f men the most guileful, hast at length been over-mastered in guile.
To me, 'Woman or Immortal,' thou didst swear 'for now and for ever,
for here and hereafter, _in whatever shape thou goest on the earth, by
whatever name thou art known among men_.' Oh, be not wroth, my lord, but
hearken. What matters the shape in which thou seest me? At the least am
I not fair? And what is beauty but a casket that hides the gem within?
'Tis my love which thou hast won, my love that is immortal, and not the
flesh that perishes. For I have loved thee, ay, and thou hast loved me
from of old and in other lives than this, and I tell thee that we shall
love again and yet again when thou art no more Odysseus of Ithaca, and
when I am no more Meriamun, a Queen of Khem, but while we walk in other
forms upon the world and are named by other names. I am thy doom, thou
Wanderer, and wherever thou dost wander through the fields of Life and
Death I shall be at thy side. For I am She of whom thou art, and thou
art He of whom I am, and though the Gods have severed us, yet must we
float together down the river of our lives till we find that sea of
which the Spirit knows. Therefore put me not from thee and raise not my
wrath against thee, for if I used my magic to bring thee to my arms, yet
they are thy home." And once more she came towards him.

Now the Wanderer drew an arrow from his quiver, and set the notch
against his breast and the keen barb towards the breast of Meriamun.

"Draw on," he said. "Thus will I take thee to my arms again. Hearken,
Meriamun the witch--Meriamun the harlot: Pharaoh's wife and Queen of
Khem. To thee I swore an oath indeed, and perchance because I suffered
thy guile to overcome my wisdom, because I swore upon That which circles
thee about, and not by the Red Star which gleams upon the Helen's
breast, it may be that I shall lose her whom I love. So indeed the Queen
of Heaven told me, yonder in sea-girt Ithaca, though to my sorrow I
forgot her words. But if I lose her or if I win, know this, that I love
her and her only, and I hate thee like the gates of hell. For thou hast
tricked me with thy magic, thou hast stolen the shape of Beauty's self
and dared to wear it, thou hast drawn a dreadful oath from me, and I
have taken thee to wife. And more, thou art the Queen of Khem, thou art
Pharaoh's wife, whom I swore to guard; but thou hast brought the last
shame upon me, for now I am a man dishonoured, and I have sinned against
the