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_ It was night--dead night--and the silence lay on the Frowning
City like a cloud.
Secretly, as evildoers, Sir Henry Curtis, Umslopogaas, and myself
threaded our way through the passages towards a by-entrance to
the great Throne Chamber. Once we were met by the fierce
rattling challenge of the sentry. I gave the countersign, and
the man grounded his spear and let us pass. Also we were
officers of the Queens' bodyguard, and in that capacity had a
right to come and go unquestioned.
We gained the hall in safety. So empty and so still was it, that
even when we had passed the sound of our footsteps yet echoed up
the lofty walls, vibrating faintly and still more faintly against
the carven roof, like ghosts of the footsteps of dead men
haunting the place that once they trod.
It was an eerie spot, and it oppressed me. The moon was full,
and threw great pencils and patches of light through the high
windowless openings in the walls, that lay pure and beautiful
upon the blackness of the marble floor, like white flowers on a
coffin. One of these silver arrows fell upon the statue of the
sleeping Rademas, and of the angel form bent over him, illumining
it, and a small circle round it, with a soft clear light,
reminding me of that with which Catholics illumine the altars of
their cathedrals.
Here by the statue we took our stand, and waited. Sir Henry and
I close together, Umslopogaas some paces off in the darkness, so
that I could only just make out his towering outline leaning on
the outline of an axe.
So long did we wait that I almost fell asleep resting against the
cold marble, but was suddenly aroused by hearing Curtis give a
quick catching breath. Then from far away there came a little
sound as though the statues that lined the walls were whispering
to each other some message of the ages.
It was the faint sweep of a lady's dress. Nearer it grew, and
nearer yet. We could see a figure steal from patch to patch of
moonlight, and even hear the soft fall of sandalled feet.
Another second and I saw the black silhouette of the old Zulu
raise its arm in mute salute, and Nyleptha was before us.
Oh, how beautiful she looked as she paused a moment just within
the circle of the moonlight! Her hand was pressed upon her
heart, and her white bosom heaved beneath it. Round her head a
broidered scarf was loosely thrown, partially shadowing the
perfect face, and thus rendering it even more lovely; for beauty,
dependent as it is to a certain extent upon the imagination, is
never so beautiful as when it is half hid. There she stood
radiant but half doubting, stately and yet so sweet. It was but
a moment, but I then and there fell in love with her myself, and
have remained so to this hour; for, indeed, she looked more like
an angel out of heaven than a loving, passionate, mortal woman.
Low we bowed before her, and then she spoke.
'I have come,' she whispered, 'but it was at great risk. Ye know
not how I am watched. The priests watch me. Sorais watches me
with those great eyes of hers. My very guards are spies upon me.
Nasta watches me too. Oh, let him be careful!' and she stamped
her foot. 'Let him be careful; I am a woman, and therefore hard
to drive. Ay, and I am a Queen, too, and can still avenge. Let
him be careful, I say, lest in place of giving him my hand I take
his head,' and she ended the outburst with a little sob, and then
smiled up at us bewitchingly and laughed.
'Thou didst bid me come hither, my Lord Incubu' (Curtis had
taught her to call him so). 'Doubtless it is about business of
the State, for I know that thou art ever full of great ideas and
plans for my welfare and my people's. So even as a Queen should
I have come, though I greatly fear the dark alone,' and again she
laughed and gave him a glance from her grey eyes.
At this point I thought it wise to move a little, since secrets
'of the State' should not be made public property; but she would
not let me go far, peremptorily stopping me within five yards or
so, saying that she feared surprise. So it came to pass that,
however unwillingly, I heard all that passed.
'Thou knowest, Nyleptha,' said Sir Henry, 'that it was for none
of these things that I asked thee to meet me at this lonely
place. Nyleptha, waste not the time in pleasantry, but listen to
me, for--I love thee.'
As he said the words I saw her face break up, as it were, and
change. The coquetry went out of it, and in its place there
shone a great light of love which seemed to glorify it, and make
it like that of the marble angel overhead. I could not help
thinking that it must have been a touch of prophetic instinct
which made the long dead Rademas limn, in the features of the
angel of his inspiring vision, so strange a likeness of his own
descendant. Sir Henry, also, must have observed and been struck
by the likeness, for, catching the look upon Nyleptha's face, he
glanced quickly from it to the moonlit statue, and then back
again at his beloved.
'Thou sayest thou dost love me,' she said in a low voice, 'and
thy voice rings true, but how am I to know that thou dost speak
the truth?'
'Though,' she went on with proud humility, and in the stately
third person which is so largely used by the Zu-Vendi, 'I be as
nothing in the eyes of my lord,' and she curtseyed towards him,
'who comes from among a wonderful people, to whom my people are
but children, yet here am I a queen and a leader of men, and if I
would go to battle a hundred thousand spears shall sparkle in my
train like stars glimmering down the path of the bent moon. And
although my beauty be a little thing in the eyes of my lord,' and
she lifted her broidered skirt and curtseyed again, 'yet here
among my own people am I held right fair, and ever since I was a
woman the great lords of my kingdom have made quarrel concerning
me, as though forsooth,' she added with a flash of passion, 'I
were a deer to be pulled down by the hungriest wolf, or a horse
to be sold to the highest bidder. Let my lord pardon me if I
weary my lord, but it hath pleased my lord to say that he loves
me, Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, and therefore would I say
that though my love and my hand be not much to my lord, yet to me
are they all.'
'Oh!' she cried, with a sudden and thrilling change of voice, and
modifying her dignified mode of address. 'Oh, how can I know
that thou lovest but me? How can I know that thou wilt not weary
of me and seek thine own place again, leaving me desolate? Who
is there to tell me but that thou lovest some other woman, some
fair woman unknown to me, but who yet draws breath beneath this
same moon that shines on me tonight? Tell me HOW am I to know?'
And she clasped her hands and stretched them out towards him and
looked appealingly into his face.
'Nyleptha,' answered Sir Henry, adopting the Zu-Vendi way of
speech; 'I have told thee that I love thee; how am I to tell thee
how much I love thee? Is there then a measure for love? Yet
will I try. I say not that I have never looked upon another
woman with favour, but this I say that I love thee with all my
life and with all my strength; that I love thee now and shall
love thee till I grow cold in death, ay, and as I believe beyond
my death, and on and on for ever: I say that thy voice is music
to my ear, and thy touch as water to a thirsty land, that when
thou art there the world is beautiful, and when I see thee not it
is as though the light was dead. Oh, Nyleptha, I will never
leave thee; here and now for thy dear sake I will forget my
people and my father's house, yea, I renounce them all. By thy
side will I live, Nyleptha, and at thy side will I die.'
He paused and gazed at her earnestly, but she hung her head like
a lily, and said never a word.
'Look!' he went on, pointing to the statue on which the moonlight
played so brightly. 'Thou seest that angel woman who rests her
hand upon the forehead of the sleeping man, and thou seest how at
her touch his soul flames up and shines out through his flesh,
even as a lamp at the touch of the fire, so is it with me and
thee, Nyleptha. Thou hast awakened my soul and called it forth,
and now, Nyleptha, it is not mine, not mine, but THINE and thine
only. There is no more for me to say; in thy hands is my life.'
And he leaned back against the pedestal of the statue, looking
very pale, and his eyes shining, but proud and handsome as a god.
Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and fixed her wonderful eyes,
all alight with the greatness of her passion, full upon his face,
as though to read his very soul. Then at last she spoke, low
indeed, but clearly as a silver bell.
'Of a truth, weak woman that I am, I do believe thee. Ill will
be the day for thee and for me also if it be my fate to learn
that I have believed a lie. And now hearken to me, oh man, who
hath wandered here from far to steal my heart and make me all
thine own. I put my hand upon thy hand thus, and thus I, whose
lips have never kissed before, do kiss thee on the brow; and now
by my hand and by that first and holy kiss, ay, by my people's
weal and by my throne that like enough I shall lose for thee--by
the name of my high House, by the sacred Stone and by the eternal
majesty of the Sun, I swear that for thee will I live and die.
And I swear that I will love thee and thee only till death, ay,
and beyond, if as thou sayest there be a beyond, and that thy
will shall be my will, and thy ways my ways.
'Oh see, see, my lord! thou knowest not how humble is she who
loves; I, who am a Queen, I kneel before thee, even at thy feet I
do my homage;' and the lovely impassioned creature flung herself
down on her knees on the cold marble before him. And after that
I really do not know, for I could stand it no longer, and cleared
off to refresh myself with a little of old Umslopogaas' society,
leaving them to settle it their own way, and a very long time
they were about it.
I found the old warrior leaning on Inkosi-kaas as usual, and
surveying the scene in the patch of moonlight with a grim smile
of amusement.
'Ah, Macumazahn,' he said, 'I suppose it is because I am getting
old, but I don't think that I shall ever learn to understand the
ways of you white people. Look there now, I pray thee, they are
a pretty pair of doves, but what is all the fuss about,
Macumazahn? He wants a wife, and she wants a husband, then why
does he not pay his cows down *{Alluding to the Zulu custom. --A.
Q.} like a man and have done with it? It would save a deal of
trouble, and we should have had our night's sleep. But there
they go, talk, talk, talk, and kiss, kiss, kiss, like mad things.
Eugh!'
Some three-quarters of an hour afterwards the 'pair of doves'
came strolling towards us, Curtis looking slightly silly, and
Nyleptha remarking calmly that the moonlight made very pretty
effects on the marble. Then, for she was in a most gracious
mood, she took my hand and said that I was 'her Lord's' dear
friend, and therefore most dear to her--not a word for my own
sake, you see. Next she lifted Umslopogaas' axe, and examined it
curiously, saying significantly as she did so that he might soon
have cause to use it in defence of her.
After that she nodded prettily to us all, and casting on tender
glance at her lover, glided off into the darkness like a
beautiful vision.
When we got back to our quarters, which we did without accident,
Curtis asked me jocularly what I was thinking about.
'I am wondering,' I answered, 'on what principle it is arranged
that some people should find beautiful queens to fall in love
with them, while others find nobody at all, or worse than nobody;
and I am also wondering how many brave men's lives this night's
work will cost.' It was rather nasty of me, perhaps, but somehow
all the feelings do not evaporate with age, and I could not help
being a little jealous of my old friend's luck. Vanity, my sons;
vanity of vanities!
On the following morning, Good was informed of the happy
occurrence, and positively rippled with smiles that, originating
somewhere about the mouth, slowly travelled up his face like the
rings in a duckpond, till they flowed over the brim of his
eyeglass and went where sweet smiles go. The fact of the matter,
however, was that not only was Good rejoiced about the thing on
its own merits but also for personal reasons. He adored Sorais
quite as earnestly as Sir Henry adored Nyleptha, and his
adoration had not altogether prospered. Indeed, it had seemed to
him and to me also that the dark Cleopatra-like queen favoured
Curtis in her own curious inscrutable way much more than Good.
Therefore it was a relief to him to learn that his unconscious
rival was permanently and satisfactorily attached in another
direction. His face fell a little, however, when he was told
that the whole thing was to be kept as secret as the dead, above
all from Sorais for the present, inasmuch as the political
convulsion which would follow such an announcement at the moment
would be altogether too great to face and would very possibly, if
prematurely made, shake Nyleptha from her throne.
That morning we again attended in the Throne Hall, and I could
not help smiling to myself when I compared the visit to our last,
and reflecting that, if walls could speak, they would have
strange tales to tell.
What actresses women are! There, high upon her golden throne,
draped in her blazoned 'kaf' or robe of state, sat the fair
Nyleptha, and when Sir Henry came in a little late, dressed in
the full uniform of an officer of her guard and humbly bent
himself before her, she merely acknowledged his salute with a
careless nod and turned her head coldly aside. It was a very
large Court, for not only did the signing of the laws attract
many outside of those whose duty it was to attend, but also the
rumour that Nasta was going to publicly ask the hand of Nyleptha
in marriage had gone abroad, with the result that the great hall
was crowded to its utmost capacity. There were our friends the
priests in force, headed by Agon, who regarded us with a
vindictive eye; and a most imposing band they were, with their
long white embroidered robes girt with a golden chain from which
hung the fish-like scales. There, too, were a number of the
lords, each with a band of brilliantly attired attendants, and
prominent among them was Nasta, stroking his black beard
meditatively and looking unusually pleasant. It was a splendid
and impressive sight, especially when the officer after having
read out each law handed them to the Queens to sign, whereon the
trumpets blared out and the Queens' guard grounded their spears
with a crash in salute. This reading and signing of the laws
took a long time, but at length it came to an end, the last one
reciting that 'whereas distinguished strangers, etc.', and
proceeding to confer on the three of us the rank of 'lords',
together with certain military commands and large estates
bestowed by the Queen. When it was read the trumpets blared and
the spears clashed down as usual, but I saw some of the lords
turn and whisper to each other, while Nasta ground his teeth.
They did not like the favour that was shown to us, which under
all the circumstances was not perhaps unnatural.
Then there came a pause, and Nasta stepped forward and bowing
humbly, though with no humility in his eye, craved a boon at the
hands of the Queen Nyleptha.
Nyleptha turned a little pale, but bowed graciously, and prayed
the 'well-beloved lord' to speak on, whereon in a few
straightforward soldier-like words he asked her hand in marriage.
Then, before she could find words to answer, the High Priest Agon
took up the tale, and in a speech of real eloquence and power
pointed out the many advantages of the proposed alliance; how it
would consolidate the kingdom, for Nasta's dominions, of which he
was virtually king, were to Zu-Vendis much what Scotland used to
be to England; how it would gratify the wild mountaineers and be
popular among the soldiery, for Nasta was a famous general; how
it would set her dynasty firmly on the throne, and would gain the
blessing and approval of the 'Sun', i.e. of the office of the
High Priest, and so on. Many of his arguments were undoubtedly
valid, and there was, looking at it from a political point of
view, everything to be said for the marriage. But unfortunately
it is difficult to play the game of politics with the persons of
young and lovely queens as though they were ivory effigies of
themselves on a chessboard. Nyleptha's face, while Agon spouted
away, was a perfect study; she smiled indeed, but beneath the
smile it set like a stone, and her eyes began to flash ominously.
At last he stopped, and she prepared herself to answer. Before
she did so, however, Sorais leant towards her and said in a voice
sufficiently loud for me to catch what she said, 'Bethink thee
well, my sister, ere thou dost speak, for methinks that our
thrones may hang upon thy words.'
Nyleptha made no answer, and with a shrug and a smile Sorais
leant back again and listened.
'Of a truth a great honour has been done to me,' she said, 'that
my poor hand should not only have been asked in marriage, but
that Agon here should be so swift to pronounce the blessing of
the Sun upon my union. Methinks that in another minute he would
have wed us fast ere the bride had said her say. Nasta, I thank
thee, and I will bethink me of thy words, but now as yet I have
no mind for marriage, that as a cup of which none know the taste
until they begin to drink it. Again I thank thee, Nasta,' and
she made as though she would rise.
The great lord's face turned almost as black as his beard with
fury, for he knew that the words amounted to a final refusal of
his suit.
'Thanks be to the Queen for her gracious words,' he said,
restraining himself with difficulty and looking anything but
grateful, 'my heart shall surely treasure them. And now I crave
another boon, namely, the royal leave to withdraw myself to my
own poor cities in the north till such time as the Queen shall
say my suit nay or yea. Mayhap,' he added, with a sneer, 'the
Queen will be pleased to visit me there, and to bring with her
these stranger lords,' and he scowled darkly towards us. 'It is
but a poor country and a rough, but we are a hardy race of
mountaineers, and there shall be gathered thirty thousand
swordsmen to shout a welcome to her.'
This speech, which was almost a declaration of rebellion, was
received in complete silence, but Nyleptha flushed up and
answered it with spirit.
'Oh, surely, Nasta, I will come, and the strange lords in my
train, and for every man of thy mountaineers who calls thee
Prince, will I bring two from the lowlands who call me Queen, and
we will see which is the staunchest breed. Till then farewell.'
The trumpets blared out, the Queens rose, and the great assembly
broke up in murmuring confusion, and for myself I went home with
a heavy heart foreseeing civil war.
After this there was quiet for a few weeks. Curtis and the Queen
did not often meet, and exercised the utmost caution not to allow
the true relation in which they stood to each other to leak out;
but do what they would, rumours as hard to trace as a buzzing fly
in a dark room, and yet quite as audible, began to hum round and
round, and at last to settle on her throne. _
Read next: CHAPTER XVII - THE STORM BREAKS
Read previous: CHAPTER XV - SORAIS' SONG
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