“Then I knew that in that room I alone was living, and a great horror overwhelmed me, a great fear.
“I moved from the couch where I was lying, my feet caught and held, by the wrappings of the bed.
“Freeing them, I crept through the warm, scented darkness, between the couches of the queens. Very quietly they lay there in the stillness, and the light the silver lamps gave out through their fretted sides, was so dim that I could barely see the heavy curtains hiding the walls. I drew the curtains aside, seeking an outlet, but everywhere my hands fell on the smooth surface of the wall.
“Then I knew that what had been a chamber for the living had been sealed into a tomb, for it had been thought, that knowing the law, the five queens had dealt faithfully. And with this knowledge my life maddened within me, and I tore the curtains down. Stumbling over the heaps of fallen draperies I sped forward, seeking with frenzied hands. I laid both hands flat out against the wall, passionately seeking.
“But there was no opening, no door.
“Only the dead were free. And I, who had planned so cunningly.
“The silver lamps moved slightly as they hung.”
CHAPTER XVI
Forsooth the present we must give
To that which cannot pass away,