n
dissolve into air once more!

On each side the door sat a statue of polished red granite, with calm
regular face and hands on knees. Helwyse, who had not observed them
before, fancied them summoned as witnesses to the compact then to be
solemnized. Doubtless they had witnessed ceremonies not less solemn or
imposing.

On the black marble altar at the further end of the hall was burning
some rich incense, whose perfumed smoke, clambering heavily upwards,
mingled with that of the lamps beneath the ceiling. On the polished
floor, in front, lay a rug of dark blue cloth, heavily bordered with
gold; upon it were represented in conscientious profile a number of
lank-limbed Egyptians performing some mystic rite. To the right of the
altar stood the priest Manetho, apparently engaged in prayer. Balder
spoke to him.

"This is more like a tomb than a wedding hall. Would not the
conservatory have been more fitting?"

"Better make a tomb the starting-point of marriage than its goal!"
smiled the holy man. "And is it not well that your posterity should
begin from the spot which saw the union that gave you being? and
beneath the eyes of him but for whom neither this hall nor we who here
assemble would to-day have existed!" He pointed to the mummy of old
Hiero Glyphic, the aspect of which might have left a bad taste in the
mouth of Joy herself. Balder shrugged his shoulders.

"It matters little, perhaps, where the seed is sown, so that the
flower reach the sunshine at last. But your mummy is an ill-favored
wedding-guest, whatever honor we may owe the man who once lived in it.
I would, not have Gnulemah--"

"Behold her!" interrupted Manetho, speaking as hough a handful of dust
had suddenly got in his throat.

Yes, there she came, the old Nurse following her like a misshapen
shadow. Daughter of sun and moon,--a modern Pandora endowed with the
strength of a loftier nature! She was robed in creamy white; her
pendants were woven pearls. Fine lines of virgin gold gleamed in her
turban, and through her long veil, and along the folds of her girdle.
But the serpent necklace had been replaced by the dandelion chain that
Balder had made her. Her lips and cheeks were daintily aflame, and a
tender fire flickered in her eyes, which saw only Balder. She was a
bridal song such as had not been sung since Solomon.

As the two reached the altar, Salome stepped to one side, and
Manetho's eye fell upon her; for a moment his gaze fixed, while a
s