tables
overturned; then came the swirl and bubbling hiss of a flood that
gleamed darkly under the golden lamps and swiftly rose towards them,
bearing upon its surface white arms with outstretched hands gripping at
the empty air, and gauzy robes which half hid gleaming limbs, white
faces with wildly-staring eyes, and teeth that grinned between
tight-drawn lips so lately smiling; strong swimmers fighting for another
moment's breath, and one by one dragged down by many hidden hands: then
the sharp hiss of swift-quenched flames, then darkness, and the stifling
of sobbing groans into silence, and after that only the sibilant
undertone of waters rushing swiftly past smooth walls through utter
night.

* * * * *

"Dear me!" the Professor heard himself say as he sat up and rubbed his
eyes, "what on earth can be the matter with me? Egypt--the Queen--Palace
of Pepi--bridal feast of Nitocris and Menkau-Ra--yes, yes, of course I
remember it all now. She made me impersonate Nefer in the mummy-case,
and then, when she had frightened her guests half out of their wits, she
avenged her lover by opening the sluice-gates and drowning the lot,
herself included. A rare device, that of old Pepi's, for getting rid of
hospitably entertained enemies. Not quite in accordance with our modern
ideas of sport, I'm afraid, but in those days we thought a good deal
more of effectiveness than sport. Good heavens! What sort of nonsense am
I talking? Dreaming, I suppose."

He stopped as the reflection of a brilliant flash of lightning lit up
his window, and bursts of rain dashed upon the panes.

"Ah yes, of course, that's it! Quite in accordance with the theory of
dreams. It's only the difference between a thunder-shower and the Nile
flood. The Genius of Dreams could easily account for the rest. Certainly
this apparatus that we call our brain plays some very curious tricks
with us sometimes. I suppose this is one of them. And yet if ever there
was a dream that seemed like reality that one did. The Mummy and the
long-dead Nitocris back to life! By the way, I wonder whether that
flagon was really there, and whether there _was_ any wine in it? If
there was, perhaps I took too much of it. Ah, there's the rain again!

"By the way now, suppose that this fourth dimension that has puzzled so
many of us is, after all, duration? If so, it would solve a great many
problems, because it would be possible to be and not to be at the s