Part 8 (1/2)

”So, my Holly, sit there where thou canst see ain I say, blame me not if thou dost wear away thy little span with such a sick pain at the heart that thou wouldst fain have died before ever thy curious eyes were set upon me There, sit so, and tell me, for in truth I am inclined for praises--tell me, am I not beautiful? Nay, speak not so hastily; consider well the point; takenot my form, and my hands and feet, and my hair, and the whiteness of my skin, and then tell ht, ay, in one little portion of her beauty, in the curve of an eyelash even, or the ht before my loveliness? Now, e, but of a truth it is not so; it is this golden snake that is too large, and doth not bind it as it should It is a wide snake, and knoweth that it is ill to tie in the waist But see, give me thy hands--so-- now press theers touch, oh Holly”

I could bear it no longer I am but a man, and she was more than a woman Heaven knohat she was--I do not! But then and there I fell upon es-- for such hts--that I worshi+pped her as never woive my immortal soul to marry her, which at that time I certainly would have done, and so, indeed, would any other man, or all the race of men rolled into one For a h, and clap her hands in glee

”Oh, so soon, oh Holly!” she said ”I wondered howthee to thy knees I have not seen a man kneel before me for so ht is sweet, ay, wisdoth of days take not froht

”What wouldst thou?--ouldst thou? Thou dost not knohat thou doest Have I not told thee that I am not for thee? I love but one, and thou art not the man Ah Holly, for all thy wisdo after folly Thou wouldst look into mine eyes--thou wouldst kiss me! Well, if it pleaseth thee, look,” and she bent herself towardsorbs upon iven to the sches, kisses leave no marks, except upon the heart But if thou dost kiss, I tell thee of a surety wilt thou eat out thy breast with love of me, and die!” and she bent yet further towards rant breath played upon my face, and made me faint and weak Then of a sudden, even as I stretched out e passed over her Reaching out her hand, she held it overflowed froe of propriety and the doh of this wanton folly,” she said with a touch of sternness ”Listen, Holly Thou art a good and honest man, and I fain would spare thee; but, oh! it is so hard for woman to be merciful I have said I ahts pass by ain into the depths-- well, of despair, if thou wilt Thou dost not know me, Holly Hadst thou seen me but ten hours past when my passion seizedI am of many moods, and, like the water in that vessel, I reflect s; but they pass, otten Only the water is the water still, and I still am I, and that which maketh the water maketh it, and that which maketh me maketh me, nor can my quality be altered Therefore, pay no heed to what I see that thou canst not knohat I aain I will veil myself, and thou shalt behold my face no more”

I rose, and sank on the cushi+oned couch beside her, yet quivering with eh for a moment my mad passion had left ust be gone that stirred them I did not dare to tell her that I had seen her in that deep and hellishincantations to the fire in the tomb

”So,” she went on, ”now eat some fruit; believe me, it is the only true food for man Oh, tell me of the philosophy of that Hebrew Messiah, who came after ypt, and the barbarians beyond It ht, for in ht of our philosophies Revel and lust and drink, blood and cold steel, and the shock of athered in the battle--these were the canons of their creeds”

I had recoveredbitterly ashamed of the weakness into which I had been betrayed, I did my best to expound to her the doctrines of Christianity, to which, however, with the single exception of our conception of Heaven and hell, I found that she paid but scant attention, her interest being all directed towards the Man who taught the her own people, the Arabs, another prophet, one Mohammed, had arisen and preached a new faith, to which many millions of mankind now adhered

”Ah!” she said; ”I see--t religions! I have known so ht beyond these caves of Kor Mankind asks ever of the skies to vision out what lies behind them It is terror for the end, and but a subtler forions Mark, ion claiood thereof The evil is for those benighted ones ill have none of it; seeing the light the true believers worshi+p, as the fishes see the stars, but diions pass, and the civilisations coht endures but the world and human nature Ah! if man would but see that hope is from within and not from without--that he himself must work out his own salvation! He is there, and within hiood and evil is to him Thereon let hie of soer brain to think the evil thing, and a longer arht to , indeed, one of the recurring qualities of theological discussion, that her argument sounded very like some that I have heard in the nineteenth century, and in other places than the caves of Kor, and hich, by the way, I totally disagree, but I did not care to try and discuss the question with her To begin with, h which I had passed, and, in the second place, I knew that I should get the worst of it It is weary work enough to argue with an ordinary ical facts at your head, whilst you can only buffet him with deductions and instincts and the snowflakes of faith, that are, alas! so apt to melt in the hot embers of our troubles How little chance, then, should I have against one whose brain was supernaturally sharpened, and who had two thousand years of experience, besides all e of the secrets of Nature at her co that she would be more likely to convert ht it best to leave the matter alone, and so sat silent Many a tiretted that I did so, for thereby I lost the only opportunity I can re what Ayesha really believed, and what her ”philosophy” was

”Well, my Holly,” she continued, ”and so those people of mine have found a prophet, a false prophet thou sayest, for he is not thine own, and, indeed, I doubt it not Yet in my day was it otherwise, for then we Arabs had many Gods Allat there was, and Saba, the Host of Heaven, Al Uzza, and Manah the stony one, for whohth the Lion of the dwellers in Yale of Hamyar; ay, and many more Oh, the folly of it all, the shame and the pitiful folly! Yet when I rose in wisdom and spoke thereof, surely they would have slain ed Gods Well, so hath it ever been;--but, my Holly, art thou weary of me already, that thou dost sit so silent? Or dost thou fear lest I should teach thee my philosophy?--for know I have a philosophy What would a teacher be without her own philosophy? and if thou dost vex me overmuch beware! for I will have thee learn it, and thou shalt be my disciple, and ill found a faith that shall s up all others Faithless man! And but half an hour since thou wast upon thy knees--the posture does not suit thee, Holly--swearing that thou didst love me What shall we do?--Nay, I have it I will come and see this youth, the Lion, as the old man Billali calls him, who came with thee, and who is so sick The fever must have run its course by now, and if he is about to die I will recover hiic Have I not told thee that there is no such thing asand applying the forces which are in Nature? Go now, and presently, when I haveready, I will follow thee”[]

[] Ayesha was a great chemist, indeed chemistry appears to have been her only amusement and occupation She had one of the caves fitted up as a laboratory, and, although her appliances were necessarily rude, the results that she attained were, as will become clear in the course of this narrative, sufficiently surprising--L H H

Accordingly I went, only to find Job and Ustane in a great state of grief, declaring that Leo was in the throes of death, and that they had been searching for lanced at hi heavily, but his lips were quivering, and every now and again a little shudder ran down his fra to see that in another hour he would be beyond the reach of earthly help--perhaps in another five minutes How I cursedby Ayesha's side while ! Alas and alas! how easily the best of us are lighted down to evil by the gleam of a woman's eyes! What a wicked wretch was I! Actually, for the last half-hour I had scarcely thought of Leo, and this, be it remembered, of the man who for twenty years had been my dearest companion, and the chief interest ofby the couch, and in her eyes burnt the dull light of despair Job was blubbering--I am sorry I cannot name his distress by anyrief in the passage Obviously the only hope lay in Ayesha She, and she alone--unless, indeed, she was an io and implore her to co into the roo on end with terror

”Oh, God help us, sir!” he ejaculated in a frightened whisper, ”here's a corpse a-coe!”

For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck ar shost gliding towards him Indeed, at that very moment the question was settled, for Ayesha herself was in the apartment, or rather cave Job turned, and saw her sheeted for into a corner, and ja whose the dread presence must be, prostrated herself upon her face

”Thou coood time, Ayesha,” I said, ”for my boy lies at the point of death”

”So,” she said softly; ”provided he be not dead, it is nohim back to life, my Holly Is that man there thy servant, and is that the ers in thy country?”

”He is frightened of thy garb--it hath a death-like air,” I answered

She laughed

”And the girl? Ah, I see now It is she of whom thou didst speak to me Well, bid them both to leave us, and ill see to this sick Lion of thine I love not that underlings should perceive my wisdolish both to leave the roolad to obey, for he could not in any way subdue his fear But it was otherith Ustane

”What does She want?” she whispered, divided between her fear of the terrible Queen and her anxiety to reht of a wife to be near her husband when he dieth Nay, I will not go, my lord the Baboon”

”Why doth not that woman leave us, my Holly?” asked Ayesha froed in carelessly exa so to leave Leo,” I answered, not knohat to say Ayesha wheeled round, and, pointing to the girl Ustane, said one word, and one only, but it was quite enough, for the tone in which it was said meant volumes

”Go!”

And then Ustane crept past her on her hands and knees, and went

”Thou seest, h, ”it was needful that I should give these people a lesson in obedience That girl went nigh to disobeying me, but then she did not learn this one; and now let lided towards the couch on which Leo lay, with his face in the shadow and turned towards the wall

”He hath a noble shape,” she said, as she bent over him to look upon his face

Next second her tall and y forh she had been shot or stabbed, staggering back till at last she struck the cavern wall, and then there burst from her lips the most awful and unearthly scream that I ever heard in all my life

”What is it, Ayesha?” I cried ”Is he dead?”

She turned, and sprang towards !” she said, in her terrible whisper, which sounded like the hiss of a snake, ”why didst thou hide this froht that she was about to slay me

”What?” I ejaculated, in the most lively terror; ”what?”

”Ah!” she said, ”perchance thou didst not know Learn, my Holly, learn: there lies--there lies my lost Kallikrates Kallikrates, who has come back to me at last, as I kneould, as I kneould;” and she began to sob and to laugh, and generally to conduct herself like any other lady who is a little upset, ht I to myself, but I did not like to say it; and, indeed, at that otten everything else in that terrible anxiety What I feared noas that he should die while she was ”carrying on”

”Unless thou art able to help him, Ayesha,” I put in, by way of a re Surely he dieth even now”

”True,” she said, with a start ”Oh, why did I not come before! I am unnerved--my hand trembles, even mine--and yet it is very easy Here, thou Holly, take this phial,” and she produced a tiny jar of pottery froarment, ”and pour the liquid in it down his throat It will cure him if he be not dead Swift, noift! The h, Leo was in his death- struggle I saw his poor face turning ashen, and heard the breath begin to rattle in his throat The phial was stoppered with a little piece of wood I dreith ue It had a sweet flavour, and for a second ather before my eyes, but happily the effect passed away as swiftly as it had arisen

When I reached Leo's side he was plainly expiring--his golden head was slowly turning frohtly open I called to Ayesha to hold his head, and this shefrom head to foot, like an aspen-leaf or a startled horse Then, forcing the jaw a little more open, I poured the contents of the phial into his mouth Instantly a little vapour arose froht did not increase h, of the efficacy of the treat, however, was certain, the death throes ceased--at first I thought because he had got beyond them, and crossed the awful river His face turned to a livid pallor, and his heart-beats, which had been feeble enough before, seeether--only the eyelid still twitched a little Inhad slipped back in her excite across the roo Leo's head, and, with a face as pale as his oatching his countenance with such an expression of agonised anxiety as I had never seen before Clearly she did not know if he would live or die Fivehope; her lovely oval face seerow visibly thinner beneath the pressure of a ony whose pencil drew black lines about the hollows of her eyes The coral faded even from her lips, till they were as white as Leo's face, and quivered pitifully It was shocking to see her: even in asped

She hid her face in her hands, and made no answer, and I too turned away But as I did so I heard a deep-drawn breath, and looking down perceived a line of colour creeping up Leo's face, then another and another, and then, wonder of wonders, the ht dead turned over on his side

”Thou seest,” I said in a whisper

”I see,” she answered hoarsely ”He is saved I thought ere too late--another one!” and she burst into an awful flood of tears, sobbing as though her heart would break, and yet looking lovelier than ever as she did it As last she ceased

”Forgive ive me for my weakness,” she said ”Thou seest after all I a didst thou speak of the place of torion of thine hell or Hades thou didst call it--a place where the vital essence lives and retains an individual ment, and unsatisfied passions and the unsubstantial terrors of the mind ith it hath at any ti the heart for ever and for ever with the vision of its own hopelessness Thus, even thus, have I lived for full two thousand years--for soenerations, as ye reckon time--in a hell, as thou callest it-- torht with an unfulfilled desire--without companionshi+p, without comfort, without death, and led on only down h they flickered here and there, and noed strong, and noere not, yet, as my skill told me, would one day lead unto my deliverer

”And then--think of it still, oh Holly, for never shalt thou hear such another tale, or see such another scene, nay, not even if I give thee ten thousand years of life--and thou shalt have it in payment if thou wilt--think: at last h the generations--at the appointed time he came to seek me, as I knew that he h I knew not when or how Yet see how ignorant I was! See how sth! For hours he lay there sick unto death, and I felt it not--I who had waited for him for two thousand years--I knew it not And then at last I see hione but by a hair's breadth even before I have it, for he is in the very jaws of death, whence no power of mine can draw hih once more--once more must I face the weary centuries, and wait, and wait till the ti avest hi before I knew if he would live or die, and I tell thee that all the sixty generations that are gone were not so long as that five th, and still he showed no sign, and I knew that if the drug works not then, so far as I have had knowledge, it works not at all Then thought I that he was once athered theh and through, because again I had lost Kallikrates! And then, when all was done, behold! he sighed, behold! he lived, and I knew that he would live, for none die on who takes hold Think of it now, my Holly--think of the wonder of it! He will sleep for twelve hours and then the fever will have left hiolden head, and then bent down and kissed his broith a chastened abandonment of tenderness that would have been beautiful to behold had not the sight cut me to the heart--for I was jealous!

XVIII