And there she stands, so young, so fair, so dove encircled! and all about her are fawning the sacred cats licking her sandalled feet, and the hem of her garment, and the people are crying out as with one voice:
“ALL HAIL TO OUR GODDESS, QUEEN HATSU!! ALL HAIL!! AMEN AND AMEN!!”
CHAPTER VI.
As Miriam uttered the last words, Alric replaced the glass disk that he had been holding, in the bosom of his toga, he dropped his raised hands, and the Israelite closed her eyes, and her head fell upon her breast and she slept.
Then Alric folded his arms and looked at the girl.
“I would,” he said softly, as to himself, “that you could know, sweet Miriam, that there is a something within me, crying ‘Shame, upon this power I wield;’ but the necessity is great, and fate has made you the medium by which I may gain my end. I have sought Egypt for a subject upon whom I might yield perfect illusory impression, an impression conveyed by hypnotic suggestion to make me master of the actions, and spoken words of another, who is the next link in the human chain to this, my subject.
“Oh, that this occult science, were less feebly understood in my day! Oh, that I may be re-born into that to come in the world’s history, when this power shall be truly a subjective phenomena! a servant of man! when it shall, in its three stages of lethargy, somnambulism, and catelepsy, be used for the good of mankind in the arts of medicine and surgery, to a time when the priest physician, who believes in cure through faith, the priest physician who believes in cure through the cast-off garments of saints, or the charms of philtre and prayer wheel, shall be swept away, with the chaff and the dross! A time when the priest physician shall be the scientist, who can understand the harmony of the unseen, and apply it to the daily and hourly life conditions, and needs.
“How far,—now having found my medium—shall I be able to use her?
“I must take this woman into my own life. If she were any other than the property of the Princess, my gold and influence could buy her, as it is I must ask her from Hatsu. Not in the marriage of a master to a concubine, but through all the sacred Egyptian rights of vow and ring. Yes, I shall wed you, Miriam, and you will love me, and in the fullness of time you will bear me a son. Aye, carry it under your heart, and bring it forth unconscious of your motherhood. For I will keep you in entrancement through those days and safe hid from all eyes save Hatsu’s and my own, and when the time has been accomplished Hatsu shall take the child, and holding it before the people, proclaim it her son and heir!