Chapter VII.

WORK IN EUROPE.
1884-1887.
After the illness and sudden cure referred to in our last chapter it was decided that Madame Blavatsky should take a trip to Europe, to try to establish herself in health again, and at the last moment Colonel Olcott joined her. She went to Naples first, and then to Paris, where she met many Theosophists from all parts of Europe and from America, and also some of her own Russian relatives. Countess Wachtmeister, who met her then for the first time, gives some very interest- ing descriptions of those days, when many celebrated men and women gathered round her to listen to and join in her conversation, and, perchance, to witness some of the remarkable phenomena which so fre- quently occurred in her presence. Of H. P. B. (as her pupils came to call her) at this time, the Countess writes that " her features were instinct with power, and expressed an innate nobility of character that more than filled the anticipations I had formed ; but what chiefly arrested my attention was the steady gaze of her wonderful grey eyes, piercing yet calm and in- scrutable ; they shone with a serene light which seemed to penetrate and unveil the secrets of the heart." H. P. B. the teacher, occultist and philosopher of later years, supported by a devoted band of loyal pupils, was a finer character than the impetuous and
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excitable Russian of former days ; but rather than a mere feeling of wonder at this should we not be moved to deeper love and reverence for one who was strong enough to overcome the difl&culties within herself as well as those which thronged her path in the world without ?
H. P. B. crossed to London in the summer of 1884, and attracted a great deal of attention to herself and to the movement she served. A few of our oldest English members joined the Society during this visit and a larger number during the last three years of her life (1888-1891), which were spent in London.
One of the greatest trials and sorrows of her life of which we must now speak fell upon her during this first London visit. Readers will remember that she met a certain Madame Coulomb and her husband in Cairo, long before the Theosophical Society was founded, and that she felt herself under a certain obligation to them because of some little assistance they gave her while she was waiting for money to reach her from Russia. Later on these two people came to her in Bombay, where they were stranded, penniless and in great difficulties, and H. P. B. took them into her own household, where they were given the posts of stewards, looking after household matters and living in comfort. They were maintained in their positions at Adyar when the head-quarters were removed there, but, unhappily, Madame Coulomb's former affection for Madame Blavatsky suffered a sea-change and she became her enemy, seeking to injure H. P. B. in any way she could. Her opportunity came when H, P. B, left India for Europe,
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The whole trouble centred round the phenomena which H. P. B. had so lavishly displayed. Madame Coulomb supplied to the Editor of a Christian maga- zine at Madras a series of letters, purporting to have been written to her by Madame Blavatsky, which, if genuine, would have shown her to have employed Madame Coulomb and her husband as confederates in producing some of these phenomena. They further supported their case by showing Madame Blavatsky's room at Adyar, in which was found a clumsy arrange- ment of sliding-panels, etc., by means of which, they alleged, the wonders had been worked. I have no space in which to go into details regarding these charges, but I am glad and proud to say (as other members of the Society must be) that one of the first acts, after her election, of our new President, Mrs. Besant, was to publish a full and complete defence of H. P. B.* H. P. B. at once denied that the letters had ever been written by her, but, to their shame, be it said, those who accused her never even allowed her to see them ! While, with regard to the sliding panels, etc., Mrs. Besant, shows conclusively, from the testimony of many who were on the spot, that these must have been put up after Madame Blavatsky left Adyar for Europe, and while the Coulombs, as house-keepers, had charge of the establishment.
It was long, however, before a full and correct account of these occurrences was obtainable, and in the meantime a great blow had been dealt at the
* H.P.B. and the Masters of Wisdom. Annie Besant. (London, Theosophical Publishing Society.)
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Theosophical Movement, which well-nigh crushed it. On Madame Blavatsky, of course, fell the brunt of the storm and the suffering. Only a few of her friends in the West were faithful to her, but in the East, where Madame Blavatsky returned for a brief visit, the majority of the members stood by her. Her health, however, completely broke down again and she re- turned to Europe.
Out of misfortunes, however, some good speedily began to come. In the days of enforced quiet, while the work seemed stunned by the blow which had fallen upon it and the disturbances which followed, the fountain of the Ancient Wisdom began to flow more fully than ever before for H. P. B., and she felt that by her writings she might justify herself and draw the Movement together. She was right, for her writings from that time to her death are those by which her memory will live and the Society will grow.
Reminiscences of Madame Blavatsky , by Countess Wachtmeister, now furnishes us with accounts of the next few years of H. P. B.'s Kfe in Europe. At the end of 1885, the Countess went to hve with Madame Blavatsky at Wiirzburg, learning that she was in need of care and companionship. The following description of a single day will serve to indicate the routine of her life at this time. By seven in the morning Madame Blavatsky was at her desk writing, with only a pause for breakfast, until one o'clock, when sometimes she would stop for dinner, but at other times her door would remain closed for hours longer, to the despair of the maid, who bemoaned the spoilt food. At seven o'clock writing was laid aside and the rest of the even-
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ing was spent pleasantly with the Countess until nine, when H. P. B. went to bed, where she would surround herself with her Russian newspapers and read them till a late hour.
The work on which Madame Blavatsky was engaged at this time was the Secret Doctrine, the writing of which was a long and arduous labour, requiring the greatest possible freedom from distractions of any kind. As with I sis Unveiled , Madame Blavatsky was constantly helped in this work by the Masters, who dictated to her, wrote for her occasionally, or showed her ancient events and scenes, descriptions of which were required. As in the former work, quotations and references were made to books which Madame Blavatsky had not and could not have had at hand. But indeed the only way to gain an idea of the great- ness of this work is to read it. In it, for the first time, are translated stanzas from the mysterious Book of Dzyan, which contains the record of the life- history of our earth and the system to which we belong, since its birth, myriads of years ago. Only the eye of a seer can understand and translate into speech this record ; Madame Blavatsky did so translate parts of it and added to it commentaries and explanations of her own and other people's, and as a result we have in the Secret Doctrine perhaps the grandest picture of evolution ever penned. But the strenuous work involved in the production of the Secret Doctrine — a work which kept Madame Blavatsky chained to her desk week-in and week-out with scarcely a break for out-door exercise — told very heavily on her health. She moved from Wiirzburg to Ostend, whither Countess
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Wachtmeister accompanied her. Matters grew worse there, and two doctors had to be called in ; they held out no hope of recovery and only marvelled that H. P. B. had lived so long with the complicated dis- orders from which she suffered. One night matters reached a crisis ; H. P. B. herself thought that the time had come for her to lay down her body, and told the Countess, who was sitting up with her, how glad she was at the prospect of being free from so worn-out an instrument, although she had hoped to give more to the world. At last she dropped off into a state of unconsciousness, and the Countess gave herself over to sad reflections as to the apparent uselessness of all Madame Blavatsky's self-sacrifice and suffering, for the work seemed too weak to continue without her, who was the very life-blood of it. At last worn out with the inevitable fatigues of nursing and her own sorrowful thoughts, the Countess herself sank into unconsciousness.
" When I opened my eyes," she writes, " the early morning light was stealing in, and a dire apprehension came over me that I had slept, and that perhaps H. P. B. had died during my sleep. ... I turned round towards the bed in horror and there I saw H. P. B. looking at me calmly with her clear, grey eyes, as she said, ' Countess, come here.' I flew to her side. * What has happened, H. P. B., you look so different from what you did last night ? * She repHed, ' Yes, Master has been here ; He gave me my choice, that I might die, and be free if I would, or I might live and finish the Secret Doctrino. He told me how great would be my sufferings, and what a terrible time I
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would have before me in England (for I am to go there) ; but when I thought of those students to whom I shall be permitted to teach a few things, and of the Theosophical Society in general, to which I have already given my heart's blood, I accepted the sacrifice,' " — and there are many now in England and abroad who bless her every day of their lives for this sacrifice which brought Theosophy to them when they might never otherwise have heard of it.
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