Well, the more Sir Henry held off the more Sorais came on, as is not uncommon in such cases, till at last things got very queer indeed. Evidently she was, by some strange perversity of mind, quite blinded to the true state of the case; and I, for one, greatly dreaded the moment of her awakening. Sorais was a dangerous woman to be mixed up with, either with or without one’s own consent. At last the evil moment came, as I saw it must come. One fine day, Good having gone out hawking, Sir Henry and I were sitting quietly talking over the situation, especially with reference to Sorais, when a Court messenger arrived with a written note, which we with some difficulty deciphered, and which was to the effect that “the Queen Sorais commanded the attendance of the Lord Incubu in her private apartments, whither he would be conducted by the bearer.”
“Oh my word!” groaned Sir Henry. “Can’t you go instead, old fellow?”
“Not if I know it,” I said with vigour. “I had rather face a wounded elephant with a shotgun. Wash up your own dirty dishes, my boy. If you will be so fascinating you must take the consequences. Ain’t you just in for it for now, that’s all!”
“You remind me of when I was going to be flogged at school and the other boys came to console me,” he said, gloomily. “What right has this confounded Queen to command my attendance, I should like to know? I won’t go.”
“But you must; you are one of her officers and bound to obey her, and she knows it. And after all it will soon be over.”
“That’s just what they used to say,” he said again. “I only hope she won’t put a knife into me. I believe that she is quite capable of it.” And off he started very faintheartedly, and no wonder.
I sat and waited, and at the end of about forty-five minutes he returned, looking a good deal worse than when he went.
“Give me something to drink,” he said, hoarsely.
I got him a cup of wine, and asked what was the matter.
“What is the matter? Why if ever there was trouble there’s trouble now. You know when I left you? Well, I was shown straight into Sorais’s private chamber, and a wonderful place it is; and there she sat, quite alone, upon a silken couch at the end of the room, playing gently upon that zither of hers. I stood before her, and for a while she took no notice of me, but kept on playing and singing a little, and very sweet music it was. At last she looked up and smiled.
“ ‘So thou art come,’ she said. ‘I thought perchance thou hadst gone about the Queen Nyleptha’s business. Thou art ever on her business, and I doubt not a good servant and a true.’
“To this I merely bowed, and said I was there to receive the Queen’s word.
“ ‘Ah yes, I would talk with thee, but be thou seated. I cannot lift my neck so high,’ and she made room for me beside her on the couch, placing herself with her back against the end, so as to have a view of my face.
“ ‘It is not meet,’ I said, ‘that I should make myself equal with the Queen.’
“ ‘I said be seated,’ was her answer; so I sat down, and she set to work to look at me with those dark eyes of hers. There she sat like an incarnate spirit of beauty, hardly talking at all, and when she did, very low, but all the while looking at me. There was a white flower in her black hair, and I tried to keep my eyes on it and count the petals, but it was of no use. At last, whether it was her gaze, or the perfume on her hair, or what I do not know, but I began to feel as though I was being mesmerized. At last she roused herself.
“ ‘Incubu,’ she said, ‘lovest thou power?’
“I replied that I supposed all men loved power of one sort or another.
“ ‘Thou shalt have it,’ she said. ‘Lovest thou wealth?’
“I said I liked wealth for what it brought.
“ ‘Thou shalt have it,’ she said. ‘And lovest thou beauty?’
“To this I replied that I was very fond of statuary and architecture, or something of that sort, at which she frowned, and there was a pause. By this time my nerves were on such a stretch that I was shaking like a leaf. I knew that something awful was going to happen, but she held me under a kind of spell, and I could not help myself.
“ ‘Incubu,’ she said at length, ‘wouldst thou be a king? Listen, wouldst thou be a king? Behold, stranger, I am minded to make thee king of all Zu-Vendis, ay and husband of Sorais of the Night. Nay, peace and hear me. To no man among my people had I thus opened out my secret heart, but thou art an outlander and therefore do I speak without shame, knowing all I have to offer and how hard it had been to thee to ask. See, a crown lies at thy feet, my lord Incubu, and with that fortune a woman whom some have wished to woo. Now mayst thou answer.’
“ ‘Oh, Sorais,’ I said, ‘pray do not speak thus’—you see I had not time to pick and choose my words—‘because you are putting us both in an awkward position. I am going to marry your sister, Nyleptha, Sorais, and I love her.’
“Next moment it struck me that I had said an awful thing, and I looked up to see the results. When I spoke, Sorais’s face was hidden in her hands, and as my words reached her
