Page:The Great Secret.djvu/190

174 went down, they were met by the twelve youths and twelve maidens, headed by the husband of Hesperia. They were in a corridor now of white marble, softly carpeted, and lighted with globes of rose-tinted flame.

"Come with me, Adela; you go with Imenus, Philip," said Hesperia, taking Adela by the hand and leading her one direction, followed by the twelve bridesmaids, while Philip went with Imenus and the youths in another.

This corridor seemed to be within the central dome, for it was rounded at the top and ran in a circle, while the chambers were all in the centre. Into one of the many doors Imenus conducted Philip, who found himself in a dressing chamber, where stood a bath filled with fragrant and tepid water.

There was nothing different in this bathroom from bathrooms he had been into before, except that it was perhaps more Oriental and luxurious in its fittings. Also the costume which he saw laid out for him was different to what he had been accustomed, although similar to that worn by this ancient race.

A fillet of gold lay ready to bind his brow and dark hair, with a girdle of the same material for his waist. Gem-encrusted sandals also stood ready for his feet, with the snowy tunic and mantle.

"This is my marriage costume, I suppose," he remarked a little dubiously as he regarded these innovations.

"Yes," replied Imenus.

"It is simple and rich, and, I expect, easy to wear when once put on properly. Well, I shall be glad to get out of these stiff", conventional clothes of the nineteenth century."