desert thing! Thy way is forward, thy end before thee; but I go this way
and that; my end is dark to me; not a life is mine that will have its
close kissing the cold cheeks of the saffron-crocus. Cold art thou, and
I--flames! They that lean to thee are refreshed, they that touch me
perish.' Then she looked forth on the stars that were above the purple
heights, and the blushes of inner heaven that streamed up the sky, and a
fear of meeting the eyes of her kindred possessed her, and she cried out
to Ruark, 'O Chief of the Beni-Asser, must this be? and is there no help
for it, but that I return among them that look on me basely?'

Ruark stooped to her and said, 'Tell me thy name.'

She answered, 'Bhanavar is my name with that people.'

And he whispered, 'Surely when they speak of thee they say not Bhanavar
solely, but Bhanavar the Beautiful?'

She started and sought the eye of the Chief, and it was fixed on her face
in a softened light, as if his soul had said that thing. Then she
sighed, and exclaimed, 'Unhappy are the beautiful! born to misery! Allah
dressed them in his grace and favour for their certain wretchedness! Lo,
their countenances are as the sun, their existence as the desert; barren
are they in fruits and waters, a snare to themselves and to others!'

Now, the Chief leaned to her yet nearer, saying, 'Show me the Jewel.'

Bhanavar caught up her hands and clenched them, and she cried bitterly,
''Tis known to thee! She told thee, and there be none that know it not!'

Arising, she thrust her hand into her bosom, and held forth the Jewel in