'The knowledge I was aiding one beloved of Hecate! 'Twas not love—love in me is dead, dead and scentless. The curse—the curse! and it will weigh me down for ever.'

'Art sure of this?'

'Yes, Lady Saronia, I am sure I am accursed of Hecate. In me it takes the form of a dead love with hatred raging through my soul. In others love is rampant and reason dead. Such is the case with one I know. Her curse is to love madly without an echo of love to answer.'

'What was thy crime, Endora?'

'That which neither god nor man can forgive.'

'Tell me.'

'I dare not.'

'I command thee!'

'No, no; leave me quiet! I have lived in Ephesus these many years. No one knows me, where I came from, what my crime. Bid me leap into the great depths below and gurgle out my life beneath the waters, out of human sight—anything—anything, but grant me silence!'

'I will not! Speak truthfully! The High Priestess of Hecate commands thee.'