DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/talelialftoldOOIavo 
 
JULIA LA VOIE. 
 

 dA TALE 
 HALF TOLD 
 
 JULIA LAVOIE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 BROADWAY PUBLISHING 
 COMPANY 835 BROADWAY 
 
Copyrighted, in 1904, 
 
 BY 
 JULIA LAVOIE. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 I Meet an Officer of the New Republic 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 I Learn His Name 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 I Make the Acquaintance of the Next in Line of the 
 
 Hawouitian Kings 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 I Do a Sum in Division < 24 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Our Lessons Are Adjourned 29 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Shadow of Coming Events 36 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 In Which Our Lips Meet 43 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Downfall of the Republic 54 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 I Change My Name and Social Standing 62 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 I Realize My Martyrdom 71 
 
 RfiR 
 
iv Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 I Find a Friend in One Whom I Befriended 78 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Civil War Is Declared 85 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 I Listen to a Strange Story 96 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Enter Kameh Roolik 107 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 I Make an Attempt to See the President 113 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 I Speak My Mind 120 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Retribution 126 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 I Am Left Alone 135 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 AUTHOR'S PORTRAIT Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 "This is Kameh Roohk, our Minister of the In- 
 terior" i8 
 
 "Do you mean " he began, then paused 6g 
 
 "And are you going to leave me for him" 132 
 
"'■vn:-' 
 
A TALE HALF TOLD 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I MEET AN" OFFICER OF THE NEW REPUBLIC. 
 
 Thrice have I begun this tale, and twice have 
 I laid down m}' pen, resolved to let that die with 
 me, which, from a moral, or otherwise philo- 
 sophical standpoint, can be of no service to my 
 fellowmen. It has been- said if we have nothing 
 of use to leave the world that silence were our 
 best bequest. This is undeniably true. But why 
 wear}' you with a chapter of apologies ? The want 
 of candor is, above all markings, the shade by 
 which we may identify a small soul. I admit, then, 
 that I leave this writing in the vague belief that 
 ■when I take on earth's conditions again I may find 
 herein that which will be of benefit to me. By 
 this admission you will see that I cherish the de- 
 sire, if not the hope, of being visible again to 
 mortal men. 
 
 When I come again I may be able to write. 
 
 I am of keenest wit, and beauty most alluring ! 
 
 I am good ; I am perfect in every detail ! 
 
2 'K Tale Half Told. 
 
 Perhaps; who knows? 
 
 I was born in a life-boat on the high seas, on 
 February twenty-second, in the year of our Lord 
 eigliteen hundred and , but then what mat- 
 ter? It is a mistake to keep account of one's 
 birthdays. 
 
 Time ! What is it ? A chimera ! an illusion ! 
 invented to discourage man, and remind him of 
 the passing of his life. We remember yesterday, 
 but we live only in to-da3^ We hope for the mor- 
 row, but the morrow is never our own. So do we 
 go on in our eternal to-day; and on, and on, 
 world without end. 
 
 Good people, repudiate time! Time is a ty- 
 rant ! time a thief ! He robs one of j'outh, and 
 mocks him with ambitions thwarted ! 
 
 Assume then that there is no time, and let us 
 proceed. 
 
 My mother, who died at my birth, was a Greek, 
 my father a Huguenot missionary. So it comes to 
 pass that in me are met two distinctly opposite 
 forces: the mistaken earnestness of the evangelist, 
 and the subtle duplicity of the Greek. As my 
 father's mission in life was to convert the heathen, 
 we never remained long enough in one place for 
 me to attend school ; he therefore superintended 
 my education himself, the result being that I am 
 ignorant of many things, but very familiar with 
 the Scriptiires, and conversant of numerous strange 
 tongues. He was himself a scholar, and taught 
 me much that would be of inestimable worth had 
 I but the rudiments upon which it might rest. I 
 have no doubt but that he was a good man, but he 
 was a mistaken one. Whether, in the eternal fit- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 3 
 
 neps of things he will ever find his proper setting, 
 is a matter which has occasioned me much thought. 
 
 It is also a question in my mind whether, in in- 
 structing me in languages, he did me a good turn 
 or another injury; for through such knowledge I 
 secured the situation which led me into a series of 
 errors. 
 
 As I suspect that all errors must be corrected 
 some time in some way, I fear that, although 
 wholly my fatlier's fault, my spiritual growth is 
 retarded. 
 
 It is some five years ago that my father, with 
 his Bible under his arm, and a shot-gun in his 
 hand, penetrated the mountainous region of the 
 newly founded republic of Hawouitia, and con- 
 tracting a disorder then prevalent, died in my arms, 
 leaving me a stranger in a strange land. 
 
 It would be impossible to determine which of 
 the many languages spoken here was the dominat- 
 ing one. The new constitution, it was said, was 
 framed in English ; the President, reputed a young 
 man, being, it was rumored, an Englishman. 
 Through political influence — for my father, 
 though a clergyman and a most worthy man, had 
 a habit of slipping into the inside pocket of the 
 politics of whatever countrj'' wherein he chanced 
 to be — I secured a position as teacher of languages 
 to the little daughter of the President of Hawoui- 
 tia. 
 
 The beauty of a crimson dawn had hardly 
 rounded into a voluptuous j^ellow day crowned with 
 a roof of measureless sapphire, when, on one mem- 
 orable morning, I bade farewell to the kind people 
 who had been our hosts during my father's last ill- 
 
'4. A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ness, and with one servant to act as guide and look 
 after my general welfare, started for New Baby- 
 lon, the capital of Hawonitia. The times were 
 peaceful, and I felt no fear, although we were 
 obliged to go by horse all of the way, a distance of 
 sixty miles. 
 
 We rode in silence for several hours, no sound 
 save the trill of the robin or the gurgling of some 
 mountain stream rushing down the rocks to a 
 meeting of waters in the glen below, disturbing 
 the silence of the air. What is that something 
 enveloped in silence which teaches us to speak? 
 When the sky is jewelled and azure; when the 
 mountains raise themselves in their might to kiss 
 her; when the river lies stretched out before me; 
 when not a breeze plays in the grass at my feet, 
 and the insects hide themselves in the shadow of a 
 leaf, then — oh, then, I feel within me a thousand 
 tongues all clamoring for utterance, all claiming 
 the right to be heard! Oh, mighty Something! 
 what are you? where are you? what will you? I 
 learn by your silence that I am your spokesman; 
 reveal to me also that which you would have me 
 speak. You ask not if I be Buddhist, Hebrew, 
 Mussulman, Christian, Schismatic, Romanist by 
 ritual, or Greek by superstition. You ask only 
 that I understand you. Forms and mechanisms 
 of government be things that pass with the years ; 
 but you pass not away. You stand for the love of 
 liberty, the freedom of thought, the pursuit of 
 happiness, and the royalty of man. 
 
 We had eaten the lunch we carried in our saddle 
 bags, and the sun was riding high, when the clatter 
 of hoofs and the clanking of gte«l smote harshly 
 
'A Tale Half Told. 5 
 
 on the soft murmurs of the air, and there swept 
 toward us from the right a cavalcade of great bril- 
 liancy. Through the long grass they dashed, gor- 
 geous in their raiment of crimson and white, their 
 rich arms flashing in the sunlight, and ringing 
 through the silence of the hills. At their head, 
 shoulder to shoulder, rode two men strikingly un- 
 like in looks and apparel. The elder carried him- 
 self with great dignity. He wore a timic of scarlet 
 cloth bordered with gold and reaching to the knee ; 
 around his waist a sash was girded, presumably 
 concealing a belt, for there glittered above its silken 
 folds a variety of jewelled arms ; his long sleeves 
 ■were drawn through the girdle behind, but in front 
 they fell open to the shoulder, revealing a wide 
 Tinder sleeve of silk gauze, white and gleaming in 
 its richness and bordered with a fine wrought 
 fringe. On his head rode a scarlet fez, and above 
 that a wide straw hat with a very small crown 
 wreathed with freshly plucked flowers. His com- 
 panion looked a mere boy, and was much less 
 magnificently caparisoned. Across his saddle-bow 
 swung a musket and from his leathern belt flashed 
 a brace of silver mounted revolvers. He sat a 
 noble steed and rode with ease, but not dignity. 
 I readily guessed that he was a person of some dis- 
 tinction, probably an envoy from the President to 
 Kameh Eoohk, a prince of the blood, having his 
 estate in that part of the island ; nor was I sur- 
 prised when the cavalcade halted, and he of the 
 scarlet tunic swept off his hat, leaving his head 
 bare but for the scarlet fez, and bowed to his horse s 
 neck. The stranger lifted his hat, and with two 
 others, evidently attendants, rode out of the ranks 
 
6 'A Tale Half Told. 
 
 and toward New Babylon, while the company swung 
 about with much brilliancy and ostentatious show 
 and proceeded whence they came. 
 
 It is the small acts of life that betray the real 
 character of a man, and I was therefore somewhat 
 amused at the carefulness of the stranger in sig- 
 naling the guides to ride ahead ; a discretion which 
 greatly belied the carelessness of his bearing. 
 
 My servant, a Spaniard, now came to my side 
 and suggested we keep with the party as it might 
 be dark before we reached New Babylon, and al- 
 though the times were peaceful the change of gov- 
 ernment was recent, and a convulsion such as had 
 rent the state at the overthrow of the late Queen 
 left an undercurrent for some time, and — well! 
 in fact, there was strength in numbers. He ac- 
 cordingly hailed one of the men as the trio neared, 
 and began passing commonplaces of the day. 
 
 The stranger did not speak, and seemed 
 in fact not to notice that his attendants had made 
 a new acquaintance. He held the bridle lightly in 
 one hand, the other hand rested on his hip. I 
 noticed that he was gracefully but not strongly 
 built, and that his clothes sat well upon him. His 
 cheek was smooth, brilliant with bloom, and fresh 
 as a young girl's. I judged his age to be about 
 twenty. 
 
 He had been staring straight ahead, but as he 
 came alongside my horse he saluted me by merely 
 touching the broad brim of his soft felt hat with 
 the butt end of his riding whip. This salutation 
 not being one of finished cordiality rather put me 
 out of ease, and I coughed to attract my servant's 
 attention, but he was engrossed with his fellow and 
 
A Tale Half Told. 7 
 
 did not notice it, I therefore drew rein to let the 
 traveler ride ahead, but he also held back and, 
 turning in our saddles, we looked each other over 
 horse and man. I was in mourning for my father 
 and wore a black riding habit and broad hat of 
 canvas boimd in black ; m.y face was covered from 
 above the brows to the chin by a black velvet mask, 
 worn to protect my complexion from the dust and 
 sun. 
 
 He looked at me and through me. 
 
 We did not speak. 
 
 Our horses, with a sagacity more than human, 
 here rubbed noses, and, evidently arriving at an 
 agreement, started forward neck to neck. 
 
 The slopes over which we traveled were red hot 
 and stony, and the temperature such as to make 
 one envy the buffaloes that lay cooling in a broad, 
 shallow river we passed, their heads and humps 
 alone visible above water, and their muzzles just 
 sufficiently advanced to enhance felicity by com- 
 panionship. After an hour we left the stony soil, 
 turning directly up toward the cool green and 
 gray of the mountains, and the way became lovelier 
 as the changeless sunshine darkened to fanciful 
 shadows in the wooded ravines below. 
 
 The day began to decline, and in the mulberry 
 gardens which fringed the road the nightingale 
 poured forth her soul-reaching notes, and the scar- 
 let bells of the pomegranate bush unfurled their 
 petals to a light breeze. From the mountain's 
 summit could 136 seen surroimding islands, violet 
 in the distance, like amethysts upon a golden sea. 
 
 In the contemplation of that ocean spread out 
 before me, and in the recollection of the weary 
 
8 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 days in which we clave that pathless way, my 
 father and I, pushing on, alone and obscure, into 
 strange lands among peoples dark and savage, I 
 for tlie moment forgot my silent companion, until 
 through my mask I felt his steady and penetrating 
 gaze ; I turned my eyes upon him. He was looking 
 seaward. We resumed our way. 
 
 Soon we approached a track of headlong steep- 
 ness, narrow as the Mussulman's bridge to Para- 
 dise, and following the example of our guides, we 
 dismounted. 
 
 He led his horse, I led mine. 
 
 When we reached level ground we stood and 
 faced each other; the others had halted some dis- 
 tance in advance. I experienced a curious tin- 
 gling of the nerves as I met his full glance. His 
 eyes were brownish-gray, bright, smiling, and very 
 cold. I felt the scarlet bathe my brow and 1 looked 
 away. 
 
 But I am not of a taciturn bent. Leave to the 
 Turks their solemn and impregnable reserve, they 
 are the people of silence; while T — well! I am a 
 creature of perpetual and brilliant dialogue. I 
 determined to ride no further A\ith a dummy or 
 a deaf mute. I accordingly settled myself upon a 
 rock and resting an elbow on my knee dropped my 
 chin on my hand. My companion remained mo- 
 tionless some minutes looking at me, then slipping 
 a ring from his finger he dropped upon one knee 
 and commenced writing in the dust at my feet. He 
 wrote three sentences, one beneath the other, and 
 with space between each for an answer. The first 
 was wTitten in English, the second in Spanish, the 
 third in French : they all asked the same question : 
 
A Tale Half Told. 9 
 
 "Do you believe in love at first sight?'' 
 
 He held out the ring to me ; I took it and wrote 
 in Spanish; 
 
 "At sight, perhaps, but not through a mask." 
 
 His eyes smiled, but his face remained immobile. 
 He took the ring and wrote again in Spanish : 
 
 "You are Spanish ?" 
 
 I took the ring and wrote in English: 
 
 "Guess again." 
 
 He glanced quickly at me and wrote in English, 
 and he made the lines deep : 
 
 "You are English ?" 
 
 I wrote in Turkish : 
 
 "You have one more coming." 
 
 He looked puzzled, then taking the ring he wrote 
 again in English : 
 
 "I cannot read that ; of what race are you ?" 
 
 "The human race," I wrote in French. 
 
 He now spoke, and his voice was rich and fresh : 
 
 "You come of a great race," he said, in English. 
 
 "ISTo greater has ever lived," I replied in the 
 same language. 
 
 "And you?" I asked. 
 
 "I too am of the root of Man," and he raised his 
 hat. 
 
 "Perhaps we worship the same God?" I ven- 
 tured. I inherit this question from my father. 
 
 "The highest God is libert}'," was his answer. 
 
 "What are you doing here alone?" was his next 
 query. 
 
 "I am not alone." 
 
 *'You were when I met you." 
 . ''Pardon, my servant was with me." 
 
 He glanced contemptuously at the Spaniard. 
 
lo A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "I would place as much reliance in the protec- 
 tion of a panther," said he. 
 
 I thought of the taint in my own blood, and 
 wondered if aught about me bespoke the Greek. 
 
 "And you," I asked, "are you not over young 
 to be away from home ?" 
 
 He replaced the ring on his finger. 
 
 "Perhaps not as young as you think." Then 
 after a pause, "How old should you take me to be?" 
 
 I looked him over. 
 
 "Eighteen," I said, "nineteen?" 
 
 He laughed aloud. 
 
 "Take away the first number, leave the last; 
 plus three, divide by two — got it? 'Now add the 
 number you took away" — I nodded — "and you 
 have it." 
 
 He helped me mount. 
 
 "We are now getting into a part of the country 
 less hostile to the new Republic," he said as we 
 rode on. 
 
 "Where I met you then is a district in sympathy 
 with the late monarchy ?" 
 
 "Yes, Prince Kameh is a scion of the royal 
 house; he has Just accepted the office of Minister 
 of the Interior. You know the safest place for a 
 man deprived of what he deems his rightful place 
 is in the public eye." 
 
 "You visited the prince in behalf of the Presi- 
 dent, then?" 
 
 He flecked some dust from his coat sleeve. 
 
 "I called with the President's appointment," said 
 he. 
 
 "You know the President's family well, I sup- 
 pose?" I next inquired. 
 
A Tale Half Told. ii 
 
 "As well as any one living," he replied. 
 
 Before resuming the conversation I embraced 
 myself for this lucky encounter. 
 
 "Then you can tell me a great deal that I should 
 like to know/' I continued, "for I am going there 
 to live." 
 
 He had a quick way of turning to look at one 
 when least expected. This time he turned toward 
 me so quickly as to startle, by the sharp movement, 
 my horse which, unblinded, kept a jealous eye on 
 his spirited fellow-traveler; the President's envoy 
 caught the bridle and prevented the animal's bolt- 
 ing. 
 
 "Is the President young ?" I demanded. 
 
 "Yes — fairly — in fact, very young for a Presi- 
 dent." 
 
 "And his wife — is she beautiful?" 
 
 "The lady known as the President's wife is the 
 most beautiful woman I have ever seen — un- 
 masked," he replied. 
 
 "Is she kind ? agreeable ?" 
 
 "She is an angel ; God bless her !" 
 
 I felt an odd mingling of surprise and disap- 
 pointment at this high praise. I drew myself up, 
 shook my horse's bridle free of the hand that still 
 held it and touching spur dashed ahead. My in- 
 formant made no attempt to keep up with me, 
 although I knew he had passed our guides and 
 kept not far behind my flying steed. At this pace 
 we were soon at the outskirts of the town. 
 
 It was in the purple twilight of a summer's 
 evening that we rode together down King Street 
 and parted in front of the Executive Building. 
 The front of the buliding was heavy with gilt- 
 
12 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 lettered signs: "^Department of Foreign Affairs," 
 "Department of the Interior/' "Chiefs of Bureaus, 
 Interior Department,"' "Board of Fire Commis- 
 sioners/' "Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry," 
 "Department of Finance." In fact, a front elo- 
 quent of the needs of a civilized people. 
 
 "We may meet again," said my new acquaint- 
 ance, as he took off his hat. 
 
 "We may," I rejoined, as I bade him good-bye. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 13 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 I LEARN HIS NAME, 
 
 In this, our web of life, are many threads of 
 divers colorings. We weave in shadow, and all im- 
 perfectly we spin our threads of sombre gray; a 
 ray of light and the threads become pale silver, 
 a gleam of sunshine and they glow with rainbow 
 hues. And there is yet another blending: the 
 blacks and vermillions of baleful passions. Un- 
 seeing, hoping against hope, with the variation of 
 a hair's breadth in the beginning making a defect 
 in the end, we weave craftily on, keeping pace 
 with the countless systems of the universe as they 
 unwittingly wheel their tireless course. 
 
 And all the while we criticise the handiwork 
 of the blind spinners about us, as, with straining 
 pulse and aching sinews, they spread and lengthen 
 their distorted cuts. We who have not learned the 
 weaver's knot, who know not 3'et how to piece our 
 broken ends. 
 
 Some say that for countless revolutions of worlds 
 have we so spun, and that as it was in the begin- 
 ning so it will be in the end, for what has for- 
 ever been must forever be; but for myself I con- 
 fess that it seems a very long pilgrimage for very 
 little profit, since we might as well have been 
 created perfect in the first place. 
 
14 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 Now at no period of my existence have I been 
 thankful for Being. Therefore in giving me lif^ 
 a great wrong Avas perpetrated. 
 
 Somewhere, in the Beginning, some one made a 
 mistake. Wliether that some one was I, impreg- 
 nable and invulnerable, or some grim and silent 
 Being, in Whose image I am made, and of Whom 
 I am but a pale copy — neither I who write, nor you 
 who read, can for a certainty determine. That I 
 do exist, will, in the ensuing pages be illustrated 
 with the greatest fullness: the responsibility for 
 my being is another question. If, by my own 
 volition, I forsook oblivion to enter upon this 
 common tragedy we know as life, then I am the 
 arbiter of my destiny and deserve my fate; but 
 if Another has fashioned and shaped my history 
 then He 
 
 Well! and then? 
 
 I wish, however, that you should hold this ex- 
 tenuating circumstance in your mind. In either 
 case I am l-in of yours. As all things are relative, 
 sliding to and fro on the scales of compensation 
 from good to evil, sin to salvation, so is there a 
 connecting link between your rectitude and my 
 want of it; your integrity and my deceit. Re- 
 member we are all acting from the half-lights 
 our manifold experiences are yielding; we are 
 abortions struggling toward one end — ]\raturity! 
 
 But why should I ask you to remember? Few 
 of you are better than I; many of you, perhaps, 
 not as good. 'Not you nor I can sound the depths 
 of another's soul. The soul is an abyss unexplored, 
 unfathomable ! We speak of natures that are shal- 
 low;, but can we penetrate the real workings of 
 
A Tale Half Told. 15 
 
 another's brain? So I shall not seek to excuse 
 myself, or deny that I knew upon descending to 
 the great room that evening that my place was 
 not in that house. I knew then, as you will 
 know later. 
 
 The President had taken the house formerly 
 occupied by the royal family. The apartment I 
 now entered was a large saloon with several wide 
 windows, two of which opened into an unpaved 
 court. A small part of the floor extending from 
 the door to the opposite side of the room was six 
 or seven inches lower than the rest ; this was paved 
 with white and black marble and little pieces of 
 red tile, and had in the centre a fountain which 
 played into a small, shallow pool lined with col- 
 ored marble. The raised part of the floor was 
 of common stone almost hidden by heavy mats; 
 fronting the door was a marble shelf about four 
 feet high, supported by three arches faced with 
 colored marble. I do not know to what use this 
 was originally put, but now there flashed from it 
 an unlioly array of bottles, and two cut-glass de- 
 canters. As I entered, the room the President was 
 engaged in pouring into a glass a portion of one 
 of the bottles, which he drained before turning 
 around. 
 
 It was thus I saw him for the second time. 
 
 Mrs. Crane advanced to meet me. 
 
 "Miss Demorest," said she, "allow me to pre- 
 sent you to my husband; Robert, this is Miss 
 Demorest, Agnes' teacher of languages." 
 
 I held out my hand and Mr. Crane bent over 
 •it. I felt queerly when my fingers touched his 
 palm. 
 
:i6 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 We sat down to dinner, and I would liked to 
 have studied the faces of my employers, but 
 every time I looked at the President he was look- 
 ing at me. Now I knew myself to be clever above 
 the average, and never allowed an opportunity pass 
 of airing ray superior intellectual equipments, but 
 something in the brilliant, smiling eyes of Mrs. 
 Crane's husband kept me constantly shifting my 
 gaze from his face to hers to see if she be ob- 
 servant. I was unable to determine. 
 
 He seldom smiled, except for his eyes ; there was 
 a certain mesmeric charm in his face. He looked 
 older in evening dress and bareheaded than when 
 spurred and hatted. When not speaking there 
 were set lines about his lips. 
 
 That night alone at my chamber window I 
 watched the stars go out, one Ijy one. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 17 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE NEXT IN 
 LINE OF THE HAWOUITIAN E:INGS. 
 
 The next day after hours, I was arranging the 
 papers on my desk in the school-room when, after 
 a light rap, the door opened and Mrs. Crane thrust 
 in a queenly head. 
 
 "I hope I have not disturbed you," said she 
 sweetly, "but I wanted you to know that we ex- 
 pect a distinguished guest to dinner, so we had 
 best look our j)rettiest." 
 
 Promising to do my utmost I left the school- 
 room with her and betook myself to my own apart- 
 ment. 
 
 I have called myself clever ; now if I say that I 
 am decidedly distinguished in appearance, you, 
 not being able to see for yourselves that I speak but 
 the plain truth, will think me a conceited little 
 animal. Yet it were not justice to my deceased 
 parent, of whom I am an exact copy in female 
 edition — did I omit telling you that he was a 
 very fine looking man. 
 
 I piled my hair — which some are malicious 
 enough to call red — high on my head, and donned 
 a trained dress of white mull shot with black. My 
 cheeks, always pale, struck me as being unusually 
 so this evening, so I touched them with rouge — 
 then rubbed it off again as I recalled the look in 
 
i8 'A Tale Half Told. 
 
 Mr. Crane's eyes. I then sat down at the window 
 to polish my nails. 
 
 It still lacked twenty minutes of the dinner hour 
 when I descended to the great saloon. A gentle- 
 man sat almost in the centre of the room, his back 
 to the door; opposite him was Mr. Crane, his eyes 
 fastened on the entrance. He rose to his feet on 
 seeing me. 
 
 I advanced into the room and he took a step 
 toward me, holding out his hand. I placed my 
 own within it. 
 
 "I trust you are well. Miss Demorest; you cer- 
 tainly look it." 
 
 I wondered if I had rubbed off all the rouge, 
 and involuntarily I passed my left hand across 
 my cheek, then looked at the inside of the finger 
 tips. This tell-tale act provoked a laugh from 
 both men. 
 
 "Miss Demorest," said Mr. Crane, "this is 
 Kameli Roohk, our Minister of the Interior." 
 
 The gentleman had risen with his host, but I 
 had not so much as glanced at him on ray en- 
 trance ; I now turned to place my hand in his 
 extended right Avhon to my surprise I found it 
 still resting in that of Mr. Crane. I solemnly 
 declare, wise people, I had forgotten that he held 
 it. I did not blush ; I felt no embarrassment as 
 T looked up to his face, then into that of his guest, 
 and bowing to the latter, said: 
 
 "How do you do. Prince Kameh?" 
 
 The prince smiled at the readiness with which 
 I gave him a title so inconsistent with a republic, 
 and bowing politely, looked straight into my eyes 
 and said: 
 
'This is Kameh Rookh," etc. 
 
A Talc Half Told. 19 
 
 "How do you do, Miss Demorest?" 
 
 Mr. Crane released my hand. 
 
 The superb physique of Kameh Roohk dwarfed 
 the slender, graceful form of the young Presi- 
 dent. If grandeur of mien, elegance of manner, 
 majesty of gait make blood royal, then was he most 
 truly prince. The brown blood of his mother 
 mixed with the white of his father gave his skin 
 an golden hue. In plain black, with a scarlet rib- 
 bon, from which hung the sparkling insignia of 
 nobility crossing the polished white of his bosom 
 like a line of blood, he seemed with brown, splen- 
 did eyes and flashing teeth to fill the whole room 
 with his great physical beauty. 
 
 When the evening was over and the President 
 accompanied him down the steps to the carriage, 
 I stood in the hall and watched them, 
 
 Down the steps the lights from within threw 
 a broad ribbon of light and along this line they 
 passed, side by side, and stopped in the moonlight 
 where the ribbon ended. The departing guest 
 stood just in the moon's rays, uncovered, for he 
 was before the chosen ruler of the people. In the 
 great saloon, under artificial lights, he had looked 
 the Christian gentleman ; but in the white rays of 
 God's arc-light he was a lustful savage, a warrior, 
 but not a statesman. 
 
 I pictured him with the feathered war cloak 
 of his fathers wrapped around him; with his war- 
 riors and chiefs gathered near, and his wives and 
 concubines — numerous as the ants of the earth — 
 covering the ground round about. 
 
 Such to me, looked Kameh Roohk, newly ap- 
 pointed Minister of th3 Interior. 
 
20 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 And before him was the President, bareheaded, 
 looking up to the superior height of the next in 
 line of the Hawouitian kings. In his face was 
 seen the quiet force of generations of civilized 
 blood; in his eyes the cool steadfastness seen only 
 in the eyes of sons bred of a father who is husband 
 to one wife. So might have looked Napoleon when 
 standing before some conquered sovereign; so, to 
 me, looked Eobert Crane, President of Hawouitia. 
 
 I returned to the saloon, and sitting down at 
 the piano began aimlessly drawing my fingers 
 across the keys. 
 
 "Play this," said Mr. Crane, entering the room 
 by a low window leading from the balcony, and 
 spreading before me a selection from "Lohengrin." 
 
 "I cannot read music," I replied. 
 
 "You plav by ear?" 
 
 *nVhat little i play; yes." 
 
 *'Then change places with me and I Avill play it." 
 
 I left the piano and began turning the pages 
 of a copy of "Dante's Inferno," which lay upon 
 the table. Mr. Crane struck the opening chords, 
 then looked over his shoulder at me. 
 
 "Don't 5'ou care to hear it?" he asked. 
 
 We were in the room alone ; I looked at the 
 book beneath my hand, then back at the door. 
 
 "Come here," he said softly. 
 
 I felt his tones in every fibre of my being. I 
 remained motionless, my eyes fastened on a pas- 
 sage in the book : 
 
 "Love caused us hotli to share one common tomb: 
 Hell's lowest depth "" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 21 
 
 "No?" 
 
 The tone was interrogative. 
 
 "It is late, and I must go." 
 
 "It is not late yet," said he, glancing at the 
 clock upon the mantel. 
 
 I began moving toward the door. 
 
 "If it is my playing which frightens you," re- 
 marked he, rising, "we will close the piano." 
 
 "It is not." 
 
 "Then what is it?" 
 
 "It is"— I stopped. 
 
 "Yes it is" — he repeated. 
 
 "It isn't " 
 
 We took a step toward each other. 
 
 "No, it isn't," he repeated again. 
 
 "It isn't your playing." 
 
 We stood close together now. 
 
 "Not my playing, what then?" 
 
 I was silent. 
 
 "Me?" 
 
 I stood quite still and did not answer. 
 
 "Is it me, dear?" 
 
 I looked up at him. 
 
 "Are you afraid of me?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Of what, then, or whom?" 
 
 "Myself." 
 
 He laughed softly and put a hand beneath my 
 chin, lifting my face to the light. I closed my 
 eyes and I felt my cheeks burn. 
 
 "Mv beauty." 
 
 "Please don't." 
 
 "You fear me also?"_ 
 
 "Be good to me." 
 
22 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "I am good to you, but tell me how I can be 
 better?" 
 
 "By letting me go." 
 
 "You set me a hard task, little tyrant, but I 
 can deny you nothing, and if you really wish it 
 you shall go ; do you wish it, mine ?" 
 
 "I wish I were God!" 
 
 "I don't!" he declared emphatically. 
 
 "If I were God," I went on, not heeding him, 
 "I would make all men true, all women pure, and 
 melt treachery into love — if I were God !" 
 
 "Child," said he, and he was the first to call 
 me that since my father's death, "sometimes we 
 meet with events in real life which are stranger 
 than fiction ; and sometimes we meet with men 
 who are living lies ; if you knew such an one could 
 you love him?" 
 
 "It would depend upon the nature of the lie 
 he was living." 
 
 "A lie is a lie, I suppose ?" 
 
 "Yes, but extenuating circumstances might pal- 
 liate the foulest crime." 
 
 "Sit down," he said, placing a chair for mo. 
 
 I wished to, but I would not. 
 
 "No," I replied firmly, "I must not stay." 
 
 "Promise mc one thing before you go, will vou ?" 
 
 "WTiat is it?" 
 
 "Will you promise?" 
 
 "Not until I know what it is." ' 
 
 "Well, then, will you promise to trust me with- 
 out questioning, without doubt ; trust me im- 
 plicitly " 
 
 "Trust you blindly, in fact, witliout reason and 
 without rhyme?" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 23 
 
 "Precisely; will you do it?'' 
 
 "You are asking me to return to the irration- 
 ality of my infancy; but I promise, and here is 
 my hand." 
 
 We shook hands. 
 
 "Kameh Eoohk," he said, coming after me to 
 the door, "do you admire him?" 
 
 "I think him the handsomest man I ever be- 
 held !" and I kept on my way to the stairs. 
 
 "Does beauty carry far with you?" 
 
 He was at the stair bottom, one foot on the first 
 step, one hand on the bannister; I looked down 
 on him from my position half way up. 
 
 "Honor carries farther," I replied, and I 
 reached the floor above. 
 
24 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I DO A SUM IX DIVISIOX. 
 
 All the "u-orld was in the garden of the Execu- 
 tive Mansion. That is, all the world with the 
 exception of the sheriff, the judge, the court sten- 
 ographer, and three lesser individuals who were 
 playing an interminable game of croquet upon 
 the courthouse lawn. 
 
 Over the stone wall separating the two gardens 
 tumbled crimson, yellow and white roses, scatter- 
 ing their petals in voluptuous confusion upon a 
 carpet of flowers. Beyond the courthouse could 
 be seen the road marking its pale way between 
 dull brick walks swept by a human kaleidoscope 
 flashing by in its changing and brilliant march. 
 Hawouitia has been rightly called the isle of many 
 tongues. Thick-lipped, flat-nosed Nubians touched 
 elbows with Persians in sheep-skin hats; oval- 
 faced, high-cheeked Arabs, with white eyeballs 
 gleaming out of dust-dark faces and black hoods; 
 chocolate, round-clieeked Egj'ptians, a Soudanese 
 wearing a red fez, swathed in white linen ; and 
 shoulder to shoulder with a jaunty Spaniard 
 stalked with measured tread, the Bedouin of the 
 desert, in picturesque dress and veil of white, blue 
 
A Tale Half Told. 25 
 
 and green dropping gracefully over his shoulder. 
 The scene, together with the heat of the day, re- 
 minded me of my first glimpse of Alexandria, 
 when a blinding sun beat upon Pompey's Pillar 
 rising above the roofs of the city, and the Pasha's 
 palace and harem stretched their gardens and 
 palms to the sea. 
 
 I leaned against the trunk of an orange tree, 
 and Kameh Eoohk fanned me with a palm leaf. 
 
 At the foot of the stone steps leading to the bal- 
 cony the Eev. Eichard Crane, brother to the Presi- 
 dent, and rector of the Church of the Advent, was 
 teaching his niece the Laws of Moses. 
 
 "The rector is a pretty fellow," I said, studying 
 the refined, gentlemanly countenance of the minis- 
 ter as it bent over the child. 
 
 "Yes," returned Kameh Eoohk, dryly, "it is a 
 pity that he, too, is a married man." 
 
 I looked coolly at him. 
 
 "That makes no difference," I rejoined. 
 
 "Oh, indeed ! Well, I have been bi'ought up to 
 think that it did." 
 
 "You have been reared in error " replied I 
 calmly. , 
 
 His eyes held mine. 
 
 "You do not mean that." 
 
 "That is for me to know," said I, with a cadence 
 of contempt in my voice. 
 
 "I do not believe you." 
 
 On the table near by stood two glasses and a 
 decanter of iced wine; he poured wine in both 
 glasses. 
 
 "We will drink," said he, "to your better self." 
 
 Mr. Crane was coming toward us; the sometime 
 
26 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 prince lield ono glass out to inc, 1 took it, and he 
 turned to find the other already in the hand of his 
 chief. 
 
 "We drink," said the President, hohling his 
 glass to mine, "to that arrowed god who works the 
 miracle of blending two sorils in one." 
 
 The rim of his glass kissed mine, but before the 
 vibration occasioned by their contact had died on 
 the air Kameh Roohk spoke. 
 
 "We will divide," he said, looking at me. 
 
 I raised the wine to my lips and took a swal- 
 low, then held the glass toward him. 
 
 "I said we would divide," he repeated, not offer- 
 ing to take it. 
 
 "I am a poor mathematician," rejoined I. 
 
 "You may know something of subtraction," he 
 made answer, "but you know nothing whatever of 
 division." 
 
 I emptied half the glass. 
 
 "Are you drinking the long life of Miss Demo- 
 rest ?" asked one of a group who now joined us. 
 
 I felt depressed and ill at ease. 
 
 "I don't care for a long life, not this time," I 
 answered, "but I would like to try it over again; 
 after I have rested." 
 
 "Well, you never will," cried the sheriff's wife, 
 
 *'I may not, but that docs not lessen my desire 
 to live, and live again until such time as this per- 
 son you know as me shall represent in the highest 
 my ideal of strength and beauty." 
 
 "Wh}^, what do you want?" she gasped. 
 
 "I want what I want," I said firmly. 
 
 "You want what you want, it becomes you to be 
 thankful for what 3^ou have !" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 27 
 
 "I am not thankful ; I have nothing to be thank- 
 ful for." 
 
 "Nothing to be thankful for ! Why, girl, you are 
 crazy, haven't you your eyes?" 
 
 "Eyes, yes, but that is no more than my due; 
 eyes are mine through the divine law of acquisi- 
 tion. I am not thankful for what belongs to me." 
 
 "But think of the people without eyes." 
 
 "I am not to blame for that/' I persisted, stead- 
 ily. 
 
 "But aren't you better off than they ?" 
 
 "In the matter of eyes, yes, but they have been 
 done out of what belongs to them." 
 
 "You are insane," declared she, with conviction. 
 
 "She is devilish," burst out the rector's wife. 
 
 *'Are you sincere?" inquired the rector, who 
 had joined us. 
 
 "Perfectly; I may be crazy, but at least I am 
 sincere." 
 
 "No, you are not crazy," he said, "you are far 
 from it." 
 
 "No, you are not crazy," broke in Mrs. Eichard 
 again, "you are wicked, you are devilish ; what you 
 need is a sensible, Christian husband to keep you 
 in order." 
 
 Could my father only have heard her ! 
 
 "I am not imgrateful," I hastened to add. "I 
 would be thankful if I could get anything that 
 didn't belong to me." 
 
 "As nearly as I can make out," said Kameh 
 Eoohk, "there is nothing but what does belong to 
 you." 
 
 Alone in my chamber that night, I sat down by 
 the window to think. 
 
28 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 Think ! of what use were it to think ? 
 
 Oh, to bo a fool ! 
 
 Yet, sta}-, does not a fool think ? 
 
 Who can measure the subtilitios of the human, 
 brain? When it loses its poise does it cease to 
 think? Visit the idiot. Gaze upon the mind dis- 
 traught — that might}- storehouse of accumulated 
 knowledge — and tell me, has he ceased to think ? 
 
 Of what use, then, to be a fool? 
 
 The moon rode high. She rode higher. And 
 higher still she rode. 
 
 I set his wife's face before me. and I strained 
 my eyes to get it nearer — make it clearer. I called 
 up the face of the Minister of the Interior, and I 
 felt the fire of his glance. And ever between these 
 faces and mine was another. And I could rid my- 
 self of it never. I began counting the jewels in 
 the ceiling of night, j^et still his presence clung to 
 me. The moon began her descent. I watched her 
 golden track on the dimpled waters far to my left, 
 and at last I loft her resting on the ridge of a 
 mountain, like a copper ball, and locking my fingers 
 tighter and tighter, I pressed them against my ach- 
 ing eyes. 
 
 He was with me. His eyes, pleading, smiling, 
 looked into mine. His hand, accidentally, many 
 times touched my own ; he was at my side, before 
 me, behind me ; I felt his presence in my heart, in 
 my finger tips, tingling along each nerve. Laugh 
 those who will. Let those pity who will ; for — for 
 hours I journeyed through hell. I uncovered my 
 eyes. The moon had dropped behind the mountain. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 29 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OUR LESSONS ARE ADJOURNED, 
 
 She looked a queenly rose next morning when 
 we met at breakfast. Her complexion is the 
 purest, freshest I ever beheld. I felt a bitter con- 
 tempt for myself as I caught a glimpse of my own 
 pale cheeks in a mirror opposite. I could have 
 shrieked and torn out by the roots the hideous, 
 glittering hair which made my face look whiter 
 than the linen gown I wore. In the old days I had 
 been pleased enough when my father praised my 
 eyes; calling them "stars in a well" and "duskily 
 bright," but now they looked back at me the eyes of 
 a wanton. Hers were gra}', soft and sparkling, like 
 a lake under an evening sky. I lowered mine 
 quickl}'- and took my seat at table. 
 
 As she stooped to kiss Agnes when we had all 
 risen, I glanced at her husband — he was looking 
 neither at her nor at his child, but at me. If I 
 was pale, he was equally so; his eyes were gloomy 
 and restless. I stood with my fingers locked be- 
 hind me. He passed back of me and pressed them 
 for a moment with his. I turned my face to him ; 
 he caught his under lip between his teeth and 
 uttered a half groan. Alarmed, I glanced at his 
 wife ; she never raised her head. He passed to the 
 window. 
 
 "I am glad Robert takes an interest in Agnes' 
 
30 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 studic?/' remarked Mrs. Crane, as she sat in the 
 fichool-room an hour later listening to the child 
 bound the Republic of Hawouitia. As she spoke 
 the door opened to admit the President and the 
 Minister of the Interior. 
 
 "Well, Agnes, how are the lessons coming on?" 
 inquired the latter, picking up a book from my 
 desk. "Do you think Miss Demorest will know her 
 alphabet by next autumn ?" 
 
 "Xot if people don't stay out of the school-room ; 
 she told papa yesterday when he asked if I was a 
 good little girl and studied hard, that it was not 
 my fault that last week's lesson was perfectly sta- 
 tionary." 
 
 Mrs. Crane was tying a vine, leaning from the 
 window to do so. The President bit his lip, half 
 smiling. Kameh Eoohk did not look at us, but 
 straight over his book at the child. 
 
 "Eeally ! ■ Now, Agnes, what do you make of 
 that?" 
 
 "That we have too many visitors," returned she 
 promptly. 
 
 "Bravo !" cried Mr. Crane, patting her head ; 
 Kameh Eoohk sank into a chair. 
 
 "You surely do not mean me, Agnes ?" he gasped. 
 
 "Miss Demorest meant papa, but if it fits you, 
 why, wear it." 
 
 "I fear the motive power has been small, Agnes," 
 smiled her mother, drawing in her head. 
 
 This woman was beyond my powers of compre- 
 hension. The glance Kameh Eoohk threw at her 
 was dark, cold and impassive as death. 
 
 "Perhaps Agnes' want of progress is due wholly 
 to the incapacity of her teacher," suggested I. 
 
A" Tale Half Told. 31 
 
 "Oh, if you put it on that score,'' said Kameh 
 Roohk, "you have reduced the fraction to its lowest 
 terms, and there is nothing more to be said." 
 
 "My goodness ! Mr. Prince Kameh," exclaimed 
 Agnes, "Miss Demorest isn't to blame for what she 
 can't help !" 
 
 "Don't hit a fellow when he's down, Agnes," I 
 expostulated. 
 
 "When a fellow throws himself down he can 
 hardly expect sympathy," laughed Mr. Crane. 
 
 "And thou, too, Brutus?" and I flashed him a 
 full glance. 
 
 It was the first time I had looked at him since 
 he entered, although I knew that he was waiting 
 for me to do so ; now the meeting of our glance 
 swept over me in a wave of fire. He clutched the 
 back of a chair as though to keep himself where 
 he stood. I heard Kameh Eoohk saying: 
 
 "When Miss Demorest's private resources fail 
 she falls back upon the great and gone." 
 
 "They are generally reliable," I returned. 
 
 "Yes," he said, and his cool, splendid glance 
 never wavered, "it is only in the living we need 
 look for treachery.' 
 
 "Let us hope that he who looks for it may not 
 have had his search in vain," put in Mr. Crane, 
 quietl}', looking at his visitor with a peculiar light 
 in his eyes. 
 
 "Even in the human breast so foul a M^eed can 
 not flourish without detection." 
 
 "Suppose we leave its discussion to those capable 
 of understanding it," said Mrs. Crane, "and indulge 
 in the luxury of lunching, since neither of you ap- 
 
32 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 pear inclined to let Miss Demorest teach or Agnes 
 study." 
 
 I close my eyes and live over again the happen- 
 ings of those few weeks. They journey through 
 my brain, an endless and weary throng, each crowd- 
 ing upon the heels of the other. Some look at me 
 with malice, some in mockery; others are crimson 
 and lustful, others pale with despair. x\.nd I 
 wonder will these phantoms live when I shall num- 
 ber with the dead. Will they greet me in their 
 several ways when I shall walk this earth again, or, 
 lying locked within my brain, serve as knowledge 
 to lead me to greater error, sorrows which know 
 no joy, pleasures wedded to pain? 
 
 I recall that afternoon ; the golden sunlight, tlie 
 sapphire sky, the dusky brightness of the waters. 
 Mr. Crane playfully fastened in my hair a red 
 rose, which Kameh Roohk darkly hinted was 
 neither a match nor a contrast. The Hawouitian, 
 accordingly, plucked a white one and placed it be- 
 side the red. 
 
 "Do you remember. Miss Demorest, when the 
 fairies dwelt in the hearts of the roses ?'' asked Mr. 
 Crane, taking one of the roses from my hair in 
 order to show me the exact spot in which the some- 
 time fairy dwelt. The rose did not look full blown, 
 but it must have been in its decline, for the white 
 petals fell apart so easily at the touch of his fingers. 
 "That was when you were a very little girl, and 
 Eoohk here and myself were pretty boys just dis- 
 covering our muscle." 
 
 And the two men smiled at each other, pleas- 
 antly, contemptuously. 
 
 Agnes came running up to her father and I 
 
A Tale Half Told. 33 
 
 took the red rose from my own hair and run its 
 stem through one of her long curls. 
 
 "If a fairy stood revealed this moment. Miss 
 Demorest," asked Kameh Eoohk, "what would be 
 your first request?" 
 "Happiness." 
 
 "But that would leave nothing more to be de- 
 sired." 
 
 "So much the better ; she could the sooner pass 
 on to the next." 
 
 "But suppose the next wished for the same 
 thing?" 
 
 "There is surely happiness enough to go round." 
 "That depends." 
 
 "On what? We all have a right to be happy, 
 have we not?" 
 
 "Yes, if not at the expense of another." 
 "Hell !" ejaculated Mr. Crane as he run a thorn 
 beneath his thumb nail. "I beg your pardon," he 
 hastened to add, while he stanched the blood with 
 his handkerchief. 
 
 Mrs. Crane, who had been called indoors to 
 superintend some household arrangements, now 
 came to inquire if I would like to visit the stores 
 before dinner, as she had some purchases to make; 
 and a little later she and I, with Agnes, entered 
 the carriage and drove away. 
 
 Shopping has never been for me a pleasure, and I 
 was content to sit in the carriage and watch the 
 entire comedy of a customer going away in disgust 
 and being called back by a handsome brown rascal 
 in white trousers and muslin shirt ; and going away 
 again, and happening back by mere accident, and 
 standing treat for a friendly glass of raisin and 
 
34 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 water; and in the end making liis deal under such 
 hot protest that I trembled for the result of such 
 overwrought energy for both sides. 
 
 After the customer Avas gone I amused myself 
 with watching the merchant rearrange his dis- 
 ordered wares, placing them about with cunning 
 skill and in the most attractive fashion — carpets, 
 gold-embroidered silks, silver-embroidered casli- 
 meres, gold and silver and chased bronze, sapphires, 
 and emeralds, and amber ; a world of cunning won- 
 ders.. 
 
 When Mrs. Crane returned to the carriage she 
 was accompanied by her husband's brother, wlio 
 was also the spiritual adviser of the Crane family. 
 He carried Agnes in his arms, and was kissing 
 the tiny hand she held tight against his lips. The 
 child was an affectionate little creature, very fond of 
 her father, but passionately devoted to her uncle. 
 I have known her to lie at his feet an hour at the 
 time, her cheek resting against his polished boot, 
 only raising her head now and then to kiss the 
 hand he alwaj's kept within her reach. Nor did 
 he appear to love her less than she loved him. 
 Coming upon them unexpectedly in the garden 
 one day, I found tlio child asleep on a cushioned 
 bench and the rector kneeling beside her, his face 
 buried in his arms. I wished to retreat without 
 being observed, but my shadow falling across the 
 grass roused him ; he looked up and rose hastily to 
 his feet. I bowed and passed on. 
 
 One feature I remarked as strange, was his 
 utter lack of interest in the child when his wife 
 was about. This was, perhaps, due to that lady's 
 
A Tale Half Told. 35 
 
 violent attacks of hysteria whenever lie noticed any 
 one in the room but herself. 
 
 The Reverend Eichard greeted me pleasantly, 
 and after placing Agnes beside me, helped Mrs. 
 Crane into the carriage. 
 
 "Look, Miss Demorest ! what Uncle Eichard 
 bought me," and Agnes emptied the contents of a 
 huge bag upon the cushions. 
 
 There were toys, silks and shawls, and copper 
 and bronze ; beads of amber, gold and shell ; fringes 
 and sashes and silken hose, and a pair of pointed- 
 toed slippers, beaded and very gay. The shopman 
 who followed deposited Mrs. Crane's purchases 
 under the seat, bowed low, touching the ground 
 with the palm of his hand, and disappeared again 
 inside his shop, and we bade the rector good day. 
 
 We drove home while the glow of the sun was 
 upon the violet hills, touching their summits with 
 gold, while their sides and bases became heavily 
 purple. These alone were dark of all about me — 
 these and my thoughts; for as the sun went down 
 shining to the last as at midday, the full moon 
 came up from the east over the minarets and 
 domes of the town, flooding the streets with pale 
 silver. 
 
36 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SHADOAV OF COMIXG EVENTS. 
 
 Kameii Eooiik sat upon the balcony with 
 Mr. Crane ; both were smoking. I would have 
 gone directly to my room to dress for dinner, for 
 it was past the hour, but Mrs. Crane insisted I 
 should stop while she displayed her purchases. In 
 passing through the garden I had broken a gera- 
 nium bloom of uncommon beauty, each petal being 
 without a flaw; Kanieli Eoohk remarked its per- 
 foctness. 
 
 Both men had risen on our approach and now 
 leaned against the railing of the balcony facing us ; 
 the President on my left. Ins Minister on my right. 
 I held the flower toward the latter. 
 
 "Take it," I said, "I broke it for you." 
 
 He looked me coolly in the eye. 
 
 "Give it to Crane," he replied ; "he will give it 
 to me." 
 
 I gasped almost audibly and the smile froze on 
 my white lips. Mrs. Crane was gathering up her 
 purchases, her face calmly serene as ever. "What 
 manner of woman is this?" I thought, as I left 
 the trio there. 
 
 There is about me a keen artistic sense. I am 
 struck with the poetical fitness of things. Nothing 
 could seem to me more eminently right and in its 
 proper place than my friendly and brilliant repar- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 37 
 
 tee with Kameh Eoohk after his incomparable af- 
 front of an hour before. During dinner every one 
 was in high spirits; my enemy the most jubilant 
 of any, and I the gayest of all. I felt as a man must 
 who, having played high and lost all, recks little 
 who wins that which he has so improvidently 
 squandered. 
 
 After dinner I played two games at billiards 
 with Mr. Crane, and won both; I pooled with 
 Kameh Eoohk, and took the pool. I sang French 
 ditties and wild, weird Arabic love songs, with 
 my eyes on Minister Roohk's and my hands on tlio 
 piano keys ; and I laid myself out with great ahan- 
 don. My heart was filled with hatred of Kameh 
 Eoohk. I could have killed him where he stood, 
 and buried him in his immaculate linen and bril- 
 liant badge of nobility. I wanted to shriek in his 
 beautiful face, with its golden skin and glittering 
 teeth. I wished that the long black lashes might 
 turn inward and put out the gleaming eyes. But 
 I smiled, and shot opaque glances, and kept him 
 enthralled at my side. I knew that Mrs. Crane 
 was smiling and that the President's gaze con- 
 stantly followed me, but I kept on until my cheeks 
 burned and I was drunk with the part I played. 
 
 Coffee was served, and Mr. Crane brought me 
 mine where I sat at the piano. Kameh Eoohk was 
 obliged to go for his, and we were left for a mo- 
 ment alone. 
 
 Again I say that I shall not seek to excuse my- 
 self. You may think what you please, Evil World ; 
 what are you that you should censure act of mine? 
 "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." 
 On these pages is shadowed the tragedy of liumau 
 
38 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 treachery — is shadowerl only — for the duplicity of 
 the human heart has never been measured. Human 
 nature is, in my opinion, a colossal monument of 
 deceit, fashioned layer upon layer by a cunning 
 hand. Why ! the race would drown in its own 
 subtilities were it not for a something within each 
 breast which is forever true, and which, did we 
 but heed it as we ought, would keep us from play- 
 ing false to any man. It is the spark which is 
 destined to outgrow the sin of Adam, and which 
 some time, somewhere, must answer every question 
 put by monad or man from the foundation of the 
 world. I am leaving this writing, I say, hoping 
 that some day it will prove of use to me. In it 
 I shall not reveal in their nakedness all my emo- 
 tions ; neither my thoughts in their entirety, but 
 my acts, all those having any bearing on this nar- 
 rative, shall be recorded here. 
 
 I knew that he had been waiting for a word 
 with me and I began idly to strike the keys with 
 one hand that he might speak without being over- 
 heard of the others, while I held my cup in tlio 
 other. 
 
 "The royalists are rising," he said. 
 
 I struck a louder note and took a sip of enfTi^f. 
 
 "What do vou mean?*' 
 
 "Just before dinner news was brought me of a 
 conspiracy among the nobles in the province of 
 Oaue." 
 
 I looked up and in his eyes, he looked down 
 and into mine. 
 
 "Will this mean civil war?" I asked. 
 
 "Tlie Republic may be able to crush it without 
 much bloodshed." 
 
'A Tale Half Told. 39 
 
 "If the monarchy should be restored ?" 
 
 "The President of the Eepublic would be one 
 of two men." 
 
 "A dead or a missing one T' 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 "Does she know ?" I demanded, setting down my 
 cup and playing with both hands. 
 
 "Not yet, but she will not be greatly surprised 
 as she has passed her life here and knows the in- 
 stability of government among a mixed people; 
 political eruptions occur daily in this part of the 
 globe, and revolutions are as common as elections." 
 
 "I should not care to govern so fickle a people," 
 I said, curling my lip. 
 
 "They must be educated into fidelity," he re- 
 plied, and I noticed for the fiftieth time the 
 squareness of his chin, and the steadiness of his 
 eyes. "But I was going to ask if, should it happen 
 that I am unseated, and disgraced, and obliged 
 to flee for my life, you would go with me?" 
 
 I raised my head to answer, but Kameh Eoohk 
 stood beside us. 
 
 I went with the ^linister into the great, cool 
 hall with its plain white tiles and walls hung with 
 coarse linen of subdued coloring, and sat down 
 upon the sill of an open window — for I am lym- 
 phatic by temperament, and like my ease. My 
 enemy leaned against the casing by me, his hands 
 in his breeches pockets. 
 
 "If you meant this," he began at once, "I should 
 have nothing in life left to wish for." 
 
 "Except the crown of a restored kingdom," sug- 
 gested I. 
 
 He looked me over, head and foot. 
 
40 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "You arc jesting/' rejoined he. "l^ut there is 
 many a truth spoken in like vein.'' 
 
 "Tlie crown of a king ill fits the imagination 
 of a high official of a republic," I said coldly. 
 
 "Perhaps it may better fit his head?" he replied, 
 darkly. 
 
 "Treachery," I remarked, meaningly, "is the 
 foulest weed that can grow in the human breast." 
 
 "It is a growth the most common of any." 
 
 "A traitor has been knowni to meet his deserts 
 from a republic as well as from a king," I went 
 on. 
 
 "The victor is never the traitor." 
 
 "How can one be certain that he will be victor ?" 
 
 "He takes his chances ; governments change with 
 the m.inds of men." 
 
 I looked up from the contemplation of my shoe. 
 
 "IMiat do you mean?" I demanded. 
 
 ""\Yliat do 3-ou mean?" 
 
 "I asked the question first." 
 
 His answer was irrelevant. 
 
 "You are the deepest woman I ever met." 
 
 "Thank you." 
 
 "Or the most shallow." 
 
 I cot on my feet, and 1 bowed to the floor. 
 
 "This is tlie most kingly compliment of all," 
 and I reseated myself, 
 
 "What is there about you," he went on in the 
 same low, even tone, "that ensnares the senses, 
 while the reason cries you utterly worthless? You 
 appeal to every sense but the soul, and that you 
 do not reach, for you are without one." 
 
 That I should sit here and listen to such lan- 
 guage did not strike me as strange. Had he called 
 
A Tale Half Told. 41 
 
 me 'Tiarlot/'"' "'wanton," "bibbler," I would not have 
 resented it. The woman of the streets soon grows 
 accustomed to her place in the estimation of men, 
 and cares little for the epithets hurled at or against 
 her. Neither do they tend to raise her morals or 
 help her to a higher life. My hands and feet grev/ 
 cold, but my spirit was not touched, nor my feel- 
 ings wounded. I felt the contempt of his gaze. 
 
 "Poor Crane !" he said at length. 
 
 "He is happier than you !" I retorted. 
 
 "I know it, for you love him." 
 
 I stepped through the window to the balcony. 
 
 He followed. 
 
 "You love him," he persisted. 
 
 I buried my face in my hands. 
 
 "He has a wife," he went on, "worthy his high- 
 est and purest affection, and a child for his con- 
 cern. Would it not be better to try and love some 
 one else, some one whom there would be no sin in 
 loving, one who, perhaps, might be able to make 
 you the first lady in the land? " 
 
 Oh, how I hated him ! 
 
 " You have the magnetism which cements 
 
 nations, rules parliaments, and makes ajid unmakes 
 kings. With you for queen no people would de- 
 throne their king." 
 
 I dropped my hands upon the balcony rail. 
 
 "Are you looking for a political ally or a wife?" 
 
 "The one is synonymous with the other; but in 
 you I seek first of all the wife." 
 
 I drew myself to my full height. 
 
 "Had you asked for the wife simply, I must 
 have answered you as woman answers man, — but — 
 in consideration of the combination offered, my re- 
 
42 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ply is, I am in the pay of the President of 
 Hawouitia.'' 
 
 "You can leave his pay to-night ; I will take you 
 to my relative, the chief-justice, and to-morrow 
 you will give me your answer." 
 
 I looked deep into the shadowed court below. 
 
 "The chief-justice, the minister of the interior, 
 the discontented nobles — truly the President's po- 
 sition is an enviable one !" 
 
 "Come,'' he pleaded, holding his dark face to 
 mine. 
 
 "No, stay," said the rich, persuasive tones of 
 Mr. Crane, and he stepped through the window 
 behind us. 
 
 His cheeks were as riclily bronze-red as ever, his 
 forehead white as his linen. By no shade or tone 
 could I tell how much he had heard. I looked at 
 the two men, and the two men looked at each other 
 with a steady and insolent stare. 
 
 "There is an hour for arriving," said the Presi- 
 dent, consulting his watch, "and an hour for re- 
 tiring." 
 
 "I am aware of that," replied his visitor without 
 moving. 
 
 I turned and entered the house alone, leaving 
 them together outside. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 43 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN WHICH OUR LIPS MEET. 
 
 Never had my duties seemed so laborious as on 
 that next morning. Agnes was more inattentive 
 than usual, and when not inattentive she was dis- 
 obedient. Everything seemed following the trend 
 of its own inclinations. Around the school-room 
 window morning-glories grew in mad luxuriance, 
 spreading wide their blossoms of celestial blue ; the 
 brilliant scarlet flower-leaves of the Poinsetta 
 beckoned to the tall palms in the garden beyond, 
 and all the air was freighted with a still excitement. 
 
 Softened by distance, the street cries came to 
 my ears. Sellers of pickles, pretzels, melon-seeds, 
 sherbert, raisin and water, cake, lemon and roses, in 
 an indistinct murmur; and above them the clank 
 of a sabre as a soldier passed along. 
 
 But as there is an end to all things, good or bad, 
 so was there to this day's work. Agnes went leap- 
 ing out of the school-room imitating the cry of a 
 donkey boy, and I sat down by the window to rest 
 awhile and watch the sun set. I like to watch the 
 decline of day; there is something which appeals 
 to the sensuous part of my being in the voluptu- 
 ous caress of the setting sun. He is so inflamed 
 with passion. His arrogance is past; we can al- 
 
44 A^ Tale Half Told. 
 
 most forget the tyrann}' of his noonday reign in 
 the tenderness of his departing kiss. Then there 
 are his last languishing, enticing glances as he 
 sinks, blood-red, to his bed of gold; then slowly, 
 slowly, his eyelids droop; his embrace slackens, 
 the vermillions fade to a dnll amber, the purples 
 to bhiish-gray ; and by and by the great pulse 
 of Nature cools, a soft radiance falls upon the 
 darkening earth. It is a benediction ; his last 
 waking thought ere he courts slumber the while 
 he dreams of the dawn and her virgin charms. 
 
 At this hour, in this mood, I do not think. I 
 abandon myself to dolicinus languor. I am any- 
 thing or nothing. What matters what men call 
 me so long as to myself at least I do not exist ! 
 Only that exists which we believe exists — at pres- 
 ent, practical people, realists who love to dissect, 
 I am nil ! 
 
 But there is an after-time; an hour when the 
 rose no longer lingers in the Wv:st, and the sky 
 pales to that ashen gray which, on the cheek of 
 man, we name the hue of death — ah, then 
 
 I think if I were in search of my soul that I 
 would find it in the pallid twilight of a summer's 
 evening. We know that the road to the finding 
 of one's soul is through the Wilderness of Isola- 
 tion ; and the Wilderness may be a crowded ball- 
 room, it may be a busy thoroughfare in the heart of 
 some great city, it may be the brilliant, distracting 
 lights of some vast theatre, we may be borne to its 
 remotest precincts on a strain of music — in short, 
 the Wilderness of Isolation is wher^ ono finds 
 oneself alone. 
 
 '*How much longer are you going to keep that 
 
A Tale Half Told. 45 
 
 painted Jezebel in the liouse, Eleanor, for your 
 husband and his cabinet to make love to ?" 
 
 The voice was that of the rector's wife, and 
 came from a part of the garden commandino- a 
 view of the window at which I sat. As I could 
 see her plainly and was not myself concealed I 
 knew that she could see me, so I did not moVe. 
 ±5ehmd her chair stood a black woman fannino- her 
 mistress. ^ 
 
 "You wrong the girl, Anne," came in the soft, 
 even tones of Mrs. Crane. 
 
 "Don't be a fool, Eleanor. She and the President 
 are the talk of the town; I believe the present 
 political upheaval is due primarily to that; you 
 know it is right in black and white in the journal 
 o± parliament that no one shall hold government 
 oltice who keeps a mistress or gets drunk; and the 
 resolution has never been annulled." 
 
 "But Robert doesn't keep a mistress, nor does 
 he get drunk." 
 
 ^ "What do you call it?" shrieked Mrs. Richard. 
 1 have seen him drink four glasses of champagne, 
 one after another without taking breath between; 
 It that isnt getting drunk I would like to know 
 what is ! 
 
 ^"But have you ever seen him drunk?" 
 "All the worse! When there is no limit to the 
 amount of wme a man can hold, we ought not to 
 expect that there will be any limit to the num- 
 ber of women he will be after— and his brother a 
 minister besides!" 
 
 When I entered the saloon before dinner the 
 rectors wife put up her eyeglass and studied me 
 carefully. Mrs. Crane came to meet me and laid 
 
46 
 
 'A Tale Half Told. 
 
 an arm across mj^ shoulders; lier color, alwa3'S 
 liigli, was now a vivid carmine, her lips were drawn 
 to a scarlet thread, and her eyes were very bright. 
 She looked straight at her visitor, and her visitor 
 looked straight at ns. 
 
 Richard Crane arrived shortly after, but the 
 President was late and we postponed dinner an 
 hour waiting for him. When he came in he was 
 a trifle pale, but very calm, and sat down at table 
 in his canvas coat. He informed us that the city 
 was filling with nobles from adjoining provinces 
 and soldiers under leave of absence, and that lie 
 had called a meeting of the Executive Council for 
 ten o'clock that night. 
 
 Several times during the evening Mrs. Eichard 
 Crane lost consciousness. Her husband was at all 
 times very attentive to her, and rarely addressed 
 cither his brother's Avife or myself, but on this oc- 
 casion the chief topic under discussion being one 
 of common interest, he found himself at intervals 
 addressing one of us directly, and then his wife 
 showed signs of fainting. Her green e^'es never 
 left his face, and every position she assumed in 
 the great chair reminded me of a cat about to 
 spring. Behind the cliair was stationed her wait- 
 ing woman with a face as innocent of any expres- 
 sion as her mistress' was eloquent of misery and 
 suspicion. I found myself wondering that Mrs. 
 Eichard was not jealous of her serving woman, for 
 the creature was a handsome wench if the splendor 
 of her cheek was that of midnight, and the brow, 
 turbaned with crimson and gold, inky and pol- 
 ished. 
 
 The black woman remained motionless through- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 47 
 
 out the evening, excepting for her hands ; with the 
 
 one she wielded a huge feather fan, the otiier she 
 moved baclv and forth as she first presented then 
 withdrew a bottle of smelling salts. 
 
 I have ever been of the opinion that a black skin 
 is as thin as a white in spite of much authenticated 
 proof to the contrary; that the blood which creeps 
 along the veins of the black man is as royal as that 
 of his paler brother; they walk upright, in the 
 manner of the sovereign race, and we all agree 
 that they love and laugh and suffer with us. But 
 somehow I have for them a deeper sympathy than 
 I cherish for those of my own color ; a strange pity, 
 a longing to touch that dusky cheek with a wand 
 of ivory. So as I watched the dark, shining arm 
 move to and fro in unbroken and measured sway, 
 I suddenly experienced an insufferable sense of 
 weariness. The ceiling, with its thin strips of wood 
 forming curiously complicated yet perfectly regular 
 patterns, seemed to dance above me in bars of red, 
 green, blue and gilt: and then, whether it was 
 that I had caught the disorder of the lady I had 
 been so contemptuously eyeing (for I am prone to 
 epidemics of all kinds) or whether it was the 
 measureless stolidity of the poor creature behind 
 her, I know not, but for the first time in my life 
 I fainted. 
 
 They told me when I recovered that I was un- 
 conscious but a few minutes, but it seemed to me 
 that I had been sleeping for weeks. The first face 
 upon which my eyes rested was that of Mrs. Crane, 
 and its delicate pink and white were as changeless 
 as ever, yet her eyes were kind. A hand, a man's 
 hand, strong and white, held wine to my lips; I 
 
48 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 then became aware that I was supported by the 
 arm of the President, and that my head rested 
 against his shoukler. I looked np and saw that 
 he was pale to the lips. 
 
 "Eobert was greatly alarmed," said Mrs. Crane, 
 following my glance. 
 
 The arm tightened about me, and I felt his heart 
 beat; I went scarlet under her eyes and made a 
 quicV movement to free myself, but he only held 
 me the closer, and then she cast a nervous glance 
 over her shoulder to the great chair and said : 
 
 "Be careful." Her voice was inexpressibly sweet 
 and low. 
 
 Certainly hers was a marvellous character ! 
 
 I now looked toward the chair. Mrs. Richard 
 Crane was enjoying another period of oblivion, 
 while ISTemesis, in the person of the Ethiopian, 
 waved her sword of feathers above her. My eyes 
 wont to my employer ; she had moved to the marbled 
 fountain and stood vrith the rector. His face had 
 undergone a marked change; its listlessness had 
 given way to eager entreaty, and he was speaking 
 in low, earnest tones. Her face never changed. It 
 was coldly, distractingly beautiful. She wore a 
 rich, trailing gown of sky-blue crepe, and about 
 her waist gleamed a narrow belt of gold. Her 
 height was much above medium and her crown 
 of brown hair, worn high, added to it; she was 
 dipping her long, slim fingers in the perfumed 
 water. Turning suddenly she encountered my 
 gaze. I had withdrawn from the arms of the 
 President, and now rose to my feet. He did like- 
 wise. She came to us and laid one hand trustingly 
 upon his arm ; after a moment he raised his slowly 
 
A Tale Half Told. 49 
 
 and placed it upon hers. They looked quietly into 
 each other's eyes. 
 
 What manner of pair was this ? 
 
 And this ? 
 
 I passed through the window to the balcony, and 
 down the stairs to the court. The beating of drums, 
 accompanied by a melancholy chant, drew my steps 
 to the street ; the passage was constructed with one 
 or more turnings to prevent passersby from seeing 
 into the court. The street before me was brilliantly 
 illuminated by a glare of burning wood which 
 flamed in frames of iron borne high on a staff. 
 The musicians and torch-bearer were preceded by 
 a group of men, advancing in the form of an oblong 
 ring, all facing the ring, and all excepting three 
 bearing in his hand one or more candles, and some 
 a sprig of henna or some other flower. At frequent 
 intervals the party stopped for a few minutes while 
 a boy or man relieved his feelings (and to judge 
 from the sound those of the assembled throng as 
 well) in an agonized wail. Yes, I felt sure he spoke 
 for the crowd, for no person alone could suffer what 
 he professed to and live. The sound of the drums 
 and the shrill notes of the hautboy ceased during 
 these songs (if songs they could be called) and I 
 felt grateful, for together they would have been be- 
 yond human endurance. 
 
 Before they were out of sight, and while yet the 
 street was red from their torches, a black figure 
 stopped before me, and seemed in its noiselessness 
 to have sprung from the ground at my feet. He 
 was covered with a long black robe resembling the 
 usual out-door garment of an Egyptian, and was 
 crowned with a cashmere shawl wound tightly 
 
50 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 round his head. I had been standing in the en- 
 trance to the court, my dress of white, barred with 
 black, making me a conspicuous figure, nor do I 
 doubt but that my hair served well as a headlight. 
 At the sudden apparition my heart leapt to my 
 throat, and I bit my tongue to stifle a shriek. Be- 
 fore I could speak there was borne on the air the 
 clatter of hoofs drawing momently nearer ; I looked 
 at the dusky face before me; at the sunken chest, 
 the hopeless eyes, and pointed to the shade of the 
 court beyond. 
 
 The riders dashed into sight, preceded by two 
 torch-bearers ; I stepped a foot outside the entrance 
 and their light fell full upon me. There were five 
 in the party and they all drew rein. 
 
 "Now, by the beard of the Prophet !" exclaimed 
 one, a bearded and courtly gentleman, "whoever 
 saw a fairer face?'' 
 
 He spoke in broken English, and I greeted him 
 in Arabic. 
 
 "I crave thy blessing, father." 
 
 "Alas, daughter, I am not a holy man ! but as 
 surely as there is no God but God and Mahomet 
 is His Prophet, thou'rt already blest beyond most 
 women !" 
 
 "Tell me, daughter," he continued, "hast thou 
 stood here long?" 
 
 "Some time, father, for I was watching a bridal 
 procession, and they made frequent halts." 
 
 Then another spoke. 
 
 "God preserve us; but the pig escaped under 
 cover of the procession !" 
 
 "No, your excel^.ency," I said, "I saw all plainly, 
 and there was no p*g in the procession." 
 
A Tale Half Told. 51 
 
 "A pig, daughter, but one thine innocent eyes 
 could not perceive ; saw'st thou any one else pass by, 
 any one wlio had the appearance of a fugitive?" 
 
 "A brown man, father, and he took the turning 
 to the left." 
 
 "We have him ! Farewell, daughter," he cried, 
 turning in his saddle, "may thy beauty preserve 
 thy virtue !" 
 
 I went toward the house, and at the first turning 
 ran against Mr. Crane. Our arms extended slowly 
 until our hands met and we faced one another. 
 I have seen much handsomer men, but never one 
 with the latent charm his face held for me. In 
 memory I see him often as he looked that night; 
 I see the grave lips, the smiling eyes, and bronze- 
 pale cheeks. From standing mute with clasped 
 hands, though with the length of our arms between 
 us, we seemed without moving to draw- nearer to- 
 gether, as two points of steel attract each other. 
 He may have gone all the way, I may have covered 
 two feet to his one, I do not know, nor does it 
 matter. As a steel magnet placed among iron 
 filings compels each atom to adjust its course in 
 conformity with its polarity, so did the blending 
 of our souls compel the atoms of our bodies, and 
 we found ourselves heart to heart. 
 
 "I love you !" 
 
 «I love you !" 
 
 The declarations were made simultaneously, and 
 •without shame on either side. He drew my arms 
 about his neck, and placed his own about me. So 
 we stood, breast to breast, and he held me close, 
 and closer. I raised my face and closed my eyes; 
 it is my way of showing tenderness. 
 
52 A Tale Half TolH 
 
 "Oh, Eobert!'' 
 
 "Thalia !" 
 
 Our lips met. 
 
 Again. 
 
 And again. 
 
 There was measureless yearning in the exchange. 
 
 "Let me go," I pleaded. 
 
 "I cannot." 
 
 I took my arms from about him, and buried my 
 face in my hands ; he laid his cheek against them. 
 
 "May God forgive us !" I whispered. 
 
 "We love each other," was what he said. 
 
 "Your wife," I said, and my voice trembled. 
 
 "I have no wife — I mean never mind her; it's 
 him, damn him !" 
 
 I dropped my hands and stared at him with 
 open mouth. 
 
 "Have none ! — him !" I repeated. 
 
 He gnawed his lip savagely. 
 
 "N"o, her — I mean it — that is — oh, the devil ! 
 Thalia, I am fettered by clankless, invisible 
 chains !" 
 
 I drew away from him and locked my fingers 
 before me; they felt cold one against the other. 
 
 "She is so noble," I said. 
 
 "Far more noble than you dream." 
 
 "Did you ever love her ?" I asked. 
 
 "Never!" he declared, solemnly. 
 
 "Then why did vou marry her?" 
 
 "Thalia, I am not " 
 
 A step rang on the walk behind him and the 
 rector stood by his side. 
 
 "It lacks but five minutes of ten, Robert, and 
 the President should be in his chair." 
 
A Tale Half Told. 53 
 
 Mr. Crane carried my hands to his lips, one after 
 the other, and went away with his brother. 
 
 Here was certainly a strange family ! 
 
 Meanwhile the dark fugitive, unknown and un- 
 heeded, passed forgotten into futurity. 
 
54 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DOWNFALL OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Long before sunrise next morning it was evi- 
 dent that some public excitement was at liaud. 
 Mounted police galloped through the streets, dis- 
 persing groups of persons knotted together on cor- 
 ners, and arousing all the dogs of the cit}'', who 
 barked their disapproval at the horses' heels. 
 Horsemen dashed from the Executive Building to 
 printing shops and back again with papers and 
 posters meant to rally democracy to struggle for 
 its rights. From the steps of the courthouse stump 
 speeches were being made without cessation. Ono 
 orator exhorts his kindred to stand by his color, to 
 restore their king and uphold the dignity of his 
 forefathers — "The white men are buying all your 
 lands; when our lands are gone where will the 
 brown man go? To the sun? To the moon? To 
 the bottom of hell ! The white man has pushed 
 the red man to the edge of the world; he has 
 bought his kingly rights with firewater, and his 
 lands with painted baubles ; he has seized the black 
 man and chained him to his galleys, he laughs 
 at the yellow man, and calls him heathen, and now 
 he comes here to this Babylon to crush you, my 
 brothers, with the iron of his heel, What is this 
 
A Tale Half Told. 55 
 
 constitution? It is a rotten refuse of other lands, 
 made by a handful of politicians, of sycophants, 
 of parasites ! Rally round the old flag, boys, long 
 live the king !" 
 
 "Which old flag do you mean ?" called some one, 
 
 "Fellow Citizens and Fellow-sufferers !" came a 
 voice from the step above, "the royalists are con- 
 spirators against the rights of free men ; they pro- 
 pose transforming the government into an absolute 
 monarchy, thereby disfranchising a class of citizens 
 who pay two-thirds of the taxes; be not deceived 
 by their sophistries; the man who tries to mislead 
 you has a card up his sleeve, lumber to sell, or a 
 hotel to build. The constitution the nobles in- 
 tend to spring upon the coimtry bv a coup d'etat 
 will " 
 
 A left-handed argument from the opposition 
 orator invited a stinging rejoinder from his right, 
 and I closed my window to shut out the compli- 
 ments they exchanged. 
 
 The east blossomed into crimson, then blue. The 
 summits of the hills became silver and their sides 
 a tender pink, and still the President had not re- 
 turned. There were no lessons that day. We sat 
 together on the balcony, Mrs. Crane, Agnes, and I, 
 and watched Phoebus drive his golden chariot 
 across an azure field. Toward noon was heard a 
 mingling of shouts and hisses, and presently there 
 came down the street a motley throng. Cries of 
 "Long live the Republic!" "Death to serfdom!" 
 were answered by hisses from brilliantly capari- 
 soned nobles riding spirited horses. The carriage 
 containing the President and his officers made its 
 way straight through the crowd and stopped at the 
 
56 
 
 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 gate of the courtyard, and the President, pale but 
 vigorous, rose in his seat and took off his hat. 
 
 Cries of "Usurper !" "Braggart !" "Scum ; Eng- 
 lish Bull !" "Yankee Pig !'' were drowned by cheers 
 from the opposition party. In the crowd could be 
 seen white women in thin black silks waving hand- 
 kerchiefs and 3^ellow women in white muslins 
 throwing kisses at the young and handsome head 
 of a tottering republic. The President was speak- 
 ing, but we could catch only a sentence now and 
 then 
 
 "The head of a civilized people, be he king or 
 president, is the ruler of not merely one race or 
 class, but of all." Cheers and hisses. "For twelve 
 months, in spite of hostile influences from with- 
 out and enemies at home, the Kepublic has main- 
 tained peace and order, administered justice, car- 
 ried on extensive internal improvements, advanced 
 education and kept the financial credit of the na- 
 tion above par in the markets of the world." 
 Groans and derisive laughter, clapping of hands 
 and shouts, and then we heard tlie President's voice 
 again — "yet a handful of petty kinglets with pri- 
 vate and selfish interests to promote, with lands to 
 be tilled through serfdom and debaucheries to be 
 reveled in at public expense, come armed to the 
 House and Senate and block the public thorough- 
 fares of our Capital." More cheers and hisses, the 
 clanking of sabre and spur drowned the speaker's 
 voice ; when next we heard it he was saying, "and 
 now in the words of one who has bequeathed to the 
 world's history a page adorned with the fadeless 
 coloring of true greatness, 'let us here resolve that 
 this nation shall have a new birth and that govern- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 57 
 
 ment of the peoi^le, for the people, by the people 
 shall not perish forever from this earth.' " 
 
 Before he had finished the bells of the city were 
 ringing in the "Kestoration." Heralds, gorgeously 
 arrayed, dashed along the streets, flourishing long 
 staffs decorated with ribbon, and proclaimed 
 Kameh Roohk King. The Minister of the Interior, 
 who had the preceding night been removed upon 
 a vote of want of confidence passed by a majority 
 of all the elective members of the legislature, had 
 taken the executive chair immediately upon the 
 departure of the President and his council, and 
 the Senate and House were now in the possession 
 of the royalists. As the President stepped from 
 his carriage to the brick curbing a detachment of 
 cavalry wearing the uniform of the king's guard, 
 separated itself from the ranks of nobles, and 
 with the points of drawn sabres resting on the 
 toe of their boots, surrounded the officers of the 
 fallen republic. 
 
 "Gentlemen, you are prisoners of the King of 
 Hawouitia." 
 
 The words were followed by a dead silence. 
 That vast multitude seemed hardly to breathe ; then 
 a low rumbling, rising gradually to a fierce howl, 
 went up from the throats of the crowd. Shrieks, 
 curses, a shower of dirt and stones; the clash of 
 steel, the sharp report of a rifle, and then an empty 
 street and silence. 
 
 During the afternoon a formal message arrived 
 for Mrs. Crane. The King deeply regretted the 
 inconvenience to which so noble a lady, and one 
 who had shown herself so fitted for a high position, 
 was put, and offered her the use of his palace for as 
 
58 A^ Tale Half Told. 
 
 long a period as would be required to make other 
 and more pleasing arrangements, and he would in 
 the interim establish a temporary court in the 
 Hotel L'Occident, Mrs. Crane declined with 
 thanks, and the announcement that the house 
 would be vacated and ready for its lord before 
 nightfall, as she, her child, and her servants would, 
 for the present, take up their abode with the 
 brother of the President of the late Kepublic. An 
 hour later the rector called for his brother's fam- 
 ily in a close carriage ; he was accompanied by two 
 wagons which were to convey the servants and the 
 personal belongings of the family. 
 
 From him we learned that the President had 
 already been tried and condemned to death. The 
 members of his Cabinet were offered pardon if they 
 would take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. 
 
 As it was impossible for mc, knowing his wife's 
 sentiments toward me, to accept the invitation the 
 rector kindly extended, I Avas loft with my few be- 
 longings at a small hotel, and once again I found 
 myself without kindred, without country, home or 
 ties. 
 
 Born in mid-ocean among a hostile crew, it was 
 small wonder that I should feel little interest in 
 the rise or fall of republic or kingdom. Like the 
 Ancient Mariner, I had passed "like night, from 
 land to land, and learned strange power of speech." 
 My father had taught me that all gods must melt 
 into one God, and that all nations were destined 
 to become one nation. In my own mind I was 
 satisfied that he was right, and it was not of the 
 petty strifes of a mixed people, with reasons dark- 
 ened by superstition, and fermenting with race 
 
A Tale Half Told. 59 
 
 prejudices, that I was thinking, as I leaned from 
 my window and watched the cascades of Chinese 
 firecrackers rattling in the street reddened by torch 
 and rocket, but of the late ruler of this most faith- 
 less people, sentenced to be hanged at daybreak of 
 our next. At the thought I felt that I was suffo- 
 cating, and I leaned still further from the window 
 and caught with my breath at the wind which 
 fanned my cheek, and lifted the hair from my fore- 
 head. 
 
 Along with the dark red of my head's covering, 
 I had inherited from my father other characteris- 
 tics, among which was quickness of thought and 
 decision. No sooner had I heard the result of the 
 trial than I knew what I would do. I recked not 
 the costs, nor did fear of a price I might have to 
 pay deter me from my purpose. 
 
 It was not that I hesitated that I did not go at 
 once to the King, but on my father's side I come 
 from artful and careful blood, and I wished to 
 perfect a line of march in my own mind before 
 opening the campaign. 
 
 The night was thick, but on the bay lay the 
 shadow of the moon, like a cloud upon a painted 
 ocean. Dark, glossy and ribbed with foam danced 
 the waters about it, but the shadow shone, an 
 elfish light, like hope in the human breast. I 
 drew in my head and closed the window against 
 chance sparks which might set fire to the draperies. 
 
 I then destroyed what few letters I had kept be- 
 longing to my father, and slipped in the loose front 
 of the waist I wore a pocket testament given me 
 by my father on my fourth birthday. I had on a 
 shirtwaist suit of thin black silk, and I tied a veil 
 
6o A' Tale Half Told. 
 
 over my hat, pulling it down over my face. Leav- 
 ing my room I passed unostentatiously from the 
 hotel. 
 
 My first encounter was with a donkey, and oc- 
 curred just outside the hotel entrance; the animal 
 was not remarkable in himself, carrying nothing 
 about him out of the regular except a load of 
 watermelons, which were piled on each side of the 
 basket that formed his saddle. His driver was re- 
 markable for two things; first for the dirtiness 
 which so well became him, and second for his utter 
 incapacity to understand why I should have any 
 interests in life beyond eating of his wares at a 
 half penny a slice. Next I met a mahogany -colored 
 boy of very rascally appearance; he bore in his 
 hand a huge cobra-capello which he offered to eat 
 for my amusement if I had the price of the en- 
 tertainment. I declined, and he insisted, so I gave 
 him a piece of silver to allow me to pass. The 
 streets were thronged with natives, some of them 
 muffled beyond all human semblance, others in at- 
 tire much like that worn by Mother Eve after 
 eating of the traditional apple; there appears to 
 be no medium in some minds between wrapping 
 up and complete nakedness. I passed a juggler 
 mounted on a camel, and donkey boys beating their 
 beasts. My heart began to fill with a great pity 
 for this childish and miscellaneous race — perhaps 
 I inherit this pity from my father, although I had 
 never felt it before, being formerly of the opinion 
 that man's birthright was to pity, not to be pitied. 
 The camel's head was toward me and the mingled 
 expression of spite, fear, and hopelessness in his 
 face pierced my heart with a sick pain. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 6i 
 
 There is in this world a class of beings whom I 
 envy. It is they who know all lands but no lan- 
 guage, who have been everywhere and done noth- 
 ing, looked at everything and seen nothing, read 
 everything and remember notliing. Their spirits 
 are light, their minds at ease; they lose no sleep, 
 neither does their appetite lag; no tear burns be- 
 tween the lid and the eye, no pang leaps from the 
 heart to the throat. Envied, thrice envied be 
 they! for they know not that life is sorrow and 
 that there is no such thing as death. 
 
62 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I CHANGE MT XAME AXD SOCIAL STAXDIXG. 
 
 At the palace gates I was stopped by a sentinel, 
 who asked ray business. 
 
 "I wish to see the King," I replied. 
 
 He laughed coarsely. 
 
 "There be many like you would like to see the 
 King; but he has something to do besides receive 
 visitors ; no, widow, be off !" 
 
 Have I said that I have beautiful hands ? I took 
 from my purse ca gold piece and balanced it on the 
 tip of my white forefinger. 
 
 "Jesu Mary ! such a hand would in itself serve 
 as passport to a King!" 
 
 He held his palm beneath my hand and the gold 
 dropped into it. 
 
 "For sending word to the King that Thalia 
 Dcmorest is without the palace gate and would 
 speak with him." 
 
 He called a guard and delivered the message. 
 
 "WTien I was brought before the King he was 
 dicing with a woman whose unbound hair was 
 silken black and interwoven with flowers ; her full, 
 brown breasts, thinly veiled, rose and palpitated 
 with each excited breath ; her skin was not so dark 
 but that the rich blood could be seen beating in 
 
A Tale Half Told. 63 
 
 her cheek, licr eyes flashed fire, and the soft full- 
 ness of her gown clung to her body, revealing the 
 superb, voluptuous curves of her limbs. She was 
 certainly a glorious, sensuous creature, and it 
 flashed through my brain as I looked at her that I 
 had little to offer to offset such charms. 
 
 The King extended his hand, and through my 
 veil my lips touched it. 
 
 "Will you sit?" he asked, waving his hand 
 toward a chair. 
 
 I sat and threw back my veil. The woman sank 
 into a graceful, sensuous heap; the King looked 
 carelessly at her, then at me. 
 
 "Speak," he commanded. 
 
 I looked at the woman. 
 
 "Who is this person?" I demanded. 
 
 "Medea," said the King, "is what you would 
 call a sorceress; she interprets dreams and reads 
 signs in the sky; you know we Hawouitians are 
 full of superstitions. Christianity has not suc- 
 ceeded in eradicating our reverence for omens and 
 sorceries; we believe in fatality, and in. the royal 
 palace there always resides a priest or priestess of 
 the sovereign's tribe; Medea foretold the downfall 
 of the republic and my ascension to the throne." 
 
 The sorceress was glaring at me with blazing eyes 
 and working lips. 
 
 "Since she be so highly gifted," rejoined I, "she 
 may be spared the fatigue of our interview; she 
 has simply to boil her caldron and know all that 
 passes between us." 
 
 "Don't touch her," said the King warningly, as 
 the sorceress half rose from her seat. 
 
 I began to fear, lest, in arousing enmity, I 
 
64 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 niiglit hurt the cause in belialf of which I was 
 there. I locked my fingers in my lap and leaned 
 slightly forward in my chair. 
 
 "I wish to see you alone," I said in low, seductive 
 tones. 
 
 "Go !" ho said, turning to Medea. 
 
 "I will not go !" she shrieked. "You dare not 
 send me from you! You know that a school of 
 white fish swimming to the shore on the full of the 
 moon, and turning red when dying, foretold the 
 death of a chief; I can weave spells to keep away 
 the evil eye ; I—I " 
 
 "I have told you to go," ho repeated, and with 
 the jewelled hilt of his dagger he struck a goblet 
 upon the table between them. The door instantly 
 opened to admit the royal guard of the King's 
 person ; the King rose and bowed low to the weaver 
 of charms. She was escorted with great cere- 
 mony from the room. I crossed to the seat she had 
 vacated and leaned my arms upon the table sepa- 
 rating me from the King. 
 
 "Kameh Roohk,'' I said, "to-day's sun set upon 
 a wrong done to-day, and to-morrow's sun should 
 rise upon its repentance. You are victor, so an- 
 other is the traitor, but does it not become victory 
 to deal mercifully with the vanquished?" 
 
 He gave me a quick look, dark, deep and in- 
 scrutable. 
 
 "You are here to plead the cause of your para- 
 mour, and you ask me to show him mercy ?" 
 
 "I ask you to do by him as you would have him 
 do by you were your positions reversed." 
 "In the fewest words^ what do you want?" 
 "A pardon." 
 
A Tale Half Told. 65 
 
 "I can not grant it." 
 
 "Why not ? Are you not King ?" 
 
 "1 should be King but a short time were he at 
 liberty." 
 
 "Banish him." 
 
 "He would return." 
 
 "Make death the penalty of his doing so." 
 
 He was silent a long time, his elbow resting upon 
 the table, his hand covering his eyes, then throwing 
 back his head, he exclaimed : 
 
 "No, he shall die to-morrow at sunrise." 
 
 I stretched my hand, palm upwards, across the 
 table. 
 
 "When he dies the King of Hawouitia ceases to 
 live!" 
 
 He stared at me. 
 
 "You threaten the King?" 
 
 "I am the daughter of a missionary," I replied, 
 "and these fingers are best suited to turning pages 
 of the Holy Writ." 
 
 The King picked up my hand and examined it 
 coolly. 
 
 "It is a pretty hand," said he, "and reminds one 
 of the test put by Ulysses to young Achilles, a 
 weapon buried in the folds of a woman's garments ; 
 I wonder if it is disposed to pay the price for what 
 it seeks?" 
 
 I shivered, although the great drops stood out 
 on my forehead. 
 
 "What is the price?" I asked. 
 
 "You know." 
 
 "My person?" 
 
 He emiled oddly. 
 
 "Your person is not attractive enough in itself." 
 
66 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 I thought of the glorious Medea, and I felt 
 small and insignificant. 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 "Your love." 
 
 "Win it." 
 
 "I am offering to buy it." 
 
 I began to fear him. 
 
 "It can not be bought," I said, striving desper- 
 ately to keep a tremor from my voice, "but set the 
 President and his Cabinet free and you will have 
 most nobly deserved it." 
 
 "I may deserve without getting it ; not all of us 
 are rewarded according to our deserts." 
 
 I saw that he was playing at cross-purposes with 
 me, and a sickening despair took possession of my 
 soul. 
 
 "Well," said I, "make your own terms." 
 
 He still held my hand in both of his, and he 
 began drawing me toward him over the low table. 
 His grasp was cruel, and the edge of the table cut 
 into my body through my thin silk waist ; I resolved 
 then to kill him as soon as an opportunity pre- 
 sented itself. 
 
 "What guarantee have I that you will not run 
 away with him as soon as I have liberated him?" 
 
 "My word." 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "A woman's word !" and he laughed again. 
 
 I wondered I did not strike him in the face. 
 
 "Put me in irons." 
 
 "These hands shall be your only irons," and the 
 shapely dark fingers closed tightly over mine. I 
 knew then what to expect when I became the wife 
 of Kameh Roohk. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 67 
 
 "As you wish," I said calmly, though I winced 
 with pain. He loosed his hold. 
 
 "Forgive me," he said, as he saw the red marks 
 upon my hand. 
 
 ''Pray do not trouble yourself to apologize," re- 
 joined I with bitter irony. 
 
 "You know now," replied he, "that it is not a 
 child with whom you have to deal, though he be the 
 descendant of a childish race. I love you — but 
 we will let that pass," lie added quickly, as he saw 
 the contempt of my lip, "a pardon shall be granted. 
 Crane and his followers shall be set at liberty, but 
 with the understanding that they return to Ha- 
 wouitia only when they are in search of death; 
 having in this respect acted with great magnanim- 
 ity I shall be entitled to the love of my wife, the 
 Queen of Hawouitia, for of course I shall have a 
 wife before such magnanimity is displayed." He 
 paused, evidently expecting me to speak, but I 
 did not, and he went on : "There is a priest handy, 
 and in cases of urgent haste a license is easily pro- 
 cured, particularly when the contracting parties are 
 people of note; to-night the sometime president 
 tastes of the sweetness of regained liberty, and the 
 King drinks of the nectar of merited love. A state 
 ceremony can be solemnized later." 
 
 I was sweating with horror. 
 
 "I prefer a Protestant clergyman," I said, more 
 to prolong my freedom than for any choice I had in 
 the matter. 
 
 "As you wish, although you are of course aware 
 that the crown is Catholic; is there any one you 
 prefer ?" 
 
68 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 'Not knowing why, I expressed a desire that the 
 rector of the "Church of the Adwnt" be sent for. 
 
 He struck the goblet. 
 
 "Bring me pen, ink, and paper," commanded he. 
 
 He wrote two notes, sealed them with the king's 
 seal, and despatched them; after which he began 
 restlessly to pace the floor. 
 
 "And your mistress," I demanded, "what of 
 her?" 
 
 He stopped in front of me. 
 
 ''Who says that she is my mistress ?" 
 
 "I do," I replied calmly, looking up at him. 
 
 He threw back his head. 
 
 "You are certainly worth a president's ransom,** 
 he laughed ; "you say that she is my mistress, then 
 you shall say what shall be done with her." 
 
 I picked up the dagger he had left lying upon 
 the table, and fell to admiring the jewels in its 
 hilt. 
 
 "She shall be boiled in her caldron," I re- 
 plied. 
 
 He laughed again. He had a good laugh, al- 
 though he was a bad, bad man. 
 
 "You are disposed to jest." 
 
 "There is many a truth spoken in like vein," I 
 rejoined, holding the dagger to the light that I 
 might the better catch a matchless ray from a ruby 
 in the coat of arms. 
 
 He had resumed his walk, now he paused again. 
 
 "You have a good memory," said he, "and a 
 playful habit of treasuring up the remarks of 
 others." 
 
 "I am a victim of the law of heredity," I re- 
 
"Do you mean- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 69 
 
 turned, "my father was a playful man, and pos- 
 sessed of an excellent memory." 
 
 We did not speak again until the arrival of 
 Eichard Crane. The rector was as white as a 
 wall, and when his gaze fell upon me his eyes fairly 
 started from his head. 
 
 "Miss Demorest, are " 
 
 "Yes," interrupted Kameh Roohk, "she is one of 
 the contracting parties." 
 
 He looked from one to the other, and I opened 
 my lips to explain, but at that instant two men en- 
 tered. They were attired in blue broadcloth em- 
 bellished in gold lace, and both wore brilliant 
 badges, and carried a sword at their side. I do not 
 know who they were, although they signed as wit- 
 nesses after the reading of the marriage ceremony. 
 
 In such fashion I became a King's consort. 
 
 As I finished signing my name, and the rector 
 laid the blotter across the signature to dry it, he 
 said: 
 
 "This will be a surprise to my brother when he 
 hears of it." 
 
 "He will understand," I replied, in the same 
 key m which he had spoken; Kameh Roohk had 
 withdrawn to the window, and was conversing in 
 muffled tones with the two men. 
 
 The fingers the rector had been rubbing across 
 the blotter became suddenly still. 
 
 "Do you mean " he began, then paused. 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 "He has promised me a pardon." 
 
 "But he may not need a pardon, before another 
 week the republic may be restored." 
 
 "That would be too late to save him." 
 
70 IK Tale Half Told. 
 
 He looked at me as though puzzled, then a light 
 appearing to dawn on him, he exclaimed : 
 
 "Don't you know? Haven't you heard?" 
 
 "Know! heard! what is it? Speak!" I cried, 
 and the King and the two men came quickly to 
 us. 
 
 "Why, the prison guard were overpowered, and 
 the political prisoners have escaped." 
 
 The pen dropped from my nerveless fingers, and 
 I stared up in the rector's eyes. He was leaning, 
 his clenched fists upon the table, and his face bent 
 almost on mine. For a full minute we remained 
 like this, as though cut in granite ; then he snatched 
 the certificate from beneath my hand and tore it 
 across twice. 
 
 But we had forgotten a star of no little magni- 
 tude. Before Richard Crane had time to crush 
 the paper he held, his wrist was seized in a grip of 
 steel. 
 
 "Take those pieces of paper!" roared the King. 
 
 The rector's fingers held them like a vise. 
 
 *'The document is not legal," he fairly shouted, 
 "one of the contracting parties was under a mis- 
 take; her consent was obtained under false pre- 
 tences, and she has been wilfully and criminally 
 duped !" 
 
 But the iron grip upon his wrist began to tell, 
 his hold on the papers slackened, and they flut- 
 tered to the floor. 
 
 "Pick them up and piece them together," came 
 in the sharp, incisive accents of the King, 
 
 One of the men stooped to do so. 
 
 Then for the second time in my life I fainted. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 71 
 
 CHx\PTER X. 
 
 I REALIZE MY MARTYRDOM. 
 
 I WAS in heaven, and Mr. Crane was with me. 
 We had never been in Hawouitia, for there was no 
 such place. We had always been in heaven and al- 
 ways would be. Kameh Eoohk was a fallen angel, 
 and way down somewhere in the lowest depths of 
 heaven he was kept busy throwing huge pieces of 
 meat into the gaping jaws of a triple-headed mon- 
 ster, to keep the creature from barking, and there- 
 by disturbing mc. The streets of heaven were not 
 paved with gold as had been reported, but with re- 
 freshing green moss, and at night we lay down upon 
 a bed of lilies under a pansy roof. The gold was 
 in the hearts of the pansies, and I used to try and 
 reach them to pick it' out that I might sew it upon 
 my white dress. One day I worked so hard, being 
 anxious to collect all the gold before the nightfall 
 that I became very tired, and went to sleep with 
 my hands full of the shining, yellow stuff. I slept 
 for years and when I awoke I found that heaven 
 was a great room that I never remembered seeing 
 before, that the green moss in the streets was a 
 green carpet of noble breadth, the lilies snowy 
 linen, the roof of pansies a violet silk canopy dashed 
 with gilt stars, and the pile of gold an orange silk 
 
72 :A: Talc Half Told. 
 
 handkerchief folded to form a turlian, and in the 
 shade of the bed curtains I saw a woolly pate which 
 it had probably adorned. I sat up in bed, but was 
 immediately pushed back upon my pillow??. 
 
 "Lor'-a-massey ! look down upon dat ebil chile! 
 but she do hab the strenff ob de berry dcbil !" 
 "Where am I?'' I demanded. 
 "Bress dat cute little red hed? wha's got back its 
 resonabless; why, yuse is in yuse hubby's own 
 house, and he dat rattled about yuse that it wer 
 hard telling which ob yuse wor de worstest !" 
 
 I looked at my hand ; it was so thin I could see 
 the light through it. 
 
 "I have been sick and out of my head." 
 "Well, an' as douh dis brack chile didn't kno' 
 dat; an' dem two little debblish bans a pulling 
 de yaller crown off her pade." 
 
 "Give me j'our hand to show me that you forgive 
 me," said I, "and toll me how I came here." 
 
 "Well, yuse wor dat oberdone and tickled to deff 
 to marry the King — for how wor yuse to kno' dat 
 he would be King only five days, an' whar fob King 
 or jus plain man he wor de dobbil?"' 
 "Is he not King now?" I interrupted. 
 "Lor's-a-massey ! chile, doan yuse git incited 
 abou' dat; doan yuse get huffy abou' dat; he am 
 jus' more likely to be King nex' monf an' ever he 
 
 wor ! doan yuse git incited abou' it " 
 
 "I am not excited," I broke in again, "go on; is 
 the government a republic again ?" 
 
 "A republic, sho' nough ; dat scum wha' ain't 
 got no fambly, an' doan kno' who's f adder it is is a 
 eating like pigs in de royal shebang !" 
 "W^as there much bloodshed?" 
 
A Tale Half Told. ^i 
 
 *'^Not a debbliyli drop ; it wor wha' yuse call a 
 bloody revelation.'' 
 
 "A bloodless revolution ; I see ; and they have the 
 same President?" 
 
 "De berry same; a sassy white boy from de 
 debbil knows whar." 
 
 "How long have I been here ?" 
 
 "It am fre' weeks sine' yuse wor dat oberdone by 
 the high-might-nes ob de honor confered upon yuse 
 dat yuse fell frum yuse chair righ' onto the back 
 ob dat refratorabuncious hed, and banged it dat 
 hard dat it insulted in discussion ob de brain." 
 
 In my interest I had forgotten that the poor 
 black might be more familiar with some other lan- 
 guage; when I remembered it I said: 
 
 "What language do you speak best?" 
 
 She drew herself up proudly. 
 
 "I am an executioner ob all languages/' she re- 
 turned haughtily, 'Taut de English am my nativ* 
 tongue, for I wor trown in dis worl' ob sinful sin- 
 ners in ole Kentuck." 
 
 "And you came here how?" 
 
 "I comed har wif a missionary's fambly twenty 
 yeers ago, but dey was all killed and I wor taken 
 by de royal fam.bly. Kameh Roohk he appoin- 
 trified me yuse lady in waiting, tinking yuse would 
 be more at home like wif some one ob yuse o\\ti 
 kind." 
 
 "Leave me now," I said, "I wish to sleep." 
 
 I was glad, very glad, but I pressed my head 
 hard to the pillow, and I tasted the salt of my 
 tears when, quivering, they sped down my cheeks 
 to my lips. He lived. The Eepublic ruled ! The 
 President was restored to his wife and child. They 
 
74 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 sat again in the great saloon beside the tinkling 
 fountain ; through the open windows rushed the air, 
 voluptuous with the scent of orange blossoms and 
 jasmine; outside the slender shafts of the cocoa 
 palm waved their plumes and fruitage over banks 
 of blazing flowers; great purple and crimson leaves 
 forced their passage between clumps of marvellous 
 lilies, gladiolas, passion-flowers and fuchsias ; a per- 
 fect wilderness of bloom. Husband and wife were 
 reunited, they were once again the first people in 
 the land, and the tears ran swiftly over my face 
 until my pillow was wet, and I swallowed a lump 
 which ached in my throat, and I swallowed the one 
 that came after it ; and I kept on swallowing until 
 a ringing surged in my cars ; I felt so tired, yet I 
 swallowed on, and I lived on. 
 
 Then I remembered Kameh Eoohk, and terror 
 raised the hair on my head. I shut my eyes tight, 
 yet his flashing teeth and his golden face, and his 
 golden face and his flashing teeth pressed ever 
 against my sight. The tears melted to cold sweat, 
 and bathed my neck and limbs. I lay this way a 
 long time, and then I slept again. 
 
 The next morning I heard a voice at my bedside 
 which stift'ened to ice the blood at my heart. I 
 looked up at him. 
 
 "Go away," I said. 
 
 He laid upon the pillow a bunch of pale anemones 
 and turned away. 
 
 I picked up the flowers and flung them after 
 him; he caught them when they struck his shoul- 
 der. 
 
 "Now dat debbil's chile !" came a voice from the 
 window draperies. 
 
[A Tale Half Told. 75 
 
 "Where are we?" I demanded a week or two 
 later, as I sat propped up in cushions upon a flight 
 of broad stone steps. 
 
 Before me lay a pathless glen, beyond and behind 
 me rose stately mountains, solemnly decked in 
 purple haze ; and just in sight was a great natural 
 basin where met the waters of all neighboring 
 mountain streams. It was a gray day, and over 
 the mountains tlie sun shone a ball of red gold, 
 lighting the dull canopy of heaven with as weird 
 a paleness as a smile on a dead man's face. The 
 solemn grandeur of this desert plain, the naked 
 wal lof mountains darkened by a cloudy sky, fitted 
 exactly my mood. Before asking where we were I 
 had been repeating softly to myself, "In His world 
 all things prosper upon which His shadow rests." 
 
 "We is in one ob Kameh Eoohk's sumpimccious 
 palaces, you cute little debbil's chile; wharfore 
 yuse ax dis brack lily so many questions?" and she 
 wound round and round my body a long woolen 
 scarf to guard me from the deadly chill of the 
 glen. 
 
 On the air fell the sound of a convent bell in 
 wild hiding, and there broke upon our vision a line 
 of monks in white tunics and scarlet girdles. 
 Whilst they were passing Kameh Eoohk came out 
 and sat on the step below me. He drew his dagger 
 from its sheath and commenced throwing it in air, 
 catching it in its descent by the sparkling hilt. 
 Suddenly I turned to him. 
 
 "Am I your wife ?" I asked. 
 
 He glanced at me in surprise and missed his 
 throw ; the glittering plaything fell on the step be- 
 side me. I picked it up. 
 
76 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ''Would I have taken you with me had you not 
 been?'' 
 
 "WHiy not? Since you are not troubled by fine 
 discriminations; you did not hesitate to play upon 
 my ignorance." 
 
 "How could I be certain that you were ignorant 
 of the escape of the prisoners, when it was heralded 
 from all the house tops?" 
 
 "You knew that had there been time I would 
 have acted with less haste, and 3'ou forced proceed- 
 ings that I, your victim, might not escape you." 
 
 He was silent, and I resumed. 
 
 "When the king, no longer king but traitor, was 
 forced to hide from the Eepublic he had betrayed, 
 he took me, his victim, with him, and buried me in 
 this living tomb." 
 
 "Is it not comfortable here ? Is there aught that 
 you lack ?" 
 
 "There is a thing I lack without which life has 
 no flavor of sweetness." 
 
 "AVhat is that?" he asked. 
 
 "Freedom !" 
 
 "You are not a prisoner ; I shall not restrict you ; 
 you are free to roam about at your will." 
 
 I fixed my eyes on the darkening sky. 
 
 "I am worse than a prisoner," I said quietly. 
 "I am a martyr, condemned to drag out my weary 
 days tied to a living corpse." 
 
 His face was pale as a shroud seen through a 
 yellow mist. 
 
 "xA.m I then so loathsome to you?'* 
 
 "Your character is most repugnant to me; if 
 the death in a man's heart of honor, loyalty, patriot- 
 
A Tale Half Told. ^y 
 
 ism, and chivalry constitute the corpse, then you 
 are long since putrid in moral decay/' 
 
 He did not speak, and I raised the dagger in my 
 hand. 
 
 "There is a way out of it," I said, "this way/' 
 and I held the blade to my heart, "or this," and I 
 turned its point on him. 
 
 "Lordy! Gody !" came in muffled accents from 
 the open door above. 
 
78 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 I rilSTD A FRIEND IN" ONE WHOM I BEFRIENDED. 
 
 I LEARNED by degrees that we were on one of 
 the estates belonging to the crown, and known only 
 to royal partisans. It was in the extreme north of 
 Hawoiiitia, and approached only through a chain of 
 mountains infested by brigands, and other loyal 
 subjects of the king. There was something sub- 
 lime and fearful in the isolation of that gloomy val- 
 ley, open at one end to the sea and walled in on 
 all other sides by giant precipices from one to two 
 thousand feet in height. Darkness comes on early 
 between these high walls, and the air is chill when 
 the sun has set. I used to sit on sombre evenings 
 and look out over the track of long green grass to 
 the broad Pacific, flashing and throbbing in the 
 gathering dusk, and wonder if a day would come 
 Avhen, weary of my unutterable weariness, I would 
 go to sleep upon its coral beds, all unmindful of the 
 eager fondling of the waters as they played about 
 their passive prey. It would be quiet down there, 
 very quiet, and the dead sleep well. 
 
 And yet, some say they sleep not well! My 
 father was fond of telling the heathen that some 
 could not sleep from a thirst which was never slack- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 79 
 
 ened, though they be buried fathoms deep in fresh 
 
 water. 
 
 The drunkard could not sleep, nor the usurer, 
 neither the lewd woman, nor he who rejected Christ, 
 nor _ the barbarian who had never heard of the 
 Christ, and therefore could not reject Him; none 
 of these could sleep; no, nor countless others of 
 whom I will not write from lack of space. And 
 so I can not be sure of rest even there. And if 
 not there, where? 
 
 Tell me, Mystery, somewhat of that hospi- 
 tality which lies beyond your voiceless portals ! Is 
 there in that land of common fellowship peace 
 and welcome for an uninvited guest? or would the 
 intruder be propelled to earth again in rags and 
 tatters in comparison to which his former covering 
 were as a mantle of fine purple ? Yet no ; we can 
 not retrogress ; what we have gained we can never 
 lose. That which is ours by inheritance is not our 
 own, but that which has been wrung from the soul's 
 experiences through every phase of existence from 
 the monad up, is Ourself. Our very own. It is 
 all we have ; and must be forever ours. 
 
 Sometimes in the morning I would get up very 
 early and go with Black Lily down to the beach 
 to watch the servants in their sport of surf board 
 riding. They looked fierce and formidable rush- 
 ing shorewards on their tough surf boards, standing 
 erect, or lying face downwards on the plank, and 
 always just ahead of a curling breaker, always just 
 on the verge of being dashed to pieces by the speed- 
 ing waves whose towering white crest was ever 
 above and just behind them. This was very excit- 
 ing. 
 
8o A Tale Half Told. 
 
 In the afternoons I would go hunting for ferns, 
 ■R'hiling away the hours in seeking for new speci- 
 mens, and asking their names of Agab, an Arab, 
 who had a hut on the estate. This old man and 
 I grew very fond of one another; all our conver- 
 sations were carried on in Arabic. He prided him- 
 self on knowing by heart one himdred of the tales 
 told by the noble maiden Scheherezade to her cruel 
 lord. He would often stop in the middle of a nar- 
 rative and look at me with a strange expression of 
 countenance, half sad, half inquiring, like that of 
 a faithful dog. I would read to him out of my 
 well-thumbed testament — for I am my father's 
 child, and he would turn his head from side to 
 side and murmur, "Allah !" and murmur "Allah," 
 and wag his head again. 
 
 "So you see ," I would say, looking up, 
 
 "there is only one God." 
 
 "Yah, yah, your highness," he would interrupt, 
 "there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his 
 prophet !" 
 
 "Xo, no, Agab, there is no God but God it is 
 true, but my father " 
 
 "Yah, yah, your highness," he would break in 
 again, "ther'^ is no God but God, and your father 
 was his prophet while he lived, but your father 
 died and went to his heavenly houries, and Moham- 
 med took up the Word again ; Allah ! Allah ! yah ! 
 yah !" 
 
 Agab had grown dear to me in my loneliness, but 
 I began to perceive that if none but believers are 
 to live, the sword will never dry nor the musket 
 rust. I also realized how greatly Agab profited by 
 my father's death, since had my parent lived, and 
 
A Tale Half Told. 8i 
 
 had he been acquainted with Agab, his great love 
 for God and his fellownian would not have per- 
 mitted him to allow Agab his liberty and freedom 
 of speech. 
 
 There were one or two female servants about the 
 castle ; I would see them when abroad early, scrub- 
 bing the stone steps, or spreading linen on the 
 ground to bleach. I noticed that they were young, 
 good looking women of very large person, and 
 very little clothing. 
 
 One morning I stopped to take breakfast with 
 Agab in his grass hut. He drew the table to a 
 place in the low room where I Avas able to see 
 through the open door one of the young women 
 dressed in a rose colored chemise, and gathering 
 berries from the garden for the castle table. Agab 
 made me a pot of tea, for I do not like coffee, and 
 he put honey on my melon, which made a very 
 queer tasting dish, and nuts on my goat's flesh. 
 As he moved about I was struck with a something 
 familiar about him that I had never remarked be- 
 fore ; suddenly I exclaimed, "Agab, you are " 
 
 then I stopped. ' 
 
 For answer he opened a closet door, and taking 
 out a long black cloak and cashmere scarf, he 
 spread them before me. 
 
 "You escaped?" 
 
 "Yah, yah, your highness, I escaped and was 
 wandermg m the mountains when I fell in with 
 the prince's men. I never call him king for he was 
 not fairly made king, though he is prince and the 
 next m line; here the king is proclaimed through 
 the ballot, and not always the heir direct gets the 
 most votes, and even the adopted son of a monarch 
 
82 A Talc Half Told, 
 
 can be crowned if be is named before the king's 
 death." 
 
 "You fell in with the prince's party and they 
 took you along with them ?" 
 
 "Yah, yah, your highness ; they carried you with 
 them in a hammock strung between two mules, 
 for it is not possible for a wagon to be taken across 
 tlie mountains, and Prince Kameh was very anxious 
 about you, for you were very sick, so he com- 
 manded all of his men to say a prayer for j^our re- 
 covery, and they knelt down and told their beads. 
 I was hidden behind a rock, and while they prayed 
 I crept out and looked at the one they were pray- 
 ing for, and I recognized you; when they had fin- 
 ished I made myself known to them as a hermit 
 who had tired of living alone and craved the com- 
 panionship of his fellowman. I knew the prince 
 by sight, but I did not know how 3'ou came to be 
 with them or what had happened in the capital. 
 The Hawouitians never turn from the stranger, 
 and they bade me come with them." 
 
 I did not ask him whence he came or why ho 
 fled. There are man}' things in this world which 
 we may not know, nor in the next unless it concerns 
 us. I knew him for an old man, an i^rab, a gen- 
 tleman; further than that was not my affair. He 
 brought me a square cushion covered with bright 
 print, and filled with dried seaweed, which he 
 placed beneath my feet; then we sat down to eat; 
 I at table, he cross-legged upon the floor, and while 
 we ate he was to relate "The History of Ganem, 
 son to Abou Ayoub, surnamed Love's Slave." 
 
 "Abou Ayoub was a merchant of Damascus, who 
 had, by care and industry acquired great wealtli. 
 
'A Tale Half Told. 83 
 
 He had a son, a very accomplished young man, 
 whose name was Ganem, afterward called Love's 
 slave; and a daughter " 
 
 He was interrupted by the dull thud of horses' 
 hoofs striking the turf, and across the plain sped 
 a wild goat panting with fear; the animal was 
 coming toward us, and I could see that he was 
 wounded ; his breath whistled through his nostrils, 
 and the lust of life looked from eyes already dark- 
 ening Avith the shade of death. After him dashed 
 Kameh Eoohk and his huntsman in hunting dress, 
 the prince in scarlet, the huntsman in green. 
 
 "The fellow is badly hit, he can't hold out 
 long!" shouted the prince, who was in advance. 
 
 A straight line over the plain to the hut door 
 was cliosen by the panting, bleeding, staggering 
 creature in his race for life; behind him he left a 
 broken, gory line, damning evidence of man's in- 
 humanity; from his side I could see as he drew 
 nearer a dangling vital, for he had been shot in the 
 bowels. As if drawn by the love and pity that 
 rushed out to him from my palpitating heart, he 
 sprang through the hut door, and laid his head at 
 my feet. A minute later the prince and his hunts- 
 man sprang from their horses and into the room. 
 They both stood still on seeing me. 
 
 "What is the meaning of this?" asked Kameh 
 Eoohk, looking from Agab to me. 
 
 I knelt beside their victim, and by using all my 
 strength succeeded in lifting his head to my arm. 
 
 "Kill him quick," I gasped. 
 
 The huntsman stooped and drew his knife across 
 the animal's throat, the blood poured over me. 
 
84 'A^ Tale tialf Told. 
 
 there was a last sad bleat ending in a gurgle, then 
 the dying eyes looked up to mine and all was over. 
 I threw myself upon the mangled carcass, and 
 I wept as though my heart would break. 
 
A Tale Halt Told. 85 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CIVIL WAR IS DECLARED. 
 
 This day stands out, letter-red, among all my 
 memories of the past. Every detail is as fresh in 
 my mind as though it happened but yesterday, I 
 see the low room, the silent Arab, the Jaunty hunts- 
 man m his suit of green, the magnificent figure of 
 the red-clad prince standing, flushed and triumph- 
 ant, with the gaudy bow in his gloved hand,— and 
 the dead beast with his gaping wounds and star- 
 ing eyes. No one spoke, and but for my sobs we 
 might have been a painted group. 
 
 The huntsman was the first to speak. 
 
 "This is Christ's sweet pity," he said, as he 
 bared his head. 
 
 The prince held out his hand to help me rise, 
 but I ignored it. 
 
 "It smells of blood," said I, as I took my hat and 
 passed out. 
 
 He bit his lip and came after me, calling back to 
 his huntsman to see that the dead beast was de- 
 cently buried. He caught up with me and we 
 walked along together while I dried my tears. 
 Presently he asked if I would like to go awav 
 
 "That depends," I answered. 
 
 "On what?" 
 
86 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "On whom I go with." 
 
 "You will go with me." 
 
 "Then I had just as soon remain here ; one place 
 in hell is as pleasant as another." 
 
 "You speak strongly." 
 
 "An inherited tendency, my father was a force- 
 ful orator." 
 
 "You are also bold." 
 
 "That, too, is the fault of my father ; he was an 
 intrepid man." 
 
 He laughed, then clicked his teeth. 
 
 "You appear to forget that you are in my power." 
 
 We had been walking not toward the castle, but 
 toward the sea ; now the waves almost lapped our 
 feet ; not a soul was in sight. It is at the thought 
 of him that I was most afraid; when actually in 
 his presence there were times when I felt invulner- 
 able. 
 
 "In your power ! How so ?" 
 
 He stooped and picked up a shell. 
 
 "You see this shell." 
 
 I looked at it scornfully. 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "There is nothing to prevent my crushing it, is 
 there?" 
 
 "Nothing that I know of." 
 
 "Well, you are as much in my power as this 
 shell ; you are my wife, the law is back of me ; again 
 you are in my country, and here I am lord ; I can 
 do with you as I will, but you have been ill and I 
 have spared you. Now all that is changed ; you are 
 strong enough to present me with the point of a 
 dagger, and strong enough, therefore, to take up tlie 
 duties of a wife; do you know of anything to pre- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 87 
 
 vent my crushing you as I do this ?" and the shell 
 shivered to atoms in his gloved hand. 
 
 "Yes, the will of God!" 
 
 "God's will is that a wife submit to her hus- 
 band." 
 
 "Then in this instance God's will shall not be 
 done." 
 
 "You contradict yourself; first you invoke the 
 power of God, then you rebuke it ; in which are you 
 sincere ?" 
 
 I scorned to answer, and began my retreat to the 
 castle. He did not come with me, and I saw him 
 no more until evening. 
 
 The day had been cloudy, and it grew so dark 
 at sundown that candles were lighted in all the 
 living rooms of the castle. I sat near the grate 
 in the wide, bare hall and counted the embers as 
 they fell from the burning log. Kameh Eoohk 
 came in and threw himself on a rug in the red light. 
 He was heavily armed, and never had he looked 
 so like a mighty chief ; verily two men lived in this 
 one, the jDolished civilian, and the princely savage. 
 He stared gloomily at the fire, and still more 
 gloomily at me, and after awhile he spoke. 
 
 "Would you like news from the capital?" 
 
 I started, and looked eagerly at him ; he laughed 
 harshly. 
 
 "It is evident from your face that you would; 
 well, the civil war which has been threatening since 
 the first rise of the republic, is at length declared, 
 and the Ecpublican array marches against the forces 
 of the Crown." 
 
 I leaned forward, cold with a new fear. 
 
 "Does the President accompany the army?" 
 
88 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ''Set your mind at rest on that score," he 
 sneered, "3'^our pink and white chosen representa- 
 tive of the people will not expose his life." 
 
 "He is no coward," I rejoined hotly. 
 
 "What proof have you of that?" 
 
 "Had he been a coward," I replied, "he would not 
 himself have carried the appointment to the min- 
 ister of the interior, since in doing so he was 
 obliged to penetrate into the very heart of the 
 enemy's country." 
 
 He made no reply, and after a few minutes I 
 asked : 
 
 "How do you think it will end?" 
 
 "It is impossible to say; the Eepublicans are for 
 the most part foreigners, refuse washed from the 
 shores of otlier lands ; while the natives are for a 
 native king. 'Hawouitia for the Hawouitians' is 
 their battle cry." 
 
 "Have the royalists had an election?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And you are their chosen king?" 
 
 "Yes."" 
 
 Another silence, and then I asked sharply: 
 
 "Well, aren't you going?" 
 
 He stretched his superb length on the rug and 
 looked at me through narrowed lids. 
 
 "Don't be impatient; after dinner will do; you 
 see I need not to ask where when you inquire if I 
 am going; I know where you wish me to go, and 
 I know why you wish it. Many ride forth to battle 
 who never return ; but it is not because you wish it 
 that I go, but because I am a Hawouitian, and be- 
 cause I come from a line of kings." 
 
 I had no response ready, and shortly after we 
 
A Tale Half Told. 89 
 
 went into dinner. Not a syllable did we exchange 
 tlironghont the meal, but when a half hour later 
 he passed me in the hall on his way upstairs, I was 
 prompted to say: 
 
 "Good-bye, Kameh Eoohk, I can not wish you 
 victorious, for my sympathies are elsewhere." 
 
 "I will see you before I go," he replied, while 
 ascending the stairs. 
 
 I took instant alarm. 
 
 "You will not see me again to-night, for I am 
 tired and shall retire immediately." 
 
 I fancied he smiled, and terror lent wings to my 
 imagination. Perhaps he intended taking me with 
 him, fearing lest I might escape in his absence. 
 I sped up the stairs to my room and bolted the door 
 after me. I also took the precaution to push a 
 heavy bureau up against it, though I had great 
 difficulty in doing so; then I knelt by the window 
 in the dark to wait until I should hear him ride 
 away, and to pray. But I could think of nothing to 
 say to God, and as the minutes passed and no 
 sound came from the directon of the stables, and 
 Black Lily did not come to see if I wanted any- 
 thing, as was her custom, my fear increased. The 
 silence, which once filled me with longings to speak, 
 now froze the prayer on my lips. The very soli- 
 tude was charged with threats. I raised my face 
 to the heavens ; no help there ! I looked to left, I 
 looked to right, fore and aft, at the gi'ound beneath 
 my window, and once more to the heavens above. 
 "Oh, God protect me !" I cried, and buried my 
 face on my arms. 
 
 How long I knelt there I do not know, but I tell 
 you solemnly that when I raised my head I was not 
 
90 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 alone. Against the darkness stood a shape, and it 
 told me that it and I were twain. It was stripped 
 naked, and burned with a glory passing the belief 
 of man ; it Avore my features, but they shone as re- 
 flecting the kiss of God ; the body was of most ex- 
 quisite fashioning, and of a transparency rivaling 
 the purest pearl, yet I knew, not knowing how I 
 knew, that nor wind, nor wave, nor grip of iron, 
 nor band of steel could break that delicate shell. 
 No fire consume, no dagger thrust empty the life 
 within that structure. No deed of shame, no crime 
 could leave their blot upon that wondrous temple; 
 from eternity, untainted, it came, through eternity 
 unharmed it would walk, for eternity it would en- 
 dure. And amazed, my fear gone, I gazed in awe 
 and profoundest admiration imtil at length I said : 
 
 "Whom makest thou thyself?" 
 
 When, lo, the shape waxed brighter, and a voice 
 that was part of my own replied : 
 
 "Behold! I am thou, be not afraid!" 
 
 And then I knew that I beheld my soul, and 
 that naked and alone I stood with God. 
 
 Now a great calm took possession of me, and I 
 rose and lit the two candles on the shelf, and pre- 
 pared for bed. 
 
 I was no longer afraid, and as proof of my con- 
 fidence in a Power above I pushed the bureau back 
 to its place between the windows. I was occupied 
 with setting to rights the articles upon it which had 
 been disarranged by its moving, wlien, in the glass, 
 I saw a door open in the wall behind me where there 
 was no door, and Kamoh Eoohk entered. I stood 
 perfectly still, staring at him in the glass, my face 
 white, my night dress white, my hair hanging in a 
 
A Tale Half Told. 91 
 
 braid over one shoulder. Even in my surprise I 
 did not fail to notice what a sorry figure I made by 
 the side of him, in his coat of gray and gold, scarlet 
 pants, and high, shining boots. From his shoul- 
 ders swung a feathered cloak with a velvet lining, 
 and he carried jewelled pistols in his belt, and a 
 sv.'ord in a jewelled scabbard at his side. So splen- 
 did a figure I had never beheld! 
 
 I talked at the glass. 
 
 "Has your friend, the sorceress, revealed to you 
 the secret of her art, that you enter a room through 
 its walls?" 
 
 He looked surprised, he had evidently expected 
 me to be too frightened to speak, then the room was 
 filled with his ringing laugh. 
 
 "By the bones of my fathers ! but there isn't a 
 white featlicr about you ; I was afraid you might 
 faint, which would have delayed my departure since 
 a man does not like to leave his wife unconscious." 
 
 I began fixing the things on the bureau all over 
 again. 
 
 "Well, now that you are here, and I am not un- 
 conscious, what do yon want?" 
 
 "You." 
 
 "]\re." 
 
 Although my real self was somewhere else, about 
 me perhaps, but not in me, and I felt like one in a 
 dream, I remember perfectly picking up a hand- 
 mirror, and polishing it energetically with the 
 sleeve of my gown. I still faced the looking glass. 
 
 "You," he repeated, coming close to me and lift- 
 ing my braid, "you, body, soul and mind." 
 
 "Well, don't pull my hair," I said dryly, trying 
 to draw the braid from his grasp. 
 
92 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "I shall if you attempt to take it from me," he 
 replied, half smiling. "Oh, Thalia, I want you ! 
 you, yourself; your body is here, is mine, I may 
 deck or reck it at my will ; your soul ! you have no 
 soul ; you arc an elfish sprite who wished itself into 
 a woman's form, but your mind, — ah, there I am 
 met by a force l)efore which I am powerless ! That 
 strange, compelling, elusive thing! that something 
 which is nothing, and yet in you all things ! to be 
 able to grasp it, hold it, force it into channels of 
 my own choosing, pin its thoughts to me, Kameh 
 Roohk, and compel them to dwell upon nothing else, 
 that is what I desire." 
 
 "What ravings !" 
 
 "I know it," and he laughed sadly. 
 
 "How much longer are you going to stay?" I 
 demanded, shivering. "I am cold," 
 
 He went to the window and closed it, then took 
 off his cloak and Iniekled it on me. It is the only 
 time in my life tliat I was ever dressed like a 
 savage, 
 
 "Do you remember the night we were married ?" 
 
 "I shall never forget it while we both live," I 
 replied. 
 
 "I held your hand like this, and I drew you to 
 me across the table like this," 
 
 His hand closed over mine, and he began pulling 
 me toward him, although I held back- with all my 
 strength ; the strain on my arm made it ache, I 
 uttered a sharp cry, but he only smiled, and his hold 
 tightened. I was no longer the white wife of 
 Kameh Roohk, a Christian gentleman, but the 
 squaw of a lustful prince. I felt my fear return 
 two-fold, and the dank moisture start from beneath 
 
A Tale Half Told. 93 
 
 my hair. I began to cast about in my mind for 
 some means of escape. He drew me nearer and 
 nearer ; not by jerks, but slowly, as if enjoying the 
 pain he inflicted. 
 
 "You hurt me," I panted. 
 "I know it," he smiled. 
 
 My frightened gaze had been riveted upon his 
 face, and his eyes never left mine ; now he turned 
 his head to see if the bureau on which he leaned 
 was solid against the wall, and my glance thus re- 
 lieved, fell to his belt and the jewelled revolver 
 thrust in it. I have mentioned in a previous chap- 
 ter that I am quick to think and equally quick to 
 act; in one instant three things had happened. He 
 turned his head, I saw the revolver, and the re- 
 volver was in my hand; he felt the wrench, he 
 faced about and struck up my arm. The shot rang 
 through the apartment. 
 
 When the smoke cleared he was leaning against 
 the bureau, smiling, and with folded arms. That 
 bureau certainly played a star part in that night's 
 drama. 
 
 "Another good bullet gone wrong," he laughed. 
 My father had taught me the use of firearms, 
 telling me at the same time that if an hour should 
 come when he had gone before, and I was placed at 
 the mercy of savages, I must not hesitate between 
 dishonor and death. He impressed upon my mind 
 at the same time, however, the importance of never 
 turning a weapon upon myself while it could be 
 used to advantage upon another, for my father was 
 a philosopher. I cocked the pistol again, and 
 pointed it at Kameh Eoohk. 
 "Will you go ?" 
 
94 'A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "Not to-night; you have inspired me with the 
 desire to remain until morning." 
 
 A new idea struck me; I pressed the muzzle of 
 the Aveapon I held to my temple. 
 
 "Hold," he cried loudly, "would you destroy 
 yourself ?" 
 
 That was not my intention, but it had the ef- 
 fect I intended. 
 
 "Eather than submit to you, yes." 
 
 "My God, are you mad?" 
 
 " 'For oppression maketh the wise man mad,' " 
 I quoted. 
 
 His face was ghastly in its golden pallor; he 
 shrugged his shoulders and laughed while he swore. 
 
 "I am out-generaled," he said ; "it is a pity after 
 all that you are a woman, you have the artfulness 
 of the politician, the heartlessness of a commander, 
 and the daring of a born soldier; in you history 
 has been done out of a rival Napoleon." 
 
 "Good-bye," I said, still holding the revolver to 
 my head. 
 
 He passed to the secret door. "Good-bye," and 
 the wall closed after him. 
 
 I moved the bureau to that place in the wall, 
 and put the revolver under my pillow. A few min- 
 utes later I heard the tramp of horses' feet, and I 
 knew he had gone. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 95 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 I LISTEN TO A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 The days passed into weeks, and not a ripple 
 from the world's ocean touched the shores of my 
 isolation. The castle was like a deserted fortress 
 disturbed no more by wars or rumors of war. 
 Evenings were now grown too cool to sit out of doors, 
 and I brought books into the hall and read, or lay 
 on the rug where Kameh Eoohk had lain, and 
 watched the fire ; making soldiers of the red em- 
 bers, and breastworks of the charred coals. Two 
 great armies lay opposite each other and contended 
 for that which to each seemed most right; the one 
 for democracy, the other for a crown. I knew 
 upon which side my father would have stood, and 
 I recalled what I had read of the wars of semi- 
 civilized nations ; of infants impaled and carried as 
 standards before the army, of women and children 
 slaughtered and their bodies thrown to the dogs, 
 and I wondered whose blood flowed swiftest beyond 
 the gigantic walls that divided me from this 
 scourge of fire and sword. I laid it all to Kameh 
 Eoohk, and I shook my finger menacingly at a 
 fiery, hissing brand. 
 
 " 'Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of 
 
96 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 Epliraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, 
 which are the head of the fat valleys of them that 
 arc overcome with wine.' " 
 
 How fared the Eepiiblican army and how the 
 Crown's? As the weeks went by I began to believe 
 that the Eepublic must have conquered, for, had the 
 Crown won Kameh Eoohk would have been after 
 me to take me to the palace at New Babylon. Yes, 
 the King's army was defeated, and the King dead. 
 I was free, alone, and might pass the remainder of 
 my days in peace and solitude. The thouglit 
 brought rest, and a touch of sadness, for I pros- 
 pected into the future, and I saw the loneliness of 
 juiddle life. There comes a time to each and all 
 when every joy is shadowed by a vague unrest. It 
 is that season when the first hot breath of life's 
 summer has brushed the bloom from the spring- 
 time of our youth, and ere yet we enter into the 
 autumn of our years. With the advance of autumn 
 comes resignation, a passive waiting for the winter 
 of our days; but, ah, the sadness of departing 
 spring ! the hopclessnes of coming age ! I would 
 know no joys to shadow, but the sadness would be 
 mine, and the memory of my martyred youth. 
 
 Sometimes I would send Black Lily to fetch 
 Agab, for it amused me to watch her rolling eyes, 
 and hear her exclamations as he unfolded his mar- 
 vellous tales. I remember it was "The Story of 
 Little Hunchback" that he was relating on that 
 evening when the first news of the doings of an 
 outside world penetrated our little circle. I sat 
 in front of the grate. Black Lily occupied a chair 
 on my right, and Agab was cross-legged on the 
 floor at my left; they both started when we heard 
 
A Tale Half Told. 97 
 
 the thud of horses' feet, muffled by the softness of 
 the wet earth, for it was raining. 
 
 '■'Sit still," I said sternly, though I felt my 
 cheeks go white, "it is the prince and his men." 
 
 There was a confused mingling of voices outside, 
 then a sharp command at which my heart stood 
 still; at the same moment the gardener and the 
 stable boy, the two domestics and the Chinese cook 
 came tumbling into the hall. 
 
 "Sweet Virgin, Mother of God !" groaned the 
 stable boy in chorus with the gardener, while the 
 Chinaman's braid expressed that which his trem- 
 bling lips could not utter, and Black Lily crossed 
 herself to ward off the impending disaster, though 
 she knew not its nature. I rose to my feet, as did 
 the Arab, and we all gazed breathlessly at the door 
 opening from the stable yard. The hall ran the 
 length of the house and had two doors, one at the 
 front and one at the back; it was upon the latter 
 that all eyes were fixed when it swung back to ad- 
 mit a cloaked and mud-splashed figure; his spurs 
 clicked on the floor, and the sound of scabbard 
 striking wet boots made sharp, quick reports as he 
 walked. Old Agab stepped between me and the 
 advancing form, and Black Lily, not to be outdone 
 in demonstrations of devotion, placed her larger 
 shape before his. But I passed them both, and 
 went to meet him, for he took ofE his hat and I 
 recognized the President. I passed to the shelter 
 of his wet cloak and he kissed me. 
 
 "Are you glad to see me, pale enchantress?" he 
 asked. 
 
 I nestled closer, and he laughed, and laid his 
 cheek upon my hair. 
 
98 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "I have searched for you long," he said, as he 
 drew me to a seat beside him on the stair, "I have 
 worn this heart out in calling you," and he pressed 
 me near so I felt its beating against my arm. 
 
 "Tell me how you discovered my whereabouts," 
 for I had forgotten the double barrier that divided 
 us. 
 
 "From a prisoner whom I tortured until he re- 
 vealed the hiding place of " 
 
 "Oh, how could you ?" and I began to think that 
 not only savages are inhuman, and freed myself 
 from his embrace. At the same time my feelings 
 cooled so that I remembered his wife, and my — I 
 mean Kameh Roohk. 
 
 "Come back here; what are you doing over 
 there?" 
 
 "This is whore I should have been all along," re- 
 turned I with hauteur. 
 
 "What ! why, you little rebel !" 
 
 "Now don't make me angry," I warned, as he 
 stretched out his arm. 
 
 "Go on with your story " I said five minutes 
 later, glancing to where he kept silence in his 
 corner. 
 
 "You've thrown me off the track." 
 
 "Well, did it hurt? the prisoner I mean," I 
 prompted, in order to encourage his memory. 
 
 "Oh, the prisoner, well, a little." 
 
 "He suffered ?" 
 
 "No more than I suffered not knowing how 
 fared you." 
 
 "How is it with the armies ?" 
 
 "The forces of the Crown are pretty well cut up. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 99 
 
 and if wc could capture their chief war would be at 
 an end." 
 
 "And you left your army to come to me?" 
 
 "For that reason, and one other/' 
 
 "What other?" 
 
 "We are not alone," he said, glancing at the 
 wondering servants. 
 
 I bade them all go. 
 
 "Sit on my knee," he said when we were alone, 
 and he had appropriated the only chair near the 
 fire. 
 
 I shook my head, so he drew forward the chair 
 he had pushed into a corner. 
 
 "I forget in my joy at finding you again that you 
 do not know all. Thalia, do you remember the 
 last night we were together? I kissed you in the 
 dark of the court vard, and you said that you loved 
 me." 
 
 "I love you." 
 
 "And I love you ! I have never uttered those 
 words to any other woman, for early in manhood I 
 was yoked to another's sin. Thalia, my brother 
 Eichard married his wife Anne before he took 
 orders; our families were very intimate, and the 
 couple grew up with the understanding that they 
 were ordained for each other. Richard is five 
 years my senior, and more generously endowed by 
 nature than myself. He was the pride of the Crane 
 family, and I loved him as I loved my life. While 
 he was yet in curate's garb, and I in my twentieth 
 year, we came to Hawouitia on a pleasure cruise ; I 
 was a student at Oxford and several of my college- 
 mates accompanied us. We dropped anchor at 
 New Babylon, and Eichard, who was never very 
 
loo A Tale Half Told. 
 
 fond of yachting, decided to look about on land 
 while we pushed further along the coast;" he 
 paused, stretched out his feet to tlio grate, clasped 
 his hands back of his head, and looked steadily at 
 the smouldering ashes, then he resumed, "when we 
 stopped for him on our way back, we found him not 
 quite ready to return. The climate agreed with 
 him, he said, and as he was not strong, having 
 studied beyond his strength to get his orders, he 
 thought it wise to remain a few weeks longer. He 
 gave me a letter and presents for Anne and bade 
 me tell her not to be alarmed ; the boys bade him 
 good-bvo, I embraced him, and we parted." 
 
 Again he paused. 
 
 "I returned to England and called at once upon 
 my sister-in-law; I told her that Eichard's health 
 was much improved by the mild but invigorating 
 air of Hawouitia, and that he hoped shortly to be as 
 strong as myself, his unworthy brother. Darling, 
 I shall never forget that woman's face while I was 
 speaking; she rlid not interrupt me, but when 
 I had finished she threw the letter on the floor 
 without opening it, and stamped upon it. On the 
 next vessel bound to Hawouitia she sailed, never 
 saying a word to me of her intention. My first in- 
 timation of it was a cablegram from Richard bid- 
 ding me come at once. When I stepped upon the 
 quay he was there to meet mo, and Anno was with 
 him, hanging upon his arm, and evidently deter- 
 mined that Ave should have no word together alone. 
 
 " 'Eobert,' said he, 'Anne is disposed to doubt my 
 word, and accuses me of the crime of bigamy; she 
 threatens vengeance, and swears that her very love 
 would render mercy impossible. In vain I have 
 
A Tale Half Told. loi 
 
 told her that Eleanor is >our wife, the house yours, 
 and I but a boarder there.' 
 
 " 'And Eleanor,' I interrupted, for I had been 
 looking in his eye, and letter by letter, I spelled 
 the truth. 
 
 " 'She corroborates my statement, but Anne will 
 have no word but yours.' 
 
 " 'Why should you doubt their word and take 
 mine?' I asked, turning to my sister-in-law. 
 
 " 'Because though I know you for a fool, Bob, I 
 yet credit you with too much wit to burden yourself 
 with the mistress and brat of another man.' 
 
 "I felt the nerves in my body jump, and I ut- 
 tered an oath. 'Besides,' she continued, eyeing me 
 suspiciously, *I shall not take your unsupported 
 word.' 
 
 " 'What proof do you require beyond the word 
 of the woman you suspect your husband of wrong- 
 ing? Surely she would be the last to shield him.' 
 
 "She laughed scornfully, and persons near looked 
 at us in some surprise. Every one but ourselves 
 was hurrying to his destination, and I took her by 
 the arm and began elbowing a way through the 
 crowd. 
 
 " 'Perhaps she hasn't been so deeply wronged ; a 
 woman isn't likely to admit herself the mistress of 
 a married man, and her expected brat an outcast, 
 if she can find some name behind which to screen 
 herself.' 
 
 "She said this on our way to the carriage ; Rich- 
 ard pressed my arm as I took my seat, and I saw 
 that he was deathly pale. I did not know where 
 the house he alluded to was, whether in New Baby- 
 Ion or in some other town. He knew that I must 
 
I02 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 be thinking of this, and hastened to enlighten me. 
 
 " 'We will go to my rooms in Hotel L'Oecident, 
 that you may rest before our long drive/ 
 
 " 'Tell me the meaning of this/ I commanded, 
 the instant we were left alone. 
 
 "I will not weary you with his broken words ; he 
 was a weak man, a guilty man, but he is not a 
 wicked one ; he met Eleanor, the woman known for 
 ten years as my wife ; they loved at sight, and he 
 married her knowing he had a wife in England. 
 That he was temporarily mad to do such a thing 
 I must believe. When that wife came, spurred on 
 by Jealousy, he took refuge behind my name ; I do 
 not think he would have done so had it not been 
 for our aged father, since dead. He was the old 
 man's idol, and it would have brought his gray 
 hairs in dishonor to the grave. He sought not to 
 palliate his crime, nor could anything be said in 
 its palliation ; he was a felon, a cur ; I knew no 
 mercy could be expected irom Anne, and that he 
 must be in prison should she know the truth, nor 
 do I much blame her. And Eleanor ! what sliall 
 I say of this queen of all created women ! her char- 
 ity, her nobility, her greatness of soul were an in- 
 spiration, and I am a better mah for having known 
 her. She set me an example of self-sacrifice and 
 forgiveness, and but feebly have I imitated her. 
 You will say that she had her child to think of, 
 the little stranger then unborn ; true, but in all 
 these years no word of reproach has fallen from her 
 lips. I do not know if she still loves him ; some- 
 times I think not, and my love for him died on that 
 day when I learned what he was. I did not wish to 
 return to England, so gave up college, and to for- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 103 
 
 get myself plunged into jjolitics. I became an agi- 
 tator, and a republic grew out of my personal dis- 
 content; when my father died four years ago Hich- 
 ard and his wife came to Hawouitia to live, and 
 built the Church of the Advent, of which he is 
 pastor." He turned his eyes on me. "For ten 
 years my life was not unbearable; I loved no wo- 
 man, I was fond of Agnes, and I revered her 
 mother; then, one irrevocable day, I rode to my 
 fate, or rather we rode to each other, my fate and I, 
 our paths converged, and the meaning of life was 
 revealed. Even the beasts we rode knew that this 
 was no common meeting, but the fulfilment of an 
 event which had been predestined from the founda- 
 tion of the world; they bore themselves jauntily, 
 for they also knew that they had accomplished the 
 thing for Avhich they had been created," he stretched 
 out his hand, and I left my seat for his knee, "I 
 met my fate, my fate met hers ; borne on the waves 
 of destiny we were lodged beneath one roof. It 
 was permitted me to see her daily, but she avoided 
 me, and fought against her heart; believing me 
 another's she thought me base " 
 
 "No, no," I interrupted. 
 
 "Yes, yes," he smiled, "base and unkind because 
 I pursued her that I might feast my heart upon 
 that which she could not conceal; ah, sweetheart, 
 your every glance was eloquent of the love you 
 strove to hide ; you believed me a married man, but 
 even then," he turned my face to him, "even then 
 you would have gone with me to the end of the 
 world, had I been base enough to require it; yes, 
 you would," he continued, as I shook my head, 
 "you would, for in doing so you would have been 
 
I04 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 acting in conjunction with the law of your being, 
 and you are too true a woman to act against it. 
 You would have gone because you are mine, my 
 other half." 
 
 "No, Robert, and I can not go with you now," 
 his hold on me tightened, and he carried my hand 
 to his lips and hold it there while I spoke, "the 
 phantom which divided us still exists, and by its 
 side stalks a gaunt reality, for I am bound though 
 you be free. I am Kameh Eoohk's wife, and 
 though I loathe him I do not lightly esteem my 
 marriage vows ; I know what you would say," as I 
 saw him about to speak, "I was tricked into the 
 marriage ; agreed, but that shall not make me false 
 to the word of a Demorest" — my father often said 
 that — "if the Republic survives you are still its pres- 
 ident, and 3'ou must not disgrace yourself before a 
 people who have honored you. For years you have 
 lived a lie, and for more than eighteen months you 
 have lived it in the public eye; you have gathered 
 about you an army whose hope of freedom you are, 
 and 3'ou must not reveal your weakness. With the 
 blind, unquestioning faith of a childish race they 
 took to their bosom an alien, and exalted him; 
 they gave him the highest gift it was in their power 
 to bestow, and he must not be the one to rend the 
 bandage from their eyes, and destroy their beauti- 
 ful faith in brother-man by laying bare the mistake 
 they made in reposing trust in the sons of the 
 stranger." 
 
 "Pardon me for interrupting you," he said, "but 
 all this I know, yet it will make no difference in the 
 course I have planned ; if the revolution terminates 
 favorably for the Republic I shall tender my resig- 
 
A Tale Half Told. 105 
 
 nation; if the Crown is victorious then I will have 
 no plans to carry out, and no resignation to send 
 in, all that will be settled for me by the gibbet; 
 but I shall not die until I have first killed him, 
 that you too may be free!" 
 
 "Where are your men ?" I demanded, for it sud- 
 denly struck me as stranccc that no one had en- 
 tered with him. 
 
 "They are at their several posts awaiting the 
 hour of action." 
 
 "Why? how?" 
 
 "I told you when you asked if I had left my 
 army purposely to come to you, that I had for that 
 reason and one other. We are here to capture the 
 renegade king!" 
 
 "How know you that he will come here ?" 
 
 "I am sure of it." 
 
 "But if he should kill you ?" 
 
 "Then the Crown has won." 
 
 "Are you mad to thus jeopardize your cause ?" 
 
 "That my person is of such vital importance to 
 the cause is the more reason that I alone could 
 succeed; the greater the costs of defeat the more 
 urgent the need of success. I fall, the Republic 
 falls, that is for the present, until the people find 
 another leader ; therefore, I must not fall, but the 
 king must." 
 
 "If you succeed in taking him, then he must 
 die?" 
 
 "He secretly worked against the Republic while 
 its sworn official, set plots afoot, and sacrificed the 
 greater part of his private fortune in paying ac- 
 complices and purchasing arms and ammunition; 
 there is but one way to deal with a traitor. But, 
 
io6 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 mi^on, I am keeping you from your slumbers ; go 
 to bed, dear, and dream of me while I watch here 
 and think of you." 
 
 "Eobert," I said, turning on the first stair and 
 laying my hand on hi.? shoulder, "would you feel 
 very badly if you didn't catcli Kameh Eoohk ?" 
 
 "Why, darling," he replied, laughing quizzically, 
 "do you want him to escape ?" 
 
 I turned away without answering, and he stepped 
 back and folded his arms; I glanced back half 
 way up the stairs, and he was looking after me ; I 
 tarried at the head but he did not call me back, 
 and when a minute later I leaned over the balus- 
 trade of the upper hall I saw him sink dejectedly 
 into a chair and lean his forehead on his hand. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ENTER KAMEH ROOHK. 
 
 I WENT to my room but not to bed. Instead I 
 paced the floor, stopping every little while at the 
 window to listen. 
 
 What if the prince came with a larger force than 
 that commanded by the President? The thought 
 paralyzed my brain. Then Kameh Roohk if taken 
 must die. I had no reason to love him, but now 
 that his end seemed in some likelihood near, I was 
 willing that he should live. 
 
 If their encounter could be prevented ! Kameh 
 Eoohk could be met and persuaded to turn back 
 before he reached the castle, by a story of superior 
 numbers ! I stopped again by the window ; rain was 
 no longer falling, but it was misting heavily. I lis« 
 tened and could hear nothing; a profound silence 
 enveloped the night. I began in fancy to people the 
 air with noise of shot and shell, with curses and the 
 groans of dying men ; with his groans — I went 
 swiftly on tip-toe into the hall. He was there, sit- 
 ting in the chair before the grate as when I last 
 looked, and I crept back and opened my closet door. 
 Hanging upon the inside was a long black garment ; 
 I threw this on, drawing the hood over my head. 
 Then I looked at my feet, that they were well shod. 
 
io8 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 and passed stealthily from the room. There were 
 two flights of stairs directly opposite each other, 
 one led to the front of the house, the other to the 
 back ; I chose the latter for I knew that I could not 
 pass the figure b}' the fire. I reached the foot of 
 the stairs without making a sound, and just as 
 noiselessly approached the door. 
 
 "Thalia," called Mr. Crane, without turning, 
 "where are you going?" 
 
 I stood stock still, and my heart took refuge in 
 my mouth; he turned now and looked over his 
 shoulder at me. 
 
 "Xowhere," I said guiltily, dropping my hand 
 from the latch of the door. 
 
 "Then come and take off your rubbers and cloak." 
 
 "I — I — would like to take a walk," I stammered. 
 
 "You will have to wait until morning," he re- 
 turned dryly. 
 
 I retraced my steps to the stairs which I had 
 Just descended. 
 
 "Xot up there," he said coldly, "here," and he 
 pointed to the chair opposite him. 
 
 I felt the tears back of my lids and I choked, 
 for I guessed what was passing in his mind. 
 
 "I was not going to betray you," I burst out. 
 
 "Xo?" 
 
 "No, and you ought to be ashamed to say so." 
 
 He raised his eyebrows. 
 
 "Have I said so?" 
 
 "No, but you look it, and I will not be thought 
 wrong of when I meant no wrong ; I was only go- 
 ing to tell Kameh Eoohk not to come so that you 
 might not meet him and run the chance of being 
 killed." 
 
A Tale Half Told. 109 
 
 The blood sprang to his brow and he left his 
 chair for mine. 
 
 "Hark !" I cried, for a sound had come from 
 without. 
 
 "Go to your room and do not come out while 
 there is firing." 
 
 "They come, sir," shouted a sentinel, opening 
 the door, and in a moment both were gone. 
 
 Upon my knees by my bed I prayed that God 
 might deliver into the hands of Mr. Crane Kameh 
 Roohk and all of his troopers, that not a man of 
 them should stand up before him. I prayed as 
 never in my life I had prayed before. I reminded 
 the Lord of all that He had done for the children 
 of Israel, and implored Him to repeat Himself in 
 modern history. I prayed aloud, and in my ear- 
 nestness my voice rose and rose, until it seemed to 
 my over\\TOught senses to drown the din outside, 
 I do not know at just what point the invocation be- 
 came a threat, but I suddenly became aware that I 
 was daring Almighty God to go contrary to my 
 will. I stopped, my arm upraised in the position 
 I had held it while shaking my fist in the face of 
 my Maker, The noise without had ceased and 
 dead quiet reigned. My arm dropped to the coun- 
 terpane, and I stared across the bed straight into 
 the eyes of Kameh Eoohk. 
 
 "I wonder if you frightened God," he said 
 laughing, and shrugging his shoulders, "perhaps it 
 was terror that paralyzed His arm, thus enabling me 
 to gain a victory." 
 
 "Have 3'ou gained one?" I asked. 
 
 "I have, and your paramour lies downstairs 
 with a bullet in him." 
 
no A Tale Half Told. 
 
 I gasped, and made a rush for the door, but he 
 placed himself before it. 
 
 ''Oh, he is not dead !" he sneered, 'Tietter for 
 him if he were; I might have killed him while he 
 lay at my feet, but I recollected that by doing so 
 you would be robbed of a spectacle ; besides I do not 
 like to run a brave man through when he is down. 
 The fellow fought well, and it seems a pity after all 
 to give such blood to the gibbet, but what is writ- 
 ten must be." 
 
 "You mean to hang him ?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "How soon ?" 
 
 "As soon as he is sufficiently recovered of his 
 present wound to fully enjoy the situation ; there is 
 little pleasure in hanging a man who is half faint- 
 ing from pain, but you shall have the show, never 
 fear !" 
 
 "You may go," I said. 
 
 "Thank you, I am really much fatigued, still I 
 would not have thought of going without your per- 
 mission." He turned, with his hand on the knob of 
 the door, for he had not used the secret panel. 
 "Have you nothing for me before I go?" 
 
 I would not answer him. 
 
 "Perhaps I can offer you a price," he said, ap- 
 proaching me, "one hour on his life for every kiss; 
 what say you, how many am I to have?". 
 
 "As many as you will." 
 
 "Given, I mean, not taken." 
 
 "I understand." 
 
 "Twenty-four," he said, releasing me. "That adds 
 one day to his life; hedies now the day after to- 
 morrow," and he shut tiie door behind him. 
 
A Tale Half Told. iii 
 
 If I could avert tlie end until help could be 
 brought from the army of the Republic ! I walked 
 the floor and pressed my palms to my temples. I 
 could not go myself, for I must be ready to ex- 
 ercise every spell at my command, and if need 
 be 
 
 I went to the bureau, and taking from an upper 
 drawer the revolver, laid it convenient to my hand ; 
 then I lit both candles and placed them in the 
 window; if old Agab should have gone to his hut 
 he would see them, and perhaps know they were 
 meant as a signal for him. Then I waited. 
 
 I watched the clock tick off eleven minutes, then 
 something light struck against the window pane. 
 I struck out the lights with my bare hand, and 
 pushed up the sash. 
 
 "Agab," I said to a bush beneath, 
 
 "Hist ! speak low, there are watches about." 
 
 "Can you hear me like this?" I whispered. 
 
 "Yah, yah." 
 
 "Then haste to the stable, take what looks to 
 you the swiftest horse, and ride with all speed to 
 the Republican camp " 
 
 "Yah, yah, but Where are they?" 
 
 "They are in possession of the town of Oaue, 
 but you may have to pass through the enemy's 
 lines ; do you dare ?"' 
 
 "Yah, yah, Oaue; I reach Oaue, what then?" 
 
 "Tell the one in command there that if he would 
 save his leader he must march on this place with- 
 out delay with the full strength of the regiments 
 at his command; tell him that he will both save 
 the President and capture the King!" 
 
 "I can not do that, your highness." 
 
112 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "The King has fed me, your highness." 
 
 "Well ! I will save the King if you will save 
 the President; will you do it?" 
 
 "Yah, yah, but I will not be let go with a horse, 
 so I will go on my feet to the monastery, there 
 they will lend me one, for I shall not tell them for 
 what purpose I want it. Good-bye, your high- 
 ness." 
 
 "Wait a minute," I said, "are you armed?" 
 
 "I shall be before I start, your highness." 
 
 "And have 3'ou money?" 
 
 "What shall I need of money?" 
 
 "There is always need of money," and I threw 
 him the purse I had with me the night I went to 
 the palace in New Babylon. "And, Agab," I said, 
 as my glance fell upon the revolver I had lain 
 upon the table, "here is something which may help 
 you through the King's lines should j'ou fall into 
 them ; this weapon bears the initials of Kamch 
 Eoohk and the royal coat of arms in amber and 
 gold ; should 3'ou meet the Crown's army show them 
 this and say that the King gave it to you to use 
 as passport in exchange for a service rendered him 
 by you ; you understand ?" 
 
 "Yah, yah, your highness. God be with you." 
 
 "And with you, Agab." 
 
A Tale Half Told. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 I MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO SEE THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Now the hours grew hourly more unendurable. 
 I knew that, barring all delay he could not reach 
 Oaue before evening on the second day, and the 
 extension of time promised expired at sunset of 
 the same. The hours hastened to noon and I had 
 eaten nothing, nor once ceased my walk to and fro, 
 from door to window, and window to door. Black 
 Lily brought me tea and rolls, but I ordered her 
 away with them. From her I learned that the 
 dead were already buried and the wounded being 
 cared for. Kameh Eoohk had been warned of the 
 ambush and came to the castle with the greater 
 part of his army, leaving only a small force in front 
 of Oaue. When the President saw his men out- 
 numbered ten to one, he shouted to them to escape, 
 each man for himself, and with three of his officers 
 covered their retreat as best he could. At this 
 juncture she rolled her eyes and wrung her hands, 
 and so unnerved me that I bade her harshly to be 
 gone. No sooner had she left me, however, when I 
 reproached myself for my want of kindness and 
 rang the bell violently for her return. 
 
 The afternoon wore away and darkness fell; I 
 expected a summons from Kameh Eoohk when I 
 
114 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 did not appear at dinner, but none came ; later I 
 heard his laugh, and it was not fancy, that of a 
 woman also. Black Lily brought up my dinner 
 with strange looks, and tokl me not to be afraid 
 of it for she had prepared it herself, and no other 
 hand had touched it. I ate, and after she had 
 removed the tray and helped me disrobe, I sat up 
 in bed and read to her out of my testament. The 
 bursts of laughter grew more frequent and louder, 
 though not boisterous ; glasses clicked, and now and 
 then snatches of song in a woman's voice rose to 
 my ears. At each fresh outburst Black Lily would 
 cross herself, and when I had finished reading 
 she begged me to repeat a "Hail Mary" after her, 
 which I did to please her, and kissed the cross on 
 her rosary; then she rolled herself in a blanket 
 and lay doAvn on the floor between the door and 
 my bed, nor would she leave me, though I bade 
 her do so. Neither would she have the lights out 
 and I lay and watched them sputter nntil I fell 
 asleep. 
 
 When I awoke the gray pinnacles seen from my 
 window were rose-flushed, and I knew that it was 
 sunrise. Black Lily still slept, so I rose softly for 
 fear of disturbing her, and prepared the bath my- 
 self, and after dressing I sat very still by the 
 window until she wakened. 
 
 During the forenoon I made an attempt to see 
 Mr. Crane, but was not successful, so I went for a 
 long walk with Black Lily, for inaction nearly 
 drove me mad. It was a perfect day, and the white 
 sails skimming the water looked so delusively near 
 that it seemed that I must be heard if I called 
 loud. We gathered ferns and spikes of gorgeous 
 
A Tale Half Told. 115 
 
 crimson flowers, and I thought the while of the 
 evening and what it would bring, and what I could 
 do to prevent it. 
 
 We had turned homewards and were in sight of 
 the castle when we came upon Kameh Eoohk and 
 his friend the sorceress. Black Lily began mutter- 
 ing something unintelligible and tried to draw me 
 aside, but I kept steadily on. Medea made a deep 
 obeisance when we passed — as much to my at- 
 tendant as myself — and Kameh Eoohk swept off 
 his hat; I inclined my head but slightly and hur- 
 ried to be out of their sight. Her laugh followed 
 us. 
 
 The carpenters' work was finished and the sound 
 of their hammers no longer disturbed the air; in- 
 stead a grim shape cut the sunlight in front of my 
 window and yawned wearily for its prey. 
 Throughout the afternoon I watched it, until an 
 hour before the sun set, when I commenced fever- 
 ishly to dress. Never had I taken such pains with 
 my toilet, and never, so it seemed to me, had I 
 met with such unsatisfactory result. The image 
 of the splendid sorceress constantly obtruded itself 
 between the glass and me, and it was with a sinking 
 heart that I left my chamber and went in search 
 of Kameh Eoohk. I met him at the head of the 
 stairs leading to the basement, and I guessed that 
 he had been paying a visit to llr. Crane. He glanced 
 at me indifferently, and would have passed with- 
 out speaking, but I placed myself directly in his 
 way. 
 
 "Well ! what do you want ?" demanded he in a 
 voice of ice. 
 When I left my room I knew exactly what I would 
 
ii6 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 say, and Iiow I would say it, but now anotlicr be- 
 ing, with an entirely different role from the one re- 
 liearsed by me substituted other words for those I 
 had intended using. 
 
 "I want to know how 3'Ou dare bring your mis- 
 tress imder the same roof witli me, j^our wife?" 
 
 For a moment ho stared in astonishment, tlien he 
 laughed and pushed me aside. 
 
 "You are cunning, Delilah, but not cunning 
 enough; now don't cling to me," he added, as I 
 caught his silken belt. 
 
 Defeat faced me, and in my anguish when I 
 thought of him tears choked me. 
 
 "You told me you loved me," I sobbed, • 'Ijut 
 now — just now — when perhaps" — ^but I could say 
 no more from weeping. 
 
 "Do you mean that you have learned to care for 
 me?" he asked. 
 
 "How can I care for you when you don't care 
 for me?" 
 
 "I do care for you." 
 
 "You don't !'" I cried, stamping my foot, "you 
 keep that shameless woman in the house with me, 
 and you erect a gibbet in front of my window when 
 you know that I could not bear to see even you — 
 even your worst enemy hanged !" 
 
 At the suspicion that my thought was for the 
 President his manner changed. 
 
 "I am not to be fooled, madame, by your soft- 
 lipped pretensions; you hope in this way to save 
 your lover." 
 
 "Take refuge behind a lie, since you are tro 
 cowardly to admit the truth." 
 
 "Wliat truth?" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 117 
 
 ''That you rank your mistress higher than your 
 wife." 
 
 "You know that you speak falsely," he cried, 
 following me to the stair as I walked away. "I rank 
 no one higher than you — no, nor anything! not 
 even my kingdom !" 
 
 "You have shown it," I replied, icily, setting my 
 foot upon the stair. 
 
 I shuddered when I felt his arms about me. 
 
 "You shall not leave me believing tliis; I love 
 you, and I will prove it to you by sending her away 
 at once ; I did not want her to come here, but she 
 followed me, the she devil; trust me, Thalia, in- 
 deed, dear, I love only you." 
 
 Now was my time ! I smiled at him through my 
 tears. 
 
 "But you doubt me," I said. "That is not love." 
 
 "You doubt me." 
 
 "I have reason to." 
 
 "You will never have again." 
 
 My lips turned cold as his touched them. 
 
 "And there will be no hanging to-night, Kameh 
 Eoohk?" 
 
 "Cut off the last." 
 
 Oh, how I hated him ! 
 
 "Will there, Kameh?" 
 
 "ATot to-night." 
 
 *'To-morrow ?" 
 
 His face darkened. 
 
 "We shall see." 
 
 A suspicion chilled my blood. 
 
 "Kameh Eoohk," I said, "if you act treacher- 
 ously I will not kill you, but myself." 
 
ii8 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "Give me credit for some honor," he replied, 
 though he turned deadly pale. 
 
 I went up one flight and directly down by the 
 other. 
 
 "The King wishes me to deliver a message to 
 the prisoner," I said to the guard in the basement 
 corridor. 
 
 "The King has just left here," he replied with- 
 out moving. 
 
 "For that reason he did not wish to return with 
 a message wdiich could as well be delivered by an- 
 other." 
 
 "Give me the message." 
 
 "Fellow," I rejoined, haughtily, "do you know 
 who I am?" 
 
 "No, madame," replied he politely, "I do not." 
 
 Before I could answer a step rang on the stone 
 stair and Kameh Eoohk descended. 
 
 "You are in tlie right, Liluanlio, this lady has 
 DO authority to see the prisoner, neither now or at 
 any future time." 
 
 "Are you deceiving me?" I asked, as I went 
 with him to the floor above. 
 
 "You are trying to deceive me," lie returned, 
 "and I warn j-ou to be careful." 
 
 I set my lips in silence, but I resolved that be- 
 fore another day darkened to-night I would see 
 tlie President. 
 
 The troops which had accompanied Kameh 
 Roohk on his return to the castle had been sent 
 back to assist in taking Oaue, and but a small de- 
 tachment remained to guard the King's person. 
 Some of these were running foot-races through the 
 long grass in front of the castle, their uniforms gay 
 
A Tale Half Told. 119 
 
 as the plumage of a scarlet bird. I watched them 
 from the steps while the day drowned in a lake of 
 fire; then the bugle sounded, calling them to their 
 evening's rations. Soon their laughter increased, 
 and I distinguished the voices of the young women 
 of scant attire as they sang their stale and lascivi- 
 ous songs. The sun disappeared behind a wall of 
 clouds like a general behind the smoke of battle, 
 and at length, conquered, he fell and vanished in 
 a sea of blood; the crimson faded to amber, only 
 to give place to a mighty mountain of tender gray, 
 tipped Avith a crown of gold, fitting monument to 
 the memory of that dauntless leader of the legions 
 of Day. 
 
 Always, a scene like this, reminds me of my 
 father. I recall the different shores from which 
 hand in hand, we had watched the sun set. The 
 ignorant and lustful peoples among whom so often 
 our lines had fallen, and his death-bed, red with 
 the victory of a spotless life. His last hour was a 
 £;olden sunset that gave promise of a glorious to- 
 morrow. 
 
I20 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 I SPEAK MY MIND. 
 
 It was of my father I was thinking when 
 Kameh Eoohk came out to me. 
 
 "Aren't you coming in to dinner?" he asked. 
 
 As though an offering from the earth Bhick 
 Lily stood at my elbow, 
 
 "Who dines with us?" I inquired. 
 
 "No one unless you wish it." 
 
 "I do wish it," I replied, freeing my skirts from 
 the convulsive jerks of Black Lily's hands. "Have 
 the weaver of charms by all means." 
 
 "Doan yusc eat nufin whar dat she-debbil am," 
 groaned the poor black in my ear. 
 
 I placed my finger upon her lips, and Kameh 
 Eoohk smiled. 
 
 "I am quite capable of protecting my wife, even 
 against the spells of a sorceress," he said, "but your 
 devotion shall not go unrewarded ; here is some- 
 thing to look at," and he threw her a piece of 
 gold, "and for something to do, you may stand 
 back of her chair and watch all that passes to 
 her." 
 
 One thing that never varied in the household 
 of Kameh Roolik was the excellence of the dinner 
 and the perfection of Ihe service ; one coukl exhaust 
 the vocabulary of praise on the savory dishes. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 121 
 
 While I ate I could but notice the daintiness of the 
 manner in which he and his mistress held the bits 
 of meat between their fingers. The custom of 
 eating sitting tailor-fashion upon the floor, which 
 had been practiced by his ancestors, was abolished 
 when the Crown became Christian, and we sat at 
 table. As the meal progressed I became more and 
 more fascinated by the superb, insinuating, dust- 
 brown beauty of Medea. Her breath exhaled the 
 odor of roses, she lounged, but did not lie upon 
 the table, her teeth flashed, and the room rang 
 with her enchanting laughter. I was conscious of 
 a certain feeling of disappointment that I was not 
 a man. 
 
 "Wing," said Kameh Roohk, "give me madame's 
 wine and pass her mine." He took a swallow from 
 his glass before it was passed me. He also tasted 
 each dish before I was served. 
 
 "You will now see," he said, after dinner was 
 over, "that I have full confidence in every one be- 
 neath my roof; I do not believe that any one will 
 attempt the life of my wife, but if they should do 
 so they must also strike me ; Medea," turning to 
 tlie sorceress, "my Queen justly resents your pres- 
 ence in this house. I must, accordingly, ask you 
 not to prolong your stay beyond to-night. To- 
 morrow under proper escort you may return to 
 your home." 
 
 Medea rose and came slowly toward us, for he 
 had come to stand beside me as he spoke, he now 
 stepped in front of ne. 
 
 "So this is my dismissal, is it?" she demanded, 
 
 "It could be considered nothing else/' rejoined 
 he. 
 
122 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "My love for you counts nothing?" 
 
 "Nothing by the side of my love for another." 
 
 "Boast !" she hissed, "you will tire of her as you 
 have of me !" 
 
 "Perhaps," replied ho coolly, "but as my wife 
 she will have rather the best of the situation, 
 where you have not." 
 
 "And you taunt me, cur!" 
 
 "You provoked it — now, don't make a scene," 
 he continued, as the great tears gathered in her 
 eyes. 
 
 I felt a contempt for him then surpassing all 
 my loathing of the past. 
 
 "No, don't make a scene," I entreated, stepping 
 suddenly to the front, "he is not worth it." 
 
 Had the painted god on the door panel sprung 
 into active life it could not have created greater 
 consternation ; the tears on Medea's lashes forgot 
 to drop and Black Lily staggered to the window 
 as though she would make her escape by that 
 means. Kameh Roohk turned on me a face that 
 was dark-red. 
 
 "What specie of female kind arc you?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 "A specie which despises that of which you are 
 the male," I retorted. 
 
 "What have I done now, red saint?" 
 
 "You have insulted a woman who. loves you; 
 who has shared your perils, pleasures, your tri- 
 umphs and defeat ; you have humiliated her before 
 the rival she hates, but hor humiliation is your 
 humiliation, and her shame is also yours. I asked 
 you to send her away, it is true, but it was only 
 to play upon you as you have played upon her. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 123 
 
 it was because 1 had an end to obtain as you had 
 an end to obtain, and jealousy had no part in 
 the game I played. I love other than you, as you 
 love other than her, but know that I had rather 
 see him hanged, yes, and the whole race hanged, 
 yes, and myself mount the gibbet than to make my- 
 self the creature of a man without a heart. Oh ! 
 I know what you will do, no need to threaten; 
 bring him here, tear him limb from limb in my 
 presence ! dishonor me before his eyes ! Still will 
 I know that he would rather see me dead a thou- 
 sand times than your willing prey !" 
 
 Having now delivered the longest speech of my 
 whole life, I stopped to re>^t. 
 
 "Oh, oh, debbil ! debbil ! dis am yuse kingdom !" 
 rolled in groans from the window. 
 
 "Ah, but he cannot bring him here !'' shrieked 
 Medea, starting in at the pitch in which I had 
 finished. "Do you think, you fool" — I did not like 
 the term — "that he would have let him live until 
 now had he had him in his power ! He escaped 
 that very night, fighting like a white devil; be- 
 neath his coat he was armor-clad, and the bullets 
 glanced aside as did ■ the swords ; he dashed into 
 groups that were surrounding his men, slashing 
 right and left with his naked sword! Oh, it was 
 glorious to see him ! The King's men fell beneath 
 his blows like wheat before the scythe; oh, it was 
 grand! Into the tempest he charged, calling 
 upon his men to save themselves if they could and 
 wait for him in the Republican camp ; hands raised 
 to drag him from his saddle were struck off at the 
 wrist, curses followed him and a volley of balls, 
 but still he lived ! One horse was shot under him, 
 
124 ^A Tale Half Told. 
 
 and ho leaped to another, that one fell and he rode 
 another ! At length he began his retreat, rushing 
 off with the enemy hot at his heel^, now turning 
 and driving them back, now pushing on after his 
 fleeing soldiers, until at last his pursuers gave up 
 the chase and returned to the castle, beaten, the 
 whole lot of them, by one man ! Oh, it was mar- 
 vellous I" 
 
 "Which side are you on?" I asked, when she 
 stopped to take breath and throw back the long 
 black hair which had fallen in a veil over her bosom 
 during this dramatic recital. 
 
 She shook her raven tresses, and burst into be- 
 witching laughter. 
 
 "The King's, pale fool. I am a Hawouitian, 
 though I be despised of my sovereign; above the 
 wearied lover sits the King, the prince of my peo- 
 ple, and in Medea's heart no personal injury can 
 him dethrone !" 
 
 And he scorned this woman, and preferred me; 
 my contempt turned to pity for his distorted judg- 
 ment. I looked at him and he at me, then he 
 laughed and went to tlie door. 
 
 "Since you appear amiably disposed toward one 
 another," he remarked, "I think it perfectly safe 
 to leave you unmuzzled, and remove the high board 
 fence that divides you ; when you have talked it 
 over let me know what you decide," and he passed 
 through the hall and outer door into the night 
 beyond. 
 
 "He loves you," said Medea, contemptuously, 
 when the sound of his footsteps had died away, 
 "you ! you !" and she laughed musically if some- 
 what wildly. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 12^ 
 
 That is all the thanks we get from some people 
 in this world. 
 
 "Look upon yourself !" she cried, pointing to a 
 mirror, ''upon yourself and then upon me." 
 
 I knew it, but what was the use of eternally 
 harping upon it. 
 
 "Can you do better than this?" she continued, 
 her voice rising, as she bared her dark, firm 
 breast. 
 
 "I shall not attempt to," I rejoined coldly, as I 
 laid my hand in Black Lily's, and passed in this 
 manner from the room. 
 
126 A Talc Half Told. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 RETRIBUTION. 
 
 A LIGHT wind which had risen from tho ocean 
 after the coming of evening, had gradually in- 
 creased, and was now steadying to a gale ; the long 
 grass writhed and hissed in its breath, while the 
 sea danced and sported before it. No longer the 
 laughter of the soldiers could be heard, or the songs 
 of the women. At one moment its howl seemed the 
 only sound in this quarter of the globe, the next it 
 seemed shrieking purposely to drown multitudi- 
 nous noises. The stars hung low, and Diana, 
 heavih'' veiled in a pale cloiul, clave the dark vault 
 overhead. Black Lily brought up a great basin of 
 glowing coals and placed it on the floor, after which 
 she locked the door carefully, and rolling herself in 
 a blanket lay down on the floor to sleep ; I knelt by 
 the window, my face to the ocean and thought and 
 thought. 
 
 The affairs of this world were fast getting be- 
 yond my control. Sometlving was wrong some- 
 where, else why was I repeatedly tricked ? Twice 
 had I been cozened by tho same person. I a 
 Demorest and part Greek ! I knew now that noth- 
 ing that I could offer, or heaven bestow could pre- 
 vail upon Kameh Eoohk to show mercy to Mr. 
 Crane, nor ever had. He had let me believe that he 
 
A Tale Half Told. 127 
 
 would spare him for a price, but lie had lied. He 
 was a liar, and a prince of liars, and I was an easy 
 dupe. Yea, a silly creature, who much over-rated 
 her powers of fascination. But I had paid the 
 penalty of my conceit. Those twenty-five kisses 
 burned upon my lips and I crimsoned with disgust 
 and rubbed my handkerchief violently across them. 
 Mr. Crane had never been completely in Ms power ; 
 and if ever the hour came ! The gallows creaked 
 in the wind and I shuddered and laid my face on 
 my arms. 
 
 I was roused by my pet cat striking playfully at 
 the loose locks of hair about my ears. I gathered 
 the soft, gray thing to my bosom and I felt the 
 sympathetic thrill of his dainty body as he purred 
 against my throat. Suddenly I stared deeper into 
 the night and rubbed my eyes. 
 
 On the white of the beach appeared a dark, mov- 
 ing line. It seemed to pour out from behind a 
 huge bowlder, and lengthened like a black ribbon 
 loosed from its roll. On it came, noiselessly and 
 without haste. Then a sharp cry rose from a 
 wakened sentinel, and was echoed in the camp, and 
 spread wildly through the t^nts of sleeping men, 
 and to the castle. There were confused cries and a 
 blind rushing of men into the arms of the foe. I 
 set down the cat and made a rush for the door lead- 
 ing into the hall, shaking Black Lily as I passed. 
 I slipped back the bolt and had turned the knob 
 when a deafening roar rent the air and the door 
 flew back, throwing me violently to the floor. I 
 fell across Black Lily, thereby sustaining no in- 
 jury myself, but terrifying her beyond power of 
 speech. I slipped from her grasp, and leaving her 
 
128 'A Tale Half Told. 
 
 to recover her wits as best she could, sped through 
 the hall to the stair. The hall was in blackness 
 save for the dark radiance of night which streamed 
 through the door, opened wide. Dark forms were 
 surging through this opening, uttering no sound 
 and breaking the silence only with their shuffling 
 feet and quick breathing. Then a command rang 
 out sharp and clear: 
 
 "Bring a torch, some one. Stand back there, 
 men, don't crowd." 
 
 I caught my breath and ran half way of the stair, 
 then stopped. 
 
 A torch not kindled by order of the President 
 suddenly lit the hall with a sheet of flame, and 
 played upon a ghastly spectacle. A glint of shim- 
 mering silk caught its rays and threw them upon a 
 human head with face disfigured past recognition; 
 a little to one side was stretched the stalwart figure 
 of the King, in j)rincely and resplendent garb. 
 Pale and calm in this sea of fire stood the Presi- 
 dent, and behind him, far out in the night, grew 
 and grew a sea of human faces, then he cried out 
 loudly : 
 
 "Carry them out and save whoever may be in the 
 house beside," and made a dash up the stairs. 
 
 I fled before him, though he called upon me to 
 stop, for I remembered Black Lily and my fright- 
 ened cat. The room was lighted from the flames 
 below, and I descried Black Lily standing, black 
 and awful, in the middle of the floor, holding at 
 arm's length the struggling body of the cat whose 
 throat she clutched with the frenzy of madness. I 
 shrieked and snatched the poor little creature from 
 her grasp ; it gasped and died in my hands. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 129 
 
 Holding my dead pet under one arm, with the 
 other hand I pushed the frenzied black into the 
 arms of Mr. Crane. He threw a blanket over her 
 head and rushed through the door. 
 
 "Wait here/' he shouted from a billow of smoke. 
 
 It was evident, from the nature of the fire, that 
 the explosion had come from the inside. The King 
 had probably been loading his rifle near the grate, 
 or perhaps Medea held the powder flask, standing 
 too near the hungry red embers. Clouds of smoke 
 began to pour into the room from the hall, so I 
 closed the door and went over to the window to wait 
 until he should return. A shout rose from outside 
 and I leaned out to see the President stagger down 
 the steps with his enormous burden and fling her 
 with scant ceremony at the crowd, after which he 
 turned to enter the house again by the door, but I 
 called to him from the window. 
 
 "Don't jump, sweetheart," he cried, running to- 
 ward me, and raising his face from which perspira- 
 tion streamed through a grimy coat of smoke. 
 
 Quickly a ladder was procured which I could 
 have descended, I am sure, without assistance, but 
 it was no time to parley, so I allowed him to go 
 down it with me, bundle fashion under his arm. 
 
 Shortly after daybreak the flames were extin- 
 guished, and Mr. Crane came to the tent where I 
 was domiciled Math Black Lily. He had washed 
 the smoke from his face, but the ends of his hair 
 were singed, and his uniform much scorched. 
 
 "The woman is dead," he said, when he had 
 touched m.y bond with his lips. 
 
 "And the King?" 
 
130 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 "lie will live, God pity him ; but he is blind, and 
 disfigured for life." 
 
 "Is he conscious?" 
 
 ''Scarcely." 
 
 "I will go to him," I said, rising. 
 
 Several days slipped by and the quiet of that 
 desert valley became a thing of the past. Couriers 
 rode furiously to the President's quarters, and 
 freshly mounted, galloped away again. The quick- 
 ening surf of a living ocean roared about us, the 
 air beat with the stirring pulse of great events; 
 the heart of that mountain solitude had been pene- 
 trated by a master. More days passed, a declara- 
 tion of peace was signed, and Hawouitia was again 
 a Kcpublic. Meantime, oblivious of the affairs of 
 men, indifferent to the throw of dice, the deposed 
 King slept under quieting narcotics through the 
 long days, and slept again at night. 
 
 One afternoon, it was in the glow of a golden 
 dusk, Mr. Crane told me that we were all to start 
 for 'New Babylon early the following morning. We 
 were walking upon the beach, where once I had 
 walked with Kameh Roohk. At the words I looked 
 past him down the narrow vista of our mountain 
 world to the gray tent where lay that -misguided 
 and unfortunate prince. 
 
 "And what of him ?" I asked, inclining my head 
 in that direction. 
 
 "He will be left with attendants and a surgeon, 
 who will do everything it lies in human power 
 to do to prolong his life and make him comfort- 
 able." 
 
 "You will let him live?" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 131 
 
 "A price will be upon the head of any one who 
 seeks in any way to shorten his life." 
 
 I turned my back upon the tent and gazed wide 
 over the desolate ocean. 
 
 "I will tender my resignation as soon as the most 
 important of national affairs are settled," he went 
 on, ''and then we will go away, you and I, to that 
 country known as America, and you will be my 
 wife." 
 
 "And my previous marriage?" 
 
 "Will be set aside ; it is a phantom, a thread, and 
 I do not believe it would hold in a court of inquiry ; 
 at any rate a divorce will be easily procured." 
 
 The sun sinking behind the low mainland dyed 
 the waves blood red ; over the sea circled a single 
 gull, and she wheeled and wheeled in that limit- 
 less space, until, uttering a weird, unearthly shriek, 
 she shot straight over our heads in the direction of 
 the pale tent. 
 
 "Eobert," and I stretched my arms high, then 
 locked my fingers back of my head and looked into 
 his eyes, "your life has been governed by the love 
 of courage, the love of honor, the love of a spotless 
 name, and the love' of God in man, now shall all 
 this be undone by the love of a -^.oman? Ah, dear 
 heart, it is for hours such as these that laws are 
 made, and codes of honor drafted. Besides, there 
 are laws that have never known the printer's ink 
 that are ingrafted on the human soul. Think of 
 him, bruised, broken, blinded, hopes blasted, am- 
 bition dead ! He has left but life to lose — life and 
 me. Life ! that to him is a mockery, an empty 
 word; but me he loves. I am all he has, his one 
 
132 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ewe lamb, and the David does not live who can take 
 me from him !" 
 
 Having now made next to the longest speech of 
 my whole life, I stopped, again to rest. 
 
 But now, now, it was not a man I scorned who 
 faced me, not a seducer of women, and a mocker 
 of their wrongs ; but the man I loved, a gentleman ! 
 a knight ! But a very modern knight, for he turned 
 first red, then white, then red again. 
 
 "And you are going to leave me for him ?" 
 
 "I am not going to leave him for you. There is 
 a slight diiference, the same but not tho same," I 
 hurried on nervously, "yes, a difference, the same, 
 but no " 
 
 "I see no difference," he broke in passionately, 
 "I too love you, and I too want you !" 
 
 "You may want me, but you do not need me as 
 he does; you " 
 
 "Yes, I do need you," he broke in again, though 
 I protest he is a gentleman, "your image draws me 
 day and night, night and day! It slips between 
 me and every other being, every other desire. Your 
 voice calls me always, ever; from the deeps of my 
 life, from the deeps of my soul, from the deeps of 
 my love ! ah ! Thalia, you said that you loved me." 
 
 "I do love you," I cried from my yearning heart. 
 
 "How can you say so when you throw me over? 
 ■when you turn your back upon me and bid me leave 
 vou, dearest, that is not love." 
 
 "It is." 
 
 "No, dear, you can not love me." 
 
 I beat my clenched fists together, maddened that 
 he should doubt my love; that love which was a 
 
'And are you going to leave me for him?" 
 
A Tale Half Told. 133 
 
 part of my being ; linked to the white of my spirit, 
 the red of my flesh. 
 
 "I love you ! I love you ! I love you !" and I fin- 
 ished with a stamp of my foot. 
 
 The blood surged in a wave to his hair ; he leaned 
 forward and caught my wrists. 
 
 "No more than I love you, my saint, beauteous 
 marble with pulse of flame! Oh, Thalia, can we 
 live apart?" 
 
 "What must be can be," I replied. 
 
 "But must it be ?" 
 
 "Yes, Eobert, it must; so please be good to me 
 and help me to be strong." 
 
 "I am always good to you," he sighed sadly, 
 "but you are never good to me." 
 
 Now every one knows that this statement was, 
 from every point of view, false, but a long life with 
 my good father had taught me the utter futility of 
 arguing with a man, so I let it stand, and began 
 painting in glowing colors our next lease of life; 
 when we should walk this earth again, and get 
 acquainted again, and feel again the little thrills 
 of the awakening of love, which were never quite 
 the same after one really was in love, and how all 
 of our sufferings this time might be turned to good 
 account another time, and much more like this. 
 But it brought him little comfort, for men are 
 strange beings, who appear to know only one time 
 and that this Minute ! He called my avowed belief 
 that our affinitive souls must be united on earth 
 some time, somehow, one of my 'idiosyncrasies,' al- 
 though he himself had told me not long before that 
 I was his fate. Well, few of us are consistent. 
 
 The next morning Kameh Roohk was moved into 
 
134 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 the castle, for only the front of the building was 
 burned, and the other rooms had been fitted up for 
 our use. Black Lily and the gardener only staid 
 with us, for Kameh Eoohk had spent a fortune in 
 arms and other equipments for the revolution, and 
 was no longer a rich man. 
 
 In the afternoon I sat on the stone steps, which 
 were unimpaired, and watched the Republic's sol- 
 diers depart for their boats. There was a sharp 
 command, "Forward, fours right, fours left into 
 line, halt!" and then they marched away to the 
 music of life and drum, playing strains familiar 
 to many a land, "The Girl I Left Behind Me." 
 
 He did not command the troops, but came to me 
 where I sat looking after their moving backs, and 
 baring his head, knelt at my feet. 
 
 "Good-bye, my love," he said, carrying one of my 
 hands to his lips. 
 
 "Good-bye, my lover," and I laid the other upon 
 his head, "and God be with you !" 
 
 "And with you." 
 
 We kissed solemnly, and he went away, turning 
 three times to lift his hat, and catch the kiss I 
 waited him. Then the bowlder hid him. 
 
 I listened to the splash of oars, which to-day no 
 wind drowned. Then fell the silence, and my loDg- 
 ing for him grew w4th the awful stillness. 
 
A Tale Half Told. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 I AM LEFT ALONE. 
 
 "Is the clay fair, Thalia ?" 
 
 "Most fair, Kameh; the sky is sapphire, the 
 waters blue, glossy black, and treacherous green ; 
 far out upon the waves rides a brave ship, the sun 
 lights to gold the sands at our feet. If you will 
 but raise your head you will feel its rays upon your 
 face." 
 
 "I keep my head lowered, Thalia, that my dis- 
 figured visage may the less offend your eyes ; ah, 
 sleeping or waking there is ever present to my 
 mind the haunting knowledge that you look upon 
 my disfigurement while I may not see your dear 
 face; this pain is wedded to that other pain in my 
 heart, the pain of remorse. I wronged you, Thalia, 
 I tricked and cheated you ; I took advantage of your 
 love for another to bind your life to mine. Hoping 
 against hope for the happiness which your love 
 alone could give I pressed the thorn deeper in my 
 heart. Crowned with the pride of my beauty, my 
 strength, my noble birth, I would not for an in- 
 stant admit the possibility of your never loving me, 
 and I sowed the dragon's teeth that have sprung up 
 a crop of armed men to destroy me. My beauty, 
 where is it? My strength, what is strength to a 
 blind man ? True, Samson with blind strength de- 
 
136 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 stroyed his enemies, but my enemies have been 
 transformed into my friends ; tlie one enemy I ever 
 feared (she whom I love) has become my eyes, her 
 shoulder the staff upon Avhicli I lean. My noble 
 birth ! Has blood royal been able to keep a coronet 
 upon my brow? All is transitory, all a fading 
 flower, all save love; upon this axis the world re- 
 volves forever, showing at each turn a change of 
 countenance in response to the different fingers 
 swept along its keys. When I took oath I had not 
 meant to break it, but then I met you and you 
 loved the President, the man who walked with care- 
 less ease the halls of my forefathers; I was mad- 
 dened at your seeming indifference to the bonds 
 which made him another's, and his ill-concealed 
 passion for yourself, and I betrayed the Eepublic I 
 had sworn to uphold. I have never been sorry that 
 I did. Sorrier ain I that I forgot my birth, and 
 sold my birthright for a mess of pottage! and sor- 
 rier still for the wreckage I have made of your life ; 
 yet you have said that you forgive me; tell me 
 again that you do, Thalia." 
 
 "I forgive you, Kameh." 
 
 "With all your heart?" 
 
 "Yea, with all my heart, and all my soul ; and if 
 pity be akin to love then I love you too." 
 
 "All my life I have believed that I had rather 
 die than be an object of pity, but pity from you is 
 not the thing I have always thought it ; it does not 
 humiliate, but by it I am elevated It is a year 
 now, Thalia, since you gave up the world from 
 pity, pity of me ! couriers bring us news of II10 re- 
 fusal of President Crane to serve another term, the 
 contention among the people over the nomination 
 
A Tale Half Told. 137 
 
 of a new candidate, and the probabiliiy of a re- 
 stored monarchy. But my ambition is dead^ I 
 would not now be king an I coukl, and content am 
 I that in the palace at New Babylon shall dwell 
 the 'sons of the stranger.' " 
 
 His face was turned from me, his head held 
 down, his hat brought low over his forehead as was 
 now his custom when in my presence. I pitied — 
 and had it not been for another, I might have loved 
 him. But that other lived forever in my heart. 
 Above death, stronger than life, ever first and ever 
 last. Alike in the flush of the sun's rise, in the 
 sapphire of noon, in the crimson of the sunset, in 
 the pale dusk of evening, and under the heavy man- 
 tle of night there was for me but one vision. Slen- 
 der and straight, graceful and strong he marked 
 the way before me, turning to look upon me as he 
 went. Robert! Robert! Robert! 
 
 The sunset came, and the ocean lay beneath its 
 tinted clouds in waves of roseate hue. A dank still- 
 ness was upon the land and upon the endless waters. 
 The sun went to rest, and darkness entered our 
 mountain corridor. . In the distance we heard Agab 
 singing his Arab songs, sitting in the door of his 
 hut. i took Kameh Koohk's hand and put it upon 
 my shoulder, and we returned to the castle and our 
 waiting dinner. Afterward in the starlight, sit- 
 ting upon the high, wide steps with the long grass 
 whispering beneath us and the giant precipices cut- 
 ting the spangled sky above, I filled his pipe and 
 lit it for him, and he told me of the customs of his 
 dark and kingly ancestors. He spoke simply, 
 though arrogant by nature, and a man of much 
 conceit. With his face turned from me and to- 
 
138 
 
 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 ward the dark sea, lie quietly described the dignity 
 of his princely fathers, and their love for the shy, 
 brown maidens they took for wife. He told me 
 tales of graceful gazelles, painted, and with flowers 
 and feathers in their loose hair, and gold and sil- 
 ver rings upon their slim ankles, w^ho danced with 
 slow and perfect time before the chiefs and war- 
 riors; of the beauty of their eyes, and the supple- 
 ness of their dark limbs; a fantastic picture, un- 
 real as the pageants of our dreams. 
 
 Then the wind came up from the sea and we went 
 indoors. In like fashion did the days pass. 
 
 Ofttimes I would sit in the evenings and watch 
 his drooping face gleam amber-pale by the candles' 
 light, and in my great pity for that crushed and 
 broken spirit I had it in my heart to curse the hour 
 that had wrought this hellish change. 
 
 One evening, it was while the sullen red sunset 
 of a tempestuous day flared from the horizon across 
 the wind-swept sands of my desolate Avorld, I sat 
 down on the stone sill of an oriel window to think 
 awhile in the seclusion of my own room while wait- 
 ing for my husband's call to lead him downstairs to 
 our evening meal. It was the anniversary of my 
 marriage, and melancholy memories greeted me at 
 dawn and clung to my spirits throughout the day, 
 reviving the pain which time had in some degree 
 dulled. The anniversary of the day when the sun 
 of my girlhood had passed into almost total eclipse. 
 Since then I had been moving in changeless twi- 
 light, pierced by the radiance of but one star — the 
 certainty of Jiis love. All day I had been mocked 
 by visions of what "might have been." Why, in 
 the ideal brain, is the witchery of hallowed illusions 
 
A Tale Half Told. 139 
 
 never dispelled? Why do lost hopes blossom eter- 
 nally ? 
 
 Yet, hope had set in my sky, and only a pale 
 afterglow held off the heaviness of night. I sought 
 by closing my eyes to see only the burning plough- 
 shares over which I had walked, and to still the stir- 
 ing depths of a love which (in letter) was unlawful, 
 but (in spirit) God knew. And I knew that God 
 knew — and God knew that I kept my face stead- 
 fastly turned to the pole-star of duty, where the 
 compass of conscience pointed, — and as we knew, 
 both God and I, — what matters the opinion of men ? 
 
 I repeat that I leave this writing for my future 
 use. It is possible that this book may die before I 
 do. It is even possible that it may never live ex- 
 cept in my brain and the contempt of the pub- 
 lisher's critic; yet, assuming that it falls into the 
 world's lap a lusty child, it is doubtless supposing 
 a gi-eat deal in hoping that it will be read by a com- 
 ing generation, of which I expect to make one. 
 
 However, it is my hope. 
 
 The sun set, and a young moon rose pale above 
 the mountains, still my husband did not call. The 
 dinner bell had sounded a half-hour before, and 
 then Black Lily came. to inquire the cause of our 
 delay. I left my seat in the window and went into 
 the hall to his door. I was about to rap when my 
 ear caught the sound of a heavy sob, muffled and 
 deep. Without ceremony I turned the knob and 
 entered. 
 
 He was lying face down upon the bed, his head 
 buried in pillows; convulsive sobs shook his stal- 
 wart frame. It was the superb vanquished, dis- 
 
I40 A Tale Half Told. 
 
 armed, humiliated, wrestling with the giant De- 
 spair. 
 
 A great love — surpassing anything I had ever 
 known — flooded my soul with a sea of tenderness. 
 Unlike my passion for another, interfering with it 
 in no way, and superior to all flesh, it rose sub- 
 limely pure, a clear white flame kindled in our 
 kinship to God, 
 
 Black Lily stood at my elbow, her great eyes roll- 
 ing, and her huge body trembling with excitement, 
 and while we hesitated he moved his hand from be- 
 neath the pillow, there was a flash, a report, and 
 the sobs ceased. 
 
 There is little left worth telling. A few lines 
 and this narrative is ended. He was buried by the 
 brothers from the Monastery, with all honors due 
 his rank. Oft at the hour when the sun dawns we 
 visit his grave, old Agab, Black Lily and I ; and 
 again when the day is closing and the air grown 
 dusk. Thus do I await an hour that shall sweep 
 all obstacles away, and I may lay my hand in that 
 of Mr. Crane, and bid good-bye to old Agab, and we 
 go away together, I and Mr. Crane, with Black 
 Lily, to a country that leads the world, where, 
 though I shall not be a President's wife, I may yet 
 be a President's mother. Who knows ? 
 
 THE END.