Part 44 (1/2)
”We have heard your words and ithdraw to consider them, and by dawn ye shall see us seated on the Black One yonder But whether ill cause the sun to shi+ne or choose to pass to our own place by the path of boiling waters, we do not know, though it see is better than the first, for eary of your co that we should bless you longer with our presence Nevertheless, should we choose that path, those evils which I have foretold shall fall upon you Olfan, lead us hence”
The king stepped forith his guards and the procession passed back towards the palace solemnly and in silence, for none attempted to bar their way They reached it safely at exactly ten o'clock by Leonard's watch
”Now let us eat and drink,” said Leonard when they stood alone in the throne-rooht”
”Yes,” answered Juanna with a sad smile, ”let us eat and drink, for to-morroe die”
CHAPTER xxx
FRANCISCO'S EXPIATION
When they had finished their meal, which was about as sad an entertainan to talk
”Do you see any hope?” asked Juanna of the other three
Leonard shook his head and answered:
”Unless the sun shi+nes at dawn to-morroe are dead roaned Otter, ”for the night is as the nights have been for these five weeks No wonder that this people are fierce and wicked who live in such a climate”
Juanna hid her face in her hands for a while, then spoke:
”They did not say that any harm was to come to you, Leonard, or to Francisco, so perhaps you will escape”
”I doubt it,” he answered; ”besides, to be perfectly frank, if you are going to die, I would rather die with you”
”Thank you, Leonard,” she said gently, ”but that will not help either of us much, will it? What will they do with us? Throw us from the head of the statue?” and she shuddered
”That seems to be their ah with it alive How long does your medicine take to work, Juanna?”
”Half a minute at the outside, I fancy, and sometimes less Are you sure that you will take none, Otter? Think; the other end is dreadful”
”No, Shepherdess,” said the dwarf, who now in the presence of iht comfort in the beer-pot, brave, ready, and collected, ”it is not my plan to suffer myself to be hurled into the pit Nay, when the ti there of my own free will, and if I am not killed--and an otter kno to leap into a pool--then if I cannot avoid hireat dweller in the water Yes, and I go to ht,” and he rose and departed to his sleeping-place
Just then Francisco followed his exa a quiet place in which to pursue his devotions, and thus Leonard and Juanna were left alone
For some minutes he watched her as she sat beside hi stern and sad against the dusky background of the torchlight, and a great shairl was on his hands, and he could do nothing to help her His selfishness had dragged her into this miserable enterprise, and now its inevitable end was at hand and he was her murderer, the murderer of the woman as all the world to him, and who had been entrusted to his care with her father's dying breath
”Forgivehis hand upon hers
”What have I to forgive, Leonard?” she replied gently ”Now that it is all finished and I look back upon the past few ive, for I have often behaved badly to you”
”Nonsense, Juanna, it was my wicked folly that led you into this, and now you are about to be cut off in the beginning of your youth and in the flower of your beauty I a his voice he hesitated, then added: ”It h I have often sworn that nothing should make me say it: I love you”
She did not start or even stir at his words, but sat staring as before into the darkness: only a pink flush grew upon the pallor of her neck and cheek as she answered: