Then we went on defiling before the silent company of the golden dead, who seemed to watch us as we walked, till, passing round a judgment-seat that was set near the end of the hall, we stood in front of a little door over which burned great lamps. This door was guarded by two priests with drawn swords, which they pointed towards us as a sign that we should halt.
Then the priests who had escorted us so far fell back behind the judgment-seat, and we were left alone.
“Give the sign, keepers of the gate,” said Maya.
Thereupon one of the men with the drawn swords uttered a low and peculiar cry like to the wail of a child. When he had made this strange sound thrice at intervals of about half a minute, it was answered from within by another and a louder cry pitched upon the same note. Then of a sudden the door was flung wide, and a stern-looking man with a shaven head came through it.
“Who are you that seek entrance into the Sanctuary?” he asked; “are you gods or devils, men or women?”
“We are two men and a woman,” answered Maya, “priests and priestess of the Heart, and we come to take our trial before the Council of the Heart, as is our right.”
“Do you know the open signs of the Heart, the signs of Brotherhood, of Unity, and of Love, that you dare to stand upon the threshold of the Sanctuary, to cross which is death to the ignorant?”
“We know them,” answered Maya. And one by one we gave those signs.
“Do you know the secret signs of the Heart, that you dare to cross this threshold?” he asked again. “Otherwise get you back and take your trial in the common judgment-hall.”
“I know them,” answered Maya, “and I vouch for these men who accompany me. Suffer me, then, to enter, and these with me, for I am here by ancient right, and I have knowledge both of the outward signs and the inner mysteries.”