University College, London, W.C.,
November 26th, '81.
My dear Sinnett,
I ought to have answered your letter before this, but deferred doing so till I had had the pleasure of a conversation with Mrs. Sinnett. This I have had, and greatly to my enjoyment. She is, as you led me to expect, thoroughly convinced of the reality of what she has seen and heard. Like me, she does not know what to make of the last departure, I mean in respect of my spirit-experiences. I really do not know what to say about it. There is no way of harmonizing facts with the claim made: and to your belief that 'The Brothers cannot be ignorant . . . cannot be mistaken,' I can only reply that they most undoubtedly are both in respect of me. This, however, would merely be my opinion, were it not that I have an unbroken chain of documentary and other evidence extending in absolute sequence from the first time Imperator appeared down to yesterday. These are all dated communications, notes, and records which speak for themselves, and which in substance can be attested by the knowledge of my friends who have been concerned with me all thro' this matter.
When the old lady first hinted at some connexion between the "Lodge" and me, I entered at once into the thing with Imperator and put the case over and over again. Here is one record which I transcribe. Dec. 24, 1876. "I asked some questions respecting a letter from H.P.B. in which she says in reply to one of mine — 'If you are profoundly certain that I have not understood you, both your
Mt. Athos is a mountain in Greece where there is an Eastern Orthodox monastic center.