Part 20 (1/2)

One person, however, did not succeed in getting out in tion, who, as we had every reason to believe, was Sorais' great ally, and the heart and soul of her party This cunning and ferocious old iven us for those hippopotami, or rather that hat he said What he meant was that he would never brook the introduction of our wider ways of thought and foreign learning and influence while there was a possibility of sta us out Also he knew that we possessed a different systeion, and no doubt was in daily terror of our atte to introduce it into Zu-Vendis One day he asked ion in our country, and I told him that so far as I could reht have knocked him doith a feather, and really it is difficult not to pity a high priest of a well-established cult who is haunted by the possible approach of one or all of ninety-five new religions

When we knew that Agon was caught, Nyleptha, Sir Henry, and I discussed as to be done with hi hi that it would produce a disastrous effect throughout the country 'Ah!' she added, with a stamp of her foot, 'if I win and am once really Queen, I will break the power of those priests, with their rites and revels and dark secret ways' I only wished that old Agon could have heard her, it would have frightened him

'Well,' said Sir Henry, 'if we are not to io He is of no use here'

Nyleptha looked at him in a curious sort of way, and said in a dry little voice, 'Thinkest thou so, my lord?'

'Eh?' said Curtis 'No, I do not see what is the use of keeping hi at him in a way that was as shy as it eet

Then at last he understood

'Forgive me, Nyleptha,' he said, rather tremulously 'Dost thou mean that thou wilt marry me, even now?'

'Nay, I know not; let my lord say,' was her rapid answer; 'but if my lord wills, the priest is there and the altar is there'--pointing to the entrance to a private chapel--'and am I not ready to do the will of ht days or less thou o down to war, for thou shalt lead my armies, and in war--men sometimes fall, and so I would for a little space have had thee all my own, if only for memory's sake;' and the tears overflowed her lovely eyes and rolled down her face like heavy drops of den the red heart of a rose

'Mayhap, too,' she went on, 'I shall lose my crown, and withand very bitter, and if she prevails she will not spare Who can read the future? Happiness is the world's White Bird, that alights seldom, and flies fast and far till one day he is lost in the clouds Therefore should we hold him fast if by any chance he rests for a little space upon our hand It is not wise to neglect the present for the future, for who knohat the future will be, Incubu? Let us pluck our flohile the dew is on them, for when the sun is up they wither and on the morroill others bloom that we shall never see' And she lifted her sweet face to him and s of jealousy and turned and went away They never took , I suppose, that I was an old fool, and that it did not matter one way or the other, and really I believe that they were right

So I went back to our quarters and ruaas whetting his axe outside theas a vulture whets his beak beside a dying ox

And in about an hour's ti very radiant and wildly excited, and found Good and aas, and asked us if we should like to assist at a real wedding

Of course we said yes, and off ent to the chapel, where we found Agon looking as sulky as any High Priest possibly could, and no wonder

It appeared that he and Nyleptha had a slight difference of opinion about the co ceremony He had flatly refused to celebrate it, or to allow any of his priests to do so, whereupon Nyleptha becary and told him that she, as Queen, was head of the Church, and meant to be obeyed Indeed, she played the part of a Zu-Vendi Henry the Eighth to perfection, and insisted that, if she wanted to be married, she would be married, and that he should h the cereuh Priest, because there is an absurd prejudice against it, and I cannot i that would bring the stars down on Zu-Vendis and crush it; but I _can_ leave hi to eat, because that is his natural vocation, and if thou wilt not on! thou shalt be placed before the altar yonder with nought but a little water till such time as thou hast reconsidered the on had been hurried away that ly hungry, so he presentlyat the same time that he washed his hands of all responsibility in the matter

So it chanced that presently, attended only by two of her favouriteface and downcast eyes, dressed in pure white, without embroidery of any sort, as seems to be the fashi+on on these occasions in le ornaht that if possible she looked more lovely than ever without them, as really superbly beautiful women do

She came, curtseyed low to Sir Henry, and then took his hand and led him up before the altar, and after a little pause, in a slow, clear voice uttered the folloords, which are customary in Zu-Vendis if the bride desires and the man consents:--

'Thou dost swear by the Sun that thou wilt take no other woman to wife unless I lay my hand upon her and bid her colish, 'One is quite enough forin a corner near the altar, ca into his beard at such a rate that I could not follow it, but it appeared to be an invocation to the Sun to bless the union and make it fruitful I observed that Nyleptha listened very closely to every word, and afterwards discovered that she was afraid lest Agon should play her a trick, and by going through the invocations backwards divorce them instead of marry them At the end of the invocations they were asked, as in our service, if they took each other for husband and wife, and on their assenting they kissed each other before the altar, and the service was over, so far as their rites were concerned But it see, and so I produced a Prayer-Book, which has, together with the 'Ingoldsby Legends', that I often read when I lie awake at night, accoave it to o, and after his death I found it aain

'Curtis,' I said, 'I a to propose is allowable--I know it is not legal--but if you and the Queen have no objection I should like to read the English e service over you It is a soleht, so far as circuion'

'I have thought of that,' he said, 'and I wish you would I do not feel half married yet'

Nyleptha raised no objection, fully understanding that her husband wished to celebrate thein his own country, and so I set to work and read the service, from 'Dearly beloved' to 'amazement', as well as I could; and when I came to 'I, Henry, take thee, Nyleptha,' I translated, and also 'I, Nyleptha, take thee, Henry,' which she repeated afterfroer and placed it on hers, and so on to the end The ring had been Curtis'how astonished the dear old Yorkshi+re lady would have been if she could have foreseen that her wedding-ring was to serve a similar purpose for Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi

As for Agon, he ith difficulty kept cal on, for he at once understood that it was religious in its nature, and doubtless bethought him of the ninety-five new faiths which loomed so ominously in his eyes Indeed, he at once set ly However, in the end off he went, positively bristling with indignation, and I knew that we er from his direction

And off went Good and I, and old U the happy pair to thees are supposed to be cheerful things, but my experience is that they are very much the reverse to everybody, except perhaps the two people chiefly interested