“I admit that passage is rather droll—”
“—And in your letter to the pious Queen Stultitia that which you say about the absurdities of religion, here, and the fun you make of her spectacles, are masterpieces of paradox and of very exquisite prose—”
“Those bits, to be sure, are quite neatly put—”
“—So I must see to it that these replies are sent, to make people admire you everywhere.”
“Yet, Sesphra, all these princes are my friends, and their goodwill is necessary to me—”
“No, Manuel. For you and I will not bother about these stupid princes any more, nor will you need any friends except me; for we will go to this and that remote strange place, and our manner of living will be such and such, and we will do so-and-so, and we will travel everywhither and see the ends of this world and judge them. And we will not ever be parted until you die.”
“What will you do then, dear Sesphra?” Manuel asks him fondly.
“I shall survive you, as all gods outlive their creators. And I must depute the building of your monument to men of feeble minds which have been properly impaired by futile studies and senility. That is the way in which all gods are doomed to deal with their creators: but that need not trouble us as yet.”
“No,” Manuel said, “I cannot go with you. For in my heart is enkindling such love of you as frightens me.”
“It is through love men win to happiness, poor lonely Manuel.”
Now when Manuel answered Sesphra there was in Manuel’s face trouble and bewilderment. And Manuel said:
“Under your dear bewitchments, Sesphra, I confess that through love men win to sick disgust and self-despising, and for that reason I will not love any more. Now breathlessly the tall lads run to clutch at stars, above the brink of a drab quagmire, and presently time trips them—Oh, Sesphra, wicked Sesphra of the Dreams, you have laid upon me a magic so strong that, horrified, I hear the truth come babbling from long-guarded lips which no longer obey me, because of your dear bewitchments.
“Look you, adorable and all-masterful Sesphra, I have followed noble loves. I aspired to the Unattainable Princess, and thereafter to the unattainable Queen of a race that is more fine and potent than our race, and afterward I would have no less a love than an unattainable angel in paradise. Hah, I must be fit mate for that which is above me, was my crying in the old days; and such were the indomitable desires that one by one have made my living wonderful with dear bewitchments.
“The devil of it was that these proud aims did not stay unattained! Instead, I was cursed by getting my will, and always my reward was nothing marvelous and rare, but that quite ordinary figure of earth, a human woman. And always in some dripping dawn I have turned with abhorrence from myself and from the sated folly that had hankered for such prizes, which, when possessed, showed as not wonderful in anything, and which possession left likable enough, but stripped of dear bewitchments.
“No, Sesphra, no: men are so made that they must desire to mate with some woman or another, and they are furthermore so made that to mate with a woman does not content their desire. And in this gaming there is no gain, because the end of loving, for everybody except those lucky persons whose love is not requited, must always be a sick disgust and a self-despising, which the wise will conduct in silence, and not talk about as I am talking now under your dear bewitchments.”
Then Sesphra smiled a little, saying, “And yet, poor Manuel, there is, they tell me, no more uxorious husband anywhere.”
“I am used to her,” Manuel replied, forlornly, “and I suppose that if she were taken away from me again I would again be attempting to fetch her back. And I do not like to hurt the poor foolish heart of her by going against her foolish notions. Besides, I am a little afraid of her, because she is always able to make me uncomfortable. And above all, of course, the hero of a famous love-affair, such as ours has become, with those damned poets everywhere making rhymes about my fidelity and devotion, has to preserve appearances. So I get through each day, somehow, by never listening very attentively to the interminable things she tells me about. But I often wonder, as I am sure all husbands wonder, why Heaven ever made a creature so tedious and so unreasonably dull of wit and so opinionated. And when I think that for the rest of time this creature is to be my companion I usually go out and kill somebody. Then I come back, because she knows the way I like my toast.”
“Instead, dear Manuel, you must go away from this woman who does not understand you—”
“Yes,” Manuel said, with grave conviction, “that is exactly the trouble.”
“—And you must go with me who understand you all through. And we will travel everywhither, so that we may see the ends of this world and judge them.”
“You tempt me, Sesphra, with an old undying desire, and you have laid strong enchantments on me, but, no, I cannot go with you.”
The hand of Sesphra closed upon the hand of Manuel caressingly.
Manuel said: “I will go with you. But what will become of the woman and the child whom I leave behind me unfriended?”
“That is true. There will be nobody to look out for them, and they will perish miserably. That is not important, but perhaps upon the whole it would be better for you to kill them before we depart from Sargyll.”
“Very well, then,” says Manuel, “I will do that, but you must come up into the room with me, for I cannot bear to lose sight of you.”
Now Sesphra smiled more unrestrainedly, and his teeth gleamed. “I shall not ever leave
