But their joy turned to sadness as the hour of separation from their Master drew near. "Joy was hidden in this painful departure," Age explained, "for without pain, joy cannot be known."

On the 16th, their last day in Paris, Baba called a few to his room and stood beside the window, spelling on the board: "You do not see me as I really am. This body is not me; my Real Self is far more beautiful. I am Infinite Truth, Infinite Love, Infinite Power."

Then he stated, "I am Life Eternal. I was Krishna, I was Buddha, I was Jesus and now I am Meher Baba."

Baba had given them a choice whether to stay in the hotel or go out that afternoon. They chose to stay and Chanji narrated stories of Baba's life. After a few phonograph records were played, Baba dismissed them, calling them back one by one to give each a special message and orders while he was away. "Be happy and don't worry," he directed. "Write to me every ten days. I will return in the spring. Continue loving me more and more."

Accompanied by Margaret, who knew French and was acting as an escort, Baba, Ali and Chanji took a train from Paris to Marseilles at six o'clock that evening. The whole group came to the station at Gare de Lyon to see them off.

Some idea of the emotional state of those left behind in Paris is revealed in this letter which Kim wrote to Chanji, describing how they felt:

You can guess what we felt like after we had seen your train puff out of the station; and I am afraid that the tears which we had somehow kept back whilst saying goodbye, commenced to flow freely as soon as Baba could no longer see our faces.

I can remember nothing of our journey back to the hotel, or how we somehow found our way into Baba's room, but we had not been sitting there so very long before we began to feel his presence so strongly with us, that we dried our tears, smiled and began to talk of him.

He seemed to be there, with us, as indeed he really was — and I could see his face smiling and his eyes looking at us with deepest love. We knew that he would not wish us to weep, so to please him, we sang his favorite songs, talked over the incidents of the week and made many happy plans for the future.