“Then that woman must have been both aged and hideous.”

“I said, Priestess, that she had conquered time, not suffered it, for the gift of immortal youth was hers.  Also she was not hideous; she was beauty itself.”

“Therefore stranger, thou didst worship her for her beauty’s sake, as a man does.”

“I did not worship her; I loved her, which is another thing.  The priest Oros here worships thee, whom he calls Mother.  I loved that immortal woman.”

“Then thou shouldst love her still.  Yet, not so, since love is very mortal.”

“I love her still,” he answered, “although she died.”

“Why, how is that?  Thou saidst she was immortal.”

“Perchance she only seemed to die; perchance she changed.  At least I lost her, and what I lost I seek, and have sought this many a year.”

“Why dost thou seek her in my Mountain, Leo Vincey?”

“Because a vision led me to ask counsel of its Oracle.  I am come hither to learn tidings of my lost love, since here alone these may be found.”

“And thou, Holly, didst thou also love an immortal woman whose immortality, it seems, must bow to death?”

“Priestess,” I answered, “I am sworn to this quest, and where my foster-son goes I follow.  He follows beauty that is dead——­”

“And thou dost follow him.  Therefore both of you follow beauty as men have ever done, being blind and mad.”

“Nay,” I answered, “if they were blind, beauty would be naught to them who could not see it, and if they were mad, they would not know it when it was seen.  Knowledge and vision belong to the wise, O Hes.”

“Thou art quick of wit and tongue, Holly, as——­” and she checked herself, then of a sudden, said, “Tell me, did my servant the Khania of Kaloon entertain both of you hospitably in her city, and speed you on your journey hither, as I commanded her?”

“We knew not that she was thy servant,” I replied.  “Hospitality we had and to spare, but we were sped from her Court hitherward by the death-hounds of the Khan, her husband.  Tell us, Priestess, what thou knowest of this journey of ours.”

“A little,” she answered carelessly.  “More than three moons ago my spies saw you upon the far mountains, and, creeping very close to you at night, heard you speak together of the object of your wanderings, then, returning thence swiftly, made report to me.  Thereon I bade the Khania Atene, and that old magician her great-uncle, who is Guardian of the Gate, go down to the ancient gates of Kaloon to receive you and bring you hither with all speed.  Yet for men who burned to learn the answer to a riddle, you have been long in coming.”

“We came as fast as we might, O Hes,” said Leo; “and if thy spies could visit those mountains, where no man was, and find a path down that hideous precipice, they must have been able also to tell thee the reason of our delay.  Therefore I pray, ask it not of us.”