sensible, if only I could have got the hang of the thing enough to remember it. You know,' he added, as though believing in spite of himself, 'there is a lot of that wonderful old Egyptian religious business still hanging about in the atmosphere of this place, say what you like.'
'But this sentence?' Henriot asked. And the other went off to get a notebook where he had written it down.
'He was jawing, you see,' he continued when he came back, Henriot and his wife having kept silence meanwhile, 'about direction being of importance in religious ceremonies, West and North symbolising certain powers, or something of the kind, why people turn to the East and all that sort of thing, and speaking of the whole Universe as if it had living forces tucked away in it that expressed themselves somehow when roused up. That's how I remember it anyhow. And then he said this thing—in answer to some fool question probably that I put.' And he read out of the notebook:
'"You were in danger because you came through the Gateway of the West, and the Powers from the Gateway of the East were at that moment rising, and therefore in direct opposition to you."'
Then came the following, apparently a simile offered by way of explanation. Mansfield read it in a shamefaced tone, evidently prepared for laughter:
'"Whether I strike you on the back or in the face determines what kind of answering force I rouse in you. Direction is significant." And he said it was the period called the Night of Power—time when the Desert encroaches and spirits are close.'
And tossing the book aside, he lit his pipe again and waited a moment to hear what might be said.
