Between were paneled pictures of the
gods, monstrous and deformed deities, half men, half beasts; and the
dado, done in black, pictured the funeral rites of the Egyptians, with
explanatory passages from the ritual of the dead. Rudely-sculptured
bas-reliefs and intaglios, torn from ancient mastabas, were set over
windows and doors, and stone colossi of kings and gods leered and
threatened from dusky corners. Sarcophagi of black basalt, red porphyry
and pink-veined alabaster, cunningly carved, were disposed as they had
been found in the pits of the dead, with the sepulchral vases and the
hideous wooden idols beside them.
The descriptions of the place had prepared Simpkins for something out
of the ordinary, but nothing like this; and he looked about him with
wonder in his eyes and a vague awe at his heart, until he found himself
standing in the corner of the hall to the right of the black altar in
the west. Two sarcophagi, one of basalt, the other of alabaster, were
placed at right angles to the walls, partially inclosing a small space.
Within this inclosure, bowed over a stone table, sat a woman, writing.
At either end of the table a mummy case, one black, the other gilt,
stood upright. The boy halted just outside this singular private office,
and the woman rose and came toward them.
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