"'Who passes? In the name of the Holy Osiris speak.'

"'Rei, the Master Builder and the anointed Priest, and with him
another,' I made answer. 'Open.'

"'Nay, I open not. There is one within who may not be wakened.'

"'Who, then, is within?'

"'She whom the Queen slew.'

"'The Queen sends one who would look on her she slew.'

"Then the priest gazed on the hooded form beside me and started back,
crying, 'A token, noble Rei.'

"I held up the Royal signet, and, bowing, he opened. Being come within
the Temple I lit the tapers that had been prepared. Then by their feeble
light we passed through the outer hall till we came to the curtains that
veil the sanctuary of the Holy Place, and here I quenched the tapers;
for no fire must enter there, save that which burns upon the altar of
the dead. But through the curtains came rays of light.

"'Open!' said Meriamun, and I opened, and hand in hand we passed in. On
the altar that is in the place the flame burnt brightly. The chamber is
not wide and great, for this is the smallest of the temples of Tanis,
but yet so large that the light could not reach its walls nor pierce
the overhanging gloom, and by much gazing scarcely could we discover the
outline of the graven shapes of the Holy Gods that are upon the walls.
But the light fell clear upon the great statue of the Osiris that was