thou peep through its golden doors before
the time? The future is hid from mortals because, could they pierce its
veil, it would crush them with its terrors. If all the woes of life and
death lay open the gaze, who would dare to live and who--oh! who could
dare to die?"

"Then woes await me, O thou who wast my mother?"

"How can it be otherwise? Light and darkness make the day, joy and
sorrow make the life. Thou art human, be content."

"Divine also, O Ahura, if all tales be true."

"Then pay for thy divinity in tears and be satisfied. Content is the
guerdon of the beast, but gods are wafted upwards on the wings of pain.
How can that gold be pure which has not known the fire?"

"Thou tellest me nothing," wailed Tua, "and it is not for myself I ask.
I am fair, I am Amen's daughter, and splendid is my heritage. Yet, O
Dweller in Osiris, thou who once didst fill the place I hold to-day, I
tell thee that I would pay away this pomp, could I but be sure that I
shall not live loveless, that I shall not be given as a chattel to one
whom I hate, that one--whom I do not hate--will live to call me--wife.
Great dangers threaten him--and me, Amen is mighty; he is the potter
that moulds the clay of men; if I be his child, if his spirit is
breathed into me, oh! let him help me now."

"Let thine own faith help thee. Are not the words of Amen, which he
spake concerning thee, written down? Study them and ask no more. Love
is an arrow that does not miss its mark; it is the immortal fire from on
high which winds and waters cannot quench. Therefore love on. Thou shalt
not love in vain. Queen and Daughter, fare thee well awhile."

"Nay, nay, one word, Immortal. I thank thee, thou Messenger of the
gods, but when these troubles come upon me--and another, when the sea
of dangers closes o'er our heads, when shame is near and I am lonely, as
well may chance, then to whom shall I turn for succour?"

"Then thou hast one within thee who is strong to aid. It was given to
thee at thy birth, O Star of Amen, and Asti can call it forth. Come
hither, thou Asti, and swiftly, for I must be gone, and first I would
speak with thee."

Asti crept forward, and the glowing shape in the royal robe bent over
her so that the light of it shone upon her face. It bent over her and
seemed to whisper in her ear. Then it held out its hands towards Tua as
though in blessing, and instantly was not.

Once more the two women stood in Tua's chamber. Pale and sh