Domnei. A Comedy of Woman-Worship

'Then it was really you,' he said, in wonder, 'whom I saw talking with Demetrios when I awakened to- day.'

'You may be sure,' she answered, 'that my talking was in no way injurious to you. Ah, no, had I been elsewhere, Perion, I think you would by this have been in Paradise.' Then Melusine fell again to meditation. 'And so you do not any longer either love or hate me, Perion?' Here was an odd echo of the complaint Demetrios had made.

'That I once loved you is a truth which neither of us, I think, may ever quite forget,' said Perion, very quiet. 'I alone know how utterly I loved you—no, it was not I who loved you, but a boy that is dead now. King's daughter, all of stone, O cruel woman and hateful, O sleek, smiling traitress! to-day no man remembers how utterly I loved you, for the years are as a mist between the heart of the dead boy and me, so that I may no longer see the boy's heart clearly. Yes, I have forgotten much. …Yet even to-day there is that in me which is faithful to you, and I cannot give you the hatred which your treachery has earned.'

Melusine spoke shrewdly. She had a sweet, shrill voice.

'But I loved you, Perion—oh, yes, in part I loved you, just as one cannot help but love a large and faithful mastiff. But you were tedious, you annoyed me by your egotism. Yes, my friend, you think too much of what you owe to Perion's honour; you are perpetually squaring accounts with heaven, and you are too intent on keeping the balance in your favour to make a satisfactory lover.' You saw that Melusine was smiling in the shadow of her pale hair. 'And yet you are very droll when you are unhappy,' she said, as of two minds.

He replied:

'I am, as heaven made me, a being of mingled nature. So I remember without distaste old happenings which now seem scarcely credible. I cannot quite believe that it was you and I who were so happy when youth was common to us… O Melusine, I have almost forgotten that if the world were searched between the sunrise and the sunsetting the Melusine I loved would not be found. I only know that a woman has usurped the voice of Melusine, and that this woman's eyes also are blue, and that this woman smiles as Melusine was used to smile when I was young. I walk with ghosts, king's daughter, and I am none the happier.'

'Ay, Periori,' she wisely answered, 'for the spring is at hand, intent upon an ageless magic. I am no less comely than I was, and my heart, I think, is tenderer. You are yet young, and you are very beautiful, my brave mastiff… And neither of us is moved at all! For us the spring is only a dotard sorcerer who has forgotten the spells of yesterday. I think that it is pitiable, although I would not have it otherwise.' She waited, fairy-like and wanton, seeming to premeditate a delicate mischief.

He declared, sighing, 'No, I would not have it otherwise.'

Then presently Melusine arose. She said:

'You are a hunted man, unarmed—oh, yes, I know. Demetrios talked freely, because the son of Miramon Lluagor has good and ancient reasons to trust me. Besides, it was not for nothing that Pressina was my mother, and I know many things, pilfering light from the past to shed it upon the future. Come now with me to Brunbelois. I am too deeply in your debt, my Perion. For the sake of that boy who is dead—as you tell me—you may honourably accept of me a horse, arms, and a purse, because I loved that boy after my fashion.'

'I take your bounty gladly,' he replied; and he added conscientiously: 'I consider that I am not at liberty to refuse of anybody any honest means of serving my lady Melicent.'

Melusine parted her lips as if about to speak, and then seemed to think better of it. It is probable she was already informed concerning Melicent; she certainly asked no questions. Melusine only shrugged, and laughed afterward, and the man and the woman turned toward Brunbelois. At times a shaft of sunlight would fall on her pale hair and convert it into silver, as these two went through the high woods that had never yet been felled or ordered.

PART FOUR AHASUERUS

Of how a knave hath late compassion
On Melicent's forlorn condition;
For which he saith as ye shall after hear:
'Dame, since that game we play costeth too dear,
My truth I plight, I shall you no more grieve
By my behest, and here I take my leave
As of the fairest, truest and best wife
That ever yet I knew in all my life.'

21. How Demetrios Held His Chattel

It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how Demetrios returned into the country of the pagans and found all matters there as he had left them. They relate how Melicent was summoned.

And the tale tells how upon the stairway by which you descended from the Women's Garden to the citadel —people called it the Queen's Stairway, because it was builded by Queen Rudabeh very long ago when the Emperor Zal held Nacumera—Demetrios waited with a naked sword. Below were four of his soldiers, picked warriors. This stairway was of white marble, and a sphinx carved in green porphyry guarded each balustrade.

'Now that we have our audience,' Demetrios said, 'come, let the games begin.'

One of the soldiers spoke. It was that Euthyclos who (as you have heard) had ventured into Christendom at the hazard of his life to rescue the proconsul. Euthyclos was a man of the West Provinces and had followed the fortunes of Demetrios since boyhood.

'King of the Age,' cried Euthyclos, 'it is grim hearing that we must fight with you. But since your will is our will, we must endure this testing, although we find it bitter as aloes and hot as coals. Dear lord and master, none has put food to his lips for whose sake we would harm you willingly, and we shall weep to-night when your ghost passes over and through us.'

Demetrios answered:

'Rise up and leave this idleness! It is I that will clip the ends of my hair to-night for the love of you, my stalwart knaves. Such weeping as is done your wounds will perform.'

At that they addressed themselves to battle, and Melicent perceived she was witnessing no child's play. The soldiers had attacked in unison, and before the onslaught Demetrios stepped lightly back. But his sword flashed as he moved, and with a grunt Demetrios, leaning far forward, dug deep into the throat of his foremost assailant. The sword penetrated and caught in a link of the gold chain about the fellow's neck, so that Demetrios was forced to wrench the weapon free, twisting it, as the dying man stumbled backward. Prostrate, the soldier did not cry out, but only writhed and gave a curious bubbling noise as his soul passed.

'Come,' Demetrios said, 'come now, you others, and see what you can win of me. I warn you it will be dearly purchased.'

And Melicent turned away, hiding her eyes. She was obscurely conscious that a wanton butchery went on, hearing its blows and groans as if from a great distance, while she entreated the Virgin for deliverance from this foul place.

Then a hand fell upon Melicent's shoulder, rousing her. It was Demetrios. He breathed quickly, but his voice was gentle.