All was plain; if I was faithful, then Eudocia was lost;
Recreant, and gaining victory, I could claim her as my right.
I scarcely weighed the balance, and I dared not count the cost;
I stole out from the city to the alien camp that night.
I was loyal to the purpose that within my heart was shrined;
Another might have coped with it, and triumphed o'er its fall.
So men are, they do not vary much, the level of mankind,
What one lacks the next possesses; there are faults enough in all.
Down the cliff I slipped in silence; and the troubled cypress leaves
Quivered like sweet lips in anguish, while the star eyes wept with dew;
And I sought the French commander, where, amid his musket sheaves,
He sat and planned new reaping in a field that Azrael knew.
"I have come to bring assistance, if you take my terms," I said,
"For I know the weakest portion of the city's scowling wall.
There's a maiden named Eudocia I would sell my soul to wed;
Give me the right to have her, and I freely tell you all."
Then he smiled across his table as he granted my desire—
Smile of memory begotten, some remembrance of delight—
And he heard my story quietly, but said he would require
Me to go into the city as a spy the coming night.
V.
THE MASKED SPY IN THE PALACE.
Years before, a secret entrance 'neath the wall I ordered made;
And they were dead who built it, so none knew of it but me.
When the darkness came I gained it, and softly in the shade,
Passed through lone streets of the city where the battle was to be.
A purse of gold and rubies bought the whispered countersign,
And with its aid I noted place and number of the troops.
I chalked upon a building: Lo, the doom of Constantine!
There's a traitor in the city, and the populace are dupes.
In the street I met a masker hurrying onward through the night,
And something in his bearing told of one I called a friend.
"Sir," I said, and on his shoulder I had laid my finger quite,
"Tell me why you mask your visage, and whereto your footsteps tend."
By my voice he knew me quickly, and removed his mask to say:
"My footsteps seek the palace; have you heard not of the fête?
In three days old Yorghi's daughter is to wed with Ahmed Bey;
To-night the plighting party; I must hasten; it is late."