Ayesha:The Return of She

hom the Editor of this, and of a certain previous history, did not expect to hear again, that person was Lu

nnounce that he and his ward, Leo Vincey, the beloved of the divine Ayesha, were about to travel to

es away as monks in some Thibetan Lamasery, or studying magic and practising asceticism under the tuition of the East

onths, without a single warning sign, out of the bl

unregistered, brown-paper parcel directed in an unknown hand, and for two whole days let it lie forgotten. Indeed there it might be lying now, had not another

nce — nobody ever made an “H” with that peculiar twirl under it except Mr. Holly. I tore open the sealed envelope, and sure enough the fi

t you still live, and strange to say

was a minister of some religious body, a man of worthy but prosaic mind — expressed surprise that a ‘wild romance’ should absorb me so much. I answered that those who have wide

o whom some twenty years ago I entrusted the beginning of the history, I wish to entrust its end also. You were the first to learn of She–Who-Must–Be-Obeyed , who from

e of Alexander the Great has reigned between the flaming pillars in the Sanctuary, the last holder of the sceptre of Hes or Isis upon the earth. It is right also

you, and a sistrum , the instrument that has been always used in the worship of the Nature goddesses of the old Egyptians, Isis and Hathor, which you will see is as beautiful as it is ancient. I give it to you for two reasons; as a token of my gratitude and regard, and as the only piece of evidence that is left to me of the literal trut

haunts the symbol to which even spirits bowed, but i

ord must speak for itself. Do with it what you like, and believe

the unforeseeing, the lovely, the cruel and the immortal; ensouled alone, redeemable only by Humanity

and good fortune. Fare

race H

r describe, opened the second envelope, of which I also print the contents, omitting only cert

m a remote place upon the shores

mediary in a some what strange business, although in truth it is one of which I know very little, however much it may have interested me. Still I d

ich house was his property, and had been in his family for generations. The housekeeper who summoned me told me that her master had but just returned fr

so much that it met the whiskers upon his cheeks. His arms were remarkable for their length and strength, though one of them seemed to have been much torn by some animal. He told me that a dog had done this, but if so it must have been a dog of unusual power. He was a very ugly man, and yet, forgive th

talked a good deal of the various countries in which he had travelled, apparently for very many years, upon some strange quest that he never clearly denned to me. Twice also he became light-headed, and spoke, for the most part in languages that I identified as Gre

o you by train), and, giving me your name and address, said that without fail it was to be forwarded to

ets, which had been burned away, a

my mind to destroy it after all, and it was already on the fire when the co

ommand’ I do not know, for he wo

fore I reached the house I met the caretaker coming to seek me in a great fright, and asked her if her master was dead. She answered No; but he was gone — had got out of bed and, just as he was, barefoot

firs, till presently just outside of them I found the track of naked feet in the snow. Of course I followed, calling to the housekeeper to go and wake her

een it several times, and happened to have been present not long ago at a meeting of an archaeological society when its origin and purpose were discussed. I remember that one learned but somewha

dess with like attributes, a suggestion which the other learned gentlemen treated as absurd. They declared that Isis had never travelled into Britain, though for my part I do no

he stones were still uninjured as they used to be when he was young. He added also, and the remark struck me, that yonder was wh

o the Ring, half a mile or so away. Presently I reached it, and there — yes, there — standing by the cromlech, barehead

ing sheet of snow, and, standing clear of this shadow so that I could distinguish his every motion, and even the rapt look upon his dying face, the white-draped figure of Mr. Holly. He appeared to be uttering some invocation — in Arabic, I think — for long before I reached him I could catch the ton

with a superstitious tale which is, on the face of it, impossible and absurd. Yet under all the circumstances I think it right to tell you that I saw, or thought I saw, something gather in the shadow

so much that I came to a halt under the lee of one of the monoliths, an

At least he turned towards the Radiance in the shadow, uttered one cry; a wild

s Mr. Holly, his arms still outstretched, and the sceptre gripped t

robable explanations of the origin of this figure of light, the details of the removal of

wn shape of the Crux-ansata , or the emblem of life of the Egyptians; the rod, the cross and the loop combined in one. From side to side of this loop ran golden wires, and on t

weet, faint music like to that of chimes heard far away at night in the silence of the sea. I thought t

own judgment. One thing alone is clear to me — on the hypothesis that Mr. Holly tells the truth as to what he and Leo Vincey saw and experienced, wh

ven to her in these pages, put forward some of them, such as the vague Isis-myth, and the wondrous picture-story of the