“How long I sat thus in solitude, none can tell; at last through the same portal she came back, and with her my master Zelas; both were in the robes of their office; jewels glittered upon them like hoar frost, and there was that in the set faces, that spoke of the to come. The Queen, said no word; but I felt that her eyes dwelt upon me with a tenderness unspeakable. It was Zelas my master that broke the silence.
“‘Alric, beloved,’ he said, ‘the hour is come, in which we twain must depart. Keep thou a silent tryst, until yon clock shall toll ten times the hour. Then rise, open the wicket gate, and enter without fear to gather that which thou shalt find into the urn I hold; then, with this scroll in thy hand, learn the way to return again, to the world. Day shall scarce have dawned, and the tired nation will be wrapped in a deep sleep; go thou up, and out of Egypt, and with thee, bear the urn and when thou art upon the edge of Mizram’s skirt, scatter the ashes, thou hast by thee, to the four winds of heaven. Alric, beloved, adieu; somewhere, souls meet again, somewhere.’
“He lifted his grand face upward, and his lips moved as if in prayer;—then the twain turned, and entered through the gate. All was silent, and the unseen bell told the hours, until full ten had come and gone; then I rose, and betook me to the iron gate, opened it, and found myself in a low room that held two white cradles. The cradles were empty, but in the hollow stone basin under each, lay small heaps of white ashes. No trace of fire, no melted gold, no dulled gem was there, no sign by which to tell, which had been Queen and which High Priest. I stooped and gathered the dust into the urn, took my scroll, and so departed, and in the early dawn (as Zelas had bade me) I went out of Egypt.
“Years have come and gone since then, so many, that the past of which I write seems like a dream and in my heart, there has come to be a longing, to see once more, the faces of Miriam, and Hatsu, but most of all to hear again, the voice of the little child—Miriam’s child and mine.”
Transcriber’s Note
Archaic and variant spelling is preserved as printed, but variations on spelling within the book have been made consistent. The author’s punctuation is preserved as printed, unless there appeared to be a definite error.
The Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader.
Page [21] refers to “Troth’s kingdom.” This may be an error for “Thoth’s kingdom,” but as there is no way to be sure, it is preserved as printed.
Page [101] has an omitted word following ‘the’—“... and there was that in the set faces, that spoke of the to come.” As there is no way to determine what the missing word may have been, it is preserved as printed.
Errors in quotation marks have been corrected, including omitted commas in speech.