street. Terrified as
she was of the nether world and the disembodied souls, she would on no
account risk falling into the hands of the horrible Egyptian, who might
compel her to betray her brother's hiding-place; and Diodoros, who was
ashamed to show her the fears which still possessed him, did as she
desired.

But it was a comfort to him in this horror of death, which had come over
him now for the first time in his life, to kiss the maid once more, and
hold her warm hand in his as they walked on; while the strange chant of
the nocturnal procession still rang in her ears, and now and then the
words recurred to her mind which she had heard in the house where the
departed souls had gathered together:

"The fullness of the time was come."

Did this refer to the hour when the dead came to the end of their life
on earth; or was there some great event impending on the city and its
inhabitants, for which the time had now come? Had the words anything to
do with Caesar's visit? Had the dead come back to life to witness
the scenes which they saw approaching with eyes clearer than those of
mortals?

And then she remembered Korinna, whose fair, pale face had been
strangely lighted up by the lamp she carried; and, again, the Magian's
assurance that the souls of the departed were endowed with every faculty
possessed by the living, and that "those who knew" could see them and
converse with them.

Then Serapion had been right in saying this; and her hand trembled
in her lover's as she thought to herself that the danger which now
threatened Philip was estrangement from the living through intercourse
with the dead. Her own dead mother, perhaps, had floated past among
these wandering souls, and she grieved to think that she had neglected
to look for her and give her a loving greeting. Even Diodoros, who
was not generally given to silent meditation, had his own thoughts to
pursue; and so they walked on in silence till suddenly they heard a dull
murmur of voices. This startled them, and looking up they saw before
them the rocky cliffs in which the Egyptians long since, and now in
later times the Christians, had hewn caves and tombs. From the door of
one of these, only a few paces beyond where they stood, light streamed
out; and as they were about to pass it a large dog barked. Immediately
on this a man came out, and in a rough, deep voice asked them the
pass-word. Diodoros, seized with sudden terror of the dark figure, which
he belie