Presently Leo rose and threw off his gorgeous, purple-broidered robe,
which he still wore, and cast upon a chair the crook-headed sceptre
that Oros had again thrust into his hand. Ayesha smiled as he did so,
saying--"It would seem that thou holdest these sacred emblems in but
small respect."
"Very small," he answered. "Thou heardest my words in the Sanctuary,
Ayesha, so let us make a pact. Thy religion I do not understand, but I
understand my own, and not even for thy sake will I take part in what I
hold to be idolatry."
Now I thought that she would be angered by this plain speaking, but she
only bowed her head and answered meekly--"Thy will is mine, Leo, though
it will not be easy always to explain thy absence from the ceremonies in
the temple. Yet thou hast a right to thine own faith, which doubtless is
mine also."
"How can that be?" he asked, looking up.
"Because all great Faiths are the same, changed a little to suit the
needs of passing times and peoples. What taught that of Egypt, which,
in a fashion, we still follow here? That hidden in a multitude of
manifestations, one Power great and good, rules all the universes: that
the holy shall inherit a life eternal and the vile, eternal death: that
men shall be shaped and judged by their own hearts and deeds, and here
and hereafter drink of the cup which they have brewed: that their real
home is not on earth, but beyond the earth, where all riddles shall be
answered and all sorrows cease.
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