"Would you like to see a city resuscitated?" he inquired--"Here, in this very spot, some six thousand years ago, a king reigned, with a woman not his queen but his favourite, (quite a lawful arrangement in those days) who was as famous for her beauty and virtue, as this river is for its fructifying tide. Here civilization had progressed enormously,--with the one exception that it had not outgrown faith. Modern France and England have beaten the ancients in their scorn of God and creed, their contempt for divine things, their unnameable lasciviousness and blasphemy. This city"----and he waved his hand towards a dreary stretch of shore where a cluster of tall reeds waved above the monster fragment of a fallen column,--"was governed by the strong pure faith of its people more than anything,--and the ruler of social things in it was a woman. The king's favourite was something like Mavis Clare in that she possessed genius,--she had also the qualities of justice, intelligence, love, truth and a most noble unselfishness,--she made this place happy. It was a paradise on earth while she lived,--when she died, its glory ended. So much can a woman do if she chooses,--so much does she _not_ do, in her usual cow-like way of living!" "How do you know all this you tell me of?" I asked him. "By study of past records"--he replied--"I read what modern men declare they have no time to read. You are right in the idea that all 'new' things are only old things re-invented or re-discovered,--if you had gone a step further and said that some of men's present lives are only the continuation of their past, you would not have been wrong. Now, if you like, I can by my science, show you the city that stood here long ago,--the 'City Beautiful' as its name is, translated from the ancient tongue." I roused myself from my lounging attitude and looked at him amazedly. He met my gaze unmoved. "You can show it to me!" I exclaimed--"How can you do such an impossible thing?" "Permit me to hypnotize you,"--he answered smiling,--"My system of hypnotism is, very fortunately, not yet discovered by meddlesome inquirers into occult matters,--but it never fails of its effect,--and I promise you, you shall, under my influence, see not only the place, but the people." My curiosity was strongly excited, and I became more eager to try the suggested experiment than I cared to openly show. I laughed however, with affected indifference. "I am perfectly willing!" I said--"All the same, I don't think you can hypnotize me,--I have much too strong a will of my own----" at which remark I saw a smile, dark and saturnine, hover on his lips--"But you can make the attempt." He rose at once, and signed to one of our Egyptian servants. "Stop the dahabeah, Azimah," he said--"We will rest here for the night."