“The plan was of long standing. Events hastened it. Mehemet knew it. Britain was to have a God again, Mehemet’s God, and the American Mormons were to unite with us, for their faith is nearly the same. The people would have a god, and this would unite all nations against the Christian Russians. They are in Stockholm. The American battleplanes are on their way to help us against them. When Sanson was dead the guards were to join the airscouts. Now you must go. Save your Elizabeth. Kill Sanson. I can say no more. Escape—” She muttered something that I could not hear, and then her eyes, which had closed, reopened and wavered on mine again. “I loved you, Arnold,” she said in a weak, clear voice. “I’m glad I died before I lost you. I used to wish I had been born in other days ... the twentieth-century days, when ... women were different ... all different ... men mated one only ... give the people those days again if you beat Sanson, Arnold.” She tried to stretch out her hands to me. Her eyelids quivered, and she sighed very deeply. I saw a crimson stain upon my hands. It was the wine from Sanson’s winecup. CHAPTER XXII ESTHER I left the dead girl on the divan and went into the hall. My head ached, and I was still dizzy from my wound, but I had grown suddenly composed, and all my perplexities had vanished in the face of Esther’s imminent need of me. There was nobody in the hall. The negroes were gone, and the palm gardens were dark and seemed deserted. Silence had descended everywhere. Withal it was the silence of hushed voices, I knew, and not of emptiness. Within those walls, in hidden rooms, lurked those who waited yet for the death agony of the man who had already escaped the baited trap. I wondered whether Sanson had bought the attendants, if he had come alone, whether the fear of him forbade an ambush in case Amaranth’s plot should fail. He had evidently gone down in the elevator, for it was not in the cage, but it came up to me when I pressed the button, and I descended, stopping at the first door I saw, which must, I knew, give access to the Temple. The corridor into which I stepped was as empty as the palace hall above. The airscouts who should have been on duty here were gone. I did not realize that I had formed no plans and felt no fear until I found my way unopposed. Before me was a door, leading into one of the numerous small rooms through which one entered the Temple, and at my side was a little window, through which the cries of the mob beneath were borne to me fitfully on the gusty air.