Part 51 (2/2)
BE nobLE OR BE BASE
For a while there was silence, then Juanna looked up, searching Olfan's face with her eyes Nothing was to be read there, for it was impossible to pierce the mask of sole was accustohts He leant on the shaft of his broad spear, his head bowed slightly as though in humility, his dark eyes fixed upon her face, inity
Indeed, Juanna was fain to confess to herself that she had never seen a grander specimen of the natural man than that presented by the chief of the People of the Mist, as he stood before her in her rock prison The light of the candles fell full upon hiirth and stature, beside which those of the finest nificant It shone upon the ivory torques, emblems of royalty, which were about his neck, wrists, and ankles, upon the glossy gar from his shoulders and middle, and the raven tresses of his hair bound back from his forehead by a narrow band of white linen, which showed in striking contrast against the clear olive colouring of his face and breast
”Speak, Olfan,” said Juanna at length
”It was told to me, Queen,” he answered in a low, full voice, ”that you had words to say to me Nevertheless, now as always, I obey you Queen, I learn that your husband, he whom you loved, is dead, and believe me, I sorrow for you In this shaether with the end of the other white man and the dwarf, must be set down to the account of this priest, ears that he was driven to it by the claone across the h the sky beyond, and you, like some weary dove, far travelled froles of the People of the Mist
”But a few hours since I thought you dead also, for with all the thousands in the temple I believed that it was your fair body which Nam hurled at dawn from the brow of the statue, and I tell you that when I saw it, I, who ah I was a king, I had no power to save you Afterwards thisme the truth and a plan that he had ht be saved alive and lifted up aht be saved, and my rule be made sure in the land” And he ceased
”What is this plan, Olfan?” asked Juanna, after a pause
”Queen, it is that you should wed er as a Goddess, but as a woman who has put on the flesh for her love's sake I knoell that I am all unworthy of such honour, moreover, that your heart must be sore with the loss of one as dear to you, and little set upon the finding of another husband; also I remember certain words that passed between us and a pros I told to Naent, that here you could not be hid away for long, and that if I did not take you to wife then you reat, I said to him, 'Go now and ask her if she will smile upon me if I come before her with such words'
”Nareements with me on matters of policy, under which I e and forget s I have proreat is my love towards you The hours went by, and Nahed the matter in your mind, your ansas favourable To this I replied that I did not trust him, and would take it from your lips alone
”And now, Queen, I am here to listen to your word, and to offer myself to you, to serve you all ive you who have been bred up in sunnier lands, and aentle people; I who aed as our loomy as a winter's day that is heavy with snow to come,--only myself, the service ofthe Children of the Mist
”Now let me hear your answer, and be it what it s do I desire to force e Still I pray you, speak to me plainly once and for all, for if I must lose you I would know the worst; nor can I bear, when you have smiled upon me, to see you turn away Nay, I would sooner die”
And once more he bowed his head, leaned upon his spear, and was silent
Juanna considered the position rapidly It was hopeless and cruel Na near the door with the sliding panel beyond which Leonard lay bound, and she kneell that did she speak a single word of the truth to Olfan, it would be the signal for her lover's death It was possible that the king ht be able to protect her own person from violence, but if Leonard died itthat she could do--declare herself willing to become the wife of Olfan Yet it seemed shameless thus to treat this honourablethe People of the Mist But of a truth, such necessities as hers cannot hile those in their toils weigh scruples or the law of honour
”Olfan,” she said, ”I have heard you, and this is my answer: I will take you as my husband You know my story, you know that he as ly at the lie, ”and that I loved hientleness, you will accord me some feeeks before I pass from him to you, in which I may mourn uess the sorrow of my heart, and all that I have left unsaid”
”It shall be as you wish, Queen,” replied Olfan, taking her hand and kissing it, while his sorew radiant with happiness ”You shall pass intoat that time which best pleases you, yet I fear that in one matter you must be troubled now, this very hour”
”What may that be, Olfan?” asked Juanna anxiously
”Only this, Queen, that the rite of e as we practise it must be celebrated between us It is necessary for many reasons which will be ain with Nam sealed by an oath sworn upon the blood of Aca, an oath that I do not dare to break”
”Oh, no, no!” said Juanna in acute distress ”Think, Olfan, how can I, whose husband is not six hours dead, vow rave? Give ly would I do this, Lady, but I ainst my oath Also, what can itas it shall please you”
Then Na:
”Shepherdess, waste no breath in words, for learn that though this gar to one need, yet you must put it from you More depends upon this cere upon it, our own, perchance, a them, and especially the life of one of whoh by accident Na cell
Of his auditors Olfan thought that he was alluding to his own life, but Juanna and his daughter kneell that he spoke of that of Leonard, which would be sacrificed did the former persist in her objections to the instant celebration of the e
”You hear his words, Queen,” said Olfan, ”and there is weight in theerous, and if our plot is to be carried through, before ht I must make oath to the captains and the Council of the Elders that you have come back from death to be my wife”