And, rising from my knees, I stretched out my arms and dared to cry
aloud the Word of Fear, to use which unworthily is death.

Swiftly the answer came. For in the silence I heard the sound of the
shaken sistra heralding the coming of the Glory. Then, at the far end of
the chamber, grew the semblance of the horned moon, gleaming faintly in
the darkness, and betwixt the golden horns rested a small dark cloud, in
and out of which the fiery serpent climbed.

My knees waxed loose in the presence of the Glory, and I sank down
before it.

Then spake the small, sweet Voice within the cloud:

"Harmachis, who wast my servant and my son, I have heard thy prayer, and
the summons that thou hast dared to utter, which on the lips of one with
whom I have communed, hath power to draw Me from the Uttermost. No more,
Harmachis, may we be one in the bond of Love Divine, for thou hast put
Me away of thine own act. Therefore, after this long silence I come,
Harmachis, clothed in terrors, and, perchance, ready for vengeance, for
not lightly can Isis be drawn from the halls of Her Divinity."

"Smite, Goddess!" I answered. "Smite, and give me over to those who
wreak Thy vengeance; for I can no longer bear the burden of my woe!"

"And if thou canst not bear thy burden here, upon this upper earth,"
came the soft reply, "how then shalt thou bear the greater burden that
shall be laid upon thee there, coming defiled and yet unpurified into my
dim realm of Death, that is Life and Change unending? Nay, Harmachis, I
smite thee not, for not all am I wroth that thou hast dared to utter
the awful Word which calls Me down to thee. Hearken, Harmachis; I praise
not, and I reproach not, for I am the Minister of Reward and Punishment
and the Executrix of Decrees; and if I give, I give in silence; and if I
smite, in silence do I smite. Therefore, I will add naught to thy burden
by the weight of heavy words, though through thee it has come to pass
that soon shall Isis, the Mother-Mystery, be but a memory in Egypt. Thou
hast sinned, and heavy shall be thy punishment, as I did warn thee, both
in the flesh and in my kingdom of Amenti. But I told thee that there is
a road of repentance, and surely thy feet are set thereon, and therein
must thou walk with a humble heart, eating of the bread of bitterness,
till such time as thy doom be measured."

"Have I, then, no hope, O holy?"

"That which is done, Harmachis, is done, nor can its issues be altered.
Khem