第67章

"Well, my Holly," she continued, "and so those people of mine have also found a prophet, a false prophet thou sayest, for he is not thine own, and, indeed, Idoubt it not.Yet in my day was it otherwise, for then we Arabs had many gods.Alla^t there was, and Saba, the Host of Heaven, AI Uzza, and Manah the stony one, for whom the blood of victims flowed, and Wadd and Sawa^, and Yaghuth the Lion of the dwellers in Yaman, and Yauk the Horse of Morad, and Nasr the Eagle of Hamyar; ay, and many more.Oh, the folly of it all, the shame and the pitiful folly! Yet when I rose in wisdom and spoke thereof, surely they would have slain me in the name of their outraged gods.Well, so hath it ever been; but, my Holly, art thou weary of me already, that thou dost sit so silent? Or dost thou fear lest I should teach thee my philosophy? for know I have a philosophy.What would a teacher be without her own philosophy? and if thou dost vex me overmuch, beware! for I will have thee learn it, and thou shalt be my disciple, and we twain will found a faith that shall swallow up all others.Faithless man! And but half an hour since thou wast upon thy kneesthe posture does not suit thee, Hollyswearing that thou didst love me.What shall we do? Nay, I have it.Iwill come and see this youth, the Lion, as the old man.Billali calls him, who came with thee, and who is so sick.The fever must have run its course by now, and if he is about to die I will recover him.Fear not, my Holly, I shall use no magic.Have I not told thee that there is no such thing as magic, though there is such a thing as understanding and applying the forces which are in Nature? Go now; and presently when I have made the drug ready I will follow thee."Accordingly I went, only to find Job and Ustane in a great state of grief, declaring that Leo was in the throes of death, and that they had been searching for me everywhere.I rushed to the couch, and glanced at him: clearly he was dying.He was senseless, and breathing heavily, but his lips were quivering, and every now and again a little shudder ran down his frame.I knew enough of doctoring to see that in another hour he would be beyond the reach of earthly helpperhaps in another five minutes.How I cursed my selfishness and the folly that had kept me lingering by Ayesha's side while my dear boy lay dying! Alas and alas! how easily the best of us are lighted down to evil by the gleam of a woman's eyes! What a wicked wretch was I! Actually, for the last half-hour I had scarcely thought of Leo, and this, be it remembered, of the man who for twenty years had been my dearest companion, and the chief interest of my existence.And now, perhaps, it was too late!

I wrung my hands, and glanced round.Ustane was sitting by the couch, and in her eyes burned the dull light of despair.Job was blubberingI am sorry Icannot name his distress by any more delicate wordaudibly in the corner.Seeing my eye fixed upon him he went outside to give way to his grief in the passage.

Obviously the only hope lay in Ayesha._i_ She _i_ , and she aloneunless, indeed, she was an impostor, which I could not believecould save him.I would go and implore her to come.As I stared to do so, however, Job came flying into the room, his hair literally standing on end with terror.

"Oh, God help us, sir!" he ejaculated, in a frightened whisper, "here's a corpse a-coming sliding down the passage!"For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me that he must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave like garment, and been deceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into a belief that she was a white ghost gliding towards him.

Indeed, at that very moment the question was settled, for Ayesha herself was in the apartment, or rather cave.Job turned, and saw her sheeted form, and then, with a convulsive howl of "Here it comes!" sprang into a corner, and jammed his face against the wall, and Ustane, guessing whose the dread presence must be, prostrated herself upon her face.

"Thou comest in a good time, Ayesha," I said, "for my boy lies at the point of death.""So," she said, softly; "provided he be not dead, it is no matter, for I can bring him back to life, my Holly.Is that man there thy servant, and is that the method wherewith thy servants greet strangers in thy country?""He is frightened of thy garbit hath a deathlike air," I answered._i_ She _i_ laughed.

"And the girl? Ah, I see now.It is her of whom thou didst speak to me.Well, bid them both to leave us, and we will see to this sick Lion of thine.I love not that underlings should perceive my wisdom."Thereon I told Ustane in Arabic and Job in English both to leave the room; an order which the latter obeyed readily enough, and was glad to obey, for he could not in any way subdue his fear.But it was otherwise with Ustane.

"What does _i_ She _i_ want?" she whispered, divided between her fear of the terrible queen and her anxiety to remain near Leo."It is surely the right of a wife to be near her husband when he dieth.Nay, I will not go, my lord, the Baboon.""Why doth not that woman leave us, my Holly?" asked Ayesha, from the other end of the cave, where she was engaged in carelessly examining some of the sculptures on the wall.

" _i_ She _i_ is not willing to leave Leo," Ianswered, not knowing what to say.Ayesha wheeled round, and, pointing to the girl Ustane, said one word, and one only, but it was quite enough, for the tone in which it was said meant volumes.

"Go!"

And then Ustane crept past her on her hands and knees, and went.

"Thou seest, my Holly," said Ayesha, with a little laugh, "it was needful that I should give these people a lesson in obedience.That girl went nigh to disobeying me, but then she did not learn this morn how I treat the disobedient.Well, she has gone; and now let me see the youth," and she glided towards the couch on which Leo lay, with his face h the shadow and turned towards the wall.

"He hath a noble shape," she said, as she bent over him to look upon his face.