Khamma:
Mistress, have no concern; for when we hear
The clatter of his horse along the street,
We'll run this way and lead your dancers down
With song and laughter,—you shall know in time.
[Exeunt Khamma and Nubta laughing, Tsarpi descends the steps.]
Tsarpi:
My guest is late; but he will surely come!
The man who burns to drain the cup of love,
The priest whose greed of glory never fails,
Both, both have need of me, and he will come.
And I,—what do I need? Why everything
That helps my beauty to a higher throne;
All that a priest can promise, all a man
Can give, and all a god bestow, I need:
This may a woman win, and this will I.
[Enter Rezon quietly from the shadow of the trees. He stands behind Tsarpi and listens, smiling, to her last words. Then he drops his mantle of leopard-skin, and lifts his high priest's rod of bronze, shaped at one end like a star.]
Rezon:
Tsarpi!
Tsarpi: [Bowing low before him.]
The mistress of the house of Naaman
Salutes the master of the House of Rimmon.
Rezon:
Rimmon receives you with his star of peace,
For you were once a handmaid of his altar.
[He lowers the star-point of the rod, which glows for a moment with rosy light above her head.]
And now the keeper of his temple asks
The welcome of the woman for the man.
Tsarpi: [Giving him her hand, but holding off his embrace.]
No more,—till I have heard what brings you here
By night, within the garden of the one
Who scorns you most and fears you least in all
Damascus.
Rezon:
Trust me, I repay his scorn
With double hatred,—Naaman, the man
Who stands against the nobles and the priests,
This powerful fool, this impious devotee
Of liberty, who loves the people more
Than he reveres the city's ancient god:
This frigid husband who sets you below
His dream of duty to a horde of slaves:
This man I hate, and I will humble him.
Tsarpi:
I think I hate him too. He stands apart
From me, ev'n while he holds me in his arms,
By something that I cannot understand.
He swears he loves his wife next to his honour!
Next? That's too low! I will be first or nothing.