_I_ charge you by the close bond of blood between
us, brew me another draught----"
"That we may be bound yet closer in a bond of murder! Nay, Atene, I will
not; already your sin lies heavy on my head. You are very fair; take the
man in your own net, if you may, or let him be, which is better far."
"I cannot let him be. Would that I were able. I must love him as I must
hate the other whom he loves, yet some power hardens his heart against
me. Oh! great Shaman, you that peep and mutter, you who can read the
future and the past, tell me what you have learned from your stars and
divinations."
"Already I have sought through many a secret, toilsome hour and learned
this, Atene," he answered. "You are right, the fate of yonder man is
intertwined with yours, but between you and him there rises a mighty
wall that my vision cannot pierce nor my familiars climb. Yet I am
taught that in death you and he--aye, and I also, shall be very near
together."
"Then come death," she exclaimed with sullen pride, "for thence at least
I'll pluck out my desire."
"Be not so sure," he answered, "for I think that the Power follows
us even down this dark gulf of death. I think also that I feel the
sleepless eyes of Hes watching our secret souls."
"Then blind them with the dust of illusions--as you can. To-morrow,
also, saying nothing of their sex, send a messenger to the Mountain and
tell the Hesea that two old strangers have arrived--mark you, _old_--but
that they are very sick, that their limbs were broken in the river, and
that when they have healed again, I will send them to ask the question
of her Oracle--that is, some three moons hence.
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