The High Priest had commanded all visitors to be excluded, except Rathunor, who was to have access at all times, and as the Hierophant’s word was that of God to them, so, purely from a religious standpoint, they were strictly obeyed.  While the Priestess and others of the Temple knew the secret of the Priest’s strict injunctions, they likewise knew that none of Sarthia’s associates dared approach, lest their presence would too suddenly awake to consciousness the slumbering soul, before the brain had yet fully responded and vibrated to the new animating spark of life.

Rathunor, most of all, observed the change in the Princess; at the slightest touch there was a response within—­his very presence struck the chords of sympathy that existed between them.  This was, to him, a very unaccountable change.  In all his life association with Nu-nah these emotions, that now seemed to spring from the soul, had never before been experienced.  He was very much inclined to attribute it to an abnormal sympathy aroused by her sickness and terrible suffering.  Still, the words of the High Priest haunted him and the feelings born from within, on the night of the solemn Rites at the Temple, could not be vanished by any amount of reasoning; still he would not allow such thoughts to be nourished by the slightest hope—­much less be watered by the spirit of faith and allowed to grow.  Although Rathunor was brave in external pain, and daringly courageous in acts of chivalry, he was an infant when subject to disappointment.  Here was the battle of self going on.

“Have I the strength and manly courage to bear the disappointment born from a delusive hope?  Not yet.”  So he suffered and heeded not the whisperings from within, until he could not endure it any longer, when he sought the presence of the Hierophant for advice and enlightenment.  Scarcely able to hold in check his impatience he burst forth without the recognition due the superior presence of a High Priest.

“O, most Holy and Revered Father, tell me, am I wrong in not listening to the monitions that are racking my inmost being?  May I hope the love that is growing within my soul will be surely recognized and reciprocated by Nu-nah on her return to physical health?  Is this love a vain delusion on my part, an imagination born from sympathies that will vanish as soon as health is restored and we enter the whirl of the social world again?  If it is in thy power, O Father, tell me the truth.  Repeat thy assuring words once more, and I will be guided by them in the future, and never again allow the shadow of doubt to cross the threshold of my mind.”