y, and though the moon gleamed at times
in the gaps that they left in blue air, her beam was more hazy and
dulled. The locusts no longer were heard in the grass, nor the howl of
the dogs in the forest. Out of the circle, the stillness was profound.

And about this time I saw distinctly in the distance a vast Eye! It drew
nearer and nearer, seeming to move from the ground at the height of some
lofty giant. Its gaze riveted mine; my blood curdled in the blaze from
its angry ball; and now as it advanced larger and larger, other Eyes, as
if of giants in its train, grew out from the space in its rear; numbers
on numbers, like the spearheads of some Eastern army, seen afar by pale
warders of battlements doomed to the dust. My voice long refused an
utterance to my awe; at length it burst forth shrill and loud,--

"Look! look! Those terrible Eyes! Legions on legions! And hark! that
tramp of numberless feet; they are not seen, but the hollows of earth
echo the sound of their march!"

Margrave, more than ever intent on the caldron, in which, from time to
time, he kept dropping powders or essences drawn forth from his coffer,
looked up, defyingly, fiercely.

"Ye come," he said, in a low mutter, his once mighty voice sounding
hollow and labouring, but fearless and firm,--"ye come,--not to conquer,
vain rebels!--ye whose dark chief I struck down at my feet in the tomb
where my spell had raised up the ghost of your first human master, the
Chaldee! Earth and air have their armies still faithful to me, and still
I remember the war-song that summons them up to confront you! Ayesha!
Ayesha! recall the wild troth that we pledged amongst roses; recall the
dread bond by which we united our sway over hosts that yet own thee as
queen, though my sceptre is broken, my diadem reft from my brows!"

The Veiled Woman rose at this adjuration. Her veil now was withdrawn,
and the blaze of the fire between Margrave and herself flushed, as with
the rosy bloom of youth, the grand beauty of her softened face. It was
seen, detached as it were, from her dark-mantled form; seen through the
mist of the vapours which rose from the caldron, framing it round like
the clouds. that are yieldingly pierced by the light of the evening
star.

Through the haze of the vapour came her voice, more musical, more
plaintive than I had heard it before, but far softer, more tender; still
in her foreign tongue; the words unknown to me, and yet their sense,
perhaps, made i