Once, indeed, there was a tumult, for some of them tried to bar the road, till they were driven away, leaving a few dead or wounded behind them.

But still the crowds shouted and the Empress bowed as though nothing had happened, and thus by a somewhat winding route, we came to St.Sophia.
The Augusta entered, and presently I and those with me followed her into the wonderful cathedral.

I see it now, not in particular, but as a whole, with its endless columns, its aisles and apses, and its glittering mosaics shining through the holy gloom, across which shot bars of light from the high window-places.

All the great place was full of the noblest in the city, rank upon rank of them, come thither to see the Empress in her glory at the great Feast of St.Michael, which year by year she attended thus.
At the altar waited the Patriarch in his splendid robes, attended by many bishops and priests, among them Barnabas of Egypt.

The service began, I and some other converts standing together near to the altar rail.