I
had leisure to do nothing for her then, and indeed it was little enough
I could have done. With each shock the great capstone of the throne to
which I clung jarred farther and farther from its bed place, and my love
was coming nearer to me. It was she who claimed all my service then.

Once in their blind panic a knot of the people in the square thought
that the granite stone was too solid to be overturned, and saw in it
an oasis of safety. They flocked towards it, many of them dragging
themselves up the steep deep high steps on hands and knees because their
feet had been injured by the billowing flagstones of the square.

But I was in no mood to have the place profaned by their silly
tremblings and stares: I beat at them with my hands, tearing them away,
and hurling them back down the steepness of the steps. They asked me
what was my title to the place above their own, and I answered them with
blows and gnashing teeth. I was careless as to what they thought me or
who they thought me. Only I wished them gone. And so they went, wailing
and crying that I was a devil of the night, for they had no spirit left
to defend themselves.

Farther and farther the great stone that made the top of the throne slid
out from its bed, but its slowness of movement maddened me. A life's
education left me in that moment, and I had no trace of stately patience
left. In my puny fury I thrust at the great block with my shoulder and
head, and clawed at it with my hands till the muscles rose on me
in great ropes and knots, and the High Gods must have laughed at my
helplessness as They looked. All was being ordered by the Three who were
Their trusted servants, in Their good time. The work of the Gods may be
done slowly, but it is done exceeding sure.

But at last, when all the people of the city were numb with terror,
and incapable of further emotion (save only for Phorenice who still had
nerve enough to show no concern), what had been threatened came to pass.
The capstone of the throne slid out till it reached the balance, and the
next shock threw it with a roar and a clatter to the ground. And then a
strange tremor seized me.

After all the scheming and effort, what I had so ardently prayed for had
come about; but yet my inwards sank at the thought of mounting on the
stone where I had mounted before, and taking my dear from the hollow
where my hands had laid her. I knew Phorenice's vengefulness, and had a
high value for her cleverness. Ha