The gong which Tanit-Zerga had pointed out lay within arm's reach. I
struck it. A white Targa appeared.
"Show me the way to the library," I ordered.
He obeyed. As we wound our way through the labyrinth of stairs and
corridors I realized that I could never have found my way without his
help.
Morhange was in the library, intently reading a manuscript.
"A lost treatise of Saint Optat," he said. "Oh, if only Dom Granger
were here. See, it is written in semi-uncial characters."
I did not reply. My eyes were fixed on an object which lay on the
table beside the manuscript. It was an orichalch ring, exactly like
that which Antinea had given me the previous day and the one which she
herself wore.
Morhange smiled.
"Well?" I said.
"Well?"
"You have seen her?"
"I have indeed," Morhange replied.
"She is beautiful, is she not?"
"It would be difficult to dispute that," my comrade answered. "I even
believe that I can say that she is as intelligent as she is
beautiful."
There was a pause. Morhange was calmly fingering the orichalch ring.
"You know what our fate is to be?"
"I know. Le Mesge explained it to us yesterday in polite mythological
terms. This evidently is an extraordinary adventure."
He was silent, then said, looking at me:
"I am very sorry to have dragged you here. The only mitigating feature
is that since last evening you seem to have been bearing your lot very
easily."
Where had Morhange learned this insight into the human heart? I did
not reply, thus giving him the best of proofs that he had judged
correctly.
"What do you think of doing?" I finally murmured.
He rolled up the manuscript, leaned back comfortably in his armchair
and lit a cigar.
"I have thought it over carefully. With the aid of my conscience I
have marked out a line of conduct. The matter is clear and admits no
discussion.
"The question is not quite the same for me as for you, because of my
semi-religious character, which, I admit, has set out on a rather
doubtful adventure. To be sure, I have not taken holy orders, but,
even aside from the fact that the ninth commandment itself forbids my
having relations with a woman not my wife, I admit that I have no
taste for the kind of forced servitude for which the excellent
Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh has so kindly recruited us.
"That granted, the fact remains that my life is not my own with the
right to dispose of it as might a private explorer travelling at his
own expenses and for his own ends. I have a mission to accomplish,
results to obtain. If I could regain my liberty by paying the singular
ransom which this country exacts, I should consent to give
satisfaction to Antinea according to my ability. I know the tolerance
of the Church, and especially that of the order to which I aspire:
such a procedure would be ratified immediately and, who knows, perhaps
even approved? Saint Mary the Egyptian, gave her body to boatmen under
similar circumstances. She received only glorification for it. In so
doing she had the certainty of attaining her goal, which was holy. The
end justified the means.
"But my case is quite different. If I give in to the absurd caprices
of this woman, that will not keep me from being catalogued down in the
red marble hall, as Number 54, or as Number 55, if she prefers to take
you first. Under those conditions...."
"Under those conditions?"
"Under those conditions, it would be unpardonable for me to
acquiesce."
"Then what do you intend to do?"
"What do I intend to do?" Morhange leaned back in the armchair and
smilingly launched a puff of smoke toward the ceiling.
"Nothing," he said. "And that is all that is necessary. Man has this
superiority over woman. He is so constructed that he can refuse
advances."
Then he added with an ironical smile:
"A man cannot be forced to accept unless he wishes to."