“Nay, I only love what I thought she was.”
“Was she false, then?”
“Yes, false and yet true. So true that she died because she was false.”
“How can a woman be both false and true?”
“Woman can be all things. Ask the question of your own heart. Can you not perchance be both false and true?”
She thought awhile and, leaving this matter, said:
“So, having once loved, you can never love again.”
“Why not? Perchance I can love too much. But what would be the use when more love would but mean more loss and pain?”
“Whom should you love, my lord Hurachi, seeing that the women of your own folk are far away?”
“I think one who is very near, if she would pay back love for love.”