“Iona,” she said gently, “may it not be that you expect too much of mankind in the mass? Can you hope that any nation will long keep its ideal state? How many such a bubble has burst! Human life is not a crystallization, but a crucible. Your kingdom of Christ extended and prosperous, would it not become a kingdom of the world, as in the past? It is the old story of the manna, food from heaven to-day, and to-morrow corruption. Your saint in power would become, as in the past, a sinner, and your trusting people, also as in the past, a populace first of children, then of slaves, and lastly, of rebels. Forgive me, dear Iona! Your vision is as noble as yourself; but all are not like you. Are not you afraid to be so confident? Your plan opens such a field to ambition!”
“I was not ambitious for myself,” said Iona, writhing, rather than turning herself away. “And I believe that rulers may be educated to see how much grander and happier they would be if the love of their subjects should exceed their fear. I thought of the future of our people submerged in a deluge with no counteracting influence. Perhaps something suggested”—she turned again to Tacita, and spoke breathlessly—“When Dylar first saw that portrait, he did not seem pleased. I asked myself why he should look so dark if he approved of my renouncing love. It was my way of silently telling him that I would take no lower stand than his. I thought that he would be pleased. He had never said, but had always seemed to intimate, that he would not marry. Once, on going out on a long and dangerous journey, he said to me: ‘If I should never return, educate Ion to take my place.’ He trusted me. He always confided his affairs to me. I never feared to have him go out. Nothing could seduce him. I felt sure that he would return even as he went. To me he was not utterly gone. I told myself that our spirits communed.” She paused a moment, then added bitterly: “I thought that they did!”
“I am no queen nor sibyl,” said Tacita faintly. “I cannot judge of these questions; and I could never hope to be able to stir a man up to great enterprises. I am only fitted to be a tender, and in some small things, a helpful companion.”
“You think that I could not be a tender companion!” exclaimed Iona jealously. “I have put a rein upon myself. I will not make my smiles and caresses so cheap as to give them to everybody.”
“I know that you are capable of great devotion, Iona,” Tacita said tremulously, her eyes filling with tears. “Yet the hearts of humbler women may not be cheaply given, though they may be more accessible. They may be in something like the Basilica,—I speak with reverence!—no one rejected who wishes to enter in kindness, but one alone enthroned above all the rest, one to whom all who enter must pay respect. And perhaps the very kindness felt for all may be an outshining from that enthroned one, a reflection of the happiness he gives.”
“It is well in its way,” Iona said, trying to speak more gently. “But such love is not good for Dylar when our existence hangs upon a thread. It is no time for him to think of repose and tender companionship. It would weaken him. He needs one who, instead of weeping if danger should threaten, would send him forth even to death, if need were, sure that such a death is the higher safety for him, and for her love the higher possession. Yet”—she made a haughty gesture and turned her darkening face away—“it is not that I love him: it is for San Salvador.”
“Teach me to be useful, to be strong, Iona!” said Tacita earnestly. “I would give my life to the same cause.”
“Would you give up a fancy for it?” asked Iona, looking sharply into her eyes. “It is so easy to offer a world that is not wanted, and refuse a grain of sand that is asked for.”
“I would give all that I have the right to give,” Tacita replied, and felt herself shrivel before this imperious woman, who stood before her with the sunset golden on her head and the shadow of a mountain on her bosom, with her brow made for a tiara, her lips to command, and her eyes to scathe with their anger.
“Dylar has asked you to be his wife?” Iona said, low and quickly.