I thrust the money into the shaking hand that he stretched out to me. At that moment I did not know whether I was still free, or whether this was that peremptory summons to the Council of which David had warned me. I realized that the spies who had dogged my path were all links in some subtle scheme.
The old man preceded me into a large room on the south side of the auditorium, beyond which I saw another door. This seemed to be a robing-room for the priests, for white garments with the gold ant badge hung from the walls, which were covered with mirrors, from each of which the horrible old face grimaced at me.
“You are to go through that door,” said the old man, pointing to the far end of the room. “It is a great privilege to look upon the face of the goddess. Not everyone may do so, but you are not an ordinary man, are you?”
He shot a penetrating glance at me.
“Thus the Messiah will look upon her when he comes,” he continued. “At least, so runs the prophecy, and remember, you may be he, for it is foretold that he will come unknowing his mission. But wait!”—for I was hastening toward the door—“you must put on a priest’s robes. It is not proper for a layman to look upon the goddess.”
He indicated a white robe with the ant badge that hung on a table beside me.
“Don’t be in a hurry,” he mumbled. “It is a great pleasure to me to talk with strangers from remote countries. Where do you come from? You look like a man of the last century, come back to life. How the barbarians of that period would stare if they could see our civilization!”
“What is this Temple?” I inquired. “Do men worship an ant, and are you its priest?”
He chuckled and leered at me. “Oh, no, I am a very humble old man,” he answered. “I am only an assistant priest. Boss Lembken is the Chief Priest. And you ask about the Ant? The people worship it, but it is not known whether they see it as the symbol of labor, or whether they think it is a god. The religious ideas of the people were always a confused and chaotic jumble, even in the old days of Christianity. But the Ant is only the transition stage from God to Matter. We know there is no God, nothing but Matter, and man is born of Matter and destined to be resolved into it. But the people are still ignorant, and it keeps them calm, to have an ant to pray to. Besides, if there were not the Ant they would turn to Christianity again and set back the clock of progress.
“I remember Christianity well. In my young days it used to be a power. I used to go to church,” he cackled. “Not that I believed in God, any more than the rest. Only the aristocrats and the intellectuals did that. I didn’t believe in the Devil either, but I do now. Do you know the Devil’s name? It is human nature.”