Part 1 (1/2)

Ayesha

by H Rider Haggard

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Not with a view of conciliating those readers who on principle object to sequels, but as a matter of fact, the Author wishes to say that he does not so regard this book

Rather does he venture to ask that it should be considered as the conclusion of an iedy (if he may so call it) whereof one half has been already published

This conclusion it was always his desire to write should he be destined to live through those n, must be allowed to lapse between the events of the first and second parts of the romance

In response to many enquiries he may add that the name Ayesha, which since the days of the prophet Mahomet, who had a wife so called, and perhaps before them, has been common in the East, should be pronounced assha

INTRODUCTION

Verily and indeed it is the unexpected that happens! Probably if there was one person upon the earth from whom the Editor of this, and of a certain previous history, did not expect to hear again, that person was Ludwig Horace Holly This, too, for a good reason; he believed him to have taken his departure from the earth

When Mr Holly last wrote, o, it was to transmit the manuscript of She, and to announce that he and his ward, Leo Vincey, the beloved of the divine Ayesha, were about to travel to Central Asia in the hope, I suppose, that there she would fulfil her proain

Often I have wondered, idly enough, what happened to the their lives away as ic and practising asceticis that thus they would build a bridge by which they ht pass to the side of their adored Iht of then, out of the blue as it were, cos!

To think-only to think-that I, the Editor aforesaid, fro quite faistered, brown-paper parcel directed in an unknown hand, and for thole days let it lie forgotten Indeed there itnow, had not another person beenit, found within a bundle of manuscript badly burned upon the back, and with this two letters addressed to reat a time had passed since I saw it, and it was shaky now because of the author's age or sickness, I knew the writing at once-nobody ever made an ”H” with that peculiar twirl under it except Mr Holly I tore open the sealed envelope, and sure enough the first thingsince I read anything so eagerly as I did that letter Here it is:- ”My dear sir,-I have ascertained that you still live, and strange to say I still live also-for a little while

”As soon as I caain I found a copy of your book She, or rather of my book, and read it-first of all in a Hindostani translation My host-he was a ious body, a man of worthy but prosaic mind-expressed surprise that a 'wild romance' should absorb me so much I answered that those who have wide experience of the hard facts of life often find interest in romance Had he knoere the hard facts to which I alluded, I wonder what that excellent person would have said?

”I see that you carried out your part of the business well and faithfully Every instruction has been obeyed, nothing has been added or taken away Therefore, to you, to who of the history, I wish to entrust its end also You were the first to learn of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, who fro loveliness in the sepulchres of Kor, waiting till her lost love was born again, and Destiny brought hiht, therefore, that you should be the first to learn also of Ayesha, Hesea and Spirit of the Mountain, the priestess of that Oracle which since the ti pillars in the Sanctuary, the last holder of the sceptre of Hes or Isis upon the earth It is right also that to you first a men I should reveal the an at Kor, or perchance far earlier in Egypt and elsewhere

”I aled back to this old house of mine to die, and my end is at hand I have asked the doctor here, after all is over, to send you the Record, that is unless I change my mind and burn it first You will also receive, if you receive anything at all, a case containing several rough sketches which may be of use to you, and a sistrum, the instrument that has been always used in the worshi+p of the Nature Goddesses of the old Egyptians, Isis and Hathor, which you will see is as beautiful as it is ancient I give it to you for two reasons; as a token of ard, and as the only piece of evidence that is left to me of the literal truth of what I have written in the acco manuscript, where you will find it often mentioned Perhaps also you will value it as a souvenir of, I suppose, the strangest and loveliest being who ever was, or rather, is It was her sceptre, the rod of her pohich I saw her salute the Shadows in the Sanctuary, and her gift to ht yet haunts the symbol to which even spirits bowed, but if you should discover theth nor the will to write more The Record must speak for itself Do with it what you like, and believe it or not as you like I care nothing who know that it is true

”Who and as Ayesha, nay, what is Ayesha? An incarnate essence, a , the lovely, the cruel and the immortal; ensouled alone, redeemable only by Humanity and its piteous sacrifice? Say you! I have done with speculations who depart to solve these ood fortune Farewell to you and to all

”L Horace Holly”

I laid the letter down, and, filled with sensations that it is useless to attempt to analyse or describe, opened the second envelope, of which I also print the contents, o only certain irrelevant portions, and the name of the writer as, it will be noted, he requests me to do

This epistle, that was dated from a remote place upon the shores of cumberland, ran as follows:- ”Dear sir,-As the doctor who attended Mr Holly in his last illness I aed, in obedience to a promise that I e business, although in truth it is one of which I know very little, however much it may have interestedthat no mention is to be made of my name in connexion with the matter, or of the locality in which I practise

”About ten days ago I was called in to see Mr Holly at an old house upon the Cliff that for many years remained untenanted except by the caretakers, which house was his property, and had been in his faenerations The housekeeper who summoned me told me that her master had but just returned from abroad, somewhere in Asia, she said, and that he was very ill with his heart-dying, she believed; both of which suppositions proved to be accurate

”I found the patient sitting up in bed (to ease his heart), and a strange-looking old man he was He had dark eyes, snificent and snohite beard that covered a chest of extraordinary breadth, and hair also white, which encroached upon his forehead and face so much that it met the whiskers upon his cheeks His arh one of them seemed to have beenhad done this, but if so it ly ive the bull, beautiful I cannot describe what Ithat his face was not like the face of any ordinary mortal whom I have met in my limited experience Were I an artist ished to portray a wise and benevolent, but rather grotesque spirit, I should take that countenance as acalled in, which had been done without his knowledge Soon we becaratitude for the relief that I was able to give hih I could not hope to do ood deal of the various countries in which he had travelled, apparently for very e quest that he never clearly denned to ht-headed, and spoke, for the es that I identified as Greek and Arabic; occasionally in English also, when he appeared to be addressing hiht almost say of his worshi+p What he said then, however, I prefer not to repeat, for I heard it in h box n wood (the saiving me your name and address, said that without fail it was to be forwarded to you after his death Also he asked me to do up a manuscript, which, like the box, was to be sent to you

”He sawat the last sheets, which had been burned away, and said (I repeat his exact words)- ”'Yes, yes, that can't be helped now, it o as it is You see I made up my mind to destroy it after all, and it was already on the fire when the command came-the clear, unain'

”What Mr Holly meant by this 'command' I do not know, for he would speak no more of the ht about eleven o'clock, knowing thatto inject soer Before I reached the house I ht, and asked her if her ot out of bed and, just as he was, barefooted, left the house, and was last seen by her grandson a The lad, as terrified out of his wits, for he thought that he beheld a ghost, had told her so

”The ht, especially as fresh snow had fallen, which reflected its rays I was on foot, and began to search a the firs, till presently just outside of them I found the track of naked feet in the snow Of course I followed, calling to the housekeeper to go and wake her husband, for no one else lives near by The spoor proved very easy to trace across the clean sheet of snow It ran up the slope of a hill behind the house

”Now, on the crest of this hill is an ancient ht monoliths set there by so-a sort of e in fact I had seen it several tio at a in and purpose were discussed I reentleman read a short paper upon a rude, hooded bust and head that are cut within the chamber of a tall, flat-topped cro

”He said that it was a representation of the Egyptian Goddess, Isis, and that this place had once been sacred to some form of her worshi+p, or at any rate to that of a Nature Goddess with like attributes, a suggestion which the other learned gentlemen treated as absurd They declared that Isis had never travelled into Britain, though for my part I do not see why the Phoenicians, or even the Romans, who adopted her cult, ht it here But I know nothing of such matters and will not discuss them

”I remembered also that Mr Holly was acquainted with this place, for he hadif the stones were still uninjured as they used to be when he was young He added also, and the remark struck me, that yonder here he would wish to die When I answered that I feared he would never take so long a walk again, I noted that he savemore about the footprints I went on as fast as I could to the Ring, half a mile or so away Presently I reached it, and there-yes, there-standing by the cros only, stood Mr Holly in the snow, the strangest figure, I think, that ever I beheld

”Indeed never shall I forget that wild scene The circle of rough, single stones pointing upwards to the star-strewn sky, intensely lonely and intensely sole above thehtsheet of snow, and, standing clear of this shadow so that I could distinguish his everyface, the white-draped figure of Mr Holly He appeared to be uttering so before I reached him I could catch the tones of his full, sonorous voice, and see his waving, outstretched arht hand he held the looped sceptre which, by his express wish I send to you with the drawings I could see the flash of the jewels strung upon the wires, and in the great stillness, hear the tinkling of its golden bells

”Presently, too, I seemed to become aware of another presence, and now you will understand why I desire and must ask that h I do not wish to be mixed up with a superstitious tale which is, on the face of it, impossible and absurd Yet under all the circuht I saw, soe froht and glorious which gradually took the form of a woman upon whose forehead burned a star-like fire

”At any rate the vision or reflection, or whatever it was, startled me so much that I came to a halt under the lee of one of the monoliths, and found ht man whom I pursued

”Whilst I stood thus it beca At least he turned towards the Radiance in the shadow, uttered one cry; a wild, glad cry, and stepped forward; then seeh it on to his face

”When I reached the spot the light had vanished, and all I found was Mr Holly, his arhtly in his hand, lying quite dead in the shadow of the trilithon”

The rest of the doctor's letter need not be quoted as it deals only with certain very iht, the details of the reed to satisfy the coroner that no inquest was necessary