women stripped the Nurse of her hallowed robes, of the ancient
origin of which, by the way, I believe that none of them, except perhaps
Harut, had any idea, any more than they knew that the Child represented
the Egyptian Horus and his lady Guardian the moon-goddess Isis. Then,
dressed in some native garments, she was handed over to Ragnall and
thenceforth treated as a stranger-guest, like ourselves, being allowed,
however, to live with her husband in the same house that she had
occupied during all the period of her strange captivity. Here they abode
together, lost in the mutual bliss of this wonderful reunion to which
they had attained through so much bodily and spiritual darkness and
misery, until a month or so later we started upon our journey across the
mountains and the great desert that lay beyond them.

Only once did I find any real opportunity of private conversation with
Lady Ragnall.

This happened after her husband had recovered from the hurts he received
in the battle, on an occasion when he was obliged to separate from her
for a day in order to attend to some matter in the Town of the Child.
I think it had to do with the rifles used in the battle, which he had
presented to the White Kendah. So, leaving me to look after her, he
went, unwillingly enough, who seemed to hate losing sight of his wife
even for an hour.

I took her for a walk in the wood, to that very point indeed on the lip
of the crater whence we had watched her play her part as priestess at
the Feast of the First-fruits. After we had stood there a while we went
down among the great cedars, trying to retrace the last part of our
march through the darkness of that anxious night, whereof now for the
first time I told her all the story.

Growing tired of scrambling among the fallen boughs, at length Lady
Ragnall sat down and said:

"Do you know, Mr. Quatermain, these are the first words we have really
had since that party at Ragnall before I was married, when, as you may
have forgotten, you took me in to dinner."

I replied that there was nothing I recollected much more clearly, which
was both true and the right thing to say, or so I supposed.

"Well," she said slowly, "you see that after all there was something in
those fancies of mine which at the time you thought would best be dealt
with by a doctor--about Africa and the rest, I mean."

"Yes, Lady Ragnall, though of course we should always remember that
coincidence accounts for many thin