not, neither do the biting winds of fear, nor the drenching torrents of
desire, encompass those who walk thereon.

"The river, the slow, full-blossomed river of patience, flows ever
beside it, on its way to the Ocean of Life in which all waters must
mingle in eternity."

There fell a silence, broken by the swaying, throbbing music from the
distant ball-room, causing the girl suddenly to stretch out her hands,
upon which shone the ring, and the man to stretch out his, though he
touched not hers at all.

"And to the left?"

"To the left, O woman whose eyes are like unto the pools of Lebanon at
night, to thy left, lies the desert. The desert, where the feet are
blistered by the gritting sands of passion and the eyes are blinded in
desire. The vast plain where knowledge walks hand-in-hand with death;
where the footprints of horror, fear, starvation, thirst, which are but
the footprints of jealousy and love desired and fulfilled, mark the
sands for one little second and then are gone; the desert, where there
is no shade, no cool waters, no content, no peace until the wanderer
lies still, with sightless eyes turned towards Eternity."

"And if a woman's feet trod upon it?"

"Then will she cut her feet upon the stones of pain; then will the
scorpion of bitter experience sting her heel; then will she die with a
smile upon her red mouth, for love will have come to her, maybe for a
day, maybe for a second of time, but a love which will mingle her soul