girl, and if you still have qualms, remembering that, do not
come."

She looked up at me with a sneer. "I was foolish," she said. "My lord's
coldness has grown into a proverb, and I should have remembered it. Yes;
I will come."

"Go now, then," said I, and waited till she had passed on ahead and was
out of sight and hearing. With Ylga to help me, my tasks were somewhat
lightened, and their sequence changed. In the first instance, now, I
had got to make my way with as little delay and show as possible into a
certain sanctuary which lay within the temple of our Lady the Moon. And
here my knowledge as one of the Seven stood me in high favour.

All the temples of the city of Atlantis are in immediate and secret
connection with the royal pyramid, but the passages are little used,
seeing that they are known only to the Seven and to the Three above
them, supposing that there are three men living at one time sufficiently
learned in the highest of the highest mysteries to be installed in that
sublime degree of the Three. And, even by these, the secret ways may
only be used on occasions of the greatest stress, so that a generation
well may pass without their being trodden by a human foot.

It was with some trouble, and after no little experiment that I groped
my way into this secret alley; but once there, the rest was easy. I had
never trodden it before certainly, but the plan of it had been taught
me at my initiation as one of the Seven, and the course of the windings
came back to me now with easy accuracy. I walked quickly, not only
because the air in those deep crannies is always full of lurking evils,
but also because the hours were fleeting, and much must be done before
our Lord the Sun again rose to make another day.

I came to the spy-place which commands the temple, and found the holy
place empty, and, alas! dust-covered, and showing little trace that
worshippers ever frequented it these latter years. A vast stone of
the wall swung outwards and gave me entrance, and presently (after the
solemn prayer which is needful before attempting these matters), I took
the metal stair from the place where it is kept, and climbed to the
lap of the Goddess, and then, pulling the stair after me, climbed again
upwards till my length lay against her calm mysterious face.

A shivering seized me as I thought of what was intended, for even a
warrior hardened to horrid sights and deeds may well have qualms when
he is called upon to jugg