With a gasp she sat up, looked round in astonishment then, catching sight of the imp, gave a cry of terror.
'Silence woman!' It was the voice of the Great Ram, still clear but now seeming to come from a long way away. 'I have destroyed the new life in your body. Go home at once and do what there is to do. In an hour's time you will have been freed from your trouble.'
Getting up from the altar, the woman made a movement as though she intended to throw herself at his feet in gratitude, but evidently she was too frightened of the imp, which stood between her and him, to do so. Instead she made an awkward curtsey, called out, 'Oh, thank you! Thank you! Blessed be Satan's name!' Then, her hair dishevelled and her muslin cloak flying out behind her, she ran from the temple.
The voice of the Great Ram came again. 'Prepare to receive through me the Benediction of Our Lord Satan, that you may be fitted to honour the Creator by the rite symbolical of His work.'
At this order the congregation swiftly formed up in two lines facing the altar. For a few moments complete silence and stillness reigned again. Then the imp moved forward from the dais on which the Great Ram was standing, jumped soundlessly down on to the floor of the temple and, like a General inspecting troops, moved slowly along the front rank, but pausing for a moment in front of every individual. As it did so each was shaken by a sudden shudder, and some uttered a low cry.
As the two lines of men and women had their backs to Mary, and the imp was so much shorter than they were, she could catch glimpses of it only as it passed from one to another; so in a whisper she said to Ratnadatta:
'What is it doing to them?�
The Indian whispered back. 'He ees touching the genitals off each. Through him, in this way, their sexual powers are restored or increased. It enable them to enjoy with more frequency than others, yet without tiredness.'
When the imp had completed its round it returned to its place in front of the Great Ram; its outline began to quiver, slowly it disintegrated into a ball of smoke, then the smoke faded into mist and the mist dispersed, leaving the air clear. Since producing this terrible familiar the Great Ram had remained with bowed head and as still as a statue. Now he raised his head, gave himself a slight shake and in a few swift strides walked round the throne to take up his first position with his back to the tall blood-red curtains. The congregation bowed their heads. With his left hand he made the sign of the cross upside down. There came a faint movement of the curtains and he disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived.
An audible sigh of relief went up from the congregation. Abaddon then rose from the seat to one side of the altar, which he had occupied all this time, and addressed them:
'Brothers and Sisters of the Ram. Tonight there will be no further ceremonies. Seven nights hence we meet again. All should attend unless engaged that evening on the work of Our Lord Satan. I need hardly remind you that three Saturdays hence is Walpurgis Nacht, and a feast of obligation. As is customary, that night we shall symbolically sacrifice ourselves by offering up the life-blood of a ram to Him who has illimitable power. Now, be at your ease, and rejoice while appeasing those appetites given by the Creator to mankind with the object of making the world a happy place to live in. Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole of the Law.'
As he ceased speaking, the congregation broke its ranks, resumed its early carefree chatter, and some of them began to move the divans so that they should form a big circle. Others carried low tables from the sides of the hall, setting one down in front of each divan, while others again fetched dishes of food and bottles of wine to set upon them.
Before the arrangements for this next phase of the Satanists' activities was completed, Ratnadatta again pulled the curtains, then said to Mary: 'Now they make jolly feasting and afterwards they enjoy to dance. But that there ees no point in your remaining to see. Also I wish soon as possible to join them. So now we go.' Mary thought it highly probable that the party would end in an orgy; so she would have liked to stay on in order to find out if those who wished were allowed to leave before it took place, and if the rest paired off in couples or they all became involved in a general drunken melee. But as Ratnadatta had announced his intention of joining the party as soon as he was rid of her, she had no option but to let him take her away.
Down in the front hall they retrieved their coats, then went out into the dark courtyard. The half-dozen parked cars were still there and Ratnadatta remarked to her, 'Only those who live at a distance outside London are permit to park cars here. Otherwise too many make for undesirable comment in neighbourhood. But I haf ordered taxi weech meet us not far off.'
Again they walked through the mean, now deserted, streets, until they emerged opposite one of the new, featureless blocks of flats that since the war have been erected in all the poorer parts of London. On the corner a taxi was standing with its flag down. As they approached it the driver leaned from his cab and said:
'Would you be Mr. Smithers?'
'Yes,' nodded Ratnadatta. 'I regret if we haf kept you waiting for long.'
'That's all right,' the taxi man replied gruffly. 'The garage wot sent me guaranteed my fare, and said you was a generous gent as would give me a good tip. 'Op in. Where d'you want ter go?�
The Indian handed Mary into the cab then, in a low voice, gave the driver his instructions. Within a few moments of the taxi moving off Ratnadatta again produced the folded handkerchief and Mary once more submitted to having her eyes bandaged.
'Now,' said Ratnadatta, as soon as he had knotted the handkerchief behind her head, 'what feelings haf you about what you haf witness tonight?�
'I was positively staggered,' she replied. 'For a lot of the time I felt frightened, of course. I'd have been terrified if I had not had you with me. And I'd never have believed such things could happen if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes. But I was fascinated; absolutely fascinated.'
'You haf not then too great fears to wish to proceed?�
'No. If other women can screw up the courage to face things like . . . like that black imp, I don't see why I shouldn't too.'
'Good, very good,' he purred. 'But there ees one other matter on which I must talk with you. Earlier I haf spoken much this evening upon subject off fertility rites performed by primitive peoples. I now giff you reason why they still practise such rites. It ees because they haf had great truth handed down from generation to generation that sex ees the most potent off all magics. By act off it alone can men and women enter into communion with Him who represents Creator. This explains why custom was in ancient times for every maiden to go to temple and offer her virginity to first stranger. That way, you understand, she make her first communion, Not to plees self with lover off choice. That to come afterwards. But first with whoever Our Lord Satan may choose for her as His representative. In my country are many fine temples open to public where this tradition ees still observed.'
'It is what is known as sacred prostitution, isn't it?' Mary asked in a low voice.
'Yes plees; you are right. But proper expression ees Service to Temple; and all who wish to become Sisters off the Ram must observe this ritual before they become initiate. You understand?�
'But I am not a virgin,' she objected quickly. 'No matter. The offering off yourself will be accepted as symbolic off act weech you would haf performed had you received right teaching when younger.'
Much that Ratnadatta had said over dinner had left no doubt in Mary's mind that initiation into the Brotherhood of the Ram would be a very different business from the purely spiritual promotion with which the leading Theosophists encouraged their most earnest adherents, and all she had seen in the past hour had confirmed her belief that an assurance that she was willing to submit herself to some form of sexual baptism would be demanded of her before she could get much further. From the beginning she had recognized that if Teddy had been murdered by Satanists, and she was to succeed in penetrating their circle, that would almost certainly be the price she would have to pay; but it had then been only a possibility for future consideration. Now she was called on to decide whether she really would go to such lengths.