Part 41 (2/2)
”I used to think I kne to dance!” she laughed-”For ten years I have taken those pictures of her for my model and have striven to learn what she knew I have surpassed her! I used to think I kne to amuse myself with men's dreams-until I found this! Then I dreamed on my own account! My dream was true, ed at his hand He was hers, soul and harness, if outward signs could prove it
”Cory Come!”
She led him by the hand, for it would have needed brute force to pry her fingers loose She drew aside the leather curtain that hung on a bronze rod near the bed, led hiain behind theether, and it was not cos to let circuhed, and then hurried, whispering tender words he could scarcely catch When they burst together through a curtain at the other end of a passage in the rock, his skin was red under the tan and for the first time her eyes refused to meet his
”Why did they choose that cave to sleep in?” she asked him ”Is not this a better one? Who laid thereat room far more splendid than the first There was a fountain in the center splashi+ng in the midst of flowers They were cut flowers The ”Hills” must have been scoured for thereat cushi+oned couches all about and two thrones old Between two couches was a table, laden with golden plates and a golden jug, on pure white linen There were two goblets of beaten gold and knives with golden handles and bronze blades The whole room seemed to be drenched in the scent Yas round all four walls, with the wo
”Co hi him, and they lay like two Romans of the Eong then, and a native wo as if she had seen him before and did not like him Except for the jewels, she was dressed exactly like Yasauzy stuff was all but transparent But Yasmini uses raiment as she does her eyes; it is part of her, and of her art Themany women, looked stiff and dull by contrast
”I trust no Hill woues,” Yas at the maid ”Even in Delhi there was only this one woht my men-servants! They are loyal, but as cluht uised as a man-you remember?”
She nodded to the servant, who clapped her hands At once came a stream of Hillmen, robed in white, who carried sherbet in bottles cooled in snow and dishes fragrant with hot food He recognized his own prisoners from the Mir Khan Palace jail, and nodded to thes down under the maid's direction When they had done the woman chased theh it was not too hot, she liked to have her golden hair blown intoto eat ”He killed an officer who said the curry had pig's fat in it That made him free of Khinjan but of not many other places! I have proets his art!”
King ate, because a ry, that hunger is a piquant sauce, and that artist was an adjective too mild to apply to the cook But the other reason was his chief one Yasmini ate daintily, as if only to keep him company
”You would rather have wine?” she asked suddenly ”All sahibs drink wine Bring wine!” she ordered
But King shook his head, and she looked pleased
He had thought she would be disappointed When he had finished eating she drove thejuold-and-ivory thrones, taking her seat on one of theht offer you the other!” she said, h, ”but you must sit at my feet until our hearts are one!”
It was clear that she took no delight in easy victories, for she laughed aloud at the quizzical expression on his face He guessed that if she could have conquered him at the first attempt a day would have found her weary of him; there was deliberate wisdom in his plan for the present to seem to let her win by little inches at a time He reasoned that so she would tell hiht an ivory footstool and set it about a yard away fro eyes, wound tresses of her hair around the golden dagger handle, litter with eachwine,” she said ”You please me-oh, you please h! Hindu and Musli of his own The Gods of India, who are the only real Gods, what do they think of it all! They have been good to the English, but they have had no thanks They will stand aside now and watch a greater jihad than the world has ever seen! And the Hindu, who holds the cow sacred, will not support Christians who hold nothing sacred, against Muhalish o doith it-just as Rome went dohen she dabbled in Christianity Oh, I know all about Rome!”
”And the Gods of India?” he asked, to keep her to the point now that she seemed well started
He was there to learn, not to teach
”I know them, too! I know them as nobody else does! They are neither Hindu, nor Muhaes than either foolishness! I love them, and they love me-as you shall love me, too! If they did not love both of us, ould not both be here! Weways of courtshi+p are ever tedious Love springs into being on an instant and lives a thousand years inside an hour She left no doubt as to herwere to love, as the East knows love, and then the world ht have just what they two did not care to take from it
His only possible course as yet was the defensive, and there is no defense like silence He was still
”The sirkar,” she went on, ”the silly sirkar fears that perhaps Turkey may enter the war Perhaps a jihad may be proclai time! And I have not let fear trouble me at all!”