t in bewildering confusion. She had heard that
piercing ring of smitten brass in the Serapeum. Was she still there? Had
she only dreamed of that night-ride with her wounded lover? Perhaps she
had lost consciousness in the mystic chambers, and the clang of the gong
had roused her.

And she shuddered. In her terror she dared not open her eyes for fear of
seeing on all hands the hideous images on the walls and ceiling. Merciful
gods! If her flight from the Serapeum and the rescue of Diodoros by
Andreas had really been but a dream, then the door might open at any
moment, and the Egyptian Zminis or his men might come in to drag her
before that dreadful Caesar.

She had half recovered consciousness several times, and as these thoughts
had come over her, her returning lucidity had vanished and a fresh attack
of fever had shaken her. But this time her head seemed clearer; the cloud
and humming had left her which had impeded the use of her ears and eyes.

Her brain too had recovered its faculties. As soon as she tried to think,
her restored intelligence told her that if she were indeed still in the
Serapeum and the door should open, the lady Euryale might come in to
speak courage to her and take her in her motherly arms, and--And she
suddenly recollected the promise which had come to her from the
Scriptures of the Christians. It stood before her soul in perfect
clearness that she had found a loving comforter in the Saviour; she
remembered how gladly she had declared to the lady Euryale that the
fullness of time had now indeed come to her, and that she had no more
fervent wish than to become a fellow-believer with her kind friend--a
baptized Christian. And all the while she felt as though light were
spreading in her and around her, and the vision she had last seen when
she lost consciousness rose again before her inward eye. Again she saw
the Redeemer as He had stood before her at the end of her ride,
stretching out His arms to her in the darkness, inviting her, who was
weary and heavy laden, to be refreshed by him. A glow of thankfulness
warmed her heart, and she closed her eyes once more.

But she did not sleep; and while she lay fully conscious, with her hands
on her bosom as it rose and fell regularly with her deep breathing,
thinking of the loving Teacher, of the Christians, and of all the
glorious promises she had read in the Sermon on the Mount, and which were
addressed to her too, she could fancy that her head rested o