ice had said her wish.

And finally, as the square began to fill with people come to gape at the
pageant of to-day, the chippings and the scaffolding were cleared away,
and with it the bodies of some half-score of workmen who had died from
accidents or their exertions during the building, and there stood the
throne, splendid in its carvings, and all ready for completion. The
lower part stood more than two man-heights above the ground, and no
stone of its courses weighed less than twenty men; the upper part was
double the weight of any of these, and was carved so that the royal
snake encircled the chair, and the great hooded head overshadowed it.
But at present the upper part was not on its bed, being held up high by
lifting rams, for what purposes all men knew.

It was to face this scene, then, that I came out from the royal pyramid
at the summons of the chamberlains in the cool of next morning. Each
great man who had come there before me had banner-bearers and trumpeters
to proclaim his presence; the middle classes were in all their bravery
of apparel; and even poor squalid creatures, with ribs of hunger showing
through their dusty skins, had turbans and wisps of colour wrapped about
their heads to mark the gaiety of the day.

The trumpets proclaimed my coming, and the people shouted welcome, and
with the gorgeous chamberlains walking backwards in advance, I went
across to a scarlet awning that had been prepared, and took my seat upon
the cushions beneath it.

And then came Phorenice, my bride that was to be that day, fresh from
sleep, and glorious in her splendid beauty. She was borne out from the
pyramid in an open litter of gold and ivory by fantastic savages from
Europe, her own refinement of feature being thrown up into all the
higher relief by contrast with their brutish ugliness. One could hear
the people draw a deep breath of delight as their eyes first fell upon
her; and it is easy to believe there was not a man in that crowd which
thronged the square who did not envy me her choice, nor was there a
soul present (unless Ylga was there somewhere veiled) who could by any
stretch imagine that I was not overjoyed in winning so lovely a wife.

For myself, I summoned up all the iron of my training to guard the
expression of my face. We were here on ceremonial to-day; a ghastly
enough affair throughout all its acts, if you choose, but still
ceremonial; and I was minded to show Phorenice a grand manner that would