"Be pleased, lord, to come with me."
"And may the gods watch over thee, worthiness," added Hiram, as he left him.
Ramses followed the priest. Somewhat aside from the temple, in the thickest of the grove, was a stone bench, and perhaps a hundred rods from it a villa of no great size at which was heard singing.
"Are people praying there?" asked the prince.
"No," answered the priest, without concealing his dislike; "at that house assemble the worshippers of Kama, our priestess who guards the fire before the altar of Astaroth."
"Whom does she receive today?"
"No one at any time," answered the guide, offended. "Were the priestess of the fire not to observe her vow of chastity she would have to die."
"A cruel law," observed Ramses.
"Be pleased, lord, to wait at this bench," said the Phoenician priest, coldly; "but on hearing three blows against the bronze plate, go to the temple, ascend to the first platform, and thence to the purple story."
"Alone?"