being a column of confused shapes, divinities, it seemed, of the
wind, who rose as in a whirling dance of more than human vehemence,
and playing upon pipes and cymbals; and from among these shapes were
thrust out hands, and in these hands were censers. I was bid place my
censer also in a hand and take my place and dance, and as I turned
from the pillars towards the dancers, I saw that the floor was of a
green stone, and that a pale Christ on a pale cross was wrought in
the midst. I asked Robartes the meaning of this, and was told that
they desired 'To trouble His unity with their multitudinous feet.'
The dance wound in and out, tracing upon the floor the shapes of
petals that copied the petals in the rose overhead, and to the sound
of hidden instruments which were perhaps of an antique pattern, for I
have never heard the like; and every moment the dance was more
passionate, until all the winds of the world seemed to have awakened
under our feet. After a little I had grown weary, and stood under a
pillar watching the coming and going of those flame-like figures;
until gradually I sank into a half-dream, from which I was awakened
by seeing the petals of the great rose, which had no longer the look
of mosaic, falling slowly through the incense-heavy air, and, as
they fell, shaping into the likeness of living beings of an
extraordinary beauty. Still faint and cloud-like, they began to
dance, and as they danced took a more and more definite shape, so
that I was able to distinguish beautiful Grecian faces and august
Egyptian faces, and now and again to name a divinity by the staff in
his hand or by a bird fluttering over his head; and soon every mortal
foot danced by the white foot of an immortal; and in the troubled
eyes that looked into untroubled shadowy eyes, I saw the brightness
of uttermost desire as though they had found at length, after
unreckonable wandering, the lost love of their youth. Sometimes, but
only for a moment, I saw a faint solitary figure with a Rosa veiled