Edgar Jepson

“ One after another the rest of them became the celebrant of a rite, and I perceived that in each not only the language but also the ceremonies and the symbolic gestures changed. The voices of the other celebrants were lower and less clear than the voices of Woodfell and Marks —all of them except the voice of the dilettante with the pointed beard, which was shrill and womanish; I gathered that he was performing the rite of Mithras in yet another barbarous Latin.
All the while the fervor of the worshipers was growing more and more intense. ”

“ CHAPTER X WE WATCH TOGETHER IN spite of my strong desire that Pamela should he quite away from the celebration of the ritual of the Abyss, I could not help feeling glad that I should have a sharer of my watch. As the celebration drew near I filled with a fresh, burning desire to get at the truth of the happenings at the end of the rites; and I hoped that two heads would prove better than one in the matter. I had also a strong hope that the two of us together would mutually fortify one another against the terror.
On the night of the full moon I waited to see Woodfell's assistants arrive ”

“ Presently the door into the garden opened, the roaring of the bull-roarer rose on the throbbing air, and the celebrants in their strange ritual garb filed down the garden to the lawn, under the mist of smoke from the swinging censers. ”