It seemed so sad that I, old and outworn, should
still live on whilst he in the flower of his age, snatched from joy and
greatness such as no man hath known, lay thus asleep.
I think that by an afterthought, Ayesha and Oros tried to restore him,
tried without result, for here her powers were of no avail. Indeed my
conviction is that although some lingering life still kept him on his
feet, Leo had really died at the moment of her embrace, since when I
looked at him before he fell, his face was that of a dead man.
Yes, I believe that last speech of hers, although she knew it not, was
addressed to his spirit, for in her burning kiss his flesh had perished.
When at length I recovered myself a little, it was to hear Ayesha in
a cold, calm voice--her face I could not see for she had veiled
herself--commanding certain priests who had been summoned to "bear away
the body of that accursed woman and bury her as befits her rank." Even
then I bethought me, I remember, of the tale of Jehu and Jezebel.
Leo, looking strangely calm and happy, lay now upon a couch, the arms
folded on his breast. When the priests had tramped away carrying their
royal burden, Ayesha, who sat by his body brooding, seemed to awake, for
she rose and said--"I need a messenger, and for no common journey,
since he must search out the habitations of the Shades," and she turned
herself towards Oros and appeared to look at him.
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