Marcellina. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul, Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.
"I have only kept that of Jesus."
(She half opens her mantle.)
"Dost thou desire it?"
A Voice. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the hour!—come!"
(And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him away.
He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended many steps, he finds himself before a door.
Then the one who is leading him—(is it Hilarion?—he does not know)—whispers in the ear of another: "The Lord is about to come!"—and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling, and without furniture.
The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word Knouphus inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal. Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron representing the heads of various animals:—the head of an ox, the head of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an ass—again!