alone and
obedient to a will that had no pity. Flowers were strewn thick in
every direction, and over them she passed to her death, while the eyes
of the priest never once left her face as he crouched in the opening
which led to the secret places of the temple; he even smiled when she
came to a standstill in front of the altar and swayed, slightly
overcome by the heavy atmosphere even in her trance; and he nodded his
head gently when she bent down and gathering handsful of the flowers,
flung them up above her head and laughed the hysterical, crazy laugh
which had reached the ears of the man she loved.

At her feet were _thalees_, brass plates laden with offerings of grain,
of woven stuffs, of gold and silver; at her right hand a crimson silk
_sari_ lay upon a heap of fallen stones, and upon it was a garland of
white flowers; and the slanting mother-o'-pearl eyes of the Goddess
Kali looked down from out the black face at this girl who was to be
sacrificed in atonement for the misery she had unwittingly brought upon
the land of India and her people.

Leonie's hands moved mechanically to her hair, which she unfastened and
shook out in all its glory; then they moved to the fastening of her
jersey, and one by one her garments slipped to the floor, leaving her
nude save for the covering of her hair.

Leaning down she lifted the _sari_, and with one quick movement twisted
it about her waist and across her breast; slipped the garland of white
flowers about her neck, and flinging back her hair raised her hands
above her head and shouted.

She did not sing or cry aloud, she shouted with her mouth wide open,
and her head thrust forward between her uplifted arms, a degrading
picture of religious sensuality; and gathering up armsful of flowers
from the floor, ran lightly over to the priest upon the tip of her bare
toes which were stained a hideous red, and putting the palm of one hand
against her forehead salaamed and said "Yes?" questioningly.

He laid no hand upon her, he made no sign and spoke no word, but she,
as drugged by another's will as if she were under the bane of opium,
followed him unhesitatingly into the secret places of the temple. Her
bare feet made no sound on the dust of centuries; her eyes looked back
unwaveringly into the eyes of the gods who leered down upon her; her
hair caught around those others of which it is not seemly to write; and
before them all she cast her flowers, and upon them all she laid her