in his hand, led the way round to the back of
the statue. Here, set into the wall, were a number of stone slabs,
with what seemed to be a name upon each, rudely carved.

The priest pointed to these and said, "Those are the names of the
priests of this shrine. And now," he went on, "I will tell you a thing
which is in my mind--I know not why I should wish to say it--but it
seems to me that I have a great desire to tell you all and keep
nothing back; and I tell you this, though you may turn from me with
shame and horror. We have a law that if a man be condemned to death
for a certain crime--if he have slain one of his kin--he is bound to a
tree in the forest to be devoured piecemeal by the wolves. But if
there seem to be cause or excuse for the deed that he has done, then
he is allowed to purchase his life on one condition--he may come to
this place and slay the priest who serves here, if he can, or himself
be slain. And if he slay him he reigns in his stead until he himself
be slain. And the rites of this place are these: all of this tribe who
may be guilty of the slaying of a man by secret or open violence
without due cause are offered here a sacrifice to the god--and that is
the task that I have done and must do till I am myself slain. And here
in a den dwells a savage beast--I know not its name and its age is
very great--that slays and devours the guilty. What wonder if a man's
heart grows dark and cruel here; I can only look into my own heart,
black as it is, and wonder that it is not blacker. But the gods are
good to me, and have not cursed me utterly.

"And now I will tell you that when I saw you by the pool, and when
you called to me in the night, I thought that perchance you had come
to slay me--and then I saw that you were alone, and not guarded as a
prisoner would be; but even then my heart was dark, because the god
has had no sacrifice for many a month, and seems to call upon me for a
victim--so I had it in my heart to slay you here. And now," he said,
"I have opened the door of my heart, and you have seen all that is to
be seen."

And then he looked upon Paullinus as if to know his judgment; and
Paullinus, turning to the priest, and seeing that in his heart he
desired what was better, and abode not willingly in the ways of death,
said, "Brother, with all my heart I am sorry for you--and I would have
you turn your heart away from these dark and evil gods--who are
indeed, I think, the very spirits of hell--a