Page:Orczy--the gates of Kamt.djvu/253

 to pray and to worship Isis, until he sees the first streak of dawn through the marble gateway. Then he goes out to meet his bride. But these people, ever seeking for the poetic and the picturesque, ever sensuous and ever voluptuous, have a custom by which the royal bridegroom meets his bride in a special bower in the very middle of this garden."

"Under the vault of heaven?"

"At dawn, old Mark, and near a tiny waterfall which is sacred to Isis. You can hear the ripple of the water now."

"It is indeed poetic."

"This pretty spot is surrounded with walls and closed in by a gate which is never opened, save when a royal marriage has taken place. Then at dawn the bridegroom, having completed his vigil, goes into the garden, finds that gate open, and there he waits until …"

"I understand. How sensuous these people are! Even in their marriages, which I believe are as solemn, as earnest, though not as dull as our English weddings, they contrive to introduce a savour of romance and transfigure the bride, if only momentarily, into a courtesan."

"At any rate, during the few hours before dawn, when I am all alone and supposed to be worshipping the pagan goddess, I am sure you can remain behind and bear me company. The day after my marriage we return to Men-ne-fer, and you and I, old Mark, can seriously set to work to govern our interesting subjects."

"Good-bye then, old Girlie!" I said, feeling a nasty, uncomfortable lump in my throat. "If I cannot get to you to-morrow, then I shall not see you again till after you are Queen Maat-kha's husband."