"A woman has taken it upon herself to re-establish the great Hegelian law of equilibrium for the benefit of her sex. Separated from the Aryan world by the formidable precautions of Neptune, she draws the youngest and bravest to her. Her body is condescending, while her spirit is inexorable. She takes what these bold young men can give her. She lends them her body, while her soul dominates them. She is the first sovereign who has never been made the slave of passion, even for a moment. She has never been obliged to regain her self-mastery, for she never has lost it. She is the only woman who has been able to disassociate those two inextricable things, love and voluptuousness." M. Le Mesge paused a moment and then went on. "Once every day, she comes to this vault. She stops before the niches; she meditates before the rigid statues; she touches the cold bosoms, so burning when she knew them. Then, after dreaming before the empty niche where the next victim soon will sleep his eternal sleep in a cold case of orichalch, she returns nonchalantly where he is waiting for her." The Professor stopped speaking. The fountain again made itself heard in the midst of the shadow. My pulses beat, my head seemed on fire. A fever was consuming me. "And all of them," I cried, regardless of the place, "all of them complied! They submitted! Well, she has only to come and she will see what will happen." Morhange was silent. "My dear sir," said M. Le Mesge in a very gentle voice, "you are speaking like a child. You do not know. You have not seen Antinea. Let me tell you one thing: that among those"--and with a sweeping gesture he indicated the silent circle of statues--"there were men as courageous as you and perhaps less excitable. I remember one of them especially well, a phlegmatic Englishman who now is resting under Number 32. When he first appeared before Antinea, he was smoking a cigar. And, like all the rest, he bent before the gaze of his sovereign. "Do not speak until you have seen her. A university training hardly fits one to discourse upon matters of passion, and I feel scarcely qualified, myself, to tell you what Antinea is. I only affirm this, that when you have seen her, you will remember nothing else. Family, country, honor, you will renounce everything for her." "Everything?" asked Morhange in a calm voice. "Everything," Le Mesge insisted emphatically. "You will forget all, you will renounce all." From outside, a faint sound came to us. Le Mesge consulted his watch. "In any case, you will see." The door opened. A tall white Targa, the tallest we had yet seen in this remarkable abode, entered and came toward us. He bowed and touched me lightly on the shoulder. "Follow him," said M. Le Mesge. Without a word, I obeyed. XI ANTINEA