"Now this was not intended as an offering of peace—though many people took it altogether in that light, not from the moderation of the language only, but because I sent not the wonted double dagger with it—but simply as an overture of justice, in language not too mealy, and an opening for reconciliation. For Marva, my sister, I felt many pangs, a hankering which I endeavoured to repress, a tenderness of the younger days, when neither could have the skin broken without a burst of tears from the other's eyes. But we have to get harder as we go on, and the hold of soft love on our little thumbs grows slacker; and even sweet twins (who have tumbled into one another's arms, and rolled over with rollicking, till no one could tell which was which of them) must begin to close palm, and even shut fist, to the kisses of each other. And with all this affection heavy on my mind, and a good guard left upon the steeps of Karthlos, I returned for the summer to Shamyl."
CHAPTER XXIII IMAR'S TALE—LOVE
"Perhaps you have gathered from my words already some idea of the character of Shamyl. An idea, and not a perception, was all that his dearest friends could have of him, because he had no dear friends at all. And yet he was a man of warm nature, and kept nobody at a distance from him; neither was there any haughtiness, though abundance of rudeness, about him. Men put up with the latter, and even like it (when shown to their friends) and talk pleasantly about it, and the little ruffle passes over, every one expecting that his friend will be the next to get it. But cold universal arrogance makes the greatest of mankind—if such can show it—universally detested.
"I believe that Shamyl was by nature kind,—though he did some abominably brutal things,—and that if he had not taken into his head, or had it put there by flatterers, that Allah had breathed into him the breath of Mohammed, he would have been one of the noblest, as well as the purest perhaps, of patriots. Peace be with him, for he was at least sincere, which cannot be said of all leading minds, and he understood other men at a glance, though he may not have looked very much into his own man.
"I fear that it may be ungrateful on my part not to speak even more highly of him. For he took a great liking to me in his way, although I was not of his creed; neither did I pretend to any personal hatred of the Russians, who are generally very kind of nature,—more so perhaps than we are,—and only did their duty in shooting us straightforwardly. Neither did I pretend to any special love of him, but carried out his orders as a soldier should, unless they were worse than even war demands, in which case I told him to seek elsewhere. Therefore I was surprised, as much as any man acquainted with him could be surprised, when he took me aside one day and said: 'Sûr Imar, I have an important mission for thee, which I would intrust to no other. Many of my officers are rough and wild, and have no command over themselves with women. My son is a prisoner with the Russians; and I have a noble scheme for recovering him, and perhaps a hundred thousand crowns to boot. But it is a dangerous enterprise, and must be carried out with proper delicacy to ladies.'
"This was a very high compliment to me, being still a young man in the fervour of my days; but the Captain had heard of stern actions of mine, when some of his men had shown rudeness to those who could not take up arms to protect themselves.
"'Thou hast the best horse in the army,' he continued, with his deep eyes fixed upon my glowing cheeks, as the spirit of adventure began to rise, 'and there is not a stronger man among us, neither one to surpass thee in activity. All this will be needed, and boldness too, tempered with skill and discretion. I would go myself, for the work is worthy of me, but I cannot leave the camp just now. My design is to carry off from their summer encampment all the ladies of the Russian and the Georgian Court. Not a hair of their heads shall be harmed, and we will treat them as princesses, but hold them for the ransom of my dear son, and a good round sum for the military chest. The Powers of the West have been stingy to us, when we might have done them excellent service; but we will make the Russian bear supply a little grease for our bullets; for the ladies are of the highest rank. But the whole scheme fails, if even one of them should be ill-treated.'
"This was the only point about which I felt uneasiness; but he gave me permission, and even clear orders, to shoot on the spot any man who misbehaved. And when he allowed me to take fifty of my tribe, as well as fifty chosen men of his, my only anxiety was to start as soon as arrangements could be made, and before any rumour of our plans should get abroad. For I knew all those southern stretches of the mountains well, and that perhaps induced him to appoint me in command.