“It is false!” a voice spoke thus in the remote recesses of his soul; “a false profanation of what is sacred!” But the terrible persuasiveness of the vision overwhelmed him. The testimony of the sight, fallacious though it so constantly be, dominates the nobler assurances of the spirit; and the very struggle against the illusion causes it to take on outlines more convincing. Miriam’s face was latest to be revealed. The look it wore was the look of love in its passion; and it was lavished not on him, but on another!
Torpeon had taken both her hands in his, and was speaking with imperious urgency. Unconsciously, Jack strained Zarga’s hand in his, and his heart beat tumultuously against hers. Miriam’s eyelids fell as Torpeon pressed his appeal; her deep bosom rose and subsided in irregular breathings; by an effort, she partly turned herself away; but it was the last struggle of resistance, and her lover would not be denied. Slowly she faced him again and lifted her eyes to him; Jack ground his teeth as he saw that look. Her body relaxed and was inclined toward the pleader, with the loveliness of yielding in her smile. With a proud gesture his arms went around her, and he drew her to him; his bearded mouth met her parted lips. Jack sank back in his seat with a groan. Clouds drifted in before the picture, and it faded out and was gone. The vapors melted away, and the black font’s embers dulled into grayness. Zarga, her arms round Jack, had drawn herself up, so that her smooth cheek rested on his, and her breath touched his lips.
“Noblest and dearest,” she whispered, “I would have saved you from this grief and shame; but her wickedness must be seen to be believed. It is better to know than to doubt; she is not worth your grieving; she was never worthy of you; she would have betrayed you, whether for Torpeon, or another. But if you will see what love is, forget her, and look at me!”
Jack’s brain slowly awoke to the meaning of these words, as if he returned from a long and dreary journey. “What has happened to the world!” he muttered.
He raised himself deliberately, like a man who regains consciousness after a swoon. He took her wrists in his hands, and detached her arms from their embrace. He held her off and looked at her, sadly and searchingly.
“It is all illusion,” he said; “this and the other!”
“There is no illusion in my love!” answered the girl, in a deep murmur. “I loved you from the first moment. Had her love held true, I would had died and kept silence. But she betrayed you and I have shown you the secret that is myself! Yes, look at me! Am I not beautiful? What happiness is there that I cannot give you? Take me—know me—love me! In this world there are a thousand joys that are not dreamed of on your earth! And our years are not few, like yours, nor can age dull and enfeeble us. My power is great; I will lead you through endless delights, blooming one after another, like roses from one stem of love. Or if you long for daring deeds, mighty works, or strange adventures, fame and worship, I can launch you on such a career as no tales of heroes tell! You are made for the highest things; do not let yourself sink down before the treason of one woman! Let us live and love together, and we need not wait for death to show us immortality, for our every moment shall be immortal!”
“I know nothing of all this,” he said, in heavy tones. “What you think of me is all amiss. I’m a very ordinary creature. I love Miriam, and she loves me—that is the whole of my world and my life. We can have only one sorrow—to be separated from each other; and we want no other happiness than to be together. These visions that we have been seeing—they oppressed me for a moment; but they are gone, and they are nothing. Love is once and for all; after that, there can be no changing or choosing. It has taken what I am and given it to Miriam, and what she is, is in me. I could as soon become another man, as love another woman; I can see that you are beautiful, Zarga; but beauty is nothing to me, except as Miriam’s beauty is a part of Miriam; and I love it as a part of her. And what are endless delights? For her and me there is only one delight—our love—and that is endless; we want no other. Works, adventures, fame? My love makes me a man; and no other adventure or achievement compares with that. Miriam’s safety and happiness are my work and adventure; and for that I am here. Don’t imagine such an insanity as that you can love me, or I, you! If you will be my friend, set me on my way to save Miriam from the trouble that has befallen her; neither you nor I are foolish enough to be deceived by a smoke-wreath, no matter what images some magic-lantern may throw on it!”
Zarga faced him with clenched hands and burning eyes. “I tell you once more, she does not love you; she does not even love Torpeon; she yields to him only because he has made her believe that he can make her queen of all the planets. Her heart is as cold as a burned-out cinder; will you, with your heart of molten gold, waste yourself on her?”
A frown began to gather on Jack’s brow.