Miriam raised her head, and lifted her arm, placing her hand above her eyes, as one does who peers into the distance.
“She is wending her way along a road,” she said, “a narrow road, walled in and lighted by lamps, enclosed in globes of dull red glass, thus giving, if it were possible, a more grewsome effect to the creatures sepulchered there; but Hatsu has no dread, she has been used to count these things when living, as her friends, so she does not fear them dead! Neither does Hatsu’s heart tremble, at the thought of meeting the great High Priest, although she knows that no woman has ever before beheld his face. Although she knows that when he ministers to the people, it is always behind the Temple’s silken veil.”
“It is truth that thou speaketh, fair spirit, so lead on.”
“She is pausing,” said Miriam, “for there has come to her ears the sound of voices. They the voices of a great company of priests, and they are repeating in low, even tones the prayers for the dead. She has prostrated herself upon the earth, and the priests forming in two lines, walk past her, swinging their golden censers right and left, and I can hear the voice of the Princess, joining in the petition, for the soul of her father—still on its journey to the kingdom that lies beyond the tomb. Now the sound of the singing grows fainter, the silence comes again, and Hatsu rises and goes on her way. She has reached a flight of broad stone steps. She is weary and the steps are many, but she presses on. She has reached the great door. She timidly touches it with her finger tips, but it swings noiselessly open, and she enters and finds herself within the temple.”
“Tell me of this temple.”
“It is a great hall, lofty and spacious, and it shines from floor to dome, with gold and silver and jewels. Panels of delicate yellow amber, give a satin-like touch of softness to the cold stone. The recesses that hold the cages of the sacred birds and beasts, are veiled by curtains of heavily embroidered silken stuffs, and all this splendor is added to by the brilliant lights that are set into the walls. Through the centre of the temple, and at intervals along its sides, are massive pillars of yellow and rose colored sand-stone. Beyond is the great altar, brilliant with lights, heavy with the fragrance of burning incense and of the sacred blossoms.
“No human thing is in sight. The tame beasts and birds are wandering about the temple. They have noted the Princess’s entrance, and are hastening to surround her.
“Thus accompanied she is nearing the altar.
“The heavy silken curtains are parting, and from between them there comes, not a man! but a god! the Sun God! in man’s stature! He is exceeding tall and lithe and sinewy. He is in the zenith of manhood, neither young nor old.
“His flesh is firm and white and colorless. His eyes are large and bright, and deeply blue, and his hair is as yellow as the sunbeam, and it falls in waves of glory about his shoulders.