me, lady, that for one moment I have seemed discourteous. I am not
so, in very truth. Sad fancies fret my brain at times, and--and
there is that within thine unveiled beauty which sword-like wounds
my soul! I am not joyous natured: ...unlike Sah-luma, chosen
favorite of fortune, I have lost all, all that made my life once
seem fair. I am dead to those that loved me, ... forgotten by
those that honored me, . . a wanderer in strange lands, a solitary
wayfarer perplexed with many griefs to which I cannot give a name!
Nevertheless," and he drew a quick, hard breath, "if I may serve
thee, fairest Lysia,--as Sah-luma serves thee,--subject to thy
sovereign favor,--thou shalt not find me lacking in obedience!
Command me as thou wilt; let me efface myself to worship thee! Let
me, if it be possible, drown thought,--slay memory,--murder
conscience,--so that I may once more, as in the old time, be glad
with the gladness that only love can give and only death can take
away!"

As he finished this unpremeditated, uncontrollable outburst his
eyes wistfully sought hers. She met his look with a languid
indifference and a half-disdainful smile.

"Enough! restrain thine ardor!" she said coldly, her dark dilating
orbs shining like steel beneath the velvet softness of her long
lashes. "Thou dost speak ignorantly, unknowing what thy words
involve--words to which I well might bind thee, were I less
forbearing to thine inconsiderate rashness. How like all men thou
art! How keen to plunge into unfathomed deeps, merely to snatch
the pearl of present pleasure! How martyr-seeming in thy fancied
sufferings, as though THY little wave of personal sorrow swamped
the world! O wondrous human Egotism! that sees but one great