Part 16 (1/2)

There she stood radiant but half doubting, stately and yet so sweet It was but a moment, but I then and there fell in love with her myself, and have remained so to this hour; for, indeed, she looked , passionate, mortal woman Loed before her, and then she spoke

'I have coreat risk Ye know not how I am watched The priests watch uards are spies upon me Nasta watches me too

Oh, let him be careful!' and she stamped her foot 'Let him be careful; I am a woman, and therefore hard to drive Ay, and I ae Let hi him my hand I take his head,' and she ended the outburst with a little sob, and then shed

'Thou didst bid ht her to call him so) 'Doubtless it is about business of the State, for I know that thou art ever full of great ideas and plans for my welfare and reatly fear the dark alone,' and again she laughed and gave hiht it wise to move a little, since secrets 'of the State' should not be o far, pere that she feared surprise So it caly, I heard all that passed

'Thou knowest, Nyleptha,' said Sir Henry, 'that it was for none of these things that I asked thee to meet me at this lonely place Nyleptha, waste not the time in pleasantry, but listen to me, for--I love thee'

As he said the words I saw her face break up, as it were, and change

The coquetry went out of it, and in its place there shone a great light of love which seeel overhead I could not help thinking that it must have been a touch of prophetic instinct which el of his inspiring vision, so strange a likeness of his own descendant Sir Henry, also, must have observed and been struck by the likeness, for, catching the look upon Nyleptha's face, he glanced quickly froain at his beloved

'Thou sayest thou dost love s true, but how ah,' she went on with proud huely used by the Zu-Vendi, 'I be as nothing in the eyes ofa wonderful people, to whom my people are but children, yet here ao to battle a hundred thousand spears shall sparkle indown the path of the bentin the eyes of ain, 'yet here aht fair, and ever since I was a wo h forsooth,' she added with a flash of passion, 'I were a deer to be pulled down by the hungriest wolf, or a horse to be sold to the highest bidder Let my lord pardon me if I weary my lord, but it hath pleased my lord to say that he loves me, Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, and therefore would I say that though my love and my hand be not much to my lord, yet to me are they all'

'Oh!' she cried, with a sudden and thrilling change of voice, and nified mode of address 'Oh, how can I know that thou lovest but me? How can I know that thou wilt not weary ofme desolate? Who is there to tell me but that thou lovest some other woman, some fair woman unknown to me, but who yet draws breath beneath this saht?

Tell me _how_ am I to know?' And she clasped her hands and stretched thely into his face

'Nyleptha,' answered Sir Henry, adopting the Zu-Vendi way of speech; 'I have told thee that I love thee; how am I to tell thee how much I love thee? Is there then a measure for love? Yet will I try I say not that I have never looked upon another woman with favour, but this I say that I love thee with all th; that I love thee now and shall love thee till I grow cold in death, ay, and as I believe beyond my death, and on and on for ever: I say that thy voice is music to my ear, and thy touch as water to a thirsty land, that when thou art there the world is beautiful, and when I see thee not it is as though the light was dead Oh, Nyleptha, I will never leave thee; here and now for thy dear sake I will forget my people and my father's house, yea, I renounce them all By thy side will I live, Nyleptha, and at thy side will I die'

He paused and gazed at her earnestly, but she hung her head like a lily, and said never a word

'Look!' he went on, pointing to the statue on which the el wo man, and thou seest how at her touch his soul flah his flesh, even as a lamp at the touch of the fire, so is it with me and thee, Nyleptha Thou hast awakened my soul and called it forth, and now, Nyleptha, it is not mine, not mine, but _thine_ and thine only There is no more for ainst the pedestal of the statue, looking very pale, and his eyes shi+ning, but proud and handsome as a God

Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and fixed her wonderful eyes, all alight with the greatness of her passion, full upon his face, as though to read his very soul Then at last she spoke, low indeed, but clearly as a silver bell

'Of a truth, oman that I am, I do believe thee Ill will be the day for thee and for me also if it be my fate to learn that I have believed a lie And now hearken to me, oh man, who hath wandered here from far to steal my heart and make me all thine own I put my hand upon thy hand thus, and thus I, whose lips have never kissed before, do kiss thee on the brow; and now by my hand and by that first and holy kiss, ay, by h I shall lose for thee--by the nah House, by the sacred Stone and by the eternal majesty of the Sun, I swear that for thee will I live and die

And I swear that I will love thee and thee only till death, ay, and beyond, if as thou sayest there be a beyond, and that thy will shall be my will, and thy ways my ways

'Oh see, see, my lord! thou knowest not how humble is she who loves; I, who ae;'

and the lovely i herself down on her knees on the cold marble before him And after that I really do not know, for I could stand it no longer, and cleared off to refreshthe ti on Inkosi-kaas as usual, and surveying the scene in the patch of rim smile of amusement

'Ah, Macu old, but I don't think that I shall ever learn to understand the ways of you white people Look there now, I pray thee, they are a pretty pair of doves, but what is all the fuss about, Macumazahn? He wants a wife, and she wants a husband, then why does he not pay his con {Endnote 17} like a man and have done with it? It would save a deal of trouble, and we should have had our night's sleep But there they go, talk, talk, talk, and kiss, kiss, kiss, like h!'

Some three-quarters of an hour afterwards the 'pair of doves' cahtly silly, and Nyleptha reht made very pretty effects on the racious mood, she took my hand and said that I was 'her Lord's' dear friend, and therefore most dear to her--not a word for aas'

axe, and exanificantly as she did so that he ht soon have cause to use it in defence of her

After that she nodded prettily to us all, and casting a tender glance at her lover, glided off into the darkness like a beautiful vision