sing his character, a character I admire much more
than he does. But as it was you who saw him and you who have described
him as accurately as if you had his portrait in front of you, I feel
certain it was not a dream."

Meg remained silent, while her thoughts worked with a new and amazing
rapidity. In Egypt she felt that anything was possible; the
supernatural might very soon become natural. And certainly the face
which she had seen was so unlike the types of the conventional figures
of the Egyptian kings she would have visualized if she had tried her
best to picture one from imagination, that she began to wonder if
Michael was right in his assumption that she had actually seen and been
in communication with the spirit of Akhnaton.

"But why should he have chosen me, this great Pharaoh?" she said.
"Modern me, with no knowledge whatsoever of his kingdom or his beliefs!"

"Ah, why?" Michael said. "Have we ever been told why Mary was chosen
to be the Mother of Jesus, the Divine Man Who taught the world what
Akhnaton tried to teach his people thirteen hundred years before His
coming--that the Kingdom of God is within us? Who can tell the manner
or the means by which God works? Not half, or a quarter, of the
Christian world knows, Meg, how often God speaks to them through
mysterious channels--through spirits, if you like. When people are
inspired to do good works, to lead what the material world calls holy
lives, God has spoken to them, the God Who is within them, the God Who
brought you and me together, Meg, to enjoy this valley. Its emptiness
and stillness is full of God. Don't you feel that its beauty and
solitude are due to His presence?"

Meg shivered. "I know what you mean."

"Don't be nervous. It is a great privilege, this sense of the divine,
this beautiful closeness to God, this cutting off of our material
selves, this knowledge of our Kingdom of Heaven within us."

"I am far more earth-tied than you, Mike. I do feel these things, but
more feebly, less convincingly. I have never thought much about them.
We Lamptons are very practical; all our men have led good, clean,
straightforward lives, and our women have not made bad wives and
mothers, but I don't think we have been idealists, or very religious.
Our sense of honour more than our beliefs has kept us straight."

"Poor, poor Akhnaton!" Michael said. His thoughts had strayed while
Margaret spoke.

"Why do you say 'Poor Akhnaton?' Why was he