ce. Within a few days I went
round again to the old shop, and old Ombos was standing there amid his
Queen Anne candlesticks and piles of books just as if he had been
waiting for me.

"'Come in, come in!' he said, speaking in a voice that made me feel
honestly welcome. 'Dear me, dear me! I am very glad you have not
forgotten me.'

"'No,' I said. 'Not forgotten you or the bronze statue. It was the only
thing in your place that did not interest me when I first walked in.'

"I paused, and Ombos prompted me half unconsciously: 'Yes?'

"'Now!' I said, meeting his eyes misting my own in doing so, 'it is the
only thing I should like to see.'

"'Ah!' he said.... 'Well, I told you that he might come over you slowly;
but the gods direct rightly whom they will. I tell you that such things
as the Keys of Mercy and the Lamps of Wisdom are not gained in one swift
breath. What's gained in a few moments is not worth having. All those
who have through toil and pain entered into citizenship in the Celestial
City will tell you that. Gods do not grow in one night like mushrooms.
Every great masterpiece is an evolution, be it a statue, a poem, a
painting, a man--or a god. If it is ever given to you to see my Albert
of Cologne as I see him you will understand what I mean.' He turned
round to me and I gave a start, I can tell you. Never have I seen such
lurid gleams of light as those that danced from those two deep-set eyes!
I say 'lurid,' for at times, the colour of them took a blood red hue,
and changed quickly again to a glittering green. As I stared at him--it
was all over in a few seconds--the baleful glare seemed to grow in
intensity, till I felt as though I were enduring the mocking gaze of
Albert of Cologne himself; and verily, I half expected any moment to see
Ombos change into a mighty bronze demon or some appalling, devilish
shape from the under-world.

"'Er--shall we go and have a look at the statue?' I said, with a
half-conscious determination to see whether it really ever had existed
(I was beginning to think that Ombos had been using a kind of hypnotic
influence on me, thus inducing me to see visions); and also, as I
believe, with some vague wish to shut out the sight of those rolling,
glittering eyes. For the first time I felt towards him a fierce anger,
and I found myself making a resolution never to return to see him again
when once I was free of the place.

"'Ah!' he said, 'I thought you'd want to come back and see A