Both wore many gold necklaces, some inlaid with precious stones.
Almost the same size they were, and they sat in the very same manner, hands laid flat before them on their thighs. And this sameness astonished me somehow, as much as their stark loveliness, and the jewel like quality of their eyes.
Not in any sculpture anywhere had I ever seen such a lifelike attitude, but actually there was nothing lifelike about them at all. Maybe it was a trick of the accoutrements, the twinkling of the lights on their necklaces and rings, the reflected light in their gleaming eyes.
Were they Osiris and Isis? Was it tiny writing I saw on their necklaces, on the circlets of their hair?
Marius said nothing. He was merely gazing at them as I was, his expression unreadable, perhaps sad.
"May I go near to
