"'Her Highness must be close at hand,' cried Stepan, leaning over it, 'and yonder is Rakhan's pleasure-lodge. God grant that the wolves have not gotten her!'
"'One wolf hath had her; but he will no more;' I answered, with my heart on fire through all the snow that froze my breast. 'Thou, and Usnik, hold the horses; I will see to this myself.'
"Then I stamped on the road, and shook the snow off, and saw that it was red with my own blood where the dead man's sword had touched me; and following the shelter of some trees, where the streaks of the storm went by me, I stood at the door of a house built of logs, with plaster slabbed between them. Thrice I knocked with the hilt of my sword, without drawing it from the scabbard, while I felt that the crisis of my life was come—the time that comes only once, thank God, in His creature's three score years and ten.
"'How soon thou art back! How glad I am! This is so kind and faithful of thee.' It was Oria's voice, and I ground my teeth. She expected her new love, Rakhan.
"Then she drew back the bolt, and stood before me, glittering in all her perfect beauty, but pale as a ghost at this surprise. 'My lord!' she gasped, for she was always timid; and I said, 'Yes, thy proper lord.'
"Her hand went to her heart, as if it were failing her in this amazement, and she spread the other arm to me; but I drew back and gazed at her. 'Never touch me more,' I said; and her soft eyes fell before the flash of mine.
"'What have I done to enrage thee, Imar? Thou hast never spoken to me like this? I have left thy roof. But how could I help it? I have done what women may not do. But it was only for thy sake—and oh, my lord is wounded!'
"'Yes, through thee. But what is that?' I stretched my scabbarded sword across, as she with a rush of tears approached. 'Thy paramour lies dead for this. And what art thou? Liar, adulteress, Zanska.'
"That last is the lowest word that can be used to any woman. She gazed at me for a moment with a look that will never leave me, and then in a low clear voice she said,—