“I never understand allegories. Explain it to me, beloved. What does it mean?”
He rose.
“I did not tell it for you to understand. I told you a story to calm you a little. Now it is late. Adieu, Berenice.”
She began to weep.
“I was sure of it! I was sure of it!”
He laid her like a child upon her soft bed of silky stuffs; with a smile placed a kiss upon her tearful eyes then calmly descended the steps of the great litter.