Then suddenly high up in the vault, miles and miles away, I saw a little light and thought that a planet had appeared to keep me company.

The light began to descend slowly, like a floating flake of fire.

Down it sank, and down and down, till it was but just above me, and I perceived that it was shaped like a tongue or fan of flame.

At the height of my head from the ground it stopped and stood steady, and by its ghostly radiance I saw that beneath was the shape of a woman and that the flame burned upon her forehead.

The radiance gathered strength and now I saw the woman.
"Horace, it was Ayesha herself, her eyes, her lovely face, her cloudy hair, and she looked at me sadly, reproachfully, I thought, as one might who says, 'Why did you doubt ?' "I tried to speak to her but my lips were dumb.