He repulsed her with scorn.
She threw her arms about him and sought to draw his head down near hers.
He pushed her from him with sinewy hands, sprang as from a pestilence, and was lost in the pressing throng.
That night she danced before Herod Antipas, and when the promise was recalled that she should have anything she wished, she named the head of the only man who had ever turned away from her. “The head of John the Baptist on a charger!”
In an hour the wish was gratified.
Two eunuchs stood before Salome with a silver tray bearing its fearsome burden.
The woman smiled—a smile of triumph, as she stepped forth with tinkling feet.
A look of pride came over the painted face.
Her jeweled fingers reached into the blood-matted hair. She lifted the head aloft, and the bracelets on her brown, bare arms fell to her shoulders, making strange music. Her face pressed the face of the dead.
In exultation she exclaimed, “I have kissed thy lips!”