Part 45 (2/2)
She nodded and tucked the sealed letter in her bosoo,” she said darkly, ”and another letter with it They looted your brother's body In his pocket they found the note you wrote him, and that you asked him to destroy! That will be evidence That will convince! Coain and down the dark passage into the outer chaolden-haired Madonna to some shrine of Innocence Her perfume was like incense; her manner perfect reverence She passed into the cave where the two dead bodies lay like a high priestess perfor to the bed, she stood forat the Sleeper and his queen And fro saw hi Startling-weird-like an incantation were Yasmini's words when at last she spoke
”Muhammad lied! He lied in his teeth! His sons have multiplied his lie! Siddhattha, whom men have called Gotama, the Buddha, was before Muhas, and there is a wheel! Yet, what knew the Buddha of the wheel? He who spoke of Dhar Dharma! This is true--Of old there was a wish of the Gods-of the old Gods And so these tere There is a wish again now of the old Gods So, are o not as they tere? It is the same wish, and lo! We are ready, this man and I We will obey, ye Gods-ye old Gods!”
She raised her ar closer to the bed, stood there in an attitude of s
”Dear Gods!” she prayed ”Dear old Gods-older than these 'Hills'-show me in a vision what their fault hy these tere ended before the end!
”I know all the other things ye have shown me I know the world's silly creeds have made it mad, and it must rend itself, and this man and I shall reap where the nations sowed-if only we obey! Wherein, ye old dear Gods, who love me, did these two disobey? I pray you, tell hed Sadness seeht It was as if she could dimly see her plans foredoomed, and yet hoped on in spite of it The fatalisrip, and her natural courage fought with it Wo in that hts And he, without an inkling as to how she must fail, yet knew that she must, and pitied her
”Have you seen that breast under the armor?” she asked suddenly ”Come nearer! Come and look! Why did his breast decay and his body stay whole like hers? Did she kill hier-stab in his breast? I found perfureat jars of it, and I use it always It is better than te! I have put it on slaughtered animals Where the knife has touched them, they decay-as thatyear after year It was a knife, I think, that pierced his breast I think that scent is the preservative Did she kill him? Was she jealous of him? How did she die? There is no mark on her! Athelstan-listen! I think he would have failed her! I think she stabbed him rather than see him fail, and then sed poison! Afterward their servants laid them there She smiles in death because she knew the wheel will turn and that death dies too! He looks grim because he knew less than she It is aloman who understands and man who fails! I think she stabbed him She should have loved him better, and then there would have been no need I will love you better than she loved him!”
She turned and devoured him with her eyes, so that it needed all hisher slave that minute For in that minute she left no charm unexercised-sex-mes's flatter a huntsrace unutterable-mystery-she used every art on him she knew Yet he stood the test
”Even if you fail ave you to me will kno to make you love; and lessons are to learn If you failthat in the end the Gods will never let you fail me! You are mine, and Earth is ours, for the old Gods intend it so!”
She seeain; but he stood respectfully andhis joas, like the Sleeper's, and the dark hair three days old on it softened nothing of its lines His Roested no coood to look at She had not lied when she said she loved him, and he understood her and was sorry But he did not look sorry, nor did he offer any argument to quench her love He was a servant of the raj; his life and his love had been India's since the day he first buckled on his spurs, and Yasmini wouldn't have understood that
Nor did she understand that, even supposing he had loved her with all his heart, not on any conditions would he have admitted it until absolutely free, any more than that if she crucified hi that he loved her at all Nor did she trust the ”old Gods” too well, or let them work unaided
”Come with me, Athelstan!” she said She took his arm-found little jeweled slippers in a closet hewn in the wall-put them on and led hih theht on the other side, they stood hand-in-hand, back to the leather, facing the unfatho that he could not have wrenched his oithout using the other hand to help
”Where are your shoes?” she asked him
”At the foot of these steps, Princess”
”Can you see theuess where the darkness leads to?”
”No”
He shuddered and she chuckled
”Could you return alone by the way Isht you?”
”I think not”
”Will you try?”
”If I must I am not afraid”