H.P.B.

by Charles Johnston

When I first met H. P. B. in the spring of 1887, she was already an old and valued friend. I had been first
introduced to her by reading A. P. Sinnett’s Occult World in November, 1884, and Esoteric Buddhism in
the following spring; and had been completely convinced of the truth of her message, of the reality of the
Masters, and of her position as Messenger of the Great Lodge.

This conviction was tested by the attack made on her by the Society for Psychical Research in London, in
June, 1885, when I made a vigorous protest in H. P. B.’s defence, and by further study of Isis Unveiled,
Five Years of Theosophy and Light on the Path in the months that followed. H. P. B. came to England in
May, 1887, and settled with some of her friends at Maycot, a villa in Upper Norwood near the Crystal
Palace. I was in London for Indian Civil Service examinations, and was able to make arrangements
through these friends to visit her. When I entered the room, she was sitting writing, with her back to the
door. She turned to greet me, the powerful face lit up by a smile in the great blue eyes, her hair light
golden brown, naturally waved or rippled, and parted and drawn back. (more . . . )