ached the predestined place and hour. Also, as will appear,
there were other things of which this is not the time to speak, whereby
I am still more tortured and perplexed.

In short, I know nothing, except that my existence has been intertangled
with one of the great mysteries of the world; that the glorious being
called Ayesha won the secret of life from whatever power holds it in its
keeping; that she alleged--although of this, remember, we have no actual
proof--such life was to be attained by bathing in a certain emanation,
vapour or essence; that she was possessed by a passion not easy to
understand, but terrific in its force and immortal in its nature,
concentrated upon one other being and one alone. That through this
passion also some angry fate smote her again, again, and yet again,
making of her countless days a burden, and leading the power and the
wisdom which knew all but could foreknow nothing, into abysses of
anguish, suspense, and disappointment such as--Heaven be thanked!--we
common men and women are not called upon to plumb.

For the rest, should human eyes ever fall upon it, each reader must
form his own opinion of this history, its true interpretation and
significance. These and the exact parts played by Atene and myself in
its development I hope to solve shortly, though not here.

Well, as I have said, the upshot of it all was that Ayesha was devoured
with anxiety about Leo. Except in this matter of marriage, his every
wish was satisfied, and indeed forestalled. Thus he was never again
asked to share in any of the ceremonies of the Sanctuary, though,
indeed, stripped of its rites and spiritual symbols, the religion of
the College of Hes proved pure and harmless enough. It was but a diluted
version of the Osiris and Isis worship of old Egypt, from which it
had been inherited, mixed with the Central Asian belief in the
transmigration or reincarnation of souls and the possibility of drawing
near to the ultimate Godhead by holiness of thought and life.

In fact, the head priestess and Oracle was only worshipped as a
representative of the Divinity, while the temporal aims of the College
in practice were confined to good works, although it is true that they
still sighed for their lost authority over the country of Kaloon. Thus
they had hospitals, and during the long and severe winters, when
the Tribes of the Mountain slopes were often driven to the verge of
starvation, gave liberally to the destitute fro