HALIMA--Thy brows are still lowered. In what have I offended thee, my husband?

KODAMA--Amber pools where men may--what do men find in thine eyes?

HALIMA--I know not, unless thou sayest.

KODAMA--And thy skin is of pearl, is it not so?

HALIMA--Shall I send away the women, oh my lord?

KODAMA--I am not loving thee. Let the women and the lights remain.

HALIMA--I had hoped--

KODAMA--Thou hadst hoped! Am I a fledgling to faint under thy beauty?

HALIMA--Thou didst marry me.

KODAMA--It was a wise bargain with thy father, whose hands will help carry my trade into the desert, and beyond.

HALIMA--I thought thy kinsman Sindibad would do that. He is a son of the desert.

KODAMA--I like not my kinsman. He is a fool and a magpie.

HALIMA--He is young and handsome, full of fire and poetry.

KODAMA--Full of deceit and treachery, with honeyed words that mean nothing. But yesterday he raved of a maiden whom he met in the desert.

To-day he is mad for thy--

HALIMA--For my--?

KODAMA--For thy dancing slave. To-morrow he will go to the desert with another nightingale piping at his elbow. He knows not constancy, but flies from one deluded maiden to another.

HALIMA--Surely thou wrongest him.

KODAMA--I wrong him not. We shall not talk of him.... Thy shimmering hair has hidden thine ear. Let me put it back.

HALIMA--Oh, Kodama, thou hast never praised my hair before. See, it is a fountain of living gold!

KODAMA--(_Quickly._) Who told thee that?

HALIMA--My ... women.

KODAMA--What other pretty things do they say to swell thy vanity?

HALIMA--They say--thou lovest me not.

KODAMA--As thou art a woman, and beautiful, I love thee ... no more ...

no less. Thou art a woman. I have said it!

(_Kodama puts Halima from him, and leaves abruptly R. Halima for an instant puts out her hands pleadingly to Kodama's retreating back, and then with a hopeless little gesture drops her head on the cushions. One of the women picks up her lute, and sings a plaintive song. The young slave boy of Sindibad's appears L._)

SLAVE BOY--The young Sheykh Sindibad leaves for his father's tent in the desert, and would say farewell to his kinsman's lady.

HALIMA--Let him come. (_To attendants._) I would be alone! (_Exeunt attendants C._)

(_Sindibad enters L. and looks at Halima's despairing figure for a moment._)

SINDIBAD--To-night I go to my people.

HALIMA--Allah, the compa.s.sionate, the merciful, guide thy footsteps.

SINDIBAD--And thou, white rose, wouldst thou be free?

HALIMA--Free!

SINDIBAD--A strong mehari is below, and my men are waiting.

HALIMA--I am afraid.

SINDIBAD--By the hand of the Prophet, it was written thou shouldst love me, and I thee.

HALIMA--His wrath--

SINDIBAD--Thou art not bound to him by any law.

HALIMA--He loves me not, and yet--

SINDIBAD--Come to the golden desert, and thou shalt learn the many ways of love.

HALIMA--He took me to seal a bargain with my father. But thou, thou wilt soon tire of me. He said thou lovest any woman.

SINDIBAD--I will not fail thee, until soul and body part.

HALIMA--Oh, hungry ears, be not so eager for these words of love.

SINDIBAD--Thy body is wonderful as a hidden river whereon the moonlight dances. Rest thou upon my beating heart, oh beloved.

HALIMA--All of heaven is here.

SINDIBAD--I drink thy lips like wine. (_Kisses her. Exeunt. Stage is empty for a very short time._)

(_The Slave and Kodama enter hurriedly R._)

SLAVE TO KODAMA--This way, my master, they went but a moment since, and thou canst get them ere they reach the court.

KODAMA--(_Drawing scimiter._) Stay! (_Exit C._)

(_The slave remains motionless on the stage, and there is silence. Then Kodama returns wiping his blade. He spits on the floor._)