"
Here our host rejoined us. We passed into the gallery, where several
persons were awaiting us; the men for the most part wearing a small
vizor dependent from the turban, which concealed their faces; the
women all, without exception, closely veiled. As soon as Esmo
appeared, the party formed themselves into a sort of procession two
and two. Motioning me to take the last place, Esmo passed himself to
its head. If the figure beside me were not at once recognised, I could
not mistake the touch of the hand that stole into my own. The lights
in the gallery were extinguished, and then I perceived a lamp held at
the end of a wand of crystal, which gleamed above Esmo's head, and
sufficed to guide us, giving light enough to direct our footsteps and
little more. Perhaps this half-darkness, the twilight which gave a
certain air of mystery to the scene and of uncertainty to the forms of
objects encountered on our route, had its own purpose. We reached very
soon the end of the gallery, and then the procession turned and passed
suddenly into another chamber, apparently narrow, but so faintly
lighted by the lamp in our leader's hands that its dimensions were
matter of mere conjecture.
Pages:
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391