The world is very fair; I give
it all to thee."

Now Atene spoke for the first time.

"Dost thou mean Hes--if thou art still the Hesea and not a demon
arisen from the Pit--that thou offerest my territories to this man as a
love-gift? If so, I tell thee that first thou must conquer them."

"Ungentle are thy words and mien," answered Ayesha, "yet I forgive them
both, for I also can scorn to mock a rival in my hour of victory. When
thou wast the fairer, thou didst proffer him these very lands, but say,
who is the fairer now? Look at us, all of you, and judge," and she stood
by Atene and smiled.

The Khania was a lovely woman. Never to my knowledge have I seen one
lovelier, but oh! how coarse and poor she showed beside the wild,
ethereal beauty of Ayesha born again. For that beauty was not altogether
human, far less so indeed than it had been in the Caves of Kor; now it
was the beauty of a spirit.

The little light that always shone upon Ayesha's brow; the wide-set,
maddening eyes which were filled sometimes with the fire of the stars
and sometimes with the blue darkness of the heavens wherein they float;
the curved lips, so wistful yet so proud; the tresses fine as glossy
silk that still spread and rippled as though with a separate life; the
general air, not so much of majesty as of some secret power hard to
be restrained, which strove in that delicate body and proclaimed its
presence to the most careless; that flame of the soul within whereof
Oros had spoken, shining now through no "vile vessel," but in a vase
of alabaster and of pearl--none of these things and qualities were
altogether human. I felt it and was afraid, and Atene felt it also, for
she answered--"I am but a woman. What thou art, thou knowest best. Still
a taper cannot shine midst yonder fires or a glow-worm against a fallen
star; nor can my mortal flesh compare with the glory thou hast earned
from hell in payment for thy gifts and homage to the lord of ill. Yet as
woman I am thy equal, and as spirit I shall be thy mistress, when robbed
of these borrowed beauties thou, Ayesha, standest naked and ashamed
before the Judge of all whom thou hast deserted and defied; yes, as thou
stoodest but now upon yonder brink above the burning pit where thou yet
shalt wander wailing thy lost love. For this I know, mine enemy, that
_man and spirit cannot mate_," and Atene ceased, choking in her bitter
rage and jealousy.

Now watching Ayesha, I saw her wince a little be