第72章

"Now, wilt thou go, or must I strike a second time?"asked Ayesha, in mockery."Look, I have set my seal upon thee so that I may know thee till thy hair is all as white as it.If I see thy face here again, be sure too, that thy bones shall soon be whiter than my mark upon thy hair."Utterly awed and broken down, the poor creature rose and, marked with that awful mark, crept from the room sobbing bitterly.

"Look not so frighted, my Holly," said Ayesha, when She had gone."I tell thee I deal not in magicthere is no such thing.'Tis only a force that thou dost not understand.I marked her to strike terror to her heart, else must I have slain her.And now I will bid my servants bear my Lord Kallikrates to a chamber near mine own, that I may watch over him, and be ready to greet him when he wakes; and thither, too, shalt thou come, my Holly, and the white man, thy servant.But one thing remember at thy peril.Naught shalt thou say to Kallikrates as to how this woman went, and as little as may be of me.Now, I have warned thee!" and she slid away to give her orders, leaving me more absolutely confounded than ever.Indeed, so bewildered was I, and racked and torn with such a succession of various emotions, that I began to think that I must be going mad.However, perhaps fortunately, I had but little time to reflect, for presently the mutes arrived to carry the sleeping Leo and our possessions across the central cave, so for a while all was bustle.Our new rooms were situated immediately behind what we used to call Ayesha's boudoirthe curtained space where I had first seen her.Where she herself slept I did not then know, but it was somewhere quite close.

That night I passed in Leo's room, but he slept through it like the dead, never once stirring.I also slept fairly well, as, indeed, I needed to do, but my sleep was full of dreams of all the horrors and wonders I had undergone.Chiefly, however, I was haunted by that frightful piece of _i_ diablerie _i_by which Ayesha left her finger-marks upon her rival's hair.There was something so terrible about the swift, snakelike movement, and the instantaneous blanching of that threefold line, that, if the results to Ustane had been much more tremendous, I doubt if they would have impressed me so deeply.To this day I often dream of that awful scene, and see the weeping woman, bereaved, and marked like Cain, cast a last look at her lover, and creep from the presence of her dread queen.

Another dream that troubled me originated in the huge pyramid of bones.I dreamed that they all stood up and marched past me in thousands and tens of thousandsin squadrons, companies, and armieswith the sunlight shining through their hollow ribs.On they rushed across the plain to Ko^r, their imperial home; I saw the drawbridges fall before them, and heard their bones clank through the brazen gates.On they went, up the splendid streets, on past fountains, palaces, and temples such as the eye of man never saw.But there was no man to greet them in the market-place, and no woman's face appeared at the windowsonly a bodiless voice went before them, calling: "Fallen is Imperial Ko^rfallen!fallen!fallen!" On, right through the city, marched those gleaming phalanxes, and the rattle of their bony tread echoed through the silent air as they pressed grimly on.They passed through the city and climbed the wall, and marched along the great roadway that was made upon the wall, till at length they once more reached the drawbridge.Then, as the sun was sinking, they returned again towards their sepulchre, and luridly his light shone in the sockets of their empty eyes, throwing gigantic shadows of their bones, that stretched away, and crept and crept like huge spider's legs as their armies wound across the plain.Then they came to the cave, and once more one by one flung themselves in unending files through the hole into the pit of bones, and I awoke, shuddering, to see _i_ She _i_ , who had evidently been standing between my couch and Leo's, glide like a shadow from the room.

After this I slept again, soundly this time, till morning, when I awoke much refreshed, and got up.At last the hour drew near at which, according to Ayesha, Leo was to awake, and with it came _i_ She _i_herself, as usual, veiled.

"Thou shalt see, O Holly," she said; "presently shall he awake in his right mind, the fever having left him."Hardly were the words out of her mouth, when Leo turned round and stretched out his arms, yawned, opened his eyes, and, perceiving a female form bending over him, threw his arms round her and kissed her, mistaking her, perhaps, for Ustane.At any rate, he said, in Arabic, "Hullo! Ustane, why have you tied your head up like that? Have you got the toothache?"and then, in English, "I say, I'm awfully hungry.Why, Job, you old son-of-a-gun, where the deuce have we got to noweh?""I am sure I wish I knew, Mr.Leo," said Job, edging suspiciously past Ayesha, whom he still regarded with the utmost disgust and horror, being by no means sure that she was not an animated corpse; "but you mustn't talk, Mr.Leo, you've been very ill, and given us a great deal of hanxiety, and, if this lady," looking at Ayesha, "would be so kind as to move, I'll bring you your soup."This turned Leo's attention to the "lady," who was standing by in perfect silence."Hullo!" he said;"that is not Ustanewhere is Ustane?"

Then, for the first time, Ayesha spoke to him, and her first words were a lie."She has gone from hence upon a visit," she said; "and, behold, in her place am Ihere as thine handmaid."