Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/207

 same ease I comprehended that this was the way people slept here; that they did not remove their clothing at night  as we do, because their dress hangs perfectly loose upon  them, and the daily bath is a universal custom. Thinking then of the naked men I had seen in my previous vision,  it came to me that this was not the same country Maurice  had first entered, but another where the manners and  customs were different. At that instant my ears caught a burst of strange music outside, at which he sprang up and  went darting through the door. It was a harmony of many sounds precisely such as we heard that rainy night in the  ruined tower, when Mr. Mirrikh afterward came through  the shawl in sections, scaring me almost out of my wits.

I followed Maurice, coming out upon a broad lawn bordered by great trees, all of species wholly strange to me,  but not at all unlike the trees of temperate latitudes on  earth. Beyond the trees was an open space—a public square apparently, where an immense crowd of people had assembled. On the other side of the square rose a great temple. Nothing in comparison with the structures seen in my previous vision, but still far larger than any building on  earth.

Instinctively I floated away from Maurice and found myself inside this temple. As with everything else, I seemed to grasp its purpose at a glance, and knew that here people  worshiped one God; a God all-powerful, executing His will  through the instrumentality of myriads of ministering spirits. Many statues, superbly cut in snowy marble, stood beneath the great dome overshadowing the vast interior. They were representations of men and women once prominent in  the social affairs of these people, whose spirits were supposed still to have the interests of the nation in charge.

Before each statue was a little altar, and upon most of the altars lay offerings of fruit and beautiful flowers.

That prayers to God, and consultation of the spirit guides sent in answer, constitute the religion of this race, was likewise impressed upon me. Forms, ceremonies, all the tricks and devices of priestcraft aiming at personal dominion are  unknown here.

One God and all creation united with him in a harmonious desire to work His will; from the mightiest spirit of spheres  celestial, to the humblest germ invisible even beneath the  most powerful glass the ingenuity of man can devise.