There was an orchestra, and there were “stations” for the various officials, and the walls were adorned with innumerable cabalistic insignia. I asked Severnius if he knew the meaning of any of them.
“How should I know?” he replied in surprise. “Only the initiates understand those things.”
“Then these women keep their secrets,” said I.
“Yes, to be sure they do,” he replied.
The apartment to the right, on the entrance floor, opposite the baths, was the last we looked into, and was a magnificent banquet hall. A servant who stood near the door opened it as though it had been the door of a shrine, and no wonder! It was a noble room in its dimensions and in all its unparalleled adornments and appurtenances.
The walls and ceiling bristled with candelabra all alight. The tables, set for a banquet, held everything that could charm the eye or tempt the appetite in such a place.
I observed a great many inverted stemglasses of various exquisite styles and patterns, including the thin, flaring goblets, as delicate as a lily-cup, which mean the same thing to Marsians as to us.
“Do these women drink champagne at their banquets?” I asked, with a frown.
“O, yes,” replied Severnius. “A banquet would be rather tame without, wouldn’t it? The Auroras are not much given to drink, ordinarily, but on occasions like this they are liable to indulge pretty freely.”
“Is it possible!” I could say no more than this, and Severnius went on: