"She is often thus!" he said in a tone of playful resignation,--"As I told thee, Theos,--women are b.u.t.terflies, hovering hither and thither on uneasy pinions, uncertain of their own desires. Niphrata is a woman-riddle,--sometimes she angers me,--sometimes she soothes, ... now she prattles of things that concern me not,--and anon converses with such high and lofty earnestness of speech, that I listen amazed, and wonder where she hath gathered up her store of seeming wisdom."

"Love teaches her all she knows!" interrupted Theos quickly and with a meaning glance.

Sah-luma laughed languidly, a faint color warming the clear olive pallor of his complexion.

"Aye,--poor tender little soul, she loves me,".. he said carelessly--"That is no secret! But then all women love me,--I am more like to die of a surfeit of love than of anything else" He moved towards the open window "Come!--" he added--"It is the hour of sunset,--there is a green hillock in my garden yonder from whence we can behold the pomp and panoply of the golden G.o.d's departure. 'Tis a sight I never miss,--I would have thee share its glory with me."

"But art thou then indifferent to woman's tenderness?" asked Theos half banteringly, as he took his arm--"Dost thou love no one?"

"My friend"--replied Sah-luma seriously--"I love Myself! I see naught that contents me more than my own Personality,--and with all my heart I admire the miracle and beauty of my own existence! There is nothing even in the completest fairness of womanhood that satisfies me so much as the contemplation of my own genius,--realizing as I do its wondrous power and perfect charm! The life of a poet such as I am is a perpetual marvel!--the whole Universe ministers to my needs,--Humanity becomes the merest bound slave to the caprice of my imperial imagination,--with a thought I scale the stars,--with a wish I float in highest ether among spheres undiscovered yet familiar to my fancy--I converse with the spirits of flowers and fountains,--and the love of women is a mere drop in the deep ocean of my unfathomed delight! Yes,--I adore my own Ident.i.ty! ... and of a truth Self-worship is the only Creed the world has ever followed faithfully to the end!"

He glanced up with a bright, a.s.sured smile,--Theos met his gaze wonderingly, doubtfully,--but made no reply,--and together they paced slowly across the marble terrace, and out into the glorious garden, rich with the riotous roses that clambered and cl.u.s.tered everywhere, their hues deepening to flame-like vividness in the burning radiance of the sinking sun.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SUMMONS OF THE SIGNET.

They walked side by side for some little time without speaking, through winding paths of alternate light and shade, sheltered by the latticework of crossed and twisted green boughs where only the amorous chant of charming birds now and then broke the silence with fitful and tender sweetness. All the air about them was fragrant and delicate,--tiny rainbow-winged midges whirled round and danced in the warm sunset-glow like flecks of gold in amber wine,--while here and there the distant glimmer of tossing fountains, or the soft emerald sheen of a prattling brook that wound in and out the grounds, amongst banks of moss and drooping fern, gave a pleasant touch of coolness and refreshment to the brilliant verdure of the luxuriant landscape.

"Speaking of creeds, Sah-luma"--said Theos at last, looking down with a curious sense of compa.s.sion and protection at his companion's slight, graceful form--"What religion is it that dominates this city and people? To-day, through want of knowledge, it seems I committed a nearly unpardonable offence by gazing at the beauty of the Virgin Priestess when I should have knelt face-hidden to her benediction,--thou must tell me something of the common laws of worship, that I err not thus blindly again."

Sah-luma smiled.

"The common laws of worship are the common laws of custom,"--he replied--"No more,--no less. And in this we are much like other nations. We believe in no actual Creed,--who does? We accept a certain given definition of a supposit.i.tious Divinity, together with the suitable maxims and code of morals accompanying that definition, ... we call this Religion, . . and we wear it as we wear our clothing for the sake of necessity and decency, though truly we are not half so concerned about it as about the far more interesting details of taste in attire. Still, we have grown used to our doctrine, and some of us will fight with each other for the difference of a word respecting it,--and as it contains within itself many seeds of discord and contradiction, such dissensions are frequent, especially among the priests, who, were they but true to their professed vocation, should be able to find ways of smoothing over all apparent inconsistencies and maintaining peace and order. Of course we, in union with all civilized communities, worship the Sun, even as thou must do,--in this one leading principle at least, our faith is universal!"

Theos bent his head in a.s.sent. He was scarcely conscious of the action, but at that moment he felt, with Sah-luma, that there was no other form of Divinity acknowledged in the world than the refulgent Orb that gladdens and illumines earth, and visibly controls the seasons.

"And yet--" went on Sah-luma thoughtfully,--"the well-instructed know through our scientists and astronomers (many of whom are now languishing in prison for the boldness of their researches and discoveries) that the Sun is no divinity at all, but simply a huge planet,--a dense body surrounded by a luminous, flame-darting atmosphere,--neither self-acting nor omnipotent, but only one of many similar orbs moving in strict obedience to fixed mathematical laws.

Nevertheless this knowledge is wisely kept back as much as possible from the mult.i.tude,--for, were science to unveil her marvels too openly to semi-educated and vulgarly const.i.tuted minds, the result would be, first Atheism, next Republicanism, and finally Anarchy and Ruin. If these evils,--which like birds of prey continually hover about all great kingdoms,--are to be averted, we must, for the welfare of the country and people, hold fast to some stated form and outward observance of religious belief."

He paused. Theos gave him a quick, searching glance.

"Even if such a belief should have no shadow of a true foundation?" he inquired--"Can it be well for men to cling superst.i.tiously to a false doctrine?"

Sah-luma appeared to consider this question in his own mind for some minutes before replying.

"My friend, it is difficult to decide what is false and what is true--"he said at last with a little shrug of his shoulders--"But I think that even a false religion is better for the ma.s.ses than none at all. Men are closely allied to brutes, . . if the moral sense ceases to restrain them they at once leap the boundary line and give as much rein to their desires and appet.i.tes as the hyenas and tigers. And in some natures the moral sense is only kept alive by fear,--fear of offending some despotic, invisible Force that pervades the Universe, and whose chief and most terrible attribute is not so much creative as destructive power. To propitiate and pacify an unseen Supreme Destroyer is the aim of all religions,--and it is for this reason we add to our worship of the Sun that of the White Serpent, Nagaya the Mediator.

Nagaya is the favorite object of the people's adoration,--they may forget to pay their vows to the Sun, but never to Nagaya, who is looked upon as the emblem of Eternal Wisdom, the only pleader whose persuasions avail to soften the tyrannic humor of the Invincible Devourer of all things. We know how men hate Wisdom and cannot endure to be instructed, and yet they prostrate themselves in abject crowds before Wisdom's symbol every day in the Sacred Temple yonder,--though I much doubt whether such constant devotional attendance is not more for the sake of Lysia than the Deified Worm!"

He laughed with a little undercurrent of scorn in his laughter,--and Theos saw as it were, the lightning of an angry or disdainful thought flashing through the sombre splendor of his eyes.

"And Lysia is..--?" began Theos suggestively.

"The High Priestess of Nagaya," responded Sah-luma slowly--"Charmer of the G.o.d, as well as of the hearts of men! The hot pa.s.sion of love is to her a toy, clasped and unclasped so! in the pink hollow of her hand..."

and as he spoke he closed his fingers softly on the air and unclosed them again with an expressive gesture--"And so long as she retains the magic of her beauty, so long will Nagaya worship hold Al-Kyris in check. Otherwise ... who knows!--there have been many disturbances of late,--the teachings of the Philosophers have aroused a certain discontent,--and there are those who are weary of perpetual sacrifices and the shedding of innocent blood. Moreover this mad Khosrul of whom Niphrata spoke lately, thunders angry denunciations of Lysia and Nagaya in the open streets, with so much fervid eloquence that they who pa.s.s by cannot choose but hear, . . he hath a strange craze,--a doctrine of the future which he most furiously proclaims in the language prophets use. He holds that far away in the centre of a Circle of pure Light, the true G.o.d exists,--a vast all glorious Being who with exceeding marvellous love controls and guides Creation toward some majestic end--even as a musician doth melodize his thought from small sweet notes to perfect chord-woven harmonies. Furthermore, that thousands of years hence, this G.o.d will embody a portion of his own Existence in human form and will send hither a wondrous creature, half-G.o.d, half-Man, to live our life, die our death, and teach us by precept and example, the surest way to eternal happiness. 'Tis a theory both strange and wild!--hast ever heard of it before?"

He put the question indifferently, but Theos was mute. That horrible sense of a straining desire to speak when speech was forbidden again oppressed him,--he felt as though he were being strangled with his own unfalling tears. What a crushing weight of unutterable thoughts burdened his brain!--he gazed up at the serenely glowing sky in aching, dumb despair,--till slowly ... very slowly, words came at last like dull throbs of pain beating between his lips ...

"I think ... I fancy ... I have heard a rumor of such doctrine ... but I know as little of it as ... as THOU, Sah-luma! ... I can tell thee no more ... than THOU hast said! ..." He paused and gaining more firmness of tone went on--"It seems to me a not altogether impossible conception of Divine Benevolence,--for if G.o.d lives at all, He must be capable of manifesting Himself in many ways both small and great, common and miraculous, though of a truth there are no miracles beyond what APPEAR as such to our limited sight and restricted intelligence. But tell me"--and here his voice had a ring of suppressed anxiety within it--"tell me, Sah-luma, thine own thought concerning it!"

"I?--I think naught of it!" replied Sah-luma with airy contempt--"Such a creed may find followers in time to come,--but now, of what avail to warn us of things that do not concern our present modes of life?

Moreover in the face of all religion, my own opinion should not alter,--I have studied science sufficiently well to know that there is NO G.o.d!--and I am too honest to worship an unproved and merely supposit.i.tious ident.i.ty!"

A shudder, as of extreme cold, ran through Theos's veins, and as if impelled on by some invisible monitor he said almost mournfully:

"Art thou sure, Sah-luma, thou dost not instinctively feel that there is a Higher Power hidden behind the veil of visible Nature?--and that in the Far Beyond there may be an Eternity of Joy where thou shalt find all thy grandest aspirations at last fulfilled?"

Sah-luma laughed,--a clear, vibrating laugh as mellow as the note of a thrush in spring-time.

"Thou solemn soul!" he exclaimed mirthfully--"My aspirations ARE fulfilled!--I aspire to no more than fame,--and that I hold,--that I shall keep so long as this world is lighted by the sun!"

"And what use is Fame to thee in Death!" demanded Theos with sudden and emphatic earnestness.

Sah-luma stood still,--over his beautiful face came a shadow of intense melancholy,--he raised his brilliant eyes full of wistful pathos and pleading.

"I pray thee do not make me sad, my friend!" he murmured tremulously--"These thoughts are like muttering thunder in my heaven!

Death!".. and a quick sigh escaped him--"'Twill be the breaking of my harp and heart! ... the last note of my failing voice and eversilenced song!"

A moisture as of tears glistened on the silky fringe of his eyelids,--his lips quivered,--he had the look of a Narcissus regretfully bewailing his own perishable loveliness. On a swift impulse of affection Theos threw one arm round, his neck in the fashion of a confiding school-boy walking with his favorite companion.

"Nay, thou shalt never die, Sah-luma!" he said with a sort of pa.s.sionate eagerness,--"Thy bright soul shall live forever in a sunshine sweeter than that of earth's fairest midsummer noon! Thy song can never be silenced while heaven pulsates with the unwritten music of the spheres,--and even were the crown of immortality denied to lesser men, it is, it must be the heritage of the poet! For to him all crowns belong, all kingdoms are thrown open, all barriers broken down,--even those that divide us from the Unseen,--and G.o.d Himself has surely a smile to spare for His Singers who have made the sad world joyful if only for an hour!"

Sah-luma looked up with a pleased yet wondering glance.

"Thou hast a silvery and persuasive tongue!" he said gently--"And thou speakest of G.o.d as if thou knewest one akin to Him. Would I could believe all thou sayest! ... but alas!--I cannot. We have progressed too far in knowledge, my friend, for faith.... yet..." He hesitated a moment, then with a touch of caressing entreaty in his tone went on.

... "Thinkest thou in very truth that I shall live again? For I confess to thee, it seems beyond all things strange and terrible to feel that this genius of mine,--this spirit of melody which inhabits my frame, should perish utterly without further scope for its abilities. There have been moments when my soul, ravished by inspiration, has, as it were, seized Earth like a full goblet of wine, and quaffed its beauties, its pleasures, its loves, its glories all in one burning draught of song! ... when I have stood in thought on the shadowy peaks of time, waiting for other worlds to string like beads on my thread of poesy,--when wondrous creatures habited in light and wreathed with stars have floated round and round me in rosy circles of fire,--and once, methought ... 'twas long ago now--I heard a Voice distinct and sweet that called me upward, onward and away, I know not where,--save that a hidden Love awaited me!" He broke off with a rapt almost angelic expression in his eyes, then sighing a little he resumed: "All dreams of course! ... vague phantoms,--creations of my own imaginative brain,--yet fair enough to fill my heart with speechless longings for ethereal raptures unseen, unknown! Thou hast, methinks, a certain faith in the unsolved mysteries,--but I have none,--for sweet as the promise of a future life may seem, there is no proof that it shall ever be. If one died and rose again from the dead, then might we all believe and hope.. but otherwise ..."

Oh, miserable Theos!--What would he not have given to utter aloud the burning knowledge that ate into his mind like slow-devouring fire!

Again mute! ... again oppressed by that strange swelling at the heart that threatened to break forth in stormy sobs of penitence and prayer!

Instinctively he drew Sah-luma closer to his side--his breath came thick and fast.. he struggled with all his might to speak the words ...

"One HAS died and risen from the dead!"--but not a syllable could he form of the desired sentence!

"Thou shalt live again, Sah-luma!" was all he could say in low, half-smothered accents--"Thou hast within thee a flame that cannot perish!"

Again Sah-luma's eyes dwelt upon him with a curious, appealing tenderness.

"Thy words savor of sweet consolation! ..." he said half gayly, half sadly. "May they be fulfilled! And if indeed there is a brighter world than this beyond the skies, I fancy thou and I will know each other, there as here, and be somewhat close companions! See!"--and he pointed to a small green hillock that rose up like a shining emerald from the darker foliage of the surrounding trees--"Yonder is my point of vantage whence we shall behold the sun go down like a warrior sinking on the red field of battle, the chimes are ringing even now for his departure,--listen!"

They stood still for a s.p.a.ce, while the measured, swinging cadence of bells came pealing through the stillness,--bells of every tone, that smote the air with soft or loud resonance as the faint wind wafted the sounds toward them,--and then they began to climb the little hill, Sah-luma walking somewhat in advance, with a tread as light and elastic as that of a young fawn.

Theos, following, watched his movements with a strange affection, --every turn of his head, every gesture of his hand seemed fraught with meanings as yet inexplicable. The gra.s.s beneath their feet was soft as velvet and dotted with a myriad wild flowers,--the ascent was gradual and easy, and in a few minutes they had reached the summit, where Sah-luma, throwing himself indolently on the smooth turf, pulled Theos gently down by his side. There they rested in silence, gazing at the magnificent panorama laid out before them,--a panorama as lovely as a delicately pictured scene of fairy-land. Above, the sky was of a dense yet misty rose-color,--the sun, low on the western horizon appeared to rest in a vast, deep, purple hollow, rifted here and there with broad gashes of gold,--long shafts of light streamed upwards in order like the waving pennons of an angel-army marching,--and beyond, far away from this blaze of splendid color, the wide ethereal expanse paled into tender blue, whereon light clouds of pink and white drifted like the fluttering blossoms that fall from apple-trees in spring.

Below, and seen through a haze of rose and amber, lay the city of Al-Kyris,--its white domes, towers and pinnacled palaces rising out of the mist like a glorious mirage afloat on the borders of a burning desert. Al-Kyris the Magnificent!--it deserves its name, Theos thought, as shading his eyes from the red glare he took a wondering and gradually comprehensive view of the enormous extent of the place. He soon perceived that it was defended by six strongly fortified walls, each placed within the other at long equal distances apart, so that it might have been justly described as six cities all merged together in one,--and from where he sat he could plainly discern the great square where he had rested in the morning, by reason of the white granite obelisk that lifted itself sheer up against the sky, undwarfed by any of the surrounding buildings.

This gigantic monument was the most prominent object in sight, with the exception of the sacred temple, which Sah-luma presently pointed out,--a round, fortress-like piece of architecture ornamented with twelve gilded towers from which bells were now clashing and jangling in a storm of melodious persistency. The hum of the city's traffic and pleasure surged on the air like the noise made by swarming bees, while every now and then the sweet, shrill tones of some more than usually clear girl's voice, crying out the sale of fruit or flowers, soared up song-wise through the luminous, semi-transparent vapor that half-veiled the cl.u.s.tering house-tops, tapering spires and cupolas in a delicate, nebulous film.