the most ancient
literary monuments of the East, hitherto unseen
by European eyes. When she had sufficiently
aroused my curiosity and my desire for knowledge,
she exclaimed " My God, what wonderful, what
:
amazing subjects for a novelist or a poet It is an !
inexhaustible spring If I were to show you ever

!
so little of this treasure, your eyes would start out

of your head, you would clutch at it."
" And is it then impossible thus to clutch at "
it ?
I asked.
" For you impossible you are a European,
it is ;
and the Hindus, even the most advanced, the wisest,

cannot make up their minds to trust the Europeans."
" In that case, what becomes of the universal '
"
brotherhood ?
The brotherhood is founded precisely in order to

"
do away with this want of confidence the members ;
of the Theosophical Society cannot mistrust one

another they are all brothers, to whatever religion
;
and race they belong. Of course, all will be opened

to you, all our materials, if you become a theo-

sophist."
" Whether I shall ever become a theosophist I
do not know ; for in order to make up my mind to
it, it is essential that I should learn myself, in my
own person, just what it is that you mean by this
wide and lofty name but as your society is nothing
;
secret, and as it is neither religious in any sectarian

sense, nor political, but purely scientific and literary,
I do not see why I should not become a member,
when you have explained its constitution.''

" Ah, how kind you are, indeed," exclaimed
Madame Blavatsky, brightening up ; I, "
as you
know, am never importunate, and ifyou had not
yourself expressed the desire, I should never have
proposed it. But now it is splendid. Now, my
dear friend, you have untied my hands, and without
arousing the surprise of the theosophists as well as
the indignation of my Hindus, such as Mohini, I
can initiate you into all our studies. But this is
all in the future, we have not yet got to studies.

The first thing is to ratify and properly organise the
'
Paris branch of the Theosophical Society '."
" Then is one already in existence ? "

" Yes, it has existed nominally for the last two
years ; a few people meet in the house of a certain
duchess plus lady, who likes to call herself '
Presi-
dente de la Soci^te Theosophique d'Orient et
d'Occident '. God bless her, let her call herself what
she likes, and has a superb hotel of her
she is rich,
own here in Paris is no objection she may be
; that ;
useful. But we must have it all properly organised."

She took up a printed copy of the rules of the
Theosophical Society lying on the table, and I went

through it with her from the first word to the last.
From these rules I could not but assure myself that
the society actually enjoined on its members not to
interfere with the consciences of others, to respect the
beliefs of their brethren, and not to touch on religion
or politics. Every member was bound to strive for
his own moral perfection, and all had to help one
another, both spiritually, and so far as possible
materially. As for the scientific work of the society,
there stood in the foreground the study of the Aryan
and other Oriental literatures, and the remains of
ancient knowledge and belief, and also the investi-
gation of the little-known laws of nature and the

spiritual powers of man.
Finding that there was nothing whatever in these
rules which could be considered in any way pre-
judicial, I repeated that I was ready to join the
society.
"So then it is decided," said Helena Petrovna;
" we must not put off till to-morrow what can be
done to-day. Mohini Keightley " she cried.
! !
Mohini and Keightley entered, and initiated me

into the society, teaching me the password.
The password consisted of certain movements of
the fingers and some perfectly disconnected words.
With great seriousness they made me repeat this
abracadabra several times over. I then paid my
member's subscription, handing over a pound
sterling,and obtaining a receipt. Mohini bowed
to me and smiled. Keightley shook my hand warmly,
and congratulated me on my entrance into the
society. They were so serious, and both of them,
especially Keightley, were so like children carried

away by a game, that my " initiation " seemed to me
like a silly joke of my own, which left behind it a
sort of feeling of shame and even of repugnance.
But there was worse to come. Mohini, now
acknowledging me as his brother, and evidently
wishing to interest me, began to tell me about his
"guru," Mahatma Koot Hoomi, and how he had
that morning had the honour of receiving a letter
from him, containing replies to questions put by
himself alone. The letter had not come by post at
all, but had fallen right on Mohini's head.
The Hindu spoke of this phenomenon with the

greatest reverence but, far from believing it, I only
;
felt a longing to get out at once into a purer

atmosphere.

IV.
Madame Jelihovsky, in an article in the Russkoe

Obozrenie for December, i8gi, makes statements such
as these :
"Every day there were masses of visitors. Helena

Petrovna had time to work only in the early morning
from six o'clock to the midday dejeuner, and all the
day passed in receptions and bustle. She was be-
sieged by a motley society, but all from the intelli-
gent classes. A crowd of French legitimists and im-
perialists paid her court at that time, men of science,
doctors, professors, psychiatrists and magnetisers in
multitude, from all parts of the world as well as on
the spot. Doctor Charcot was not then in Paris, but
Richet and Combre.his assistants, were devoted to her;
Flammarion used to come very often, and Leymarie,
the editor of the Revue Spirite ; the old magnetiser
Evette, the friend of Baron du Potet, constantly
rivalled Olcott in his cures of the sick. There was
a multitude of Russians, both men and women, and
all alike presented themselves in friendship and as
seekers after knowledge."

To this I reply that for about two months, up to
the very moment of her departure from Paris for
London, used to see her almost every day, for long
I
periods and at different hours and I never saw;
anything whatever which remotely resembled this

brilliant picture. The reclame inthe Matin did

not seem to be worth what it had cost it en-;
tirely failed, like many others of the same sort,

to attract attention. At that time the " intelligent
classes " of Paris were satisfied with their official
governmental materialism, so to speak. Those
who openly or secretly still believed in the Catholic
Church could certainly not visit Madame Blavatsky,
for she had published with the coarseness and frank-
ness of expression peculiar to her writings the most
frightful truths and falsehoods about the doings
of the Catholic clergy. The spiritists shunned
her as a traitress, for, after having herself been a
spiritist and medium, she had not only abandoned
spiritism, but had outraged their most sacred beliefs.
The more or less interested "occultists," such for in-
stance as St. Ives, stood entirely aloof, and would
not on any account have appeared to pay her their
respects.
These were the first days and the first steps of the
new Buddhism in Europe, and there were as yet no
signs that would become a phenomenon with which,
it
perhaps, it will soon be necessary to reckon. There

was about Madame Blavatsky a group of persons
who endeavoured, and it must be said with very little
success, to bring their friends. Far from any one
"paying court" or "devoting himself," she was in
fact greatly disappointed by the extremely mediocre
success of the cause.
When I or twice cruel enough to touch
was once
on this sore spot, she used to turn livid, and pre-
sented a terrible figure in her black sacque, a la
magicienne noire. " Fools " she used to say
!
" they ;
are all befouled with their materialism, and wallow

in it like hogs. Well, just wait ; in the long run my
theosophy will get hold of them all the same."
[Mr. Solovyoif goes on to give a complete list of

those who had anything to do with the Theosophical
Society and Madame Blavatsky at this period. The
list includes also very vivacious descriptions of the
various persons concerned ; but we think it necessary
to translate only those which deal with characters of
importance to the following narrative, or which will
have special interest for English readers.]
The secretary of the Paris Theosophical Society

was Madame Emilie de Morsier, a niece of the
well-known Swiss philosopher and theologian,
Ernest Naville. She was at that time a lady of
forty, tall and very stout, a blonde who had faded
early, though she still retained traces of great
beauty. At our first meetings we somehow felt a
mutual antipathy but subsequently, after Madame
;
Blavatsky's departure, we drew together gradually,

and to this day I count this noble, wise and gifted
woman, as well as her husband and family, among
my true friends.
Madame de Morsier
is a good musician and a
first-rate In her youth she dreamt of an

singer.
artistic career, and if her dream had been destined
to realisation, she would now have been a great
celebrity. But family prejudices, hard as the stones
of the Swiss mountains, forbade her the opportunity
of devoting herself to art. This was the great
sorrow of her life. Richly endowed by nature, she
A Modern Priestess of his, 31
could not reconcile herself to the dull part of lady of

the house to a ruined nobleman. She gave herself
up and above all to a life of bene-
to literature,
ficence. Always occupied with her prisons, hospitals
and asylums, she read and wrote much at the same
time she was interested and attracted by many
;
things, and to all of them she brought energy, a

brilliant intellect, unusual knowledge, and the
genius of a real born orator.
Dissatisfied with the dryness of the Protestant
sectarianism in which she had been born and edu-
cated, shunning Papacy, and well acquainted with
the various abuses of militant Catholicism, she
fancied that she could find satisfaction for her
spiritual thirst in the .doctrines of the "Thibetan
Mahatmas " as preached by the mouths of Madame
Blavatsky and her collaborators, Olcott and Sinnett.
She sent to Helena Petrovna in India a letter the
passion and eloquence of which could not but in-
terest the apostle of the new Buddhism ; Helena
Petrovna instantly seized upon this richly gifted
woman, who was capable of rendering the "cause"
no slight help in the future.
Madame de Morsier received from " Madame " a
friendly missive, and some dried rose petals the

" occult " gift, and, so to speak, the benediction, of
Mahatma Koot Hoomi to his interesting proselyte.
When Madame Blavatsky came to Paris, Madame
de Morsier, with her talisman, the rose leaves, on her
heart, came of course to the front, and became the
most active and eager member of the Theosophical
Society. She proved herself in fact the real head and
soul of the society, in the character of its secretary.
But the predominant characteristic of this lady

was her complete sincerity and her unshakable
truthfulness and so, when two years later she was
;
herself a witness, and obtained incontrovertible

proofs, of " theosophical impostures" and of a great
deal besides, she did not for one moment hesitate to
admit that she had been led astray and duped.
She fell seriously ill with the shock but with a ;
firm hand she burnt her Koot Hoomi talismanic

rose, my
complete disrespect to which had pre-
viously been the cause of some coldness between us.
Madame de Morsier and I were the most constant
visitors at the lodgings in the Rue Notre Dame des
Champs, and the most intimate with their mistress,
as can easily be shown by Madame Blavatsky's
autograph letters to us.
Madame Jelihovsky writes :
" Doctor Charcot was
not then in Paris but Richet and Combre, his
;
assistants, were very intimate with her ". Why she

should mention Charcot, who was not there, I do
not know but with regard to Richet she falls into
;
a great blunder. Charcot has indeed an assistant

at the Salpetriere, Dr. Paul Richer, who has written
a large and rather interesting work. Etudes Cliniques
sur I Hystero-epilepsie ou Grande Hysterie ; but he too,
'
probably, " was not in Paris at the time ". Madame

Jelihovsky does not mean him at all, but one of the
ablest French men of science of the day, Charles
Richet, whose works have attained great celebrity in
Russia also but Charles Richet is in no sense an
;
assistant of Charcot. He "came," not "used to

come," to see Helena Petrovna, but as for being
" devoted to her," he never even dreamed of it.
This is what he wrote to me at the end of December,
1885 "... Pour ma part j'avais des doutes

:
6normes. Avant d'admettre I'extraordinaire, il faut

se m^fier de I'ordinaire, qui est la fourberie : et
de toutes les garanties scientifiques, la certitude
morale et la confiance est la plus efficace. Mais
quelle dure ironie que cette Mad. B., qui fonde une
religion, comme Mahomet, avec les memes moyens
a peu prfes ! Peut-etre r6ussira-t-elle. En tout cas
ce ne sera ni votre faute ni la mienne. II faut je crois
en revenir a I'opinion des vieux auteurs observer et
experimenter
et ne pas ^couter les dames qui ont
passe sept ans au Thibet. ..." So it seems,
clearly enough.
As for Combre,when he was a student of medicine he
certainly heard Charcot's lectures, and heard them
attentively ; but he never was, and never could be,
his assistant, for life has attracted him in quite
another direction. work consists in
All his scientific
a small and quite technical dissertation on The
Hypodermic Injection of Mercury. Though he is a
doctor of medicine, he has no official position, and
does not practise.
Jules Baissac, a highly respected old gentleman,
a learned linguist, and a master of the Russian
language among others, has the official position of
sworn interpreter to the Paris Court of Appeal. His
name enjoys the respect of French scholars. He
has published some learned and thorough investi-
gations into ancient faiths, and as a specialist was

interested in the Theosophical Society, to which he
was introduced by his old friend Madame de Morsier.
Camille Flammarion I saw once only at Madame
3
34 A. Modern Priestess of his.
Blavatsky's; he did not attend the lectures. He

looked and listened, but Helena Petrovna could not
interest him her fancies and hypotheses did not rise
;
to the level of the daring hypotheses and fancies of

the talented author of Lumen and Uranie.
There was a middle-aged Russian lady, having the
title of " maid of honour," Miss A. This is not the
initial of her real name, but as she has carefully con-
cealed her fails et gestes, and as she is thus

spoken of in the Proceedings of the London Society
for Psychical Research,^ I shall also call her A out
of respect for her wishes. time
Miss A was at that
a friend of Madame de Morsier, and through her
took an interest in the Theosophical Society. She
was continually surrounded by "phenomena" and
miracles of all sorts her marvellous stories of what
;
happened to her at every step were enough to make

one's head swim. She did not live in Russia, and
had lodgings in Paris but she was continually vanish-
;
ing, no one knew where, and was generally absorbed

in some very complicated and intricate affairs of
her own. I have now for a long time lost sight of
her.
The whole list of those whom I saw there amounts
to thirty-one persons ; we will say thirty-five in case
I may have omitted some few who were, whether
generally or at that time, mute or invisible characters.
Several of these persons only gleamed and vanished.
Others were attracted chiefly through Madame de
Morsier. Such is the real picture of the Paris Theo-
sophical Society as it appeared in the summer of
'[In Mr. Solovyoifs communication, vol. iii., p. 393. She is
not to be confused with the " Miss A " of more recent papers.]
"
A Modern Priestess of I sis. 35
1884. It was a small circle of ladies, and nothing

more.
had been any one else whom I did not see
If there
or know Helena Peti-ovna, when provoked by my
of,
remarks on the slowness with which the cause

progressed, would infallibly have told me of the
people whom I did not know, and pointed them
out to me and besides, her efforts would infallibly
;
have brought them to the meetings, the very scanty

attendance at which greatly depressed the foundress
of the society.
Where are the " crowds " which " besieged
Helena Petrovna, as Madame Jelihovsky assures us ?
Where is the "multitude of French legitimists and
imperialists " who
" paid their court " to her ?
Where are the " numerous men of science, doctors,

professors, psychiatrists, magnetisers, from all parts
of the world as well as on the spot " ? Where is
the "multitude of Russians, both men and women,
who urgently offered themselves in friendship, and
as followers of the doctrine " ?
Surely there should be some difference between

writing " stories for light reading," and writing a
" biographical sketch " of a woman who is called a
universal celebrity, who set on foot a movement
which a " wonder of the world," and with whose
is
" pui'e and lofty doctrine " the Russian public is to
be seduced.
But this is only the first bud ; on we shall
later
find plenty of big fruits of a different and quite
unexpected sort.
V.
When I arrivedtwo days later at the lodgings in

Rue Notre Dame des Champs, Helena Petrovna
came to meet me, and proclaimed: " Olcott has
come. You shall see him at once."
And I saw the " colonel," Madame Blavatsky's
trusty companion and fellow-labourer, the president
of the Theosophical Society. His appearance pro-
duced on me at once a very favourable impression.
He was a man of fully fifty years of age, of medium
height, robust and broad, but not fat
; from his
energy and vivacity of movement he looked anything
but an old man, and showed every sign of great
strength and sound health. His face was handsome
and pleasant, and suited his bald head, and was
framed in a full and perfectly silver beard. He
wore spectacles, somewhat concealing thereby the
one defect of his appearance, which none the less
was a real " spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey ".
The fact is that one of his eyes was extremely
disobedient, and from time to time used to turn in
all directions, sometimes with startling and most
disagreeable rapidity. As long as the disobedient

eye remained still, you had before you a handsome,
agreeable and kindly, but not particularly clever
man, who won you by his appearance and inspired
you with conlidence. Then suddenly something
twitched, the eye got loose and began to stray

suspiciously and knavishly, and confidence vanished
in a moment.
It was evident that Olcott had already received
Madame " on my account,
detailed instructions from "
and he accordingly from the first showed me the

greatest friendliness and attention. He spoke
French very tolerably, and when Helena Petrovna
went away to write letters, he took me into his room,
handed me one of the three chairs in it, sat down
himself on another, and began to talk about "pheno-
mena" and Mahatmas. He narrated to me how
" Madame's" master, Mahatma Morya, had appeared
to him
he, like Madame Blavatsky and the chelas,
for some reason always avoided uttering this
Mahatma's name when they spoke of him, and
called him simply " the master," or by the initial

M but this appearance was not in the material
body, but in the subtle " corps astral ".
" Why are you certain that it was really he, and
not your own subjective hallucination ? " I asked.
" Because he left me an incontrovertible proof of

his presence ; before vanishing he took the turban
from his head, and here it is."
At these words the colonel unrolled before me a
silk handkerchief, took from it an Indian scarf of
some fine material, and handed it to me.
I looked and fingered it ; it was a scarf like
another, quite material and not visionary.
Olcott reverently wrapped it up again in the hand-
kerchief,and then showed me another marvel a ;
very strange and rather beautiful drawing, in water-

colour and gold paint. On this I received the
explanation that " Madame " had laid her hand on a

clean sheet of paper, had rubbed it a and
little,
suddenly the drawing appeared of itself.

When Madame Blavatsky had finished her corre-
spondence, and we were talking together in the
reception room, she asked me very eagerly if the
colonel had shown me the scarf and the drawing.
" Yes, he did."
" And is it not interesting ? "
" Not at all," I answered ;
" it would be best
to advise Olcott not to show these objects here,
especially to men. For himself, the scarf which
he received from the hand of a being who was
vanishing before his eyes, and the drawing at the
'
abnormal production of which he was present,
'
have great importance. But for an indifferent per-

son, whether he believes or does not believe in
the possibility of such things, can they be called
'
proofs ? I look at them, and for me they are no
'
more than a scarf and a drawing. You will say

that Olcott does not deserve to be suspected ; but I
reply that in matters of this sort no man, be he who

he may, has any right to calculate on others' belief
in him or to take offence at their disbelief; anything
else will be extreme simplicity on his part and will
do him the greatest damage."
Madame Blavatsky smiled.
"It is not every one who
is as suspicious as you,"
she said; "however thank you for your advice,

I
and will take note of it. Yes, you are right, we are
in Europe, at Paris, and not in India. People there
do not meet an honourable and sincere man with
the thought, So you are a cheat, then, and are
'
duping me'. Ah, you are suspicious, suspicious!

Come now, tell me, if you yourself, with your own
eyes, saw anything of the sort, would you believe
then ? "
" I should certainly trust my own eyes, if they
were quite open."
" Wait ; perhaps you will not have to wait long."
" I only hope so."
And with that we parted.
I was busy with some urgent work, when
sitting
a note from Madame Blavatsky came to tell me that
two of her relations had arrived and wished to make
my acquaintance as soon as possible, and begging
me to come at once. As soon as I had finished my
work I went. Helena Petrovna was in such a
bright, happy mood that it was delightful, and at
the same time sad, to see her. She was completely
"
transfigured there was no trace left of " Madame
;
or " H. P. B."; she was now an affectionate woman,

worn out by long and far-off sufferings, by ad-
ventures of every sort, by work and troubles, who
after many years had met her nearest relatives, and
had plunged into the unforgotten and always loved
atmosphere of her family and domestic reminiscences.
While we were alone together, she talked to me
only about her dear guests, one of whom I shall call
Miss X, the other Madame Y.^ Helena Petrovna
was particularly attached to the elder of the two
ladies. Miss X, an old maid of nearly sixty, whom
she had raised to the position of " honorary member
'
[This letter is retained in the translation, though Madame
Jelihovsky has herself announced that she is the Madame Y
in question.]
of the Theosophical Society," and who was then

"president of the N. N. branch".
" Here you have the very best proof, a Hving
proof," said Helena Petrovna, "that there is not
and cannot be anything whatever in the work of
the Theosophical Society that can hurt the con-
science of a Christian. X is a most fiery and severe
Christian, prejudices and all, and she is our honorary
member, and president at N. N."
" Then is there a Theosophical Society at N. N. ? "
" Of course there is, just the same as here, only
in embryo ; but it is developing.''
With Madame Y, a middle-aged widow, Helena
Petrovna, as I concluded from her first words, and
afterwards convinced myself, was on much less
friendly terms ; treating her rather patronisingly,
de haut en has. Madame Y was not honoured with
an "honorary" diploma, but only with the diploma
of an ordinary member of the Theosophical Society.
Still Madame Blavatsky was greatly pleased at
her arrival. The two ladies brought black bread,
caviare, and so forth, and the poor " emissary of the
Mahatmas" enjoyed it all just like a child.
Madame Y came in. Her frankness of manner
immediately put us on an easy footing, and at the
time I liked her. She was soon followed by Miss X,
who at first seemed shy, but gradually began to talk,
and at last got quite excited. It appeared that
not long before she had lost a near relative who,
according to her own words, was warmly attached to
her. This death had struck her as a supreme in-
it had shocked her and roused her indignation.
justice,
Although Madame Blavatsky had recommended her
to me as a convinced Christian, under the shock

still,
of her relative's death, her faith had been staggered,

and had not been able to whisper her relief or con-
solation.
I began to say to her all that one can say in such
circumstances, and certainly there was nothing par-

ticular in my It was only what she might
words.
have heard from any one who was sincerely anxious
to sympathise in her sorrow and to take a Christian
view. What was my amazement when, after listen-
ing to me, she suddenly seized my hand and began to
press it warmly.
"Thank you, thank you," she kept on repeating in
a peculiar tone of voice "no one has ever spoken
;
to me like that. You have convinced me, now I

understand it all. I am at peace. Thank you."
" Pardon me; but what I have said is only what
any orthodox priest to whom you applied might have
said to you."
to her words, and from this moment
But she stuck
allthrough the period of our personal relations, she
showed me the greatest affection, and now and again
overwhelmed me with extravagant compliments.
Why I am obliged to mention this will be made clear
in the sequel.
It is it was extremely in-
a matter of course that
teresting to me, out ofmore than mere curiosity, to
make out the attitude of these two near relatives of
Madame Blavatsky with respect to her work, the
society, the Mahatmas and the phenomena. But in
meetings and our long conver-
spite of our frequent
sations, I by no means succeeded in analysing this
attitude at once. From their wonderful stories I
could only conclude that the life of their whole

family simply teems with mysteries of all sorts.
As for Helena Petrovna, various phenomena had
occurred with her from her youth. While relating
these phenomena Madame Y explained them by the
fact that Madame Blavatsky was a very powerful
medium.
If this was said in the presence of Madame
Blavatsky herself, our " Madame " used to be terribly
indignant and exasperated, her eyes rolled, she grew
purple and declared that it was a falsehood, that all
her phenomena from her youth up were not produced
at all by the spiritist " shells," as she used to call
the " spirits " of mediumism but that they were
;
the work of her "master" and other similar living

sages of Thibet, who had long preordained her to
be their emissary and had guided her life. On this
subject there were almost serious disputes between
the two honourable ladies.
I was particularly surprised with Miss X. She by
no means served me as a visible proof that there
was nothing in Madame Blavatsky's theosophy pre-
judicial to Christianity. At one of our first meetings
she assured me that all these phenomena, Mahatmas,
and so on, were all the manifestation of a power of
darkness, the work of the devil's hands. She herself
however had no fear whatever of this devil, but used
actually to catch at his tail by always inciting
Helena Petrovna in every way to produce "pheno-
mena".
Some days after the arrival of these ladies occurred
the " phenomenon of the letter". Helena Petrovna
had persuaded me to submit myself to a magnetic
seance by Olcott, and I was to come for the purpose

every two days before twelve o'clock. I came once,
and found several persons in the little drawing-room.
Madame Blavatsky was in a particularly excited
state. Miss X had not yet left her room. The bell
rang. I sat so that I could see Babula open the
door, take a letter, come into the room, and lay it on

the table.
Madame Blavatsky and Madame Y looked at the
postmark and address of the letter, and said that it
was for Miss X, and came from a common relation in
O. The letter was not only completely gummed in
a stout, opaque envelope, but the postage stamp was
affixed in the place of the seal.
Helena Petrovna, quite unexpectedly to us
all, proposed to read this letter in the sealed
envelope.
" No, that is nonsense. It is impossible. You
never will do that," exclaimed Madame Y.
" Madame " turned on her, put the
her eyes
letter against her forehead, and began to speak aloud
with a visible effort, at the same time writing down
her words upon a sheet of paper. When she had done,
Madame Y again expressed her doubts as to the
success of the experiment, and declared that
certain details which Helena Petrovna had
spoken and written down could hardly be in the
letter.
MadameBlavatsky was evidently irritated by this,

and with some sharpness declared that she would do
better. With a red pencil she drew on her paper,
at theend of the contents of the letter as she had
written them, a theosophical sign ; she then under-
lined one word, and with a tense expression on her

face,and obviously with a great effort of will, she
announced: "This sign must be at the end of
the letter, and this word must be underlined in
it".
The letter was then handed through the open door
to Miss X. She came out to us at once, in the act
of tearing open the envelope, took out the letter and
read it. The contents of it turned out to be identical
with what Helena Petrovna had written, though by
no means word for word and at the end we found
;
Madame Blavatsky's sign exactly reproduced in red

pencil, while the word which she had underlined
occurred in the letter and was underlined in just the
same way.
The ladies, astounded, immediately drew up a
detailed account of this interesting phenomenon, and
all those who were present signed it. I, of course,
signed too.
Certainly I had no moral or legal right to tell
them then that Ba.hu\a.might have brought in a letter
already prepared an hour or two before, and fastened
up again ; or that Miss X very easily might, by
turning back for a moment behind the door, have
put a prepared letter into the envelope, and only
have pretended to be in the act of opening the
envelope before us. Moreover at the time no such
possibilities even occurred Such is the
to me.
position to which a man may be brought, if he falls
into the hands of " ladies who have passed seven
years in Thibet ".
When Madame Blavatsky asked me if I were

satisfied, and if the phenomenon had surprised me, I
said that, though I could not but beHeve, I was still
somehow dissatisfied.
" Wait a bit, you shall see better than that," she
said with a smile.
I had not long to wait.
VI.
I RECEIVED a note from Madame de Barrau to say

that there would be a meeting of theosophists and a
lecture by Olcott at her house in the evening. I
was anxious to see the colonel in the character of an

orator.
When I arrived the company was already assembled.
The colonel occupied the presidential seat at an oval
table in the dining-room ; on one side of him was
Mohini, on the other Madame de Morsier, writing
down all that was said. The meeting consisted of
ten or twelve persons.
Madame Y, seeing me, pointed to a seat by her,
and explained that Helena Petrovna was not well,
and had therefore stayed at home with Miss X.
" And so she sent me here out of politeness. It is
pretty dull here, can tell you. Olcott is talking

I
something or other about Buddhism we will sit ;
here a little, and then we will go home and have

some tea. Helena told me to bring you back without
fail."
was in fact talking something or other

Olcott
about Buddhism, but he was interrupted every
moment. Indeed it was not a lecture at all, but
a mere conversation among people who did not agree
with each other, and well understood that what was
going on was not at all what they wanted.
Madame Y and I sat for about twenty minutes,

and then slipped quietly out of the room. In the
little drawing-room in Rue Notre Dame des Champs
the lamp was lit, and Helena Petrovna was settled

in her big arm-chair behind a round table, with a
pack of little patience cards, and Miss X by her
side. Both ladies scolded us for coming late, and
Miss X said amiably to me " Well, now we are here,
:
and we will have a delightful evening. Helena was

afraid you perhaps would not come, and was actually
consulting the cards."
With these words Miss X went into her own
room, and came back with some baskets of Russian
sweets which she had brought with her.
Babula soon brought round the tea. There was
silence all around us, there was hardly a passenger
in the deserted street, and I again began to feel as
though I were in some Russian country house,
among some old-fashioned country ladies. And our
conversation was entirely Russian, far, far from
Paris, theosophy, India, and matters like these.
But the illusion was not fated to continue. Though
for the theosophists Madame Blavatsky had declared
herself ill, it was obvious was feeling well,
that she
and was in the humours.
best ofShe laid out
her patience with her slender and singularly, almost
excessively, pliant fingers, with their long nails, and
sparkling with the diamonds, rubies, and emeralds
of her rings. A happy and good-naturedly
subtle smile hovered from time to time on her
lips.
" Do me, Helena," suddenly said Miss X,
tell
turning to her, " did you bring with you the minia-
ture painted by that Hindu chela, that you wrote

"
about to me ?
"No," rephed Madame Blavatsky, "it was left at
Adyar, so far as I remember. But anyhow we can
find that out for certain at once. Babula !
" she
cried.
The Hindu's slovenly figure appeared at the
door.
" Please tell me," said Madame Blavatsky, turning
to him, "where is the little portrait of me that used
"
to be in the locket ?
" It was left at Adyar in a drawer," declared the

Hindu, rather too glibly, with a saucy look at his
mistress.
"What a pity," exclaimed Miss X; "but why did
you not bring it with you ? itwould have been
interesting to see the artistic work of this chela of
yours."
" You shall see his artistic work at once ; I have
on me just such another portrait of the '
master,'
"
drawn by the same chela. Look !
With these words Madame Blavatsky took from

her neck a great golden locket, opened it, and gave
it to Miss X.
locket soon passed into my hands, and in it I
The
found a very mediocre representation, painted on
ivory, of an unusually handsome man in a white
turban. We all looked, and looked again, and Helena
Petrovna once more put the locket on her neck.
"Yes, but I should have liked to see your portrait
in particular," said Miss X, sticking to her point.
" You say there is nothing impossible, not only for
your '
master,' but even for his chela. Now do get
;;
A Modern Priestess of tsis. 45
them to bring this portrait here, before our eyes, from

the drawer in Adyar."
" Oh, what a wish," remarked Madame Y.
Helena Petrovna smiled. " Well, we will see
perhaps it is possible," she said meaningly, and
raised her hand. In an instant there was heard
above our heads the sound of the silver bell with
which Iwas already acquainted. Madame Blavatsky
listened and then turned to Miss X.
" Now, take the medallion off me, and open it
perhaps you will find something."
Miss X took the locket, and opened it and there ;
appeared to my wondering eyes, on the two inner

sides of it, two portraits one, that which we already
:
knew, of the handsome man in the white turban ;
the other, a portrait of Helena Petrovna in a sort of

fur cap not a good likeness, and not at all well
;
painted, but unmistakably a portrait of her.

I took the locket in my hands, and examined it
very carefully ; both portraits were firmly set, so

firmly indeed that they had all the appearance of
having always been as they were, one opposite the

other. It was all so neatly managed that I positively
could not cavil at anything.
Miss X looked significantly at both of us in turn,
and said at last: "Well, open the locket now; per-
haps your portrait will have disappeared ".
" Perhaps," said Helena Petrovna, and opened
the locket her portrait was not in it.
;
She again took the locket off her neck, and again
put it into my hands I examined it very attentively,
;
and convinced myself that there was only a por-

trait of a man in a turban, firmly set, and not the
4
"
;
least trace ofany other. Judging from the thickness

of the locket therewas no room behind the portrait
of the " "
master for a second portrait painted on an
ivory plaque, and with a very fairly thick piece of
glass attached to the front of it.
" A phenomenon, yes, a phenomenon," I thought

yet at the same time an internal instinct kept on re-
peating persistently " May it not be that this is one
:
of the commonest of conjuring tricks, that all has

been prepared beforehand, the whole conversation
about the portrait, down to the last word ? May it
not be that they invited me to tea, and arranged all
this quiet and delightful scene, just in order to

utterly astound me, and to secure me with this
'
phenomenon and ever ? "
'
for ever
This single thought was quite enough to dismiss
from my mind the feeling of mingled pleasure and
fear which cannot but come over a man on seeing
half opened before him a door into the region of
Nature's secrets.
" Well, and what do you say to that, Mr. Sceptic ?
asked Helena Petrovna of me.
" It is unusual, and in every respect most interest-
ing."
" Are you convinced at last "
?
"Not but now it will be very easy for you

quite ;
to convince me. I ask your master, for whom space

does not exist, and who, you say, is invisibly present
here, in this room, either he or his chela, in a word,
I ask the being or force by which these phenomena
are produced, to put the portrait of you which has

just disappeared, into my cigar-case."
I took my cigar-case out of my pocket, opened it,
ascertained that there was nothing but cigarettes in

it, shut it again, and held it tightly in my hand.
" There," I said, " let your portrait find its way
into this cigar-case, which I am holding in my hand,
and then I shall be perfectly convinced, and be
ready to undergo any tortures for my conviction."
Helena Petrovna bent her head as though she
were listening to some one, and said " You forget :
that you are dealing with a man who, though he can

do things which seem extraordinary to you, still re-
mains a Hindu fanatic. In his view he cannot in
any way come into contact with a European."
I smiled, put my cigar-case back in my pocket, and
changed the subject. Helena Petrovna was evidently

irritated. In a few minutes I got up and said that
it was already late, and that I ought to go home
earlier. The ladies began to beg me to stay.

" Oh, please," said Madame Blavatsky, " only
half an hour our people will be back from the lec-
;
ture in half an hour, and we will tell them of the

phenomenon. Please now, do don't be silly, do
;
"
stay, what does half an hour matter?
She took my hat from my hand and put it on the
marble chimney-piece. I did not see anything in
particular, but an inner voice said to me " The por- :
trait is in the hat ". I should much have liked to go
straight to the chimney-piece, and ascertain at once

if I was right or not, but I was patient enough to
return to my place and observe.

The ladies were, greatly excited : Madame Y
declared that she saw a sort of grey shadow of a
man.
" I see a shadow, too," said I laughingly ;
" see,
;
it is condensing near the fireplace, close to my

hat."
I expected that after these words of mine Madame
Blavatsky would go to the fireplace, and that I should
not find the portrait in my hat. She did, in fact,
begin to get up, but sank back into her arm-chair.
Presently the bell rang ; had
the theosophists
come back from the began to
lecture. The ladies
give Olcott, Mohini and Keightley a lively account
of the phenomenon which had just come to pass
they requested me to confirm them, and I, of course,
did confirm them, saying that everything had
happened just as they said.
" May I go now ? " I asked Helena Petrovna.
"You may."
I went to the fireplace, and took my hat; and,
sure enough, a little oval portrait was inside, the
same which had been shown in Madame Blavatsky's
I
locket, and which had afterwards disappeared. I

could not help laughing.
" The Hindu fanatic has got over his repulsion for
a European," I said " Helena Petrovna, take back
;
your portrait."
"It is no longer mine," she replied; "keep it
yourself as a memento, if you like ; if not, throw it
away."
" I am much obliged to you; I will keep it as a
memento."
Next morning I had to return to Madame Blavat-
sky's lodgings, to submit myself to the colonel's
usual magnetic passes. I was curious to have a look
at Helena Petrovna in the light of day, after the

phenomenon of the day before.
"
A Modern Priestess of Isi's. 53
I found all three ladies somewhat disturbed, but
none the less they immediately began, of course, to

talk about the phenomenon.
"Is it not convincing?" asked Madame Blavat-
sky.
" It is not convincing," I said.
" But what want ?
is Do you
it you really
"
imagine that it was a conjuring trick of mine ?
" I imagine nothing whatever, simply I am not
convinced and so little is wanted to convince me.
;
Even now it would be so easy to put everything

right. You said yourself that the author of the
phenomenon could not put the portrait in the cigar-
case because I was holding the cigar-case in my
hand ?
"Yes."
"
" But still he can put it in the hat I wear ?
" That is quite another matter."

" Well, then, I make the following proposition.
Your portrait is in my
bureau when I go home
now ;
to-day I will take it into the garden and bury it in

the ground. If the Hindu sage can come into
contact with my hat, it will certainly be quite easy
for him to dig up the portrait out of my garden and
take it away. I will wait two weeks if at the end ;
pf two weeks I dig up the spot and do not find the

portrait, the phenomenon will be as convincing to
me as if the portrait had been put into my cigar-
case."
" Very well, I will try," said Helena Petrovna in a
crest-fallen voice.
But the dejection was only momentary; she got
angry directly and was then in no mood to restrain
;
herself; all her wisdom vanished, and she showed

every symptom of an exasperated woman, who had
failed in attaining what she wanted and at the same
time had got herself into a mess.
" So, then, you cannot send an account of this
phenomenon to any of the Russian papers ? " she

asked.
" At the moment I certainly cannot," I replied,
'
but as soon as ever I am convinced that the por-
trait has vanished from my garden, I will write and
;
I will not only write, I will proclaim the phenomenon

at the top of my voice."
" Oh, very well then," exclaimed
Helena Petrovna,
all livid ; and say that I am a conjurer and a
" write
cheat. Say that you are convinced of it. Describe

me from every point of view, with all the honours
pray do be so obliging.''
Happily Olcott came into the room, and asked me
to go with him for a magnetic seance ; or I do not
know how my explanation with Helena Petrovna
would have ended. But none the less after the
seance Miss X and Madame Y, evidently at Madame
Blavatsky's suggestion, did all they could to persuade
me to send to Russia a communication about the
phenomenon. I steadily refused, and they held their
peace.
When I got home, in order to clear my conscience,
I dug a hole in my garden and buried the portrait in
it. In two weeks I dug up again the spot, which I
had noted, and, of course, found the portrait quite
intact. I may further say that during the interval
Helena Petrovna had been in my garden, and I had
purposely taken her to the spot where the portrait
was buried, but even her presence did not enable her
invisible companion to solve a problem, the success-
ful solution of which would probably have converted
me into a fanatical preacher of the phenomena
wrought by the "emissary of the Mahatmas".
VII.
It was at this time my lot to see more of Madame Y

than even of Madame Blavatsky. We
used to stroll
about Paris together we attended the meeting of
;
the Senate where the eloquent Naquet in fiery

speeches defended the bill for freedom of divorce, at
the moment the most lively novelty of the day. At
this sitting, midst of the throng of sena-
in the
tors of the French Republic, the " ancient of days,"
Victor Hugo, slumbered in the most unceremonious
fashion, waking only at the orator's loudest outbursts,
and staring straight in front with an indifferent and
expressionless gaze. This almost mindless stare of
the poet who had already long outlived himself told
eloquently that he had no concern in freedom of
divorce, or indeed in any other matters of this life ;
that over his grey head, marked with the seal of

God, the pale angel of death was already beating his
wing. In less than a year this same pale angel had
taken him and set him free from his too long earthly
life whereat Paris, ever eager for spectacles, was
;
favoured with a spectacle of unheard-of solemnity

and originality, of which it was my fortune to be a
witness.
After a long walk which had tired us out, Madame
y and I found ourselves in the charming little Pare'
Monceau, where we sat for about an hour, resting on

a comfortable garden seat beneath the thick branches
of the old chestnuts which sheltered us from the burn-
ing rays of the sun. We carried on a lively and unre-
served conversation on very various subjects, and
Madame Y showed me so much sympathy that I
was deeply touched. At last she said: " But to show
you that my feeling for you is more than empty
words, I will speak to you on some matters about
which I certainly would not open my mouth to any
one who was indifferent to me. I have been thinking
a great deal about you lately I fancy you are being
;
too much carried away by the Theosophical Society,

and I am afraid that this influence may act upon
you injuriously and sadly in every way."
" I heartily thank you for your sympathy," I said,
"but I do not think I am a man who is so easily
carried away as you fancy. No doubt I am greatly
interested in the Theosophical Society
it cannot be
otherwise
you see, I have already told you that
mystical and occult matters of every sort form at
present the object of my studies. How can there be
anything prejudicial to me in them ? Or are you
afraid of my turning Buddhist, under the influence
of Olcott and Mohini ? You may make yourself
perfectly easy on that point."
" Ah no ! It is not that at all," exclaimed
Madame Y " the danger is not in the reading of
;
books on mysticism, and in the study of occultism.

You may be carried away by other means than those,
and get yourself into a very risky position. There
are some things which catch and pervert the eye-
sight, and when one sees one's error and recovers
;
one's sight, it is too late. You will not repeat to

"
Helena what I say ?
" If you think I shall repeat it, please do not say

another word."
" Well then, listen to me. What are you going
"
to say about the phenomenon of the locket ?
"Youcan answer that question yourself; you

must have seen what I thought of it."
" And have you made out what I thought of it,
"
and indeed of Helena's performances ?
all
To" speak frankly, up to the present I have not

made it out."
"That is where it is! You must know that she
and have nothing whatever in common. I love
I
her, I have been accustomed to love her from child-

hood there are moments when I am very sorry for
;
her; whatever you may say, she is certainly a

grievously unhappy woman. Now I must tell you
that out of pity for her I often have to shut my eyes,
though she shocks me terribly. But I love her, I
am sorry for her, I cannot but be indulgent to her.

Justnow we had not met for many years she wrote ;
and begged me to come and see her, and as I had

not the meanssuch a journey, she sent me the
for
money required, I came. I am very glad to
and so
see her and to be with her, but still there is nothing
but difference between us, we have nothing in com-
mon. She is continually coercing me to write about
her society and all these phenomena, but what have
I to do with all that ? Whatever is possible I am
ready to do for her ; but what she asks is impossible
I would sacrifice a great deal for her sake, but I am
not prepared to sacrifice my conscience,"
" Your conscience ? Does she ask anything of
"
that sort of you ?
"Yes, that is just what she does ask; she has

been asking it of me for a long time now, for many
years. To her what she wants seems only a trifle,
you see ; but for me, if I fell in with her wishes, it
would be a crime I say a crime. She cannot un-
derstand me, we look at things quite differently ; I
am a Christian, but she what is she ? I, like you,

do not know perhaps she herself does not really
;
know. She sticks so close to me that I cannot get

away from her. So it seems,' she says, that you
' '
do not love me, if you will not even do this for me.
What will it cost you ? Don't you see that this is
simply childish simplicity ? And fancy, X helps '
her to worry me. 'So,' she says, 'no one but me

loves Helena; you don't love her, for you will not
help her.' Just think what it is X really has no !
bounds for her pity for Helena, but is that real love ?
Can it be that one should take to falsehood and
crime to prove one's love ? That sort of love in the
long run will only mean ruin for both of them, and
nothing else. There is * * * " (she named a relation
of theirs who had recently died, a fairly well-known
man), "he was a man of great intellect, and a real
genuine Christian as he was dying, on his death-
;
bed, he begged me not to yield to Helena's prayers,

and to explain to her that if she had her way, if I
agreed to do what she was continually begging me to
do, it would be her own ruin in the first place."
"But what is it all about?" I said; "you are
only talking in riddles."
" I cannot talk in any other way."
!
;
6o A Modern Priestess of Isis.
" But from your riddles I cannot but conclude the

very worst. You talk of crime and ruin '."
'
'
'
"Yes, that is so. You understand well enough

what I am talking about ; that is not hard. Do not
press me to explain myself any further ; I have said
quite enough to put you on your guard. Beware
You may get entangled. Helena is such a woman !
Sometimes she acts with extreme simplicity, with

absolute folly but at the same time she knows how
;
to raise such a smoke. If you only knew the people

"
she has entangled in her meshes !
" But you have said so much that you had better
go through with it."
" No, I shall say no more " exclaimed Madame !
Y. " I have said too much and in what I have ;
said there are very few is I have not already dotted,

and those you can dot yourself. A bon entendeur,
salut."
"That is to say, all these phenomena of the
Mahatmas, all these doings, are nothing but deceit,
deceit, and again deceit " I exclaimed.
!
" I say nothing," solemnly replied Madame Y ;
and would not utter another word.

in fact she
A few months later she wrote to me from Russia,
reminding me of this conversation, and repeating
in writing all that I have here set down. This
letter is still in my possession.
As I am compelled by Madame Jelihovsky, who
knows better than any one who it is that 1 call Y,
to speak about the Theosophical Society and its
foundress, I cannot ignore so important a fact
I cannot and must not. In the chain of evidence
about the impostures of theosophy, the admissions
A Modern Priestess of his. 6i
of Madame Y, verbal and written, form a most

important link.
I was deeply grateful to Madame Y for these

admissions, which, in produced a most powerful
fact,
impression on me, and led me to devote myself to

what was going on before my eyes with yet more
rigour and coolness. They could not however weaken
my interest in the Theosophical Society and in

Madame Blavatsky herself I was myself already on
the alert and had already told myself that not all of
Helena Petrovna's phenomena were genuine.
I was very much inclined to adopt Madame Y's
opinion that Madame Blavatsky was a medium, and

that the majority of her phenomena were of medianic
origin. I had already had occasion to observe many
mediums at Close quarters, and I knew perfectly

from what I had seen that every one of them was
certain to produce fraudulent phenomena at times,
but that this did bj' no means prove all the phe-
nomena they produced to be fraudulent. If anything
"abnormal" occurred of itself, well and good; if
nothing happened, then some irresistible force
drove the medium
to "help" the manifestation and
to had long ago convinced myself that
trick. I
this was a universal law with mediums not only

with professional mediums, but with all. The mar-
vellous is an abyss with an irresistible power of
attraction, and ail the flowei's that grow about it,
whether poisonous or harmless, alike possess an in-
toxicating aroma.
I had already clearly perceived, without Madame
Y's help, that I should not find in Madame Blavatsky
and her society that for which I had in the first
instance to her yet I had as yet no reason for

come ;
avoiding her on the contrary, there were two very

;
important reasons why I should not only not avoid

her, but should, so far as possible, keep in touch
with her and her society. So far as concerned this
new theosophy and its had as yet
literature, I
learnt nothing; in other words, was bound to I
acquaint myself well with this literature and doc-

trine, and to make out clearly what there was in it
that was new, and what was drawn from sources
already known to me.
For instance, I, like the rest of the Paris theo-
sophists, was much occupied with the question of
Karma and Nirvana, as set out by Olcott, Mohini
and Madame Blavatsky. And this was not the only
thing. There was a great deal that was interesting.
As for Madame Blavatsky herself, after the con-
versation with Madame Y, I definitely promised
myself that come what might I would see through
thiswoman.
Though there was no real theosophical
as yet
movement in Europe, might take a start to-
still it

morrow, if not to-day as indeed happened. At the
moment there were but few about Madame Bla-
vatsky in a year or two there might be thousands
;
coming to her, as they had already come in America

and India. What sort of woman was she, this
foundress of a religion which, if not new, was at
any rate renovated, and was propagated by her
phenomena ? which of these phenomena were true
and which were false, or was there any truth in
them at all ?
Me she could fortunately not in any case lead

;
astray ; but even in the then narrow circle of the

Parisian theosophists I saw some who were being
really fascinated, who were on the point of flinging
themselves head foremost into the abyss into which
Helena Petrovna was inviting them to look, with
the lifting hand, with the sound of her
of her
and with the production of her
invisible silver bells,
phenomena. And then, if all these phenomena,
absolutely all, were one great fraud, what sort of
woman could this Helena Petrovna be ? In such a
case she must be a terrible and perilous thief of
souls.
And evidently she wished by every means to
spread her toils as wide as possible, she dreamt of
setting them even in Russia. This is why she
asked Madame Y, and had long been asking her, for
several years, to help her, and commit a crime.
And this is why she had made such a set at me
no doubt, in a matter like this, she had need of a
man who writes a great deal, and whom people
read.
Moreover there remained one more thought, or
rather one more feeling ; I, like Madame Y, pitied
Helena Petrovna, this talented woman in whom, in
spite of all, I had marked and divined a soul not
yet wholly lost. How could one tell ? Perhaps it
was still possible, by one means or another, to stop
her and save her, as much for her own sake as
for those whom she might ruin with her falsehood
and fraud. And besides all this, might she not be
herself the most interesting phenomenon of all, with
her intellect and talents, with her funny simplicity
and naivete, with her lies and her sincerity? It was
tempting to see through and read such a phenomenon,

such a living "human document". It was only
needful to know that one's head would not swim, and
that the poisoned flower .of the abyss would not
intoxicate; but here I had as yet no reason to fear
for myself.
VIII.
My attitude towards the phenomenon of the locket,

on which Madame Blavatsky had founded great
hopes, evidently produced no small effect ; Helena
Petrovna declared that there would be no more
phenomena, and that she felt too weak to afford the
considerable expenditure of vital force required for
these manifestations. From time to time she
treated us, though even this very rarely, to the
sounds of her silver bell. Sometimes these sounds
reached us as though from a distance they issued ;
from the end of the passage where her room was.

This would have been interesting enough, if I had
not known that Babula was in the passage, that he
always had access to his mistress's room, and that
he was a most consummate rascal a glance at his ;
face was enough to convince one of this. Moreover

Miss X and Madame Y said to me one day " That :
Babula is most amusing. When Helena is busy

and we have nothing to do, we have him in and ask
him about all He has a droll way of
sorts of things.
on at Adyar."
telling about all that goes
"Yes, and when I ask him," continued Madame
Y, "if he has seen the Mahatmas, he laughs and
says I have often seen them
:
'
What are they '.
'
like ? I ask, and he answers

' They are fine he :
' !
'
says, '
Muslin !
' and then he laughs again."
5
^
" Dreadful rascal," remarked Miss X " she ;
asked him what they were like, and he said directly,

'
and roared with laughter."
Muslin,'
This conversation seemed to have a certain interest
of its own, and I noted it down at the time and ;
when talking to Helena Petrovna I advised her,

with a laugh, to send Babula off at once. " Mark
"
my words," I said, you will have some scandal
with him yet he is not at all trustworthy." She
;
said nothing in reply, and I do not even know if she

grasped the sense of my words.
What sort of scandal about Babula happened in
the course of the next two months in London I do
not know ; but he was sent off to India in a huriy,
and no more was heard of him thereafter.
When the sound of the bell was heard at the end
of the passage, Madame Blavatsky jumped up, say-
ing, " The master is calling," and went off to her
room.
She showed us also, more than once, another
small phenomenon. At some quite considerable
distance from a table or mirror she would shake her
' was not wrong in putting down Babula as a rascal at first

I
sight. From the Report of the London Society for Psychical

Research which was published about a year afterwards, I learnt
that before meeting Madame Blavatsky he had been in the
service of a French conjurer, and that he was skilled in various
phenomena, particularly phenomena with letters and post-
in "
men ". This report also clearly shows the meaning of the ex-
pression that the Mahatmas were " muslin ". At the time I
could not conceive what it meant, but it seems that the rascal,
finding out, on what grounds I do not know, that with Madame
Blavatsky's immediate relations there was no need of conceal-

ment, had told them the simple truth.
hand, as though she were sprinkHng some Hquid off

it; and thereupon there would be heard from the
surface of the table or mirror sharp and perfectly
distinct raps. In reply to my question what this
was, she could give me no what-
sort of explanation
ever, except that she wished the raps to come, and
they came. " Try to exert your will," she said, " and
perhaps you will get them too."
I exerted my will with all my force, but nothing
happened with rne. And yet, when she laid her

hands on my shoulder, and I shook my hand, pre-
cisely the same raps came on the table and the
mirror as with her.
Twice in my presence there occurred another
similar manifestation ; more or less loud raps began
to be heard all about her, such as are familiar to
any one who has been at a spiritual seance. " Listen.
The shells are amusing themselves," she said.
'
'
The raps increased and began to spread. " Hush,

you rascals," she cried, and all was instantly still.
Helena Petrovna had apparently made up her
mind that "at present" there was nothing to be
done in Paris, and that the time was not yet come
for her to set tout Paris talking about her. Her
London friends promised her greater successes and
triumphs in the capital of foggy Albion, and she
began to talk louder every day about the necessity
for an immediate journey to London.
" I will just enjoy myself a little longer with you,"
she said to her two kinswomen and to me, "and then
we will say good-bye, and I will jog on to London ;
it ishigh time, they are looking for me. Sinnett is

wild with impatience. Everything is duly arranged.
and the psychists

'
'have long been wanting to
examine me in person. They are already tremend-
ously interested in me. Very well, let them have
their wish." By " psychists " she meant the members
of the London Society for Psychical Research.
IX.
Madame Blavatsky left for London, swearing me
eternal friendshipand giving me in charge to

Madame de Horsier, who was to see that my interest
in the Theosophical Society " should not wither, if it
could not flourish ". All the second half of the
summer I passed in hard work ; I had set about a
big novel, and was eagerly digging into the treasures
of mystic literature, ancient and modern, which I
found in the Bibliotheque Nationale, in the old

book-shops of the Quartier Latin, and in the stalls
on the bank of the Seine. I was flooded with such
rarities, curiosities, and unexpected finds, that I
quite forgot all about my overwrought nerves, and
did exactly the contrary ofwhat the doctors ordered
me, when they prescribed a long journey abroad, in
order to get a complete change of life and surround-
ings.
Meanwhile I did not find in the writings and ex-
positions of the preachers of the Theosophical Society
much that was particularly original ; but still they
served as a complement to my studies. I patiently
read through the two bulky volumes of Madame
Blavatsky 's Isis and this in a manuscript
Unveiled,
French translation, which Helena Petrovna had left
with me, that I might consider if it would be possible
to publish it with very considerable abbreviations.

On reading the first part of this work, while

Madame Blavatsky was still in Paris, I happened to
say to Madame Y: "It seems to me that Isis Unveiled
is the most interesting of Helena Petrovna's pheno-
mena, and, perhaps, the most inexplicable ". Now
that I am perfectly acquainted with the explanation
of these phenomena, I hold this opinion all the more
firmly. " Madame " had spent no little labour on
her book. She had read and remembered no small
amount. She could no doubt dispense with the
" unique " MSS. of the Vatican f but she must un-
doubtedly have mastered a whole special library.
Her Isis is a huge sack, in which the most
heterogeneous things are piled up without system or
selection. It unquestionably contains interesting and
important matter, drawn alike from ancient and from
comparatively modern authors; it contains too some
acute remarks and inferences of Madame Blavatsky's
own, but together with this there is any amount of
nonsense of all sorts, absolutely good for nothing. In
order to arrive at this conclusion with respect to
Isis, it is not in the least necessary to spend three
years in the study of mystic and occult literature, and

daily to swallow this spiced draught in allopathic
doses ; it is quite enough merely to read through
Eliphas Levi, Saint Ives, Franck, Vincent, Gorres, etc.,
and up in the most recent

to be sufficiently posted
investigations on hypnotism and kindred subjects.
Whether or no the sages of Thibet took a share in
" Madame's " literary work, they were at least unable
at other times to explain to her the simplest matters.

As a trifling instance, here is a letter from Elberfeld
in the early autumn of 1884 :
" Vsevolod Sergyeitch, dear friend, for God's sake

give me a Russian translation of the phrase genera-
tion spontanee. Devil take the scientific men who in-
vent words that you can't find in the dictionaries. I
beseech you, invent a translation at once, and let me

have it without delay I want it for my article for
;
Katkoff, which is at last coming to an end. Good-

bye, dear friend. Yours, H. Blavatsky.''
How much more simple it would have been for her
to raise her hand, to ring her silver bell, and
summon from Thibet the omniscient Mahatma or
his chela, and ask But ! of " Madame's " writings
we shall speak later.
From time to 1;ime I corresponded with Madame
Blavatsky, and while expressing in my letters an in-
voluntary liking and sympathy for herself personally,
I none the less held steadily to my aim, and said to
myself: "I will not stop till I know what she and
her phenomena really are ". Of course I did not
expect that she would at once, especially in her
letters, speak out and betray herself; but I already
knew enough of her to reckon on her constant "little"
slips, which when fitted together would form some-
thing great and palpable.
As she was in the highest degree impulsive and
indiscreet, and at some moments artless in the ex-
treme, Madame Blavatsky could thoroughly baffle
only those who were yet more artless and more incon-
siderate than herself. Her chief strength, and the
secret of her successes, lay in her extraordinary
cynicism and contempt for mankind a cynicism ;
which she used to conceal as a rule with great skill,

'
but which still broke out irresistibly at times. "The

simpler, the sillier and the coarser the phenomenon,"

she subsequently admitted to me, "the more likely it
is to succeed. The vast majority of people who
are reckoned clever by themselves and others, are
hopeless fools. you only knew what lions and
If
eagles in every part of the world have turned into
asses at my whistle, and have obediently wagged
"
their long ears in time as I piped the tune !
But the time for these confessions was still far

distant. " Madame " continued to mystify me with
her " master," and to assure me that I stood under

his special protection. As for phenomena, she wrote
under the depression of her failures in Paris "I can :
do nothing in the way of phenomena, and I am so

sick of them. Do not talk about them."
She still upbraided me for my suspiciousness. I
told her of the seances of the magnetiser Robert and
his clairvoyant subject Edouard, who, beyond a doubt,
like his teacher used conjuring and simulation. But
she wrote in reply " Dear Mr. Vsevolod Sergyeltch,
:
you are the most dreadful and incorrigible not

sceptic, but '
suspecter '. Why, what has this
Edouard done to you, that you should imagine he
simulates? But after all, what does it matter to
me ? Suspect all if you think good. It is the worse
for you." The underlined all was clear enough.
And here is something yet clearer: "It is horrible
to pass one's life in suspecting all and everybody. I
am perfectly certain that you do not intend to ex-
press your suspicions of me before people. I at all
events have never been a suspecter; and those
whom I love I love in earnest ; but of them there
are very few."
I maintain, and it will be evident in the long run
from the sequel of my narrative and from her own

letters, that when she had found a man whom she
wished to win over and turn into an obedient tool,
she worked on him by cordiality and sincerity. She
tried to convince him of her devotion, her warm
affection and friendship
and then by virtue of these
;
feelings, she got him to do this or that for her.

Everything was founded on personal relations and
on feelings. With women these tactics worked
wonders.
From London Madame Blavatsky went at the end
of the summer [1884] to Elberfeld in Germany and
wrote to me thence " Here I am, dead beat, but in
:
the company of Olcott, Mohini, and some German ,
theosophists. This is a charming little town and

a charming family of theosophists Mr. and Mrs.;
Gebhard, his three sons and a daughter-in-law, and

nephews and nieces, nine in all. It is a huge,
splendid house. She is a disciple of Eliphas Levi,
and is mad about occultism. Come here for a few
days."
At this time my excessive overwork had begun to
make itself , felt. had suddenly become conscious
I
of great fatigue and weakness. I had to go to the

doctor again, and he of course ordered a temporary
cessation of all work, complete rest, and distraction.
The distractions of Paris had no existence for me,
and I decided to get change of air and distraction by
a visit to Madame Blavatsky at Elberfeld. If I had
considered that an excursion into the region of so-
called marvels could but yet further upset my nerves,
if I had had the whisper of a presentiment of the
unexpected trial to which I was about to submit my-

self, Ishould not have gone, in spite of all my desire
to see " Madame " and to try a fall with her.
On a hot August day, the 24th, new style, I left
Paris. As I felt very unwell, I decided to rest half
way, at Brussels. Besides I had at that time never
been in Belgium, and had not seen Brussels. I
stopped at the Grand Hotel, slept very badly, went
out in the morning to see the town, and on the
staircase fell in with Miss A. To my surprise she
met me most We
were both bored, and
affably.
simply delighted to see one another. I found that
she was in Brussels on some business of her own, and
that she was going on to Cologne, and then some-
where else.
" And why are you here ? "
" I am going to Elberfeld to see Madame Bla-
vatsky ; she is illand has sent for me."
"Very well, then I will go with you."
" Excellent. When shall we start ? "
" At nine o'clock to-morrow morning, that is the
most convenient train, or else we shall have to arrive
at Elberfeld late in the evening, not before ten."
This point settled, we passed the resj of the day
together, and in the evening Miss A told me so
much thatwas startling, marvellous, and mysterious
that I went off to my room with my head positively
in a whirl, and though it was very late, I could not
get to sleep. I knew very well that in spite of all
the efforts of the orthodox science oi yesterday to deny
the supersensual, it sti ll exists and from time to time
,
manifests itself in human life; but I equally knew that

these manifestations are rare, and cannot be otherwise.
:
Yet here was the s'upersensual, in the most varied,

and sometimes in the most grotesque forms, Hterally
inundating the Hfe of a healthy, vigorous, energetic
person, one who was moreover absorbed in material
affairs and business ! The whole through I
night
hardly slept ; at seven o'clock I dressed and ordered
tea. At about eight I received a note from Miss A
saying that she had not slept either ; a sort of in-
visible struggle had been going on about her, her
head was aching, and she could not possibly start, as
all her keys were lost. I went to her, and found her
standing in the midst of her portmanteaux and

travelling bags. She assured me that "all the keys
were lost, every one yet last night they were all
;
there, under her eyes".

" Send for a locksmith."
" I have sent."
The locksmith appeared and opened a portmanteau
in the portmanteau was a bunch of keys, and on the
bunch the key of the portmanteau itself!
" There you see the sort of thing that happens to
me," exclaimed Miss A triumphantly.
" I do indeed," I replied.
As we had by this time missed the nine o'clock

train, we agreed to take a walk in the city, and to
start atone o'clock. But I suddenly began to feel
an unusual weakness, and a desire to sleep came
over me. I begged Miss A to excuse me, went to
my own room, and threw myself on the bed. How-

ever I did not fall asleep, but lay with my eyes
closed,
and there before me, one after the other,
passed, quite clear and distinct, various landscapes
which I did not know. This was so new to me, and
yS A Modern Priestess of Isis.
so beautiful, that I lay without stirring, for fear of

interrupting and spoiling the vision. At last all
became misty, little by little, then grew confused,

and I saw no more.
I opened my Drowsiness and weakness had
eyes.
passed away. went back to Miss A, and could not
I
refrain from telling her what had happened to me.

I described in detail, with all the circumstances, the
landscapes which I had seen.
We cottpe of the train, which
took our seats in a
carried us and we were talking together, when
off,
suddenly Miss A looked out of the window, and

"
exclaimed " See, here is one of your landscapes
: !
The effect was almost painful. There could be

no doubt about it, just as 1 could not doubt that
this was the first time I had ever travelled by this
line or been in this region. Until it grew dark, I
continued to gaze in reality upon all that I had seen
in the morning, as I lay on the bed with my eyes
closed.
We reached Elberfeld,
and went to the Hotel
Victoria ; and finding that
was not very late, we
it
set off to see Madame Blavatsky, in the house of

the merchant Gebhard, about the best house in
Elberfeld.
X.
We found our poor " Madame " all swollen with

dropsy, and almost without movement, in an
enormous arm-chair, surrounded by Olcott, Mohini,
and Keightley, by two Englishwomen from London,
Mrs. and Miss Arundale, by Mrs. Holloway, an
American, and Gebhard with his wife and son. The
rest of the Gebhards, as well as the " nephews and
nieces " of whom Madame Blavatsky had written to
me, had left Elberfeld.
" Madame " was extremely delighted to see us ;
she brightened up, and began to fidget in her arm-

chair,and to " let oif steam " in Russian, to the
annoyance of those around her, as I clearly saw.
We were in a large and handsome drawing-room.
It was divided into two portions by an arch, over
which heavy draperies were drawn, and what there
was behind them, in the other half of the room, I
did not know. When we
had talked long enough,
Helena Petrovna called up Rudolf Gebhard, a young
man with very good manners, and whispered some-
thing to him, on which he disappeared.
" I am going to give you a surprise directly," she
said.
I soon saw that the surprise had something to do
with the half of the room hidden behind the draperies,

as a certain bustle was to be heard from there.
The curtains were suddenly drawn back, and two

wonderful figures, illuminated with a brilliant, bluish
light, concentrated and strengthened by mirrors, rose
before us. At the first moment I thought I was
looking on living men, so skilfully was the whole
thing conceived. But it turned out that they were
two great draped portraits of Mahatmas Morya and
Koot Hoomi, painted in oils by Schmiechen, an
artist related to the Gebhards.
Subsequently, when I had thoroughly examined
these portraits, found in them much that was
I
unsatisfactory from an artistic point of view but ;
their life-likeness was remarkable, and the eyes of

the two mysterious strangers gazed straight at the
spectator, their lips could almost have been said to
move.
The artist, of course, had never seen the originals
of these two portraits. Madame Blavatsky and
Olcott assured us all that he had painted by inspira-
tion, that " they" had themselves guided his pencil, and
that "the likeness was extraordinary". However
that might be, Schmiechen had painted two beautiful
young men. Mahatma Koot Hoomi, clad in a
graceful sort of robe, trimmed with fur, had a tender,
almost feminine face, and gazed sweetly with a pair
of charming light eyes.
But as soon as one looked at " the master," Koot
Hoomi, for all his tender beauty, was at once forgotten.
The fiery black eyes of the tall Morya fixed them-
selves sternly and piercingly upon one, and it was
impossible to tear oneself away from them. The
"master" was represented as in the miniature in
Madame Blavatsky's locket, crowned with a white
turban and in a white garment. All the power of

the reflectors was turned upon
sombrely this
beautiful face, and the whiteness of the turban and
dress completed the brilliance and life-likeness of
the effect.
Madame Blavatsky asked for still more light upon
her "master," so Rudolf Gebhard and Keightley
altered the mirrors, arranged the drapery round the
portrait, and placed Koot Hoomi aside. The effect
was surprising. One had to force oneself to re-
member that it was not a living man. I could not
turn my eyes away.
Olcott and Madame Blavatsky kept me more than
an Hour before this portrait. At last my head began
to ache with the excessively bright light, and I felt
all the symptoms of severe fatigue the journey and
;
the two almost sleepless nights had begun to tell

upon me. I told Miss A that I was not capable of
staying any longer, and that it was high time for us
to return to our Hotel Victoria and go to bed at
once. She also complained of extreme fatigue.
Madame Blavatsky bade us good-bye, after making
us promise that we would come back as early as
possible in the morning.
On the way to the hotel we could talk of nothing
but the wonderful portrait of the " master," and in
the darkness he seemed to stand before me. I tried
to shut my eyes, but I still saw him clearly in every
detail. When I reached my room, I locked the door,
undressed, and went to sleep.
Suddenly I woke up, or, what is more probable, I
dreamt, I imagined, that I was awoke by a warm
breath. I found myself in the same room, and before
:
me, in the half-darkness, there stood a tall human

figure in white. I felt a. voice, without knowing how
or inwhat language, bidding me light the candle. I
was not in the least alarmed, and was not surprised.
I lighted the candle, and it appeared to me that it
was two o'clock, by my watch. The vision did not

vanish. There was a living man before me, and this
man was clearly none other than the original of the
wonderful portrait, an exact repetition of it. He placed
himself on a chair beside me, and told me in "an un-
known but intelligible language " various matters of
interest to myself. Among other things he told me
that in order to see him in his astral body I^had had
to go through much preparation, and that the last
lesson had been given me that morning, when I saw
with closed eyes the landscapes through which I was
to pass on the way to Elberfeld and that I possessed
;
a great and growing magnetic force. I asked how I

was to employ it but he vanished in silence. 1
;
thought that I sprang after him but the door was ;
closed. The idea came upon me that it was an hallu-

cination, and that I was going out of my mind. But
there was Mahatma Morya back again in his place,
without movement, with his gaze fixed upon me, the
same, exactly the same, as he was imprinted on my
brain. He began to shake his head, smiled, and said,
still in the voiceless, imaginary language of dreams
" Be assured that I amnot an hallucination and that
your reason is not deserting you. Madame Blavatsky
willshow you to-morrow in the presence of all that
my visit was real." He vanished I looked at my ;
watch, and saw that it was about three o'clock I put ;
out the candle, and went to sleep at once.

:
A Modern Priestess of Isis. 8i
I woke at ten o'clock and remembered everything

quite clearly. The door was locked
it was impos- ;
sible to tellfrom the candle if it had been lighted

during the night, and if it had been long burning, as
I had lighted it on my first arrival before the visit to
Madame Blavatsky.
In the coffee-room of the hotel I found Miss A at
breakfast.
" Have you had a good night ?
" I asked her.
" Not very, I have seen the Mahatma Morya."
" Really ? And I have seen him too.''
" How did you see him ? "
I had committed myself, and it was too late to
withdraw. I described to her my vivid dream, or
hallucination, and learnt from her that while she
was thinking whether she should formally turn
if there was not something "dark" in
theosophist, or
it, Mahatma Morya had appeared to her and said
"We have great need of a 'little beetle' like

you ".
" That is exactly what he said, a little beetle,' '
and he said it in Russian," Miss A assured me, ex-

tremely delighted, for some reason or other, that the
Mahatma had called her a " little beetle ". She then
went on: "So let us go to Madame Blavatsky. What
will she say ? If it was Morya, and not our own
fancy, she must know."
We set off to the Gebhard's. Madame Blavatsky
met with an enigmatical smile, and
us, as I thought,
asked " Well, what sort of a night have you had ?"
:
" Very good," I replied, and thoughtlessly added :
" "
Have you nothing to tell me ?
"Nothing particular," she said; "I only know

that the '

master ' has been to see you with one of
his chelas."
In these words was no evidential value
there
whatever. She had more than once, both by word
of mouth and by letter, assured me that the master
visited me. But Miss A considered her words
wonderful, and began to narrate our visions.
Madame Blavatsky could not conceal the delight
which came upon her. She forgot all her sufferings,
and her eyes flashed sparks.
" There, there, you are done for, Mr. Sceptic and
Suspecter " she kept on repeating. " What will you
!
"
say now?
" I shall say that I had a very clear, vivid dream,
or hallucination, produced by my nervous state, my
great fatigue in consequence of the journey, after
two sleepless nights, and the powerful impression
which had been produced on me by the brilliantly
lighted portrait on which I gazed for more than an
hour. If it had been in the day-time, or in the
evening before I went to sleep, or if, on the other
hand, I had not gone to sleep again when the
Mahatma disappeared, I should have been inclined
to believe in the reality of what happened to me.
But you see this came between two sleeps,' and he
'
did not talk to me with a voice, or in words, or in

any language that I know and finally, he did not
;
leave me any material proof of his visit, or take the

turban off his head, as he did with Olcott. These
are three important considerations which point to
its having been only a dream or a subjective de-
lusion."
"Well now, really, God knows what this means!"
Helena Petrovna grew warm. " You will drive

me out of my mind with your incredulity.
But you
say he told you some very interesting things ? "
"Yes, he told me just what I was busy with, and
what was to be found in my brain."
" But he himself assured you that he was not an
"
hallucination ?
" Yes, but he said that you would prove this to
me in the presence of all."
" And have I not proved it by knowing about his
"
visit ?
" I do not consider this a valid proof."

" Very well, I will prove it in another way.
Meanwhile, you surely do not mean to deny that
you have seen him and talked to him ? "
" How can I possibly deny what Miss A has heard
from my own mouth, and you have heard from hers ?
I ought not to have committed myself, but now
you know yourself it is too late as they say, a word

;
is not a sparrow once off, there is no enticing it

;
back again."
Madame Blavatsky rang an electric bell, collected
all her theosophists, and began, with the irritating
loudness which was natural to her, to tell about the

great phenomenon which had taken place.
It is easy to imagine my position, when all these
ladies and gentlemen began to congratulate me on
the high honour, happiness, and glory which I had
won, in the visit which I had received from Mahatma
Morya. I declared that I was much inclined to regard
the manifestation as a dream or delusion, produced by
the state of my nerves and by fatigue. At this they
began to regard me with horror as a blasphemer.
The whole day passed in nothing but talk about the

" great phenomenon ".
In the evening we were all assembled in the pretty
"Oriental" room, all, that is, but Olcott, who was
on the second floor. Suddenly Madame Blavatsky,
who had been brought to us in her arm-chair,
announced " The master was upstairs just now he
: ;
passed by Olcott's side and put something in his

pocket. Keightley, run upstairs and bring the
colonel."
The colonel appeared.
" Have you just seen the master ? " asked "Madame"
The "old cat's "^ eye got loose, and began to stray.
" I felt his presence and his touch," he replied.
" On which side ? "
" On the right."
" Show us all you have got in your right-hand
pocket. Turn it out."
Olcott obediently began to
her order carry out
slowly and methodically. He
brought out first a
small key, then a button, then a match-box, and a
tooth-pick, and lastly a small piece of paper folded
up.
" What is that ? " exclaimed Madame Blavatsky.
" I do not know ; had no piece of paper," said
I
the " old cat," in a tone of the most innocent sur-

prise.
Madame Blavatsky seized the piece of paper, and
solemnly proclaimed: "The letter of the master.
Yes, it is so, the master's letter."
' So Madame Blavatsky used to call Colonel Olcott in his

absence.
! !
She opened and read There was written on

it.
the paper, in the " " hand of the master,

unmistakable
in English: "Certainly I was there; but who can
open the eyes of him who will not see ? M."
All took the paper in turn, with palpitating rever-
ence, read what was written on
it, and turned their
envious eyes on me. had really incurred

Alas, I
the involuntary and invincible envy of all these

good people. Only think I have hardly arrived,
!
and not only am I honoured with a visit from the

master in person, the stern, the inaccessible, whose
very name must not be named, but because I express
a "hair-brained incredulity," he takes the trouble a
second time in twenty-four hours to make his astral
voyage from the depths of Thibet to the German
commercial town of Elberfeld, writes a profound
note, skilfullyvague and ambiguous, and puts it in
Olcott's pocket, between a button and a tooth-pick
Olcott gazed at me with such an idiotic expression,
and "Madame" gazed at me so innocently, and at the
same time so triumphantly, that I quite lost my head.
And then, my dream and delusion had been so vivid !
"Relieve" I could not but all the glamour of the

;
dazing mise-en-scene had its effect upon me, in my

nervous and weak condition I was already getting
;
dizzy with the fumes, and beginning to ask myself:

" Did I really see him ? is this by any chance really
his note ? " And then she was there, this old, sick
woman, suffering tortures from her deep-seated
maladies, looking death full in the face, and then
looking full in the face at me, as a man looks whose
conscience is clear, who feels his own innocence and
fears no reproach
!
There must have proceeded from this terrible and

unhappy woman some sort of magnetic attraction,
not to be translated into words, which so many calm,
healthy and judicious people experienced in their
own persons. I was so sure of myself; and lo, she
was making me waver
"Tell me," she asked, fixing on me the turbid
gleam of her eyes, " can you take your oath that you
only had a delusion, and that this note is not the
"
master's writing ?
"I do not know," I replied. " To-morrow morn-

ing I shall come to bid you good-bye. I am wanted
at home, and to-morrow I shall leave."

" ;
XI.
And next day I did come to bid her good-bye. I

was taken into a large and
room, which served
lofty
as her study and bedroom. The masters of the
house had done everything for her comfort, and she
was among surroundings worthy of her. Helena
Petrovna was lying, all swollen, on a great bed, and
groaning.
As I looked upon her perfectly grey face, which
betrayed extreme suffering, I simply did not recog-
nise the " Madame " who yesterday evening, though
she could hardly move in her arm-chair, was still
energetic, and at times even cheerful.

"My God! What is the matter with you?" I
asked.
" I almost died last night, my dear," she groaned
" it got at my very heart, and so look here."
With an effort she got her hand from under the
bed-clothes. It was no more a hand ; it was but an
inflexible thick log.
" How about the doctor ?
She smiled contemptuously.

" One is actually coming from England, he will
be here to-morrow or the day after. But what does
it matter ? If you die, you die we shall all come ;
to that. What does a doctor matter, my dear man ?
If the '
master ' wishes, I shall be up again directly.

that has happened bef&re now : and if he does not

"
wish, who can help me ?
I was ill at ease, grieved and sorry for her to the
last degree.
" Do you mean to go away ? To-day ? " she
asked.
" Yes, I must."
" Don't go away," she suddenly whispered in a
peculiar tone. " Can't you stay with me three or
four days ? Have a little pity on me."
Her voice broke, and tears started from her eyes.
"See, I am alone," she went on, amid sobs visibly
rising to her throat ;
" all these people are strangers,
strangers ; they nurse me and attend to me, but I
am sick of seeing them I should like to beat them, ;
to spit at them. They are all loathsome to me

strangers. But you are my own, a kinsman, a
Russian. My friend above price, you, my dear child,
do not desert an old woman like me at such a time.
If I die, do you close my eyes with a kindred Russian
hand. And then there is another thing I have just ;
finished the Blue Mountains, and it must be sent

to Katkoff; now the manuscript can't be sent in its
present state alas, I can't write good Russian
; it ;
wants corrections, and great ones too it is no good ;
my thinking of it take it, for God's sake, and

;
correct it. Then I will send it. And it is so neces-

sary to send it at once have not got a farthing of
; I
money of my own, the society gives me very little,

and it is not very pleasant to live at other people's
expense. For God's sake do me this kindness, it is
truly a good act, I shall not forget your goodness

either in this world or in the next. Oh, it is so bad,"
!
A Modern Priestess of his. 8g
She groaned, and tears again started to her eyes.

Needless to say that she touched and disturbed
me completely, and in the end vanquished me. I
told her that I would stay two or three days, or even

a week if she wanted me, and that I was prepared
to set about reading the Blue Mountains at once.
It was something to see how she thanked me
Though I very soon discovered why it was essential
for her to keep me at Elberfeld, I still think that
the torments of loneliness among foreigners, and her
attraction to myself as one of her own kin, a Russian,
were genuine. If she was only playing a part even
then, she played it inimitably. Most probably she
was genuine, and was playing a part at the same
time in her the irreconcilable was reconciled.
;
By the evening she was better, enough to put on

her black sacque and get into her arm-chair. I was
able to look about me, and to acquire some informa-
tion about the fresh faces which surrounded me. At
the time there were not many
of them; only Gebhard
with his wife and son, and the Arundales.
I had a good deal of work to do in correcting the
"
manuscript of the Blue Mountains, as " Madame
was in fact not distinguished by the correctness of
her Russian, in spite of the originality and vigour of
her style. It was this work which prevented my
being a witness of a phenomenon which took place
only a few yards from me, in the next room. Helena
Petrovna was lying on her bed, Olcott was sitting at
her feet, and Miss A had placed herself in an arm-
chair in the middle of the room, and was playing
with a little boy. He was not usually admitted into
" Madame's " room, and it is easy to suppose that
go A Modern Priestess of Isis.
he had been called in on this occasion in order to

distract Miss A's attention.
Suddenly Miss A called out, and when I entered
the room she was holding in her hand a letter which
had fallen at her feet from above. The letter proved
to come from Mahatma Morya; and in it, far from
calling her a "little beetle," he highly flattered her
self-respect. This phenomenon secured her for the
Theosophical Society.
The same day there arrived from Cambridge, F.
Myers, one of the founders and most active members
of the London Society for Psychical Research, and
his brother Dr. Myers, who had undertaken to ex-
press an opinion on "Madame's" illnesses. The two
stayed, like myself, at the Hotel Victoria. In the
evening had a long conversation with F. Myers,
I
who, by his sincerity and earnestness, produced on

me a most favourable impression, which my further
acquaintance with him has only strengthened. He
begged me in the first place to tell him how I had
seen Mahatma Morya, and when I had done so he
began to urge me to communicate the fact to the
London society in writing.
" I never considered that I had any right to refuse
to give a written confirmation of the occurrence," I
replied; "and if you need my narrative for serious
investigation, it is at your service. For you the fact
is undoubtedly important, but I cannot understand
why Madame Blavatsky clutches at
it in this way.
Of has all the appearance of an hallucina-

course, it
tion produced by circumstances, or even of a vivid

dream. Moreover, I myself look on it in precisely
this light and meanwhile not only have I no other
;
valid grounds for admitting the reality of communi-

cations from the Mahatmas to any of us, but the
very existence of these Mahatmas is to me quite
problematical."
"I do not know if you are right," said Myers;
" that will be seen from our further investigations.
In any case, your communication, by the rules of
our society, must consist only of a simple detailed
account of facts, without any commentaries or criti-
cisms of your own."

"My account shall be simple and .detailed," I
said ;
" but if I am not allowed to say in addition
that I consider my experience as anything but a
reality, then I cannot give it you in writing. The
matter is too serious. In a lady's drawing-room
people may chatter and imagine as much as they
like; but once we set about a serious investigation
of psychical phenomena, we find ourselves in the
presence of clear obligations and quite different
claims. Do not lose sight of the fact that I am in
no way a witness from the theosophical camp, but
an inquirer like yourself, so far as my means and
circumstances permit. I am only disturbed and
interested, and wish to know the actual truth."
And so we decided.
In the Report of the London Society for Psychical
Research my experience is inserted ; and though, in
obedience to the rules of the society, I do not myself
analyse it, yet I do not in any way admit its reality.
The society, moreover, considered it to be a vivid

dream, and declared that I "do not regard it as
affording any evidence of occult agency''.
In two days I had finished getting Madame
Blavatsky's manuscripts into some sort of order, and

took my departure from Elberfeld, leaving "Madame"
in a state of health which, .though it did not, accord-
ing to Dv Myers, giveany cause for immediate alarm
as to her was still very serious. When parting
life,
with me she was again very touching and I told her ;
that, though I had now nothing whatever to do with

her Theosophical Society, my heart ached for herself
personally, and in all sincerity I was very anxious to
do what I could for her.
[Mr. Solovyoff seems to be under some misap-

prehension as to one point of his conversation with
Mr. Myers. Mr. Myers can certainly not have said
that " by the rules " of the Society for Psychical
Research the narrative must not be accompanied by
any commentaries or criticisms, as no such rule
exists. What he believes himself to have said is
that the committee would regard as evidence only
the mere statement of facts, and could not be bound
by any views or comments of Mr. Solovyoff's own.
The words in the report to which Mr. Solovyoff
refers occur in Mrs. Sidgwick's " Note on certain
Phenomena not dealt with in Mr. Hodgson's Re-
port " {Proceedings, iii., 395). They are as follows:
" Since writing the above have learnt that, owing
I
to events which have since occurred, Mr. Solovyoff

no longer regards his experience as affording any
evidence of occult agency".]
XII.
Some time after my return to Paris I received the

following letter :

"Dear V. S.,
" Tout est perdu {meme) I'honneur. What
am I to do ? If you too have confessed to me that
you suspect me to be sometimes, capable of substi-
tuting fraudulent in the place of real manifestations,
you, my good and dear friend, what can I expect from
my enemies? Madame Coulomb has got her way.
She has written letters which she says are from me, and
publishes them (I have not even seen them yet) in a
Madras missionary paper. And these letters are said
to reveal a whole system of organised fraud. But I
have never written two lines to her ^ It turns out !
that our Mahatmas are made of bladders, muslin,

and masks You saw bladders that night, so now
!
you know. Olcott has several times seen the master,

and has twice spoken to K. H. face to face both of
them in the form of bladders, etc. Mohini will go to
you in two days, that is to Paris, on Thursday so ;
you will tell him, and he will explain matters. But

how you can help me, in spite of all your good-will, I
do not know. You say that you will have nothing
^
It is perfectly clear, not only from Hodgson's report, but
from her own letter to me of 3rd January, 1885, which I shall
give later, that there were letters from her to Madame Coulomb
which she did not deny.
more to do with the society; but I am ready, for the

sake of the society, for an abstract idea, to give
up not only my hfe but my honour. I have sent in
my resignation, and shall retire from the scene of

action. I will go to China, to Thibet, to the devil,
if must, where nobody will find me, where nobody

I
will see me or know where I am I will be dead to ;
every one but two or three devoted friends like you,

and I wish it to be thought that I am dead ; and
then in a couple of years, if death spares me, I will
reappear with strength renewed. This has been
decided and signed by thegeneral '
' himself. '^
" First of all, you can say to each and all in Paris
that since, in spite of all my efforts, in spite of my
having sacrificed to the society life and health and
my whole future, I am suspected not only by my
enemies but even by my own theosophists, I shall
cut off the infected limb from the sound body that ;
is, I shall cut myself off from the society. They

have all clutched at the idea with such delight,
Olcott and Madame Gebhard and the rest, that I
have not even met with any pity. I leave the
moral to you. Of course, I shall not depart into the

'
wilderness '
till Olcott, who starts for India by the
first steamer, has arranged matters at Adyar, and
exposed and proved the conspiracy they gave the
Coulomb woman 10,000 rupees, as isnow proved,
in order to destroy the society ; but when all this
has settled down, then I shall go off where, I do
not know yet it is all the same, besides, so long as
;
U had once said to herin joke that she ought to call

Mahatma Morya the " general," not the " master " " Colonel ;
Olcott," "General Morya," and so on.

it is somewhere nobody knows. I can address

that
my letters through you. Of course, Olcott
to Katkoff
will know where I am, but the rest may think what
they like. The more absurd such ideas the better.
Now, here you can give me real help. I shall trust
you entirely, and I can and will direct the society
better from a distance than on the spot.
" There, my dear friend, that is all. The rest I will
tell you face to face for I want to come and see you
;
for a few days without any one knowing it, if you

will have me. Answer at once, and don't try to dis-
suade me, for this is the only hope both for me and
for the society. The effect of my resignation publicly
announced by myself will be immense. You will see.
And do you make haste to let it be known in Peters-
burg, say in the Rebus there, that our society is not
founded for the production but for the investigation
of phenomena ; not for the deification of Mahatmas,
but for a world-wide cause, and to show that faith
in the supernatural is superstition, folly ; but that
faith, i.e., science, the knowledge of the forces of
nature of which our scientific men are ignorant, is
the duty of every civilised man and that as half the
;
theosophists and all the spiritists consider me, some

of them a powerful medium and some a charlatan,
I am tired of it all ; and since I love the society
better than life, I am leaving it for a time of my own
free will in order to save the scandal. For God's
sake do this at once, and it will not be too late.
Mohini will explain to you all the conspiracy in
Madras against Adyar and the society. Discredit
these vile Calvinistic missionaries; be a friend to me.
And meanwhile answer. I want to start for London
g6 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
at the end of this week. Do me a service. Ask at

Rue Byron ii bis, if chromophoto-
there is a '
graphic' artist, Madame Tchang, Hving there and ;
if she has left, where she has gone. But she must
neither see you nor know who you are. Oh, if I
could only see you and talk it over, and arrange and
get your advice. Now it is war, for life and death.
" We put our trust in the Mahatmas, and shall not
be confounded for ever.

" Yours to the grave,
"H. P. Blavatsky."
Together with all this, at the end of the letter,
evidently in order to win me completely, was a

most curious postscript; an "astral" note from
Mahatma Koot Hoomi, in his usual blue pencil, the
authenticity of which can be attested by any expert.
And this is what the sage Mahatma, having taken
the trouble to leave his Thibetan solitude, vouch-
safed to write to me in French " Et les Mahatmas':
'
ne I'abandonneront pas, mais, la situation est furieuse-

ment serieuse. 0. est bete, mais il n'y en a pas
d'autre. K. H."
The wise Mahatma, by frankly admitting Olcott's
Stupidity to me, spoilt the whole thing. I do not
know what impression this letter of " Madame's "

would have produced upon me in respect of its
sincerity; but in the "astral postscript" of Koot
Hoomi without being an " expert," could not help
I,
recognising the style, and even the undoubted

though disguised handwriting, of Madame Bla-
vatsky ;
and this at once gave me solid ground
to stand on. I no longer doubted that here the
A Modern Priestess of Isis. gy
matter was not straightforward at all. Of course, I

did not carry out either of " Madame's " requests;
I made no
declaration whatever, then or afterwards,
either newspapers or reviews, concerning the
in
Theosophical Society or Madame Blavatsky; nor,
again, did I try to hunt up any " chrornophoto-
graphiste," who was " neither to see me nor know
of me " ; would have been at least absurd.
all this
I was so irritated by Koot Hoomi's " astral
postscript " that at the first moment I was inclined
to appeal at once to Madame Blavatsky to fbrget all
about my existence. But I should have repented if
I had followed this first impulse ; that very day,

at Madame de Morsier's, met the most convinced
I
and honest of the French theosophists and they, in ;
spite of all the obviousness of the deception,

admitted the postscript to be the authentic work not
of " Madame's " hand but of Koot Hoomi's. This
absolute blindness on the part of people who were
perfectly rational in everything but the question of
" Madame's" impeccability, forced me finally to ad-
here to my original plan. Whatever came I would i
collect such proofs of all these deceptions as should^

be sufficient not only for me but for all these blind
dupes. I would no longer give way to the involun-
|
tary sympathy and pity, which, in spite of every-

thing, still attracted me to Helena Petrovna. I
would in the first place deal only with Madame

Blavatsky, the thief of souls, who was trying to steal
my soul too. She was duping me under the veil
of personal friendship and devotion she was trying ;
to entangle and exploit me and so my hands were ;
free. Let her look on me as a friend, in other

7
;;;
g8 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
words as her blind and absolute dupe for if she ;
got into her head the faintest suspicion of my

object, of course I should attain nothing whatever.
In any case, whatever happened, I should have
more pity for her than she had for me, and I would
do my best in every way to get her to listen to the
counsels of reason, in order to lessen the scandal
and to this end I was prepared to give her the best
advice, because she was a Russian. But if she was
stubborn, I would expose her in the eyes of every-
body, even though she was a countrywoman. The
first thing needful now was that we should meet
I could not go to London, let her come to Paris
fortunately, this was what she
herself wished.
And wrote to her begging her to come straight
I
from Elberfeld without fail. In a couple of days

Madame de Morsier informed me that she had re-
ceived a letter from " Madame," in which she begged
her to meet Mohini, who was to arrive by a certain
train.
" It is essential that he should be met," Madame
de Morsier explained to me ; "you see he is coming
alone, and, as his Frenchvery bad, he will be en-
is
tirely lost. Can he not stay with you ? " Madame "
could not make up her mind to ask you straight out
for this, as she did not know if you would think it
proper, so she left it in my hand."
" I have a spare room, quite by itself," I replied,
"and he will not be any burden to me with his
vegetarianism. To be sure, his bronze face and
strange costume will make the people in our impasse
talk ; but that is all the same to me."
We went together to the railway station, and met

A Modern Priestess of Isis. gg
the young Brahmin. He handed me a letter from

" Madame ". She wrote as follows :
" Dear V. S.,

" I tried to do as you wish, but it is im-
possible. To go to Paris alone, when I can hardly
walk, would be madness. I shall go to London on
Monday. remain (for I cannot help it) a

I shall
couple of weeks in London, and then I shall come
to you in Paris for one week or two, as you wish.
No one must know where I am except Gebhard, who
is entirely devoted to me and the cause. I have
resigned, and now there is the strangest mess. The

general ordered this strateg}', and he knows. I
have, of course, remained a member, but merely a

member, and I am going to vanish for a year or two
from the field of battle. This letter will be handed
to you by Mohini. He will stay in Paris till Tues-
day. Gebhard will go with me when I wish, and
will take me where I wish. But where I am to go
so that none but a few devoted friends may know
where I am, I positively cannot tell.
" Understand, my dear V. S., that it is essential for
my plan to vanish without a trace for a time. Then

there will be a reaction, and to my advantage. I
should like to go to China, if the Mahatma will

permit but I have no money. If it
; is known where
I am, all is lost. Now help me with your advice.

The master commanded this, and that in a general
way but left the details and the carrying out to me,
;
at my own risk and peril, as always. If I break

down, so much the worse for me. And then there
is Russia you can help me there. Say that in
;
consequence of the conspiracy of which Mohini will

tell you, and of my health, I have been obliged to
give up active work for a year or eighteen months.

And that is the truth ; I have no strength left. And
now I will finish the second part of the Caves, so it
will be all the better. But my programme, if you

approve, is this : let us be heard of as mysteriously
as possible, and vaguely too. Let us theosophists
be surrounded now by such m3'stery that the devil
himself won't be able to see anything, even through
a pair of spectacles. But for this we must write,
and write, and write. So, till we meet again.
Mohini will tell you all.
" Yours ever,
" H. Blavatsky."
Mohini told very little, and it was impossible to

gather from his words precisely what was going on.
One thing was clear the theosophists, with " Madame"
:
at their head, had taken fright in good earnest ; it
was not without reason that Koot Hoomi had written

to me that " la situation est furieusement s6rieuse ".
Mohini stayed three days, gave the Paris theosophists
three lectures, and went off to London to give evi-
dence to the Society for Psychical Research.
After his departure I received the following letter
from Madame Blavatsky, who was already in Eng-
land :

" 9 Victoria Road, Kensington.
" Dear*V. S.,

" This is my new address, for a fortnight,
not longer. They me out to Egypt, and
are sending
then to Ceylon nearer
home, but not home. It
shall be done as the master has commanded not to
A Modern Priestess of Isis. loi
go back to Madras till Olcott has settled things; but

to stay inEurope is equally impossible. We have
thought and thought, but thought out nothing. We
have not money enough to scatter and live each
separately. Some theosophists are going with me
now Ceylon (Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Oakley, who
to
are starting for Madras), but for me to go alone with-
out any one is not to be thought of.
" My rheumatism is again about in my shoulder,
and a little all over me. If it attacks me again as it
did at Elberfeld, then good-bye it will fly to the
heart.
" Now how are we to meet ? I cannot go to Paris
when can hardly walk. Lord, how I should like to
I
see you once again Is it really impossible for you

!
to come here, even for a couple of days ? I know
that we ought to have a meeting but what am I to ;
do if fate does not permit it ? If I had only been a

little better, I would have come. I am dreadfully
sorry now that I But I
did not pass through Paris.
was not alone, and it was impossible to throw over
Mrs. Holloway when she had come to Elberfeld with
me, and /or my sake alone. Write and advise me, my
friend. It is if I am not to see you again
dreadful
before I start. There is a fearful uproar going on in
India. It is a war to the death with the missionaries.
They or we ! 220 students of Christian College, all
Hindus, have refused to attend the courses and have
left the college, after this dirty plot of the mission-
aries and the letters they have printed as mine, and
the notes to the Coulombs ; they have come over to
us in a body.
" Que c'est un faux, est tout a fait evident. Only a
who is entirely ignorant of India, such as this

person
Madame Coulomb, could have written such nonsense
as they have written there. For instance, I write of
the conjuring tricks which I have arranged for the
benefit of the '
Maharajah of Lahore,' when there is
no such person in India as the Maharajah of Lahore!^

and so on, and so on. Forgery has already been
proved in the case of two or three letters, but the
scandal is frightful. You can imagine how they
fear and hate me, when a week before the publication
of these forged letters, on the day of the municipal
elections in Calcutta, there were posted at all the
corners of the streets, literally in thousands, bills
announcing 'The Fall of Madame Blavatsky'. Well,
it is a dodge, and I must indeed be a terrible person
to them; it is all the Scotch Calvinistic missionaries,

a most vile mean sect, true Jesuits minus the wisdom
and craft of the latter. But I am not fallen yet, and
please God I will let them see it. My '
fall ' shall
be a triumph yet, if I do not die.
" Send me an answer, dear man. Tell me if you
have finished the French Isis, part ii. Send it on if
you do not want it. Madame Novikoff would greatly
like to make your acquaintance. Oh, if you would
only come here !
" Yours to the grave,
" H. Blavatsky."
'
It appears from Hodgson's inquiries that H. P. Blavatsky in
her letters to the Coulombs used to speak of certain persons
by nicknames invented by her and known to her correspondents.
Thus a certain Padshah was called King. It was entirely in
accordance with Madame Blavatsky's habits to call people by
nicknames, both in letters and in conversation.

Some time passed without a word from Madame

Blavatsky. At last I wrote to inquire after her. I
received the following reply :
"Dear V. S.,
" For God's sake do not accuse me of
indifference. There is a most abominable "con-
spiracy against me ; and if we do not take it in time,
all my ten years' work will be lost. Later on I will
explain, or Olcott. Olcott is starting for Adyar from
Marseilles on the 20th. He leaves London on
Wednesday, to-morrow evening, and will be in Paris
on the morning of the 14th. He stops at a hotel,
you will learn where from Madame de Morsier.
For God's sake come if you can. I and the devoted
theosophists who are going to Adyar with me have
taken a little house here together, where I shall stay
for two, or at the very most three weeks then I am ;
going to Egypt, where I shall stay some days. It is

impossible to say everything in a letter. Do write,
if only a few words. If you only knew what a
terrible position I am in, you would not think
whether I wrote or not. Lord, if I could but see

you Please write.
! Olcott will explain all to you.
" Your ever devoted
" H. Blavatsky."
Olcott came, and had no fresh news to give,

beyond what I already knew from Helena Petrovna's
letters. As I looked on the president of the Theo-
sophical Society I could not but recall the testi-
monial which Mahatma Koot Hoomi had given him.

It must, however, be observed that in spite of his
disagreeable position the colonel wore a truly martial
104 ^ Modern Priestess of I sis.
air,and kept boldly repeating " Oh, this is nonsense.

:
I willgo and put it all right."

In a few days I wrote again to Madame Blavatsky,
once more begging her to come to Paris. She
repHed :
" Too late, dear V. S. ; telegram after
telegram is home.^
calling me
There is such a
hubbub there that the world is upside down. Hart-
mann, one of our theosophists at Adyar, has
thrashed a missionary half dead for a lampoon on
the society and me. Now the battle is beginning,
and it is for life and death. I shall lay down my old
bones for the true cause do not bear me ill-will, my
:
dear friend. Do not be afraid, the master will

support me. I am going with Mr. and Mrs. Cooper
Oakley, friends of Madame de Morsier. They have
even sold their house, and are going with me either
to conquer the foe together or to die. In the aid of
Parabrahm we put our trust, and we shall not be
ashamed for ever. Think what devotion You see !
they have broken up their whole career. I shall

stay not more than a fortnight at most in Egypt,
and then home. We start from Liverpool on Nov. i
in the steamer Clan Mac
and we shall stop
Carthy,
in Alexandria. I will write you from there and tell
you everything. Good-bye for a long time.

" Your ever devoted
" H. Blavatsky."
She started, and I was left without having carried
out my plan, and thinking it doubtful if I should ever
1 She had evidently quite forgotten that it was not long

since she had written to me quite differently about the
decisions and commands of the " master ".

A .Modern Priestess of Isis. 105
takeit up again. Could I suppose that I had not parted
with her for ever, and that I should see her again in a
few months, and fully attain my goal ? I imagined
that she would be brought home not alive but dead.
Three months had passed when I suddenly received
a huge packet from Madras. It contained photo-
graphic groups of some frightful Hindu faces, views
of Adyar, a portrait of "Madame" herself, not dead
but alive, and the following letter :
" Adyar, Madras, ^rd January, 1885.
" Dear kind V. S.,

" I am worn out and harassed, but still
living, like an old cat with nine lives. It is
a conspiracy, my dear man, according to all the

rules of Jesuitical art. Will you say now that the
master does not protect me, openly and palpably ?
Any other in my place could not have been saved
by God Himself and the hundred devils, had I been
as innocent as the babe at the font And I have !
only to show myself, and I am triumphant Only !
fancy, they have printed letters with my name, some

forty notes and letters, the most silly and senseless
in their contents generally, but many of them in my
style, and all referring to phenomena which actually
occurred. They (the letters) are all supposed to
give instructions as to the best way of taking in some
dignitary or other ; all this with names and titles in
full,and with the usual jeers at the supposed 'fools'.
All this has been published by the missionaries, who,
as is now proved, bought them of these scoundrels,
who had been turned out of the society for theft and
slander, for 3000 rupees, with commentaries and
io6 A Modern Priestess of his.
explanations. Even before they appeared in print

there were distributed throughout India as many
as 50,000 printed announcements of The Fall of '
Madame Blavatsky. Exposure of her Tricks and

shameless Frauds. Fall of Mahatma Koot Hoomi.
The Great Adept a Doll of Bladders and Muslin '
all in big letters, and posted up on all the street
corners of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, etc. For the

space of four months the newspapers, which do not
even wait and give me time to reply from Paris
whether I wrote such letters and when, have been
openly declaring that I am guilty, arguing en conse-
quence, and abusing me in Billingsgate language.
Then the American and London papers take up the
part of a Greek chorus and so the game goes on.
;
Hundreds of theosophists are compromised, and

made into laughing-stocks. Not one has wavered,
they all stand by me in mass. They have proved
that the letters ai'e forged, that the Coulombs are
scoundrels and thieves, and therefore may have imi-
tated my writing with the missionaries (as is now
proved) ; they are told that they are fools, that the
phenomena do not exist, and never can exist in the
world ; ergo, the explanation by trickery is most
natural, especially as Blavatsky is a criminal, a well-
known Russian spy (well-known, indeed! Rubbish!).
The papers are burying me a little too soon they ;
thought that it was not possible for me to return to

India at any time. At last, when they found that I
was coming back in spite of all this, they begin to
cry that c'est le courage du desespoir. So much for
that. Meanwhile I went to Cairo. There I learnt
through the consuls (Hitrovo gave me great assist-

ance, and a letter to Nubar Pasha) that the Coulombs

are fraudulent bankrupts who had decamped on the
sly by night, and had several times been in prison
for slander. She is a well-known charlatan and
'
sorceress,' who revealed buried treasure for money,
and was caught red-handed i.e., with the ancient
coins which she used to bury beforehand, and so on.
The French consul gave me official authority to hang
them (!), and entrusted me with a power of attorney
to get 22,000 francs from them. Countess della
Sala, veuve Beketoff, nee princesse Vera Gagarine, has
turned theosophist, princess Hussein is ours, so is the
wife of the Khedive's brother. Maspero, le directeur
du Musee de Boulak, le grand Egyptologiste, idem.
I left Suez for home after a fortnight's stay in Cairo.
Fin de I'acte premier. The curtain falls. Act II. I sail

in company with Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Oakley (ami de
Madame de Morsier), and the Reverend Leadbeater
(a week before our departure from London he was a
parson, un cure, and now he is a Buddhist), and we
sail with a party of eight disgusting missionaries,
with whom we all but quarrelled every day about
myself These four males and four females of

American Methodists had already read the lampoons
of their devilish brethren the Scotch Calvinists, and
they cackled. I looked at them as an elephant looks
at a pug-dog, and got my own restlessness calmed
down. They go for my Protestant parson, and he
goes from them to me, in my defence. In Ceylon I
took public vengeance on them. I sent for the high
priest of the Buddhists, and introduced the English
parson theosophist to him ;I proclaimed in the
hearing of every one that he wished to enter into

;
io8 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
Buddhism. He was not greatly dis-

blushed, but
made up his mind to do
turbed, for he had seriously
it, and in the evening a solemn ceremony was per-
formed on shore in the temple of Buddha. The

parson theosophist uttered thepansil (les cinq preceptes)
a lock of hair was cut from his head he became a ;
Buddhist and a novice, and I was revenged. In

Ceylon we were met by Olcott, Hartmann, and
many theosophists a whole company of us set off
;
for Madras. The day before our arrival (Gebhard le

jeune, you remember, Rudolphe, was with us too) a
new villainy had been done in Madras. In the
name of the Coulombs the missionaries issued a
pamphlet in which they added several new calumnies
to the old ; for instance, that in the year 1872 (when
I was in Odessa), I was giving seances in Cairo,
that produced manifestations by fraud, that I
I
took money for it, was found out and dishonoured.

Fortunately I had asked Hitrovo in Cairo to get
from the vice-consul, who knew me in Egypt in
1871, and used to come to see me, and was con-
sidered a friend of mine, a sort of certificate
or testimonial of proper conduct. Foreseeing that
Madame Coulomb, whom I knew at the time
in Egypt, would me, I put to
tell lies against
the consul all the questions which could arise
through her in such a case, and received a reply on
all the points, stamped with the consular seal to ;
the effect that the consul knew me, that he used to

see me every day, and that he neither saw any ill
conduct on my part, nor heard of any. Well, we
arrived the missionaries were drawn up on shore to
;
enjoy my disgrace. But before the anchor had been

!
cast, a whole crowd of our theosophists was swarm-

ing over the deck. They threw themselves down
and kissed my feet, and at last hurried us on shore.
Here there was a dense mass of people some thirty ;
vans with bands, flags, gilded cars and garlands of

flowers. I had no sooner appeared on the wharf
than they began to hurrah. I was almost deafened

by the furious cries of triumph and delight. We
were drawn, not by horses, but by theosophists, in
a chariot preceded by a band walking backwards.
The Brahmins blessed us, and all welcomed and
cheered us. After an hour's procession, during
which all the missionaries disappeared as if they had
rushed off to hell, we were taken to the town-hall,
where we found 5000 people to complete my deaf-
ness. Lord, if you had only been there how proud ;
you would have been of your countrywoman

Imagine 307 students of that very Christian
College, whose missionary professors had hatched
all this plot, signing an address which they publicly
presented to me and read aloud amid the loud

applause of the public (Hindu, of course). In this
address, which I send you as a memento, and beg
Madame de Morsier to translate, they say what you
will see, and abuse their own principals. The chief
point is that not one of them is a theosophist, they
are merely Hindus. Then I was obliged to get up
and make a speech. Imagine my position After !
me Olcott spoke, Oakley and Leadbeater.

Mrs.
Then they took us home, where I spent the first
night in fever and delirium. But there was no time
for being ill now; on the 25th (we arrived on
December 23rd) our anniversary began, and some
;
no A Modern Priestess of his.
hundreds of people had already collected. I demanded

that they should let me go into court with a suit
against the Coulombs and the missionaries, but they
would not permit it. At last a deputation of our
delegates begged me not to take any step without the
consent of the committee of the Grand Council, as the
quarrel was rather a Hindu national than an inter-
national affair, and I, H. P. Blavatsky, was only a
transparent pretext selected in order to crush the
society. They say that my enemies are only seeking
and longing to lure me into court, as all three English
judges are on the side of the missionaries ; that the
founded on phenomena and Mahatmas
libel is entirely
in whom and whose powers neither the law nor
in
the ordinary public believe in a word, that they are
;
trying to get me into court, to catch me in my words

when provoked, and to condemn me
imprisonment
to
i.e., to kill the society and morally me. This
kill
turns out even more transparent than Madame

Smirnoff's calumny So I have left myself in the
!
hands and at the disposition of the committee. They

sat three days and three nights on the letters and
documents, and called more than 300 witnesses, six
of them Europeans, the rest les natifs. They brought
in a verdict entirely acquitting me, and many letters
were shown to be forgeries of my handwriting.^
One theosophical rajah offers me by letter 10,000
^ Why she invents

that the letters were in the hands of the
Theosophical Committee is absolutely unintelligible. It was
always very easyj o catc h her l ying, as she used constantly to
forget her_own words, ass ertio ns and depositions. As for the
verdict of acquittal brought in by her own accomplices, she
had of course no reason to be anxious.

A Modern Priestess of I sis. iii
rupees, another 30,000 rupees, another two villages,

for legal expenses, if I sue them, but the committee
will not permit it. ' You,' they say, '
are the pro-
perty of the society. The conspiracy is not against
you but against theosophy in general. Sit still, we
will defend you.' Even the public understand at
last that it is a trick of the missionaries. Several
letters have appeared in the papers advising me to be
on my guard and not to fall into a trap. Lord, what
a position ! Here is the London Psychical Society
(your friend Myers) ^ sending out a member to make
inquiry. He too finds that it is a huge plot (!). Mean-
while I am '
sitting by the sea and waiting for the
weather'. The solemnity of the anniversary was
immense. When the pamphlets are ready I will
send them all. Meanwhile I send groups of the dele-
gates and a group of the residents, all chelas of the
Mahatmas. Once on a time, dear friend, you wrote
and said that my honour and reputation were dear to
you. Do defend me in the Rebus, in the name of all
that is sacred. You see they will believe in Russia,
and this will be a disgrace. You are my one friend
and defender, for God's sake, my angel, do intercede
for me. Write the truth in the Rebus, to prevent
their believing in the tattle of the newspapers. And
there is another thing. You worried me to send
Katkoff my Blue Mountains as soon as possible. Well,
I sent from Elberfeld in an insured parcel at the
it
end of September or beginning of October, and to this

day there has not been a word from him. I do not
even know if he has received the manuscript, or
' [Dr. Hodgson was sent out by the committee of the S. P. R.
at Prof. Sidgwick's expense. Tr.]
has only not made up his mind to print. He is

writing to me to hurry up the second part of the
Caves, but not a word about the Blue Mountains. Do
for God's sake write and find out at the office whether
it is to be pubhshed, or if it is lost. Ill luck on
every side May you be well

! and happy if possible.
Answer me soon I don't believe that you have

;
turned my enemy too. My greetings to Madame de

Morsier and all our friends.
" Yours to the end of the world,
" H. Blavatsky.
"
" Oh, if I could only see you once more alive !
The reader will himself perceive the importance of

these extraordinary letters, especially of the last, for
the appreciation of a woman who has made so much

stir, as well as for the appreciation of her " cause,"
which, far from having died with her, has been con-
stantly spreading. The letters are peculiarly interest-
ing when compared with the real circumstances and
facts set out in Hodgson's investigation, and published
a year later by the London Society for Psychical
Research.
]
XIII.-XV.
[These chapters contain, in some sixty pages, an

abridgment of the Report of the Committee on
Theosophical Phenomena, in which Mr. Hodgson's
report is incorporated. This our readers will find in
vol. iii. of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research. We here give only Mr. Solovyoff's final
criticisms.
After giving Mr. Hodgson's four conclusions on pp.
312-13 of Proceedings, vol. iii., -he goes on to say :

Here think Hodgson should have stopped, as
I
his task was completely and conscientiously fulfilled.

Though his report is somewhat diffuse, and is
generally speaking, from the external point of view,

not very skilfully put together, the internal contents
of it are entirely satisfactory. All the facts are col-
lected and impartially investigated, and the frauds
of H. P. Blavatsky and her confederates are un-
answerably exposed. But Hodgson was not satisfied
with this. He wished, by the side of the facts
which he had investigated, to express his final judg-
ment on the founders of the Theosophical Society,
Blavatsky and Olcott, and here he made two very
great blunders. He asks what Madame Blavatsky's
motive was in organising a complete system of
fantastic imposture. He answers that many
suppose it to have been only a morbid mania, the
114 ^ Modern Priestess of his.
idee fixe of the creation of a new religion. But a

hearer acquaintance with Madame Blavatsky's
character shows the insufficiency of such a supposi-
tion. Did she act from cupidity ? No he regards ;
such an imputation as even less founded than the

first. Nor does he think that she thirsted for noto-
I rietyand fame. What then was the motive ? It
I was this " she was a Russian spy," he decides.
:
But this he had to prove, and to prove exactly as

he proved her fraudulent phenomena and all her
other deceptions yet he has no evidence of any
;
sort, for it is impossible to regard as evidence the

fragments he quotes from her writings, from which
no serious man could draw a conclusion of the sort.
But what may be beyond a serious man in general
is not beyond a most serious Englishman, when
once he has heard the words: "A Russian spy in

India". I am sure that Hodgson reached and
maintained his conclusion with perfect honesty, and
that the members of the Society for Psychical
Research quite honestly believed him, as did many
English, in their train.
None the less this honesty cannot do away with
the grave blunder into which Hodgson and the
"psychists" fell. H. P. Blavatsky was not a spy;
and because I believe her incapable of
this I say, not
playing such a part, but because, in the autumn of
1885 {i.e., at the time when Hodgson's investigation
was completed, and his report, with all its contents,
was being printed), " she was extremely anxious to
become a secret agent of the Russian Government
in India ". If she " wished to become," it is plain
that " up to that time she was not ". How I learnt

this I will relate in its proper place ; and at the end

of my narrative I shall of course proceed to the
conclusions to which it leads, to the question, that is,
of the motive which guided our " modern priestess of

Isis " in her melancholy career.
If Hodgson's conclusion as to Madame Blavatsky
being a spy, in spite of its entire want of evidence,
can still be regarded as honest, and explained by the
Englishman's tendency to see Russian spies every-(
where, it is much harder to find a decent ground for
his verdict on Olcott. To the last he declares that
the colonel was an innocent dupe, and not a con-
federate of Madame Blavatsky in her various frauds ;
while at the same time he adduces facts from which

every attentive reader of the report must infallibly be
convinced that Olcott is a liar and a knave, in spite
of his stupidity. These adduced with full
facts,
knowledge of the false evidence of the president of
the Theosophical Society and his share in phenomena
whose fraudulence is there incontrovertibly proved,
by the side of the unproved assertion of his innocence,
produce a rather strange impression. One cannot
but suspect in Hodgson a kind of " gentlemanliness,"
unintelligible in a case like this, which makes him
wish to save one at least of the clique of cheats
whom he has unmasked. In any case the service he
has rendered the colonel is ill-timed and trans-
parently inadequate.
[Mr. Solovyoff then goes on to give a Russian trans-
lation of the protest published by Madame Blavatsky,
with comments, of which we need give only that on
the sentence in which Madame Blavatsky says: "I
was naturalised nearly eight years ago as a citizen of

ii6 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
the United States, which led to my losing every

right to my
pension of 5000 rubles yearly as the
widow of a high official in Russia ". On this Mr.
Solovyoff remarks " What will the modest and
:
honourable N. V. Blavatsky (who though old is still
alive) say, when he hears that he is a high '

official
in Russia,' and that his widow was to receive, during

his lifetime, a pension of 5000 rubles a year ? What
an irony of fate Helena Petrovna, while still al-
!
most a child, married a middle-aged official in spite

of her relations after a stormy and almost incredible
;
career, she died at sixty years of age, and he, though

she had long given herself out as a widow, survives
her."]
[A reference to the actual report in vol. iii. of the

Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research suggests
the following remarks on the preceding criticisms :
(i) The on the responsi-

acquittal of Olcott rests
bility committee of the society as a whole,
of the
not on Mr. Hodgson alone, as Mr. Solovyoff seems
to think. The wording of the report is as
follows " There
: is only one special point on
which the committee think themselves bound to
state explicitly a modification of their original
view. They said in effect in their first report
that if certain phenomena were not genuine it
was very difficult to suppose that Colonel Olcott
was not implicated in the fraud. But after con-
sidering the evidence that Mr. Hodgson has laid
before them as to Colonel Olcott's extraordinary
credulity, and inaccuracy in observation and inference,
they desire to disclaim any intention of imputing

wilful deception to that gentleman." The com-

mittee held, and its survivmg members still hold,
that on the evidence which they then had before them
it was just possib le to regard Olcott as merely a
dupe ; so that, acting in a quasi-judicial capacity,
they were bound to give him the benefit of the
doubt, whatever their private opinions might be.
(2) The theory that Madame Blavatsky was a
Russian spy was put foi'ward on Mr. Hodgson's
authority alone and was not endorsed by the com-
mittee, or indeed universally accepted. But Mr.
Solovyoff' s own evidence, far from condemning Mr.
Hodgson, will probably be regarded as strong testi-
mony to the acumen of his general view of Madame
Blavatsky and will remove the feeling, entertained
;
by many at the time, that he had in this one point

done her an injustice. For on her own statement,
as given in chap, xx., she had some years before
actually offered her services as a secret agent to the
Russian Government, and had been doing her best
since then to gain a position in which she could
repeat the application with more hope of success.
Mr. Hodgson thus came very near the truth. Tr.]

XVI.
The spring had now insensibly stolen on, and I had

heard not a sound or sign about Madame Blavatsky.
After her triumphant letter she had sent me, still in
January, some photographic groups of the Indian

theosophists, a collection of the most incredible
physiognomies, in the centre of which was inserted
her globular figure with the rolling eyes, and Olcott
with his spectacles, but now clothed in a white robe,
and barefoot. Herewith Olcott announced that
" Madame " had been sick unto death, past all hope ;
that doctors had pronounced her to be dead, but that

Mahatma M. had unexpectedly saved her, and that
she was convalescent. After this news there was
complete silence till the end of Api-il (new style).
Suddenly I received a letter from Italy :
"Torre del Greco, Naples,

" Hotel del Vesuvio, April 29.
" Dear Vsevolod Sergyeitch,
They have brought me back half dead,
'Arrived!
and had stayed in India, I should have been dead
if I
altogether. In the mangle if not in the wash,' you see.^

'
The intrigues of the Coulombs and the cursed mission-

aries have not succeeded, not a single theosophist has
' [I.e. (they were determined to have me) " by hook or by

crook". Tr.]
A Modern Priestess of his. iig
deserted ; they received me on my return to Madras

allbut with a salvo of cannons, so they must try some-
thing else. The Russians, they say, are coming to
India through Afghanistan; ergo, the Russian woman
Blavatsky must be a Russian spy. No matter that
there is not the least particle of evidence for it ; the
missionaries spread the calumny, and for the Govern-
ment, frightened at Madame Blavatsky's enormous
influence over the Hindus, it was just handy; they
began to declare officially that I was undoubtedly a
spy. They certainly could not prove anything, but

meanwhile, on mere suspicion, it might have been a
matter of sending me to jail, arresting me, and doing
who knows what to me. I have only now heard all
this in detail they did not tell me, and packed me
;
off straight from my bed on to the French steamer, and

sent with me Doctor Hartmann, Bavaji (a chela of
Mahatma Koot Hoomi, bidden by him to follow me
everywhere till death), and an English girl, Miss F.,
who would not leave me and they have brought ;
me to Naples. Here in loneliness and quiet on the

slopes of Vesuvius I must either recover or die. It
must be the latter. I have taken rooms for three, or
even six, months (? !). Do not give my address to
!
any one but Madame de Morsier. I wish you would

come the view is marvellous, the air healthy, and
;
the living " cheaper than stewed turnip ". I am pay-

ing ninety francs at the hotel for four furnished rooms,
board included. For 400 francs a month the four
of us live well for theosophists, no worse than a
Parisian. Do come directly. One cannot say every-
thing in a letter, and I have a great, great deal to
tell you before I go off, A disease of the heart like
I20 A Modern Priestess of his.
mine does not let one off; and then my other sick-
nesses do not forget me. I am very ill ; dear friend,
come to me. Here you can write better than in
Paris, and I will inspire you with glorious subjects.
Well ! the Mahatmas who have again saved me from
death preserve you ! If I get well, I shall go to India
if I am alive ; if I die, Bavaji will take my body
back. They have already arranged for this. The
heavenly powers preserve you !
" Yours ever,

" H. P. Blavatsky."
I immediately replied to this letter, expressing to
Helena Petrovna my satisfaction at knowing that she

was no longer at the ends of the earth, but in Europe,
advising her not to think about dying, and not to fall
into such a minor key, and regretting that it was
doubtful if I could soon come to Naples, much though
I should like to do so. I communicated the contents
of her letter to Madame de Morsier, who was greatly
delighted, and at once sent to Torre del Greco a
whole bundle of newspapers, with remarks about
the Theosophical Society, etc.
In the middle of May Madame de Morsier handed
me the enclosed letter which she had received.
"Chere et Bonne Amie,

" Merci pour les journaux, merci pour tout.
Je
suistombee encore une fois malade etje n'ai pu vous
r^pondre plus t6t. Mais je vous supplie de m'6crire
deux mots pour me dire ce que devient Solovioff et
pourquoi il ne me r6pond pas ? Je lui ai ecrit deux
lettres d'ici
pas un mot de lui. Serait-il malade ?
Ou bien a-t-il X entrain6 par d'autres, et pr^tant
aux infamies d^bitees m'a-t-il tourn6 le dos,

I'oreille
comme M. Myers de la Soci6t6 Psychique

lui aussi,
de Londres ? Les missionaires protestants ont de-

pense 45,000 roupies Olcott m'ecrit, pour payer
lesfaux t^moins qui ont tellement menti et embrouill^
les choses lors de I'enquete faite par M. Hodgson,
I'envoye de la Soci6t6 Psychique pour les ph6nom-
enes, que le pauvre Hodgson a perdu
II a la tete.
finipar croire que pas un ph6nomene, avec ou sans
moi, n'etait vrai, et que commen9ant par moi et le
colonel et flnissant par Damodar nous etions tous
des /rabies, des charlatans ! Amen. Mais Solovioff
est-il encore ami ou dois-je le perdre lui aussi ? De
grace repondez-moi.
"A vous de coeur,
" H. P. Blavatsky."
This letter at the moment disturbed even
first
Madame de Morsier. Even the 45,000 rupees did

not avail.
" Whatdo you think of all this ? " she asked me.
" I think that your Koot Hoomi's rose is a very
precarious talisman, that our poor Madame has been '

'
found out, that from her somewhat fantastic letters

there is no possible means of making out the truth,
and that it would be well for me to make, by way of
a pendant to Hodgson, a careful and dispassionate
inquiry. Unluckily I cannot possibly go to Naples
now."
Still Madame de Morsier could not be shaken yet.
She did not admit Madame Blavatsky's guilt, though
already inclined to admit some entrainement on her
part. In any case she was maligned, in any case
she was unhappy, grievously unhappy.
With one could not but agree.

this last conclusion
H. had disappeared, and we had only Helena
P. B.
Petrovna before us, sick and weary, and by no means
stranger to our hearts. I hastened to reply that my
letter had evidently gone 'astray, and that I had
only received one from her. Among other things I
observed that she had with her a man who was not
altogether to be trusted (I alluded to Hartmann, of
whom she had told me a good deal in Elberfeld
which was not attractive), and that his constant
presence could not but react painfully on her. I
wrote that I had not " turned my back on her " at
all, and that just at the present moment I should
particularly like to see her but that I was unwell,

;
and would come if it were possible.

I had not long to wait for her answer.
"Torre del Greco,

" May 23, Saturday.
"My dear v. S.,
" We are evidently both out of luck. I am
in bed again with bad attacks of rheumatism
and gout. It is so cold here in the day-time,
and actual and evenings, that it might
frost at nights
be Russia. There is something wrong with the
world in the top story. And this is your southern
Italy. No, my own father, don't come, for I shall
set off myself on the first opportunity, for somewhere
where, even if the climate is cold, there are warm
rooms to be found without any draughty zephyrs,
and one can get something to eat besides the eternal
macaroni. But there will be no possibility till
Katkoff sends the money for the Enigmatical
Tribes, which was finished in the April number of

the Russky Vyestnih. Although it is not much,
altogether 274 pages, at either seven rubles or six
and two-thirds or three-quarters per page (the devil
himself could not make out their accounts), yet I
shall be grateful for it ; it will be some six thousand

francs in all in my pocket. And then I mean to
start at once if I don't die first to the waters in
Germany. But where,
I don't know. Write to me,
for Allah's sake, to saywhat waters will do good to
this vile albumen, or whatever they call it, which
has poisoned my blood, and brought my heart to
such a state of weakness that it is not audible even
in the stethoscope. Inquire of the doctors, and send
me a line. And by the way, how many francs are
there in a ruble ? Also, can I ask Katkoff for ten
rubles per printed page (160 per sheet), instead of
6 71 kop. (100 per sheet) ? You see, at the present
r.
contemptible value of our ruble, it is the devil knows

what. In America, in New York, I get twenty-five
dollars for a single column of the Letters
'
from India '.
If so,why should I waste my time on Katkoff?

Tell me plainly can I ask ten rubles a page or not ?
;
At present have not got a brass farthing in my

I
pocket. They sent off this servant of God, with

three others, and 700 rupees in our pocket not in ;
mine, but in Bavaji's that is what the society gave

;
us for our sustenance, and we have to live on this

money. He foolishly, poor young fellow, paid here
for three months in advance. I was lying sick, and
he has never been in Europe before, and is even

worse than Mohini at the business of life. Thank
God Hartmann has gone, and there are only three of
us now; my who has voluntarily

devoted Mary F.
converted herself from a worldly Bombay young lady
into my nurse and lady's-maid, and my little Deb
(Darbagiri Nath) whom we call Bavaji. He would
go through fire and water for my sake. He has
abandoned country, and caste, and society for my
sake, and has solemnly vowed, in the face of all
India that loves me, not to leave me while I live.
But he is an innocent Hindu he has never talked to
;
a single woman, before me, except his own mother

when he was a child he is an ascetic, and does not
;
know the A B C of Europe and its ways, nor even

what I require. Mary is a heart of gold, but an
arrant fool, spoilt at home, and does not even know
how to boil coffee in a coffee-pot. One cannot talk
to her about anything but dress, and can only love
her for her devotion. That is my situation.
"If your heart is not attracted to Hartmann, you
are quite right. This dreadful man has done me
more harm by his defence, and often by his deceit,
than the Coulombs by open lying. One moment he
was defending me in the papers, the next he was
writing such '
equivokes ' that even the papers hostile
to me could only open their mouths and say :
'
There
is a friend for you !
'
One day he defended me in letters
to Hume and other theosophists, and then hinted
at such infamies that all his correspondents went
against me. It was he who turned Hodgson, the

representative sent by the London Psychical Society
to inquire into the phenomena in India, from a friend,
as he was at first, into an enemy. He is a cynic, a
liar, cunning and yindictive, and his jealousy of the
master, and his envy for any one on whom the

master bestows the least attention, are simply re-

pulsive. He has turned our devoted Judge, when
despatched by Olcott from Paris to Adyar, into our
enemy. He set against me at one time all the
Europeans in Adyar, Lane Fox, Mr. and Mrs. Oakley,
Brown the Hindus alone, who hate him and have
;
long since taken his measure, he was unable to stir.

Now I have been able to save the society from him,
by agreeing to take him with me under the plea that
he is a doctor. The society, and Olcott at their
head, were so afraid of him that they did not dare
expel him. And all this he did in order to have the
sole command of me, to suck out of me all I know
while I am yet alive ; not to allow Subba Rao to
write La Doctrine Secrete with me, but to write it
himself under my But he is greatly mis-

direction.
taken. I have brought him here and told him that
I shall now not write The Secret Doctrine at all, but
shall write for the Russian reviews, and I have re-
fused to speak to him a single word about occultism.
Seeing that had vowed I to keep silence and teach
him nothing, he has gone at last.No doubt he will
now set about telling lies about me to the German
society. But it is all the same to me now. Let him
lie. was he who persuaded Bavaji to pay for
It
three months in advance, knowing that I had no

money, and must stay here whether I would or no.^
^ If to the facts of Hodgson's report we add this description

by Blavatsky herself, the picture of Dr. Hartmann
Madame
is a perfectly clear one. But Madame Jelihovsky in her
articles draws from this gentleman great profit for herself. To
her articles in the Novosti she prefixes, the following motto,
" The future is not far distant when the historian will be glad
" But I am writing to Katkoff and asking for

my payment, my own money, for the Enigmatical
Tribes, and then I shall go to Wiesbaden, Marien-
bad, or some other Bad, which I greatly need after ;
that I shall settle in Munich or near Vienna it is all ;
the same where, so long as I can find a warm room

and be nearer to Russia and to X, so that when I die
I may see her beside me. Advise me what I am to

do.
" Of your two letters
I have received one ordinary
one, and the other registered, this very day only, and
I am losing no time in answering. Here even the
post-office seems to have gone out of its mind. One
day, a few days ago, they brought me an insured
letter; I gave the receipt, and was just about to
to rummageall archives, in order to find a single word about
H. and to this she appends, "Dr. Hartmann". The

P. B.,"
reader supposes that this is the famous German philosopher
Edward Hartmann, who is deeply interested, as is generally
known, in various unexplained phenomena he accordingly ;
bows reverently, thinking: "Oh, if Hartmann says so, then it

means that the matter may be no farce after all ". But this is
only a small and innocent mystification. The words of the
motto do after all belong to the theosophist Franz Hartmann,
who first attached himself to Madame Blavatsky, then left her,
and since, as appears from Madame Jelihovsky's articles, has
again joined her. Madame Jelihovsky speaks of him {Russkoe
Obozrenie, Nov., 1891, p. 244) as one of the best but most cool-
headed appraisers of Madame Blavatsky, and in consideration
of this cool-headedness she quotes his words and opinions with
particular satisfaction. But what he
will the historian say, as
rummages all the archives to find a single word about H. P. B.,
when he reads this sketch of the panegyrist of H. P. B. drawn
by herself ? Madame Jelihovsky has no luck with the defen-
ders and friends of " Madame ".
open it, when I suddenly saw that it was not for

me, but for some Mr. Blagoveshchensky at Nagasaki
in Japan, and not at Naples at all. And with money
in it too, it seems. But the postman had gone.
Three days afterwards I handed it back at the post-
office in Naples to the postmaster himself, and he
was frightfully upset. It would be a good thing to
publish this in Russia. So your letter has very
likely gone off to Japan.
" Eternal love and friendship from
" Yours faithfully till the grave,

" H. Blavatsky.
" I want a philosophical journal to edit over here.
But I shall have no time. My end is near, my dear
friend. Write to me soon."
From this letter compared with the "triumphant"
one from Adyar, with the first from Torre del Greco,
and with the French one to Madame de Morsier, in
spite of all Helena Petrovna's entrainements her really
piteous plight was clear enough. She had evidently
suffered a complete defeat over there, and even her
marvellous rescue from death by the Mahatmas had
failed to produce its due effect. She fled to Europe
(for, with her character and habits, the initiative
could have belonged to herself only, and not in any
way to Olcott, nor to any " Council of the Society"),
very ill, with companions who were of no use
to her ; and now she was lying in miserable sur-
roundings, without assistance, without money, and
forgotten by all. This was why she so eagerly
clutched at me, and was so afraid that I might have
turned against her. It was unfortunately out of the
question for me to go to her, and I consoled myself
with the thought that it was now only a matter of
two or three months, that I should see her somewhere

or other, and at last learn everything, with circum-
stance and certainty.
A few days later, at a very critical moment,
Helena Petrovna received "from an unknown friend "
a sum of money, and was particularly anxious to
learn who it was that had come to her help. She
wrote to Madame de Morsier.
"... Ah, ma pauvre amie ! Les temps sont
bien chang6s et la pauvre socidt6 de Madras etant
sans le sou, je le suis aussi ; de manidre que cet
argent est arrive bien i propos, je vous assure. Si
je pouvais ecrire mes articles russes ^j'en ferai bien
vite ; mais le malheur est que j'ai eL rester alit6e les
trois quarts de temps. Je ne durerai pas longtemps
allez ! J'accepte cet argent de I'ami inconnu sans
fausse honte, mais je tiens k savoir son nom. Le
maitre a refus6 de me
en disant simplement
le dire,
que c'etait d'un vrai ami et que je pouvais accepter.

Mais vous, ne me le direz vous pas ? Est-ce la

duchesse ? Mais non car pourquoi s'en cacherait-
elle, et puis c'est un ami, et non une amie. Dans
tout cas le Maitre le connait, c'est s<ir, car il a ajout6
que son intuition pour les verites occultes 6tait grande
>
et qu'il avait de I'etoffe en lui, quoique mais je . . .
ne dois pas le dire, a ce qu'il parait. Ah, que je

m'ennuie donc.ici, bon Dieu et que je voudrais m'en
!
aller si le maitre le permettait. . . . Que fait
done Solovioff ? Est-il malade toujours ? Je I'aime >
bien, mon ami Solovioff, mais il dit des b^tises de

nos Mahatmas, ce pauvre Thomas I'incredule.
" A vous de coeur,
" H. P. Blavatsky."
Though unhappy, though regarding herself as for

ever vanquished and though evidently
disgraced,
falling at times into despair,
though sick and deserted,
Helena Petrovna still remained true to herself. She
continued to delude good folks with her " master," not
in the least disturbed by the artlessness and primi-
tiveness of these "astral" visits of the mysterious
Mahatma, during which he used to make her com-
munications which communicated nothing, and
" save her, without regard to what he saved her
''
from. What need to invent anything more subtle

and crafty, when this simple farce was good
'
'
enough not only for educated ladies, but even for

educated men, provided only they were " friends of
Helena Petrovna's " ? At the same time, feeling her
need of me, and while sending me her " love, friend-
ship, and faithfulness to the grave," she was already
very anxious lest I should " spoil " something, for I
had spoken very disrespectfully in my letters to her
of her " master," and generally about all her " Ma-
hatma business " so she hastens to warn Madame
;
de Morsier against me, as an " unbelieving Thomas ".

Madame de Morsier was not able to give her any
information about the " unknown friend," and I sent
her in reference to her "warning" a playful letter,
in which I had grown definitely tired of

said that I
her Theosophical Society, and that I believed in
none of her phenomena or Mahatmas but for ;
hei^self, my kindest Helena Petrovna, I loved her no
less than she loved me, and that I intended to de-

molish her malicious enemy, Madame Coulomb. I
added that I should soon be taking a trip to Switzer-
land, and hoped that we should meet, and that she
9

would turn aside to me on her way into Germany.

I received the following reply :
" Dear V. S.,

" Write
where you will settle down. I
have decided to go to Germany for the winter;

even if it is cold, at least the rooms are warm, and
here I am always catching cold so in passing I can ;
stop where you are staying. Krishna Swami ^ is

with me, and he is kind. Why do you make attacks
on the society in your letters to Y too ? For God's
sake, if only for the sake of our personal friendship,
do not desert it; poor Olcott does what his con-
science bids him, and he would be delighted to sacri-
fice himself this instant for the good of the society. If
we meet I will tellBut why is it that you
you all.
write so obscurely ? What have you made up your

mind to do with this rascally Coulomb woman ?
Why, when I left she had persuaded the mission-
aries to get up a subscription for her, for the
'
service she had rendered humanity and society in
general by unmasking Madame Blavatsky The !
'
Bishop of Madras headed the list, and the mission-

aries collected her 5000 rupees, or 10,000 francs.
She is coming to Europe on Madame Blavatsky's
'
track,' as the missionary Patterson writes, the editor

of the paper which is unma,sking me.
" Heartily welcome ! But is it not true, comme
I'innocence triomphe et le vice est puni ? How charm-

ing the world is what a darling What will be in
!
the future ? What has Sinnett done, as Madame X

writes, in Paris ? I do not understand anything.
^ One of the many aliases of Bavaji.

;
And why do not you write me in detail ? Oh, what

a man you are Her pamphlet ? It is good, and so
!
truthful I owe her money to this day ?

! Why, I
have a from Ceylon, eight years after I
letter of hers
was which she begs me to lend her
in Egypt, in
money. I did conjuring at Cairo ? But all the
town knows and remembers that I was not in the
place when our hired mediums, her friends, were
detected in this conjuring, and I instantly turned
them off and lost 600 francs myself. Oh, she
is woman. Let who will inquire at Cairo
a vile
they know her there, and she is never called
all
anything but la sorciere and la voleuse. And now the

missionaries have taken her under their wing ! Lord,
what infamy, what a conspiracy ! But enough of
this abomination.
" I am writing the second part of the Caves. You
have not answered my question about Katkoff. I
have caught a cold, and was in a fever all night.
" Till we meet, dear V. S.,
" Your ever devoted
" H. Blavatsky."
On reading this letter I could not help feeling
amazed. I knew nothing of the pamphlet of the
" Coulomb woman " but ; it was clear that I had
now before me a fight royal of two grand " fish-wives '.
Only the causes of the battle were, instead of tubs

of fish, the " universal brotherhood," and the " secrets
of the human
soul, and of nature " and the war-cry ;
was :
"
There is no religion higher than truth ".
I left for Geneva, and thence for the mountains,
and soon appeared high up in a little hamlet called

St. Cergues, where I found myself with Madame de
Morsier and her family.

XVII.
We were well off in the modest but perfectly com-

fortable Pension Delaigue, in the midst of a garden
full of flowers. For six francs a day we were given
a room with a soft bed, breakfast, dinner
clean
and supper; abundant meals prepared by a skilful
Parisian cook. The Lake of Geneva was seen from
the height like a blue pond, and Mont Blanc looked
us straight in the face in all his silver grandeur. Still
I sent Madame Blavatsky our address. At the end

of July there was a letter from her :
" Dear V. S.,

" Pardon me, I could not write ; my right
hand is so swollen that my fingers are numb. I am
in a bad way. to-morrow to settle for the
I start
winter in Wiirzburg, a few hours from Munich, i.e.,

in Bavaria. I shall winter there, and meanwhile see
if the Pandour waters in Kissingen won't do my gout
good. I shall go there with Bavaji and Miss F., my

friend, but a great fool.
"Lord, how sick I am
Now do write if you
of life !
cannot come yourself. seems that it is not far

It
from Munich to your place but Wiirzburg is still

;
some hours from the Bavarian capital. Madame X

promises to come. I do not know if it will be so.
But still Munich is nearer than Naples to O. Here
we have passed from cold, frost, and rain to a heat

more oppressive than in India. My cordial bow to
you, and eternal, unceasing love and friendship. I
shall go through Rome and Verona.

" Farewell, till we meet again, or, as fate ordains,
till death,
" H. Blavatsky."
Five days later came a telegram from Rome: "En

route pour Wurzburg pres Munich pour hiver. Blavat-
sky." The same day, three hours after the first, a
second telegram :
" Restons Hotel Anglo- Am ericain,
Rome, huit jours ecrivez ici. Blavatsky." I tele-
graphed, " Come here," and explained by what route
they should come. Answer on the third day " Va :
banque Partons demain Geneve t6legraphiez ou la

!
rencontre. Blavatsky." I telegraphed, "A St. Cer-

gues," and waited, having agreed with Madame de
Morsier that if " Madame" did not come we would
meet her at Geneva.
But she came. Heavens, what a sight was
it I !
fancy that the inhabitants of St. Cergues must speak

of it to this day as a mythological event.
At the usual hour, after dinner, about three o'clock,

the Geneva diligence arrived at the Pension Delaigue.
Round it, as always, there gathered a crowd to get
the newspapers and letters, and to observe the new
arrivals, if such there were.
Suddenly there sprang from the diligence a strange
creature, something half way between a great ape
and a tiny black man. Its leanness was amazing.
A poor half-European sort of dress dangled on it, as
though there were nothing but bones beneath a face ;
134 ^ Modern Priestess of Isis.
the size of a fist, cinnamon colour and

of a dark
without any signs of vegetation on the head a dense
;
cap of long black curling hair; huge eyes, also

perfectly black, of course, with a frightened and sus-
picious expression. The black man said something
in English with a piping but at the same time hoarse
voice.
After him emerged a clumsy young person, with
a red, disconcerted and not particularly intelligent
face.
The public gazed open-mouthed at the black man.
But the most interesting was yet to come- The
black man and the clumsy young woman, and then I
and Madame de Morsier, succeeded with great diffi-
culty in extricating from the diligence something that
was shut up in it. This something was " Madame "
herself, all swollen, tired out with travelling, grum-
bling with a huge dark-grey face, and wide open
;
eyes, like two round discoloured turquoises. On her

head was set a very high grey felt fireman's helmet
with ventilators a'nd a veil. Her globular figure
seemed yet more globular from an incredible sort of
sacque in which she was draped.
After embracing us and declaring that Bavaji
understood nothing at all, and that this " idiot of a
girl " was so stupid that there had never been a like fool
upon the earth, " Madame " set about scolding them
in very choice language and worrying them without
the least mercy. At last they both became incapable
of understanding anything whatever, suffering was
depicted on their countenances, and tears stood in
their eyes.
To complete the misfortune it appeared that our
pension had not the requisite accommodation free,

viz., three adjoining rooms.
Somehow or other all was finally arranged, and in

an hour Helena Petrovna settled in an adjacent
house, dined with a poor appetite, and scolded on ;
the black and the young person were driven from

pillar to post, unable to please her with anything,
and I and Madame de Morsier sat and looked on at
it all.
my friends, now you see my position

" There,
yourselves," she at last addressed herself to us.
" Some days I can move neither hand nor foot and
lie likea log, and no one to help me to anything.
Bavaji only spins like a top and never stirs from his
place, and this Mashka F. " (she never called her any-
thing but Mashka') "is a born fool, and I curse the
day when I agreed to take her with me. You see,
the fact she was dreadfully bored there at home,
is
and thought that she would find some agreeable

distractions in travelling ; and can you imagine,
as soon as a man shows his face she is all over
ribbons, she rolls her eyes, and generally behaves
herself in the most unbecoming way, though she
is a Buddhist. Why she took' to Buddhism I cannot
conceive.
"And yet, though she is a fool"
"Madame"
suddenly recollected herself "yet, just ask her, she
sees the master almost every day, when he appears
to me. Mary, come here."
Mashka ran up panting, with a frightened expres-
sion on her red face.
1
The Russian diminutive of Mary.
" Tell the truth "

do you see the master ?
;
" Oh yes, yes I see him."

;
" There now, you see Why should she lie ?

!
And she is such a fool that she could not even make
up a lie she does see, and there is an end of it.
;
Now go and disprove her, or say that she has hal-

lucinations every day And yet, according to the
!
psychical gentleman, I invented the Mahatmas

"
myself !
She was positively unable to grasp the fact that

her method of proof, with the aid of witnesses like
Mashka and Bavaji, was extremely insufficient on
European soil. When she got to the Coulombs,
Hodgson, and the Protestant missionaries, there
poured from her lips such contradictory assertions,
and such choice abuse, that Madame de Morsier and
I quite lost heart, and almost stopped her mouth
and quieted her by force.

She suddenly calmed down, changed her manner,
passed out of her malicious mood, and soared into
other spheres. And from these other spheres was
heard her inspired voice.
Her thoughts, at any rate interesting, and some-
times very deep, were always expressed by Helena
Petrovna with an unusual simplicity and clearness
which were an indubitable proof of true talent, and
were in fact the principal magnet which drew me to
her. At other times, and quite unexpectedly, she
changed into a really inspired prophetess, she was
entirely transfigured, and forced one to forget that
after all she was no more than a most shameless
impostor, whom it was one's only duty to unveil,
finally and evidently for all the world whom one ;
;
must endeavour to force to give up for ever her

pernicious and revolting deceptions.
Changing hourly, and displaying in turn all her
qualities and defects, herself constantly blazing and
boiling, she setup a sort of whirlwind all about her,
into which every one fell, though but for a time, who
came into immediate contact with her. For the
moment it was impossible to hold oneself straight
one's head swam. Yet, in spite of her physical
sufferings, her attacks of despair, of fury and of
hopelessness, she still went on to her goal. It was
now necessary for her, before all things, to get me
and Madame de Morsier into her Her
hands.
friend and assistant, Sinnett, had already communi-
cated to her from London the detailed contents of
Hodgson's report, now being prepared for the press,
and straight to her heart had gone that insult she ;
was proclaimed an impostor, and Olcott an innocent

fool.
" But do, in the name of all that is sacred, write to
Myers," she begged me, " that this is idiotic on their
part. If I am an impostress, then Olcott is an im-
postor. Of course he is a fool and credulous, but not
to that degree. Why, it would be positively unnatu-
ral! And why do they want to acquit him ? "
This " injustice " perturbed and irritated her in the
highest degree. But she forgot even Olcott when, in
the course of conversation, I told her that we should
soon have to part and go in different directions.

" And where are you going ? "
" I mean to spend the early autumn in Lucerne,
and by October i I must be in St. Petersburg."
She began literally to beseech me to go with her to
;
Wiirzburg, and, well knowing that August and

September in a stuffy German town would not be
particularly attractive to me, she tried seduction.
" Stay two months in Wtirzburg, and I swear you
will not repent it. What Hartmann
begged for in vain
you shall have you daily lessons in occult-
I will give
ism ;the master has permitted me. I will hide no-
thing from you. And there shall be phenomena, as

many as you will."
" Helena Petrovna, don't joke you surely know ;
my present opinion of the master and the pheno-' '
mena."
" I know that you are an unbelieving Thomas '
'
but I will bring you to such a point that you will

believe against your will. I give you my word of
honour that I will reveal all to you, all that is pos-

sible."
But I knew that, even without this "word of
honour," would be my fate to breathe the dust of
it
Wurzburg. Of course she would not give me any

" lessons in occultism," for such lessons cannot be
given ; but so long as I was necessary to her, so long
as she was alone and abandoned even by her most
devoted friends, she would do everything in her power
to delude me with phenomena, and so I should get
to learn everything which I wanted. I should be
able to observe from every side this phenomenal
nature, the like of which it would certainly never be
my fortune to meet again.
I wrote to Myers that not knowing Hodgson nor
his investigation, nor how exact and dispassionate it
was, I should undertake one of my own ; I should

pass a longer or shorter time at Wurzburg, where
Madame Blavatsky was to settle, and should learn

everything. The results of my investigation I should
report in proper time.
This letter I showed in Madame de Morsier's
presence to Madame Blavatsky, and she, far from
being confused, was highly delighted. She evidently
calculated either on her own cunning or on my
" friendship ". And friendship, in her jargon, was
synonymous with secrecy.
At her ease on my account, and having postponed
the " lessons in occultism to Wiirzburg, she turned
''
her attention to Madame de Morsier. In the matter

of the Theosophical Society there was one rather
ticklish question. According to the teaching of all
the ancient and modern magians, the great Goddess

Isis lifted her veil only before the face of a virginally
pure being, unacquainted with the passions and de-
sires of humanity. In order to be a true adept, to
learn the highest secrets and to attain the power
of directing the forces of nature (in more simple words,
of producing sundry phenomena), it was essential to
have been a severe ascetic through life, from the

cradle to the grave.
" This, you see, is why Mohini may in time be-
come as great an adept as Morya or Koot Hoomi,"
Madame Blavatsky declared ;
" he is a virgin, and
never looks on women, he is an ascetic."
By the side of all this, the Paris theosophists
"knew," among other things on the word of Olcott
and of Mohini himself, that " Madame " had already
reached a very high initiation that she was on one
;
of the topmost steps of the mystic ladder, that she

had unceremoniously unveiled Isis, and produced
amazing phenomena. The ascetic Mohini, at a sign

from her, crawled at her feet Hke a reptile, and
kissed the hem of her garment.
How was all this to be reconciled with the equally
undoubted fact that "Madame" was madame, and
not mademoiselle ; that she was the " veuve Blavat-
sky " ?
The question had come " Madame " had

to a head,
more than once been approached on the subject, and
at such a perilous moment it was more than ever
necessary to meet it with a decided reply. Madame
de Morsier, that warm heart of gold, that fiery
orator, that passionate defender of woman's rights
and woman's honour, seemed certainly to be the
best and cleanest sheet of paper on which such an
answer could be written. But it was first necessary
to try the pen, to see if it would run well and ;
Helena Petrovna turned upon me her enigmatic

gaze.
With an art which Sara Bernhardt might envy,
she confessed to me the secret of her life. All was
against her ; but after all the great thing was not to
be called, but to be. To this day there were still
current the most astounding stories as to the ro-

mantic adventures of her youth, and she was only
surprised that I had heard nothing of the sort about
her in Russia. But meantime, here was the truth :
she had never been capable of loving passionately ;
men, as such, did not exist for her. " I evidently

have such a fish-like nature " From her childhood
!
she had never had but a single passion, occultism.

She married Blavatsky only in order to free herself
from family tutelage ; but he never was a husband
to her,and she soon ran away from him. She had

wandered all her life from land to land, she had
eagerly given herself to the study of occultism, she
had sought and knocked till she found and it was
opened to her. And now she was an old woman,
the "veuve Blavatsky"; and in spite of all she
remained a virgin, an untainted virgin.
Still there is no smoke without fire how came it ;
that she had the reputation of a priestess of Venus

rather than of Isis ? This is how it came she had :
wished to save the honour of a friend, and had

adopted the child of this friend as her own. She
never parted from him, she educated him herself,
and called him her son in the face of the world.
Now he was dead.
I cannot say that I believed her but her acting
;
was so good, and I was not at that time in a position

to guarantee the entii-e falsehood of the story ; I
knew nothing yet about her, I had no evidence to

contradict the sworn statements of her confession.
In any case she evidently left off well satisfied with
herself, and in her first tete-a-tete with Madame de
Morsier she admitted her too into this secret. I
was not present at the conversation, but I saw the

result. Madame de Morsier was deeply affected, she
believed it all implicitly, and with tears in her eyes
kissed Helena Petrovna's hand.

"Ah, quel acte d'heroisme feminin," she kept on
repeating.
XVIII.
Madame Blavatsky passed eight days at St. Cer-

gues. The weather broke up, "Madame's rheumatism
''
was increasing, and Mary F.had driven her to madness.

It must be admitted that this young person behaved
strangely enough. She used to invent herself wonder-

ful coiffures and head-dresses, and though she could
hardly speak a word of French, she set off for a
country fair, and there sang and danced with the
greatest animation. She ended by trying to preach
Buddhism to some innocent Swiss. The sermon was
for the most part limited to certain strange gestures,
and the exhibition of a certain amulet which Mary
F. wore on her neck instead of the cross. The unin-
telligible gestures and the fairly intelligible amulet
certainly produced a sensation.
Madame Blavatsky made up her mind that Mashka
did nothing but madden and compromise her, and it
was accordingly necessary that she should be. packed
off to England, where her uncle lived. The decision
was much assisted by the fact that a maid was found
on the spot, in the pension, who spoke French and
German, and was willing to go to Wiirzburg and
take upon herself the multifarious duties of poor
Mashka.
Bitter though life at "Madame's" side was to this
Anglo-Indian Mashka, so hardly used by nature, she
showed a dog-like devotion to her tormentor, and

still
her unexpected ostracism deeply hurt and offended

her. But "Madame" had
Tears and sobs began.
a nice phenomenon ready by way of a sweet
little
sedative. While at Torre del Greco Mashka had

lost a beautiful jewelled ring. She was greatly dis-
tressed at this loss. And lo at the ! moment of her
departure the " master " appeared to " Madame" and
left with her a ring " the same at every point,"
which was solemnly placed on Mashka's finger in his
name. This calmed her to a great extent, and she
went off without making a heart-breaking scene.
At last the weather changed for the better. It
turned warm and clear. We moved from St. Cergues,
and said good-bye to Madame de Morsier, who was
to stay for some time longer. The parting of the
two ladies was affecting. They did not think or
guess that at no very distant time their relations to
one another would be entirely altered, and that they
were not fated to meet again in this life.
I went as far as Lucerne with Madame Blavatsky,
and then decided not to continue the journey with

her she and Bavaji attracted general attention, and
;
were the centre of the excessively amused glances of

the public. I explained that I should pass some days
in Lucerne, should then go to Heidelberg, and 'arrive
at Wiirzburg from there. Helena Petrovna made no
objections, as she had heard that she was expected
in Wiirzburg by some friends who had come there
to meet her, and would help her to settle down
there.
In fact I found her at Wiirzburg in a very different
position and mood. There had been arranged for her
;;
144 -^ Modem Priestess of I sis.
very convenient and roomy lodgings in tiie Ludwig-

strasse, the best street of the town, incomparably
better and more comfortable than those she had had
in Paris.
The time had now come for me to set about
my investigation in earnest. I settled myself in
Riigmer's Hotel, not far from the Ludwigstrasse
here I on the most peculiar German breakfasts
lived
and dinners, and all the time which I did not spend
in sleeping, eating, and walking through the town,

I passed with Madame Blavatsky. She again fell
very ill ; and lo ! Bavaji came running up to me, all
trembling with terror, and exclaimed in his piping,
hoarse voice that " Madame " was very bad, and that
the doctor, a famous specialist for internal com-
plaints, was greatly alarmed.
I hurried with Bavaji to the Ludwigstrasse and
found the doctor in the sitting-room. To my inquiry

about his patient he replied: "I never saw anything
like it in the whole course of my many years of
practice. She has several mortal diseases an
ordinary person would have been dead long ago from
any one of them. But hers is a phenomenal nature
and if she has lived so long, she may, for all we can
tell, live on yet."
For the moment then her life is not in danger ? "
"
"
Her life has been in danger for years, but you
see she is alive. A wonderful, wonderful phenome-
non."
He had all the appearance of a man who was
deeply interested.
I again found Helena Petrovna all swollen up and
almost without movement. But a day passed, and

she managed to crawl out of her bed to her writing-

table,and wrote for several hours, gnashing her
teeth with anguish. She told me that she used to
work the whole night, but that, at all events, I could
not verify. However that may be, pages and sheets
were poui-ing from her pen at an astonishing rate.
Our theosophical lessons in occultism did not offer
me any particular interest ; it was not that she would
not, but simply that she could not, tellme anything
new. She passed into no state of prophetic ecstasy,
and I took back untouched the note-book in which I
meant to record her interesting thoughts, aphorisms
and sentiments. I was waiting for the promised
"phenomena," and this fact evidently troubled her.
She used to press me to print an account of the
" master's " appearance to me at Elberfeld, and
thereby to confirm the reality of the Mahatmas
existence.
I replied that, for all my what
willingness to do
she wished, I could not fulfil was
her request, for I
more than ever convinced that no "master" had

ever appeared to me, and that I had only had a vivid
dream, produced on the one hand by nervous ex-
haustion, on the other by the fact that she had kept
me nearly the whole evening looking at the dazz-
lingly illuminated portrait.
This drove her to despair. For the next couple of
days I had a feeling as I looked at her that she was
on the point of producing some sort of phenomenon.
And so it turned out.
I called one morning. Helena Petrovna sat behind
her great writing-table in an arm-chair of unusual
dimensions, sent her as a present by Gebhard from
Elberfeld. At the opposite end of the table stood

the dwarfish Bavaji with a confused look in his
dulled eyes. He was evidently incapable of meeting
my gaze, and the fact certainly did not escape me. In
front of Bavaji on the table were scattered several
sheets of clean paper. Nothing of the sort had
occurred before, so my attention was the more aroused.
In his hand was a great thick pencil. I began to
have ideas.
"Just look at the unfortunate man," said Helena
Petrovna suddenly, turning to me. " He does not
look himself at all he drives me to distraction. He
;
imagines that here, in Europe, he can carry out the

same regime as in India. He never used to eat any-
thing there but milk and honey, and here he is doing
the same. I tell him that if he goes on like that he
will die, but he will not listen. And so he had an

attack last night."
Then she passed from Bavaji to the London Society
for PsychicalResearch, and again tried to persuade
me about the " master ". Bavaji stood like a statue ;
he could take no part in our conversation, as he did

not know a word of Russian.
" But such incredulity as to the evidence of your own
eyes, such obstinate infidelity as yours, is simply un-
pardonable. In fact, it is wicked !" exclaimed Helena
Petrovna.
I was walking about the room at the time, and did
not take my eyes off Bavaji. I saw that he was
keeping his eyes wide open, with a sort of contortion
of his whole body, while his hand, armed with the
great pencil, was carefully tracing some letters on a
sheet of paper.
" Look what; is the matter with him ?

" exclaimed
Madame Blavatsky.
" Nothing particular," I answered; "he is writing
in Russian."
I saw her whole face grow purple. She began to
stir in her chair, with an obvious desire to get up and
take the paper from him. But with her swollen and
almost inflexible limbs, she could not do so with any
speed. I made haste to seize the paper and saw on
it a beautifully drawn Russian phrase.
Bavaji was to have written, in the Russian language

with which he was not acquainted " Blessed are :
they that believe, as said the Great Adept He had ".
learnt his task well, and remembered correctly the

form of all the letters, but he had omitted two in the
word "believe". [The effect was precisely the same
as if in English he had omitted the first two and last
two letters of the word.]
" Blessed are they that lie," I read aloud, unable
to which shook me.
control the laughter " That
is the best thing I ever saw. Oh, Bavaji! you should
"
have got your lesson up better for examination !
The tiny Hindu hid his face in his hands and

rushed out of the room I heard his hysterical sobs
;
in the distance. Madame Blavatsky sat with dis-
torted features.
" So you think I taught him this " she exclaimed !
at last " you think me capable of such arrant folly

; !
It is the spirit elementals who are making fun of

'
'
him, poor fellow And what a vexation for me My

! !
God as though I could not have thought of some-

!
thing cleverer than that if I had wanted to de-

ceive you! This is really too silly."
Declaration of Madame de Morsier :

" Lorsque Bavadjee passa k Paris au mois de
Septembre il me dit ceci a peu pres A vous on peut
:
tout dire, je puis bien vous raconter que Madame

Blavatsky, sachant qu'elle ne pouvait gagner M.
Solovioff que par I'occultisme, lui promettait toujours
de lui enseigner de nouveaux mysteres a Wurtzbourg
et meme elle venait me demander a moi Mais que
:
'
puis-je lui dire encore ? Bavadjee, sauvez-moi, trou-

vez quelque chose, etc. Je ne sais plus qu' inventer.'
" E. DE Morsier."
After this abortive phenomenon things marched

faster, and I saw that I should soon be in a position
to send Mr. Myers and the other persons concerned
some very interesting additions to the report of the
Psychical Society.
;
XIX.
Bavaji's Russian writing, with its " blessed are they

that lie," at once advanced matters. Madame
Blavatsky was still suffering severely, but she was
now able to walk about a little in her room. In
spite of her illness, she was working double tides
she was finishing her article for the Russky Vyestnik,
writing some fanciful stories, translating something,
I do not remember what, for her Theosophist, and
preparing to begin her Secret Doctrine. Sinnett was
soon to come from England, and to him she meant
to dictate a new " truth about her life "'.
Meanwhile, in her complete isolation, she was
depressed, and could not do without me. I was
bound, come what might, to make the most of the

time, for as soon as her "non-Russian" friends
arrived she would slip out of my hands.
Every day when I came to see her she used to try
to do me of some trifling
a favour in the shape
"phenomenon," but she never succeeded. Thus,
one day her famous "silver bell" was heard, when
suddenly something fell beside her on the ground.
I hurried to pick it up and found in my hands a
pretty little piece of silver, delicately worked and
strangely shaped. Helena Petrovna changed counte-
nance, and snatched the object from me. I coughed
significantly, smiled, and turned the conversation to

indifferent matters.
Another time I said that I should like to have
some of the real essence of roses made in India.
" I am so sorry," she said, " I have none with me.
I do not like strong scents in general, and do not
keep them. But I will not guarantee that you may
not receive some essence of roses from India, such
as you speak of, and that very soon."
Watching her from this moment, I distinctly saw
her open one of the drawers of her table and take
something out. Then some half-hour later, after
having walked round me, she very gently and cau-
tiously slipped some little object mto my pocket. If
I had not watched her every movement, and had
not guessed why it was that she kept passing rouncj
me, I should probably not have noticed any-
thing.
However, immediately produced from my pocket
I
a little flat opened it, smelt, and said " This

flask, :
is not essence of roses, Helena Petrovna, but oil of
oranges; your 'master' has made a mistake".

" Eh, devil take it " she exclaimed, unable to
!
restrain herself.
At last came the decisive day and hour. I saw on
my arrival that she was in a very gloomy and dis-
turbed state of mind.
"What is the matter? You seem quite upset.
Has anything happened ? " I asked.
" I have had such annoying, horrible letters to-day.
I had better not have read them " she exclaimed, !
all livid, and with symptoms of the irritation which
used to make her entirely lose her head and become

:
capable of any follies, for which she was afterwards,

no doubt, often sorry.
" "
Where are the letters from ? From London ?
" Yes, from London. Never mind from whom ;
from false from people to whom I have

friends,
shown nothing but kindness, and who are ready to
spit on me now, when I need all their support. Well,
well, now it is the end of all things. Now I throw
up the sponge Then they won't be any the better
!
for this It is too bad, my friend, things like that.

Trash couldn't be worse."
" Well, things are going on like that," I said, "and
here are you spending your time in child's play, and
arranging your miserable phenomena for me."
Her eyes flashed at me, and she grumbled out
" Well, and you are always asking for phenomena ".
" And then a letter from Russia " she went
there is !
on in a changed tone. " My dear writes that she X

is to see me in a few days.''
coming here
"am very glad to hear it," I said, and thought to
I
myself: " Now there is no time to be lost, while she

has no accomplices, and is still in this humour ".
At this very moment a lucky chance came to help
me.
Madame Blavatsky was talking about the Theoso-
phist, and mentioned the name of Subba Rao, a
Hindu who had attained the highest degree of
knowledge.
" And then he has such a wise, wonderful face. Do
you remember, I sent you some groups of theoso-
phists with theirnames written below ? I wonder if
"
you ever cast your eyes on his face ?
" I don't remember."
;
" Well, wait a moment ; look there, in the table

open the drawer and look, I think there must be
a photograph of him, with me, Damodar and
Bavaji."
I opened the drawer, found the photograph, and
handed it to her together with a packet of Chinese

envelopes such as I well knew they were the same ;
in which the " elect " used to receive the letters of

the Mahatmas Morya and Koot Hoomi by " astral
post ".
" Look at that, Helena Petrovna ! I should advise
you to hide this packet of the '
master's ' envelopes
farther off. You are so terribly absent-minded and
careless."
It is easy to imagine what this was to her. I looked
at her, and was positively frightened ; her face grew
perfectly black. She tried in vain to speak ; she
could only writhe helplessly in her great arm-chair.
" Surely it is high time now to put an end to all
this comedy," I went on. "
I have been looking at
you for a long time, and I am simply astonished.

You, a clever woman, are treating me as if I were a
baby. Do you really mean to say that you have not
seen till this moment that even in Paris, after the
phenomenon of the '
portrait in the locket,' I was
convinced of the spuriousness of your phenomena ?
From that day my conviction could only grow in-

stead of disappearing. I always fancied that I was
studiously '
not concealing ' my opinion from you. I
have been waiting for you to put an end to this

ridiculous game yourself, and begin to treat me
seriously."
Helena Petrovna opened her eyes wide and gazed
at me with all her might. I had already pretty

well prepared her to believe that I was a man who
was fond of his laugh, and thought lightly of her

" society," although personally liking herself. I
'
well knew the partI had to play, and 1 knew no less
well that it was only by playing this part that I should,

at last, obtain to-day all for which I had so long been
striving. " Madame's " piercing eyes did not trouble
me I smiled and gazed at her with a reproachful
;
shake of the head.

" But then, if you are sure that I do nothing but
take in all the world, you must despise me!" she
exclaimed at last.
There was no help for it she must think that I
;
was capable of very " broad " views. I made up my

mind at once.
"Why so?" I replied. "There is deceit and de-
ceit,and there is trickery and trickery To play the !
part you play, to make crowds follow you, to interest

the learned, to found '
societies ' in distant lands, to
start an entire movement good gracious ! Why, it
is all so out of the common, that I am enraptured at

you against my will ! In all my life I have never met so
extraordinary a woman as you, and I am sure I shall
never meet another. Yes, Helena Petrovna, I admire
you, as a real, mighty, Herculean force, at work in
times when it is but too rare to meet with anything
but petty feebleness. Of course, there may be pass-
ing clouds, but I believe you will yet find a way to dis-
perse them. There is a grand arena before you you ;
march through it like a gigantic elephant surrounded

by your 'monkey theosophists,' Indian and European,
playing their apish games about your feet. It is a
" !
magnificent picture, and you simply hold me spell-
bound."
" I have crossed the Rubicon!" I said to myself,
and it was now my turn to look her through and
through. Yes, she was indeed an elephant, but even
an elephant can be taken captive if you know how to
set about it. It was not for nothing that I had so
long studied her I knew her thoroughly, and saw
;
that the moment was propitious, that she was in a

suitable mood, and that I had struck the right note.
Her sombre, stupefied, almost terrified expression
began suddenly to clear up. Her eyes blazed, she
breathed with difficulty under overwhelming excite-
ment.
" Yes," she suddenly exclaimed. " You have a
very warm heart and a very cool head it sVas not ;
for nothing that we met And there is the pity of it,

!
that round the elephant, if I am an elephant indeed,

there are none but apes. One man in the field does
'
not make a soldier,' and now, in the midst of all
these disasters that have befallen me, old and ill, I
feel it but too well. Olcott is useful in his place;

but he is generally such an ass, such a blockhead
How often he has let me in, how many blunders
he has caused me, by his incurable stupidity ! If
you will only come to my aid, we will astonish the

world between us, we shall have everything in our
!
hands
I could hardly bear the strain, both of delight
'
and repugnance. I had gained my end, but my part

was an excessively difficult one. I could now only
listen in silence. Fortunately she needed no words
of mine. The barrier was broken, and, as was
always the case with her, she could not control

herself.
She was in ecstasies. It was evident that in her
fiery imagination there were suddenly springing up

and ripening the most unexpected and daring com-
binations she felt herself freed from the isolation
;
which had so grievously weighed upon her.

In fact, since the time of the "treachery" of
Madame Coulomb, and thanks to Olcott's absence,
she had no companion to whom she could unbosom
herself. Bavaji, an inferior creature, a mere subordi-
nate tool, was not qualified either by position or
culture to supply what she needed. And without a
personal friend and companion with whom she could
converse and consult frankly, indulging at the same
time her passion for cynicism and ridicule, it was
evidently impossible for her to live. She was
terribly hungry after her intolerable fast, and simply
glutted herself in complete self-forgetfulness.
" What is one to do," she said, " when in order to
rule men it is necessary to deceive them,when in
order to persuade them to let themselves be driven
where you will, you must promise them and show
them playthings ? Why, suppose my books and the
Theosophisi had been a thousand times more
interesting and more serious, do you imagine I
should have had any sort of success anywhere, if
behind all that there had not been the 'phenomena'?
I should have done simply nothing. I should have
long ago starved to death. They would have crushed

me, and it would never have even occurred to
any one to think that I too was a living creature,
that I too must eat and drink. But I have long,
1-56 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
long since learnt to understand these dear people,

and sometimes affords me unbounded
their stupidity
satisfaction. Why, you are not satisfied with my ' '
phenomena, but do you know that almost invariably

the more simple, the more silly and the more gross
the phenomenon,' the more likely it is to succeed ?
'
I may tell you such stories about this some day as
will split your sides with laughter, indeed they will.

The vast majority of people who are reckoned clever
by themselves and others are inconceivably silly.
If you only knew how many lions and eagles in
every quarter of the globe have turned into asses at
my whistle, and obediently wagged their great ears
"
in time as I piped the tune !
" you must have been caught sometimes," I

Still,
said. " And with your

astonishing carelessness and
inattention I expect it must have happened pretty
often."
" You are greatly mistaken !" she exclaimed with
temper. " Yes, I certaiijly am careless and inatten-
tive, but others, with very, very rare exceptions, are
far more inattentive than am they are just so
I ;
many sleepy owls, so many blind men, and never

observe anything at all. Would you believe that all
this time, before and after the Theosophical Society's
foundation, have not met more than two or three
I
men who knew how to observe and see and remark

what was going on around them ? It is simply
amazing At least nine out of ten people are entirely
!
devoid of the capacity of observation and of the power

of remembering accurately what took place even a
few hours before. How often it has happened that,
under my direction and revision, minutes of various
;
occurrences and phenomena have been drawn up ; lo,
the most innocent and conscientious people, even

sceptics, even those who actually suspected me, have
signed en toutes lettres as witnesses at the foot of the
minutes And all the time I knew that what had
!
happened was not in the least what was stated in the

minutes. Yes, my dear sir, I venture to assure you
that in history, even the best attested, there is far
more fancy than truth."
" Perhaps you have been caught. You
yet still
;
may be sure that am

not the only one who has
I
such a cool head, as you put it."

" Well, what then ? I was caught, and when I
was caught I wriggled out, and it always ended in
those who had found me out being left with empty
hands."
" Are you alone the author of Koot Hoomi's letters,
"
philosophical and otherwise ?
" No, the chelas used sometimes to help me,
Damodar and Subba Rao and Mohini."
" And Sinnett ? "
" Sinnett won't invent gunpowder ; but he has a
beautiful style, he is splendid at editing."
" "
And Olcott ?
" Olcott is not bad at editing either, when he under-

stands what he is But one has always
talking about.
to chew everything for him till one is sick. But he
knows how to make himself clear to the Hindus
he has a sort of way of influencing them, and they
are always ready to follow him one must do him :
that justice. And then he has very often helped me

in phenomena, both over there and here. But he
never can think of anything for himself. It is always
the same story with him Sit there, do this, say :

'
that Don't you remember at Elberfeld ? And the

'.
'
psychists have acquitted him
'
There is an investi- !
gation for you '

Ah, little father, it is worth laughing
at it is indeed !
"
" Please let me see the magic bell."

She made a peculiar movement with her hand
under her shawl, then she stretched- out her arm and
somewhere in the air there sounded the tones of the
ôlian harp which had astonished every one. She
again made a movement beneath her shawl, and in
her hand with its supple-pointed fingers appeared
the little piece of silver with which I was already
acquainted.
" Yes, it is the magic bell," she boasted in her
thoughtlessness. cunning little thing. That is "A
my occult telegraph, through which I communicate
with the master'." '
I wished to take the little thing in my hand
and examine its construction. But she stood up,

held the clever little machine to my eyes, and
suddenly put it into the drawer and turned the
key.
"You shall know enough; you
will soon grow
older," she said :
"
good time but now to the all in ;
point. Save me, help me. Prepare the ground for

me to work in Russia. I thought I should never go
back to my own land but now it is possible. Some ;
people are doing all they can there, but you can do
more than any one now. Write more, louder, about
the Theosophical Society, rouse their interest. And
'
create Koot Hoomi's Russian letters.
' 1 will give
you all the materials for them,"
No doubt I was bound to expect something of the

sort, and I did expect it. But I no longer had the
strength to sustain my part ; I seized my hat, and
without a word I almost ran out into the fresh
air.
XX.
As soon as I had got back to my room in Riigmer's

Hotel, and had written out word for word all this
amazing conversation, I grew calm, and in cold blood

began to think over what had just happened. I
soon came to the conclusion that on the one hand
I had gained everything
on the other, almost no-
thing.
What I had from the first suspected, and had then
convinced myself of, I now knewit on the
; I knew
word of Madame
Blavatsky herself. She had made
me a confession, such as, of course, she had never
made any but her own confederates. But who
to
would believe that I had heard all this from herself,
and in such circumstances ? One must begin by
knowing this woman as well as I knew her, before
one could admit the possibility of such folly on her
part.
No doubt I had then had in my hands Hodg-
if
son's and other documents which saw the

report,
light of day independently of myself, and more or
less showed the outrages on common-sense of which
Madame Blavatsky was capable, I should have seen
in them a sufficient confirmation for myself. But I
was not yet acquainted with these documents.
I knew that, in spite of the odious and fatiguing
hour through which I had passed, I had won nothing.

A Modern Priestess of his. i6i
On the contrary, my position was worse. It is not

particularly pleasant to know have
the truth, to
attained it by so painful a road, and then to have
to keep it to oneself, or to hear it said " But :
yet, my good sir, all this is sufficiently improbable

and you have no legal evidence of the possibility of
what you say ". Why, a few of my friends will even
say to me :
" We believe you but still you had
;
better hold your tongue, till there is clear evidence

that Madame Blavatsky is capable of making such
admissions ". And meanwhile, lacking strength to
carry my part through to the end, I had deprived
myself of the possibility of obtaining anything that
would serve for such evidence as the case demanded.
Madame Blavatsky would now infallibly try to cover
up the traces of the folly she had committed, and
endeavour to leave me, in her own words, " with
empty hands".
What is the next thing to do ? Why, to go away
at once, and forget all about the matter. But then,
in the first place, I could not start off at once, for I
had unexpectedly found some business to do in

Wtirzburg, and was obliged to spend there some two
weeks more and in the second, I was certain that
;
Madame Blavatsky would, beyond all doubt, let me

hear of her, and would not allow me to take leave of
her on a footing like this. And then I longed to see
what device this incredible woman could still invent.
I was still reflecting thus, when there was a knock
at my door, and I saw before me the tiny, piteous

figure of Bavaji.
" This is pretty quick," I thought to myself.
The Hindu's apish movements betrayed the great-
;
1 62 A Modern Priestess of his.
est perturbation. His great black eyes flashed, his

blue lips trembled, and all his dark cinnamon-coloured
face was twitching.
"Voici la lisez Madame at-
lettre, monsieur,
tend
" I heard his hoarse, repulsive voice and his
halting French.
I opened the letter, and read
:
" I have just seen the master (twice underlined).

He has commanded me to tell you something which
will be a surprise to you and will decide perhaps
not only your fate and mine, but perhaps, if you will
only trust me for once (only the beauty of it is that
it would have been even better for me and better for
the cause you had seen in me alone a resume of all

if
the so-called imaginary many masters), then you

as a patriot would perform an immense service to
Russia also. Come as soon as ever you can.
"H. B."
I read this through once, twice, thrice. She was
so disturbed, so hurried, that she had actually written
what, according to the sense of the Russian words,
was perfectly shapeless. She must see me, come
what may, and was afraid that I should disappear for
ever after what had happened. She was trying to
arouse my interest by every means in her power,
and was clutching at Russia and patriotism to help
the effect of her mystifications. But the " Master" !
What could be her object in continuing to talk about

the master now ? In any case she gained her object
she puzzled me, and induced me to make up my mind
to go to her
which, in my then mood, it was not
hard for her to do. It would be curious in the highest
degree to see her at this moment.
Ever since his " blessed are they that lie," Bavaji
had kept himself hidden from me, and all Madame
Blavatsky's cries and orders had not brought him
into the study when I was there. One day I came
upon him face to face he made me a deep bow,
;
turned away his head, and ran off. He had now

evidently received orders not to dare to return with-
out me under pain of death. It is likely enough that
he had even been beaten, for it is doubtful if he would
otherwise have ventured to show himself in my hotel.
He would not look at me, he trembled all over, and
said hoarsely and in an imploring voice " Monsieur,:
allons nous deux

Madameprie Madame malade".
When he saw that I was going to start, he began
to squeak oddly, burst out laughing, threw himself
about, flew downstairs like an arrow, and dashed
ahead with the joyful news.
What fresh thing will the wonderful " Madame "
devise, when one would say that there was certainly
no more devising possible ?
I went to her room, and found her in her usual
place, in her arm-chair at the table. Her face was

terrible, all covered with dark red blotches. She was
gasping, but trying with all her might to seem calm.
" Why did you run off so suddenly, little father ? "
she asked me at once with a not very successful
smile ;
" what happened to you ? You were here, and
suddenly I look up and you are gone. But there,
were you with me to-day ? Perhaps it is only my
"
fancy that I had seen you and talked to you ?
" No, Helena Petrovna, it was not your fancy.
What was, was."
"
" Then, where did you take yourself off to ?
" Don't you see that I may

very well admire you
and be interested in you, may, malgre tout, feel an
I
involuntary liking for you, as my countrywoman,

and one beyond the common I may be heartily
;
sorry for you, and wish you all sorts of good but it ;
does not follow that you have the right to propose

that I should create Koot Hoomi letters. Such an
employment is not in my way^"
She gave me no time to finish, and cried " What, :
I ? I made such a proposal? I never said any-

thing of the sort to you " !
-
It struck me as absurd that I should never have

guessed that this was what she would begin with ;
and that, in fact, being what I knew her to be, she

could not possibly begin with anything else. But
what would come next ?
" Oh, you did not say so " I said " then it must
! ;
have been some one else who offered me that honour-

able charge. But then there was no one here but
you, we were alone."
She suddenly burst into real tears, clasped her
head, and, with a very well feigned despair, tossed
upon her chair.
" What a disaster," she cried ;
" again, again, that
beast, that devil, that black wizard, the master's
enemy and mine, has taken possession of me. He
rendered me unconscious, and took possession of my
body. He talked with my tongue, it seems, and I
knew nothing of it."
" My God she is going out
! of her mind, she has
gone crazy," was the thought that flashed through
my head.

Meanwhile her tears ceased, she calmed down

somewhat, and continued :
" Yes, you won't believe, of course you will think ;
it is all a story, a fresh impudent lie of my own
inventing but meanwhile I will tell you what hap-

;
pened to me some years ago in America. I was

almost as old and ugly as I am now but, you see, ;
there are different kinds of ugliness in the world,

and so a handsome young Armenian fell in love
with me there. He suddenly appears in my house,
and begins to treat me as only a husband would
treat a wife. I order him off, but he does not go,
declares that I am his wife, and that he has just
been legally married to me, married before witnesses,

Olcott among them. I turn to Olcott ; imagine my
horror when he confirms it. He was a witness at
the wedding, and signed the register So you may !
imagine how much money it cost me to get rid of

this Armenian. That is what happens to me, and
so it is now. Think what you will, I swear to you
by all the saints that I remember nothing. You
heard sounds coming from my mouth, but my judg-
ment, my will and my consciousness were not
there."
" No," I concluded, " she is not out of her mind,
she is quite herself."
" Think of some tolerably plausible explanation,"
I said to her aloud.
She immediately thought of one.
"Why, of course," she said; "perhaps after all
it was not our enemy, but the '
master ' himself
who talked like that ; he simply wanted to expose
you to a test."
;
i66 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
" Well, that explanation is somewhat better than

the other, but still it will not stand severe criticism,"
I remarked.
She suddenly changed her tone, and looked at me
maliciously.

" Still you have no right to be severe," she said
" It will not do for you to be very severe
slowly. ;
you see that, come what may, you have already

deeply compromised yourself by giving the London
'
psychists an account of the master's appearance
'
'
'
to you. Whether dream, or even my

reality, or
hypnotic suggestion, still you saw it all the same,
you wrote an account, and they have printed it over
your signature. So it is too late now to go back,
and your own self-love will not allow it. The part
I am playing may be a poor one, and not do for you ;
but the only thing for you is to faire bonne mine a

mauvais jeu."
" I have long known that sooner or later you would
talk to me like this," I answered " but you must ;
please understand that all this does not frighten me

in the least. It is clear that you know me but little.
I must beg you not to have recourse to a weapon like
that with me."

" I am not frightening you at all," she cried ;
" but
do just think a little. If you now begin suddenly to
you no longer believe in the existence of
assert that
the master and Koot Hoomi, you will meet with
'
'
very, very great unpleasantnesses. Think it over

it is not a joke."
"I never have assured any one, whether by word
or letter, that I believed unconditionally in the exist-
ence of your Mahatmas. As for unpleasantnesses,
;
can I avoid them anyhow, when I have been so closely

"
acquainted with you ?
"Don't get angry and don't be sarcastic," interrupted
" Madame" with another change of tone and a gracious
smile. the same to me, I am only thinking
" It is all
about your peace of mind and welfare. Yes, after all,

it is most likely that all that was a test," she con-
tinued, now quite calmed down ;
" an explanation like
that, even if it is not good enough for you, will satisfy
all the theosophists at any rate.
All the more, be-
cause, as I master has been with me
told you, the ' '
and told me a great deal with reference to you. I

will repeat you some of his words, about what is
going to happen to you in the course of the next two
months. I beseech you to wait only two months
and by then you must be convinced, in spite of every-
thing, that the master really does exist.
' '
Listen !
this is what is going to happen to you."

And then, with unusual assurance, in the most
precise detail, she proceeded to make a whole series
of prophecies announcing to me most surprising events
in my private life, which were to happen one after
another in the course of not more than two months.
" There, please stop, Helena Petrovna," I said
" you really must take account of what you are doing.
This is ridiculous you are talking as confidently as

;
a fortune-teller over her coffee grounds."

I am speaking confidently," she said with dignity,
"
"because I am speaking to you the master's words, ' '
and he cannot err. You have been so patient with

me, you have borne with me so long, you say that
even now, malgre tout, you like me and are sorry for
me. I beseech you to fulfil my last request, H^ve
r68 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
patience for only two months, you understand ; only

two months. two months' time you are not
If in
convinced of the master's existence and of the ful-
'
'
filment of all his prophecies, then do what you will,

print all you know. Only two months I beseech !
you ! Promise me."

She evidently wanted to gain time. She was
calculating on all sorts of chances and coincidences,
and most of all feared lest, at a moment when her
affairs were in so bad a way, her rupture with me
might get abroad through the Theosophical Society.
But after all it made no difference with the poor
;
budget I possessed I could do but little. I could

communicate nothing of real importance, no docu-
mentary evidence, that is, either to the London
Society for Psychical Research or to the Paris
theosophists.
My only hope was that in the course of two
months something might turn up and my budget be
enlarged.
"Well," I said, " I promise you to wait quietly for
two months, but you must not imagine that you
have raised in me the least shadow of a doubt."
" Oh, you may remain in doubt or free from
doubt," she interrupted, " you will be terribly unde-
ceived. All's well that ends well. The 'master' will
know how to amaze you, to punish and to forgive.
But you must write down his prophecies, and then,
if you wish, I will not utter a word about him in
your presence, till you yourself begin to speak of

him."
" Yes, that I beg of you."
She was now quite calm, and wore the expression
A Modern Priestess of Isis. i6g
of a conqueror. The long years of her extraordinary-

existence and manifold adventures had taught her to
live for the present moment.
" But will you permit mewhat to ask," I said, "
was the very important affair concerning Russia
which you wished to communicate to me, and why
"
did you appeal to my patriotism ?
She had probably already forgotten the contents

of her note, at all events shehad forgotten the part
which the master was to play in the matter. She
' '
said: "Well, this has nothing to do with the 'master'.

I have been long wanting to talk to you about it; but
I could not make up my mind; but to-day I have

made it up, and by so doing I shall show you my
infinite confidence in you. Still, malgre tout, I look
on you as a friend."
" Thank you for the honour," I said with a smile
and a bow.
She either did not observe, or pretended not to
observe, my tone of voice.
" Look here, this is what it is," she began ;
" you
are soon going to St. Petersburg ; now do undertake
a very important business of the greatest benefit to
Russia. I wish to propose myself as a secret agent
of the Russian Government in India. To promote the

triumph of my country over those vile English I am
capable of anything. I hate the English Government
in India, with its missionaries ; they are all my per-
sonal enemies, thirsting for my destruction. That
alone is reason enough why I should throw my whole
soul into the struggle with them. And that I can do
them immense harm in India is certain ; and I alone
can do it, no one else is capable of the task. My
influence on the Hindus is enormous ; of that I can

easily produce as much evidence as you will. At a
sign from me, millions of Hindus would follow me.
I can easily organise a gigantic rebellion. I will
guarantee that in a year's time the whole of India
would be in Russian hands. Only they must give
me the pecuniary means I don'twant much. You
know how I am in this respect. And they must put
it in my power to penetrate
into India through Russia,
for I go back there any other way, since this
can't
affair of the Coulombs and the missionaries and
I will bring about one of the greatest events in history.
I proposed the same thing before, some years ago,
when Timasheff was still minister ; but I did not

receive any answer. But now, now it is much easier
for me ; I can arrange the whole thing in a year.
Help me in such a patriotic cause."
So this was what she had brought herself to think
of. This was the revenge she planned for the English
who had not appreciated her. There is not the least
doubt that she was genuinely captivated by the plan,
and believed it perfectly feasible.
" I cannot undertake any trouble myself in such a
matter," I said " but this is what I should advise, if
;
you really want to bring about a great historical

event, and if it is not a freak which you will have
forgotten by to-morrow put down clearly and cir-
:
cumstantially on paper what you have just told me,

produce all the evidence of your influence over the
Hindus, set out your plan of action, etc. Send this

paper to Katkoff, with whom you have already been
for a long time in correspondence. And then, await
his answer. If you are afraid to send such a docu-
ment through the post, give it to me, and I promise

that I will hand it over to Katkoff. That is all I can
say and do for you."
She was very and by the way she
dissatisfied,
looked at me when I was saying that
I would take
charge of the documents themselves, and hand them

over to Katkoff, I almost fancied that she might be
afraid of trusting such a document to my hands in
particular. However that might be, she never re-
turned to the subject in conversation up to the time
of my departure from Wiirzburg.
XXI.
Two or three days afterwards I saw Madame X
who had come from Russia. She kissed me thrice,

in Russian fashion, and expressed in choice phrases
her deHght on the occasion of our second meeting.
I even spent two days in her company, thanks to a
trip which we made to Nuremberg to see an exhibi-
tion of various curiosities. I have preserved some
very queer and comic reminiscences of this trip. I
fancy that my readers would not regret it if I decided

to make them better acquainted with this very
interesting personage, interesting in her external
characteristics as well as for her inner qualities
of heart and mind. Nor would it be tedious to
relate the vengeance which I incurred from her for
having, after investigation, withdrawn from my
acquaintance with Helena Petrovna. But I have
to deal with my relations with Madame Blavatsky
and not with her family, and I shall not depart from
the limits which I have set myself.
After Madame X there came to Wurzburg Sinnett
with his wife, and Mohini with Miss Arundale. 1
used to call at Madame Blavatsky's lodgings to talk
to Madame X, and hear her tales about various sorts
of devils and ghosts, and their tricks. I used to go
for walks with her, leaving Miss Arundale with

Mohini, and Sinnett with Madame Blavatsky. The
;
latter was now occupied several hours a day,

dictating to this "first-rate editor" the very latest
" truth about her life ".
Miss Arundale soon went back to London, taking
with her Bavaji as well as Mohini. I also was on
the point of leaving Wtirzburg.
Before my departure I paid " Madame " a farewell
visit. As I was taking leave, I said :

" Now, Helena
Petrovna, the hour of farewell has come ; the final
farewell this time. Listen to my honest advice,
which comes from my head and my heart.
alike
Have pity on throw away all this horrible
yoursielf ;
tinsel, resign the Theosophical Society, as you your-
self wished to do not long ago, nurse your health
in quiet, and write. You have a real literary talent
this can supply you with a livelihood and with
satisfaction for your self-love. You work so easily,
write ; write in the Russian journals about
all you
have seen and learnt but throw aside all this, all
;
these Mahatmas and chelas, all these English and

Hindus. Let the evening of your life, at least, be
bright and calm. Do not take needless burdens on
your soul make a pause."
;
" Too late " she said in a stifled voice " for me
! ;
there no going back." And in a moment, in quite

is
another tone, she went on " Know that all the:
'
master's predictions will be fulfilled, and in no
'
more than a month and a half from now."

By these last words she made it possible for me
to part from her without any feeling of pity.
I paid a short visit to Strassburg, and went on to
Paris, in order to see my French friends beiore

hurrying off to Russia.
I still received letters from Madame Blavatsky,

first in She
Paris and afterwards in St. Petersburg.
would on no account admit that our relations had
come to an end, and that I had said good-bye to her
for ever. Besides, on thinking over all that had
passed between us, she was bound to attempt to get
letters of mine in reply, in order that, if anything
happened, she might be able to say " Excuse me, :
we are on the best of terms, we are in correspond-

".
ence, here are his letters
She used to rely on my pity for a sick old woman,
and at last upon my "courtesy" How is it that I
do not answer, when she thus complains of her
sufferings, and appeals to my heart ?
But I thought I had had enough, and that
a correspondence with a lady who "had passed
seven years in Thibet " could bring me neither
profit nor satisfaction. I ceased to answer her
letters.
She assumed a jocose tone, and lectured me on
my silence: "You do not answer: God be with you,
and I will write no more. Widow H. P. B." or ;
" Yours ever, veuve Blavatsky ". I kept silence, but
still she wrote.

At last ceased, and I even
the rain of letters
began to think had taken offence and
that she
become silent for ever. I was unspeakably glad
of it for at that very .time, in St. Petersburg, it was
;
m}' fortune to receive from several quarters, especi-

ally from Madame Y and her family (the honourable
Madame Y was at that time on bad terms with
Helena Petrovna), some very unexpected information.
This information was very important for the picture
of the " foundress of the Theosophical Society," and

for comparison with her own declarations, oral and
printed, which she scattered abroad by means of
Sinnett and Co.
Some two months more passed. By this time I
had completed my budget by gaining trustworthy
information about Madame Blavatsky, and I com-
municated the results of my inquiries to Mr. Myers
and Charles Richet. I then returned to Paris, where
I found Madame de Morsier quite ill and upset by a
scandalous affair affecting a well-known theosophist.

She was now sufficiently prepared, and I told her
all about my stay in Wiirzburg and about the infor-
mation I had obtained in St. Petersburg.

" This only confirms what is, unhappily, but too
clear to me already," she said, and she in turn told
me the Paris news and showed me letters to herself
from Madame Blavatsky, in which our "Madame"
did not stand on ceremony, and revealed a very
repulsive side of herself
Some days later, to my greatest amazement, I
received from Madame Blavatsky a fresh letter of

many pages.
In among other things, she reported to me,
this,
in her own style, the contents of Hodgson's report,

just published by the London Society for Psychical
Research, and naturally considered that this report
was worth nothing and that Hodgson had not proved
anything.
;
XXII.
Having read Helena Petrovna's letter, I replied
begging her to leave me in peace, to remain quiet,
and not to run into the halter. I repeated the advice

I had given her on leaving Wiirzburg. To this I
received in answer a document which revealed her
in her entirety, and before which even her Wurzburg
admissions paled. She headed it " My Confession "
and this is what I read in her missive :
" I have made up my mind (doubly underlined).

Has the following picture ever presented itself to
your literary imagination ? There is living in the
forest a wild boar
an ugly creature, but doing no
harm to any one so long as they leave him in peace
in his forest, with his wild beast friends who love
him. This boar never hurt any one in his life, but
only grunted to himself as he ate the roots which
were his own in the forest which sheltered him.
There is let loose upon him, without rhyme or reason,
a pack of ferocious hounds men chase him from the
;
wood, threaten to burn his native forest, and to leave

him a wanderer, homeless, for any one to kill. He
flies for a while, though he is no coward by nature,
before these hounds he ; tries to escape for the sake of
the forest, lest down. But, lo! one after
they burn it
another the wild beasts who were once his friends

join the hounds they begin to chase him, yelping
;

A Modern Priestess of Isis. lyy
and trying to bite and catch him, to make an end of

him. Worn out, the boar sees that his forest is
already set on fire and that he cannot save it nor

himself. What is there for the boar to do ? Why,
this he stops, he turns his face to the furious pack
;
of hounds and beasts, and shows himself wholly

(twice underlined) as he is, from top to bottom, and
then falls upon his enemies in his turn, and kills as
many of them as his strength serves till he falls dead
and then he is really powerless.
" Believe me,- J have fallen because I have made up my
mind to fall, or else to bring about a reaction by

telling all God's truth about myself, hut without mercy
on my enemies. On this I am firmly resolved, and
from this day I shall begin to prepare myself in order
to be ready. I will fly no more. Together with this
letter, or a few hours later, I shall myself be in
Paris, and then on to London. A Frenchman is
ready, and a well-known journalist too, delighted to
set about the. work and to write at my dictation
something short, but strong, and what is most im-
portant a true history of my life. I shall not even
attempt to defend, to justify myself. In this book I
shall simply say : In 1848, I, hating my husband,

N. V. Blavatsky (it may have been wrong, but still
such was the nature God gave me), left him, aban-
jdoned him a virgin (I shall produce documents and
letters proving this, although he himself is not such
a swine as to deny it). I loved one man deeply, but
still more I loved occult science, believing in magic,
wizards, etc. I wandered with him here and there,
in Asia, in America, and in Europe. I met with

So-and-so. (You may call him a wizard, what does it
matter to him ?) In 1858 I was in London ;

there
came out some story about a child, not mine (there
will medical evidence, from the faculty of
follow
Paris, and it is for this that I am going to Paris).
One thing and another was said of me ;
that I was
depraved, possessed with a devil, etc. I shall tell
everything as I think fit, everything I did, for the
twenty years and more that I laughed at the qu'en
dira-t-on, and covered up all traces of what I was
really occupied in, i.e., the sciences occultes, for the
sake of my family and relations who would at that
time have cursed me. I will tell how from my
eighteenth year I tried to get people to talk about

me, and say about me that this man and that was
my lover, and hundreds of them. I will tell too a
great deal of which no one ever dreamed, and / will
prove it. Then I will inform the world how suddenly
my eyes were opened to all the horror of my moral
suicide; how I was sent to. America to try my
psychological capabilities. How I collected a society
there, and began to expiate my faults, and attempted
to make men better and to sacrifice myself for their
regeneration. / will name all the theosophists who
were brought into the right way, drunkards and
rakes, who became almost saints, especially in India,
and those who enlisted as theosophists, and continued
their former life, as though they were doing the work
(and there are many of them) and yet were the first to
join the pack of hounds that were hunting me down,
and to bite me. I will describe many Russians,
great and small
Madame S among them, her
slander and how it turned out to be a lie and a
calumny. I shall not spare myself, I swear I will
;
not spare ; / myself will set fire to the four quarters

of my native wood, the society to wit, and I will
perish, but I will perish with a huge following. God
grant I shall die, shall perish at once on publication
but if not, if the master would not allow it, how
should I fear anything ? Am I a criminal before
the law ? Have I killed any one, destroyed, de-
famed ? I am an American foreigner, and I must
not go back to Russia. From Blavatsky, if he is
alive, what have I to fear? It is thirty-eight years

since I parted from him, after that I passed three
days and a half with him in Tiflis in 1863, and then

we parted again. Or ? M
I do not care a straw
about that egoist and hypocrite He betrayed me, !
destroyed me by telling lies to the medium Home, who

has been disgracing me for ten years already, so much
the worse for him. You understand, it is for the
sake of the society I have valued my reputation these
ten years. I trembled lest rumours, founded on my
own efforts (a splendid case for the psychologists, for

Richet and Co.) and magnified a hundred times,
might throw discredit on the society while blacken-
ing me. I was ready to go on my knees to those
who helped me to cast a veil over my past ; to
give my life and all my powers to those who helped
me. But now ? Will you, or Home the medium,
or M , or any one in the world, frighten me
with threats when
have myself resolved on a I
full confession ? Absurd I tortured and killed !
myself with fear and terror that I should damage

the society kill it.
But now I torture myself
no more. I have thought it all out, coolly and
sanely, I have risked all on a single card all

;
i8o A Modern Priestess of I sis.
(twice underlined) I will snatch the weapon from

!
my enemies' hands and write a book which will

make a noise through all Europe and Asia, and
bring in immense sums of money, to support my
orphan niece, an innocent child, my brother's orphan.
Even if all the filth, all the scandal and lies against
me had been the holy truth, still I should have been
no worse than hundreds of princesses, countesses,
court ladies and royalties, than Queen Isabella herself,
who have given themselves, even sold themselves to
the entire male sex, from nobles to coachmen and
waiters inclusive ; what can they say of me worse than
that ? And all this I myself will say and sign.
" No The devils will save me in this last great
!
hour. You did not calculate on the cool determina-

tion of despair, which was and has passed over. To
you I have never done any harm whatever, I never
dreamt of it. If I am lost I am lost with every one.
I will even take to lies, to the greatest of lies, which
for that reason is the most likely of all to be believed.
I will say and publish it in the Times and in all the
papers, that the '
master ' and '
Mahatraa K. H.'
are only the product of my own imagination that I :
invented them, that the phenomena were all more or

less spiritualistic apparitions, and I shall have twenty
million spiritists in a body at my back. I will say
that in certain instances I fooled people ; I will ex-
pose dozens oi fools (underlined twice), des hallucines
I will say that I was" making trial for my own
satisfaction, for the sake of experiment. And to this

Ihave been brought hy you (underlined twice). You
have been the last straw which has broken the camel's
back under its intolerably heavy burden.
A Modern Priestess of his. i8i
" Now you are at liberty to conceal nothing. Re-

peat to all Paris what you have ever heard or know
about me. I have already written a letter to Sinnett
forbidding him to publish my memoirs at his own
discretion. I myself will publish them with all the
truth. So there will be the truth (underlined '
twice) about H. P. Blavatsky," in which psychology

and her own and others' immorality and Rome and
politics and all her own and others' filth once more
will be set out to God's world. I shall conceal no-
thing. It will be a Saturnalia of the moral depravity
of mankind, this confession of mine, a worthy epilogue
of my stormy life. And it will be a treasure for
science as well as for scandal : it is all me, me
and
(underlined twice) ; I will show myself with a
reality (underlined twice), which will break many,
and will resound through all the world. Let the
psychist gentlemen, and whosoever will, set on foot
a new inquiry. Mohini and
the rest, even India,
all
are dead for me. one thing only, that

I thirst for
the world may know all the reality, all the truth, and
learn the lesson. And then death, kindest of all.
" H. Blavatsky.
" You may print this letter if you will, even in

Russia. It is all the same now."
After this " confession," I could, and can, speak

at my ease of her verbal admissions to me at Wiirz-
burg, which were besides fully confirmed by the
investigations of the London Psychical Society.
These admissions are lost like a drop in the ocean
in the midst of her precisely similar doings, estab-
lished by documentary proof. Her confession is a

1 82 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
"human document," on which, in very truth, not

only the artistic reader but the psychologist and the
alienist may dwell with lively interest.
Of the numerous " truths" about the life of H. P.
Blavatsky beginning with the " truth " according to
Madame Jelihovsky and Sinnett, and ending with the
"biographers " of " Madame," the confession sent
latest
tome, written in her own hand (as can be established
by any expert) is indubitably the most interesting
"truth". This "truth" is not a private letter, but
one destined for the public as well, and containing
the author's own permission to print. May be there
is no less falsehood inthan in the works of Sinnett,
it
Madame Jelihovsky, Olcott, Countess Wachtmeister,

and similarly trustworthy biographers and witnesses.
In it truth is artistically interwoven with falsehood,
there are contradictions in every word, feverish im-
agination struggles with shameless cynicism, passions
boil and fume, sudden sincerity, called forth by de-
spair, by the seeming hopelessness of the situation,
alternates with conscious, crafty calculation.
For a biography, a really truthful biography of
" Madame," even this autograph " confession," written
under the impulse of the moment, offers no adequately
trustworthy material. But as a revelation of her
character and moral qualities, as a full-length por-
trait of her, taken from nature, and taken not by an
artist capable of completing and idealising, but by
the sun itself, dispassionate and exact, this " confes-
sion" of hers is a priceless treasure. In it this deeply
interesting and terrible woman is wholly reflected
the woman whom the inquirers of the London
Society for Psychical Research have declared to be

A Modern Priestess of Isis. 1S3
" one of thcmost accomplished, ingenious and inter-

esting impostors of our time''.^
In my opinion, this judgment, far from being ex-
aggerated, does not go far enough. Where in our
time is there a similar impostress or a similar im-
postor? H. P. Blavatsky is unique; she surpasses
the famous charlatan of the last century, Balzamo
Cagliostro, inasmuch as when the " divine, mighty
Copt "
vanished mysteriously from the arena of life,
there remained nothing but a memory of him behind;
whereas after the death of H. P. Blavatsky, and the
cremation of her sorely-tried, sinful body, there are
left 60,000^ members of the Theosophical Society,
there remains a whole religious movement, with

which, perhaps, it will some day be necessary to
reckon seriously. When the London inquirers into
psychical phenomena passed their judgment, they
did not foresee the proportions which would be at-
tained by the movement started by the " interesting
Russian impostress ".
Both I and Madame de Morsier, when we had
read and sufficiently weighed the confession, saw
very clearly that it was useless to expect the appear-
ance of Madame in Paris and London.
Blavatsky
She was not anywhere now. It is
likely to stir
highly probable that the moment she had sent me

the letter she was sorry for having done so, and in
a couple of days had forgotten, if not the whole
contents, at least a good half of it.
But she could not fail, when her mood altered, to
^ [The words of the report (Proceedings of the Society for
Psychical Research, iii., 207) are "in history". Tr.]
^ [4000 would probably be nearer the mark. Tr.]
make fresh attempts to improve her posHion. There

flashed before her a hope that, after all, she still
might convert me. This would be such a triumph

now She was thinking me as yet so tame in every
!
way. And how could I betray her, my own country-

woman ? Surely, she thought, there must be some-
thing wrong here there was probably some one
;
between us, telling tales about her.

She suddenly put on a virtuous mask, assumed
the part of an injured innocent, and several days after
her confession she wrote to me again, completing
her portrait of herself, saying all she had left unsaid,
and finally revealing herself.
" Great were my sins in the past, but not against
you it is not for you to punish me, before whom I
;
am as guiltless as Christ before the Jews. I have

never done you any harm, and may be I shall be use-
ful to you." Then she wrote about Bavaji " He is :
an obedient and clever boy He is an obedient

!
weapon in my hands Je I'ai psychologise,' you

!
'
would say to Madame de Morsier. And only see

what this obedient boy has done to me. He threw
me over at the first shot of the Psychical Society.
He is abusing me to the Gebhards worse than your-
self. He says que j'ai commis un sacrilege, des-
'
honore le nom des Maitres, que j'ai avili la science

sacree en la donnant aux Europeens'. He is going
against you, Sinnett, me, every one, and devil knows
what they will do together (with Mohini ?) in London
now that he is going, and perhaps has gone, there.
He is a very dangerous enemy, because he is a fanatic,
and he is capable of raising all India against me."

And again " What have I done to you (underlined
:
twice) ? What have I said ? What have you

learnt ? Do not do Hke the Psychical Society or
Madame de Morsier, who fancied that I knew every-
thing, that I must know everything, and therefore
betrayed me. Beware (underlined twice) You are !
surrounded by such a ring that all your cool head

will not help you. I only beg you to answer me this
riddle
What can you have against me ? Did I ever
want to bite you ? Do I wish you ill ? If I wrote
to you that I am in despair, then I wrote only what
I feel. It was your friendship I valued, not your
presence or your membership of the society. I wiôte

that I would be the first to upset all the continental
societies, the Parisian and the German, where (ex-
cepting the Gebhards and poor Hubbe-Schleiden)
all are men of straw and enemies, and I am ready
to do it after I have put in print all their meannesses.

But only think what you would have thought of me
if we had changed places. Even if I were going to
be hanged I would not betray you, and I would
betray no one else, even if I knew that it was true,
but would keep silence. And what have I done to
you ? I am ready to forget all to-morrow and to
love you as of old, because I have no spite in me,

and because you are a Russian a sacred thing for an
exile like me. Farewell.
"H. B."
I am convinced that she honestly did not under-
stand why I had parted from her and appeared
among the number of her accusers. Her moi'al
notions were so radically perverted that she had lost
all grasp of certain ideas. She imagined that every-
thing in the world was founded on personal relations.
and that to this there was no exception. " What

have I done to you you ? " " Others," that is to
say, " I may cheat and ruin I may mar all their
;
lives, I may abandon myself to every sacrilege, and
huckster the greatest truths, but if I like you person-

ally, and cannot take you in because you have seen
through me, if it may yet be in my power to serve

you in one way or another, then why do you betray
me, and that to foreigners ? " That is what she
insinuated.
" Return to me, and all will be forgotten " of
course! And she was thinking to herself : "Once
come back to me, and I will see that there shall be
only one way of escape from me, a ball in your
brain. And even now, beware for you are surrounded
!
by such a magic circle that all your cool head will

not help you."
She could not control and admitted into
herself,
her letter these words, which, as was soon to know
I
but too well, were no empty threat. She was already

preparing to collect her army, and avenge 'herself
upon me in a very " theosophical " fashion.

XXIII.
Thus ended all my immediate relations with Madame

Blavatsky. did not reply to her last letter, I was
I
not enticed by the prospect that " the past should be

forgotten," I did not return to her friendly embrace.
I was not alarmed by her threats, I did not feel
myself fettered in the magnetic ring of her " theo-
sophical " vengeance, and was generally like the
little bird of which the song speaks :
Gaily hops the little bird

Down the path of sorrow,
Troubled not by any word
Of what may come to-morrow.
Everything was now perfectly clear. There was no

need to wait for any further revelations, and nothing
could now weaken the facts which had become
known to me. I had already told Madame Blavatsky
in the autumn of 1884, at Elberfeld, that I did not
wish to remain on the list of the members of the
Theosophical Society, as I had observed that the
actions pi some of the members, beginning with
Olcott, were not consistent with the fundamental
rules of the constitution. But Helena Petrovna,
"
who was very ill at the time, began to " beseech
me not to resign officially, nor to cause her such an
annoyance and scandal.
1 88 A Modern Priestess of his.
" Let me go and die," she said in her favourite

jargon, " then you can do what you like but so ;
long as I am not off the hooks, even though I am

lying like a log, don't put me to shame and don't give
food for all sorts of talk ; think how my enemies will
rejoice: '
There, you see, she could not even keep her
own fellow-countryman, he is off!' Even if you do
dislike any one, Olcott, or any of the rest, just spit
on them and don't make me responsible for one and
all ;have pity on a sick old woman."
Leaving pity aside, I clearly saw that my official
retirement from the society would offend " Madame"
in the highest degree her friendship for me would
;
not survive it, and I should get positively nothing

out of her and learn no more. The rest of the theo-
sophists would begin to shun me, and there would
be an end to any further relations with them. In
view of this I determined to wait for the time when
my doubts and suspicions should be changed into
evident facts. The "Widow Blavatsky's" last letters
to, me were more than sufficient facts, and accord-
ingly, on i6th February, 1886, a few days after the

receipt of the " confession," I despatched to Adyar
in India, to the address of the secretary of the
Theosophical Society, Mr. Oakley, with whom I
was slightly acquainted, a registered letter with my
formal resignation.
When had addressed this letter, I felt like a man
I
who has had a bath after a journey in a close and

dirty railway carriage.I wrote a concise account
of my
acquaintance with H. P. Blavatsky and of
the Wiirzburg conversations, and then translated
into French extracts from her last letters to me, and
her " confession In view of any eventuality, and

".
with the object of giving my translation a document-

ary character, I had recourse to my honoured old
friend Jules Baissac, the well-known scholar and
linguist, who besides filled the office of "sworn
translator to the Paris Court of Appeal ".
Jules Baissac, as has already been mentioned at

the beginning of this narrative, in his character as a
student of the history of religion, had been greatly
interested in the Theosophical Society and its foun-
dress, to whom he had been introduced by Madame
de Morsier. He had several serious conversations
with H. P Blavatsky, Olcott, and Mohini, he had
learnt from their mouths everything bearing on
his studies, he had made acquaintance with the
writings of Madame Blavatsky and Sinnett, and re-
garded the Theosophical Society as the most curious
phenomenon of contemporary religious life. He had
written a lengthy and circumstantial article entitled
"La Nouvelle Theosophie,'' and published it in the
periodical Revue de I'Histoire des Religions. The article
was by no means a propaganda of theosophy, but an
account of what was known to the author from the
statements of the foundress and the active members
of the society.
Still, in spite of the sober tone of the "report,'"
one could see in it a man who had been "touched
to the quick,"and was unconsciously almost befogged
by the witchcraft of " Madame " and her champions.
It is highly probable that, under favourable circum-
stances, the fog would have grown denser, and that
Jules Baissac's pen would have rendered no slight
services to the cause of the New Theosophy. But
I go A Modern Priestess of his.
the action of the London Society for Psychical

Research and Hodgson's report cooled the veteran
scholar down at once.
When I saw him again, he had the air of a man
who had been saved from a great peril. He listened
to my story with the greatest interest, and relished
Madame Blavatsky's letters in a way which con-
vinced me of his thorough knowledge of the Russian
language.
But for me the serious question was whether he
had the right, in his character of sworn translator,
to certify officially the translations from the Russian
documents. It appeared that he had the right, and
I at once obtained his kind consent. We examined
my translations together, phrase by phrase, word by
word, stop by stop. He then attested them all, by
his own signature, and attached the official seal, as
sworn interpreter, both to the translations and to
the Russian originals from which they had been made.
A meeting of all the effective Paris theosophists
was called at Madame de Morsier's. When all had
appeared at the muster, the reading of my account
and of Madame Blavatsky's letters was begun. The
majority of those present were already prepared for
what awaited them but none the less Helena
;
Petrovna's amazing confession, and Madame de

Morsier's documentary communication about another
matter, wherein the foundress of the Theosophical
Society also appeared in an unexpectfeQ light, pro-
duced an overwhelming effect.
The French branch of the Indian parent society,
founded by the Duchesse de Pomar under the title
of the SocieU d' Orient et d' Occident, was broken up
;
A Modern Priestess of I sis. igi
by the retirement of almost all its members, with

the soul of the branch and its principal secretary,
Madame de Morsier, at their head. The resigna-
tions were immediately drawn up and signed for
transmission to Mr. Oakley at Adyar in India.
There now appeared on our Parisian horizon a
personal friend of Helena Petrovna, compromised
and indignant. This was Gebhard, senior, from
Elberfeld. " Madame " had summoned him to Wiirz-
burg, and, one may imagine after what explanations

and scenes, had entrusted him with a very honour-
able mission he was to persuade me to hold my
:
tongue and withdraw all my evidence, and moreover

to sow dissension between me and Madame de
Morsier, as enjoined by the rule divide et impera.
It was decided to act on me by means of threats,
while Madame de Morsier, being bewitched by me,
was to be turned into the way of truth by flattery.
But the fact was that our latest moves were still
unknown in Wiirzburg, and Helena Petrovna told
him nothing of her confession and the subsequent
letter, evidently not understanding their importance.
Herr Gebhard appeared with the greatest aplomb;

but when Madame de Morsier, in my presence, read
him my account and the translations of the letters,
he cut a very poor figure. He was evidently unpre-
pared for anything of the sort, and lost his head
lost it to such an extent that he could not utter a
single word, and hurried away from Paris in order
to think over the position in consultation and to
prepare himself quietly for the execution of the task
imposed upon him. He was prepared for it, as will
soon be seen, in the course of a few months.
XXIV.
I WAS to experience in my own person the means to

which " Madame " and her intimates had recourse in
order to get rid of a dangerous man, to disarm him
and force him to silence. My excursions into the
region of the occult, which had led me to interest
myself in Madame Blavatsky, my desire to unriddle
this wonderful woman and to expose her to those
whom I regretted to see deceived by her, all this cost
me very dear. I was to undergo the secret theosophi-
cal vengeance, and am now compelled to make up
my mind to speak of it, because I see that without
some facts,
setting out at all events, and their docu-
mentary confirmation, my story will be very imper-
fect, as well as my picture of Madame Blavatsky
and her staff.
In an attack of fury and despair Madame Blavatsky,

simultaneously with the despatch of the "confession"
to me in Paris, wrote to Madame X in Russia to
say that I was an " enemy," and a dangerous enemy,
for I evidently knew a great deal, and had learnt
much of it, in all probability, from Madame Y, who,
having fallen out with Madame Blavatsky, had be-
trayed her to me. Madame X on receiving this
letter turned into a fury, and wrote to Madame Y,
who, in the character of a friend, hastened to give
me warning of everything from St. Petersburg.
" For God's sake write to them " (Mesdames Bla-

vatsky and X), she besought me, "that I had no reason
to '
betray Helena to you,' to use X's expression, or
to murder her, as slie writes herself; for her past
is perfectly well known to the large majority of
people (several persons are named), and I don't
myself know to whom. You cannot imagine to
what they expose me, by picking me out as the
scapegoat, responsible for everything, a sort of tele-
graph wire for the transmission of all kinds of abom-
inations. Still the unhappy, crazy Helena is not
the one to do that ; she is to be pitied. But X is
malice and calumny personified."

Later on Madame Y informed me that they were
collecting over there the addresses of some close
connexions of mine for what purpose she did not
;
know. From these words I was to understand that

the good ladies were starting their vengeance in a
very simple way, by means of anonymous letters
addressed to my near connexions, in order, somehow
or other, to calumniate or estrange me, on the prin-
ciple " calomniez, calomniez
il en restera toujours
quelque chose ".

A few days after I received another short letter
from Madame Y but this time it contained nothing
;
definite, only the exclamation " Yes X is a hundred

: !
thousand times more malicious and more guilty

than Helena."
From this phrase I could only conclude that the
quarrel between Blavatsky and Madame
Madame
Y was, to all appearance, coming to an end. Evi-
dently " Madame " had made up her mind that the
best way to influence me was through Madame Y.
13
For this reason she wrote her a tender sisterly letter,

and convinced her that she was a thousand times
less guilty than Madame X so now the attack upon
;
me could proceed from this side as well.

I wrote to her begging her not to be uneasy, not
to mix herself up and to tell me no-
in the matter,
thing of the ladies and their friends. I reminded her
that she had been the first to open my eyes to Helena

Petrovna and her Theosophical Society, and that
the point at issue was not Helena Petrovna's past,
but her present deceits. Once I had convinced my-
self of these deceits, I could no longer hold my
peace, and told out aloud all I knew. Accordingly
the thing was done, and I anticipated nothing fresh.
I was persecuting no one, I wished to think no more
of " Madame and her society. If they would not

''
leave me in peace, then let them do what they would;

what had I to do with it ? I had done my work and
retired, and did not see what they wanted of me, now
that all was finished.
All this quarrel, diverting me from more interest-
ing and more useful occupations, became at last so
vexatious tome that I hastened into a quite different
atmosphere in the complete quiet of the ancient
Breton town of Dinan, on the sea-shore, close to
where there rises one of the wonders of the world;
the famous Mont St. Michel. My request, addressed
to Madame Y and her family, was apparently fulfilled;
none of them transmitted me any further gossip
about Blavatsky and Co.
But I was not permitted entirely to forget her;
Mr. Myers came to Dinan to meet me and to receive
from me various information, and I was obliged once
;;
more to unroll all my budget before him. At last,

at the end of April, the attack was recommenced from
St. Petersburg. I received a letter from one of the
members of Madame Y's family, in which, " from
great friendship to myself," I was warned that my
affairs were in a bad way the honourable Helena
;
Petrovna demanded (there follow extracts from her

letter) "that I should withdraw what I had said
about the phenomena which I had seen, and give no
account of her to any one " if I did not fulfil this
;
demand, " then she would not hesitate as to the

course she would take, as she had nothing to lose
that she would publish about me whatever she would,
and how she would, for she must defend herself".
Next day came a letter from Madame Y herself;
a wonderful letter, full of friendly anxiety on my
account. " Listen to my warm and sincere prayer
withdraw from everything that concerns Helena.

Let it fall on her, if such a punishment is destined
for her but not through you have pity on me.
; I
should be sorry that among all our good relations
there should come the black vision of her last
grievous sufferings, never mind how well-deserved
they may be. She has one folly ; that idea of
virginity has stirred up all this mud.
Let the dead,
who have nothing to lose, bury their dead. But you
are living. Helena is dead what has she to lose ?
;
She has long ago' burnt her boats. I pity her for
the sufferings of the last years of her life, wedded
to her severe illness ; but you see that morally she
has nothing to lose. A lawsuit the more, or an ac-
cusing article the more, have no such alarming con-
sequences for her as they have for those whose future
is before them. How would you like various

humorous journalists of London and Paris to bring
reports to St. Petersburg, to the delight of your
enemies and the damage of your future career ? I
hear that Myers has been with you, and that the
affair is again kindled and spreading by your instru-
mentality. It is impossible to wait longer, and I tell
"
you, be on your guard, or you will bittei'ly repent!
Some days after Madame Y again wrote to me
among other things " Yes you have put the fat in
:
;
the fire ;I hope to God you may get well out of it.
You were terribly wrong in thinking that Helena

was so defenceless that it was easy to frighten and
vanquish her you have made an enemy of her by
;
your own acts, without any need for she has no- ;
thing to lose and nothing to fear. I cannot and will
not name any one, but I hope that you must believe
me ; a day does not pass that you are not attacked
by letters and rumours reflecting on you. Withdraw
your evidence declare that you do not wish either
;
in word or deed to mix yourself up in the troubles of

the theosophists. I do not even know what you are
preparing for yourself here. If you are really start-

ing to come, start at once. I cannot refuse Helena
her wish to say good-bye to me I shall go and do;
all in my power to put an end to her hostile action
towards you ; but concessions on your side are in-

dispensable. It is difficult to write everything ; we
must meet. I will try to put off my journey, in order
to have a talk with you."
At that time I had as yet no reason to doubt
Madame Y's sympathy for me, and I explained to
myself her strange prayer that I should withdraw
A Modern Priestess of his. igy
my evidence, solely by the fact that, incited and un-

settled by the letters of Madame Blavatsky and
Madame X, she was simply unable to take account
of her words. I therefore wrote to her, again repeat-
ing that I did not anticipate anything at all, and

had entirely retired from anything to do with " theo-
sophising". As for concealing what I knew from
persons who were interested in the question, I had
no moral right to do so. I had in my own belief
done my duty, and to beg me to withdraw my evi-
dence, and to frighten me by disseminating all sorts
of gossip and calumny about me, was most unseemly.
I regretted that Madame Y did not appreciate the
substance of her request, and thought that the very
best thing for her would be to retire likewise from
the matter and to leave me in peace on all this head.
In answer I received a new variation on the same
tune " On receiving your letter of yesterday I was
:
convinced that mine which follows would not be

taken in a meekness, as you are satisfied
spirit of
that you are doing nothing to Helena's detriment.
But how am I to act, how can I not warn you, when
I am continually receiving letters from Paris, from
Germany, from England (not from Helena, but from

persons unconnected with her), in which they say
that you, you by name, are guilty of all Helena's
discredit and misfortunesSo I beg you in God's
?
name to leave X entirely on one side, and not to

say a word about her at any time. I know how
many powerful and influential backers they have,

who will all set upon you for the virtue and honour
of X. Come at once."
I was then just on the eve of my final return to
ig8 A Modern Priestess of his.
Russia. A few days later, at the end of May, in St.

Petersburg, I saw Madame Y
just on the point of
starting for Elberfeld to " say good-bye " to Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky.
" I assure you," I said to her, " that Helena
Petrovna has not the least intention of dying, and
only writes to you in order that you, for the sake of
your family feelings and her illness, may give the
theosophists some crushing '
' evidence about me.
The fact is, you are already under her influence,
and at her dictation you beg me in your own name
to do what is utterly impossible for me, to take back
my evidence, and to proclaim myself a liar and
slanderer."
" I am going solely in order to clear you in this
matter, to free you from all their lying accusations,
and warmly.
to declare the truth," she asserted
" I do not know how
thank you, but the affair
to
has reached a point at which this is an insoluble
problem. Helena Petrovna does not want the truth
at all,. especially in present circumstances; she will
not thank you for the truth, and you will appear
before her only as an ingrate. You will be brought
into an inextricable position, having on one side the
truth and the impossibility of calumniating me ; on
the other Helena Petrovna, her objects, her sickness,
and family feeling. The matter is very serious, and
I advise you to take pity on yourself and not to go."
But it was evident that she was much interested

in this foreign journey, especially as she wished to
give a treat to one of her daughters, whom Madame
Blavatsky with great foresight had also invited to
the hospitable house of Gebhard.
" I know that I am not going to any happiness,"

exclaimed Madame Y. " But I cannot help going,
for it is only by a personal interview with Helena that
it is possible to settle this matter ;
you yourself will
thank me ;show you my friendship in act.
I shall
But for God's sake be more prudent. You are
always soaring somewhere in the sky, and will not
understand realities ; I am much older than you,
and have seen all sorts of things in my time believe ;
me that you are bringing yourself into a terrible

position, and I tremble for you."
" Pardon me," I objected, " one would think I had
been guilty of some crime or disgraceful conduct, for
which I must tremble and quake before the revenge
of Madame Blavatsky and X."
" Oh dear, oh dear "
Madame Y clasped her hands
" on what planet do you live ? Can't you under-

stand that it is not in the least necessary to be a
criminal or a scapegrace to have your reputation
damaged and all your life poisoned ? '
The good
!
report lies down, the bad one runs ' the saying is
too true. They have already organised a whole

campaign against you over there. Helena has
friends, and X has a great many and highly re-
spected ones. And you may be sure that all these
respectable people, though knowing nothing, will,
first on the word of Helena and X, and then on one
another's word, begin to repeat the most revolting

scandal about you, and to pervert and distort the
facts of your personal, intimate life. And this alone
will damage your future. You see, nobody will say
anything to your face, and you will suspect nothing ;
but a little time will pass, and they will be covering

you with mud, bespattering you with hog-wash, and

no one will stand up for you, because every one is
more prone to believe ill than good, and any fact, by
care, can be set in whatever light is desired. One
single malignant, unprincipled and guilty slanderer
such as X is quite enough to poison your life for ever.
The more unprincipled the slanderer, the more surely
the slander gains its end. The worst of it is that
you will not know anything, and will struggle like a
fish on ice, not understanding why people are turning
their backs on you, and,from taking your part
far
in the difficulties of life, actually doing you harm.
If you had been a solitary man, and well provided
for, you could have said to yourself, It is all the '
same,' and there would have been an end of it.

But as it is you are not such, you cannot do without
other people. Can it be that
"
all these ABC truths
are unknown to you ?
" Unhappily they are not," I answered, " and you
have succeeded in thoroughly disturbing and dis-

tressing me. Yes, it may certainly be that all these
terrors really await me. But what can I do ? In
an unlucky moment I came into collision with your
Helena Petrovna but once this misfortune came
;
upon me, all the rest has followed inevitably, step

by step."
" Why did you not fly from this fatal woman in
Paris in 1884, when I warned you ? Did I not tell
you that with her you could only come to trouble ? "
Madame Y interrupted.
"Just so; but I could not rest on the assurance
of your words she herself, her society, the whole
;
movement started by her, the character of the move"

;
ment itself, impelled me to convince myself, to as-

certain everything personally. It is only now that
I know, when I have convinced myself of everything
with my own eyes and ears, it is only now that,
having learnt all about the phenomenon, I can deal
with it calmly and openly."
" I do not understand you, and never shall," said
Madame Y with irritation " you might have found ;
out and held your tongue instead of falling into the

snare. However, show me Helena's letters which
compromise her so deeply I must read them myself
;
to see what the matter is, and to have the right to

say that I have seen them myself, with my own
eyes."
I handed her the letters with which the reader is
already acquainted. She read them and sat all
livid.
" Why, she is out of her mind !
" she exclaimed at
last ;
" please give me these letters to take away ;
I keep them as the apple of my eye, and return

will
them to you when I come back from Elberfeld."
" What you ask is entirely impossible," I said
" these letters must remain with me. You have
seen them and read them, you know that they are
in her own
hand. If there is any need of the trans-
lation which was made by me in Paris and was

certified and witnessed by Baissac, the sworn inter-
preter of the Paris Court of Appeal, I have left it with
Madame de Morsier, as well as copies of the originals.
The matter is all in order, and any one can compare
the letters and the translation as much as he will."
" What then am I to take with me ? What is
your last word ? Can it be that, now you see how
much harm they can do you, you will not consent

to any sort of concession by which I may be able to
disarm them ? Beware and do be prudent even
now."
" This is my last word. I certainly do not mean
to withdraw my evidence, which I have written out

and left with Madame de Morsier. As for Helena
Petrovna's past, what was told me in the main by
yourself, and told me not as a secret but as a matter
of general knowledge, all this I have communicated
to my intimate circle in Paris. I was bound to do
this, in consideration of the fancied virginity,' on '
which Madame Blavatsky based her position in the

Theosophical Society. But we determined there
that if it came to a wider dissemination of the re-
velations which have been made, we would leave on
one side her past as far as she herself has left it on one
side in her 'confession'. In any case she is accused,
and will be accused, not for her past, but for her
theosophical deceptions. I shall henceforth stand
entirely on one side."
" But do youmean to write and publish against
her, here in Russia? " interrupted Madame Y.
" In Russia very little is known about the Theo-
sophical Society and its foundress, and the very best
thing is not to talk about it at all. I promise you
that so long as there does not appear in the Russian

press any false information about the Theosophical
Society and Helena Petrovna, I shall say nothing.
If people begin to talk about all this, and to talk
falsely, I shall consider it my plain duty to assert
the truth in print, and to say what I know. That
is my last word."
Madame Y remained greatly dissatisfied with my

obstinacy, and left for Elberfeld.
Ten days later there was fired at me a double shot,
aimed by the hand of Helena Petrovna in other ;
words, two letters inspired by her, and passed, in all

probability, through her censorship. I could not but
be convinced, from these two letters, that the travel-
lers, was easy to foresee, had entirely fallen into
as
" Madame's toils, and were doing their very best to
''
siton two stools at once.

Madame Y begged me, among other things, to
send the attested copy of the " confession," etc., and
at the same time declared that she was going to
Paris to compare the letters. Later on again she
tried to persuade me
calling on God to witness the
sincerity of her intentions to make the concessions
asked of me "while it was yet possible to stop the
scandal without publicity". " Do not go to extremi-
ties, do not drive her (Madame Blavatsky) into the
law courts, and oblige her to summon you, Madame

de Morsier, and others on a charge of defamation.
She has plenty of devoted and, what is more, very
rich friends, who will not be ruined by a lawsuit,
and are begging her to begin one. She has no fear
of publicity. Letters from Paris have finally con-
vinced me that the Parisians are only awaiting an
opportunity for bringing you into court en diffama-
tion. And if it comes to this, shall you feel better
for a scandal in the papers ? For God's sake do not
affront me ; don't think that I am terrorising you.
I am not terrorising, I am pitying you. I am deeply
sorry for you, and wish you well."
As Madame Y knew perfectly well, from my own
words, that all the documents were in Paris, with
Madame de Morsier, and as she was going there, it

was no use for me to send her the copies. As the
whole of her " terrorism " was a falsehood, and one
besides which I had already experienced, I was justi-
fied in sending no answer to her letter. I could

easily imagine how " Madame " was boiling over, and
taking refuge in her favourite device, with which the
reader is already acquainted, the menace of a legal
action set on foot by the aid of rich and influential
friends.
Her friends, people that is who in one way or
"
another were compromised in various "theosophical
abominations and deceptions, might certainly well
be anxious to humiliate their detectors they had ;
even begun to try already, as the reader may easily

conceive. To do this it islikely enough that they
were prepared to sacrifice no small amount of money.
But still neither the London Society for Psychical
Research, nor I, nor Madame de Morsier had any
cause for uneasiness it was impossible to cite all of
;
us, her accusers, without at the same time finally

ruining Madame Blavatsky and her society. The
theosophists could hurt us only by secret, underground
means, by calumnies unconnected with phenomena
and Mahatmas. As for the phrase about "letters
from Paris convincingly showing that the Parisians
are only awaiting," etc., this was the fault of a very
absurd fancy which Madame Y had got into her
head, for there was positively on one who could
write such letters then, with the exception of * * * *
and the sick fanatic * * *. D
Yes, I clearly imagined all the scene at Elberfeld,
allthe faits et gestes of the Gebhards, of Madame

Blavatsky and their guests but still my clairvoy-
;
ance was very imperfect. Things of more interest

were going on there, the occult centre whereof was
formed by my unfortunate self.
Helena Petrovna assured Gebhard that, in view
of my final departure from Paris for Russia (of
which she knew from Madame Y), now was the favour-
able moment for setting Madame de Morsier against
me, and thus turning this lady, so useful, and indeed
indispensable, to the theosophical cause, and her
numerous friends into the way of truth.
Gebhard, incited by "
Madame,'' wrote on 5th May,
1886, a circumstantial letter to Madame de Morsier.
He explained why it was that, after reading my
documents in her house in Paris, he had vanished,
and from that time had given no sign of existence.
This was all caused by domestic troubles in which
he had been absorbed, and not at all because he
admitted Madame Blavatsky's guilt. He then as-
serted that my translation was inaccurate and that
Madame Blavatsky loudly maintained this. He
further, as though by the way, and very clumsily,
maligned me, attacking my private life on Madame
Blavatsky's authority, and perverting facts till they
were unrecognisable he even hinted very transpar-
;
ently that I had been telling about her, Madame de

Morsier, my true and honoured friend, tales of the
most unseemly sort, tales the scandalous dissemina-
tion of which no honourable woman could pardon.
As Madame de Morsier knew that in translations
of mine attested by her old friend Baissac there could
be no blunders, and that they were made from genuine
!
2o6 A Modern Priestess of his.
and not from spurious originals ; as the calumny

with regard to my private life was before her eyes,
and as no one could by any possibility prove to her
that I was capable of telling unseemly stories about
her, this amiable epistle produced no effect.

At last they made up their minds that the best
thing was to give it out that I was insane
And therefore the demand was made upon me,
and Madame de Morsier was charged to com-
municate it to me, that I should immediately send
to Elberfeld a formal letter in which I should de-
clare that all my revelations about " Madame " were
falsehood and calumnies on my part against her, and
that I withdrew them all If I did not comply with
!
this order, such a public scandal would in one way or

another be immediately set going as would destroy
me and my family.
In conclusion Gebhard advised Madame de Mor-
sier not to show any one the "documents in the
Blavatsky affair" {le dossier Blavatsky), as her
principal accuser was a madman. Madame de
Morsier replied to Gebhard, refusing to listen to
these calumnies, and writing in a tone which
did not invite reply. But H. P. Blavatsky could
not and the obedient Gebhard again sat down
rest,
at his desk and wrote. Moreover he considered

himself the aggrieved and injured party; he was
excited, and wanted to sting and say some caustic
things so one can pardon alike the notable foolish-
;
ness of his letter and its blunders in French grammar.

It need not be said that Gebhard's rubbish pro-
duced no reply from Madame de Morsier. Nor
could he fulfil his intention of keeping her posted up
in the course of events, as there was simply no

course of events at Helena Petrovna and Co.
all.
were convinced that game was up, that

their
Madame de Morsier was immovable, and that they
could not succeed in frightening either her or me.
Some months afterwards I learnt that Gebhard
himself was disenchanted of H. P. Blavatsky. This,
at least, is what he wrote to Madame de Morsier, on
libel which was put in print
the occasion of a certain
by Madame Blavatsky: "La seule chose qui me
surprend, c'est que connaissant si intimement le
caractaire tartare ou kalmouk de H. P. B. vous
puissiez encore etre etonne de n'importe ce qu'elle
ecrive ". He it is not worth while on
proves that
this occasion to " relevervivement des diffamations
qui ne meritent pas I'honneur d'une reponse ".
Further on he says, " Je blame fortement la maniere
peu comme il faut de H. P. B." and again repeats
that the "fausse accusation" on Madame Blavat-
sky's part does not deserve any attention. And is
not this a complete disenchantment ? especially
when it is remembered that not so long before, this
very Gebhard was aiding Madame Blavatsky not
only with his pen and his advice, but with pecuniary
means as well. The originals of these curious
letters, from which I have given extracts, were
placed entirely at my disposition by Madame de
Morsier.
This was the last news I received of Madame
Blavatsky. I have lived in St. Petersburg, and from
that day to this it is only by report that I have heard
anything about the Theosophical Society. With
Madame Y, since her battles at Elberfeld "for the
truth and for me," I have of course broken off all
relations.
From time to time it has been my fate to discover
traces of the "occult theosophical vengeance" which
has not left me at have lighted upon
peace. I
wonderful calumnies and slanders, and on tracing

them to their sources I have almost always found
the trail either of Madame X or of Madame Y or of
some other of Madame Blavatsky's friends. What
are the actual dimensions of the damage done me
by this vengeance, I do not know.
XXV.
With the aid of herself and of her nearest friends, I

have sketched the portrait of H. P. Blavatsky. I
have been obliged, wfilly-nilly, to dwell on its most
striking lines and to uncover the many moral ulcers
of this phenomenal woman. If I intended to follow
hour by hour my whole acquaintance with her, and
to reproduce all her words and acts, all the small
yet always more or less characteristic facts of which
I was a witness, I should have to write a huge
book. I have been obliged to confine myself to

matters which in one way or another were pro-
minent.
I am now mentally reviewing everything, in all
the minutest details, in order to find something

which may justify her adorers' and supporters'
marvellous tales about her something which might
;
have been to me, when all was said and done, a

proof of the reality of her higher knowledge, in the
way of " phenomena ". And I can find nothing
whatever of the sort. And how anxious she was
all the time to startle me with something ! This
was a right calculation on her part.
There is, it one thing which I cannot
is true,
explain how she produced and stopped at will the
:
various raps which were heard at a great distance

14
2IO A Modern Priestess of Isis.
all roundand also the strange sounds like the

^ her,
ticking of a small electrical machine, of which I
have spoken in their proper place. But with this
manifestation is exhausted everything in her phe-
nomena which I am unable to explain. I am
acquainted with the pretty piece of silver which
played so important a part with its melodious notes,
whereby the " master " informed his " elect " of his
presence.
That " Madame's" soft hands, with their supple
pointed fingers, were very clever in the execution of
rapid movements, I have many times perceived. She
had probably taken lessons in conjuring from some
" professor of white magic," perhaps from the very
conjurer whose assistant Babula had been, before he
entered her service, helped her to dupe the public,
and made fun of the " nice muslin Mahatmas ".
It is easy to explain by quickness of movement
and sleight of hand the " phenomenon of the portrait

in the locket," described in chapter vi. of this
narrative. She simply changed under my very eyes
one locket for another, an exact duplicate of the first,
and so rapidly that I did not remark it. But do not
professional conjurers perform marvels compared to
which all the marvels and all the "phenomena" of
"Madame" are nothing? Yet this does not give
them any right to proclaim their "high initiation"
and their " uncommon psychical powers ".
My
testimony is this that not only before me,
:
but, to judge from the writings of Sinnett, Madame

Jelihovsky, and her other panegyrists, before whom
'
Cf. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, July, 1893.
you will, H. P. Blavatsky produced nothing, except

the raps, which can be called a physical phenomenon,
and which it is not possible to explain by conjuring
and by the most ordinary simple deception. In the
investigation of the London Society for Psychical
Research, in Hodgson's report, examples are adduced
of prominent " marvels " of " Madame's," as published
by Sinnett ; and all these marvels are analysed and
explained in the most plain and satisfactory manner.
When she was able to produce phenomena her-
self, by her own means, she used to catch the
favourable moment, and act. When she could not
manage alone, she used to call to her assistance
Babula, Olcott, or some other indispensable person
among the number of her confederates. In chapters
X. and have related how two phenomena were
xi. I
produced at Elberfeld by Olcott's aid for the ;
second of these phenomena, the Mahatma's letter

received by Miss A by the " astral route," there was
needed also the participation of the innocent little
English boy.
But perhaps she was stronger in her " psychical "
phenomena, in the manifestation of her exceptional
spiritual powers? In this region the marvels related
of her by her sister and her friends are still more
astounding. By looking at a man she could read
his thoughts, she could see events that were taking
place at a great distance, and foretold the future
with astonishing clearness.
But I must again bear witness that during all the
time of my acquaintance and my relations with her
I was never able to convince myself of anything of
the sort. It has been my lot in the course of my

life more than once to meet people who surprised

me by their subtle insight,temporary or perma-
nent. I know cases, which for me are fully proved,
of presentiments fulfilled, presentiments not misty
or vague, but clearly and exactly formulated. Gener-
ally speaking I know that in the complicated inner
world of man, in the secrets of his soul, slumbering
in the midst of material phenomena, there are
hidden the most varied powers and that at times, ;
owing to causes which it is not easy to submit to

analysis, these powers reveal themselves in fugitive
but real and sensible manifestations.
Knowing this, I should of course not have been in
the least surprisedif I had found something of the
sort in H. P. Blavatsky. Up to the last days of

our acquaintance, though I believed from the first,
and was afterwards confirmed by her in the belief,
that she was tricking and deceiving, I still expected
some sort of evidence of her subtle insight. On
her side, as the reader must have perceived from
my narrative and its confirmatory documents, heaven
knows what she would not have given to be able to
surprise me and call my attention to anything of
interest.
But I saw nothing with her, nothing. "When she
was preparing any " phenomenon," I knew each time
just what was to happen, and saw how she dii'ected
the conversation straight to the subject fixed upon.
For an example it is only necessary to recall the
scene culminating in Bavaji's Russian writing, his
" Blessed are they that lie ".
She not unfrequently asserted, now closing her eyes,

now wildly rolling them, that she was seeing scenes
passing at such or such a place. In these cases,

when succeeded in testing her clairvoyance, it
I
invariably turned out that absolutely nothing of what

she professed to see had in reality occurred. She
did not once divine, even ever so roughly.
Before my departure
from Wiirzburg she made me,
as I have related whole series of
in chapter xx., a
very detailed, definite predictions, which were to be
fulfilled in a very short space of time. My incredulity
as to the fulfilment of these predictions could not, I
imagine, alter the commands of Fate, as revealed by

the "master"; and yet not a single prediction, how-
ever trifling, actually came to pass. Even professional
fortune-tellers, who ask you how much fortune you
want told, one ruble's worth or three, can foresee '
more successfully than this.

And where, in fine, are there any facts, founded on
any sort of adequate evidence, to prove her clairvoy-
ance, or, as it is called in theosophical language, her
" reading in the astral light " ? In the various " truths
about H. P. Blavatsky " it is, as the reader already
knows, by no means easy to find them out.
Let us take one such case at random. Madame
Jelihovsky {Russkoe Obozrenie, December, 1891, p. 570)
writes " Helena Petrovna often forewarned us from
:
great distances of the death of people living with us

in Russia. The happened
last instance of the sort
in the spring of 1886. We
were then living at
Peterhof, where we received a letter written from
Ostend, in which she informed us of the death of
A. M. Boutleroff before the news appeared in our
papers. Helena Petrovna was very fond of Professor
Boutleroff, and was in constant correspondence with him."
;
In the autumn of 1885, on my return to St. Peters-

burg from abroad, I met A. M. Boutleroff, and had a
long conversation with hirri about Madame Blavatsky.
He questioned me about her with great interest, and
told me what he had heard of her from others
generally speaking, it was quite impossible to suppose
from his words that he had any personal knowledge
of her whatever. Not only if he had been in constant
correspondence with her, but if he had even received
two or three letters from her, the nature of our con-
versation was such that he could not have failed to
tell me of it.
Still, it is possible that I may be mistaken. Then

see here : A. M. Boutleroff's closest friend and con-
nexion (the first cousin of his wife) A. N. Aksakoff,
who was in constant relations with him and went
through his papers after his death, allows me to
state as a fact that A M. Boutleroff was not personally
.
acquainted with H. P. Blavatsky and was never in

correspondence with her in any way.
One part therefore of Madame Jelihovsky's story
proves to be a fiction. The rest does not satisfy the
most elementary requirement of a statement of this
sort the day of the month is not stated on which
;
Madame Blavatsky's letter from Ostend was written

and posted. If it were possible to ascertain exactly
the moment of the posting of the letter, it would in
all probability appear that " Madame " had heard of
Boutleroff's death from some telegram which she had

just received, and that she wrote in her letter, with
the hand which was always ready for such phrases :
" He is dead, I know it I have seen him ".

;
All the cases of the same sort which are to be

found inthe " neo-theosophical " literature about

Madame Blavatsky are neither more trustworthy nor
more convincing than this.
We have next to touch on the question of the
"master," and the famous " Mahatmas ". There
have been current among the Hindus from antiquity,
apart from any " Theosophical Society," legends and
tales of the "great spirits" (such is the meaning of
the word " Mahatma," or rather " Maha-atma "),
sages who mountains, in the inaccessible
live in the
depths of Thibet, and possess an unusual knowledge
of the hidden secrets of Nature.
We will now suppose, if only by way of a reductio
ad absurdum, that there is not only some portion of
truth contained in these legends and tales, but that
the whole, positively the whole, is the actual truth.
We will forget also what we know about Hodgson's
report, about Madame Blavatsky's letters to the Cou-
lombs, about Babula's " muslin " revelations, about
Netherclift the expert, about Madame Blavatsky's
Wiirzburg admissions, her proposal to " compose
Koot Hoomi's Russian letters," about her confession,
the Chinese paper and envelopes, etc. We will im-
agine a picture such as that in which the theoso-
phists believe Madame Blavatsky in one way or
;
another enters into communication with the Mahat-

mas, and convinces herself, as she afterwards narrates
in her Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, that the
" brethren of Thibet " enjoy the most exalted know-
ledge. For them space and time are but an empty

sound; they can, though not without a considerable
expenditure of vital force, forsake their bodies, and
in their more or less visible and tangible astral form
2i6 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
appear in the twinkling of an eye wherever they

will. They can, again not without expenditure of
vital force, transmit their letters so as to traverse
any distance with the speed of thought, to pass
through material obstacles, and to fall on your head
or to be written by way of postscript (as with the
lines to myself added by Koot Hoomi to Madame
Blavatsky's note) at the end of ordinary human
letters, lying quietly at the bottom of the post-bag
and travelling by railway. All this the Mahatmas
can do. They initiate Helena Petrovna, thanks to
her "virginity," to the degree of "adept of the
second order," and instruct her to establish the Theo-
sophical Society for the propagation of truth on this
earthly ball.
The " blockhead Olcott, old cat," to use Madame
Blavatsky's words, however bete (the opinion of him
expressed to me in writing by the Mahatma Koot
Hoomi), under Helena Petrovna's protection de-
is
clared president, and he is presented for a token

with an " astral turban," which he is authorised to
show to everybody as a sign of his dignity and his
acquaintance with the Mahatmas. Mahatma Koot
Hoomi undertakes the literary department, and enters
into a friendly correspondence, first with Sinnett (see
the Koot Hoomi letters in The Occult World) and
afterwards with other theosophists, and even with
scepticaland suspicious folk like myself. Mahatma
Morya, with a request that he may be called simply
" M," undertakes the part of the master " of Helena
'
Petrovna, and binds himself to show himself to her

constantly from Thibet, to appear daily to Countess
Wachtmeister, to Mary F. and the rest, and also to

ring the " silver bell ".
Madame Blavatsky and Olcott do what they can.

Koot Hoomi frequently writes very interesting letters,
warmly and ably expressed, and is only once detected
in flagrant plagiarism, wherein he very foolishly and
awkwardly attempts to justify himself (see the be-
ginning of the report of the London Society for
Psychical Research). But Mahatma M., a "severe"
master as H. P. B. assures us, positively ruins the
whole business.
" Excuse me," I said more than once to Helena
Petrovna, " you are thoroughly compromising your
master. This mighty sage, having drunk his cup of

milk his daily portion of nutriment lies down in the
depth of Thibet, so to speak on the very threshold
of Nirvana. His marvellous intellect is directing
the fate of the world. Suddenly you call to him
from here, Ting-ting
'
He immediately effects an
'.
'
expenditure of vital force,' slips out of his coarsely
material body, leaves that body in Thibet to digest
its cup of milk, dons his astral form, and in the
twinkling of an eye he is suddenly before you. Ting-
ting. 'What are your commands, upazika (mother)?'
'
Oh, look here, my good man, write a letter to Miss
A., and drop it on her head in an hour.' All right.' '
'And look here, my good man, write, "Certainly I

was there but who can open the eyes of those
;
who will not see ? " and slip this note into Olcott's
pocket.' 'All right.' 'And look here, my good man,
appear to Mary F.' '
All right.' Is all this possible ?
Why, it turns out that he is not your '

master'
after all, but a footman who runs your errands."
2r8 A Modern Priestess of his.
Oh, how angry she used to get with me for such

speeches ! How she used to glare, her great eyes
the colour of pale turquoise !
And all the time not one, positively not one even
of the apparently most sensible theosophists was
disturbed by this pitiful part played by the great
mysterious teacher, the " master " who availed to
snatch Helena Petrovna from death.
But let us leave out of sight these private
domestic Let us regard our upazika as
affairs.
really the victim of the missionaries, of Hodgson,
Myers and myself, of Madame de Morsier, etc., in
fact of every one who perceived and revealed her
impostures. Let us suppose that we are all either
erring or unprincipled accusers. How came it that
the Mahatmas, those " holy infallible sages,"
allowed their " elect " to suffer innocently ? It
only depended on them that the erring should be
brought into the way of truth, and the unprincipled
covered with shame. Meanwhile Koot Hoomi
turned out a convicted plagiarist, and the " master "
a muslin doll, although Mashka F. saw him every
day.
But the "elect" is an impostor, convicted of the
most various deceits she is brought to despair and
;
writes her " confession," and then sets about her

vengeance. The "holy and infallible" Mahatmas
are holding aloof as though they had nothing to do
with the business. They see the abominable filth
and calumny which the upazika and her friends,
under cover of their name, are brewing in the
witches' caldron for their enemies. The theo-
sophists see it too, and help their H. P. B. to
"
A Modern Priestess of Isis. 2ig
brew the filth and calumny, dreaming of Nir-

vana.
" Perhaps there may really be some sort of holy
and sage Mahatmas in Thibet, only it is to be
doubted if they could have anything to do with
Madame Blavatsky and remain holy and sage ;
this is what the honest members of the Theosophical

Society are bound to say. And that H. P B. had
fallen into the hands of some secret politico-religious
Indian brotherhood, that she adopted Buddhism in
this brotherhood, and undertook the mission of
spreading it in regions where Christianity had fallen
and there was felt the yearning for some faith,

whatever it might be this, perhaps, is much nearer
the truth than appears at first sight. At least it
was my lot to catch a glimpse of something of the
sort in hints which forced themselves from H. P.
Blavatsky. At some moments she positively pro-
duced the impression of a person enslaved and
bound by something or other.
At these moments she was very piteous and un-
happy. I shall never forget how one day she
exclaimed :
" I would gladly return, I would gladly
be Russian, Christian, orthodox. I yearn for it.
But there is no returning ; I am in chains ; I am not

my own.'' And in half an hour her maunderings
about the " master " had begun again.
As been in course of publication
this narrative has
in the Russky I have heard from various
Vyestnik,
persons criticisms such as this " Why do you say :
that you pitied and still pity this terrible woman ?
She is so guilty, so repulsive and

you yourself
prove it that she is quite incapable of evoking any
'
feeling of pity, especially in a man who was person-

ally acquainted with all her impositions, her com-
plete immorality, her malice and slanders.
I reply that I was not only a spectator of her
repulsive actions, but experienced in my own
person her vile revenge ; and yet, when I recall
certain moments of my conversations with her, I
cannot think of her without pity. I never allowed

this feeling to grow too strong, I always restrained
it, and my line of action; I observed,
inflexibly followed
tracked and caught her. When the time came, I
calmly contributed everything in my power to her
unmasking, I overlooked nothing, I betrayed no
weakness in regard to this astounding impostor.
Yet my pity for her still remained. Now that she is
no more, I again, and still without weakness, am
bringing into the light of day my narrative of her
vile actions. Yet the pity still remains.
And this pity is no sign of any magnanimity on
my part. It is due to Helena Petrovna herself, and
not to me. In her quiet and good moments she was
eminently sympathetic. There was within her a
certain fascination, a kind of magnetism, which
attracted to her with an irresistible force.
Sympathy it is a quality which you cannot
!
translate into words; yet all men and women, old

and young, on whom those great strange eyes had
looked graciously, experienced the same thing. I
know, for instance, one young woman, not impulsive

and not who immediately
in the least sentimental,
understood Madame
Blavatsky by instinct. Having
come into contact with this lady, who was quite
young at the time, simple and modest, the famous
" Madame," whose hands and feet used to be kissed

by many a blue-stocking, found herself, to her great
surprise, unriddled and paralysed. Still this young
lady said, and says " Madame Blavatsky is a terrible
:
criminal ; but why did she often produce such an

impression that one wanted to weep over her for
"
intolerable- pity ?
The secret of this wonderful sympathy in the

"modern priestess of Isis'' must be sought in her
original, peculiar,and fiery talent, and in her stormy
raging energy. Such talent and energy are an
elemental force with which it is not easy to wrestle.
This force, combined with a mental distortion, with
a certain animal ignoring " in life " of the difference
between right and wrong, produced one of the most
interesting and characteristic phenomena of the end
of the nineteenth century, the "Theosophical Society".
XXVI.
Although the Theosophical Society was founded at

a comparatively recent date, in 1875, yet its real ori-
gin has hitherto been lost in the darkness of mystery
and obscurity. Its founders, Madame Blavatsky and
Olcott, as well as its first adherents, did all in their
power to raise as much fog as possible, in the thick
folds of which it was easy to get stifled, but impossible
to find the real cradle of the interesting infant which
was the fruit of the spiritual union of the Russian
"wanderer" and the American "colonel".
One thing only was certain that this interesting
:
infant saw the light in America, at New York, and

that circumstance put it in the power of those who
were responsible for its remarkable existence to
swathe its birth in the swaddling clothes of secrecy.
On American soil it is not difficult to invent and to
carry out anything it costs nothing to spread the
;
most fabulous rumours, orally and in print, and to

find a multitude of people ready to believe them
without any sort of consideration.
According to the legends set on foot by the theo-
sophists "of the first call," H. P. Blavatsky had
from her youth up enjoyed the particular protection
of the "Thibetan brethren," who took her under their
care and guided every step of her life in preparation
;
for the fulfilment of a lofty mission of world-wide

importance.
When the hour was ripe for revealing the highest
truths to mankind, bemired in errors of every sort,
Madame Blavatsky was called to India, and there,
on her reception into Buddhism, received a high
initiation, and was then sent to America. Here she
was to unite with another chosen, but far less worthy,
vessel,with Olcott, and with him to found the Theo-
sophical Society. Olcott formed, so to speak, the
body, and Madame Blavatsky the soul, of the insti-
tution. The society was guaranteed the constant
help of the adepts of Thibet, and two of them, Koot
Hoomi and Morya, undertook to inspire Madame
Blavatsky, and to enter into communication with
those theosophists who were worthy of so high an
honour.
Such, in general outline, is the essence of the
legend. On is in my power to
the real history it
throw a considerable light, thanks to some autograph

letters of H. P Blavatsky, referring particularly to
the very interesting period from the end of 1874 to
1879. My readers already know what Madame
Blavatsky's letters are like, and how they are to be
dealt with. In the present instance, as will be seen,
her writings are first-class documentary evidence
and it is easy for any one to see at once, without the
aid of commentaries, what in them cannot be true
and what cannot be false.
Eighteen hundred and seventy-three was the year
of a decisive transformation in Helena Petrovna's
life. She had now reached her forty-second year;
with vanished youth there vanished all for which
she had hitherto hved. If she had been a woman

Hke the would have gone to ruin and re-
rest she
turned to the void, or dragged on a miserable exist-
ence. But there was in her a force of energy and
ability which was now, at the very moment when
youth with all its storms had passed, to develop
widely and freely.
The storm of life had stranded Helena Petrovna
in America, and there she found herself alone, with-
out friends or protectors, without settled means of
livelihood, and without the gifts she had once pos-
sessed for making others interested in her. She did
not lose her head she looked about her and kept her
;
ears open, and decided to try her strength in the

character of a spiritist writer. She surrounded her-
self with mystery and raps, made acquaintance with
the editors of two or three papers, and told interest-

ing stories about her varied travels.
Gradually she became known to the American
spiritists as a warm adherent of their doctrine, and
as herself possessed of remarkable medianic powers.
At last she left New York, for the farm of the Eddy
brothers in Vermont, mediums who were at that
time making a great Here she got to know
stir.
Colonel Olcott, who had come as a correspondent

charged to inquire into the marvels wrought by the
brothers Eddy.
She evidently thought that the energetic and at
the same time remarkably flexible colonel would
make an excellent and useful assistant, and she
soon made friends with him. He immediately
rendered her a great service ; in his letters to his
paper he wrote reams of wonderful stories about her.
and so helped her as a writer. The idea occurred

to her that it would be well if she did not confine
herself to writing English in the American papers,

but endeavoured to do the like work for her own
distant land, by translations of her articles and other
interesting matter.
The great point was how to get all this to Russia,
and through whose agency to press for publication.
She made the acquaintance of Andrew Jackson Davis,
a spiritist writer, and he told her of a man who, in
his opinion, might help her in Russia. This man
was A. N. Aksakoff, the editor of the Leipzig
Psychische Studien, who had long taken interest in
every sort of psychical questions, the phenomena of
spiritism among them.
On
28th October, 1874, Helena Petrovna wrote
to A. N. Aksakoff: "Excuse the liberty I take in
addressing so unceremoniously one to whom I am
entirely unknown. The have been
facts are these: I
living in America for about a year and a half, and
have no intention of leaving. All my life is centred
here,' that is, of course, my inner life, as I am too old
to takemuch interest in the outer life. An attempt
should be made to explain at home what is now
going on in America, in England, and in France.
Spiritism here is no laughing matter. The eleven
millions of spiritists in the United States according
to the latest report have already grown to eighteen
millions, almost fifty per cent., since the appearance
of pamphlets by men such as
in defence of spiritism
Alfred Wallace, Crookes, Varley, etc. The whole

press has begun to talk at once. Attempts at ridi-
cule, condemnation and censure are rarer and rarer.
15
Last year it was still an exception to iind in a so-
called '
respectable newspaper ' the smallest article
on a fact of spiritism ; now
hardly a day passes that
the papers are not hundreds of facts, proofs,
full of
and so on. The papers send reporters and artists

to mediums in every direction. Only last week I
came back from the Eddy brothers, well-known
mediums in Rutland, Vermont, where I had passed
two weeks. The house and the neighbouring lodgings
were full With the Eddys the
of correspondents.
spirits walk about almost in full
of the departed
day. Several times they have already appeared
without the help of the mediums, and in the evening
at the time of the seance from fifteen to twenty
spirits appear as though in the flesh before the eyes
of the spectators. I talked for five minutes on the
platform in Russian with my father, my uncle and

other relations, as though they were alive. Seven
persons of my acquaintance, long dead, of different
nations, appeared and talked to me, each in his
own language, and walked away. Would it not be
possible for me to send you, or, rather, to keep send-
ing, translations of articles on the facts of spiritism,
not by unknown people, but by persons such as
Robert Dale Owen, Colonel Olcott, and the best
writers here ? I know them and many others, and
they will gladly give me the right of translating
their productions. Olcott is a correspondent sent
expressly to the Eddy brothers in Vermont by one
of the best illustrated journals in New York, the
Graphic. He has already spent more than two
months there, and his illustrated articles are creat-
ing a furore. I am also working for the Graphic
and can send my articles regularly, translated and

fair-copied, with copies of the illustrations drawn in
pen and Indian ink. You have probably heard also
about the posthumous work of Dickens the second
part of his novel Edwin Drood, which was left un-
finished at his death. I have translated this second
part, and it is lying all ready before me. Whether

the spirit of Dickens wrote it, or the medium James
himself, this second part is accepted by the whole
American and European press (with few exceptions)
as a perfect fac-simile of Dickens's style and his inim-
itable humour. I again apologise for the uncere-
monious character of my letter. I hope you may

perhaps find a spare moment to send me a few words
in answer. I should very much like to see the com-
pletion of Dickens's novel, of which I speak, published

in Russia I have worked hard at it, and translated
;
it from James's manuscript, as he wrote it under the
dictation of Dickens's spirit."

Before this letter had reached its destination,
H. P. Blavatsky sent a second after it, dated 14th
November. It was very eloquent, and full of instruc-
tion as to the woman's character.
"It is not a week since I wrote to you, and yet I
already bitterly repent. This morning, as usual,
when I was in town, I called on my only friend,
Andrew Jackson Davis, who is highly respected by
all here ; he had received your letter in French, and
as he does not understand the language well, he
asked me to read it and translate. In this letter
you write: 'J'aientendu parler de Madame Blavatsky
par un de ses parents, qui la dit un medium assez
fort. Malheureusement ses communications ressent-
ent de son moral, qui n'a pas eti des plus s6veres.'
Whoever it was told you about me, they told you
the truth, in essence, if not in detail. God only
knows how have suffered for my past. It is clearly
I
my fate to gain no absolution upon earth. This

past, like the brand of the curse on Cain, has pursued
me all my life, and pursues me even here, in America,
where I came to be far from it and from the people
who knew me in my youth. You are the innocent
cause of my being obliged to escape somewhere yet
farther away where,
do not know. I do not
I
accuse you God ; is my

witness that while I am
writing these lines, I have nothing against you in
my heart, beyond the deep sorrow which I long have
known for the irrevocable past. Andrew Jackson,
who feels and reads men more clearly than any book
(and this no one doubts who knows him), said to me
on this matter only the following significant words :
'
I know you as you are now, and I feel for you I can- ;
not and will not go into your past I shall write to ;
Mr. Aksakoff that he does not know you personally,

and that I know you' These words, spoken by
A. J. Davis, will be sufficient for you, and I have no
,
further need to try to assure you that the Madame
Blavatsky of twenty years ago, and of to-day, when
she is over forty, are two different persons. I am a
spiritist
'
and spiritualist in the full significance
'
'
'
of the two titles.* I was a materialist till I was '

'
' [Compare with this Madame own statement in

Blavatsky's
Light, nth October, 1884 (p. 418, col. 2)"I say again, I
:
never was a spiritualist ". Reference may also be made to her

previous letter to the same effect in Light for gth August,
1884, in which she declares that Mr. Lillie's statement that
nearly thirty, and believed and did not believe in

spiritism. As I did not believe in God, I could not
believe in a future life. Morality and good deeds I
regarded as a social garment, for the sake of pro-
priety ; un masque social que Ton n'appliquait sur la
figure que pour ne pas choquer I'estetique de son
voisin, comme on mettrait du taffetas anglais sur
une laide blessure. I hated society' and the so-called
'
world as I hated hypocrisy in whatever form it

showed itself; ergo, I ran amuck against society and
the established proprieties. Result : three lines in
your letter, which have awakened all the past within
me and torn open all the old wounds. I have now
been a spiritist for more than ten years, and now all
my life is devoted to the doctrine. I am struggling
for it and trying to consecrate to it every moment of
my life. Were I rich, I would spend all my money
to the last farthing pour la propagande de cette
divine verite. But my means are very poor, and I
am obliged to live by my work, by translating and
writing in the papers.
" This is why I have approached you with a pro-
position to translate into Russian everything about
spiritualism that comes out here. I have translated
Edwin Drood, and it has long been ready, and now
I am translating some letters (Colonel H. S. Olcott's)
which are creating at the present moment such a

revolution in the minds of the materialists.
" He investigated for eight weeks the materialisation
she had been for fourteen years (1860-1874) an avowed

spiritualist, is false. See also Mr. Kiddle's letter in Light
for nth November, 1884. W. L.]
of spiritsthrough the Eddy brothers in Vermont, and

I went there and hved two weeks at their farm, where
I got to know him. His letters and writings are
worthy rivals of the books of Robert Dale Owen,
Epes Sargent, and other champions. But now that
I know your just but harsh judgment of me, I see
that there is no hope for me but death. I shall have

to drag to the grave ce boulet de galerien social. It
is clear that neither repentance nor voluntary exile

from my country, where I have brothers and sisters
and beloved relations, whom I shall never see again on
earth,
nothing will pacify the wrath of the furious
wild beast whose name is Public Opinion.
have one request to make to you Do not deprive
" I :
me of the good opinion of Andrew J. Davis. Do not

reveal to him that which, if he knew it and were con-
vinced, would force me to escape to the ends of the
earth. I have only one refuge left in the world, and
that is the respect of the spiritualists of America,
who despise nothing so much as 'free love '.
" Can any satisfaction to morally de-

it give you
stroy for ever a woman who has already been thus
destroyed by circumstances? Pardon this long letter
and accept the assurance of the deep respect and
devotion of your obedient servant,
" Helena Blavatsky.
"23 Irvin Place, New York."
Of course her correspondent, on receiving this

hastened to reply that it would not "give him
letter,
any satisfaction to morally destroy a woman for

ever". H. P. Blavatsky wrote again from Hartford,
13th December, 1874.
" I do not know how to thank you for your infinite

goodness. Though you have the right, Hke any
honourable man, to despise me for my sad reputa-
tion in the past, you are so condescending and
magnanimous as to write to me. If there is any
hope for me in the future, it is only in the grave,
when bright spirits shall help me to free myself from
my sinful and impure envelope. Pardon me and
forgive me for having, in a moment of despair,
written you my foolish second letter. I did not
understand you, and thought that you, like the rest,
judged me only from the outside. When I had read
your letter, I saw how I had been mistaken in you,
and that you were ready to stretch out a helping
hand, even to a sinner like myself I received your
letter by a sort of miracle, which I really do not
understand." (There follows a long account of how
the letter, sent to New York, had been received at
Philadelphia in what is represented as a very super-
natural way.) " I am here in Hartford for a couple
of days on business. I came to confer with Colonel
Olcott about certain alterations in his letters and

supplements. He is now publishing a book on the
subject of his letters to the Graphic ; the book is
so complete that it forms two parts, six hundred

pages. The first part will consist of original letters,
and the second will deal with public opinion about
spiritualism, and the antagonism between science,
religion, and the phenomena of spiritualism the ;
latter in the form in which it appeared forty years

ago in the community of the Shakers. The book is
too lengthy to translate ; it will be better if I send a
translation of the letters as they were published in
232 A Modem Priestess of Isis.
the Daily Graphic. All the sketches and illustra-

tions of the spirits I will attach to the sheets of the
translations the portrait of a certain Hassan Aga
as he appeared to me materialised at Chittenden, in
the presence of forty people, and talked to me half
in Russian and half in Georgian, and the portrait
of my grandfather Gustav Alekseivitch Hahn, who
also appeared twice. Generally speaking I play a
great part in Olcott's letters, as all the seven spirits
which appeared to me at the farm in Vermont
formed a grand triumph for the cause of spiritual-
ism. As long as the spirits only talked English and
French, on avait raison de douter peut-fetre, car il
etait possible de soup9onner un jeu de prestige
quelconque. Mais une fois que sept esprits materia-
lises, en chair et en os, tous diff6rement habilles
selon leur pays et parlant six differentes langues, le
Russe, le Turc, le Tartare, le Hongrois

Georgien, le
et ritalien, parurent chaque soir et que tout le

monde les entendit parler comme des personnes
vivantes, les choses changerent d' aspect. Le pays
est tout revolutionne. Je re9ois des lettres de tous
les pays et de tous -les editeurs. Un docteur nommd
Beard, qui n' a pass^ qu' un jour k Chittenden,
s'est permis d'insulter tous les spirites, en les appelant
dans les journaux des weak-minded fools and

'
idiots,' et je lui ai repondu a deux reprises diffdr-
entes dans les journaux. II parait que, sans le

savoir, j'ai frapp6 juste. Les spirites les plus
eminents comme Robert Dale Owen, Dr. Child et
autres m'ont adresse des lettres, et les editeurs du
plus grand Publishing Co.' d'Amerique, ici a
'
Hartford, m'ont 6crit pour me proposer de composer

;
un volume de lettres sur diff6rentes phases du

spiritisme, et des manifestations physiques des
esprits que j'ai vues aux Indes, en Afrique, et
ailleurs. lis veulent m'acheter cat ouvrage.
J'aurais ma fortune faite si je ne portals pas mal-
heureusement mon nom maudit de Blavatsky. Je

n'ose risquer de signer de ce nom un livre quelcon-
que. Cela pourrait provoquer des souvenirs trop
dangereux pour moi. Je pr^fere perdre douze mille
dollars que Ton m'offre, car les ^diteurs me
proposent douze cents par copie et ils garantissent de
vendre cent mille copies. Voici les fruits amers de
ma jeunesse que j'ai vouee ^ Satan, ses pompes et
ses oeuvres Enfin!
Je vous enverrai, monsieur,
!
a la fin de cette semaine, un paquet de faits et

articles decoupes des journaux les plus respect- '
ables '
du pays. Je vous enverrai aussi mes deux
lettres imprimees, car cela vous donnera d'avance
I'idee de I'immense interet que doit produire un
livre comme celui de Col. Olcott. Imaginez-

vous, monsieur, des esprits materialises de bonnes
Russes parlant leur langue, des gar9ons Georgiens,
des hommes Khourdes, de Garibaldiens Hongrois
et Italiens, et enfin mon oncle,^ the Russian
president of the civil court at Grodno with the cross
* H. P. B. has forgotten that only a month and a half before

she had already written that she had seen her " father,
uncle, and other relations, and spoken to them as in life ".
Now all mention of her father and other relations has dis-
appeared only the uncle remains. The portrait of this uncle
;
was sketched at the Eddys' farm "from nature" and published

in the Graphic; but it seems that the deceased had changed
beyond recognition since his appearance in the other world
as H. P. B. herself had subsequently to admit.
of the order of Anna on his neck, paraissant a six

mille lieux (sic) de chez nous, en Am^rique, dans une
ferme isol6e perdue au milieu des montagnes du
Vermont, avec des mediums fermiers grossiers,
parlant mal meme leur langue maternelle et cela
a. moi qu'ils ne connaissaient ni d'Adam ni d'Eve,
devant une reunion de quarante personnes, compos6e
de reporters sceptiques,' de medecins, de clergy-
' '
men,' d'hommes distingues comme Olcott et de

bien d'autres. Et pour couronner le tout dans une
stance i. part the dark circle un esprit, m'appor-
'
'
tant la medaille de mon pere pour la guerre de

1828 en Turquie et me disant ces mots devant
tout le monde I bring you, Helen Blavatsky, the
:
badge of honour, received by your father for the war

of 1828. We took this medal through the influence of
your uncle who appeared to you this night from your
father's grave at Stavropol, and bring it you as a re-
membrance of us in whom you believe and have faith.
" I know this medal, I have seen it on my father,
and I know that together with his other decorations
it was buried with him. It is drawn in the Graphic,
and I have got it. Think of it as you like. My
father died last year at Stavropol. How could the
spirits know this? How could the mediums know
that my father was a soldier and served in the
campaigns against the Turks ? It is a mystery, a
great mystery.' In Russia, of course, it will not
^ A corner of this " great mystery," as the reader will see,

was soon exposed this medal, with its absolutely fantastical
;
appearance, became the occasion of a scandal, and Madame

Blavatsky, in spite of her quickness and daring, tripped and
was entangled in her evidence.
;
A Modem Priestess of Isis. 235
be believed. They will say that Madame Blavatsky

has either gone out of her mind, or perhaps some-
thing worse. Fortunately there were forty witnesses.
You cannot think what an impression this has
produced on every one. I will write when I send
the letters I am afraid of wearying you.
; Once
more, I remain, with sincere respect and devotion,
" Yours obediently,
" H. Blavatsky.
" P.S. -Colonel Olcott desires to be respectfully

remembered to you, and will send you his photo-
graph. From a furious sceptic he has become a
great spiritualist after spending thirteen weeks with
the Eddy you permit
brothers at Chittenden. If
me, I will send you my an
portrait lithographed as
illustration in the Daily Graphic, with an account
of my travels in Africa and the Soudan. I do not
know why they have done me such an honour as to

set me beside Ida Pfeiffer and Livingstone."
Such is the " prologue " of the interesting drama
inmany acts, entitled " The Theosophical Society".
The hero and heroine met at the farm of the brothers
Eddy, where there appeared on the " platform," en
chair et en os, strange spirits of Georgians, nurse-
maids, and Russian officials they met and under- ;
stood one another. They saw at once that they had

a " star " in common, that they were birds of a
feather, and that thus they were bound to unite in
the strong bonds of indissoluble friendship. Olcott
took every means to " boom " Madame Blavatsky
he told all manner of marvels about her in his letters,
and he gained his end her articles began to be
;
appreciated, people began to talk about her, and to

take an interest in her her portrait was to appear
;
(though in fact it never did appear) in the pages of

the Graphic. She did not delay repayment of the
debt; she printed two articles full of triumphant
expressions about Olcott's book, which had not yet
been published, though it was already in the press.
Her notoriety in spiritist circles and her consider-
able earnings from her writings set Helena Petrovna
on her feet. Her rich gifts and her daring fancy de-
veloped rapidly; she had now, thanks to Olcott's
advertisement, come to be a learned woman, a re-
markable medium, and a gifted traveller in Africa
and the Soudan. She now felt solid ground beneath
her feet. Only one thing alarmed her if ever there :
should come revelations about another period of her

life, and if they should come from Russia, from
people who were to be trusted, then all was lost.
At the sound which seemed to hint at the

first
possibility of such a disaster, she began to be violently

agitated, and instantly resolved on the very best
course of action. Not foreseeing that she would soon
need to play the part of the " pure virgin," she pre-
sented herself as the " penitent Magdalen
She dis- ".
armed her Russian correspondent, whom she regarded

as so terrible, by the frankness and candour of her
repentance. " I was in deepest darkness, but I
have seen the light, and to this light I have given
myself up entirely," she declared, openly and sin-
cerely " spiritism is a great truth, and I will serve
;
it to the grave."
But it would not be a bad thing to get some one
else to confirm what she had said to her Russian

correspondent, in order to make his mind quite easy.

For this purpose she had recourse to Olcott himself,
without in the least seeing the simplicity and trans-
parency of the plan. She first sent a photographic
counterfeit of her friend, with his autograph, and
then Olcott himself sent to St. Petersburg a long
epistle about the marvels of spiritualism which had
excited the interest of all America. But the point
lay not in the spiritualism, but in the following
lines :
" Je m'estime tres heureux d'avoir fait la connais-

sance de Madame de Blavatsky, de laquelle il n'est pas
trop dire qu'elle possfede plus de savoir occulte en
fait de relations mysterieuses entre les deux mondes
(de Matifere et d'Esprit), que toute autre personne

dans ce pays du moins. La sev6rite de sa vie et
I'enthousiasme qui I'anime toujours pour tout ce
qui touche au Spiritisme offrent aux spiritualistes
americains un fort bel exemple de conduite et de
foi sincere."
This testimonial is actually written on Madame
Blavatsky's letter-paper, and, like the rest of the long
letter, was evidently edited by her ; for I know the
dreadful expressions and blunders with which Olcott
used to write French in 1884. It is impossible to
suppose that ten years before he had an incomparably
better knowledge of the language.
XXVII.
There occurred at this time among the American

spiritists a grave and unexpected scandal. At the
seances of some mediums named Holmes there used
to appear the materialised spirit of a young girl
named Katie King. The old and respected Robert
Dale Owen, a well-known spiritist writer, who had
been propagating spiritism for some twenty years,
was particularly interested in this materialised
maiden. For several months he observed her in
daily seances with the Holmeses he used to convei'se
;
with her, and called her " daughter," while she

spoke to him as "father". In proof of his paternal
affection he presented Katie King with bracelets,
rings and so on, in the belief that after the seances
she took the presents with her into the world of
spirits, where they were de-materialised and entered,
so to speak, into the general economy of Nature.

Why, under these circumstances, he should have
given her such valuable presents, it is not easy to
say for one who is not in a similar position. But a
daughter of that sort is capable of making men
commit follies of many kinds.
One day a certain Leslie, also a spiritualist, came
to Mr. Owen, weeping and saying " Oh, this is a :
very ugly business ".
"What is the matter?"

" Why, that we have all been taken in in the

meanest way ; Katie King is not a spirit, but a live
woman."
" It cannot be!" exclaimed Owen indignantly ;
" I
was so fond of her, she is so charming, she cannot

have deceived me ; it is all some silly slander against
my dear daughter."
But Leslie produced all the presents, not in the
least and gave the name of the
de- materialised,
daring creature who had so successfully personated
the spirit. Owen was in despair, and fell ill with
vexation. When he had recovered somewhat and
come to himself, he wished to satisfy himself about
the fraud ; so the so-called Katie King, in the
presence of him and others, dressed up as a spirit
and went through all her part with the greatest
precision. The old man was convinced of the fraud,
and, like an honest nftm, without fear of ridicule, he
published an account of everything in the papers.
A tempest was roused, two camps were formed,
and the light grew
H. P. Blavatsky, with
fierce.
native energy, upheld that there was no fraud, that

Katie King was a spirit, and that there was a " con-
spiracy". She told her correspondent the whole
story, and went on as follows :
" All this silly story is neither more nor less than
a plot (now almost proved) of the Protestant Jesuit-
ical society called the Young Men's Christian
'
Association,' a huge society ramifying through all

the towns of America. He (R. D. Owen) has
morally killed himself in public opinion by his action ;
all the papers hold him up to ridicule. Here is a

specimen :The accomplice of Leslie (a well-known
'

scoundrel and thief who has stolen millions in rail-

roads) dressed herself up in the costume of the spirit
Katie, and in a room and " cabinet " prepared for
the purpose showed in the presence of Robert Owen
and others how she personated a spirit. The
very same evening at the same hour the real Katie
King appeared to twenty witnesses at a seance with
the calumniated mediums, the Holmeses.' All the
papers are full of pro and con. It is no good we ;
must console ourselves with the proverb, for the

vulgarity of which I must first ask pardon If God :
'
does not permit, the pig won't eat one '. I have
never heard* of a cleverer swindle than the whole
story. Poor Robert Dale Owen ! If his eyes are
ever opened, I am afraid the poor old man will not
survive the shock. At the present moment I am
proud to say that I am making converts fast. . . .
For spiritism I am ready to work night and day, so

long as I have a morsel of bread, and that only
because it is hard to work when one is hungry."
She did in fact work hard she published article
;
after article, and at the same time she was trans-

lating Olcott's endless letters about the marvels of
the brothers Eddy. On nth February, 1875, she
wrote :
" I have omitted from Olcott's letters all that con-

cerns myself personally, keeping only what deals
with the spirits and my relations to them. His
friendship has carried him too far in boundless
laudation, and I cannot get it into his head that
in raising me to the rank of countess he is only
'
'
giving occasion to the Russians who know me to

laugh at me. ... I have written an article pub-
lished in the Banner of Light against Dr. Child, for

I felt myself morally bound, as a spiritist and
'
crusader of the mighty Spiritual Army,' to tell the
truth, to defend the innocent,and to bring into the
light ofday the guilty and criminal. All this story
about Katie King and the scandal have given such
a set back to materialisation that they have raised
quite a tempest in the land. It turns out that the
Holmeses are not the only guilty ones. The chief

sinner is Dr. Child, ^ who, as a speculation, hired a
certain Mrs. White to allow her portrait to be taken
as that of the spirit Katie King, who for some reason
or another would not poser pour son portrait a elle.
General Lippitt, Olcott, Roberts the lawyer and I
have set to work to carry out an inquiry. Olcott
has proved the real mediumship of Holmes, and
' '
I have discovered by the admission of the photo-
grapher and. of the mediums that Dr. Child thought

fit to bribe both them and this Mrs. White to take
in the public by the sale of these photographs. That

is why wrote this article, as I knew, or rather
I
supposed, thatwe should not get at the truth in any

other way than by publicly accusing Dr. Child. I
hoped that if he had the least trace of conscience

left he would sue me and even have me arrested for
libel. I wanted this, because I have already sacri-
ficed myself for spiritualism, and in defence of my

faith and the truth I am ready at any moment to lay
my head on the block and in court, before the
;
grand jury, I should have shown who is right and

who is guilty, in this unparalleled swindle of spiritual-
1 We hear no more of Leslie and the Protestant Jesuits.

16
ism, in this rascality where no one sees what is truth

and what which is bringing the whole spiritist
is lie,
world of America and Europe to despondency and

despair, and giving the sceptics the right to laugh
at us. Poor Robert Dale Owen is dying. He is
seventy-three years old, and all his life came to be
bound up with the spirit Katie King. The blow has
been too heavy for the old man and though after ;
this soi-disant expose he has twice seen at the Holmeses'

the Katie King whom he had seen more than eighty
evenings on end, and who proved to us at the in- '
vestigation seances that she was a real spirit and not

'
a mortal female substitute, and though she tried to

comfort Owen, yet he has fallen ill, and it appears
will not recover. So all his reputation as an author
is gone ;now people are doubting about everything
he wrote. And all this is through Dr. Child, a
swindler and speculator. By my article you will
see that I do not spare him. I quite expected that
he would send and have me arrested; ... to my
surprise Dr. Child has not even answered in the
papers; since that day he has simply hidden him-
self in his own house, and dreads more than any-
thing that somebody may drag him into court. He
was president at the '
Spiritual Hall ' here, and re-
signed of himself at once, because we were on the
point of requesting him to go. I am receiving letters
of gratitude from every side, from spiritists and non-
spiritists, among others from Prof. Draper and Prof.
Corson. you hear that the sinful Blavatsky has
If
perished, not in the bloom of years and beauty, by
some surprising death, and that she has de-
materialised 'for ever,' then you will know that it

is for spiritualism. we put our

In thee, Lord, do
trust, and we confounded for ever."
shall not be
We now come to a most significant fact. Further
on in the sanae letter H. P. Blavatsky writes :
"John King has sent Olcott to Havanna for a few

days. ... I have quite ceased to get any letters from
my aunts and sisters they have evidently all for-
;
gotten me, and so much the better for them. I am
no credit to them, to tell the truth. I shall now

never go back again to Russia. My father is dead,
nobody wants me, and I am altogether superfluous
in the world. Here I am at least a human being;
there, I am Blavatsky. I know that everybody
respects me here, and I am needed for spiritism.
Now the spirits are my brothers and sisters, my
father and mother. My John King alone is a suffi-
cient recompense for all ; he is a host in himself to

me. And yet they call him the double of the
medium, him and Crookes's Katie King. What
sort of double can he be when the medium Williams
is not here at all, but John King in his own person,
with his own black beard and his white Chinese
saucer-upside-down cap, going about here in America
from one medium to another, and doing me the
honour of visiting me incessantly, though he has
not the least resemblance to me ? No, John King
is a personality, a definite, living, spiritual person-
ality. Whether devil or good spirit, he is at all
events a and not the medium's prototype.
spirit,
But this is not the place, after all, to argue, and I

must have tired you already."
On the contrary, one can only regret that she did
not enlarge on her account of John King. How-
;
ever, what she says is quite enough for every reader

of my narrative to recognise at once in this John
King the appearance on the stage of our old
first
acquaintance, the famous Thibetan Mahatma Morya.

Only he has not yet donned his white turban, but
wears a Chinese white " saucer-upside-down " cap
he is as yet a materialised spirit who shows himself
through any medium, and is called John King. It
is not Helena Petrovna, but the medium Williams,
who has put him in circulation but he is already
;
incessantly visiting our heroine, and is to her a

"host in himself". He already sends Olcott off
to Havanna. Soon he will be transfigured, and
turned into Mahatma Morya or M., the famous
"master".
For a while things go on well, and the " morsel of
bread " seems to be secured. Olcott puffs Helena
Petrovna as much as he can. She writes about
this and her successes from Philadelphia on 24th
March, 1875.
"Olcott's book is producing an enormous /Mrore. . . .
In this book he has made many changes from his

letters, by additions and omissions but still he has
;
mixed up my biography with the Lord knows what,

princes, boyards, and imaginary governors-general
whatever they choose to tell him at the consulate.^
iSo it seems that Olcott, "the most trustworthy and fore-
most of the witnesses to Madame Blavatsky's wonders, theo-
sophical and otherwise," before writing her biography, did not
get his materials from her, with whom he was in the closest
friendly relations, and whom he was constantly seeing, but went
to the Russian consulate, where they gave him the most fan-
tastic accounts and these he published. And she could do
nothing to help it 1

It is so annoying people will only laugh at me, and

;
suppose that I have been throwing dust in people's

eyes in America, like a fool and yet there is only;
one thing that I long and struggle for^that people

should forget the old Blavatsky, and leave the new
one alone. But it seems hard. I write so much in
all the papers that there is no concealing my name.
There is not a day that some new story does not
come out in the papers. Blavatsky was in Africa,
and went up with Livingstone in a balloon. Blavat-
sky dined with the King of the Sandwich Islands.
Blavatsky converted the Pope of Rome to spiritual-
ism she predicted his death to Napoleon
; she ;
cured the Queen of Spain's face of warts by aid of

the spirits, and so on. Lord, what will they not
write ^ It is two months now since I have left my
!
room, with my broken leg, and according to the

papers it appears that during this time I have sailed
five times round the world They won't leave me
!
alone even with the Mormons. They say that I

have spent several days at Salt Lake City, and have
induced Brigham Young to renounce polygamy.
One good thing, I have frightened them so with my
'
thundering articles,' as they call them, that all
the papers are beginning to treat me with more
respect. It is clear they are cowards. In London
they extol me, you please, as the only champion
if
of spiritualism in America."
Things were going well, Sut meanwhile a thunder-
storm was brewing. The first clap came from
' And
she, poor woman, has nothing at all to do with these
stories,and decides to complain of them only to one single
person, who lives in Russia, but takes in the American papers.
;
Colby, the editor of the Banner of Light. " I am

fighting a severe battle with him at this moment,
because he will not publish my second article against
Dr. Child about Katie King," writes Madame Bla-
vatsky. " There is a spiritualist for you Whatever !
sort of religious fanatic an American may be, the

pure-blooded Yankee always peeps out in him. So
now it is war."
This first clap was followed by others. The
scandal about Katie King, and the honest statements
in print by old Mr. Owen, had brought about very
serious consequences the public began to cool down
;
about spiritualism. In these circumstances Madame

Blavatsky, who had just come into fashion as a
spiritist, felt that she might easily go out of fashion
both processes are particularly rapid is America.

It was consequently essential in one way or another
to keep up the interest in herself. It was essential
to invent something new, fresh and unexpected.

Accordingly, after having hitherto been, as is clear
from her letters, the most orthodox of spiritists, she
began little by little, of course with the aid of Olcott
himself, to start a heresy in spiritualism, and invented
her occult past. In the first place Olcott included
in his book an account of the Katie King scandal,
and thereon, once more and in a new fashion,
" boomed " Madame Blavatsky. She writes as
follows to her correspondent on 12th April, 1875 :
" In a detailed account of the story of Katie King,
Olcott makes out of me something mysteriously

terrible, and almost leads the public to suspect that
I have either sold my soul to the devil or am the
direct heiress of Count Germain and Cagliostro. Do

not believe it have merely learnt in Egypt and

; I
Africa, in India and in the East generally, a great

deal of what other people do not know. I have
made friends with dervishes, and I do indeed belong

to one mystic society, but it does not follow that I
have becom e an Apollonius of Tvana i n petticoats.
Moreover the spirit John King is very fond of me,
and I am fonder of him than of anything on earth.
He is my only friend, and if I am indebted to any
one for the radical change in my ideas of life, my
efforts and so on, it is to him alone. He has trans-
formed me, and I shall be indebted to him, when I
'
go to the upper story,' for not having to dwell for
centuries it may be in darkness and gloom. John
and I are acquainted from old times, long before he
began to materialise in London and take walks in
the medium's house with a lamp in his hand. But
all this does not interest you, I imagine."
Here are the first traces of the gradual transfor-
mation of John King into Mahatma Morya. The
" master " is not invented yet, as it will only grow
clear in the course of a couple of years in India,
into whom the " familiar spirit " is to be turned.
But this spirit is already turning out to be an " old
acquaintance ". As for the new-fangled heresy in
spiritism, H. P. Blavatsky tries to get out of the
inconsistency with her own words in her previous
lettersby explaining her heresy as a mere transition
from practice to theory, and writes :
" Since I have been in America I have entirely de-

voted myself to spiritualism. Not to the phenomenal,
material side of it, but to spiritual spiritualism and
the propaganda of its sacred truths. All my efforts
tend to one thing, to purify the new rehgion from all
its filthyweeds, which grow up so fast that they

threaten to stifle utterly with their dead letters the
spirit of truth. In this desire and effort I have been
hitherto alone. I am only now beginning to collect
adepts : I have collected half a doên, and, I say
boldly, the best and brightest minds in America.
Later on I will count them up for you. Every day I
grow more and more convinced that so long as people,
even the most Crookes of Crookeses himself, will
stand up for nothing but the mere facts, i.e., the phe-
nomenal side of spiritual manifestations, so long will
furious opponents appear, beginning with Tyndall
and ending with the miserable Dr. Beard and that ;
the public, who have hitherto been treated only to

stories and facts about the materialised bust of some-
body's great-grandmother, and the legs in top-boots
of an only imperfectly materialised Washington, or
the appearance of your baker's deceased cook, will in
the end always prefer to take the side of science for '
respectability's sake,' rather than to take up with

us, whom they regard as half-witted and idiots. I
have learnt that there is no convincing people with

suspicious facts only, and also that every genuine fact
always shows some weak side or other on which it
is easy for opponents to fasten. This is why I have
laid it down as a rule never in any case to permit
outsiders to get anything from my mediumistic
powers. Except Olcott and two or three very inti-
mate friends, no one has seen what happens with me,
and when my John or the other devils go too far, I
immediately put an end to everything. I have de-
cided to devote myself to spiritualism from the point

of view ofAndrew J. Davis or Allan Kardec (though

I do not believe in reincarnation in the same sense
as the French spiritists) and though I always stand
:
up for real phenomena such as the Eddys', no one

can more violently attack the rogueries of the
mediums and the credulity of some of the spiritists,
and accordingly I have conceived the idea of setting
about a serious business."
This " serious business " consisted of her attacks
on Dr. Child, and of the articles which she directed
against the "conspiracy" of certain "Protestant
Jesuits ''. But the Banner of Light refused to publish
her articles, so she writes thus :
" I have no time in setting about work in an-

lost
other direction. I have prepared the minds of the
most influential spiritists and brought them over to

my side, and now, as I am convinced that there is no
getting at the truth through the Banner, we have
all joined forces, and exalted a small paper, the
Spiritual Scientist, into our special and peculiar

organ. In it I have published my last article in
answer to the feeble and idiotic defence of Dr. Child
in the Banner. I am sending you this number of
the paper, and two others which have reprinted an

article about me from the London Spiritualist.
This paper, the Spiritual Scientist, was coming
management of it was al-
to extinction, though the
ways more honourable and truthful than the Banner,
which is always one-sided, and gives nothing but the
facts, without explaining the causes of the manifesta-
tions. have got as many as a hundred subscribers
I
for it weeks I have urged others to

in these three ;
spend a little money, and I have myself given fifty

dollars (my last, God knows), in order only to shame

the rich spiritists, and to force open their
them to
pockets. I have persuaded Olcott, Epes Sargent,
)
Prof, ^ orson, Lippitt, Mrs. Andrews the authoress,
Owen (who has gone into hiding and cannot bring him-
self to beheve in the criminality of his friend Child)
and others to write exclusively for the Scientist.
I am printing circulars at my own expense."

In fact, as she had written, it was necessary for
her to get a " morsel of bread," and this idea of the
Scientist might be her salvation. Once it was
settled that a heresy was indispensable, an organ
must be established to disseminate it. H. P. Blavat-
sky wrote :
" I am ready to give my life for the spread of the

sacred truth. Olcott is helping me as much as he
can, both with his pen and with pecuniary sacrifices
for the cause. He is as passionately devoted to
spiritism as am. But he is far from rich and has
I
nothing to live on but his literary labours, and he

f has to keep a wife and a whole lot of children." ^
But the Scientist never got under way. Spirit-
ism, even when dressed with the sauce of the new
heresy, could not excite the slumbering attention of
the public, and the question of the " morsel of bread"
became urgent. Dejection breathes in Helena Pet-
rovna's letter of May 24, 1875.
" Have you received the numbers of the Spiritual
Scientist, which contain my last article, '
Who Fab-
1 1 imagine that many theosophists will be extremely sur-
prised by this news about Olcott's wife and "lot of children";
for this numerous family which had to be supported soon
vanished sornewhere without leaving a trace.
ricates '
have sent you several numbers, faute
? I
newspapers
de mieux, as in the soi-disant respectable
there is nothing whatever about spiritualism, and
after the Katie King scandal, the Banner of Light,
the Religio-philosophical Journal, and the Spiritual
Scientist are foundering, and are crying for help
from sheer starvation. Disaster has come upon us.
Dr. Child has appeared in the character of the
Judas of the seven
spiritist Antichrist, and, as the
councils(?), has destroyed spiritualism. Even the
most advanced spiritualists begin to be afraid of
public opinion, and their high respectability in-
'
'
duces many to continue to believe in spirits in secret

only, and privately. Of trusty soldiers ready to die
for the truth, there my own little army.
remains only
Like sentinels unrelieved we stand at our posts, we
fight and struggle, we write and spend our last coins ;
but it seems as though we were petrified in our

places like so many spiritist mummies, quite use-
lessly. In order to keep up the sinking Spiritual
Scientist,the only conscientious, honest and fearless
paper (and that, thanks to our efforts), I have spent
my last two hundred dollars. I am the poorest, except
Professor Brittan, and I have spent more than all. La
plus jolie fille du monde ne peut donner que ce qu'elle
a ! Ask Olcott whether I shall spare my very life for
the sake of spiritualism, in other words of the Divine
Truth which is the only consolation of humanity and
our last hope. This year I earned as much as 6000
dollars by my articles and other work, and all, all
has gone for spiritualism. And now, in the present
humour of infidelity, doubt and blindness, after the
Katie King business, it seems to be all over.
" Once when I had written a sensational article, I

used to reprint it in the form of a pamphlet, and sell
several thousands at ten cents a sheet (a copy), but
what can one reprint now ? And one cannot even
get into a quarrel with any one. Previously oppon-
ents used to appear by the hundred and write against
one. Then I used to attack them directly and smash
them to dust and ashes. You can judge from my
article, '
Reply to Dr. Beard '. My portraits used to
be printed, and the Graphic was to have published a
picture of my martial person. Katie King appeared,
and in an instant it was good-bye. Look at poor A.
J. Davis he can barely keep body and soul together,
;
his books are not selling at all. The Banner has

fallen from 25,000 subscribers to 12,000. Olcott is
sitting on heaps of his People from the Other World,
like Marius on the ruins of Carthage, and think-
ing bitter things. Not a thousand copies of his
book have been sold in five months. Epes Sargent,
the favourite and most learned of the American
authors, the only spiritist whom every one respects
and who has hitherto been regarded as an authority,
is lighting his stove with his Proof Palpable of Im-
mortality, his last work. Robert Dale Owen has

hidden himself and vanished from the face of the
earth, and so on and so on. A shock of earthquake
is essential in order to rouse the American public
from this apathy. And the financial position here

has fallen frightfully low into the bargain. Failure
succeeds failure, there is a terrible panic ; those who
have got money hide it, and those who have not are
dying of hunger. Still Olcott does not lose heart.
With the thoroughbred sense of a Yankee he has
::
invented a '
Miracle Club '
; we shall see what will
come can answer for myself so long as
of that. I ;
my soul remains in my body I shall stand and fight

for the truth."
This letter is remarkable
for its honesty and vera-
city. Madame
Blavatsky may get into a mess first
with her fifty and then with her two hundred " last
dollars/' which she spent on the Scientist, but the gene-
ral picture which she draws of the situation must be
true beyond a doubt, for otherwise there would be
no object in drawing it. She wrote in trouble, with
hunger in sight she wrote because she was in dread
;
for the morrow, and felt the necessity of lamenting

and complaining to her distant fellow-countryman.
She did not stop to think it all flowed out of itself
;
" Here, you see, is my trouble, to-morrow there will

be nothing to eat. Something quite out of the way
must be invented. It is doubtful if Olcott's Miracle '
Club will help I will fight to the last." Only she

'
;
ought to have ended, not "for the truth," but "for

existence " that would have been more exact.
;
Almost two months passed, and things had not

mended. She wrote from Boston, July 18, 1875
" I am ready to sell my soul for spiritualism, but
nobody will buy it, and I am living from hand to
mouth and working for. ten or fifteen dollars when
necessity comes ".
And now the autumn came the business of the ;
" Miracle Club " had evidently not caught on, for the
letter of September 10 is still in the same minor

key. H. P. Blavatsky goes to Boston and to Chicago,
but nowhere can she hit on anything. Even John
King, the future " master," fails to cheer her heart.
:
254 -4 Modern Priestess of Isis.
She complains about him : "John is distinguishing

himself by wise silence. He is in a bad humour
with me, and for the weeks and more he
last three
only appears to me to talk nonsense and even un-

kindness. Tout n'est pas parfait a ce que je vois
dans le Summer Land. There are such attacks
. . .
upon 'us that we do not know what it will come to.

The spiritualists are furious because we do not share
many of their opinions [it will be seen that the
heresy is gaining strength] and do not regard all
their mediums' lies as Gospel truth. The mediums

are wild because we (that is Olcott and I) observe
them too severely and do not believe in their honesty.
The anti-spiritualists deride us as usual, and the
Church members fill the clerical papers with abuse,
and seriously assure the public that we have sold our
souls to the devil. You can't say " God bless you"
'
to every one's sneeze,' as they say. In any case the

Banner of Light and the Religio-philosophical Journal
are full of insinuations and malignities about us."
Things were weary and sad for Helena Petrovna,
and it seems that she had attacks of home sickness,
as she writes from Ithaca, September 20, 1875
" Oh,if only no one knew me at Petersburg! We
would have shown your professors,' I and John
King, how pots are made with us in the '
Summer
Land John promises that he would come to
'. St.
Petersburg, but perhaps he is only lying and de-
ceiving ; it is hard to rely on him." It will be seen
1 The well-known committee of professors was at this time

sitting in St. Petersburg, for the investigation of spiritual
phenomena.
that he has not yet succeeded in contracting his

Thibetan quahties of wisdom and infalhbihty.
But this letter of September 20, 1875, is import-
ant not on account of John, but because it contains
the first information about the birth of that interest-
ing infant, the " Theosophical Society''.
;
XXVIII.
The failure which overtook the spiritist paper and

the " Miracle Club," of the programme and proceed-
ings of which we have unfortunately no trace, did
not make Olcott lose heart. A brave man, who
charged straight ahead, and at the same time a very
practical Yankee, he hit at last upon a real trouvaille.
Whether it was to him or Madame Blavatsky that
the happy thought first occurred we do not know
but from her letters one thing is clear. Though she
had prepared alike herself and others for her new
character, she was none the less dejected and sick at
heart. He abandoned his unsold copies of People
from the Other World, and went on puffing his Russian
" countess " with an obstinate and well-founded belief
in her cleverness and ability. Everything was done
at high speed, in the true American style. Madame
Blavatsky wrote :
" Olcott is now organising the Theosophical

Society in New York. It will be composed of learned
occultists and cabbalists, of philosophes Hermetiques
of the nineteenth century, and of passionate anti-
quaries and Egyptologists generally. We want to
make an experimental comparison between spiritual-
ism and the magic of the ancients by following liter-
ally the instructions of the old Cabbalas, both Jewish
;
and Egyptian. I have for many years ^ been study-

ing la philosophie Hermetique in theory and practice,
and am every day coming to the conclusion that
spirituaUsm in its physical manifestations is no-
thing but the Python of the ancients or la lumiere
astrale ou sidevale de Paracelsus, i.e., the intangible
ether which Reichenbach calls Od. The Pythonesses
of the ancients used to magnetise themselves read
Plutarch and his account of the oracular currents,
read Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, the Magia
Adamica Eugenius Philalethes, and others.^ You
of
will always see better, and can communicate with

the spirits by this means ^self-magnetisation.
" I am now writing a big book, which I call, by
John's advice, Skeleton Key to Mysterious Gates. I
will say nice things there about your European and
American men of science. Papists, Jesuits, and that
race of the half-learned, les chdtres de la science,
who destroy everything without creating anything,

and are incapable of creating."
This book, which, in spite of John's advice, did
not appear under the title which he had conceived
These "many must have caused considerable sur-

years''
prise to her correspondent and to all who knew her for up to ;

the last moment that of the spiritist failures, and want of

food not a word has been heard of any studies of the sort
the only talk has been about the " mighty truths " of spiritism.
^ In order to write all this it was more than sufficient that
she should have read one of the works of Eliphas Levi (Abb6
Constans), one of the most interesting and ablest of the popu-
larisers of occultism. Later on she makes direct quotations
from his books, but of course without any indication of their
source, and ostensibly as her own.
17
for was the famous Isis Unveiled, which it was

it,
attempted to puff in America as something extraor-

dinary and miraculous. The theosophists have spread
and are still spreading stories to the effect that the
book was written by H. P. Blavatsky with the help
of her "master"; that she herself did not know
what she was doing, but wrote under his dictation,
or transcribed directly from " unique copies " from
the Vatican, unknown to any one, which appeared
before her, and then when they were no longer
needed returned by the same astral route to the
shelves of the secret bookcases of the Vatican.
Olcott went so far as seriously and mysteriously
to announce that for certain chapters of Isis Unveiled
there were required not only " uniques " from the
Vatican, but " uniques " which had been consumed in
the burning of the library of Alexandria. So, when-

ever necessary, the material atoms of these precious
copies, scattered through space, were re-assembled
and materialised, like the nurse-maids and uncles at
the Eddys' and Helena Petrovna, in her rapid,
;
legible hand, quietly transcribed the great truths to

be found in them.
These legends are evidently of later origin, as in
the letter written by Madame Blavatsky to her
Russian correspondent, just at the time when she
was writingIsis, the assertions are of a diiferent and
less mysterious kind. No " master " is so much as

hinted at, John King, a materialised
but there is
spirit, the one friend whom Helena Petrovna loved
more than any one on earth, though she does not

particularly respect him, as he " often deceives and
talks twaddle, and it is impossible to rely on him".
She is gathering round her a few persons who are

engaged, as dilettanti, in the study of occultism on
the one hand and archaeology on the other. These
gentlemen have no small store of books on the sub-
jects which occupy them, books which are neither
rarities nor " uniques," but are mostly quite unknown
to the public, who till recently held occultism and
cabbalism in the greatest contempt. Madame Bla-
vatsky flings herself eagerly among these books, and
with the help of her friends determines to write a
book herself.
HerIsis, though not sold by booksellers in Russia,
is no secret it is easy to get it on order, and any

;
one who likes can find out for himself what sort of
a book it is. It is an American book, striving for
effect, and useful as a publication of speculation. It

is a compilation of various mystic and cabbalistic
writings, interspersed with occasional acute remarks

and polemical sallies, and sometimes also with fairly
violent abuse. There is no system in it, and on the
whole it is nothing but complete disorder, a real
hodge-podge. Any one, no doubt, who is entirely or
partially unacquainted with the subject will probably,
almost inevitably, think that the author possesses in
any case immense knowledge and learning. But
disenchantment soon follows on increasing ac-
quaintance with the literature of the subject and
the really learned students of occultism and
cabbalism.
None the less Isis remains the most surprising
and miraculous of Madame Blavatsky's "phenomena";
for her power of grasping, compiling and writing
with giddy rapidity is amazing. She transformed

26o A Modern Priestess of his.
herself into a sort of automatic writing machine.

The from her which are in my possession
letters
would themselves form a tolerably bulky volume,
and she corresponded with many others too. For
example, she would finish a chapter of Isis, put the
full stop, and then instantly set about a letter to St.
Petersburg, repeating with variations what she was

writing about. I give a short extract from her letter
of December i, 1875 :
" All phenomena are produced by currents of the

astral world or ether of the chemics. Think of
Plutarch's high priest of the Temple of Apollo, and
his oracular subterranean exhalations, under the in-
toxication of which the priestesses prophesied. All
the atmosphere about us is full of spirits of differ-
ent sorts. There is not a single vacant spot in the
world, for nature abhors a vacuum and nonentity, as
Hermes says.^ It is only possible to understand the
phenomena of our own time by studying the ancient
theurgists such as lamblichus, Porphyry, Plotinus
and others."
And in this style, without connexion or order, with
obvious blunders, skipping from one subject to another,
she fills an immense letter, nearly as much as a whole
sheet of print. Those who will may find exactly
the same in Isis. No though John dictated with
;
amazing rapidity, he easily got confused, for he was
' These taken straight out of EHphas Levi, an

last lines are
author whomshe generally follows in preference to others.
This is quite intelligible ; he is the easiest of all, he is a popu-
lariser and writes in simple language.
not yet converted into the " master," and had not
acquired his Thibetan wisdom.^
Ten years later it would seem that the "master"
refused his assistance in obtaining " uniques ". In
September, 1885, when H. P. Blavatsky was beginning
to write at Wiirzburg her Secret Doctrine, the supple-
ment to Isis which the theosophists rate even
higher, she was moving heaven and earth to obtain
the many volumes of J. E. de Mirville's work, then
out of print, Des esprits et de leurs manifestations
diverses. She at length got the books, but by no
astral route they were brought from Russia by Miss
;
X. H. P. plunged headlong into them, and would on

no account allow me to see them. This puzzled me.
Before my return to Russia I obtained from the
bouquinistes of Paris the whole of Mirville, and satis-
fied myself that he had in fact rendered Madame
Blavatsky most important services.
But from what have said it must not be con-
I
cluded that Madame

Blavatsky did not at times hit
upon very profound and interesting thoughts, especi-
ally in her later works. The occult literature of all
times and nations, amid all sorts of rubbish and the

most extraordinary nonsense, indisputably contains
^ It was natural, and indeed inevitable, that I, like many

others, should in the summer of 1884 be amazed at the amount
of knowledge and variety of subject to be found in Isis. At
that time I had but little acquaintance with the literature
which served as Madame Blavatsky's material. Since then I
have studied the works of various occultists and cabbalists, and
I see clearly, what any one may see, that the " learned " works
of Helena Petrovna are compilations, without any system,

chiefly from French sources. [See Appendix C. ^W. L.]
!
no little human wisdom. Helena Petrovna's splendid

memory retained everything, and if a truth expressed
by any one occurred to her, she knew sometimes how
to reproduce it with great clearness and simplicity,
and develop it with her real innate ability.

All depended on the subject and the moment. I
have alluded, in chapter xvii. of my narrative, to

the thoughts and aphorisms which were occasion-
ally uttered by Madame Blavatsky. Such thoughts,
even if one does riot agi'ee with them, cannot but in-
terest, not only the " man in the street," but really
thoughtful people. Unfortunately it was but rarely
that she talked in this way for circumstances atid
;
her character impelled her in private intercourse

to be almost always agitating herself, exclaiming,
wriggling and struggling with all her might.
Thus, after long and attentive observation, I came
to the conclusion that in its intellectual aspect her
powerful mind was of a passive and not of an active
kind. On this side she showed herself quite incapable
of independent creation, even in her most inspired
moments ; she only grasped and developed rapidly
the ideas of others.
And finally we must turn our attention to one
other circumstance. We may talk as much as we
like of woman's rights, we may make women into
judges, ministers or members of Parliament but ;
none the less woman remains as yet, by force of old

habit, in a privileged position, and men make much
smaller demands upon her than they do upon those
of their own sex. " Only think. It is wonderful
Why, she is a woman !Oh, she is a marvellous
woman for intellect and learning "
!
While this
involuntary and unconscious attitude lasts, a really

impartial criticism is impossible. Even her male
competitors bow courteously before a lady, without
any sort of professional jealousy.
It is only thus that one can explain certain ex-
travagant eulogies of the theosophical writings of
H. P. Blavatsky, which appeared in the press of
Western Europe, from outsiders, and not from mem-
bers of her society. Unconscious courtesy to a "lady
philosopher " is so powerful, that the authors of
these eulogies never thought how they were com-
promising their own learning in the eyes of sub-
sequent scholars, who would judge of Blavatsky's
writings without caring whether they were written by
a man, or by a woman inspired by the problematical
" Mahatmas ". At best the panegyrists of Helena
Petrovna's " learning " prove their imperfect ac-
quaintance with the literature of occultism, and with
the authors from whose writings the " modern
priestess of Isis " compiled without acknowledging
her indebtedness.
The more original and brilliant writings of H. P.
Blavatsky are those of another sort, where her ability
and rich fancy can display themselves in all their
force. I allude to the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
and the Blue Mountains, published under the pseu-

donym of Radda Bay. They were written in Russian
and have not been translated,'^ and H. P. was in her
life-time very anxious that the English should not
^ [An English translation of the Caves and Jungles was 1
published in 1892 and has been duly followed by the Blue I f
Mountains. W. L.]
learn their contents, as she wrote for Russian readers,

and was not sparing of ridicule and censure against
the Anglo-Indian Government and its representatives.
Both the Caves and the Blw Mountains have a right
to a respectable place in Russian literature, and it is
unfortunate that the separate edition published by
Mr. Katkoff is out of print and but little known.
Only, of course, the reader of the interesting narrative
of Radda Bay must look on them as romance and
fancy, and must on no account take on trust the
facts and statements given by the author. The most
bitter disenchantment awaits the too trustful reader.
But we must return to the new-born Theosophical
Society. H. P. Blavatsky wrote, as we have seen,
that it was founded "for experimental comparison
between spiritualism and the magic of the ancients,
following literally the instructions of the old cabbalas,
Jewish and Egyptian". Now, two months later,
while speaking of a young medium of unusual power,
she says " As soon as he is better the spirits have
:

been knocking him about he will come to us and
we will try to test him at our meetings of the Theo-
sophical Society. Our society is a touchstone. That
is what it was founded for."
This is something quite different ! It is easy to see
that the aim of the society was not yet revealed and that
itwould only be revealed by further circumstances ;
in other words, by the requirements of the public.

Whatever there is a demand for will be supplied.
Still there is one misfortune : try to get out of it
as you may, itis impossible to conceal the com-
plete breach which has actually come about with

"spiritism" or "spiritualism". All apologies and

explanations are insufficient. The orthodox American

spiritists perceived at once that Blavatsky and Olcott
had "deserted the cause," and started something
which was at present unexplained but which in any ;
case was new and even hostile. There followed

accordingly attacks on both of them, especially on
Madame Blavatsky, in the spiritist papers. On
December 6, 1875, H. P. wrote:
" All the spiritists even in England are disturbed
now about this Theosophical Society, because they
know that I hatched it but, if we had not hatched
;
it, we should never in our lives have thought of

interesting ourselves in spiritism or studying it.
And we have already got two learned professors as

members, from Boston several reverend clergymen
;
of divers colours, and many notabilities. It is the

same spiritualism, but under another name. Now
you will see if we shall not start the most learned
investigations. Our vice-treasurer, Newton,' is a
millionaire, and president of the New York spiritual-
ists. spiritists do not understand their own
But the
good. have talked to them as much as I could
I
but nothing of the sort it is heresy. And there is

;
another thing for which the public bears us a grudge :
the rules of the society are so strict that it is impos-

sible for a man who has been in the least mixed up
in any dirty matter to become a member. No free
lovers or atheists or positivists are admitted to the
society."
On this one really is inclined to exclaim :
" Quand
le diable devient vieux, il se fait hermite !
" And
then, on the other hand, how often she used to de-
clare, both orally and in her letters, that a great
multitude of rakes, libertines, swindlers, and all but

murderers had become members of the Theosophical
Society, and been turned into saints by the influence
of its foundress. It was her misfortune that, though
she possessed a remarkable memory, she always

used to forget what she had written even the day
before ; so that it is impossible to find two of her
letters in which one does not come across the most
curious contradictions at every step.
If the spiritists persecuted with ridicule the new
society founded by the schismatics, it was no more
than was to be expected in the nature of things.
But on the top of this came another trouble, which
drove into the background all similar vexations
and supplied material for several lengthy letters from
H. P. Blavatsky to her Russian correspondent. The
medium Home, now deceased, who was well known
even to us in Russia, accused Madame Blavatsky,
first in letters to various persons and then in print,
of being a fraudulent medium, on the ground of

Olcott's letters and books, and attacked her private
life, about which he had obtained information from
first-hand sources. All this was brought about
chiefly by the appearance in the Graphic and in Olcott's
book of the drawing of the medal and clasp brought
by the spirits to Helena Petrovna from the tomb of
her father, M, Hahn. Home showed with good
reason that it is not customary in Russia to put
orders of merit in the grave, and fm-ther that the
medal and clasp seemed to be creations of pure
fancy.
H. P. Blavatsky fell into just the same state of
mind as when ten years later she sent me her con-
A Modem Priestess of Isis. 267
fession from WiJrzburg. She began to assure her

correspondent that this was another " conspiracy,"
and that Home was led to his " calumnies " by his
vile jealousy of her medianic powers. While con-
tradicting herself in every line, and entangling her-
self inher own words, she tried to defend herself
about the medal, as well as about the " clasp in the
form of a heart," and wrote :

" I was not at my father's funeral. But at this
moment the medal and clasp which were brought
me are hanging on my neck ; and at the stake, on
my death-bed, on the rack, I could say only one
thing It is my father's clasp. The medal I do not
:
remember. Of the clasp I myself broke the end in

Rugodevo, and I have seen it a hundred times in my
father's hands. If it is not his clasp, then it must
be that the spirits are really devils, and can material-
ise what they like, and drive people out of their
senses. But I know that even if my father's prin-
cipal decorations were not buried with him, still, as
he always wore this medal, which he had received
for twenty-five years of service, and the one he had
for the Turkish War, even when he was retired and in
half-dress, it is likely that they would not take them
off him. After his death there were stories about
some money which he bequeathed to me, and of
which I never got half, and my younger sister never
writes to me at all. But I shall write to Markoff,
who was present at the funeral, and to my brother
at Stavropol, because I wish to know the truth. . . .
Every one heard the spirit'sspeech, forty persons

besides myself So, then, it would seem that I had
laid some plot or other with the mediums ! Very
well, let them think so. How on earth do I interfere

with Home ? I am not a medium, I never was and
never will be a professional one. I have devoted
my whole life to the study of the ancient cabbala
[no longer to spiritism, as she declared a short time
before] and occultism, the '
occult sciences '. I
really cannot, just because the devil got me into

trouble in my youth, go and rip up my stomach
now like a Japanese suicide in order to please the
mediums. My position is very cheerless ; simply
helpless. There is nothing for left but to start
Australia and change my name for ever."
And so on, and so on, through seven immense
letters, about forty closely-written pages of large-
sized paper. She repents and jeers blasphemously,
she tells such stories as any one else would have
kept secret, she drags in her friends and relations,
and declares that she has no ill-will and forgives
every one, and then suddenly tears off the mask of
kindness and good-nature, and shows the devil's
hoof. She declares that if Home does not hold his
tongue she will take every means to publish and
spread the most frightful and revolting stories about

him and she explains moreover what they will be
for " she is bound to defend herself".
She wishes to frighten not only Home but those
who could influence him as her correspondent is
;
acquainted with them, she begs him to induce them

to stop Homeand make him hold his tongue, else it
will be the worse for them too. In one word, it is
all exactly the same as in 1886, on th-e occasion of
my exposure of her, the same as what my readers

already know from her " confession " only in those ;
days there were no Mahatmas and no theosophical

miracles on the stage. The rest is almost identical,
but even more magnificent. Her letters contain, too,
a touch of the comic ; thus, among fiery phrases of
despair, she quite unexpectedly honours Olcott with
the title not merely of " ass," but of " ass's grand-
father ".
By summer of 1876 all these fumes

the end of the
had at last subsided, and the atmosphere had grown
somewhat clearer. In her July letter is the follow-
ing curious passage "I send you some cuttings
:
about the funeral (pagan, almost antique pagan) of

our member Baron de Palma. He has left all his
property to our society. Read what the papers say.
Before the funeral they laughed and joked at us, but
as soon as they saw it they quieted down. There
was nothing to laugh at, and they looked very silly."
The estate of this "pagan" baron, as appears
from statements enclosed in the letter of October 5,
1876, consisted of effects, " a good many rich silver
mines," and " 17,000 acres of land ". Madame
Blavatsky, however, hastens to explain that though
the mines may be rich there is no money to work
them, and that the land is good for nothing. None
the less we find the following information :
" Eight
Siam and
of us are preparing to set off for Thibet,
Cambodia but half of us are archaeologists, and
;
want to go first to Yucatan and Central America

generally to compare the Egyptian ruins with the
American ". In other words there is at any rate
enough on which to undertake this complicated and
immense journey. The bequest of the pagan baron
decided the further fate of the Theosophical Society.
XXIX.
After Home's exposures Madame Blavatsky evi-

dently thought that nothing made any difference
now, and that it was useless to conceal the complete
change of front which had been executed by the
colonel and herself The heresy rapidly passed into
complete contempt and hostility to spiritism. The
aim of the Theosophical Society was once more
changed, and there is no longer so much as a hint
of the comparative study of the phenomena of spirit-
ualism by the aid of the "instructions of the Jewish
cabbala," or of any " testing " of mediums.
Helena Petrovna had completely forgotten that
" all her life had been for many years wholly devoted
to spiritqalism, and that to her last breath she would
preach the doctrine of Allan Kardec ". She now
wrote to her correspondent that " all her life had
been for many years devoted to the study of cabbal-
ism," etc., etc. The aim of the foundation of the
Theosophical Society was now declared to be archaeo-
logical investigation and the proof of the unity of
the oldest civilisation and religious beliefs in all
lands.
Feeling beneath her feet some solid ground, the
firmest stratum of which was, of course, the bequest
of the pagan baron, and going by the experience of
her life, Madame Blavatsky made up her mind that

the more assurance, impudence, and contempt for

men were shown, the more probable was success.
She at once declared herself erudite, an expert in
antiquities of all sorts, and versed in the very depths
of occultism.
She sends her correspondent a whole extempore
lecture, dazzling with the fireworks of her suddenly
red-hot erudition. She continually abandons her
incorrect Russian in favour of English or French,
according to the sources from which she is making
her hasty translation. Here is a specimen of this
lecture :
"... Last year when I wrote an essay on the

identity of the ancient symbols and religion of Egypt
and Assyria with the cults of the Aztecs and Quiches
as described by Brasseur de Bourbourg and Herrera
the Spanish historian, all the archaeologists attacked
me and accused me of fancifulness. But I have
myself seen in Palanca and Uxman vaults with
triangular arches sans clef de voute (excuse my for-
getting the Russian phrase) ; this sort of architec-
ture is found only in the oldest ancient temples
to be
of Egypt, and in Nagkon Wat and Angkor, in Siam
and Cambodia ; the ruins of the latter country puzzle
all the learned societies, who have all racked their
brains with every sort of hypothesis but the right
one, which is that dans les ages archaiques, how many
thousands of years ago we do not know, but certainly
before the Mosaic epoch, both the Aryan and Semitic
tribes (in short, before the separation of these
nations) belonged to one and the same religion, the
same which still survives only amid the adepts des
Sciences Occultes. And now it is turning out as I
;
said. Lord Dufferin, Gouverneur-General de Canada,

discovered in British Columbia an Indian tribe
hitherto almost unknown, which lives in a village,
vieille de plusieurs siecles, and all built of the remains
of the most magnificent temples, columns, porticoes,

etc. Well then ? The sculpture is precisely the
same as in the temples of Egypt, sphinxes, winged
bulls as in Assyria, snakes, and finally the god Thoth
or Tot (Hermes), with the hawk's head I long ago
!
pointed out the strange fact that the descendants of

the Quiches in Mexico call themselves snakes. '
We
are snakes, sons of the wise serpents,' they say. And
thus too other tribes called themselves, the Canaan-
ites and Medians, i.e., those of them who were con-
secrated to the mysteries of the temples, les inities de

la toute [sic ; haute ?] Theurgie, as the father of Moses'
wife for instance, Reuel, or Jethro the Midianite,
who instructed him in magic. '
Snakes' holes ' was
the name given to the underground passages which
served as the home of the mysteries of the temple,
and were known only to the consecrated adepts
cryptes des couleuvres, as Champollion Figeac calls
them. Hieroglyphs, pyramids, les Cenocephales,
sacred apes, crocodiles, rites, adoration of the sun as
the visible symbol of the invisible Godhead, all this
Egyptian and Chaldean antiquity you will find in
Central and North America, and much of it also in
the esoteric rites of the Buddhist mystics. When
Wrangel showed the world of science the possibility
or rather probability that the Indians and
Mexicans found by Cortes in America are the de-
scendants of emigrants from Europe and Asia, and
of the Tartar tribes of Siberia who had crossed from
one continent to the other by Behring Straits,

they actually laughed at him ; but now it turns out
that he was partially right. All popular legends
point to this. But the Indians of British Columbia,
the owners of the Egyptian sphinxes and other
symbols, have yet another tradition. They positively
say that their ancestors ocean on
flew over the
birds with wings (ships with I under- sails, as
stand it) and that each of these birds had on its
breast the face of the wife of the Great Spirit,' '
Dida, as they call her. Now can we help recognis-

ing in this Dida Dido, whose name was in different
nations Astarte or Venus or Dido or Elissa or
Anaitis or Artemis or Al-iza, the goddess of the
now Mahometan Mecca? Dido was as you know
not a living queen, but a mere myth, the idol of the
goddess Astarte, the unfailing attribute of every
Phenician ship they usually fixed her head sur la
;
proue du vaiss'eau. And the Phenicians were them-

selves the ancestors of the Jews of Palestine in
the opinion of Herodotus and more modern his-
torians. Finally the Phenicians are the same as
the Canaanites who fled before the warrior Joshua,
son of Nun, and passed through the Columns of
Hercules, on which according to the historians
there was an inscription saying :
'
Nous sommes les
fils de ceux qui fuirent devant brigand Jesus, fils
le
de Nave '. This is stated by Procopius the historian
and St.Augustine (de Bello Vandalo). That is,
they who fled and escaped to America are the
Hivites or les Heveens, descendants de Heth, fils
de Chanoon. However, all this is my own particular

speculation, and archaeologists are of a different
18
:
274 ^ Modern Priestess of Tsis.
opinion. I am writing you all this without knowing

if it interests you. But you wish to know how we
are employed at our sittings. You see it is in
archaeological investigations, which explain the

identity of symbols of all ancient peoples. From
symbols it is not far to the medicine men of all
'
'
Indian tribes, i.e., the same adepts in magic

quoique degeneres
as in ancient Egypt and modern
India, with its Lamas and fakirs, whom Jaccoliot
describes, and the Art Magic '. We are getting
'
at the roots of everything. A given symbol for ex-

ample means so and so, and belongs to such and
such a divinity, Jupiter for example Jupiter in ;
each of his transformations, as the Descender in '

'
the form of rain, undoubtedly typifies some one

force of Nature, whether known to the science
of to-day, or unknown (the latter is much the
still
most Each such force, 'a cosmic force' or

usual).
power,' if it was once raised to a symbol by the
ancients, shows that its nature or quality was known
to them. The symbol dans le sens exoterique etait
livr6 a la masse ignorente et se trouve traits dans
notre siecle (si savant mon Dieu !) de superstition
mais les inities les pretres de I'odyte et de sanctuaire
connaissaient bien sa valeur reelle ; ils savaient ce
que cette force naturelle et physique contenait de
mysterieux et d'occulte dans ses diverses combinai-
sons, ce que les savants de nos jours ignorent et
^
regrettent par consequence."
^ [In this, as in some other cases, I have followed the some-
what eccentric French orthography and accentuation of the

printed text. Whether Madame Blavatsky is responsible for
it or not I do not know. W. L.]

Further on H. P. Blavatsky declares that she has

fathomed the secret of Simon the Magian, and that
it is not at all hard to rise from the earth and iiy.
" Good gracious, are you now wondering if I have
gone entirely out of my mind ? Yet so it is. I an-

nounced this law a purely physical one to our mem-
bers, and proved to them besides, by facts, that it is
so. With an electrical battery and a powerful current
we first ascertained by a well-known process what

sort of magnetism there was in the carpet of the
room we electrified a cat, and it rose up several
;
inches. It was then, in spite of my warnings, elec-

trified more powerfully, and of course the poor cat
suddenly expired."
Though I have not myself carried out any experi-
ments of the sort, I venture to think that it was quite
needless to begin by first " ascertaining by a well-
known process what sort of magnetism there was in

the carpet of the room," and that the only cause for
wonder is that the unfortunate cat only rose a few
inches, and did not jump right up to the ceiling, be-
fore expiring. I do not know; perhaps Helena Pet-
rovna did at one time rise into the air like Simon the
Magian but I can bear witness that ten years later,
;
in the " Wiirzburg period," she had completely lost

the power and forgotten her secret. In the tortures
of her terrible rheumatism, poor woman, she often
could not raise so much as her hand.
After this letter there was a long pause of some
nine months, but the interesting journey had not yet
been undertaken. Evidently Madame Blavatsky and
the colonel were living at their ease in New York,
and they had business on hand. Before weighing
" :
anchor and quitting America for a longtime, perhaps

for ever, was of course essential
it to realise the estate
of the "pagan baron," and to turn mines and his silver
land into money. The by little
theosophists little
grew interested in Buddhism, and turned their hands

to "soul-saving". On June 15, 1877, Madame Bla-
vatsky writes from New York :
" Our theosophists (the local ones) are bound in

general not only not to take a drop of drink, but to fast
continually as well. I am teaching them not to eat
anything ; if they do not die, they will learn but ;
they cannot hold out, so much the better for them.

They are setting off straight for Nirvana, and we
shall cremate them solemnly with pagan ceremony.
There is Judge, who has simply become a holy Ar-
hat. He sees visions and he flies'; and he asserts
that he passes out of the body every night and roams
in infinite space. I ring a bell in Forty-seventh Street,
in my room, and he hears it at Brooklyn, eight miles
off ; he starts off at once, and in two hours he ap-
pears at my call."
Here she is herself laughing at it all, and unable
to refrain from ridicule in a letter to her compatriot

" See what fools they are, and how I lead them by
!
the nose
On October 2, 1877, she announces the appearance
of her Isis. " Well, my book has appeared at last.
My was born last Saturday, September
darling
29, but a week before my publisher had sent early
copies to all the papers, and I enclose herewith the
review of the N. Y. Herald. When I read it I al-
most fainted. I was prepared for abuse of every
sort, and lo, here is such praise, and that from one
of the most conservative and catholic of papers.

Look where it says that Isis
at the last paragraph, '
Unveiled is one of the remarkable productions of the

century '} Perhaps they will abuse it yet, but all the
same the whole first edition (1000 copies) has been
sold in two days, and the subscribers are obliged to
wait another week, till the second edition appears.
And the bookhandsomely got up, two huge volumes
is
with a beautiful gilt back, on which Isis unveiled

sits astride. And I am quite proud of the index. It
was made for me by Professor Wilder, our vice-
president and a famous American archaeologist. . . .
We have now a multitude of corresponding fellows

in India, and we are proposing next year to set off
for Ceylon and to settle there, as the head-quarters
of our society. I have received the rank of Arch '
Auditor from the principal masonic lodge in India.

'
It is the most ancient of the masonic lodges, and is
said to have been in existence B.C."

But it was not all laurels. In her letter of
November 6, 1877, H. P. Blavatsky complains that
many papers, judging, it would seem, only by the
binding and table of contents, accused her of " dis-
seminating transcendental nonsense, and some of
them, in the American fashion, call her a fool out-
' This extraordinary opinion of the Herald is perhaps ex-

plained by the fact that in America everything is sold, press
puffs more than anything. There is actually said to be a
regular tariff for them. Or how could a Catholic paper praise
a book which contains the most desperate attacks and abuse
against the Catholic religion? [But it is to be supposed that
Madame Blavatsky used the word " catholic " in a general,
not in a religious sense. W. L.] _
! ;
right ". To one of the editors she writes " Olcott :
all but gave a smack in the face; but what good

would that do ? "
She was terribly agitated also by another matter
Home's book had appeai'ed, in which he did not
stand on any ceremony, but related some extremely
eloquent facts about her various frauds. She writes:
" It is for this that I am going for ever to India/ and
for very shame and vexation I want to go where no

one will know my name. Home's malignity has
ruined me for ever in Europe. He must have
written some nice things, when his wife was obliged
to write to Mr. Martheze in London not to pay any
attention to her husband's letters, as he was out of
his mind!^ As for Home's book, Olcott and I, far
from having read it, have never so much as set eyes
on it. Before it appeared Olcott vowed never to
open it, and he has kept his vow. He has had
several proposals to answer it, and one of the
publishers of the London Athenceum has written to
him suggesting that he should reply to it point by
point in his review. But Olcott has refused." ^
'
So she goes to India for ever not for the sake of the Theo-
sophical Society, but on account of Home's stories
Ôf course Home's wife never wrote anything of the sort,

and Madame Blavatsky invented it on the spot. It thus
who exposed her to
appears that the habit of declaring those
be out of their minds was an old one with Helena Petrovna
(see chapter xxiv.).
' Of course when it is impossible to refute a direct and
detailed accusation, it is best to stop one's ears and hold one's
tongue, evenwhen the papers offer their columns for a reply.
But the inimitable Helena Petrovna could talk about it so
innocently I
After this H. P. Blavatsky's letters cease for more

than eighteen months. Then took place the migra-
tion of the theosophists to India. Olcott, the man
had evidently succeeded in turning into
of business,
money the silver mines and land of Baron de Palma.
Helena Petrovna turned up in Bombay, where she
established for a time the "head-quarters of the
Theosophical Society". But this was not enough;
she decided to publish the Theosophist, and writes
from Bombay on July 16, 1879, enclosing a printed
announcement of it in big capitals.
" Have you forgotten us ? Permit me to remind
you of the orphans who are now happily settled in
Bombay, amid the wonder-working sunnyas and
fakirs, yogis and cobras. As for psychology, our
paper knocks all the spiritual journals into a cocked
hat. Am I never to have one little line more from
you ? Colonel Olcott sends his most respectful com-
pliments. Be so good as to let me know if I can send
the paper to you in Russia without an envelope, in
a simple wrapper. As you see, there is not a word
of politics in it, it is all about philosophy, psychology
and metaphysics. Lord What a land of wonders
!
this is !If you only knew Is there not by any

!
chance one of your papers in St. Petersburg that

wants articles from India ? I could write them off
so as to give satisfaction. Be so generous as to let
me know. Surely I read in the Russky Vyestnik that
they want some information about the Indian
religions ? And here I am, as you see by the
prospectus, surrounded by representatives of every
conceivable religion. We have now
74,000 members
of the Theosophical Society and the Arya Somaj. I
'
am Rajputana and the North-west

just back from
Provinces have travelled on elephants, penetrated
; I
into secret pagodas, and But there are no

words adequately to express my emotions."
In her letter of October i8, 1879, she is in the
same bold self-confident humour " Here we are
:
with four months of monsoon, in rain and hot steam

with The rain pours from above, and the steam
it.
risesfrom below, so the dampness and moisture are

inconceivable. Scorpions and centipedes in particular
have got the upper hand, and we have a tolerable
quantity of cobras in the garden. And so you must
continually read mantras as an exorcism, and it is
'
'
impossible to live here without magic. It is only

the astrologists, alchemists and magi of our society
that save us from destruction. Still we are living
and even thriving. Shall I not send you a mantra '
against fever and all other sicknesses and misfor-

tunes ? But then you are orthodox it would not ;
take with you. All the famous Sanskritists and

pandits of India are writing for our paper, as you
see.
Further on H. P. Blavatsky announces that she
has sent Katkoff " a huge article " (the first five
chapters) of notes on India. This "huge article"
turned out to be the beginning of her From the
Caves and Jungles of Hindostan. The manuscript
was corrected, so far as mistakes and inaccuracy of
language were concerned, and put in order, and soon
appeared in the pages of the Russky Vyestnik.
What followed presents no particular points of
interest, and the correspondence soon ceased alto-
gether. But the real history of the rise of the
Theosophical Society is now established by docu-

ments in the face of which all the propagandists and
supporters of the theosophical legend must needs
" set the seal of silence on their lips ". It is Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky who has herself involuntarily
and ingenuously set before us the actual truth.
Without reference to any secondary evidence, we
have heard from herself how, " from the year 1863,
she had given her whole life to spiritism," and how
in America she was the most zealous of its defenders;
and how too, when the question of the " morsel of
bread " arose, she deserted the doctrine which she
had proclaimed the " only truth," and set about
inventing something new, by which she could attract
the interest of the public. We have followed all the
early phases of the Theosophical Society.
Later on all is perfectly clear, even from printed
sources. When in 1884 Madame Blavatsky, Olcott
and Mohini came, or were sent, to Europe, they
appeared with cunning, and declared that their
society was purely scientific, and occupied only
with the investigation of " Oriental learning " that ;
it not only did not wound, but profoundly respected
the beliefs of its members, to whatever religion they

belonged. This they declared in print, in their
regulations.
But, apart from the fraudulent phenomena pro-
duced by Madame Blavatsky, the Theosophical
Society shockingly deceived those who joined it as
members, in reliance on the regulations. It gradu-
ally grew evident that it was no universal scientific
brotherhood, to which the followers of all religions
might with a clear conscience belong, but a group
of persons who had begun to preach in their organ,

the Theosophist, and in their other pubHcations, a
mixed rehgious doctrine. Finally, in the last years
of Madame Blavatsky's life, even this doctrine gave
place to a direct and open propaganda of the most
orthodox exoteric Buddhism, under the motto of
" Our Lord Buddha," combined with incessant
attacks on Christianity.
All this was brought about by degrees, amid dense
folds of mist, under the fireworks of Madame Bla-
vatsky's fraudulent marvels, surrounded by various
scandalous histories and the mysterious whispers of
duped and hysterical ladies and gentlemen.
In 1875 Olcott, an American spiritist, was " sitting
on the heaps of unsold copies " of his work on the
marvels of the Eddy brothers, and the world-wide
impostor Madame Blavatsky, in her own words,
" could not find any one to quarrel with, and could
not do without a morsel of bread ". Now, in 1893,
as the direct effect of this cause, we see an entire
religious movement, we see a prosperous and grow-
ing plantation of Buddhism in Western Europe.
Whence then came the possibility of success for
such a cause, founded on fancy, falsehood and
deceit ? Olcott might have been a hundred times
more energetic, Madame Blavatsky a hundred times
more able and more sympathetic in her manners to
her friends yet, sow as they might, they would
:
have seen no rich harvest, had the seed not fallen

on fi-uitful ground prepared to receive it. It follows
that the gist of the matter lies in the soil, and no-
thing but analysis of the soil can solve the riddle and
give the answer to every question.
There was published not long ago a new book by

the well-known Max Nordau, entitled Entartung
(Degeneration). In this book the able author ex-
amines many of the abnormalities of modei-n society,
dissolute, nervous, psychopathic and hysterical as it
is. Among other things he says that thei'e is no
conviction attained by healthy mental labour which
can dominate the whole being of man with the same
force as mania. One who suffers from mania or
delirium can be convinced by nothing. He charges
straight ahead, forgetting even the instinct of self-
preservation. He thus becomes a powerful force to
which persons of weak and unbalanced mind submit
against their will. This idea of Nordau's is eon-
firmed by various long-known observations of col-
lective mania, which is especially striking among
persons of nervous habit, particularly women, in
convents and close educational establishments.
The same author goes on to adduce a remarkable
case which he quotes from Goncourt's Journal. It
appears that in Paris in 1870 a crowd often thousand
persons " saw and read with their own eyes " a tele-
gram announcing a victory of the French over the
Germans. This telegram, at which all fingers
pointed, was, as all were convinced, posted on one
of the columns of a hall in the Paris Bourse. There
was in fact no telegram whatever it was only
; an
hallucination. There are not a few cases where
crowds have been inspired with such false ideas.
Hysterical persons are very apt to yield to a con-
viction of the unusual merits of any chance book,
and even to see in it beauties which were not sus-
pected either by the author or by those who have
laboured for his glorification. If a new sect has

any success, it gathers adherents chiefly among the
hysterical who are susceptible of suggestion. Young
people seeking a path swell the crowd, supposing
that the true path is there. The weak-minded who
fearmore than anything that they may be considered
behind the age, join the ranks, and loudly extol the
new celebrity. Would-be youthful age, anxious to
conceal its years, crawls to the new
temple, and
chants with quavering voice the hymn of the faithful,
hoping to renew its youth amid the young. All the
crowd, united by common sickness, its vanity and
its
its and thunders far more powerfully

cupidity, shouts
than an incomparably larger number of healthy men,
who enjoy calmly and without selfish ends the crea-
tions of healthy genius.
This view of Max Nordau's seems very applicable
to the problem of the great success of the Theo-
sophical Society. Such a success for such a cause
can flourish only on soil watered by morbid exhala-
tions, among people truly degenerate and at the same
time unconsciously exhausted by profound and tor-
turing unbelief When faith v anish es from among
men, its place is inevit ably ta ken by superstitions of
every sort. The weariness of unbelief, working on
the degenerate organism, leads on fatally to the
fanaticism of superstition, of all fanaticism the most
cruel, the most senseless and the most gloomy ; for
it indicates the existence in society of a serious and
quickly spreading infection.
APPENDIX A.
ABSTRACT OF PAMPHLET ENTITLED:

"H. P. BLAVATSKY AND A MODERN
PRIEST OF TRUTH.
"Reply of Madame Y to Mr. Vs. Solovyoff."
By MADAME VERA JELIHOVSKY.'
I.
[Madame Jelihovsky announces at once that she is the

Madame Y of the Modern Priestess of Isis, and that she
sees no reason why the fact should be concealed.]
In the first place Mr. Solovyoff has no right to write
about Madame Blavatsky at all, for he knew very little of
her. His whole acquaintance with her covered only six
weeks in Paris, as nmch at Wurzburg, and a few days at
Elberfeld. And further, his ignorance of English made
him incapable of studying her theosophical writings, the
whole of which were, with the exception of Isis Unveiled,
at that time untranslated.
His admission that he purposely " exaggerated his ignor-
ance of English " is in itself a proof of his Jesuitical char-
acter.
' [In the following abridgment I have, for clearness' sake, generally
retained the first person used by Madame Jelihovsky ; but it will of
course be understood that I do not reproduce her style, much less her
exact words. W. L.]
II.
Mr. Solovyoff's statement that the " phenomena are indis-

solubly bound up with theosophy " is quite untrue. I my-
self have never laid any weight on these phenomena, though

I have always admitted my sister's high gifts in the way of
psychical powers, such as clairvoyance, psychometry, thought-
reading, and so on. Indeed, most of those who are now
the chief supporters of theosophy, Mrs. Besant, Professor
Bockh, Fullerton, Eyton, etc., have never seen any pheno-
mena. Hartmann's Talking Image of Urrur, which
Madame Blavatsky reprinted in Lucifer, is a satire on those
who think that phenomena are of the essence of theosophy.
The best of the theosophical workers and writers hold that
the indiscreet stories of Olcott, Judge to some
Sinnett,
extent, and other adherents of the phenomenal side of
theosophy, have done much to hurt the cause. Indeed,
Madame Blavatsky herself used to speak of the phenomena
learnt from Indian fakirs as " psychological tricks ".
Mr. Solovyoff expressly attributes to me opinions which

I do not hold. For instance, he represents me as declaring
that Madame Blavatsky's writings were dictated to her by
her mysterious master. Any one who will take the trouble
to refer to my articles in the Russkoe Obozrenie ior i8gi will
see that I did not believe in this dictation ; I stood out

against the idea, in serious fear for ray sister's reason, and
expressed my disbelief openly to herself. She wrote me a
letter beginning with the words :
" I know you do not
believe that I tell you the real truth about my masters.
You think they are myths,'' and so on.
III.
Why does the author of this fin de siede epic not give the
least hint to his readers that I
was not the only person who
wrote to the papers about phenomena, but that he too did

Appendix. 287
some correspondence and how eloquently ! Those who

will may convince themselves of this by turning to the
July 1884 number of the Rebus, where they will find an
I,
by Mr. Solovyoff under the title of " An Interesting

article
Phenomenon ". This is one of the forgotten facts which I

can recall to his memory by an extract from a letter of his
to my sister in London, in 1884 :
[A.]'
" Paris, Rue Pergolese, August 6-18, 1884.
"... Alea jacta est my letter in the Rebus has already

raised a considerable storm, and I am beginning to be over-
whelmed with questions :
'
What ? How ? Can it be ?
'
. . . Ma ligne de conduite est track and you must know

it. I am not afraid of ridicule, I am indifferent to the
titles of fool, madman, etc. But why do you renounce
me ? . . . I cannot think that any '
master ' (Mahatma)
has told you that you have made a mistake, and that I am
not necessary to you."
So Mr. Solovyoff used to be afraid that Madame Blavat-
sky would listen to her " masters " when they began to say
that he was not necessary to the society. Curious ! But
in the course of time he seems to have forgotten the cir-
cumstance ; though when he likes he is able to give verbal

reports of conversations of the same date.
On p. 30 ff. he gives a list of every one who, in his idea,
visited H. P. Blavatsky in Paris, and gives the exact number
as thirty-one. But why does he think that everybody must
take on trust his statistical lists ? Did he act as my sister's
concierge, and take the names of those who went in and

out?
I lived in my sister's house all the time she was in Paris,
'[I have thus distinguished the different letters for the sake of
subsequent reference. W. L.]

and wrote a diary every day but I know that I did not ;
put in it all the names of her visitors, and could not under-
take to count them up. I only know for certain that there
was a continual stream of visitors. How can an outsider

who, though he called, it is true, almost every day, still did
not sit whole days in our sitting-room keep an account and
sum up the total ?
Mr. on p. 33 a letter from Charles

Solovyoff quotes
Richet (written evidently after the trouble brought about
among the handful of Paris theosophists by Madame
de Horsier in consequence of her behef in some false
information given her by Mr. Solovyoff), in which he

expresses his disbelief in Madame Blavatsky and her cause,
or rather her But this is what Mr. Solovyoff
phenomena.
himself says about Richet, in one of his letters to her.
[The following letter is given by Madame Jelihovsky in
separate parts, only the middle portion being quoted here.
I have thought it better to give the whole letter, at once in
its entirety. W. L.J
[B.]
" Paris, Oct. 8, 1885.
" Dear Helena Petrovna,

" Which is the better, to write at random, or to hold
one's tongue and work for the good of one's correspondent?
... I have made friends with Madame Adam, and talked a
great deal to her about you ; I have greatly interested her, and
she has told me that her Revue is open not only to theo-
sophy but to a defence of yourself personally if necessary.
I praised up Madame de Morsier to her, and at the same
time there was another gentleman there who spoke on your
behalf in the same tone, and Madame Adam wished to
make acquaintance with Madame de Morsier, who will
remain in Paris as the official means of communication
between me and the Nouvelle Revue. Yesterday the meet-
;
Appendix. 289
ing of the two ladies took place ; our Emilie was quite in
raptures. ... In any case this is very good. To-day I
passed the morning with Richet, and again talked a great

deal about you, in connexion with Myers and the Psychical
Society. I can say positively that Richet of the / convinced
reality ofyour personal power and of the phenomena which
proceed from you. He put me three questions categorically.
To the first two I answered affirmatively ; with respect to
the third I said that I should be in a position to answer
affirmatively, without any trouble, in two or three months.
But I do not doubt that I shall answer affirmatively, and
then, you will see there ! will be such a triumph that all
the psychists will be wiped out. . . . Yes, so it will be

for you did not treat me as a doll ? . . . I start the day
after to-morrow for St. Petersburg. . . . What will happen ?
"Your cordially devoted

" Vs. SOLOVYOFF."
This letter was written on October 8, 1885 ; that is to

say, at a time when Mr. Solovyofif knew as well as he does
now all the frauds and malice of the " thief of souls," whom
he had long been trying to convict and disarm, so as to
appear as the self-denying saviour of the innocent souls of
the Parisians, on which she had seized. But how does it
happen that he tries to corrupt the innocent soul of Profes-

sor Richet by confirming him in the deadly errors against
which, by his own account, he had already, in the autumn
of 1884, arrayed himself with the breastplate and helmet
of Don Quixote ?
IV.
In chapter Mr. Solovyoff enters a region of pure im-

v.
agination. But it is true that when Mr. Solovyoff began

to tell me of his sorrows and the injustice of the world
towards him, I sympathised with him, and more than once
19
::
tried to prevent his losing his head ; trusting to his
honour (?) I even allowed myself to make statements

which, perhaps, I had no right to make.
I never concealed my mistrust of the miraculous side of
my sister's work ; I told her so openly, and at this time,
ignorant of much which I afterwards learnt, I was in many

ways unjust to her and those who were about her. I should,
of course, have been more reticent in my admissions, had
I foreseen that he would make use of my friendly confi-
dence, not for his own profit only, but as a weapon against
myself and my family, and endeavour to sow discord between

us by revealing it.
Of the falsifications in the accounts of the two pheno-

mena in chapters v. and vi. I shall dwell on one phrase
only. Speaking of the phenomenon of the letter he says
"The letter was then handed to Miss X through the open
door". This is untrue. And Mr. Solovyoff must know it;
else he would not have been the first to describe the pheno-
menon in the Heius (July i, 1884), or to sign the minutes,
which were drawn up on the spot by Madame de Morsier,
and which I still have, signed by himself and others. If the
letterhad been for an instant taken from the table in the
which it was brought not by Babula iui by the
parlour, to
postman^ Mr. Solovyoff would have had a right to express
his doubts ; the strength of the case lies in the fact that the
letter was not passed through the door, but that Miss X
came into the room and there opened the letter in the
presence of us all. Mr. Solovyoff himself wrote in the Rebus
"The circumstances under which the phenomenon took
place, and the small details which I observed, do not admit
'[This statement, italicised by Madame Jelihovsky, is directly

contradicted by the minutes, as given in Sinnett's Incidents in the
Life of Madame Blavatsky, p. 269 "The servant who answered the;
bell was seen to take the letter from the postman and bring it to
us ". The minutes do not say how Miss X received the letter.W. L.]

Appendix. 291
of the least doubt as to its genuineness and reality. There

can be no question of deceit or trickery."
As for the phenomenon of the locket, I transcribe the
following from my diary :
" When I told Vsevolod
Sergyeevich of the wonderful disappearance of my feuilleton
from Helena's scrap-book [a third phenomenon of which he
has now nothing to say], he declared to me that he could
not understand what I was so surprised at. 'If,' he said,
'
what we saw yesterday evening was possible the trans-
ference, disappearance and reappearance of the portraits
then anything and I shall never be surprised at
is possible,
anything more. Are you not ashamed of thus mistrusting
your sister and your own eyes? You will see that you will
"
be punished for your want of faith.'
I had left before Olcott's return, and thus did not see the
end of the phenomenon of the portraits. I did not know

that he buried the portrait in his garden, and I much
doubt if he really did for I find that he says at the same
;
time that I tried to persuade him to write about the pheno-

menon, and this I know I never did. How could I have
done so, when I had great doubts myself as to the marvel-
lousness of the phenomena? But what I did hear with
my own ears, what I recorded in the Odessa Vyestnik, of
which I sent him a copy at the time, was his own exclama-
tions of admiration at the " floating balls of fire". All these
wonderful appearances may be the " fruit of his creative
fancy" ; but they are none of mine.

It is true that he recently sent me the portrait of my
sister ; it was accompanied with a proposal that I should
return him all his letters "to me and to my sister, and a pro-
mise that if I did so he would not mention my name in the
articles he was then writing for the Russky Vyestnik.

What a multitude of superfluous words Mr. Solovyoff has
put in my mouth, when describing in chap. vi. our walk in
Paris, yet what a multitude of details he has forgotten to men-
"
292 A Modern Priestess of I sis.
tion when speaking of himself ! I could not have complained

that my sister was urging me to write about the phenomena,
for nothing of the sort was ever I wrote and shall true.
write about her and her cause, not so much about the phe-
nomena as about theosophy in general, only of my own
good pleasure, and not from any external influences.
I find from ray diary that no one was so urgent for "secret
audiences'' with my sister as Mr. Solovyoff. Of this he does

not say one word. He used to besiege her with requests to
admit him to her knowledge of particularly convincing phe-
nomena. My sister used to complain that she did not know
what to do with him. It was in consequence of what she
said that I tried to make him give up his vain attempts,
while honestly admitting that I was far from believing in
everything, and that I considered that my sister was

damaging both the cause and herself in permitting her
ardent admirers to proclaim aloud her " wonder-working

power.
What he says in chap. viii. about Babula is evidently a
later invention, founded on the untrustworthy statements

of Hodgson in the Report of the Society for Psychical
Research. Babula was never either the attendant on a
French conjurer or the linguist that Hodgson makes him
out. Had he been, it is to be supposed that he would
have found some more lucrative employment than cleaning
boots and washing plates, his present occupation at Adyar.
There was no sort of scandal with regard to Babula such as
Solovyoff imagines ; his early return to India was due solely
to his wife's illness, as was well known to everybody,
including Solovyoff.
I was fond of questioning this far from stupid fellow
about their daily life at Adyar ; I remember that I often
laughed at his stories
; but I faithfully declare on my con-
science that there never was a word said about " muslin
Mahatmas ". Had he ever used such a phrase, I should
;
Appendix. 293
never, in my then state of incredulity as to the existence of

these Hindu sages, have left it unnoticed, b'Jt should have
questioned both Babula and his mistress, with whom I
never hesitated to enter on a sparring match.
V.
I PASS to chapter ix., and am dumfounded at the manner in
which Solovyoff speaks of /f/j' Unveiled. He complains of the

way in which I published a phrase of his, to the effect that
thisbook is '' a phenomenon " a phrase which he says was;
"only thrown off in conversation ". The following letter is

my justification :

[C]
" Paris, 48 Rue Pergolese, jfuly 7-ig, 1884.
" Dear Vera Petrovna,

" Your letter has given me the very greatest pleasure
and besides, I thought that you would not forget your
promises. ... As my pressing work is now done, and we
have time to breathe, there is now plenty of room for gloomy

thoughts. I must think of some fresh work. Raps . . .
and voices and all sorts of uncanny things are getting

'
'
the upper hand. For instance, an invisible voice says to

A : See, there will be raps on the window-pane
'
directly,' and in a moment the raps begin. ... I almost
constantly perceive breathings around me, and the presence

of some one, to such a degree that it is growing loath-
some. ... I have read the letters of Koot Hoomi, the
Mahatma, and their contents please me much. I am
reading the second part of Isis. and I am quite convinced
that it is a phenomenon ..." and so on.
Here is another letter from Paris to my sister in
London :
[D.]
" October 22, 1884.

" On Friday, though I could hardly stand on my
legs, I passed the whole day with Olcott. On Saturday he
and R. Gebhard, who is back from the Comtesse d'Adhdmar,
dined with me ; after dinner I went to bed, and there I
have stayed ever since. I had neglected a cold, and it got

very bad. . . . The second part of Jsis. I think you must
send the first part too to Paris, for the book must be pub-
lished here, without fail, for the benefit of the French.
Madame de Morsier is very useful for correcting mistakes,
and she is ready for work. It seems to me that if they
keep the duchess as honorary president, then, if she is a
woman of the least sense of honour and self-respect, she
must do something for the society. Let her publish your
Ists. Send Oakley to her ; he will tell her that the Paris
society greatly needs the publication of the book, and trusts
that the respected duchess will fulfil this plain duty. . . .
" Perhaps it would be well for Madame de Morsier to
write to her in the name of the society about the need

for the publication of /sis ? . . . Think this over and let
me know. Meanwhile, au revoir.

" Yours with all my heart,
"Vs. SOLOVYOFF."
To pass on to the visit at Elberfeld;. what right has

Solovyoff, in view of the prophetical visions described on
p. 75, to doubt the reality of the appearance of Mahatma
Morya ? If we are to admit that his conversation with
this astral body was due to suggestion on the part of
Madame Blavatsky, why does he not tell us whose sugges-

tion it was that produced the visions of natural scenery
with which he became acquainted only on the following
;
Appendix. 295
day ? It must have been some magician of no less power

than Madame Blavatsky.
What shall we say of Solovyoff's account of the visit of
the "demi-god " whose inspiration he will not admit in my
sister'scase ? The present version shows the mixture of

truth and falsehood which is the worst of lies. I am sure
that in a letter to me, which I will 'look: for, he did not
express the least doubt, but related everything as a certain
fact. It is true that he afterwards raised the question
whether his vision was not due to suggestion, and partly to
the length of time for which he had looked at the portrait
of the Mahatma but none the less he declared that for
;
him was a most real fact. Visual suggestions are, as is

it
well known, only an exact reproduction of the object seen

but he first saw the Mahatma standing, then sitting on a
chair, and talked with him a whole hour on his private

affairs. What a reproduction of the object seen is this !
Here are some extracts from his letter of October 18-30,

1884, in Paris :
[E.]
" I send you with this a copy of my account of my ex-

periences at Elberfeld, which I have sent to the London
Society for Psychical Research. From this you will learn
all that interests you, and you will be convinced of my
courage in the face of pubhc opinion. However, this
courage has its limits, and I decidedly do not wish my ad-
ventures to get into the Russian papers. I have written to
Pribytkoff ' about this. A time comes for everything, and
in one way or another all will be explained ; for there is
nothing hidden that shall not be revealed.''
Compare Solovyoff's account now given with that in the
1 [Editor of the Rebus, the Russian spiritist paper, and an associ-

ate of the Society for Psychical Research.]
;:
2g6 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
Report of the Society for Psychical Research. In the former

we have :
" I Ht a candle, and it appeared to me that it was
two o'clock by my watch ". In the latter it is simply said
" I saw by my watch that it was two o'clock ". In the
former "He began to shake his head, smiled, and said,
:
still in the voiceless imaginary language of dreams," etc.
But in the earlier account it is :

" He shook his head,
and said to me with a smile, '

Be sure that I am not an
hallucination,'" and so on, without any mention of the
language in which the Mahatma spoke. It will be admitted
that the two narratives produce very different impressions.

So with the account of the letter subsequently received
the scene in which my sister sends upstairs lor Olcott, asks
him "on which side" he felt the presence of the "teacher,"
and tells him to empty out his pockets, in which is found
the " fabricated letter of Morya " (he forgets that he has
just said that it is Koot Hoomi, not Morya) all this is a ;
subsequent invention ; at the time there is not a word

about Olcott's pocket, Solovyoff boasted that he had him-
self received the letter of the "teacher". See the following
letter, November 9-21, 1884 :
[F.]
"... Now to another matter. Your reproaches are

undeserved, my soul lies open before you, and I trust you
entirely. I will begin with the least important. You want
to know what was the private matter about which Morya
spoke to me. But who spoke ? was it Morya ? I have grave
doubts about it. . . . In my account I hope you feel no
doubt on this point, I described everything as it happened.
I told Mr. Myers, and had to agree to send my communica-
tion to the London Society for Psychical Research." Then
follows a lengthy exposition of the possibility of hypnotic
suggestion, and then a fresh account to illustrate once more

Appendix. 297
the wonderful powers and capacities of my sister. This is
the incident for which he has now substituted the " note
found in Olcott's pocket, between a button and a tooth-
pick ". Here is the first version of the story, in the same
letter :
[G.]
"... Now here is a fact. It was also at Elberfeld that
I received, to the great envy of the theosophists, an

autograph letter of Koot Hoomi, and in Russian into the
bargain. That it appeared was in a manuscript which I
holding in my hand did not had surprise me in the least ; I
a presentimerit of it beforehand, almost a knowledge. But

what did surprise me was that the note spoke clearly and in
detail about what we had been discussing a minute before.
It contained an answer to my words and during this ;
minute I no one had come near

had been standing alone,
me and if it is to be supposed that some one had previously
;
put the note in the book, then this some one must have
had command of my thoughts, and forced me to say the
words, the direct answer to which was contained in the
letter. . . . This amazing phenomenon I have distinctly
observed myself several times, both in my own case and in

that of others. What power ! And beside this power, at
''
times what powerlessness !
To myself;
[H.]
" August 2S-September g, 1884.
" Dear Vera Petrovna,

" I have just received your letter and hasten to
communicate with you. . . .
" I got back a few days ago from Elberfeld, where I
passed a week at poor Helena Petrovna's bedside. I must
tell you that in the eyes of European doctors she is in a

2g8 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
very, very bad way yet she, like those who are about her,
;
believes more than ever in the power of her Mahatmas,

and that her sickness is not unto death. In any case she
will have to keep, her bed at Elberfeld for a long time.
The doctors have diagnosed fatty heart, diabetes, and
acute rheumatism, from which her lefthand is swollen,
and which is not far from the heart. She suffers terribly,
but is wonderfully brave-spirited. As for wonders, there is

no end of them. So after all she may recover, and with
my hope she may, for I love her."
whole heart I
Observe that this letter was written under the immediate

impression of the return from Elberfeld, where Solovyoff
had condemned Helena Petrovna Blavatsky aS guilty with-
out appeal. Here are a few more lines from the same time,
when, if we are to believe his own words, he regarded the
Mahatmas as fictitious creations of Madame Blavatsky's
imagination :

" October 30, 1884.
" Helena Petrovna leaves Liverpool to-morrow, for Egypt

first, and then on to India. How she is still alive, how she
can travel, travel such a distance and at this time of
year, all this is a marvel to me. Or, rather, it is one of the
proofs of the existence of the Mahatmas.''
The following extract is from a letter of November 9-21,
1884:
"... And when she (H. P. B.) comes to the end of
her life, which I cannot but think is now only artificially
prolonged by some magic power, I shall always grieve for

this most unhappy and remarkable woman."
VI.
I GIVE some more letters, all referring, as will be seen, to

the period of which he speaks with such righteous indigna-
tion in his chapter xii.
Appendix. 299
[K.]
" September 26, 1884.

" As I am not in possession of magic powers, I
cannot know how you are getting on if I receive no news,

and if my letters remain unanswered. But why do you not
know and see what is going on here ? As you have heard,
the Duchess de Pomar has resigned the presidency. She
is deeply offended with the colonel. The defender of
the American negroes has actually shown want of tact in
dealing with a European grande dame.
" Of the various gossip, rumours and scandals it is un-
pleasant and not worth while to talk. Dramar and Baissac
might have been useful, but they have lost heart now.
Madame de Morsier and fuming, and is only
is fretting
held in by her love for Koot Hoomi and partly by myself.
What I can do I am doing. I care nothing for the Theo-
sophical Society, the significance of which escapes me,
thanks to your distrust of me ; but I care a great deal for
your reputation. If I cannot do anything for it here, I
could in Russia. So it is essential that I should meet * * *
I might, with his help, clip * ** 's wings; I might encourage
him, for after the Elberfeld visit every one wants encourage-
ment, for there were many blunders at Elberfeld not of
your making, but forsome reason perhaps you do not
know of them. I have nothing to do with the rest, but I
must bring you out clear. I cannot write in full detail. If
you wish it will be clear to you. Do speak out.
"Yours with all my heart,
" Vs. SOLOVYOFF."
Unfortunately most of my sister's Russian correspondence

was, at my own wish, burnt after her death. There survives
only what she herself gave me, and what was sent to me
later from Adyar. I am thus not able to say what it was
;
on which Mr. Solovyoff could not write in full. The

following letters refer to pp. 93 if. :
[L.]
"Monday." (No day or month.)

" I have just received your letter. Believe it or not
as you like, neither it nor the Koot Hoomi postscript caused
me the least surprise. I shall produce a sensation through

Madame de Morsier. Mohini's cciming, if he is well and
steadily directed, is very opportune. . . . What a disgrace,

that I should not talk English 1
" It is positively essential that you and I should meet ; it
is impossible for me to write at length; how happy I should

be if you would come to see me. . . . And not I alone, but
we. And you would like it too, I hope. Paris is not far
out of the way from Elberfeld to London.

"Perhaps we could come
to an understanding in Russian.
. . . And
would escort you to London.
I . . .
" I do not know how to beg you not to be in a hurry to

resign. Let us talk it over first, and if it is inevitable, then
I will leave it to you to say what must be done and where
you will go.

" What can one do by correspondence ? I wait for further
news.
" Yours with all my heart,
"Vs. Solovyoff.
" P.S. Do not get agitated, in the name of all the saints."
Why is it that he was so anxious to persuade my sister

not to resign .? About what was he so anxious to "come
to an understanding " ? And is there not a curious con-
tradiction ? He has stated in print that he would have
left her at peace if she would have listened to his advice
Appendix. 301
if she would have devoted herself solely to literary work,

and abandoned theosophy ; and yet, when she wishes to
resign the presidency of the "dark society, so deadly to
human souls," he himself "does not know how to beg her
not to resign ". He evidently expected to get something
from her ; this is why he postponed his resignation from
the Theosophical Society till the beginning of 1886, and
did not publish anything about her till after her death. It
is only the ignorant whom he can deceive by pretending that

so long as I held my tongue about theosophy he would
hold his. This is a falsehood. I have been constantly
writing and publishing all these years, and he well knew it,
but he did not raise his voice, because he was afraid of my
sister. He was obliged to wait for her death to speak
freely.
Meanwhile he was deceiving not only her, but me, against

whom he had no cause of complaint. He was continually
writing me affectionate letters, apparently from pure love of
deceit. And in these he never omitted to insert reassuring
sentences about Helena, such as the following (dated Nov. 9,
1884) :
[M.]
"I never play a double game with any one, and in

proof of it I may quote some phrases from her letters :
'
You
write that you do not care about the society, but I have
devoted to it life, health, soul, honour, career '. '
If you,
my true friend, actually suspect making a fraudulent me of

phenomenon when a real one does not succeed, what will
my enemies say ? But she knows that I really love her,
'
and that I am her friend."

When some unfavourable rumours came to my ears, I
hastened to accuse every one but the real offender, and
allowed myself to be deluded by his virtuous words.

[N.]
" Dear Vera Petrovna," he wrote at that time,

" I cannot fear for our friendship, however calumnies
may threaten it but what sadness all this causes

; ... It is !
all clear to me, and indeed one may say that Helena Petrovna
has devoted her whole soul to the society. To the society
and the cause. She is afraid of your influence on me to the
prejudice of the society, and the society has great need of

me now. My soul lies open before you," and so on.
VII.
[Madame Jelihovsky gives various reasons which make

it needless for her to refute the Report of the Committee of
the Society for Psychical Research. The last of these she
finds in the protests raised against the " intrigues of the
Coulombs, Patterson, Hodgson and Co.".] All impartial
people immediately revolted against these calumnies, as did
Mr. Solovyoff himself, who at that time regarded things
with a just and healthy eye. This is what he wrote him-
self to my sister :
[O.]
" Paris, 4 Rue Balzac, Friday, jfune 12, 1885.

"The last two weeks have not passed in vain.
Crookes and Sinnett have been here. I have made their
acquaintance ; but the thing is that all is now arranged and

prepared to overwhelm, here at least that is in the Paris
press all this rabble of Coulombs and all the asses, to

what learned society soever they may belong, who could
for amoment pay attention to her abominable pamphlet.
The pamphlet has produced universal indignation here, and
I have not even had to defend you to anybody so that
]
Appendix. 303
after this dirty intrigue, they have only increased the

sympathy felt for you. . . . Ah, if I could only see you !
" Your sincerely devoted and affectionate

"Vs. SOLOVYOJ'F."
But I have to deal only with Mr. Solovyoff and besides ;
I well know that evidence of trickery, of what she herself

used to call " psychological tricks," will not shake her
authority, and will not injure either her or her cause in the
eyes of those who do not make her whole work depend on
the fact that while in India she learnt certain manifesta-
tions of forces still unknown in Europe.
VIII.
[This chapter continues the discussion of the Report of the

Committee of the Society for Psychical Research, and of
Mr. Solovyoff's comments. We need give here only the
following :

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky did not " give herself out" as
a widow (see p. 116), but was recognised as one by the
authorities of Tiflis, who in 1884 sent her a testimonial in
which she was described as " widow of Councillor of State
N. V. Blavatsky ". As she held no relations with him for
more than twenty-five years, she had completely lost sight
of him, and did not know, any more than we, whether he
was alive or dead. The fault lies with the police of Tiflis,
not with her.

Mr. Solovyoff quotes ^
the evidence of the London ex-
perts as to the handwriting of the Koot Hoomi letters ;
why does he not quote the opposite opinion of the Berlin

experts ? I would put two other questions : When does he
suppose that my sister, among her incessant labours, had
' [In his abstract of the Report of the Committee on Theosophical

Phenomena, omitted from chaps, xiii.-xy. W. L.]
time to write the letters? And who writes them r
For I have ofificial proof from the headquarters of

society that they still continue to arrive in the ;
" Thibetan " envelopes.'

My reader must not think that I say this in ord(
prove the existence of the Mahatmas or the reality of
correspondence. That is another question. I only
to point out that it is unjust to make of my sister a sc
goat, responsible for all the intrigues and offences of

society if they exist.
IX.
Mr. Solovvoff says that he heard nothing of Helen

the winter of her absence in India. But if he was
terested in why did he let her go on
her doings,
memorable December evening when she appeared to I
Why did he not cling to the hem of her " black sacc
and question her, instead of letting her astral body es
back to India ? You think I am joking. Then read
following extract from his letter to me of December
1884 :
^ [The opinion given by the Berlin expert has been dealt wi

Mr. Hodgson in Proceedings, ix., p. 148, and it is sufficient he
refer to his paper.
For an answer to the question "who writes them now?" Mai
Jelihovsky cannot do better than to refer to no less an authority
Mrs. Besant herself. From statements which have been publ
in the press, it appears that Mrs. Besant has recently denouno
fabrications, proceeding from a very exalted official of the Theos
cal Society, the letters here spoken of. Those whose memory
back a very few years will not have forgotten the lofty indign
with which these very letters, appearing after Madame Blavat
death, were adduced by Mrs. Besant as a complete refutation o
attacks made upon those received during her life. See Mr. Gar
articles in the Westminster Gazette, Oct. 29-Nov. 8, 1894. W. .

Appendix. 305
"... Three weeks ago I dined in the green dining-room,

which you know, with V . I ate with a good appetite.
I drank very little, as always in a word I was quite myself.
When dinner was over I went up to my room to have a
cigar. I opened the door, lit a match, lighted the candle,
and there was Helena Petrovna standing before me in her
black sacque. She greeted me, smiled, Here I am,' and '
vanished What does this mean ? Here is your question

!
once more, hallucination or not ? How am I to tell ? That

it is enough to make one go out of one's mind, is certain but ;
I shall try not to do that." And so on to the signature,

" Yours,
"Vs. SOLOVyOFF."
Now here he had not been dazzled by any portrait of

H.
P. and I imagine that she could hardly have
Blavatsky,
hypnotised him from beyond the sea. In other words she
actually paid him a visit. And this noteworthy fact he has
forgotten to mention in his reminiscences of his acquaint-
ance with her. How fortunate that this letter enables me
to fill the blank !
He wrote to me again on March 7, 1885 :
[Q-]
" Young Gebhard has been here lately, on his return

from India. He says that Helena Petrovna is very ill. We
have since received Olcott's circular announcing the miracle
that has been wrought on her (her recovery). But in any
case, in my belief, her days are numbered. It is terribly
soon. Her years are not many, and the chief thing is that
her mind is clear, and her literary talent in full vigour. But
what of all this now ? . .
."
20

When my sister came back to Europe in the spring, and

wrote to him from Naples (see p. ii8), he answered her
with a welcome of unfeigned delight :
[R.]
" Sunday, May 3.
do not know how to express to you my delight
" I
that you are in Europe. At all events it seems that you

are nearer, and that a meeting is more possible. Moreover
your departure from India did not strike me as strange;
on the first news of our movements in Asia,' A began to
assure me that the English would infallibly begin to make
themselves disagreeable to you, and that you would leave.
"Remember, I told you that the time is rapidly approach-
ing when the Russian and the Hindu will join? You
thought it was not so soon. But you see ! and apart from
human wishes and plans, the inevitable destinies of history
do their work. ... I cannot get the Russky Vyestnik
here, but I heard some time ago from Moscow that your
Blue Mountains was to begin. Probably it is already
in print. Now, you see, it is the very time to write about
India. Do get well ! Scribble me a line. I will write to
you when I am free from work, and that often.

" Your sincerely devoted
"Vs. SOLOVYOFF."
At this time Mr. Solovyoff, as he used to tell rae in

every letter, was going through a very troublous, busy, and,
in many ways, difficult period. I mention this because he
allows his readers to suppose that he was the "unknown
friend " who had the generosity to send Madame Blavatsky
' [Mr. Solovyoff is making reference to the collision between

General Komaroff and the Afghans at Penjdeh on March 30, 1885.
W. L.]

Appendix. 307
a sum of money for her immediate needs. If she had

suspected anything of the sort, the money would doubtless
have been returned; but it was impossible to suspect it,
for his letters at Ihat time were full of accounts of his own
impoverishment. He used to tell me all the details of how
he was being swindled, though he was already, in his own
words, tout a fait h sec. But it would seem that these
generous deeds were not rare with him ; here is a letter to
my sister, at a period when he was (for the tenth time) fully
convinced of her guilt (see the passage about the " two
fishwives,'' p. 131):
[S.]
" Paris, 48 Rue Pergolese, Monday, May 18, 1885.

" What does this mean ? I have written to you twice,
and posted the letters myself. I have had from you one
letter in which you announced your arrival at Torre del
Greco. To-day Madame de Morsier tells me that you
have not got my letters. I telegraphed to you at once,
and I am sending this letter registered. Where our letters
disappear I cannot conceive. . . . But in any case you have
no right to doubt my sincere feeling for you. I do not
change ; that is not in my character. I, too, am very ill,
dear H. P., I am suffering seriously from my liver, and no

one here has done me any good. There is no getting
away from ill-luck and annoyances. . . . Believe me that I
am doing everything in my power to come to see you, if
I can only get strength enough and a spare week. But in

my position this is so extremely difficult, and I am so tied
in every way, that I much fear it will remain a dream. . . .
What am I to do ? ... I have no right to live my own

life. ... I had an idea of passing this spring in Italy,
then I would have met you accidentally, so to speak. . .

."
3o8 A Modern Priestess of Isis.
(Here follow details of how he was being deceived and

swindled. He goes on.) "Generally speaking 1 have been
greatly disenchanted with the people here. Relations which
began by being friendly have invariably ended in every sort
of exploitation, and rude demands upon my purse. . . .
" Your enemies' trick about the investigation of the phe-
nomena may be all nonsense too. But force must be met

with force. 1 must see you ; but I have only one head, two
hands, two feet, a very sickly body, and Karma binds me
in every direction. . . . What is to he done ? Please write
something. Uo recover ! this is my heartfelt wish,
" Yours,
"Vs. SOLOVYOFF."
Can these be the letters of which he speaks at the end of
chapter xvi. the letters in which he told her that he had no
belief in her Mahatmas and phenomena ? Where is the
occasion for Helena Petrovna to beg him "for friendship's
sake not to abandon the society," which he expresses no inten-
tion of abandoning? Yet, to judge from the dates, these are
the only letters she received from him at that time.
As for the humorous account of Bavaji's Russian writing,

I must express my conviction that if he ever wrote "Blessed
are they that lie," it was at her own wish. Some of her letters
of this period showhad already observed in Mr.
that she
Solovyoff a certain " weakness of tongue " for she com- ;
plains of the annoyances caused her by his incorrect

statements and fondness for talking (for she still regarded
these evidences of hypocrisy as no more than thoughtless
chattering). When she pointed this hint on the "blessing
of them that lie " straight at Mr. Solovyoff, she probably
meant to have a little laugh at him.
X.
Chapter xviii. opens with the scene of the "little silver

bell " which Mr. Solovyoff picked up ; how he handed it

Appendix. 309
back with a significant cough, and turned the conversation.

In order to give him another opportunity of coughing signi-
ficantly and turning the conversation, I quote an extract
from a letter of his :
[T.]
" Paris, Rue Pergolese, August 6-18, 1884.

" I have not written to you because there has been
trouble in the little house with the little garden. Now

things are somewhat easier. Cruel Karma! . . . At a certain
sorrowful moment there was a clear and loud sound of a
non-existent bell on a table, and a sudden thought of you
came into my head and heart, ''^ and so on.
Can this bell, which came to comfort Mr. Solovyoff at a
sad moment, have been a distant relation of the little bit
of silver which he picked up at Wurzburg ?
When we come to the story of the essence of roses, one
cannot but be sorry that poor Helena Petrovna should
have been such an idiot. To think that she, a stout and
anything but agile woman, at that time hardly able to move
hand or foot for rheumatism, as he himself says, should
have tried to act like a professional pick-pocket ! Poor
woman ! One should be more careful with these eagle-
eyed, keen-scented folk and, by the way, one should not
;
trust them with the keys of one's private drawers.

But if in this chapter xix. Mr. Solovyoff has presented
my sister in the light of an impostor and a fool, one must
do him justice, and admit that he has not treated himself
much better. I feel sure that on most honourable people
^[Mr. Solovyoff draws attention to the fact that this letter was
written more than a year before the incident with the little bit of
silver and during a period of nervous derangement. W. L.J
3IO A Modern Priestess of Isis.
who read the account of his cunning, his wheedling, his

flattery and deceit, intended to convict another of offences
no worse than his own, Mr. Solovyoff himself, in spite of
the brilliance of his intellect, his inventiveness, and his high
aims, will have produced a far more disagreeable impression
than she whom he wished to hand over to punishment.
must here once more call the reader's attention to the
I
letter of October 8, 1885, already given,^ and ask: "Is it

possible that Mr. Solovyoff wrote this letter to my sister on
his return from Wurzburg, if there had passed between them
there what he now says ? " It is hard indeed to suppose that

after a complete breach, and after all of which he had con-
victed her, he would have been so scandalously audacious
as to try to convince on her behalf people like Richet
and Madame Adam people of European reputation, who

;
might at any time through the press call upon him to

explain how he dared to deceive them. On the other hand,
if it is not true that he had endeavoured to convince them
of the honesty and real power of Madame Blavatsky, how

could she receive such a letter from a man who had humili-
ated and exposed her, who had just laughed her to scorn,
and then says, to please her, that he had converted to
friendship and behef in her two of the prominent person-
ages of Europe ? Does not this letter incontestably prove
that all which he has related in these pages is nothing but a
subsequent invention for the amusement and deception of
the public ? I know for certain that when he came that
winter to St. Petersburg he not only still believed in the
possibility of the existence of the Mahatmas, but was ex-
pecting some sign of favour from them. This he told us
all on his arrival, and the last words of his letter confirm it.
I must beg the reader to look at Mr. Solovyoff 's letter to

my sister of May 3, 1885,'-' and say if the words he there uses
1 [See Letter [B], p. 288.] 2 [Letter [R], p. 306.]

Appendix. 311
(that she would not believe him when he predicted that the
Russian and Hindu would soon join hands) agree with
those which he now puts into her mouth :
" I could easily
organise a gigantic rebellion. I guarantee that in a year's

time all India will be in Russian hands."
But let my sister speak from the grave for herself. The
following is a letter she wrote me in the spring of 1886,
when she was so anxious that I should go to see her at
Elberfeld, and Mr. Solovyoff was so anxious that I should

not.
[U.]
" Elberfeld, May 16.
"... Solovyoff now accuses me of offering myself to

him as a spy of the Russian Government in India. . . .
If a man in his right reason thinks seriously of such an

accusation, he will see the absurdity of it. I am publicly
accused of being a Russian spy, and this made the motive
is
of all the (supposed) fraudulent phenomena and of my

'
invention of the Mahatraas ' ! I, a dying woman, am
turned out of India just on account of such a silly accusa-
tion, which, in spite of its silliness, might have ended in
prison and exile, solely because I am a Russian ; and
though I have already suffered from this calumny, and do
not understand the ABC of politics, I am made to offer
myself as a spy ! And to whom ? To Solovyoff ! . . . To
him whom Iknow for an incorrigible gossip and tale-
bearer. . . . And so, I want to be hanged, do I ? But by this

means I should cut off all return to India, for ever. And
so,by spreading these reports, he is playing right into the
hands of England, and ruining me without cause or reason.
Why, for five weeks, beginning his hints even in Paris, he
himself used every day to try to persuade me (as N.
and T. know) become a Russian subject again, and to
to
use all my influence on the Hindus against England and
for Russia. He said that this was a lofty and noble task,
and would show my patriotism. He begged and prayed
me to put down on paper everything that I could do in this
way for Russia in India, and this paper or Project he '
'
would himself present in St. Petersburg. ... To all this I

replied that I was ready to die, to lay down life and soul
for Russia that there was not a subject in Russia more
;
attached to emperor and country than I, a citizen of

America; but that I was incapable of this task, I knew
nothing of politics, and should only risk my fteck, and the
necks of hundreds of Hindus, if I attempted it.
"There, Vera, is the holy truth, which I will repeat on

my death-bed. Even if I have ceased to be orthodox, or
Christian atall, I have a deep faith in the life beyond the
grave, punishment and reward. I swear by all the

in
powers of heaven that I am telling the simple truth. . . .
And he has the brazen face to ascribe his own words

to me ! . . .
"It is repulsive even to speak of him, and to think how

sincerely I loved and trusted him. . . . Vera, beware! He
will attack you too, and will morally kill you."'
XI.
When Mr. Solovyofif came to St. Petersburg in the

autumn of 1885, we received him as a devoted friend and
he came to us every day. His constant correspondence
with myself and my two eldest daughters had been most
interesting his lively conversation, his original views, and
;
his sincerity greatly interested us. The latter quaUty he

had assumed so well that we were really charmed by his
frankness. We pitied him moreover for his misfortunes; we
were attracted by the unjust (as we then thought) attitude
of his family towards him, and the romantic circumstances
gf his life at the time- It was then that we first heard
;
Appendix. 313
unfriendly expressions about my

sister and her cause. The
letters of Helena Petrovna show that this voiie face was
entirely unexpected by her, and therefore that the remark-
able "scenes" at Wiirzburg were only the result of his
latest romantic labours. Here is an extract from one of
these letters, February 2, 1886 :
[V.]
" In your short note therfe flashes out as it were the new
and unfavourable light in which theosophy and rand
' Mo hini^ and even some good Christians, have now been
presented to you. Now listen to my song, and do not be
guilty of the sin of judging people by scandal without
trying to investigate it. . . .
" We bade one another farewell though we were

as
dearest friends, almost with tears. . . Not a word, except
.
vows that he would stand up for me in Russia, and help

me in every way, did I hear. And then he suddenly
goes, and holds his tongue. Without cause or reason he is
in quite a different mood in St. Petersburg. You do not
know, in the innocence of your soul, but I know he is
;
simply frightened of the abuse of the Psychical Society. . . .
You see, they have declared of a Gentilhomme de la

Chambre that he is either a liar or suffers from hallucina-
tions. ... But do read the letter, which I enclose, written
just before he left Paris : am sure that
''l it will succeed;
surely you did not treat me as a doll,' he writes. . . .
It is evident that he is quite furious because he did not

succeed in getting from me what he expected, and
he has
invented the excuse of anti-Christianity. ... As for
my
anti-Christianity, you know what it is ; I am an enemy of
the ecclesiastical excesses of Protestants and Cathohcs

the ideal of Christ crucified shines for me every day
clearer and purer, and as for the orthodox Church, they

may hang me, but I will not attack it. Russia is so dear to
me, my heart so yearns for my country, that I would sell
my soul into slavery for ten thousand years for its sake.
But be a hypocrite I will not. There you have the whole

truth, all that has encrusted and saddened my heart. I
have suffered and worn myself out these ten years. I have
atoned for my past sins by good, as far as I knew how ; I
hope that I shall present myself with a clean sheet, if my

torments are taken into account. Yet, though a sinful
creature, I should not like to be condemned here without

appeal. I should not like to die and leave behind me a
name bespattered with filth."
Mr. Solovyoff informs the reader that I was at this time

on bad terms with Helena Petrovna. Whose fault was this?
Who was it who went so far as to declare that my sister
and another near relation had accused me of concealing
the money of my dead father ? And I was so deluded that
I never considered that it was impossible for my sister to
say this, for when my father died he was living far from
me, with his other children in Stavropol, while I always
lived in Tiflis,more than a thousand versts away. And
Mr. Solovyoff kept up this difference he took notes of ;
what I told him about my sister and sent it on to her, as

he sent on to me what was said about me at Elberfeld.
This is proved by the following extracts from a letter of
my sister, March 28, 1886 :
[W.]
" It is wrong. Vera, and for me it is simply terrible. . . .
I must tell the truth ; it was my fault that they were

angry with you. I have done a foolish act. In vexation
and anger at you, I sent off to them a letter of Solovyoff's
to me, which begins in the most mysterious style After :
'
what has happened, I can have no further communication

Appendix. 315
with you'. And it ends with all sorts of allusions to

matters twenty and thirty years old. . . . And where can
he have heard all this ? I suppose there are people in St.
Petersburg who know it; they might have told him, but
not in such detail, Vera ! I am not angry with you ; I
understand your irritation ; but she is more to me than a

relation ; she ' is the friend of all my life, and she is in-
dignant to know that all these nightmares of my youth,

which have worn me out, are now the property of Madame
M.'s salon, and were written down by Solovyoff in your
house. ... It is useless to hide the truth : neither the
Coulombs nor the psych ists, no one, has ever done me so
much damage as this gossip of Solovyoff's. For . . . fifteen
years I have worked unweariedly for the good of men ; I have
helped whom I could ; I have tried by my actions to expiate
my sins. How many I have saved, both men and women,
from debauchery, drunkenness and all sorts of sins, and
converted them to belief in immortality and the spiritual
side of life! and now I myself stand bespattered nay,
covered with a thick layer of filth, and by whom? Solovyoff,
he with his own heavy sin on his soul he is the first to
cast a stone at me ! . . . You call it hastiness. A pretty
hastiness ! He has destroyed me, betrayed me like Judas,
because '
on halt toujours ceux a qui Ton fait du mal sans
raison' there is no other reason fur his hatred to me.
He has slandered and destroyed me and hates me all the
more."
If I, an incomparably cooler woman than my sister, could
be thus deluded into losing my head for a time, what
wonder that she, who all her hfe was remarkable for her
sincerity and thoughtless outspokenness, should have written
[lim frantic letters? In the letter which he gives in chapter
xxii. I recognise her vehemence, passing in moments of
' An aunt, Madame Fadeieff.

3i6 A Modern Priestess of his.
excitement into frenzy. I recognise her ; and at the same

time I recognise the letter. It is the same which caused
such commotion in Paris, and turned from her many of
the theosophists, such as the fiery Madame de Morsier,
who beheved French translation; a translation
in the
which has never been shown me by Mr. Solovyoff or any
one else, but the sense of which was told me by many who
had read it, when I was staying with my sister in the
following year. The chief point of this translation, I was
told (I may observe that I cannot guarantee the exact truth
no one would ever show
of the statement, for I repeat that
me "in it Madame
the letter in French), lay in the fact that
Blavatsky denied the Mahatmas, and admitted that she had
invented their existence ".
This is what specially turned the Parisians against

Madame Blavatsky ; but, as the reader knows, in the
Russian letter there is nothing of the sort. How did it
get into the translation ? I shall return to this point ; mean-

while I must quote one more of Mr. Solovyoff's letters ; the
last. It is written in answer to the one which he gives
on p. 176.
[X.]
(No date.)
" Helena Petrovna,

"You are too wise a woman to yield to the
furious madness in which you wrote the letter of yester-
day, headed '
Confession '. If I were really your personal
enemy, I should now have awaited with triumph your
appearance in Paris and London, and should coolly have
looked on at your fall, which can in no way do me any
harm ; have known you I have acted with

for ever since I
knowledge. Every step of mine with regard to you, every

word which I have either spoken or written to you, points
;
Appendix. 317
straight to my goal, in which there is no discredit to me,

as a Russian or a Christian.
" This goal, as you know, I have reached ; it was not for
nothing that I passed six weeks in fetid Wiirzburg. Can

you really imagine that it is possible to scare n)e by im-
pudent slanders and falsehood, and that I have not ready
for you in any event for I have always expected anything
of you - a tolerable collection of surprises of all sorts ? It
is you who are yourself your worst enemy, and you do not
know what you are doing, and on what you are rushing
I know perfectly what I am doing, and what will happen,
though I have none of your Mahatmas to incite me. . . .
You see I have a cool head, as you yourself said while ;
yours is hot beyond belief, and when it is once fired, you

simply see nothing. . . .
" Do you want a scandal ? You have had little enough
already ? Very well, if you please, you are welcome. And

so we will set to work. . . .
" I have nothing more to say to you. I am far, very far,
from being your enemy, and I give you my best wishes,

especially for your tranquillity, far away from all these
agitations.
" If you compare yourself to a wild boar, and want to
bite, very well; the traps are ready. Pardon this tone.
It is yours, not mine.
"Vs. SOLOVVOFF."
XII.
When the plan of driving Helena Petrovna Blavatsky out

of the Theosophical Society, and restricting her to literary
work, failed, and he was convinced that he had nothing to
expect in the way of favours from the Mahatmas, he at
in February, 1886, definitely broke with the society and its
last,
foundress. The chief point by which he showed the change

8 ;
of front was the dissemination among the Paris theosophists

of the belief that she had herself denied the existence of the
Mahatmas, and admitted that they were an invention of
her own.
When we heard of this, we were at our wits' end. Know-
ing how my sister had been worried by Mr. SolovyofTs
prayers for the aid of the Mahatmas, where it seems they
found it impossible to give it (I cannot say why, as I
have no clear proofs), I thought she had taken this extreme

measure in order to get rid of his importunity. I wrote to
my sister to ask how she could have been so outspoken,
without exacting a promise that he would keep her confes-
sion secret. My sister replied that she was sure that she
had never made any admission of the sort. But I did not
believe this, and thought that in a moment of passion she
must have falsely accused herself, and then forgotten.
This had happened more than once in moments of ex- ;
citement slie sometimes had calumniated herself, in order

to escape a temporary annoyance her friends were aware ;
of this trait of thoughtlessness in her, and used to reprove

her for her want of foresight.
Knowing that Mr. Solovyoff was soon to come back to
Russia, my sister begged me to see him, and read her
Russian letter ; this I easily did, as he and his wife again
came to stay with me for a few days.^ When I had read
it, I was astonished, and at once expressed my perplexity
there was in the letter no admission that the Mahatmas
were an invention. How
then had the Parisians come to
believe it? Mr. Solovyoff himself answered that he did not
know how. I was also surprised to see that the Russian
letter was all covered with the stamps of M. Jules Baissac.
Mr. Solovyoff explained that this was done for the sake
of attestation, to show that the translation was correct. I
' [Mr. Solovyoff denies this.]

:
Appendix. 319
answered :
" Then where is the translation ? Let me see
it.'' But Mr. Solovyoff explained that he had neither the
original nor a copy; it was in the hands of Madame M. in
Paris. I could only conclude that there was some error

in the translation, and so I said, begging him to give me a
copy of the Russian letter, if not the original, in order
that I might prove to every one that there was no admission
of guilt, but only the frenzy of an angry and excited woman.
This he refused. Why?
When I got to Elberfeld, and heard the accounts of
those who had read the letter, what I supposed was this
that the sentence, " I will say, and publish in the Times, that
the Master and K. H. are the products of my own imagina-
tion," rriust have been translated in a categorical instead
of a conditional sense, in which form I remembered it.^
But now that I have seen the letter in print, I think that
the ''denial of the Mahatmas" may have been more simply
arrived at. I suppose that all the later phrases of the
Russian were simply translated without the first and
letter
fundamental one; that there were (probably) omitted the

words, " I will even lake to lies, the greatest of lies, and
therefore the likeliest to be believed" If this phrase was
omitted, all the true sense of what follows is lost, and there
is a real and convincing admission of guilt and of the
fabrication of the Mahatmas.
I know that this accusation is a vital one, and therefore
I do not assert it positively. I say it onlyby way of sup-
position ;
and this I have a right to do on the following
grounds : (i) If the translation was correct, Mr. Solovyoff
had no reason to refuse me a copy of the Russian
letter ; (2)
he would certainly have sent this copy when
the theo-
sophists asked for it from Elberfeld and Paris, in order
to
W.
[The Russian sentence
L.]
is in act categorical and not conditional
;
justify himself; (3) the translation, if correct, could not

have caused Madame M. and others to say, as they still do,
that " Madame Blavatsky a rente les Mahatmas " ; (4) it
cannot have been without intention that Mr. Solovyoff says
nothing in his book about the fact that the primary cause
ofmy journey to Elberfeld was to assure every one that in
my sister's letter there was no admission that she had
invented the Mahatmas ; (5) finally, I have not been able,
even now, after eight years, when in Paris, to get a sight of
this famous translation.
Mr. Solovyoff declares that the translation is in Madame
M.'s hands, and that she would show it to any one who wished
to compare it. This is a falsehood. Last summer I saw
Baissac myself, and asked him to let me seethe French text.
I also asked if he attested my sister's letter and the text.

He replied that he had never to this day been able to
understand why the French theosophists took fright, as in
my sister's Russian letter- there was nothing to compromise

her, and though he found some inaccuracies in the attested
translation, he insisted on their being corrected. But after
waiting some three weeks I received a letter to say that the
translation was not in Madame M.'s possession, and therefore
he could not obtain it for me. At the same time he said
positively thatagreed exactly with the Russian original
it
and was only one ambiguous phrase which might

that there
have caused doubts as to Madame Blavatsky's honesty,
but that this might be taken in a conditional sense, and so
he had himself understood it. But thus much is certain,
that I was refused a sight of .the translation.
Where is it ?
[The rest of Madame Jelihovsky's pamphlet contains the

following :
A letter to Mr. Brusiloff, a common friend of Mr.

Solovyoff and herself, who had been asked to bring about
Appendix. 321
a meeting, in order that Mr. Solovyofif might put some

questions as to the agreement which he asserted had been
entered into, that so long as Madame Jelihovslcy published
nothing in Russia about her sister he would also refrain
from publishing. This agreement Madame Jelihovsky
positively denies. She also states that he proposed to her
that if she would return him his correspondence with her-
self and her family, he would abstain from introducing her
into his narrative.
XIII.
Madame Jelihovsky states that she has the letter from

Ostendin which Madame Blavatsky announced Professor
Butleroff's death at the same time that it was announced in

the papers; and also says that she has seen a letter and
portrait of this gentleman in Madame Blavatsky's hands.
A letter from Mr. Gebhard is given, in which he speaks
of his high veneration for, and gratitude to, Madame Bla-
vatsky, and in very disparaging terms of Mr. Solovyoff s
character.
XIV.
This chapter contains various laudatory articles on Madame

Blavatsky, an account of her funeral, extracts from some
of the speeches delivered at it, and so on ; but nothing
bearing on Mr. Solovyoff' s narrative.]
APPENDIX B.
REPLY TO MADAME JELIHOVSK\

PAMPHLET
ENTITLED
"H. P. Blavatsky and a Modern Priest

Truth ".
By v. S. SOLOVYOFF.
I.
MY LETTERS.
Madame Jelihovsky, trusting that her readers will
be acquainted with my Priestess of Isis, relies chiefly
letters of mine written in 1884 and the early part of 188
period when I felt the most sincere sympathy and g:
pity for Madame 'S[a.va.X.s)iiy personally, and hesitated as 1
final decision with regard to all her phenomena. I h
most frankly admitted in Isis that I was at first carried a\
thanks to the state of my nerves ; I have said that I
searching to see what was true and what was false

Madame Blavatsky and her phenomena I have spoke: ;
my double feeling towards this extraordinary woman, 1
of intense attraction and pity, and now of still more vio

repulsion. Every impartial reader of Isis will feel
psychological truth of my narrative. 'Why does Mad;
Jelihovsky try to break through the door which I 1
myself opened wide?

It was only after the meeting at Wiirzburg that I got (
Appendix. 323
my feeling of pity for Madame Blavatsky. It was only in
St. end of 1885, on hearing the state-

Petersburg, at the
ments of Madame Jelihovsky herself and her nearest re-
lations as to the past of the " priestess of Isis," that I ceased
to waver. Madame Jelihovsky herself does not deny the fact

and the nature of these communications. But now, in con-
tradiction to her own letters, she says that I got them out
of her, that she made them in insanity, and that they are
untrue. But as I had no reason to suppose that Madame
Jelihovsky and the witnesses to whom she referred were
insane, I could hardly suppose that a sister would tell the
most frightful stories of a sister if they were untrue.
After this I decided that no considerations of personal
friendship, based on admiration for her talent and on the
fact of her being a Russian, ought to induce me to spare
Madame Four months had passed. I was now
Blavatsky.
free from the promise of silence which I had given her.' I
could no longer keep up the playful tone of my letters to
her. Her " confession " revolted me. Thus tlie very un-
ceremonious tone of my answer to the " confession " is per-
fectly natural. And yet Madame Jelihovsky quotes this

letter of mine,^ every word of which confirms my narrative in
Isis. I am much obliged to her, but why she should have
thought it necessary to quote it I cannot understand.
So also the other letters which she gives confirm my
narrative. I will give the necessary explanations which will
enable any careful reader to see that this is so.
The curious "phenomenon" of which I speak in letter [G]

was one of several which took place at Elberfeld. I was
unable to give an account of it in my narrative because the
" Russian letter of Koot Hoomi " has unfortunately been
lost, and I have brought forward in the Modern Priestess
of Isis only the letters of which the originals are still in
'[See Isis, p. 167.] 2 [Letter [X], p. 316.]

my possession. But what can prove my scepticism

than the words, "It . . did not surprise me in the
I had a presentiment of it beforehand, almost a knowle

What can this had already observei
mean but that I
Madame Blavatsky was getting ready for a phenon

and almost foresaw what it was to consist of?
surprised me was not the finding of Koot Hoomi's n
the book I was holding (the MS. of the Blue Mou
which I was correcting at the time), but the fact 1
referred to our conversation of a minute before. A

time, with my imperfect knowledge of Madame Blav
I was inclined to explain this by " mental suggestioi
her part, and thus had every right to say, " What po'
while adding at the same time : " But beside this
what powerlessness at times " ; which, I think, is suffic
clear.
But in the end, viz., a year later at Wiirzburg, I con\

myself that Madame Blavatsky had no such power ; bu
if every word, every movement, and every expression
face was not carefully observed, she had extraordinar
in guiding the conversation to any desired theme, a:
leading up to the words required for the effect of her p
mena.
I need hardly add that "autograph letter of
Hoomi " was the only expression which I could use i
time. I did not then know who had written the

which I received, for it was long before the opini
Netherclift, which showed that the Koot Hoomi scrij
a development of Madame Blavatsky's. At this date

inclined to believe that Olcott was the writer, and i
only the postscript to Madame Blavatsky's letter wh

Isis, p. 96) which oblige
subsequently received (see
to give up and to recognise in the w
this opinion,
Madame Blavatsky's own hand disguised.
It is, therefore, not I, but Madame Jelihovsky who
Appendix. 325
when she says that I have " substituted

" for this
to shame,
scene of the Koot Hoomi letter in the MS. book that of
the finding of the Morya letter in Olcott's pocket. The

fact is that these two distinct phenomena which
were
occurred at an interval of three days, and had nothing
whatever to do with one another. It is Madame Jeli-
hovsky who has confused them, not I ; and she cannot

claim that she has done it in ignorance, for she stales that
she has in her possession, and quotes from, my narrative
in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.

Now in this narrative, dated October i, 1884, I say that
" Le soir du meme jour M. Olcott a trouve dans sa poche un
petit billet, que tous les thôsophes ont reconnu pour etre
de I'dcriture de M. (Morya)," etc. It is further clear that I
had no intention of persuading the Society for Psychical

Research of the reality of my vision of Morya, not
only from the remark which they themselves published,
but from the concluding words of my narrative " Je :
dois dire qu'a peine revenu a Paris, oil je suis actuelle-

ment, mes hallucinations et les faits elranges qui m'en-
touraient, se sont complfetement dissip6s". And finally I
may quote my own words in letter [F] :

" But who spoke ?
Was it Morya ? I have great doubts."

After my return from Elberfeld I was better for a time,
but at the end of 1884 I was again suffering from my
nerves. So it' is not odd that, at a time when my eyes
were greatly fatigued with reading MSS., Madame Blavatsky
should have appeared in her black sacque, or that I should
have written a playful and honest account of it to Madame
Jehhovsky (see letter [P]). Does she quote this letter as a
proof of my nervous state ? But I had already related this
in the Priestess of Is is. So with the sound of the bell, and
the whisperings which I very plainly heard about me.
Once Madame Jelihovsky does not even know this for
a couple of minutes, I also heard the rustle of a silk dress.
But the cold water cure, careful diet, a temporary remission

of my overwork, and, more than all, distraction from all
the " marvels of theosophy," soon put an end to these
symptoms. Why, knowing their origin, should I have
given a detailed account of them ?
My letter [B] to Madame Blavatsky about Richet, and

how I made friends with Madame Adam, is written in an
obviously bantering tone, and is completely explained by
the circumstances of the time. I called on Madame Adam
with respect to my story, " The Magnet," which was then

appearing in her JVbuve/k Revue. It was only the second
time had met this lady, well known alike in literature
I
and politics ; and yet, supposing doubtless that I should

publish in Russia my " interview " with her, she began
to tell me, just as if I were an old friend, all sorts of
details about her friendship with Skobeleff and Gambetta,
and about all sorts of wonders, and ended by confiding to
me the fact that she was a pagan. Yes, she was at that
time a pagan, and practised pagan worship, with sacrifices
to and goddesses
the ancient gods On hearing this I !
tried to appear serious,and advised her that it would be

better if she turned to theosophy, and took Madame
Blavatsky under her care. She begged me to continue to
write for her paper and to correspond with her; she
promised to be careful to answer me, and, in short, was
most amiable, like a true Parisienne. And I, naughty
man, went off to Russia and never published my interview
or wrote her a Thus ended our mutual friendship.
word !
To Charles Richet's new questions for we had already

talked about Madame Blavatsky, and he knew that I was
trying to get at the truth I replied that she was
no ordin-
ary adventuress, but an able and extraordinary woman,
and that she was clearly a so-called medium, though with
failing powers. This is what I meant by her "personal
power and the phenomena proceeding from her ". As for
;
Appendix. 327
the and most important question, concerning the

third
theosophical phenomena and her Mahatmas, I repUed that
I would let him have full, and if possible documentary,
evidence in two or at most three months. I explained to
him why was (see />, p. 167).
this
I wrote to Madame Blavatsky about my conversation

with Richet, as about Madame Adam, in a bantering tone
such as was quite usual in my letters to her ; and in this
particular case, after all the wonders of Wiirzburg, I wished
to lay stress on the fact that I should wait only two or three
months, and that I was revolted by the aplomb with
which she liad delivered her prophecies. So I wrote teas-
ing her and asking :
" And so all will be fulfilled, all will
happen as you said is it not true ? B'or surely you did not
treat me as a doll ? So all will end in your triumph and
the confusion of the psychists ; will it not ? " On this
letter it is endeavoured to found an accusation that I
deceived Richet. But no attention is called to the letter
from him which I have given on p. 33, though the words
" peut-etre r6ussira-t-elle. En tout cas ce ne sera ni votre
faute ni la mienne" are clear enough. However, Richet's
last letter, written by him for the purpose, and given below,
finally settles the question of how far I "deceived" him,
and gives decisive evidence as to Madame Jelihovsky's
" honesty ".
Letter [H] is equally pointless, and contains besides the

mocking phrase " there is no end of wonders ". As I say
in Ms, in theautumn of 1884 I was so impressed by the
perfectly acted sincerity and sorrow of Madame Blavatsky
that I began to waver, and dared not think that she could
deceive to that extent. I began to ask myself :
" May not
my suspicions be going too far? Suppose there is some
truth after all !
" The two extracts [I] only confirm this.
Letter [M] is worse than useless to Madame Jelihovsky
the phrases used about my having nothing to do with the
society, and my suspicions, in spite of ray affection for

personally, that Madame Blavatsky produced fraudul
phenomena, are the most explicit confirmation of wha
have said in Jsis. Madame Jelihovsky does not quote
entire letter but only scattered fragments. In its entir
the letter would have thrown still more light on my attiti
at the time.
Letter [O] only shows that, as I say in Isis, I did 1
then know the truth, and could not yet believe, in spite
my suspicions on many points, that Madame Blavatsky ^
capable of such detestable frauds as those of which

Coulombs accused her. The report of the Society
Psychical Research did not then exist ; I knew nothi
only I was not convinced, and wanted to get at the tru
I was in fact profoundly vexed by this abominable scan
against Madame Blavatsky, as a Russian. Though I s
pected her, I had as yet no clear proofs, but thought tt

apart from fraud, she possessed real psychical powers ;
I said: "Abominations like these cannot be true, this
surely a libel ; in any case we must inquire before

believe ".
The Society for Psychical Research thought exactly a

did, and appointed its committee, and sent Hodgson 1
to India. He himself says that he started convinced t

it was a calumny, and changed his opinion only when
had clear proofs to the contrary. I wanted to see her
order to clear the matter up, and convince myself of ;
real extent of her guilt. If she could have proved to

that she was innocent, I should have been delighted.
Letter [Q]. I regret the probability of Madame Blavatsl
death. What of that ?
Letter [R]. In connexion with Komaroffs affair at Kusl

I write that the time is approaching when Russian a
Hindu will join hands. What of that ?
[S]. I wish to meet Madame Blavatsky, and write to

Appendix. 329
that if I had gone to Italy in the spring, as I had meant, I
should have seen her there. This may serve as a supple-

ment to my narrative of this time. Once more I ask,
What of all this ?
On letter [K] Madame Jelihovsky wants to know what

the matter is about which I cannot write in full. The
words refer to what I mentioned on p. 63 of Isis. At that
time (1884) I was foolish enough to think that I might
divert Madame Blavatsky, by degrees at all events, from her
pernicious career, and diffect her energies and abilities to
honest and useful ends. I did not yet know what I learnt
at the end of 1885 from Madame Jelihovsky 's own state-
ments and the narratives of many persons in Russia I did ;
not know how hopeless a case she was, and I had not yet
received her famous " confession ". The scene at Elberfeld
had so rekindled my pity for her that I could not at this

time but waver, first to one side then to the other. I
calculated that ray words, by showing her that personally

I was fond of her, while at the same time I saw through
her game and was convinced of the fraud of many of her
phenomena, would untie her tongue, in personal intercourse
if not on paper, and give me the possibility to act to her
own advantage. All this time I did not conceal my attitude

towards her from people at Paris, while to herself I wrote on
this very point: "Though I am known here as a sceptic at
daggers drawn with all occultism, and even with you, still,
as it is also known that I am your countryman, and devoted

toyou as Helena Petrovna,'' etc.
I dissuaded her from immediate resignation, because this
would have brought about a great scandal. I was anxious

that there should be no scandal against her among strangers,
because she was my
countrywoman, gifted and ill. I
wanted a scandal just as little in 1886; I was only forced

to take action by facts and things of her own doing, after
which there could be no question, for a self-respecting man.
of a "countrywoman". This is a dear and simple explana-

tion of my when compared with Isis.
words,
Well knowing that my letters do not contradict, but only
confirm, my narrative, Madame Jelihovsky, if she can only
deal me a blow, is ready once again to betray her sister, as
she did during her life. She declares, on her own mere
assertion, that I had certain "secret audiences" df Madame
Blavatsky, and clearly hints that I was either her con-
federate or was endeavouring, by her aid, to gain some
concealed and wicked end.
Surely every one will say that if she makes such an
accusation she is bound to bring forward some sort of clear
evidence. But no. Madame Jelihovsky is not the woman
to acknowledge such a duty. She simply declares that
" she could tell a great deal, but she has no proofs ". She
then says that I am " very cautious, and wrote no letters to
compromise myself". Finally she appears to forget my
cautiousness, and asserts that there were letters, but that
she herself, with unpardonable precipitancy, had given
orders for them to be burnt.
Are not Madame Jelihovsky's words beyond belief?
Take the following: " Knowing how my had been
sister
worried by Mr. Solovyoff's prayers for the aid of the
Mahatmas" (the very Morya and Koot Hoorai in whose ex-
istence I did not believe, as I wrote repeatedly to Mesdames
Blavatsky and Jelihovsky, and for which Madame Blavatsky
herself wrote calling me a "suspecter" and "unbelieving
Thomas ") "where it seems they could not give it, I cannot
say why, as I have no clear proofs," etc.
" It is only the ignorant he can deceive by pretending
that so long as I held my tongue about theosophy he would
hold his. This is a falsehood." But I give below the
written testimony of Colonel whom Madame
Brusilofif,
Jelihovsky herself selected as the witness of my meeting

with her in December, 1891 ;this will prove if my statement
Appendix. 331
is a falsehood. "I have been constantly writing and

publishing all these years, from time to time, and he well
knew it.'' Where and what did she write ? If she wrote, I
did not know ; it is impossible to keep up with the whole
press, but no one has ever spoken to me of her writings.
"He did not raise his voice, because he was afraid of my
sister. He was obliged to wait for her death to speak
freely." The documents I have given show how little I
was afraid of her, and that it was not after her death, but
during her life, while she was surrounded by friends, that
I exposed her at Paris in the early part of 1886.
One thing at least is clearly true, that some of my letters

have been suppressed by Madame Jelihovsky precisely ;
those which, even in her opinion, would have too plainly

convicted Madame Blavatsky, and have brought to light,
not any fraud on my part, but something else. Where, for

instance, are my "fooHsh sayings about Mahatmas"?
the
Where do I show myself an " unbelieving Thomas " ?
Where is my " suspiciousness," my " conviction that the
phenomena are fraudulent " ? In a word, where is all that
about which Madame Blavatsky herself writes in her pub-
lished correspondence ? Where ?
II.
[This chapter deals with the replies from persons attacked

quoted by Madame Jelihovsky.
in Mr. Solovyoff's narrative,
These have been omitted from the translation, for reasons
already given, and there is therefore no reason for giving
the replies, which in no case deal with any but secondary
matters.]
III.
(1) M.\DAME Jelihovsky accuses me of having concealed

from my readers the fact thatj published in the Rebus an
account of the reading of a sealed letter by Madame
Blavatsky. This is false, as in the text of my resignat

this fact is given as one of the reasons which induced
to resign.^
On p. 128 I quote a letter of Madame Blavatsk)
(2)
Madame M., in which she describes her sad position, and s
that I " talk nonsense about the Mahatmas, and am an
believing Thomas". To explain this letter I mentior
that at a very critical moment Madame Blavatsky \
received from an unknown friend a certain sum of mon
and had endeavoured to find out through Madame M. w
had sent That is all. Now Madame Jelihovsky ass
it.
that I thus allow my readers to suppose that it was I w

had sent her the money. Nothing of the sort ever encei
my mind; why should Madame Jelihovsky imagine
Only to found on it a dark insinuation. Madame Blav;
sky was at that time often in need, and more than or
people were found to help her. Some did so openly, othe
owing to circumstances, in private. In this there v
nothing humiliating for her ; Madame Jehhovsky ought

be well aware that poverty is no crime, and that it is son
times impossible to hve without the help of others. Bu
wish to give no support to the supposition that I help
Madame There were never any pecunis
Blavatsky.
relations on the one side or the other,
between us,
never gave Madame Blavatsky money, whether by way

loan or present ; this I declare.
(3) Madame Jelihovsky, anxious as usual to dispute t
indisputable, declares, in connexion with the widely-knoi

and curious fact that Madame Blavatsky gave herself out
a widow in spite of the fact that her husband is alive ai
' [In the original this letter of resignation is given in full. T

sentence referred to is this :
" 2. Qu'elle a voulu profiter de mon n<
et m'a fait signer et publier le recit de (d'un ?) ph^nomene obte
par firaude (le ' phenomene de la lettre ') au mois de mai, 1884.'
W. L.]
Appendix. 333
well to this day, that she had a right to do so. She was, it
appears, "declared to be a widow by the authorities of
Tiflis, in the certificate which they sent her in 1884. She
is there spoken of as the widow of the actual Councillor
'
of State, N. V. Blavatsky As she held no relations with

'.
him for more than twenty-five years, she had lost sight of
him, and like the rest of us did not know if he were alive
or dead. The fault lies with the Tiflis police, not with
her."
But I have in my hands a lithographed and attested copy
of this curious document, in which she is spoken of not as
the widow, but as the wife of N. V. Blavatsky. It seems

as though Madame Jelihovsky could say nothing without
departing from the truth. How often has she herself
laughed at the pretended widowhood of her famous sister !
In reply to the assertion of the late Prof. Butleroff's

(4)
nearest relations, that he was not acquainted with Madame
Blavatsky, Madame Jelihovsky says that " she herself had
seen in her hands a portrait and a letter of his ". But she
omits to say who had given the portrait, and to whom the
letter was addressed. This she considers enough to over-

throw the testimony of Prof. Butleroff's widow and his
nearest friend.
On p. 318, when speaking of the original of the
(5)
"Confession" which gave her to read, she says "I was
I :
surprised to see that the Russian letter was all covered with
the stamps of M. Jules Baissac. Mr. Solovyoff explained
that this was done for the sake of attestation, to show that
the translation was correct." How could I have talked
such nonsense, when in fact there was only a single stamp
on the letter ?
(6) I once more ask Madame Jelihovsky publicly:

" Where is the collection {lettre sur lettre) of my letters to
Madame Blavatsky, which I am supposed to have written
after October 8, 1886, at a time when she was repeatedly

complaining in black and white of my silence, and of wh

Madame Jelihovsky talks with such assurance in her arti
in the Nouvelle Revue ? " They never existed ; Mada

Jelihovsky has invented them.
(7) In a letter to the Novoe Vremya Madame Jelihovi
apologises for a misprint in her article in the Nouvelle Rev
But the fact is that on
"misprint" (1885 instead
this
1884) is founded her own account of the supposed marv

at VViirzburg, in this very article. Speaking of my meeti
with Madame Blavatsky at Wurzburg, she writes :
"
dernier y eut la missive du Mahatma Koot Houmi

repartit pour Paris, enthousiasmd de sa visite et des cho!
extraordinaires dont il avait 6te t^moin i Wurtzbourg, a
tel point qu'il dcrivit lettre sur lettre, toutes dans le gei
de celle-ci dont je fais des extraits : Paris, 8 Octobre, 188
etc. And in another place: "En annde 1'
1885, \
exemple, Mahatma Morya est apparu a M. Vsevol

Soloviofif, avec lequel il eut un entretien, que ce derniet
ddcrit a beaucoup de personnes, avec son dloquer
ordinaire ". Now in the latter passage there may
course have been a figure misprinted. But that is not wl
I complain of. It is the statement about the meeting
Wurzburg. Here there is no misprint. How can there
a misprinted figure ? The But theredate is correct. i:
most absolute falsehood, as the readers of his will see,

elaborate perversion of a whole series of events. C
Madame Jelihovsky have written thus in consequence
" a misprint while her MS. was passing through the press
I have three times pointed it out in print to Madai
Jelihovsky, but she keeps silence, evidently regarding su
things as trifles not worthy the attention of a self-respecti
lady.
(8) Not knowing how to get out of the overwhelmi

evidence of Madame Blavatsky's frauds in her " phenomeni
Madame Jelihovsky goes so far as to try to spread the id
Appendix. 335
that Madame Blavatsky's phenomena were actually treated

by herself as " tricks "In that case, why did she perform
them ? Can a religious doctrine be proved by tricks ? If
these famous phenomena had been given out by Madame
Blavatsky as mere tricks, instead of as marvels of the
Mahatmas, men like Charles Richet and Flammarion
would never have come to see and investigate the London ;
Society for Psychical Research would not have spent great

sums of money,' sent Hodgson out to India and appointed
a committee to inquire into the phenomena; nor would
Sinnett have written whole volumes of description of these
marvels, not tricks, on which is , founded the external
significance of Madame Blavatsky herself and her doctrine.
The idea is too crude and absurd.
(9) One of the most curious points of Madame Jelihovsky's
pamphlet is that she so innocently ignores the whole con-
cluding part of the Modern Priestess of his, the docu-
mentary evidence of the foundation of the Theosophical
Society. In these chapters it cannot be said that I am
playing any part ; the narrative goes back ten years before
my acquaintance with Madame Blavatsky, and she herself
tells the whole story in her letters to A. N. Aksdkoff,
letters which were handed to me in order that the truth of
this interesting and important matter might be established.
Madame Blavatsky was an actor on a public stage, she was
a sort of historical and Madame Jelihovsky
character,
herself, though some exaggeration, represents her
with
career as one of immense and almost world-wide import-
ance. Thus all that Madame Blavatsky has left behind
her loses its private character, and is open to public
criticism. Now this documentary narrative, founded solely
^ Sidgwick (at that time president) defrayed the expenses of

[Prof.
Dr. Hodgson's journey. The subscribers to the Society for Psychical
Research were put to no expense in the matter.]
upon her own autograph letters, the history of the ris
the " universal brotherhood" founded by her, first appe

in the Modern Priestess of Isis.
Why has Madame Jelihovsky not a word to say a
this interesting account of the rise of the Theosop!
Society in America in the seventies, which was compl
in the dark till I cast light upon it? The letters
handed to me because they are a documentary testin
of the truth of my and confirm the conclus

narrative,
which I had drawn at a time when I had no knowl
whatever of the existence of these American let
Madame Jelihovsky, in ignoring them, is like an os
which hides its head under its wing, and thinks that no
can see it.
IV.
MADAME JELIHOVSKY AND HER ADMISSION 01

CRIMINALITY.
Madame Jelihovsky says that I invented certain untr

to Madame Blavatsky's accusation
in reference that
had made away with some property of their dace
father. I would advise her to read carefully Mad
Blavatsky's letter of 1875 given on p. 267;'- she will

no longer be able to say that I invented, when I gave
out of friendship, an opportunity of disputing and crus
what I then considered to be only a calumny and a slar
But it appears that by my craft I brought her into a sta
insanity in which she lost all power of reasoning ar ;
ended in this, that " when I was half out of my mind,

my daughters had been brought to a state of indignatio:
'
" After his death there were stories about some mone
had bequeathed to me and of which I never got half; and my yoi
sister never writes to me at all."
"
Appendix. 337
my account, he was occupied in carefully watching and

writing down everything that fell from our lips, taken in the
worst construction, and exaggerated by our irritation "- It
appears, therefore, that she accuses her daughters as well as
herself of perverting facts, or, in plain language, of lying.
In this case I shall not dispute with Madame Jelihovsky.
However it seems from her narrative that it was only at
St. Petersburg in the winter of 1885-6 that I "bewitched
her and brought her to distraction," so that she made me
her statements about Madame Blavatsky, " in the most
exaggerated sense". At Paris, in the beginning of 1884, it
would seem from her own words that she was in her right
mind. How then about what she told me in the Pare
Monceau She now exclaims
? " What a multitude of :
superfluous words Mr. Solovyoff has put in my mouth !
The following letter of October 27, 1884, will show that I

have done nothing of the sort :
"You remember our conversation in the Pare da

Monceau ? I could not then put the dots on many of the
z's, but I think I explained enough to show you that Helena
and I hadcommon. I love her and I pity her

httle in
profoundly. hope that she loves me too, but it is in
I
her own way. Apart from this feeling, which has often in-
clined me to be indulgent, and even to shut my eyes to
much which inwardly troubled me, there is nothing but
difference between us.
" I went to see her, at her expense, on the distinct under-
standing that not a word should be said about her cause

and the society; subsequently this turned out to be im-
possible ; I was drawn into the common whirlpool, and, to
my great regret, I agreed to become a member of the
society, so far as my conscience and religious convictions
allowed it, and I even wrote accounts of what I heard and

saw. ... If my accounts contain inaccuracies, they are
unintentional, and no fault of mine. But that is not the
22
question. Helena got angry with me, and ceased to w

to me, and as I see, accuses me of cruelty and ingratitu
I am very sorry. I say honestly, I am heartily sorry t
our relations should have been broken, perhaps for e\

but I cannot sacrifice my conscience even for them. I
not accuse her; what she asks me to do seems to he

trifle ; to me it seems a crime. Perhaps we look differei
at things because I am a Christian, and she is I know

what. She has been pressing me about this for a long tii
I cannot fulfil her wish, and I will not because I ; c
sider it not only dishonourable for myself, but fatal for 1
The same view of this question was taken by the late *

the wisest man and the most thorough Christian I have e
known. He begged me on his death-bed not to yield

her demands, and to show her that above all she was ha
ing herself And so I have done many a time ; but with
success. X's great mistake is that she knows no boundf
her pity for Helena. That is why she says that she is
only one who is kind to her and loves her. God gr
that this love may not lead to the ruin of both !
(Signed) "V. Jelihovsky

" October 27, 1884."
After a brief period of illusion, I expressed to Mada

Blavatsky both by word and letter my doubts as to
genuineness of some, if not all, of her phenomena, anc
the same time I expressed the same doubts and suspici
to other serious persons. Though I do not claim to b
man of science, I, like Charles Richet, and at the sa
place, was " seeking if there might not be some truth ai
many frauds ". The inquiry, besides, was my plain busir
as member of the London Society for Psychical Reseai
When my doubts and suspicions passed into full con'
tion, and I obtained the indispensable support of vari
supplemental and documentary evidence, I exposed
Appendix. 339
theosophical frauds to those who were concerned, without

fear of any unpleasant consequences for myself personally.
Such was my line of action, clear and consistent, as is
shown in my letters to Madame Blavatsky, her sister, and

others, as well as in the letters of Madame Blavatsky, her
sister, Charles Richet and others to myself.
In spite of all this, by picking out certain selected
phrases, the real sense of which is explained by the circum-
stances I have narrated, and by the clear and logical
consistency with them of my proved line of action, Madame
Jelihovsky dares to insinuate that I was a sort of confederate
of Madame Blavatsky, and was pursuing some secret and
evil end. Once more driven to "distraction" by me, one
must suppose, she asserts that she could prove this ;
" but
she has nodear proofs ".

In any case it is a strange confederate who conceals from
no one his doubts and suspicions, and when he is finally
convinced of fraud, exposes and thus subjects himself

it,
to all sorts of great annoyances and the vengeance of the

charlatans whom he has unmasked.
But what shall we say of this same Madame Jelihovsky,
who after this letter of 1884 has since become a panegyrist
of Madame Blavatsky, and declares that hers is a "mighty
cause'' and that her theosophy is "a pure and lofty
doctrine " ? She was once in error, it seems, but now
adores the sanctity of her sister and her doctrine. But,
then, what was the "crime" which Madame Blavatsky
required of her sisterly affection? What was the "dis-
honourable " request " against her conscience " that she
made? The recognition of "crime," of "dishonour"
and "moral ruin" may be difficult for a child, but not
for a woman rich in experience of life, as Madame
Jelihovsky was even in 1884. And then * * * the true
Christian and wise man, who begged her on his death-bed
not to yield to Madame Blavatsky's prayers ; he can hardly
have been mistaken in his view of the matter. It is clear
that the matter was not and that is

trivial, but serious ;
why between Madame Blavatsky and her sister, apart from

the love which "led her to shut her eyes to a great deal,"
there was nothing but difference.
It was only in May, 1886, at Elberfeld, that an unex-
pected and complete agreement between them came about.
They evidently, to their mutual satisfaction, came to a
thorough understanding. Madame Jelihovsky is probably
carrying out this understanding by doing all in her power
to spread the fame of Madame Blavatsky in Russia, not as
an able writer but as the foundress of the Theosophical
Society, as the apostle of a lofty and pure doctrine, the
"new revelation received from the Mahatmas of Thibet".
V.
Madame Jelihovsky hovers awkwardly near the line which

divides legal impunity from criminal responsibility in what
she writes about the French translation of Madame Blavat-
sky's "Confession," witnessed by the sworn interpreter. She
accuses me of falsifying the document. It will be seen
later on, from the written statement of the witness selected
by Madame JeHhovsky herself and appealed to in her
pamphlet, that she was in the habit of narrating the very
details of the falsification which I was supposed to have
been guilty of. She does not in her pamphlet give the
details, but that does not alter the question. Her state-
ments remain clear enough. There can be no question of

any " carelessness " or "error of translation" on my part.
Whether the translation was made by myself or another is
indifferent, when once the stamp of the sworn interpreter
and his attestation have been duly affixed to original and

translation. It is not the translator but the sworn inter-
preter who is responsible for the accuracy of the translation,
Appendix. 341
and of every phrase of it. This responsibility is great in

the eyes of the law in every land. Translations tested,
stamped and witnessed by Jules Baissac, the sworn inter-
preter of the Paris Court of Appeal, a well-known linguist
acquainted with Russian, cannot be false.
If in such a translation an essential phrase is omitted, it
cannot be supposed that it was cancelled in the original,

for in that case the interpreter would have noted it. Either
the translation therefore must have been made from a
falsified original, or this phrase must have been suppressed
after the attestation. A third possible supposition is that
to the genuine original, and a false translation, have been
appended falsified stamps and a forged attestation and, as ;
will be seen from Colonel Brusiloff's letter, this is the line

which was taken by Madame Jelihovsky.
*
In all three cases there can be no doubt that if the trans-
lation is untrustworthy, this untrustworthiness can only be
due to deliberate falsification. It is, therefore, of deliberate
falsification that Madame Jelihovsky accuses me when she
asserts that the translation is untrustworthy.
Her subsequent attempts to keep herself clear, such as
her sudden transition from assertion to supposition, cannot
alter the fact. Once she has published the words, that
she asserts the untrustworthiness of the translation, I stand
publicly accused of deliberate falsification.
Nowwhat could I have done, had it happened that
Madame M., in whose keeping the documents were in Paris,
had destroyed them, thinking that the matter was past and
gone, and that they were of no further use ?
Happily, Madame M. kept the documents, and sent them

to me in the beginning of 1892. Madame Jelihovsky de-
clares that in the summer of 1892, in Paris, she was refused
a sight of the translation attested by Baissac, and triumph-
"
antly exclaims :
" Where is it ?
I reply : " It is here, ready for expert examination "

;
and, of course, there stands in it, in its proper place, the

phrase which Madame Jelihovsky declares it does not
contain : /e vat's mentir, horriblement mentir, et on me croira
facilement.The phrase comes on the very half-sheet on

which Baissac wrote his attestation and affixed his official
seal. It was not that they would not, but that they simply
could not, show this translation to Mailame Jelihovsky in

Paris in the summer of 1892, because it had already been
sent to me, with other documents. Had I known that she
was going to Paris to inspect it, I would have shown it to
her before witnesses in St. Petersburg.

But Madame Jelihovsky, as the proverb says, "without
finding out the ford, plunges into the water " ; she could
not see the documents in Paris, so, we must suppose, she
imagined that they were destroyed. It is only this sup-
position which can explain the daring with which she has
ventured publicl}' to accuse me of falsification.
How did the defenders of Madame Blavatsky get it into
their heads that it was in the "Confession" that there
came the direct denial of the Mahatmas ? I think it must
have been a deliberate entanglement and embroilment of
Madame Blavatsky's. She well knew how to make an
artistic tangle, so muddled till
that people got their heads
they did not know what they were saying or thinking.
Any one who has known her and seen her at work will be
able to imagine how the thing was done.
The Parisian theosophists were convinced that she had
invented the " Mahatmas who ran her errands," because
they believed my written statement of the Wiirzburg con-
versations, admirably confirmed and illustrated as it was
both by the "Confession" and by the subsequent letters from
her, which were also translated and attested by Baissac.
A particularlydeep impression was made by the letter
"
beginning with the words " What have I done to you ?
:
and containing the phrases : " If I were hanged for it, I

Appendix. 343
would not have betrayed you nor any one else even if I ;
knew it to be trice, I would have held my tongue ".

But more interesting than all this embroilment, this
mahcious embroilment at my expense, is the question,
Why did not Madame Blavatsky's defenders, and Madame
Jelihovsky at their head, appear in Paris in the summer of
1886, iristead of crying out about falsification and the rest?
All the documents were there, and Madame M. and Baissac
were to be seen. Madame Jelihovsky informed me then
that she was coming to Paris to see the documents, but
she never came. Why did she not come ? If the whole
question hung on the point as to whether the translation
contained the words, Je vats mentir, horriblement mentir, or
not, she could have come and inquired, and learned the
truth.
But the fact is that the last thing they wished to learn
was the truth. Their cue was to sit still at Elberfeld, to
cry out and accuse me make out
of falsification, and to
that Madame Blavatsky was my innocent victim. They
did not stop before inventing the most incredible details of
the supposed falsification.
And I took my own course ; I left the attested docu-
ments at Paris to be seen by those who would ; I left for
Russia, and only tried to forget all this abomination,

charlatanism and deceit ; and it was only in December,
i8gi, that I learnt from Madame Jelihovsky 's words to
Colonel Brusiloff, and afterwards face to face from herself,
all the detestable accusations they had brought against me,
and all the depths of the theosophical vengeance.
VI.
[Mr. Solovyoff quotes a letter of Madame Jelihovsky's,

dated July 14, 18S6, and therefore after her return from
344 -^ Modern Priestess of Isis.
Elberfeld, in which she begs him to resume his frien

relations with herself and her family.]
And this was written after she had, as she stated
print, been convinced at Elberfeld of my fraudulent d
ing with the documents, and of various " falsehoods ''
mine which had driven her to distraction !
Madame Jelihovsky goes yet farther. She rises ti
dark hint about something yet darker in my past. Th

may have been in my past a great personal sorrow, c(
bined with family and other troubles ; there may have be

in Madame Jelihovsky's words, "romantic details"; I
thank God, there is nothing for which I need blush or

ashamed, nothing that can in any way touch my hone
Against nameless calumnies and slanders, which I am
aware of, or which have reached me only in the form
vague rumours, I of course, like any one else, am helples
But let me be anonymous letters I h
told, not in
received such
but face to face, and with the autho
declared, who is it that accuses me, and of what I
accused that is inconsistent with honour and probity ; ;
then I am sure that I shall be able to bring proofs of

falsehood of the accusation as clear as those which I h
given in these pages to refute the supposed falsificat
and other villainies, great and small, which Madame Jelih

sky has invented.
Madame Jelihovsky has not defended the memor
Madame Blavatsky if ; it were not a matter of public
terest,and if this affectionate sister had not herself exto
it,no one would have attacked her memory. She has c
finally blackened her sister's name, and in her help
malice does not herself see what she has done.
VII.
Madame Jelihovsky quotes my teasing letter [B]

Madame Blavatsky, of October 8, 1885, the bantering t
Appendix. 345
of which was perfectly understood by Madame Blavatsky,

as it is by any attentive reader ; and on this she founds the
most terrible accusations. I have already analysed and
explained this letter in detail. Why, what and how I spoke
to Madame Adam and Charles Richet the reader already
knows. I invented and imagined nothing ; I was only
malicious within the limits of fact. Was this such a crime
on my part that I should have a malicious laugh at
Madame Blavatskyâfter all the marvels of Wiirzburg, and
the tricks she had played me? I hope impartial and
sensible men will not bring in a verdict of guilty against
me for this Madame Blavatsky, though naive at times,
!
was acute ; she could not possibly take seriously what I

said about converting to theosophy some, in Madame
Jelihovsky's phrase, of the progressive personages in Europe.
Madame Blavatsky well knew that I did not joke with
serious people, as I always used to joke with her and her
colleagues ; for which reason I received from her from the
first, both in conversation and by letter, the nicknames of
the "suspecter," "unbeheving Thomas" and " Mephisto-
pheles". She could not, I repeat, possibly mistake the

meaning of my letter and if she afterv/ards showed it to
;
any one as a serious letter, this was only a feint, as is clear

from all the circumstances.
But Madame Jelihovsky rhetorically exclaims that people
of European fame, like Madame Adam and Charles Richet,
" can at any moment ask me, through the press, how I
dared deceive them ". I do not think that Madame Adam

will ever ask me the question ; but if she does, and the
question comes to my knowledge, I will answer her in
detail, and will publish my interview with her ; old though

it is, it has not lost its interest.
As for Charles Richet, here is his own letter, which will

show how far I deceived him, and will at the same time
.
reply to the inventions published by Madame Jelihovsky in

the Rmskoe Obozrenie [see p. 28]
" Dimanche, Mars 12, 1893.
"Cher Monsieur Solovyoff,

" Je suis toutpreta vous fournir sur Madame Blavat-
sky tous les renseignements que vous jugerez ndcessaires, et
que je pourrai vous donner.
" Je I'ai connue k Paris en 1884, par I'entremise de Madame
de Barrau et je n'ai jamais ete ni de ses intimes ni de ses
;
amis. Je I'ai vue en tout deux fois certainement, et peut

etre trois fois, peut etre meme quatre fois ; mais a coup sur
ce n'est pas plus de quatre fois. Ce n'est pas ce qu'on
peut appeler, en langue frangaise, de I'intimitd. J'^tais êt
je le suis encore curieux de tout ce qui peut nous 6clairer

sur I'avenir de I'homme et les forces occultes, je ne savais
et je ne sais pas encore si elles existent, ces forces
occultes, mais je pense que le devoir d'un savant est de
chercher meme la s'il y a quelque v^ritd cachde au fond
de beaucoup d'impostures. Lorsque je vous ai vu, vous
m'avez dit
'r^servez votre jugement, elle m'a montrd des
choses qui me paraissent trfes dtonnantes, mon opinion n'est
pas faite encore, mais je crois bien que c'est une femme
extraordinaire, doude de propridt^s exceptionelles. Attendez,
et je vous donnerai de plus amples explications.'
" J'ai attendu, et vos explications ont ete assez conformes
k ce que je supposai tout d'abord, k savoir que c' ^tait sans
doute une mystificatrice, trfes intelligente assurdment, mais
dont la bonne foi etait douteuse.
"Alors sont arrivees les discussions que la Socidt^ des
Rdcherches Psychiques anglaise a publiês (Coulomb et
Hodgson) et ce doute n'a plus ete possible.
" Cette histoire ne parait fort simple. Elle dtait habile,
adroite ; faisait des jongleries_ingenieuses, et elle nous a au
premier abord tous d^routes.

Appendix. 347
" Mais je mets au ddfi qu' on cite une ligne de moi

imprimê ou manuscrite qui tdmoigne d'autre chose que
d'un doute immense et d'une r&erve prudente.
"A vrai dire, je n'ai jamais cru serieusement k son
pouvoir ; car en fait d'expdriences, la seule vraie constatation
que je puisse admettre, elle ne m'a jamais rien montrd de
d^monstratif. Quant k ce tout Paris qui I'a adulde, c'est
une bien sotte Idgende : il iVy avait, pour lui rendre visite,
que cinq ou sisTHe mes amis, alors fort jeunes, et qui

appartenaient"pIiItot a des groupes d'etudiants qu'a des
groupes de savants ; nous n'avons ^t^, ni les uns ni les
autres, sdduits' par le peu de soi-disant phdnomfenes,
qu'elle nous a montr^.
" Voil'S,'" cher Monsieur Solovyoff, tout ce dont je me
souviens avec precision. Faites de ma lettre ce que vous
voudrez, je me fie entierement a vous.
''
Croyez moi, je vous prie, votre bien afFectionnd,
" Charles Richet."
(i) Madame Jelihovsky categorically denies, and calls a

" fable," all that I say about an agreement between herself
and me, that she should publish nothing in Russia about
Madame Blavatsky's theosophical career or her phenomena,
with the object of attracting attention to this materialistic
doctrine ; and that so long only as she kept this agreement
would I undertake not to publish what I knew about
Madame Blavatsky and her society.
(2) Madame Jelihovsky says that in December, 1891, I
sent her the portrait of Madame Blavatsky which I had
found among my papers, with a proposal that she should
return me my letters to her and to her sister (in case she
had such in her possession) in exchange for Madame Jeli-
hovsky's letters to myself. " I replied," she writes, "that
I would not give him the letters." And further on :

" He
proposed to be bought off from all personal attacks on

34^ A Modern Priestess of his.
myself, at the price of the return to him of his correspond-

ence with my family ; but I myself refused to buy him
off".
Let the answer to these statements, and to something yet

more serious, be found in the following letter of Colonel
A. A. Brusiloff, to whom Madame Jelihovsky herself refers,
as our intermediary and witness :
"Dear Mr. Vsevolod Sergyeevich,

" In consequence of the appearance of the pamphlet,
H. P. Blavatsky and a Modern Priest of Truth, I, at your
wish, feel it my duty to speak in writing about the negotia-
tioris which I carried on between Madame Jelihovsky and
yourself, and about your conversation with her at my house

and in my presence.
"At the beginning of December, 1891, in consequence
of Madame Jelihovsky 's article about Madame Blavatsky
in the November number of the Russkoe Obozrenie, you,
knowing that I am acquainted with Madame Jelihovsky's
family and used to visit them, asked me to speak to her and
try to persuade her not to continue the publication of her
sister's biography, on the ground that you did not wish to
cause Madame Jelihovsky any annoyance, in consideration
of your former friendship with her. But if she continued
to write in the same tone about Madame Blavatsky, you
would consider yourself bound in conscience to refute her
by facts. You asked me to remind her of your agreement
that there should be no writing on either part about Madame
Blavatsky as the founder of a new doctrine and the apostle
of theosophy. You finally expressed a wish to meet her
on neutral ground, in order to settle the question.
" I called on Madame Jehhovsky the same evening and
performed your commission. She replied that she could
not understand why you should so take to heart her article
in the Russkoe Obozrenie, which, in her opinion, could do
Appendix. 349
no harm ; and she agreed to meet you in a few days, when
she should have recovered from her indisposition, on con-
dition that, if you would not call upon her, you should
meet her at my house and in my presence. To this I
agreed.
" Madame Jelihovsky also asked me to tell you that she
had not written a word about you, as she did not wish to
mention you but that all the same she could give you
;
great annoyance by announcing that the theosophists had

in their possession a formal declaration, given by Jules
Baissac, the sworn interpreter in Paris, saying that he had
refused to attest the translations of Madame Blavatsky's
letters to you on account of their incorrectness, and that
the letters were evidently falsified ; and that the stamps,
as the theosophists supposed, must have been affixed by
yourself at a moment when Baissac was out of the room.
She asked me to transmit you this information, as well as
many other views of hers about your mutual relations. I
proposed that she should set out in writing all that she
wished communicated to you, and when I received the
letter given in her pamphlet, I gave it you to read.
to
" Your meeting took place in the middle of December at
my house and in my ])resence. The day before, Madame
Jelihovsky's daughter, Nadejda Vladimirovna, expressed
a wish to be present also at the meeting, of which I in-
formed you. To this you did not agree, as you did not
think it proper, in view of the ticklish turn the conversation
might take, to speak openly to the mother in the presence
of her daughter.
" At the beginning of your interview Madame Jelihovsky
was very angry, but she afterwards quieted down, and you
carriedon the conversation calmly. Of this conversation I
distinctlyremember what follows. You reminded Madame
Jelihovsky of the circumstances which led to your mutual
agreement to publish nothing in Russia about Madame
350 A Modem Priestess of Isis.
Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, and this time Vera

Petrovna did not deny the agreement, but said that her
articles about her sister were written in a tone which did
not violate the terms of the agreement you were, however, ;
of a different opinion. You then begged her to put an end

to her propaganda of her sister's life and doctrine, and not
to publish a second article in the Russkoe Obozrenie. To
this Madame Jelihovsky replied that this was now, to her
great regret, quite impossible, as the next number was
already in print, and she could not help it. You thirdly
asked her what were the forged letters and falsified docu-
ments about which she had spoken to me, and she con-
firmed to you all that I have said above. To this you
repKed that you would write to Baissac, and would not leave
such a calumny without documentary contradiction. Finally
you proposed an exchange of private letters dealing solely

with family matters, both your own and hers to this Vera ;
Petrovna at once agreed, saying " By all means, with

:
pleasure " At the same time she advised you to publish
nothing about Madame Blavatsky, as her followers, relations

and friends were influential, and would cause you serious
annoyance. You answered that you would do your duty,
come what might.
" There was no mention of a return of your letters to
Madame Blavatsky and vice versh. After agreeing to the

exchange of private letters, you separated, and Madame
Jelihovsky soon left.
" I can further add that it was at your own wish, not at
Madame Jelihovsky's, as she asserts in her pamphlet, that

the exchange of letters did not take place. You gave as the
reason for your refusal the possibility that all the letters
might not have been preserved, and that this might give
rise to misunderstanding between you.
"The portrait of Madame Blavatsky was handed by me
to Madame Jelihovsky long before the appearance of her

Appendix. 351
first article in the Russkoe Obozrenie, and there was at that

time no question of an interchange of letters. This I write
because in the above-named pamphlet my share in the

negotiations between you is not explained by Madame
Jelihovsky in a way entirely consonant with facts.
" I undertook the mediation in the negotiations between
you and Madame Jelihovsky in the hope that I might help

in making peace, or, at least, in bringing about some mutual
agreement ; but the attempt unfortunately failed, as I have
already explained.
"You can use this letter as you think fit.
' Accept the assurance of my sincere respect and devo-
tion.
"A. Brusiloff."
Statement by Jules Baissac, sworn interpreter in the

Paris Court of Appeal :
" Paris, Janvier 8, 1892.
" C'est bien moi et moi-meme qui ai appos^ ma signature

et mon cachet d'office aux traductions que m'a soumises
dans le temps Mr. Solovyoff de lettres en langue Russe de
Madame Blavatsky, comme c'est moi aussi qui ai timbr^ ces
lettres. II est faux, absolument faux, que Mr. Solovyoff
ait profit^, comme on I'aurait dit, d'un moment ou j'dtais
absent de mon bureau pour appliquer lui-meme ce cachet.
" Mon timbre sur les originaux quelconques n'a point
pour objet de les authentiquer, mais d'dtablir que ce sont

bien les pieces sur lesquelles ont 6te faites les traductions
approuvdes et scelldes par moi. Or, je le repfete, c'est bien
moi qui ai mis mon timbre sur les traductions dont il
s'agit, ainsi que sur les textes originaux.
"J. Baissac.
''
P.S. II est fort inutile d'ajouter, aprfes ce que je viens
dedire, que je n'ai jamais dit nidcrit apersonne quoique ce
352 A Modem Priestess of his.
soit qui puisse faire croire le contraire de ce que j'affirme
ici ; ni dit, ni ecrit.
"J. Baissac."
To this letter is affixed the official stamp bearing the

words: "J. Baissac, interprfete jurd prfes la cour d'Appel,
''.
Paris
This, I think, is enough ; it is time to end. Madame
Jelihovsky has repeatedly and cruelly punished herself by
her own pamphlet. Her way of falling into a " state of
distraction" and taking no account of her words has led
her too She is not forbidden to leave the path of truth,
far.
even in print. But a whole series of published slanders,

refuted by indisputable evidence, is really too much. On
what does Madame Jelihovsky reckon ? Evidently only on
the fact that she is a woman. Her calculation is correct.
I shall not yet attempt to prosecute her. Let us hope she
will give up.
I leave the matter to the judgment of all impartial and

honourable persons.
Appendix C.
the sources of madame bla-

vatsky's writings.
By WM. EMMETTE COLEMAN.'
During the past three years I have made a more or less

exhaustive analysis of the contents of the writings of Madame
H. P. Blavatsky ; and I have traced the sources whence
she derived and mostly without credit being given nearly
the whole of their subject-matter. The presentation, in
detail, of the evidences of this derivation would constitute
a volume ; but the limitations of this paper will admit only
of a brief summary of the results attained by my analysis
of these writings. The detailed proofs and evidence of
every assertion herein are now partly in print and partly in
manuscript ; and they will be embodied in full in a work I
am preparing for publication, an exposk of theosophy as a

whole. So far as pertains to Isis Unveiled, Madame Bla-
vatsky's first work, the proofs of its wholesale plagiarisms
have been in print two years, and no attempt has been
made to deny or discredit any of the data therein contained.
In that portion of my work which is already in print, as
1 Member, American Oriental Society, Royal Asiatic Society of

Great Britain and Ireland, Pali Text Society, Egypt Exploration
Fund, Geographical Society of California Corresponding Member, ;
Brooklyn Ethical Association ; and Member, Advisory Council,

Psychic Science Congress, Chicago, Illinois.
23
well as in that as yet in manuscript, many parallel passages are

given from the two sets of writings, the works of Madame
Blavatsky, and the books whence she copied the plagiarised
passages ; they also contain complete lists of the passages
plagiarised, giving in each case the page of Madame Bla-
vatsky's work in which the passage is found, and the page
and name of the book whence she copied it. Any one
can, therefore, easily test the accuracy of my statements.
In Ist's Unveiled, published in 1877, I discovered some
2000 passages copied from other books without proper
credit. By careful analysis I found that in compiling Isis
about 100 books were used. About 1400 books are quoted
from and referred to in this work but, from the 100 books
;
which its author possessed, she copied everything in Isis

taken from and relating to the other 1300. There are in
Isis about 2100 quotations from and references to books
that were copied, at second-hand, from books other than the
originals; and of this number only about 140 are credited
to the books from which Madame Blavatsky copied them at
second-hand. The others are quoted in such a manner as to
lead the reader to think that Madame Blavatsky had read
and utilised the original works, and had quoted from them
at first-hand,
the truth being that these originals had evi-
dently never been read by Madame Blavatsky. By this
means many readers of Isis, and subsequently those of her
Secret Doctrine and Theosophical Glossary, have been mis-
led into thinking Madame Blavatsky an enormous reader,
possessed of vast erudition ; while the fact is her reading
was very limited, and her ignorance was profound in all
branches of knowledge.
The books utilised in compiling Isis were nearly all
current nineteenth-century literature. Only one of the old

and rare books named and quoted from was in Madame
Blavatsky's possession, Henry More's Immortality of the
Soul, published in the seventeenth century. One or two
;
Appendix. 355
others dated from the early part of the present century

and all the rest pertained to the middle and later part of
this century. Our author made great pretensions to Cab-
balistic learning ; but every quotation from and every
allusion to the Cabbala, in Isis and all her later works,
were copied second-hand from certain books containing
at
scattered quotations from Cabbalistic writings; among them
being Mackenzie's Masonic Cydopcedia, King's Gnostics,
and the works of S. F. Dunlap, L. Jacolliot, and Ehphas
Levi. Not a line of the quotations in Isis, from the old-
time mystics, Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Cardan, Robert
Fludd, Philalethes, Gaffarel, and others, was taken from
the original works the whole of them were copied from
;
other books containing scattered quotations from those

writers. The same thing obtains with her quotations from
Josephus, Philo, and the Church Fathers, as Justin Martyr,
Origen, Clement, Irenseus, TertuUian, Eusebius, and all
the rest. The same holds good with the classical authors,
Homer, Ovid, Horace, Virgil, Plato, Pliny, and many
others. The quotations from all these were copied at
second-hand from some of the 100 books which were
used by the compiler of Isis.
In a number of instances Madame Blavatsky, in Isis,
claimed to possess or to have read certain books quoted

from, which it is evident she neither possessed nor had
read. In 369-377, are a number of quotations
Isis, i.,
from a work of Figuier's, that she claimed to have taken

from the original work, which she says (i., 369) now "lies
before us ''. As every word from Figuier in Isis was copied
from Des Mousseaux's Magie au Dix-neuviime Siecle, pp. 45 1-
"
457, the word "lies in the sentence used by her is quite t
propos. In Isis, i., 353, 354, et seq., she professed to quote
from a work in her possession, whereas all that she quoted
was copied from Demonologia, pp. 224-259. In ii., 8, she
claimed that she had read a work by Bellarmin, whereas

all that she says about him, and all that she quotes fr
him, are copied from Demonologia, pp. 294, 295. In
7 1 , she stated that she had a treatise by De Nogen, but
that she knows about him or his treatise was taken fr-
Demonologia, p. 431. In ii., 74, 75, the reader is led

believe that certain quotations from TM Golden Legi
were copied by her from the original ; the truth being t
they were taken from Demonologia, 420-427. In ii.,
she gave a description of a standard of the Inquisitii

derived, she said, from " a photograph in our possessi(
frorti an original procured at the Escurial of Madrid " ; 1
this description was copied from Demonologia, p. 300.

In Isis, i., pp. xii. to xxii., is an account of the philosof
of Plato and his successors. Nearly the whole of these 1
pages was copied from two books, Cocker's Christiar,

and Greek Philosophy, and Zeller's Plato and the (
Academy. There are some 25 passages from Cocker a
35 from Zeller ; and, of all these, credit is given for 1
one citation from Cocker and about a dozen lines fr

Zeller. In Isis, ii.,
344, 345, 9 passages are copied fr
Zeller, but one of which is credited.

Here follows a some other of the more extens
list of
plagiarisms in Isis.includes the names of the bo(
It
plagiarised from, and the number of passages in th

that were plagiarised :
Ennemoser's History of Magic, English translation, 107 passaj

Demonologia, 85
Dunlap's Sod : the Son of the Man, 134
Dunlap's Sod ; the Mysteries of Adoni, 65
Dunlap's Spirit History of Man, -jy
Sah/ettt's Philosophy of Magic, 'English tia.ns\sXion, 68 ,,
Des Mousseaux's Magie an Dix-neuvieme Siicle, 63

Des Mousseaux's Hants Phenomenes de la Magie, 45
Des Mousseaux's Mceurs et Pratiques des Demons, 16
Supernatural Religion, aq
King's Gnostics, ist edition, . a^
Appendix. 357
Mackenzie's Masonic Cyclopcedia, 36 passages.
JacoUiot's Christna et le Christ, 23
JacoUiot's Bible in India, English translation, 17
JacoUiot's Le Spiritisme dans le Monde, ig
Hone's Apocryphal New Testament, 27
Cory's Ancient Fragments, 20
Howitt's History of the Supernatural, 20
Among the other books plagiarised from may be named

Eliphas Levi's Dogme et Riluel de la Haute Magie, and his
La La Clef des Grands Mystlres, and
Science des Esprits,
Histoire de Magie ; Araberley's Analysis of Religious
la
Belief, Yule's Ser Marco Polo, Max Muller's Chips, vols. i.
and ii., Lundy's Monumental Christianity, Taylor's Eleu-

sinian and Bacchic Mysteries (1875 ed.), Reber's Christ of
Paul, Jennings's Rosicrucians, Higgins's Anacalypsis,
Inman's Ancient Faiths in Ancient Names, Inman's Ancient
Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, Inman's Ancient
Faiths and Modern, Wright's Sorcery and Witchcraft,
Bunsen's Egypt, Payne Knight's Symbolical Language of
Ancient Art and Mythology, Westropp and Wake's Ancient
Symbol Worship, Pococke's India in Greece, Findel's
History of Freemasonry, Lhe Unseen Universe, Elam's A
Physician s Problems, Emma Hardinge's Modern American
Spiritualism, Mart's Immortality of the Soul, Draper's Con-
between Religion and Science, Randolph's Pre-Adamite
flict
Man, Peebles's Jesus: Myth, Man, or God, Peebles's

Around the World, Principles of the Jesuits (1839), Sep-
tenary Institutions (1850), Gasparin's Science and Spiritual-
ism, Report on Spiritualism of the London Dialectical Society
(1873), Wallace's Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, and
Maudsley's Body and Mind.
Two years ago I pubUshed the statement that the whole
of Isis was compiled from a little over 100 books and

periodicals. In the Theosophist, April, 1893, pp. 387, 388,
Colonel Olcott states that when Isis was written the library
of the author comprised about loo books, and that during

its composition various friends lent her a few books, the
latter with her own library thus making up a little over loo,
in precise accordance with the well-established results of my
critical analysis of every quotation and plagiarism in Isis.
The Secret Doctrine, published in 1888, is of a piece with

Isis. permeated with plagiarisms, and is in all its
It is
parts a rehash of other books. Two books very largely

form the basis of this work, Wilson's translation of the
Vishtiu Furana, and Prof. Winchell's World Life. The

Secret Doctrine is saturated with Hinduism and Sanskrit
terminology, and the bulk of this was copied from Wilson's
Vishnu Furana. A large part of the work is devoted to
the discussion of various points in modern science, and
the work most largely used by Madame Blavatsky in this
department of her book was Winchell's World Life. A
specimen of the wholesale plagiarisms in this book appears
in vol. ii., pp. 599-603. Nearly the whole of four pages
was copied from Oliver's Pythagorean Triangle, while only
a few hnes were credited to that work. Considerable other
matter in Secret Doctrine was copied, uncredited, from
Oliver's work. Donnelly's Atlantis was largely plagiarised
from. Madame Blavatsky not only borrowed from this
writer the general idea of the derivation of Eastern civilisa-
tion, mythology, etc., from Atlantis ; but she coolly appro-
priated from him a number of the alleged detailed evidences
of this derivation, without crediting him therewith. Vol.
ii., pp. 790-793, contains a number of facts, numbered
seriatim, said to prove this Atlantean derivation. These
facts were almost wholly copied from Donnelly's book, ch.
iv., where they are also numbered seriatim ; but there is no
intimation in Secret Doctrine that its author was indebted
to Donnelly's book for this mass of matter. In addition to
those credited, there are 130 passages from Wilson's Vishnu
Furana copied uncredited ; and there are some 70 passages
a
Appendix. 350
from Winchell's World Life not credited. From Dowson's
Hindu Classical Dictionary, 123 passages were plagiarised.
From Decharme's Mythologie de la Grke Antique, about
60 passages were plagiarised and from Myer's Qabbala,
;
34. These are some of the other books plagiarised from :
Kenealy's Book of God, Faber's Cabiri, Wake's Great

Pyramid, Gould's Mythical Monsters, Joly's Man before
Metals, Stallo's Modern Physics, Massey's Natural Genesis,
Mackey's Mythological Astronomy, Schmidt's Descent and
Darwinism, Quatrefages's Human Species, Laing's Modern
Science and Modern Thought, Mather's Cabbala Unveiled,
Maspdro's Musee de Boulaq, Ragon's Magonnerie Occulte,
Lefevre's Philosophy, and Buchner's Force and Matter.
The Secret Doctrine is ostensibly based upon certain
stanzas, claimed to have been translated by Madame Bla-
vatsky from the Book of Dzyan, the oldest book in the
world, written in a language unknown to philology. / The
Book of Dzyan was the work of Madame Blavatsky,
compilation, in her own language, from a variety of sources,
embracing the general principles of the doctrines and
dogmas taught in the Secret Doctrine. I find in this
"oldest book in the world " statements copied from nine-
teenth-century books, and in the usual blundering manner
of Madame Blavatsky. Letters and other writings of the
adepts are found in the Secret Doctrine. In these Mahat-
mic productions I have traced various plagiarised passages
from Wilson's Vishnu Purana and Winchell's World Life,
of like character to those in Madame Blavatsky's acknow-
ledged writings. Detailed proofs of this will be given in
my book. I have also traced the source whence she
derived the word Dzyan.
The Theosophical Glossary, published in 1892, contains
an alphabetical arrangement of words and terms pertaining
to occultism and theosophy, with explanations and defini-
tions thereof, The whole of this book, except the garblings,

distortions and fabrications of Madame Blavatsky scattered

through it, was copied from other books. The explanations
and definitions of 425 names and terms were copied from
Dowson's I/mdu Classical Dictionary. From Wilson's
Vishnu Purana were taken those of 242 terms ; from Eitel's
Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, 179 ; and from Mackenzie's

Masonic Cyclopcedia, 164. A modicum of credit was given to
these four books in the preface. But, inasmuch as, scattered
through the Glossary, credit was given at intervals to these
books for a certain few of the passages extracted therefrom,
its readers might easily be misled, by the remark in the
preface relative to these four books, into the beHef that
said remark was intended to cover the various passages in

the Glossary where these books are named as the sources
whence they were derived and these alone, that the pas-
sages duly credited to said books comprised the whole of
the matter in the volume taken from them, instead of being
but a small part of the immense collection of matter trans-
ferred en masse to the Glossa7y. But the four named in
the preface are not the only books thus utilised. A glossary
of Sanskrit and occultic terms was appended to a work called
Five Years of Theosophy, published by Mohini M. Chit-
terji in 1885. At least229 of these terms and their defini-
tions were copied in Blavatsky's Glossary, nearly verbatim
in every instance ; and no credit whatever was given for
this wholesale appropriation of another's work. I cannot
find a single reference to Chatterji's glossary in any part of

the later Glossary. Nearly all of the matter concerning
Egyptian mythology, etc., in the latter, was copied from
Bonwick's Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought. A small
part of this was credited, but over 100 passages from
Bon wick were not credited. Nearly every word in relation
to Norse and Teutonic mythology was copied from Wagner's
Asgard and the Gods,
a little being credited, and some
100 passages not. Most of the Thibetarj matter was t^k^n
;
Appendix. 361
from Schlagintweit's Buddhism in Thibet, some credited,

but nearly
50 passages were not. Much of the material
anent Southern Buddhism was copied from Spence Hardy's

Eastern Monachism, nearly 50 passages being uncredited.
Most of the Babylonian and Chaldean material was ex-
tracted from Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis, with
nearly 50 The Parsi and Zoro-
passages not credited.
astrian matter was from Darmesteter's translation of the
Zend-Avesta, and West's translation of the Bundahish in the
Sacred Books of the East,
mostly uncredited. Among
other books levied upon in the compilation of the Glossary,
principally with no credit given, are these : Sayce's Hibbert
Lectures, Myer's Qabbala, Hartmann's Paracelsus, Crawford's
translation of the Kalevala, King's Gnostics, Faber's Cabiri,
Beal's Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, Rhys Davids's
Buddhism, Edkins's Chinese Buddhism, Maspdro's Guide
au Muske de Boulaq, Subba Row's Notes on the Bhagavad
Gita, Kenealy's Book of God, Eliphas Levi's Works, and
various others.
The Voice of the Silence, published in 1889, purports
to be a translation by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky from
a Thibetan work. It is said to belong to the same series as
the Book of Dzyan, which is true ; as, like that work, it
is a compilation of ideas and terminology from various

nineteenth-century books, the diction and phraseology
being those of Madame Blavatsky. I have traced the
sources whence it was taken, and it is a hotch-potch from
Brahmanical books on Yoga and other Hindu writings
Southern Buddhistic books, from the Pali and Sinhalese ;
and Northern Buddhistic writings, from the Chinese and

Thibetan,
the whole having been taken by Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky from translations by, and the writings of, European
'and other Orientalists of lo-day. In this work are inter-
mingled Sanskrit, Pd,li, Thibetan, Chinese, and Sinhalese
terms^ a maniiesc absurdity in a Thibetan work. I have
traced the books from which each of these terms was taken.
I find embedded in the text of this alleged ancient I'hibetan
work quotations, phrases, and terms copied from current
Oriental literature. The books most utilised in its compila-
tion are these : Schlagintweit's Buddhism in Thibet, Edkins's
Chinese Buddhism, Hardy's Eastern Monachism, Rhys
Davids's Buddhism, Dvivedi's Raja Yoga, and Raja Yoga
Philosophy (1888) an article, " The Dream of
; also
Ravan," published in the Dublin University Magazine,
January, 1854, extracts from which appeared in the Theoso-
phist of January, 1880. Passages from this article, and
from the books named above, are scattered about in the
text of the Voice of the Silence, as well as in the annotations

thereon, which latter are admitted to be the work of
Blavatsky. Full proofs of this, including the parallel
passages, will be given in my work on theosophy ; including
evidence that this old Thibetan book contains not only
passages from the Hindu books quoted in the article in
the Dublin Magazine, but also ideas and phrases stolen
from the nineteenth-century writer of said article. One
example of the incongruity of the elements composing the
conglomerate admixture of terms and ideas in the Voice of
the Silence will be given. On p. 87, it is said that the
Narjols of the Northern Buddhists are "learned in
G6trabhu-gnyana and gnyana-dassana-suddhi " Helena
Peirovna Blavatsky copied these two terms from Hardy's
Eastern Monachism, p. 281. The terms used in Northern
Buddhism are usually Sanskrit, or from the Sanskrit .: those
in Southern Buddhism, Pali, or from the Pali. Hardy's
work, devoted to Sinhalese Buddhism, is composed of
translations from Sinhalese books, and its terms and phrases
are largely Sinhalese corruptions of the Pili. Sinhalese
terms are unknown in Northern Buddhism. The two terms
in the Voice of the Silence, wisdom of
descriptive of the
the Narjols, are Sinhalese- Pah corruptions, and therefore
Appendix. 363
unknown in Thibet. Narjol is a word manufactured by

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, from the Thibetan Nal-jor, which
she found in Schlaginlweit's work, p. 138, the r and /
being transposed by her.
Esoteric Buddhism, by A. P. Sinnett, was based upon state-
ments in letters received by Mr. Sinnett and Mr. A. O.

Hume, through Madame Blavatsky, purporting to be
written by the Mahatmas Koot Hoomi and Morya, prin-
cipally the former. Mr. Richard Hodgson has kindly lent
me a considerable number of the original letters of the
Mahatmas leading to the production of Esoteric Buddhism.
I find in them overwhelming evidence that all of them
were written by Madame Blavatsky, which evidence will be
presented in my book. In these letters are a number
full in
of extracts from Buddhist books, alleged to be translations

from the originals by the Mahatmic writers themselves.
These letters claim for the adepts a knowledge of Sanskrit,
Thibetan, Pili and Chinese. I have traced to its source
each quotation from the Buddhist scriptures in the letters,
and they were all copied from current English translations,

including even the notes and explanations of the English
translators. They were principally copied from Seal's
Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese. In other
places where the adept (?) is using his own language in ex-
planation of Buddhistic terms and ideas, I find that his
presumed original language was copied nearly word for
word from Rhys Davids's Buddhism, and other books. I
have traced every Buddhistic idea in these letters and in
Esoteric Buddhism, and every Buddhistic term, such as
Devachan, Avitchi, to the books whence
etc., Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky derived them. Although said to be
proficient in the knowledge of Thibetan and Sanskrit, the
words and terms in these languages in the letters of the
adepts were nearly all used in a ludicrously erroneous and

absurd manner. The writer of those letters was an
364 A- Modern Priestess of Isis.
ignoramus in Sanskrit and Thibetan ; and the mistakes and

blunders in them, in these languages, are in exact accord-
ance with the known ignorance of Madame Blavatsky
thereanent. Esoteric Buddhism, like all of Madame Bla-
vatsky's works, was based upon wholesale plagiarism and
ignorance.
From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, although pub-
lished, in letters to a Russian journal, as a veracious
narrative of actual experiences of Madame Blavatsky in
India, was admitted by Colonel Olcott in Theosophist,

January, 1893, pp. 245, 246, to be largely a work of fiction ;
and this has been even partially conceded in its preface.

Like her other books it swarms with blunders, misstate-
ments, falsehoods and garblings. Full expose of it will be
included in my work. The Key to Theosophy, by Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky, being a compendium of doctrines, its
plagiarism consists in the ideas and teachings which it

contains, rather than in plagiarised passages from other
books.
In addition to wholesale plagiarism, other marked char-
acteristics of Madame Blavatsky 's writings are these : (i)
Wholesale garbling, distortion and literary forgery, of which
there are very many instances in Isis particularly. The
Koot Hoomi letters to Hume and Sinnett contain garbled
and spurious quotations from Buddhist sacred books,
manufactured by the writer to embody her own peculiar
ideas, under the fictitious guise of genuine Buddhism.
(2) Wealth of misstatement and error in all branches of

knowledge treated by her ; e.g., over 600
in Isis there are
false statements in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christian-
ity, .\ssyriology, Egyptology, etc. (3) Mistakes and blunders
of many varied kinds in names of books and authors, in
words and figures and what not; nearly 700 being in Isis
alone. (4) Great contradiction and inconsistency, both in
primary and essential points and in minor matters and
Appendix. 365
details. There are probably thousands of contradictions in

the whole circuit of her writings.
The doctrines, teachings, dogmas, etc., of theosophy, as
pubhshed by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and affirmed to
be derived from the âj-/-infallible Mahatmas of Thibet,
were borrowed from the philosophies and religions of the
past and present, with some admixture of modern science.
There is nothing original in this " Wisdom of the Gods,"
or " Wisdom Religion," save the work of compilation into a
composite whole of the heterogeneous mass of materials
gathered by Madame Blavatsky from so many sources, and
the garblings, perversions, and fabrications indulged in by
her in the preparation of the system of thought called
theosophy. A careful analysis of her teachings shows that
they were collected from the sources named below, (i)
Madame Blavatsky was a spiritualistic medium many years
before she became a theosophist, and in its inception
theosophy was an off-shoot from spiritualism ; and from this
source was a large part of her theosophy taken. I find that
its teachings upon some 267 points were copied from those
of spiritualism. (2) In its later form, Hinduism constitutes
one of the larger portions of theosophy. I have not at-
tempted an exhaustive classification of the numerous minor

points taken from this source, but I have noted 281 of the
more important. (3) P'rom Buddhism I have noted 63.
(4) In the beginnings of theosophy, the basis of most of its
teachings was derived from the works of Eliphas Levi,

and I count 102 points therefrom borrowed. (5) From
Paracelsus's works were taken 49. (6) From Jacob Bbhme,
81. (7) From the Cabbala, 86. (8) From Plato, the
Platonists, the Neo-Platonists, and Hermes, 80. (9) F"rom
Gnosticism, 61. From modern science and philo-
(10)
sophy, 75. (11) From Zoroastrianism, 26. (12) From
Kingsford and Maitland's Perfect Way, 24. (13) From
general mythology, 20. (14) From Egyptology, 17. (15)
.
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Cornell University Liorary

3 1924 031 226 792

The original of tliis book is in

tine Cornell University Library.

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the United States on the use of the text.

ABRIDGED AND TRANSLATED ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY FOE PSYCHICAL

WALTER LEAF, Litt.D.

I AM authorised hy the Council of the Society for Psychical

rendered to the Society by midertaking the labour of

qf Madame Blavatsky given in chap, xxii., and the

imposture ;and Mr. Sohvyoff's vivid description of the

origin than A Modern Priestess of Isis.

Mr. Solovyoff's Modern Priestess of Isis

1892 of the Russky Vyestnik (Russian Messen-

justify the publication of a translation. It

should be stated at the outset that the accuracy

certainly better thatwhat is merely personal should

but adds materially to the evidence touching

be reprinted in full for the benefit of English

cult task of preparing an abridgment which

Much, however, I was able to cut out at

yyestmk, Mr. Solovyoff added to them an

case of the pamphlet with which it deals.

consists of documentary evidence, chiefly in

by the name of the recipient, whose long Hfe of

therefore, be taken as certain that the letters

vehement denials of the fact, Madame Blavat-

to spiritualism only after 1874, and had recourse

and teacher is the "pure spirit" John King,

America in 1874, received initiation and in-

it may either confirm or contradict the nar-

the truth in his account of the Wiirzburg

184, 185, are enough to carry conviction to any impartial

he would not hesitate to invent a false accusa-

tion, in order morally to destroy a woman for

So far as the attack on the mere

of the controversy as affecting Mr. Solovyoff's

Mr. Solovyoff's reply, with M. Baissac's letter

(p. 351), and that in which Colonel Brusiloff,

pointed out how a translation of this very

with an accusation which, though it is not con-

has nothing to do with his character for veracity.

Mr. Solovyoffs offence, it was not, in Madame

from her house.

but it is admittedly she who supplied him with

testimony goes, we shall not allow it to weigh

pictures of his mental attitude during 1884 and

able that in so doing they should remember the

that Mr. Solovyoff is amply justified by his

throughout well aware of the fact. Nor should

they are selected by a bitter personal enemy

represented the mental attitude in which he

prophecies might turn out to be true, and thus

"black magician," or in order to satisfy the

afterwards, disgusted that she would not initiate

.falsely accused. "You are driving me to

wavering between two opposite hypotheses, one

Thus though Mr. Solovyoff's letters give us