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It yet lacked several hours of the fateful midnight, as Sarthia,

her body perfumed and annointed, according to the prescribed

rites, was borne by faithful attendants from the bath into the

courts of the Sanctuary and placed upon a couch beside another,

upon which already rested the unconscious form of the lovely

Princess Nu-nah.

But Sarthia, although to an external, observer as unconscious as

the fair Nu-nah, was never more intensely awake, every atom of

her being and soul alert to all transpiring about her and

conveyed to her through her marvelous new gifts of clairvoyance

and clairaudience.

Never, with the external eye, had she seen more vividly the vista

upon vista of columns and corridors winding in and about the

Sanctuary, now illuminated by the full-orbed Queen of the Night,

which she could see shining through a certain archway, and her

heart thrilled as she counted the number of archways fair Luna

must pass until, at midnight, she would shine down through the

one just above her.