CHAPTER XVI
BEFORE THE STATUE
It was night -- dead night -- and the silence lay on the
Frowning City like a cloud.
Secretly, as evildoers, Sir Henry Curtis, Umslopogaas, and myself
threaded our way through the passages towards a by-entrance to
the great Throne Chamber. Once we were met by the fierce rattling
challenge of the sentry. I gave the countersign, and the man
grounded his spear and let us pass. Also we were officers of
the Queens' bodyguard, and in that capacity had a right to come
and go unquestioned.
We gained the hall in safety. So empty and so still was it,
that even when we had passed the sound of our footsteps yet echoed
up the lofty walls, vibrating faintly and still more faintly
against the carven roof, like ghosts of the footsteps of dead
men haunting the place that once they trod.
It was an eerie spot, and it oppressed me. The moon was full,
and threw great pencils and patches of light through the high
windowless openings in the walls, that lay pure and beautiful
upon the blackness of the marble floor, like white flowers on
a coffin. One of these silver arrows fell upon the statue of
the sleeping Rademas, and of the angel form bent over him, illumining
it, and a small circle round it, with a soft clear light, reminding
me of that with which Catholics illumine the altars of their
cathedrals.
Here by the statue we took our stand, and waited. Sir Henry
and I close together, Umslopogaas some paces off in the darkness,
so that I could only just make out his towering outline leaning
on the outline of an axe.
So long did we wait that I almost fell asleep resting against
the cold marble, but was suddenly aroused by hearing Curtis give
a quick catching breath. Then from far away there came a little
sound as though the statues that lined the walls were whispering
to each other some message of the ages.
It was the faint sweep of a lady's dress. Nearer it grew, and
nearer yet. We could see a figure steal from patch to patch
of moonlight, and even hear the soft fall of sandalled feet.
Another second and I saw the black silhouette of the old Zulu
raise its arm in mute salute, and Nyleptha was before us.
Oh, how beautiful she looked as she paused a moment just within
the circle of the moonlight! Her hand was pressed upon her heart,
and her white bosom heaved beneath it. Round her head a broidered
scarf was loosely thrown, partially shadowing the perfect face,
and thus rendering it even more lovely; for beauty, dependent
as it is to a certain extent upon the imagination, is never so
beautiful as when it is half hid. There she stood radiant but
half doubting, stately and yet so sweet. It was but a moment,
but I then and there fell in love with her myself, and have remained
so to this hour; for, indeed, she looked more like an angel out
of heaven than a loving, passionate, mortal woman. Low we bowed
before her, and then she spoke.
'I have come,' she whispered, 'but it was at great risk. Ye
know not how I am watched. The priests watch me. Sorais watches
me with those great eyes of hers. My very guards are spies upon
me. Nasta watches me too. Oh, let him be careful!' and she
stamped her foot. 'Let him be careful; I am a woman, and therefore
hard to drive. Ay, and I am a Queen, too, and can still avenge.
Let him be careful, I say, lest in place of giving him my hand
I take his head,' and she ended the outburst with a little sob,
and then smiled up at us bewitchingly and laughed.
'Thou didst bid me come hither, my Lord Incubu' (Curtis had taught
her to call him so). 'Doubtless it is about business of the
State, for I know that thou art ever full of great ideas and
plans for my welfare and my people's. So even as a Queen should
I have come, though I greatly fear the dark alone,' and again
she laughed and gave him a glance from her grey eyes.
At this point I thought it wise to move a little, since secrets
'of the State' should not be made public property; but she would
not let me go far, peremptorily stopping me within five yards
or so, saying that she feared surprise. So it came to pass that,
however unwillingly, I heard all that passed.
'Thou knowest, Nyleptha,' said Sir Henry, 'that it was for none
of these things that I asked thee to meet me at this lonely place.
Nyleptha, waste not the time in pleasantry, but listen to me,
for -- I love thee.'
As he said the words I saw her face break up, as it were, and
change. The coquetry went out of it, and in its place there
shone a great light of love which seemed to glorify it, and make
it like that of the marble angel overhead. I could not help
thinking that it must have been a touch of prophetic instinct
which made the long dead Rademas limn, in the features of the
angel of his inspiring vision, so strange a likeness of his own
descendant. Sir Henry, also, must have observed and been struck
by the likeness, for, catching the look upon Nyleptha's face,
he glanced quickly from it to the moonlit statue, and then back
again at his beloved.
'Thou sayest thou dost love me,' she said in a low voice, 'and
thy voice rings true, but how am I to know that thou dost speak
the truth?'
'Though,' she went on with proud humility, and in the stately
third person which is so largely used by the Zu-Vendi, 'I be
as nothing in the eyes of my lord,' and she curtseyed towards
him, 'who comes from among a wonderful people, to whom my people
are but children, yet here am I a queen and a leader of men,
and if I would go to battle a hundred thousand spears shall sparkle
in my train like stars glimmering down the path of the bent moon.
And although my beauty be a little thing in the eyes of my lord,'
and she lifted her broidered skirt and curtseyed again, 'yet
here among my own people am I held right fair, and ever since
I was a woman the great lords of my kingdom have made quarrel
concerning me, as though forsooth,' she added with a flash of
passion, 'I were a deer to be pulled down by the hungriest wolf,
or a horse to be sold to the highest bidder. Let my lord pardon
me if I weary my lord, but it hath pleased my lord to say that
he loves me, Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, and therefore
would I say that though my love and my hand be not much to my
lord, yet to me are they all.'
'Oh!' she cried, with a sudden and thrilling change of voice,
and modifying her dignified mode of address. 'Oh, how can I
know that thou lovest but me? How can I know that thou wilt
not weary of me and seek thine own place again, leaving me desolate?
Who is there to tell me but that thou lovest some other woman,
some fair woman unknown to me, but who yet draws breath beneath
this same moon that shines on me tonight? Tell me how am I to
know?' And she clasped her hands and stretched them out towards
him and looked appealingly into his face.
'Nyleptha,' answered Sir Henry, adopting the Zu-Vendi way of
speech; 'I have told thee that I love thee; how am I to tell
thee how much I love thee? Is there then a measure for love?
Yet will I try. I say not that I have never looked upon another
woman with favour, but this I say that I love thee with all my
life and with all my strength; that I love thee now and shall
love thee till I grow cold in death, ay, and as I believe beyond
my death, and on and on for ever: I say that thy voice is music
to my ear, and thy touch as water to a thirsty land, that when
thou art there the world is beautiful, and when I see thee not
it is as though the light was dead. Oh, Nyleptha, I will never
leave thee; here and now for thy dear sake I will forget my people
and my father's house, yea, I renounce them all. By thy side
will I live, Nyleptha, and at thy side will I die.'
He paused and gazed at her earnestly, but she hung her head like
a lily, and said never a word.
'Look!' he went on, pointing to the statue on which the moonlight
played so brightly. 'Thou seest that angel woman who rests her
hand upon the forehead of the sleeping man, and thou seest how
at her touch his soul flames up and shines out through his flesh,
even as a lamp at the touch of the fire, so is it with me and
thee, Nyleptha. Thou hast awakened my soul and called it forth,
and now, Nyleptha, it is not mine, not mine, but thine and thine
only. There is no more for me to say; in thy hands is my life.'
And he leaned back against the pedestal of the statue, looking
very pale, and his eyes shining, but proud and handsome as a god.
Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and fixed her wonderful eyes,
all alight with the greatness of her passion, full upon his face,
as though to read his very soul. Then at last she spoke, low
indeed, but clearly as a silver bell.
'Of a truth, weak woman that I am, I do believe thee. Ill will
be the day for thee and for me also if it be my fate to learn
that I have believed a lie. And now hearken to me, oh man, who
hath wandered here from far to steal my heart and make me all
thine own. I put my hand upon thy hand thus, and thus I, whose
lips have never kissed before, do kiss thee on the brow; and
now by my hand and by that first and holy kiss, ay, by my people's
weal and by my throne that like enough I shall lose for thee
-- by the name of my high House, by the sacred Stone and by the
eternal majesty of the Sun, I swear that for thee will I live
and die. And I swear that I will love thee and thee only till
death, ay, and beyond, if as thou sayest there be a beyond, and
that thy will shall be my will, and thy ways my ways.
'Oh see, see, my lord! thou knowest not how humble is she who
loves; I, who am a Queen, I kneel before thee, even at thy feet
I do my homage;' and the lovely impassioned creature flung herself
down on her knees on the cold marble before him. And after that
I really do not know, for I could stand it no longer, and cleared
off to refresh myself with a little of old Umslopogaas' society,
leaving them to settle it their own way, and a very long time
they were about it.
I found the old warrior leaning on Inkosi-kaas as usual, and
surveying the scene in the patch of moonlight with a grim smile
of amusement.
'Ah, Macumazahn,' he said, 'I suppose it is because I am getting
old, but I don't think that I shall ever learn to understand
the ways of you white people. Look there now, I pray thee, they
are a pretty pair of doves, but what is all the fuss about, Macumazahn?
He wants a wife, and she wants a husband, then why does he not
pay his cows down {Endnote 17} like a man and have done with
it? It would save a deal of trouble, and we should have had
our night's sleep. But there they go, talk, talk, talk, and
kiss, kiss, kiss, like mad things. Eugh!'
Some three-quarters of an hour afterwards the 'pair of doves'
came strolling towards us, Curtis looking slightly silly, and
Nyleptha remarking calmly that the moonlight made very pretty
effects on the marble. Then, for she was in a most gracious
mood, she took my hand and said that I was 'her Lord's' dear
friend, and therefore most dear to her -- not a word for my own
sake, you see. Next she lifted Umslopogaas' axe, and examined
it curiously, saying significantly as she did so that he might
soon have cause to use it in defence of her.
After that she nodded prettily to us all, and casting a
tender glance at her lover, glided off into the darkness
like a beautiful vision.
When we got back to our quarters, which we did without accident,
Curtis asked me jocularly what I was thinking about.
'I am wondering,' I answered, 'on what principle it is arranged
that some people should find beautiful queens to fall in love
with them, while others find nobody at all, or worse than nobody;
and I am also wondering how many brave men's lives this night's
work will cost.' It was rather nasty of me, perhaps, but somehow
all the feelings do not evaporate with age, and I could not help
being a little jealous of my old friend's luck. Vanity, my sons;
vanity of vanities!
On the following morning, Good was informed of the happy occurrence,
and positively rippled with smiles that, originating somewhere
about the mouth, slowly travelled up his face like the rings
in a duckpond, till they flowed over the brim of his eyeglass
and went where sweet smiles go. The fact of the matter, however,
was that not only was Good rejoiced about the thing on its own
merits but also for personal reasons. He adored Sorais quite
as earnestly as Sir Henry adored Nyleptha, and his adoration
had not altogether prospered. Indeed, it had seemed to him and
to me also that the dark Cleopatra-like queen favoured Curtis
in her own curious inscrutable way much more than Good. Therefore
it was a relief to him to learn that his unconscious rival was
permanently and satisfactorily attached in another direction.
His face fell a little, however, when he was told that the whole
thing was to be kept as secret as the dead, above all from Sorais
for the present, inasmuch as the political convulsion which would
follow such an announcement at the moment would be altogether
too great to face and would very possibly, if prematurely made,
shake Nyleptha from her throne.
That morning we again attended in the Throne Hall, and I could
not help smiling to myself when I compared the visit to our last,
and reflecting that, if walls could speak, they would have strange
tales to tell.
What actresses women are! There, high upon her golden throne,
draped in her blazoned 'kaf' or robe of state, sat the fair Nyleptha,
and when Sir Henry came in a little late, dressed in the full
uniform of an officer of her guard and humbly bent himself before
her, she merely acknowledged his salute with a careless nod and
turned her head coldly aside. It was a very large Court, for
not only did the signing of the laws attract many outside of
those whose duty it was to attend, but also the rumour that Nasta
was going to publicly ask the hand of Nyleptha in marriage had
gone abroad, with the result that the great hall was crowded
to its utmost capacity. There were our friends the priests in
force, headed by Agon, who regarded us with a vindictive eye;
and a most imposing band they were, with their long white embroidered
robes girt with a golden chain from which hung the fish-like
scales. There, too, were a number of the lords, each with a
band of brilliantly attired attendants, and prominent among them
was Nasta, stroking his black beard meditatively and looking
unusually pleasant. It was a splendid and impressive sight,
especially when the officer after having read out each law handed
them to the Queens to sign, whereon the trumpets blared out and
the Queens' guard grounded their spears with a crash in salute.
This reading and signing of the laws took a long time, but at
length it came to an end, the last one reciting that 'whereas
distinguished strangers, etc.', and proceeding to confer on the
three of us the rank of 'lords', together with certain military
commands and large estates bestowed by the Queen. When it was
read the trumpets blared and the spears clashed down as usual,
but I saw some of the lords turn and whisper to each other, while
Nasta ground his teeth. They did not like the favour that was
shown to us, which under all the circumstances was not perhaps
unnatural.
Then there came a pause, and Nasta stepped forward and bowing
humbly, though with no humility in his eye, craved a boon at
the hands of the Queen Nyleptha.
Nyleptha turned a little pale, but bowed graciously, and prayed
the 'well-beloved lord' to speak on, whereon in a few
straightforward soldier-like words he asked her hand in marriage.
Then, before she could find words to answer, the High Priest
Agon took up the tale, and in a speech of real eloquence and
power pointed out the many advantages of the proposed alliance;
how it would consolidate the kingdom, for Nasta's dominions,
of which he was virtually king, were to Zu-Vendis much what Scotland
used to be to England; how it would gratify the wild mountaineers
and be popular among the soldiery, for Nasta was a famous general;
how it would set her dynasty firmly on the throne, and would
gain the blessing and approval of the 'Sun', i.e. of the office
of the High Priest, and so on. Many of his arguments were undoubtedly
valid, and there was, looking at it from a political point of
view, everything to be said for the marriage. But unfortunately
it is difficult to play the game of politics with the persons
of young and lovely queens as though they were ivory effigies
of themselves on a chessboard. Nyleptha's face, while Agon spouted
away, was a perfect study; she smiled indeed, but beneath the
smile it set like a stone, and her eyes began to flash ominously.
At last he stopped, and she prepared herself to answer. Before
she did so, however, Sorais leant towards her and said in a voice
sufficiently loud for me to catch what she said, 'Bethink thee
well, my sister, ere thou dost speak, for methinks that our thrones
may hang upon thy words.'
Nyleptha made no answer, and with a shrug and a smile Sorais
leant back again and listened.
'Of a truth a great honour has been done to me,' she said, 'that
my poor hand should not only have been asked in marriage, but
that Agon here should be so swift to pronounce the blessing of
the Sun upon my union. Methinks that in another minute he would
have wed us fast ere the bride had said her say. Nasta, I thank
thee, and I will bethink me of thy words, but now as yet I have
no mind for marriage, that as a cup of which none know the taste
until they begin to drink it. Again I thank thee, Nasta,' and
she made as though she would rise.
The great lord's face turned almost as black as his beard with
fury, for he knew that the words amounted to a final refusal
of his suit.
'Thanks be to the Queen for her gracious words,' he said, restraining
himself with difficulty and looking anything but grateful, 'my
heart shall surely treasure them. And now I crave another boon,
namely, the royal leave to withdraw myself to my own poor cities
in the north till such time as the Queen shall say my suit nay
or yea. Mayhap,' he added, with a sneer, 'the Queen will be
pleased to visit me there, and to bring with her these stranger
lords,' and he scowled darkly towards us. 'It is but a poor
country and a rough, but we are a hardy race of mountaineers,
and there shall be gathered thirty thousand swordsmen to shout
a welcome to her.'
This speech, which was almost a declaration of rebellion, was
received in complete silence, but Nyleptha flushed up and answered
it with spirit.
'Oh, surely, Nasta, I will come, and the strange lords in my
train, and for every man of thy mountaineers who calls thee Prince,
will I bring two from the lowlands who call me Queen, and we
will see which is the staunchest breed. Till then farewell.'
The trumpets blared out, the Queens rose, and the great assembly
broke up in murmuring confusion, and for myself I went home with
a heavy heart foreseeing civil war.
After this there was quiet for a few weeks. Curtis and the Queen
did not often meet, and exercised the utmost caution not to allow
the true relation in which they stood to each other to leak out;
but do what they would, rumours as hard to trace as a buzzing
fly in a dark room, and yet quite as audible, began to hum
round and round, and at last to settle on her throne.
