A sound between a scream and a moan silenced the words on his lips, and Don Ruy felt his blood run chill, as the drooping figure of the Woman of the Twilight stood suddenly upright with lifted hand.
“Teo!”––she murmured in utter gladness,––and moved through the half light of the room towards the Castilians. “Teo!”
“Holy God!” whispered Don Ruy, while the padre turned white. Don Diego stared in horror––only one named Teo came in his mind––the Greek who should belong to the Holy Office in Seville;––the man whose word even now was wanted as to the older days of Christian slave trade in Europe!
“Don Teo!” she was quite close to him now, and she spoke as a trembling child who craves welcome,––“I––Mo-wa-thé––speak! O Spirit;––you have come back from the Star––you have come––.”
The Te-hua men, and Tahn-té also, waited in wonder. Never before had the Twilight Woman 325 gone like that to a man––and she was so close that the man shrank from her against the wall of the room.
“Back!”––he muttered, and he spoke Te-hua now, and his voice was rough with rage and fear,––“This woman is evil, and brings evil power!”
“She is the Woman of the Twilight––the holy woman of the caves,” said a man of the Po-Ahtun, for Tahn-té could find no words for the wonder she wakened.
“She is an enchantress who fights against the true god and his angels;––a witch of evil magic!”––and the padre was white, and breathing hard lest she touch him.
“A witch!”––she echoed in horror.––“I?––Teo––.”
She crept to him in abject supplication and reached out her hand, touching the sleeve of his robe.