“I am a follower of the Faith, and place my trust in the Uniter of the Lover and Beloved,” she interrupted softly, clasping me in her clinging arms. “By woman’s wit I may perchance escape the hateful doom that Hadj Absalam hath devised, under the advice of our enemy, Labakan; therefore let the burdens of my peril be uplifted from thine heart. Seek the director of those who tread the Path, and attend with faith and minuteness unto his instructions.”
“The thought that we may be for ever parted must fill me until my return,” I said. “But canst thou not fly with me, even now?”
“Alas! no,” she answered gloomily. “Escape ere thou hast fathomed the Great Mystery is impossible. I must abide in patience, overshadowed by deadly peril and the dread thought that we may never meet again. But”—and she hesitated—“tell me—answer me with thine own lips one question I would address unto thee.”
“What wouldst thou know?”
“Tell me,” she said, burying her head upon my breast—“Tell me if thou wilt forgive me for—for the awful massacre that hath to-day been committed?”
“Forgive thee!” I cried, my kisses warming her waxen hands. “Of course I do. Forced to occupy a strange position, thou canst not struggle against thy fate, therefore the horrible butchery is due to neither plot nor strategy of thine, but to the fierce avarice and brutal bloodthirstiness of those who now prove themselves thine enemies.”
“Ah! verily thou art generous!” she exclaimed, with tears in her luminous eyes, around which dark rings were showing. “The life of cities, as the life of men, is a vain and uncertain thing, and none knoweth the weal or ill thereof, and none knoweth the end or the way of the end, save only Allah. To thee I entrust my life. Go! seek the key to the Great Mystery, the knife by which my bonds can only be severed. I will fight to preserve mine honour until I die. I am thine until the heavens shall be cloven in sunder, and the stars shall be scattered. May Allah shadow thee in His shadow, and give unto thee strength to perform in faithfulness thy covenant! May He bless and preserve thee, and may He cause thee to drink from the cup of His Prophet, Mohammed, that pleasant draught, after which there is no thirst to all eternity! It is time, O Cecil! Go!”
“Farewell, my one beloved,” I said, with a lingering kiss, as her fair head still rested upon my breast. “May the One who sweepeth away darkness guard thee and disappoint not thine hopes! Verily will I set out upon this mission at once, for as steadfastly true thou art unto me, so am I unto thee.”
For a long time, as we stood in silence, I rained passionate kisses upon her lips, cold as marble. She trembled, fearing the worst, yet, gathering her strength in a supreme effort to preserve her self-control, she at last pushed me from her with gentle firmness, saying—
“Hasten! Night draweth quickly on, and thou hast but little time to spare. Hourly shall I think of thee until thou returnest with the glad tidings. Slama! Allah knoweth the innermost parts of the breasts of men. May His mercy and His bounteous blessing be upon thee!”