ed from the palace one night, and had been
re-taken and brought back; how Solomon had been condemned to die; and
how, by a miracle, he succeeded in escaping from the dungeon.

Avidly did Sulamith listen to him, and, when he grew silent, amidst the
stillness of the night their lips joined, their arms entwined each
other, and breast touched breast. And when morning drew near, and
Sulamith's body seemed a foamy pink, and the fatigue of love encircled
her splendid eyes with blue shadows, she would say with a tender smile:

"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick with love."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER TEN

X.

In the temple of Isis, upon Mount Beth-El-Khav, the first part of the
great mystery, to which the faithful of the lesser initiation were
admitted, was just over. The priest on duty,--an ancient elder in white
vestment, with shaven head, and neither moustache nor beard,--had turned
from the elevation of the altar toward the people, and pronounced in a
quiet, tired voice:

"Dwell in peace, my sons and daughters. Wax perfect through deeds.
Extoll the name of the goddess. And may her blessings be over ye for
ever and aye."

He raised his hands on high over the people, in benediction. And
immediately all the initiates into the lesser rank of the mysteries
prostrated themselves on the floor, and then, arising, softly and in
silence made their way to the exit.

To-day was the seventh day of the month Phamenoth, sacred to the
mysteries of Osiris and Isis. Since evening the solemn procession had
thrice made the circuit of the temple with lamps, palm-leaves, and
amphorae; with the occult symbols of the gods and the sacred images of
the Phallus. In the midst of the procession, upon the shoulders of the
priests and the minor prophets, was reared the closed _naos_ of costly
wood, ornamented with pearl, ivory, and gold. Therein dwelt the goddess
herself,--She, The Invisible, The Bestower of Fecundity, The Mysterious;
Mother, Sister, and Wife of gods.

The evil Seth had enticed his brother, the divine Osiris, to a feast;
through craftiness he made him to lie down in a magnificent sarcophagus,
and, having clapped down the lid over him, cast the sarcophagus with the
body of the great god into the Nile. Isis, who had just given birth to
Horus, with yearning and tears searches all the world over for the body
of her spouse, and for long can not find it. Finally, slaves inform her
that the body had b