Like summer lightnings in a dark cloudbank, all the emotions of the human soul seemed to have played therein and left it again, forging it in the fires of passion, but leaving it more beautiful, more mysterious than before.
The Oriental regarded her in silence, as she stood before him in the flickering flame of the brazier.
"In some previous existence, you say?" she said with dreamy interest. "Who was I then—and who were you?"
"Two driftless spirits on the driftless sea of eternity," he replied calmly. "Foredoomed to continue our passage till our final destiny be fulfilled."
"And this destiny is known to you?"
"Else I had watched in vain. But you—queen and sorceress—do you believe in the message?"
She pondered.
"I believe," she said slowly, "that we make for ourselves the destiny to which hereafter we must submit. I believe that some dark power can foretell that destiny, and more—compel it!"—
Hormazd bowed ever so slightly. There was a dawning gleam of satire in his brilliant eyes, a glimpse which was not lost on her.
Again the question came.