'They invoked the name of the Jewish Christ, but the spirit rebelled against them, and disowned their power. They had made a cross, the symbol of that God, to carry out their plan, and when they had fled and I also looked back, I saw the cross all lit with glorious sheen in the hands of the man, and the spirit had come out of him. I fear this faith; Diana, Hecate are servants to it, and this Christ will prevail in Ephesus. I would this God would shield me from the curse, and I would lie at His feet in gratitude and joy.'
'Endora, thou speakest strange sayings. Art thou certain of all those things, or are they phantasies of the mind?'
'They are true, noble Saronia, as true as yonder Temple is the shrine of thy goddess; true as there is a central sun in the universe, around which all other suns revolve. And this Christ, they say, is the great spiritual orb, the grand Spirit of the whole around which every other intelligence moves, and to whom every spirit in the vast domains shall bow. It's a terrible thought, is it not?'
'Why?'
'Because, if this saying be true, Diana is no more. She is not supreme, and will fade away as the ages grow, dwindling into nothingness, and her teaching be but a beautiful story.'
'Ah! Endora, thou speakest wisely. Truly thou art acting a part in assuming the craft of a low-born fortune-teller. I see thou art skilled in words, and still hast the soul and wisdom of a priestess; as a diamond thou wilt sparkle, begrimed as thou art with the adverse circumstances of thy life. Thou hast interested me. It is well one should know what is propagated around her. Hast thou any more respecting this strange belief?'
'Only this: One day when on the mountain yonder two men were near. I hid, but close enough to listen.'
'Who were they?'
'One was Chios, the other his teacher, one of the chiefs of the Christians.'
'What did they say?'