ed Thing, and stood by it in all the pride of her rich beauty
and perfect womanhood.

"Leo Vincey, or Kallikrates," said Atene, "take which name thou wilt;
thou thinkest ill of me perhaps, but know that at least I scorn to mock
a rival in her mortal shame. She told us a wild tale but now, a tale
true or false, but more false than true, I think, of how I robbed
a goddess of a votary, and of how that goddess--Ayesha's self
perchance--was avenged upon me for the crime of yielding to the man I
loved. Well, let goddesses--if such indeed there be--take their way and
work their will upon the helpless, and I, a mortal, will take mine
until the clutch of doom closes round my throat and chokes out life and
memory, and I too am a goddess--or a clod.

"Meanwhile, thou man, I shame not to say it before all these witnesses,
I love thee, and it seems that this--this woman or goddess--loves thee
also, and she has told us that now, _now_ thou must choose between us
once and for ever. She has told us too that if I sinned against Isis,
whose minister be it remembered she declares herself, herself she sinned
yet more. For she would have taken thee both from a heavenly mistress
and from an earthly bride, and yet snatch that guerdon of immortality
which is hers to-day. Therefore if I am evil, she is worse, nor does the
flame that burns within the casket whereof Oros spoke shine so very pure
and bright.

"Choose thou then Leo Vincey, and let there be an end. I vaunt not
myself; thou knowest what I have been and seest what I am. Yet I can
give thee love and happiness and, mayhap, children to follow after thee,
and with them some place and power. What yonder witch can give thee thou
canst guess. Tales of the past, pictures on the flame, wise maxims and
honeyed words, and after thou art dead once more, promises perhaps, of
joy to come when that terrible goddess whom she serves so closely shall
be appeased. I have spoken. Yet I will add a word:

"O thou for whom, if the Hesea's tale be true, I did once lay down my
royal rank and dare the dangers of an unsailed sea; O thou whom in ages
gone I would have sheltered with my frail body from the sorceries of
this cold, self-seeking witch; O thou whom but a little while ago at my
own life's risk I drew from death in yonder river, choose, choose!"

To all this speech, so moderate yet so cruel, so well-reasoned and
yet so false, because of its glosses and omissions, the huddled Ayesha
seemed to liste