Happiness danceth ever a pace before him, like the marsh-fires in the swamps, and he must catch the fire, and he must hold the star! Beauty is naught to him, because there are lips more honey-sweet; and wealth is naught, because others can weigh him down with heavier shekels; and fame is naught, because there have been greater men than he.Thyself thou saidst it, and Iturn thy words against thee.Well, thou dreamest that thou shalt pluck the star.I believe it not, and Ithink thee a fool, my Holly, to throw away the lamp."I made no answer, for I could notespecially before Leotell her that since I had seen her face I knew that it would always be before my eyes, and that I had no wish to prolong an existence which must always be haunted and tortured by her memory, and by the last bitterness of unsatisfied love.But so it was, and so, alas, is it to this hour!
"And now," went on _i_ She _i_ , changing her tone and the subject together, "tell me, my Kallikrates, for as yet I know it not, how came ye to seek me here?
Yesternight thou didst say that Kallikrateshim whom thou sawestwas thine ancestor.How was it? Tell methou dost not speak overmuch!"
Thus adjured, Leo told her the wonderful story of the casket and of the potsherd that, written on by his ancestress, the Egyptian Amenartas, had been the means of guiding us to her.Ayesha listened intently, and, when he had finished; spoke to me.
"Did I not tell thee one day, when we did talk of good and evil, O Hollyit was when my beloved lay so illthat out of good came evil, and out of evil goodthat they who sowed knew not what the crop should be, nor he who struck where the blow should fall? See, now:
this Egyptian Amenartas, this royal child of the Nile who hated me, and whom even now I hate, for in a way she did prevail against mesee, now, she herself hath been the very means to bring her lover to mine arms!
For her sake I slew him, and now, behold, through her he hath come back to me! She would have done me evil, and sowed her seeds that I might reap tares, and behold she hath given me more than all the world can give, and there is a strange square for thee to fit into thy circle of good and evil, O Holly!
"And so," she went on, after a pause"and so she bade her son destroy me if he might, because I slew his father.And thou, my Kallikrates, art the father, and in a sense thou art likewise the son; and wouldst thou avenge thy wrong, and the wrong of that far-off mother of thine upon me, O Kallikrates? See," and she slid to her knees, and drew the white corsage still farther down her ivory bosom"see, here beats my heart, and there by thy side is a knife, heavy and long and sharp, the very knife to slay an erring woman with.
Take it now, and be avenged.Strike, and strike home!so shalt thou be satisfied, Kallikrates, and go through life a happy man, because thou hast paid back the wrong, and obeyed the mandate of the past."He looked at her, and then stretched out his hand and lifted her to her feet.
"Rise, Ayesha," he said, sadly; "well thou knowest that I cannot strike thee, no, not even for the sake of her whom thou slewest but last night.I am in thy power, and a very slave to thee.How can I kill thee?sooner should I slay myself."
