"Hathor. That temple of Denderah seemed haunted to-day."
He pulled off his hat to let the breeze get at his hair, too.
"When we were standing in the sanctuary I seemed to be smelling death and corruption. Ugh!"
His face changed at the memory.
"And the cries of those bats! They sounded like menacing spirits. I was a fool to go to such a place to ask a blessing on our voyage. My attempt at paganism was punished, and no wonder, Ruby. For I don't think I'm really a bit of a pagan; I don't think I see much joy in the pagan life, that is so much cracked up by some people. I don't see how the short life and the merry one can ever be really merry at all. How can a man be merry with a darkness always in front of him?"
"What darkness?"
"Death—without immortality."
She said nothing for a moment. Then she asked him:
"Do you look upon death merely as a door into another life?"
"I believe it is. Don't you?"