Page:Thotharomance00nichgoog.djvu/101

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96
THOTH.

woman seemed stupefied with incredulous surprise, like a dazed child just recovered from a fit of terror.

They passed on, and Thoth drew the curtain of another cell. Here again the occupant was a woman, but she was exquisitely clothed and both face and form were extremely beautiful. She shuddered when the masks entered and hastily began to arrange in a harmonious manner various shades of coloured stuffs. She looked anxiously, too, at the walls of the cell which were covered with pictures. To Daphne the pictures were perfectly unintelligible, and yet they seemed excellent both in colour and drawing. They were such pictures as might be painted by a great artist whose reason had been destroyed by some calamity.

"Her task," said Thoth, "is to live entirely for colour and form—in all other respects she is less intelligent than a butterfly."