Soon we stood before the crimson slab that was the door to the sanctuary of the Silent Ones.

She poised uncertainly before it; then with a defiant arching of the proud little head that sent all the bronze-flecked curls flying, she pressed.

It slipped aside and once more the opalescence gushed out, flooding all about us.
Dazzled as before, I followed through the lambent cascades pouring from the high, carved walls; paused, and my eyes clearing, looked up--straight into the faces of the Three.

The angled orbs centred upon the handmaiden; softened as I had seen them do when first we had faced them.

She smiled up; seemed to listen.
"Come closer," she commanded, "close to the feet of the Silent Ones." We moved, pausing at the very base of the dais.