Perchance for such a reason a certain Horu once was called upon to die.
But in the grave there is no marriage, and therefore even if he had
found her alive within the tomb and kissed her hand, or even her lips,
why should he die for the crime of love?
"Hear me, all; this is my judgment in the matter. Let the soul of that
priest who first violated the tomb of the royal Ma-Mee be hunted down
and given to the jaws of the Destroyer, that he may know the last depths
of Death, if so the gods declare. But let this man go from among us
unharmed, since what he did he did in reverent ignorance and because
Hathor, Goddess of Love, guided him from of old. Love rules this world
wherein we meet to-night, with all the worlds whence we have gathered
or whither we still must go. Who can defy its power? Who can refuse its
rites? Now hence to Thebes!"
There was a rushing sound as of a thousand wings, and all were gone.
No, not all, since Smith yet stood before the draped colossi and the
empty steps, and beside him, glorious, unearthly, gleamed the vision of
Ma-Mee.
"I, too, must away," she whispered; "yet ere I go a word with you who
once were a sculptor in Egypt. You loved me then, and that love cost you
your life, you who once dared to kiss this hand of mine that again you
kissed in yonder tomb.
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