Gradually, as she peered into the vapors, they seemed to condense themselves into a definite shape. [It was that of a man coming towards her], but some invisible agency seemed ever to retard his approach. In fact the distance seemed not to lessen, and suddenly she saw her own self standing by, vainly straining her gaze into space, indescribable longing in her eyes.
A flash of lightning that seemed to rend the vault of heaven was followed by so terrific a peal of thunder that it seemed to shake the very earth.
A shriek broke from Theodora's lips.
"It is he! It is he!" she cried pointing to the curtain. Hormazd turned, hardly less amazed than the woman. He distinctly saw, in the recurrent flash, a face, pale and brooding, framed by the darkness, of which it seemed a part.
At the next moment it was gone, as if it had melted into air.
Theodora's whole body was numb, as if every nerve had been paralyzed. The Persian was hardly less agitated.
"Is it enough?" she heard Hormazd's deep voice say beside her.
She turned, but, though straining her eyes, she could not see him. The flame in the tripod had died down. She was trembling from head to foot.
But her invincible will was unshaken.
"Nay," she said, and her voice still mocked. "Having seen the man my soul desires, I must know more. The end! I have not seen the end! Shall I possess him? Speak!"