Go; the golden page we blot:
Go; forgetting and forgot!
Go--by final sentence shriven,
Be thy crime absolved in Heaven!"

Once more the Throne and the Emblems behind and above it had been
veiled in impenetrable darkness. Instinctively, as it seemed, every
one present had risen to his feet, and stood with bent head and
downcast eyes as the Condemned, rising mechanically, turned without a
word and passed away.

CHAPTER XXVI - TWILIGHT.

I was, perhaps, the only member of the assembly to whom the doomed man
was not personally known, and to all of us the tie which had been
severed was one at least as close as that of natural brotherhood on
Earth.

How long the pause lasted--how, or why, or when we resumed our seats,
even I knew not. The Shrine was unveiled, and Esmo's next colleague
spoke again--

"A seat among the elders has been three days vacant by the departure
of one well known and dear to all. His colleagues have considered how
best it may be filled. The member they have selected is of the
youngest in experience here; but from the first moment of his
initiation it was evident to us that more than half the learning of
the Starlight had been his before. Nothing could so deeply confirm our
joy and confidence in that lore, as to find that in another world the
truths we hold dearest are held with equal faith, that many of our
deepest secrets have there been sought and discovered by societies not
unlike our own. For that reason, and because of that House, whereof
now but two members are left us, he is by wedlock and adoption the
third, the elder brethren have unanimously resolved to recommend to
Clavelta, and to the Children of the Star, that this seat," and he
pointed to the vacant place, "shall be filled by him who has but now
expressed, with a warmth seldom shown in this place, his love and
trust for the daughter of our Chief, the descendant of our Founder."

Certainly not on my own account, but from the earnest attachment and
devotion they felt for Esmo, both personally as a long-tried and
deservedly revered Chief, and as almost the last representative of a
lineage so profoundly loved and honoured, the approval of all present
was expressed with a sudden and eager warmth which deeply affected me;
the more that it expressed an hereditary regard and esteem, not for
myself but for Eveena, rarely or never, even among the Zveltau, paid
to a woman. Esmo bent his head in assent, and then, addressing me by