Part 21 (2/2)
Sheher glorious hair to ripple like water beneath a gentle breeze
”Thou deniest th, ”and that thou canst not do, that thou mayest not do, for Ayesha, thou hast sworn, and I demand the fulfilifts; I will have none of thy rule who ask no Pharaoh's throne and wish to do good to men and not to kill theo with thee to Kor, nor be bathed in the breath of Life I will leave thee and cross the th canst thou hold er will I endure this daily torment, the tor looks, thy promises for next year, next year-next year So keep thine oath or let one”
Still Ayesha stood silent, only now her head drooped and her breast began to heave Then Leo stepped forward; he seized her in his arms and kissed her She broke froh she returned it was close enough, and again stood before him but at a little distance
”Did I not warn Holly,” she whispered with a sigh, ”to bid thee beware lest I should catch thy huins to srow to fla, ”ill be happy for a little while”
”Aye, Leo, but how long? Why wert thou sole lord of this loveliness of ht and day a hundred jealous daggers would seek thy heart and-find it”
”How long, Ayesha? A lifetime, a year, a month, a minute-I neither know nor care, and while thou art true to me I fear no stabs of envy”
”Is it so? Wilt take the risk? I can prohtest-yes, in this way or in that, thou htest-die”
”And if I die, what then? Shall we be separated?”
”Nay, nay, Leo, that is not possible We never can be severed, of this I ah other lives and other spheres, higher lives and higher spheres oal of union”
”Why then I take the hazard, Ayesha Shall the life that I can risk to slay a leopard or a lion in the sport of an idle hour, be too great a price to offer for the splendours of thy breast? Thine oath! Ayesha, I claian the es Yet how to describe it I know not unless it be by simile
Once in Thibet ere imprisoned for months by snows that stretched down from the row of those arid, aching fields of purest white At length rain set in, and blinding mists in which it was not safe to wander, that hts darker yet
So it was, until there ca the sun shi+ne, ent to our door and looked out Behold a miracle! Gone were the snows that choked the valley and in the place of therass, starred everywhere with flowers, andand nested in the s Gone was the frowning sky and all the blue firmament seemed one tender smile Gone were the austerities of winter with his harsh winds, and in their place spring, co her song of love and life
There in this high cha and the dead, while the last act of the great tragedy unrolled itself beforeinto e had come Hitherto, with all her loveliness, the heart of Ayesha had seemed like that winter mountain wrapped in its unapproachable snow and before her pure brow and icy self-command, aspirations sank abashed and desires died
She swore she loved and her love fulfilled itself in death and many a mysterious way Yet it was hard to believe that this passion of hers was more than a spoken part, for how can the star seek the h the man may worshi+p the Goddess, for all her smiles divine, how can the Goddess love the rew human; I could see her heart beat beneath her robes and hear her breath come in soft, sweet sobs, while o'er her upturned face and in her alluring eyes there spread itself that look which is born of love alone Radiant and roeeter and er the Oracle of the Sanctuary, no longer the Valkyrie of the battle-plain, but only the loveliest and laddened a husband's eyes
She spoke, and it was of little things, for thus Ayesha proclai her white robes torn with spears and stained by the dust and dear; ”Fie, arments are these in which at last I coe to ar eyes fixed upon her face
”Thou seekest the woman Ah! there it lies Tell me, Leo, am I woman or spirit? Say that I am woman, for now the prophecy of this dead Atene lies heavy on my soul, Atene who said that mortal and immortal may not mate”
”Thou must be woman, or thou wouldst not have tormented me as thou hast done these many weeks”
”I thank thee for the coht destruction upon yonder plain? Was it to a wo bowed and said, 'We are here: Co (and she pointed to the shattered door) break inward at a woman's will? Or could a woman charm this man to stone?
”Oh! Leo, would that I o offering at thy feet, could I be sure that for one short year I should be naught but woman and-thy happy wife
”Thou sayest that I did torment thee, but it is I who have known torment, I who desired to yield and dared not Aye, I tell thee, Leo, were I not sure that thy little streareat ocean of my life, drawn thither as the sea draws its rivers, or as the sun draws mists, e'en noould not yield But I know, for my wisdom tells it me, ere ever we could reach the shores of Libya, the ill ould be done, and thou dead of thine own longing, thou dead and I ho never was a wife
”Therefore see! like lost Atene I take the dice and cast the how they shall fall, for good or ill I cast,” and shehis last throw
”So,” Ayesha went on, ”the thing is done and the nuht I have made an end of doubts and fears, and come death, come life, I'll meet it bravely
”Say, how shall we be wed? I have it Holly here uide shall givecity is our altar, the dead and living are our witnesses on earth and heaven In place of rites and ceremonials for this first time I laythee a nuptial chant of love such as mortal poet has not written nor have ive this maiden to this man”
Like one in a dream I obeyed her and took Ayesha's outstretched hand and Leo's As I held theh so and shatteringand unearthly Bliss With the fire too cahty hlife, ht
I joined their hands; I know not how; I blessed theainst the wall and watched
This is what I saw
With an abandonment and a passion so splendid and intense that it seemed more than human, with a murmured cry of ”Husband!” Ayesha cast her ar down his head to hers so that the gold hair was led with her raven locks, she kissed hi a little while, and as they clung the gentle diadeh the white wrappings of her robe beca with faint fire With a little happy laugh she left hi, ”Thus, Leo Vincey, oh! thus for the second tiive myself to thee, and with this flesh and spirit all I swore to thee, there in the dim Caves of Kor and here in the palace of Kaloon Know thou this, come what may, never, never more shall we be separate who are ordained one Whilst thou livest I live at thy side, and when thou diest, if die thy h worlds and firainst o When thou sleepest, with thee will I sleep and it is h the dreams of life and death; my voice that shall su dahen all this night of s for aye
”Listen nohile I sing to thee and hear that song aright, for in its ht not tell to thee Thou shalt learn who and what I ah purposes of our love, and this dead woman's hate, and of all that I have hid fro words and visions
”Listen then,of Fate”
She ceased speaking and gazed heavenwards with a rapt look as though she waited for some inspiration to fall upon her, and never, never-not even in the fires of Kor had Ayesha seemed so divine as she did now in this moment of the ripe harvest of her love
My eyes wandered from her to Leo, who stood before her pale and still, still as the death-like figure of the Shaman, still as the Khania's icy shape which stared upwards fro in his mind, I wondered, that he could reht and awful beauty this proud being worshi+pped hi in a voice so rich and perfect that its honied notes seemed to cloy my blood and stop my breath
”The world was not, was not, and in the womb of Silence Slept the souls of men Yet I was and thou--”
Suddenly Ayesha stopped, and I felt rather than saw the horror on her face
Look! Leo swayed to and fro as though the stones beneath hi boat To and fro he swayed, stretched out his blind arms to clasp her-then suddenly fell backwards, and lay still
Oh! what a shriek was that she gave! Surely it must have wakened the very corpses upon the plain Surely itsilence
I sprang to him, and there, withered in Ayesha's kiss, slain by the fire of her love, Leo lay dead-lay dead upon the breast of dead Atene!
CHAPTER XXIV