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120 first is no concern of thine, and I need waste but few words upon it. Suffice it to say that I will take steps to see that this change is approved by the first Thoth and all the vice-regents, as well as by the present race."

Daphne looked at him with horror and amazement.

"Surely," she said, "thou canst not go down to the grave and consult with the dead?"

"That," he replied, "is, as I said, no concern of thine. But nothing must be done to shake the bonds of obedience, and nothing left undone to avoid the possibility of error. The fortune of the whole world and of the fixture generations of men depends upon this act."

Daphne looked at him steadfastly, half suspecting madness, but his dark eyes gleamed with intelligence and firmness of purpose.

"Therefore," he said, as if speaking to