efore we
can even find the place;" and he fell to entreating her to let them be
wed at once and journey afterwards.

But she said, Nay, and nay, and nay, it should not be, till at length,
as though fearing his pleading, or that of her own heart, she rose and
dismissed us.

"Ah! my Holly," she said to me as we three parted, "I promised thee and
myself some few hours of rest and of the happiness of quiet, and thou
seest how my desire has been fulfilled. Those old Egyptians were wont
to share their feasts with one grizzly skeleton, but here I counted four
to-night that you both could see, and they are named Fear, Suspense,
Foreboding, and Love-denied. Doubtless also, when these are buried
others will come to haunt us, and snatch the poor morsel from our lips.

"So hath it ever been with me, whose feet misfortune dogs. Yet I hope
on, and now many a barrier lies behind us; and Leo, thou hast been
tried in the appointed, triple fires and yet proved true. Sweet be thy
slumbers, O my love, and sweeter still thy dreams, for know, my soul
shall share them. I vow to thee that to-morrow we'll be happy, aye,
to-morrow without fail."

"Why will she not marry me at once?" asked Leo, when we were alone in
our chamber. "Because she is afraid," I answered.

CHAPTER XIX

LEO AND THE LEOPARD

During the weeks that followed these momentous days often and often I
wondered to myself whether a more truly wretched being had ever lived
than the woman, or the spirit, whom we knew as She, Hes, and Ayesha.
Whether in fact also, or in our imagination only, she had arisen from
the ashes of her hideous age into the full bloom of perpetual life and
beauty inconceivable.

These things at least were certain: Ayesha had achieved the secret of
an existence so enduring that for all human purposes it might be called
unending. Within certain limitations--such as her utter inability to
foresee the future--undoubtedly also, she was endued with powers that
can only be described as supernatural.

Her rule over the strange community amongst whom she lived was absolute;
indeed, its members regarded her as a goddess, and as such she was
worshipped. After marvellous adventures, the man who was her very life,
I might almost say her soul, whose being was so mysteriously intertwined
with hers, whom she loved also with the intensest human passion of which
woman can be capable, had sought her out in this hidden corner of the
world.

More, thrice he had p