of his old age, his granddaughter, were lying there motionless. A cold
shiver ran over him, and he felt that his own heart would not have been
too great a price to pay for her recovery. And yet! In the course of
his long life he had experienced so much suffering and wrong, that he
could not imagine any hope of a better lot in the other world. Then he
drew out the bond Nebsecht had given him, held it up with both hands, as
if to show it to the Immortals, and particularly to the judges in the
hall of truth and judgment, that they might not reckon with him for the
crime he had committed--not for himself but for another--and that they
might not refuse to justify Rui, whom he had robbed of his heart.

While he thus lifted his soul in devotion, matters were getting warm
outside the dissecting room. He thought he heard his name spoken, and
scarcely had he raised his head to listen when a taricheut came in and
desired him to follow him.

In front of the rooms, filled with resinous odors and incense, in which
the actual process of embalming was carried on, a number of taricheutes
were standing and looking at an object in an alabaster bowl. The knees
of the old man knocked together as he recognized the heart of the beast
which he had substituted for that of the Prophet.

The chief of the taricheutes asked him whether he had opened the body of
the dead priest.

Pinem stammered out "Yes." Whether this was his heart? The old man
nodded affirmatively.

The taricheutes looked at each other, whispered together; then one of
them went away, and returned soon with the inspector of victims from the