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CHAPTER XVI.
ATHOTHIS AND PAULUS ANDROCYDES VISIT AN INNER
CIRCLE OF MODERN MAGI, AND VIEW THE MYSTERIES
OF SO-CALLED SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.
HE sun had now disappeared below the horizon,
and the West was robed in purple and scarlet
fringed with gold. " Behold the divine light of
Osiris fading from the world, while Set, the
Prince of Darkness, casts his baleful shadows o'er the
East," said Athothis, mournfully. "Another day has
passed and night approaches. Now, in the melancholy
twilight, the spirits of fallen angels emerge from their
hiding-places in the forests, lakes, and rivers, from the
damp, moldy grave-yards and charnel-houses of extinct
humanity, and, in forms visible and invisible to mortals,
stalk abroad, growing bolder and more defiant as the
glory of Ra is further removed. In the fathomless ocean
of space about us float innumerable serial apparitions,
demons inhabited by damned souls doomed to destruc-
tion. Note, in the large public park beneath, how
nymphs and naiads lasciviously disport their half-scaled
bodies on the surface of the miniature lake. Listen to
the amorous sighing of fauns and satyrs in yonder ver-
dure-embowered grove, while pixies and hobgoblins scam-
per over the greensward, and wildly circle and waltz
under the dew-sprinkled flowers."
" What nonsense ! " exclaimed Paulus Androcydes.
" You are striving to frighten me. I am no believer in
