trying to escape we outflew in my
own vessel their ships of war, we could never escape the ubiquitous
wayleals, the magnic-winged troops that could fight equally well on
land or sea.

Bah! I said, such a dream is idiotic. When I thought of the splendor
of the position that she would be obliged to renounce for the sake of
her love for the passing stranger, and of the awful penalties that
awaited transgression in one so exalted, I considered that no craving
of passion should dare to resist such difficulties.

Here duty was resistance. Nowhere is man exonerated from the penalty
of having to pay a price for his possessions, and even possession
itself is not happiness. Better, I said to myself, to depart in peace
than encourage the goddess in a desperate enterprise, if indeed she
had any such desires as my vanity attributed to her.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

LYONE'S CONFESSION.

The following day I again met the goddess in the same magnificent
apartment in her palace. She was in a contemplative mood. A white robe
of the finest silk enveloped her, showing to full advantage her superb
figure. Her silky, shadowed eyes shone with a mild translucent light.
The ripe beauty of her face was somewhat pale, for some tearful memory
possessed her. Over her shoulders fell the torrent of her hair, while
on her brow gleamed a diminutive diadem whose central part was
fashioned like the throne of the gods. She wore a heavy necklace of
shrimp-pink pearls.

As we reposed on wide, luxurious couches a maiden of rare beauty
brought us dishes of curiously-prepared meats and wine of the finest
vintage in flagons of gold. From distant cloisters came wafted the
echoes of singing priestesses breathing their intoxicating Amens.

Lyone had been reciting her past soul experiences, now and then
pausing as the story would grow more sacred. To me the revelations of
the goddess were of breathless interest. I dare not urge her too
forcibly, fearing to break the spell of her confessional mood.

She was pleased to say that my advent in Egyplosis had revived the
past as no other event of late times had done. She was willing to
recall the sweet experiences of her early life, prior to her elevation
to the throne of the goddess.

I knew she was in that mood when confession to a kindred soul is most
consoling to the heart. I urged her to continue the story.

"Well," she continued, "my parents, who were people of importance in
Calnogor, had destined me for