“I don’t think anything,” I answered, “except that it is all very odd.  I don’t even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent.  They were not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land.  There must be an idea behind them somewhere.”

“Oh! there was.  Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified also, although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister goddess.  The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu, signified eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and beauty.  Also he was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of Darkness, and thus in a way opened the Door of Life to men.”

“It seems to me that all religions have much in common,” I said.

“Yes, a great deal.  It was easy for the old Egyptians to become Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and Horus under new and holier names.  But come in, it grows cold.”

We had tea in Lady Ragnall’s boudoir and after it had been taken away our conversation died.  She sat there on the other side of the fire with a cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke till I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some sort was at hand.  This proved perfectly correct, for it was.  Presently she said,

“We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?”

“Undoubtedly,” I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me short with a wave of her hand, and went on,

“Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner to-night.”

“What!  Where!  How!” I exclaimed much alarmed.

“I don’t know where, but as for how—­look in that box,” and she pointed to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, that stood upon a table between us.

With a groan I rose and opened it.  Inside was another box made of silver.  This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of dried leaves that looked like tobacco, from which floated an enervating and well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a moment.  Then I shut down the lids and returned to my seat.

“Taduki,” I murmured.

“Yes, Taduki, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue intact.”

“Virtue!” I exclaimed.  “I don’t think there is any virtue about that hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil’s garden.  Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world that I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce me to have anything more to do with it.”

She laughed softly and asked why not.

“Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have no wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by the thousand in that box.”

“If so, don’t you think that they might clear up some of those which surround you to-day?”