but according to the ancient law there should be eternally one at
least on watch in the priests' dwellings, so down the passages
which led to them I made my way. It would have surprised me little
to have found even these deserted. That the old order was changed
I knew, but I was only then beginning to realise the ruthlessness
with which it had been swept away, and how much it had given place
to the new.

However, there can be some faithful men remaining even in an
age of general apostasy, and on making my way to the door of the
dwelling (which lay in the roof of the temple) I gave the call, and
presently it was opened to me. The man who stood before me,
peering dully through the gloom, had at least remained constant to
his vows, and I made the salutation before him with a feeling of
respect.

His name was Ro, and I remembered him well. We had passed
through the sacred college together, and always he had been known
as the dullard. He had capacity for learning little of the cult of
the Gods, less of the arts of ruling, less still of the handling of
arms; and he had been appointed to some lowly office in this
obscure temple, and had risen to being its second priest and one of
its two custodians merely through the desertion of all his
colleagues. But it was not pleasant to think that a fool should
remain true where cleverer men abandoned the old beliefs.

Ro did before me the greater obeisance. He wore his beard
curled in the prevailing fashion, but it was badly done. His
clothing was ill-fitting and unbrushed. He always had been a
slovenly fellow. "The temple door is shut," he said, "and I only