Page:The Great Secret.djvu/256

240 chairs were beautifully carved from foreign woods—ebony, cedar and mahogany—and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, gold and silver, and the lamps were rare works of art. Vases of perfumes and flowers were lavishly scattered about. The guests came to these feasts in chariots and palanquins, and when admitted were washed, perfumed, anointed and garlanded with roses, violets and lotus flowers. Musician played, incense was burnt, and punkahs and fans waved, and dancers danced.

As in Atalantis, the servants of to-day might be the guests of to-morrow, for equality had been one of their first lessons after death which they had learnt. It was easy for a Pharaoh to become a servant, for during his earth life his duties as ruler had been harder and his liberty more restricted than the meanest in his land. Philip and Adela saw many of the past kings and queens at these feasts pouring out the wine and washing the guests' feet, yet all were happy.

During the evenings they would stand on the housetops, with their pillared sides and upper roofs, and look over the city, which swarmed with people and chariots at this hour, while along the river the gay boats floated past, filled with serenaders, and watched by crowds from the landing-steps. It was a land of life, movement and merriment, beautiful by day, and blazing with coloured lanterns and lamps at night. Except for the difference of costume, colour and architecture, there was not much difference between the daily life of Egypt four and five thousand years ago and the modern life of a rich and prosperous country of to-day.

"Mankind has ever been the same," said their