chain formed by interlaced golden circles was upheld by four great emerald wings.  Within the chain, again, was the silver Serpent, coiled as before and resting upon a surface of foliage and flowers.  In the centre of all was repeated the silver Star within the golden band; the emblem from which the Order derives its name, and in which it embodies its deepest symbolism.  Following again the direction of my unseen prompter, I repeated words which may be roughly translated as follows:—­

  “By the outer Night of gloom,
   By the ray that leads us home,
   By the Light we claim to share,
   By the Fount of Light, we swear. 
   Prompt obedience, heart and hand,
   To the Signet’s each command: 
   For the Symbols, reverence mute,
   In the Sense faith absolute. 
   Link by link to weld the Chain,
   Link with link to bear the strain;
   Cherish all the Star who wear,
   As the Starlight’s self—­we swear. 
   By the Life the Light to prove,
   In the Circle’s bound to move;
   Underneath the all-seeing Eye
   Act, nor speak, nor think the lie;
   Live, as warned that Life shall last,
   And the Future reap the Past: 
   Clasp in faith the Serpent’s rings,
   Trust through death the Emerald Wings,
   Hand and voice we plight the Oath: 
   Fade the life ere fail the troth!”

Rising from his seat and standing immediately before and to the left of the Throne, Esmo replied.  But before he had spoken half-a-dozen words, a pressure on my arm drew my eyes from him to Eveena.  She stood fixed as if turned to stone, in an attitude which for one fleeting instant recalled that of the sculptured figures undergoing sudden petrifaction at the sight of the Gorgon’s head.  This remembered resemblance, or an instinctive sympathy, at once conveyed to me the consciousness that the absolute stillness of her attitude expressed a horror or an awe too deep for trembling.  Looking into her eyes, which alone were visible, their gaze fixed intently on the Throne, at once caught and controlled my own; and raising my eyes again to the same point, I stood almost equally petrified by consternation and amazement.  I need not say how many marvels of no common character I have seen on Earth; how many visions that, if I told them, none who have not shared them would believe; wonders that the few who have seen them can never forget, nor—­despite all experience and all theoretical explanation—­recall without renewing the thrill of awe-stricken dismay with which the sight was first beheld.  But no marvel of the Mystic Schools, no spectral scene, objective or subjective, ever evoked by the rarest of occult powers, so startled, so impressed me as what I now saw, or thought I saw.  The Throne, on which but a few moments before my eyes had been steadily fixed, and which had then assuredly been vacant, was now occupied; and occupied by a Presence which, though not seen in the flesh for ages, none who had ever looked