Angels and Women (1924)

82 ANGELS AND WOMENAllimades had parted from his brother theProphet, and I beheld with the fresh delightof a child of the wilderness, the magnificentcity and valley of Balonia, seat of the empireof Satanas.Its marble towers and palaces glitteredwith gold; statues and fountains gleamedwhite among fern-palms, spice-groves, andgardens, where falling waters sparkled evenin the fading light. Along its paved streets,throngs of people and carriages were moving,and a confused hum mingled with thefragrance ascending from grove and garden.Through the midst of the city flowed a broadriver, and upon its bosom boats with silkensails were gliding, while myriads of unseenbells, fitfully shaken by the evening breeze,filled the air with sounds more musical andsoothing than can be described.Upon the mountain top was a lofty buildingfrom which all the surrounding countrycould be overlooked. This, I afterwardlearned, is called the Tower of Satanas, the