"Thanks to the liberality of my master, the Khalifa, I have at present
enough for my wants, and some to spare, concealed within my belt. If,
on my return, I am unsuccessful and penurious then will I borrow of
thee."
"To show me favour, wilt thou not accept it, in order to pay those who
perform service for thee?" she asked with a sweet, winning smile.
"Nay," I replied, with pride. "What payments I make, I shall willingly
bear myself. Keep thy gold until we again meet, which, if Allah be
merciful, will be ere many moons have faded. Let thy life be happy,
thou, who art all in all to me! dawn of my day! star of my night! sweet
one rose of my summer!"
"Assuredly thou art brave and true, O Zafar," she said, tossing the bag
of gold aside, and looking up at me. "Thou hast, in blind confidence of
me, undertaken without fear a task which through ages men have continued
to prosecute without success. Sages have long ago relinquished their
efforts as futile, yet thou darest to face Malec himself, nay, even to
fight Eblis, because thou lovest me and desirest that I should become
thy wife. If thine heart retainest its lion's courage, then I have
presage that thine efforts will ultimately lead thee unto the
rose-garden of happiness."
"With thoughts of thee, O Azala, nought can daunt me. Those who offer
me opposition will I crush even like vipers," I said gallantly, and as
she rose with slow grace to her feet, I clasped her in fond embrace.
"If I falter," I continued, "drown my soul in the vapour of thy breath;
let my lips be crushed in kissing thine hands."
But she answered, "I love thee, O Zafar; I will marry only thee,"
pressing her hot lips to mine fiercely. My arm was about her slim,
gold-begirt waist, and the contact shook me to the depths of my soul.
We murmured vague speeches, lighter than breezes, and savoury as kisses.
In this parting I became impelled towards her, and with dilated
nostrils inhaled the sweet perfumes exhaled from her breast, from which
rose an indefinable emanation of musk, jasmine and roses, which filled
my senses and held me entranced.
In silence we stood locked in each other's arms. Upon her soft white
cheek I rained kisses, as she cast her arms about my neck, sobbing her
fill upon my breast. I tried to utter words of comfort, but they
refused to pass my lips; my heart was too full for mere words. Thus we
stood together, each bearing the strange imprint, the mystic meaning of
which it had been the desire of all our lives to elucidate, each
determined to fathom a mystery mentioned by wise men only with bated
breath, and each fearing failure, knowing, alas! too well its inevitable
result would be unhappiness and death.
"Fear and hope have sent me mad," I said. "Sweet, sweetest, dry those
tears--let me kiss them away--smile again; thou art the sun that lights
my world. Think! I have dreamed of thee as winter dreams of spring!
Think, my love and thine idea have grown like leaf and flower."
At last, with supreme effort, she stifled her sobs and dried her eyes,
remaining in silence and murmuring now and then fervent blessings upon
me. For some moments the quiet had been unbroken, when, like a funeral
wail, the sound of distant voices came up through the lattice, followed
by the dismal howling of a hundred dogs.
"Hearken!" she gasped in sudden fear, disengaging herself from my
embrace, as, dashing across to the window, she drew the hangings quickly
aside, admitting the morning sun. "The _mueddin_ have announced the
sunrise! Already hast thou tarried too long. It is imperative that
thou shouldst fly, lest our plans be thwarted by thine arrest. Fly!
Remember what the Koran saith. Whatever is in heaven and earth singeth
praise unto Allah; and he is mighty and wise. He is the first and the
last, the manifest and the hidden; and he knoweth all things. He is
with thee wheresoever thou art; for Allah seeth that which thou doest."
I placed my arms about her and again clasped her to my breast in final
embrace, uttering a passionate declaration of love, and drinking her
whole soul through her lips as sunlight drinks the dew. Her great
beauty intoxicated me; I stood in an invincible torpor as if I had
partaken of some strange potion. How long we remained thus I know not,
but at length an alarming sound caused us both to listen breathlessly.
Next second the voices of men, loud and deep, greeted our startled ears
as the curtains concealing the door by which I had entered stirred, as
if some persons were there concealed.
"May Allah have mercy!" gasped the woman I loved, her face blanched to
the lips. "The eunuchs are making their first round. Thou art lost--
lost. And I am doomed to die!"
Then I knew that a fatality encompassed me.