“Upon what pretext dost thou invoke aid of the unseen powers?” demanded Rahula, the reader of the tarot cards, from behind a heavy tapestry curtain. “If of trivial import, begone at once! I will not hear thee.”
“Life and love are the subjects of my longing,” he answered. “And so urgent is my mission, I would fain discharge any obligation imposed upon me.”
Suddenly the heavy bronze bolts in the door flew apart. There was a sliding, grinding sound as the entrance was cleared, and he was across the threshold of the most noted and able professional fortune and story teller of that day.
“Welcome, Orondo. Neither pitch nor accent betrayed thee. The triplicity of mind, heart, and bodily function are wholly at thy service,” said Rahula, coming forward and placing both hands on the upper arms of her visitor, while she lightly brushed his forehead with her lips. He in turn kissed the back and palm of her left hand, thus appealing directly to her intuitional powers.
A pair of bull-headed and eagle-winged sphinxes guarded the north and south side of the square-topped golden tripod, which was supported by twigs of madroña wood, tipped with gold. This consecrated table occupied the middle of the room; and in the mouths of the sphinxes were hooks from which were hung perfumed, jeweled lamps.
In the center of the tripod was a round disk composed of various metals radiating in stripes. On the outer edge of the rim were twenty-four hieroglyphs of magic, at equal distances from each other. A tiled floor liberally spread with rugs and skins, completed the furnishings, save a duplicate stool of black under-glaze with a meander in white around it, which served as a seat for Rahula on the opposite side. The ceiling showed twelve radiations in the folds of colored silk, which started from the central canopy and ended in a frieze of twenty-four enlarged hieroglyphs, interlaced in a dragonesque meander. Pompeiian-red tapestries hung on the walls, relieved by wise sayings painted on banners of silk tissue, which were placed at intervals in perpendicular strips.
Rahula’s ample, flowing robes were of purple silk, with a circlet of jet on her head, and a girdle of the same at her waist. Around her neck was a filigree gold and silver collarette fitting close to the skin. From a recess in the wall opposite the door Rahula brought forth the figure of a youth, a young calf, a lion, an eagle, a dragon, and a dove. These were of Atlantian workmanship, in pure gold and silver, curiously blended, the feathers, hair, clothes and scales being of silver, while the bodies were of gold.
She placed these on the floor on either side of her seat, saying:
“Should thy quest of knowledge pertain to a wife, we must consult the dove,” holding the figure in her hand as she spoke.
Orondo bowed. She placed the dove in between the sphinxes, and continued: