"Yes, she is here. Ihave delivered her to the person, as I was ordered. She isready."
"Go, but remainready."
The dialog proceeded inbad French, on both sides. Then Bramanti said: "Brothers, we aregathered here in the name of the One Order, the Unknown Order, towhich Order, until yesterday, you did not know that you belonged,and yet you have always belonged to it! Let us swear. Anathema onall profaners of the Secret. Anathema on all sycophants of theoccult. Anathema on all those who have made a spectacle of theRites and Mysteries!"
"Anathema!"
"Anathema on theInvisible College, on the bastard children of Hiram and the Widow,on the operative and speculative masters of the lie of the Orientand the Occident, Ancient, Accepted, or Revised, on Mizraim andMemphis, on the Philalethes and the Nine Sisters, on the StrictObservance and on the Ordo Tem-pli Orientis, on the Illuminati ofBavaria and of Avignon, on the Kadosh Knights, on the Elus Cohen,on the Perfect Friendship, on the Knights of the Black Eagle and ofthe Holy City, on the Rosicrucians of Anglia, on the cabalists ofthe Rose + Cross of Gold, on the Golden Dawn, on the Catholic RosyCross of the Temple and of the Grail, on the Stella Matutina, onthe Astrum Argentinum and Thelema, on Vril and Thule, on everyancient and mystical usurper of the name of the Great WhiteFraternity, on the Guardians of the Temple, on every college andpriory of Zion and of Gaul!"
"Anathema!"
"Whoever out ofingenuity, submission, conversion, calculation, or bad faith hasbeen initiated into any lodge, college, priory, chapter, or orderthat illicitly refers to obedience to the Unknown Superiors or tothe Masters of the World, must this night abjure that initiationand implore total restoration in spirit and body to the one andtrue observance, the Tres, Templi Re-surgentes Equites Synarchici,the triune and trinosophic mystical and most secret order of theSynarchic Knights of Templar Rebirth!"
"Sub umbra alarumtuarum!"
"Now enter thedignitaries of the thirty-six highest and most secretdegrees."
As Bramanti called theelect, they appeared in liturgical vestments, wearing the insigneof the Golden Fleece on their chest.
"Knight of the Baphomet,Knight of the Six Intact Seals, Knight of the Seventh Seal, Knightof the Tetragrammaton, Knight Executioner of Florian and Dei,Knight of the Atha-nor... Venerable Naometer of the Turns Babel,Venerable Naometer of the Great Pyramid, Venerable Naometer of theCathedrals, Venerable Naometer of the Temple of Solomon, VenerableNaometer of the Hortus Palatinus, Venerable Naometer of the Templeof Heliopolis..."
As Bramanti recited thetitles, those named entered in groups, so I was unable to assign toeach his individual dignity, but among the first twelve I saw DeGubernatis, the old man from the Librairie Sloane, ProfessorCamestres, and others I had met that evening in Piedmont. And I sawSigner Garamond, I believe as Knight of the Tetragrammaton,composed and hieratic, very much absorbed in his new role, withhands that trembled as they touched the Fleece on his chest.Meanwhile, Bramanti went on: "Mystical Legate of Karnak, MysticalLegate of Bavaria, Mystical Legate of the Barbelognostics, MysticalLegate of Camelot, Mystical Legate of Montsegur, Mystical Legate ofthe Hidden Imam... Supreme Patriarch of Tomar, Supreme Patriarch ofKilwinning, Supreme Patriarch of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, SupremePatriarch of Marienbad, Supreme Patriarch of the Invisible Okhrana,Supreme Patriarch in partibus of the Rock of Alamut..."
The patriarch of theInvisible Okhrana was Salon, still gray-faced but, without hissmock, now resplendent in a yellow tunic edged in red. He wasfollowed by Pierre, the psychopomp of the Eglise Luciferienne, whowore on his chest, instead of the Golden Fleece, a dagger in agilded sheath. Meanwhile, Bra-manti went on: "Sublime Hierogam ofthe Chemical Wedding, Sublime Rodostauric Psychopomp, SublimeReferendarium of the Most Arcane Arcana, Sublime Steganograph ofthe Hieroglyphic Monad, Sublime Astral Connector Utriusque Cosmi,Sublime Keeper of the Tomb of Rosencreutz... Imponderable Archon ofthe Currents, Imponderable Archon of the Hollow Earth, ImponderableArchon of the Mystic Pole, Imponderable Archon of the Labyrinths,Imponderable Archon of the Pendulum of Pendula..." Bramanti paused,and it seemed to me that he uttered the last formula withreluctance: "And the Imponderable Archon of Imponderable Archons,the Servant of Servants, Most Humble Secretary of the EgyptianOedipus, Lowest Messenger of the Masters of the World and Porter ofAgarttha, Last Thurifer of the Pendulum, Claude-Louis, Comte deSaint-Germain, Prince Rackoczi, Comte de Saint-Martin, and Marchesedi Aglie, Monsieur de Surmont, Mr. Welldone, Marchese diMonferrato, of Aymar, and of Belmar, Count Sol-tikoff, KnightSchoening, Count of Tzarogy!"
As the others of theelect took their places in the ambulatory facing the Pendulum, andthe faithful stood in the nave, Aglie entered, pale and drawn,wearing a blue pinstripe suit. He led by the hand, as if escortinga soul along the path of Hades, Lorenza Pellegrini, also pale, anddazed, as if drugged; she was dressed only in a white,semitransparent tunic, and her hair fell loose over her shoulders.I saw her in profile as she went by, as pure and languid as aPre-Raphaelite adulteress. Too diaphanous not to stir, once again,my desire.
Aglie led Lorenza to thebrazier, near the statue of Pascal; he caressed her vacant face andmade a sign to the Geants d'Avalon, who came and stood on eitherside of her, supporting her. Then he went and sat at the table,facing the faithful, and I could see him very well as he drew hissnuffbox from his vest and stroked it in silence beforespeaking.
"Brothers, knights. Youare here because in these past few days the Mystic Legates haveinformed you of the news, and therefore you all know the reason forour meeting. We should have met on the night of June 23, 1945. Someof you were not even born then¡Xat least not in your present form.We are here because after six hundred years of the most painfulerror we have found one who knows. How he came to know¡Xand to knowmore than we¡Xis a disturbing mystery. But I trust that among usthere is one... You could not fail to be here, could you, mysticalfriend already too curious on one occasion?... I trust, as I said,that in our presence there is one who can shed light on thismatter. Ardenti!"
Colonel Ardenti¡Xyes, itwas he, raven-haired as before, though now doddering¡Xmade his wayamong the others and stepped forward before what seemed to beturning into a tribunal, but he was kept at a distance
