said, "you must begone this very night;
indeed, the boat awaits you that shall take you down the river to the
sea. All is discovered. My waiting-lady, the priestess, but now has told
me that my father, the king, purposes to seize and throw you into prison
to-morrow, and thereafter to put you on your trial for being beloved
by a daughter of the royal blood, of which, as you are a foreign man,
however noble you may be, the punishment is death. Moreover, if you are
condemned, your doom will be my own. There is but one way in which to
save my life, and that is by your flight, for if you fly it has been
whispered to me that all will be forgotten."
Now, in my dream, he who wore the Wanderer's shape reasoned with her,
saying at length that it was better they both should die, to live on in
the world of spirits, rather than part for ever. She hid her face on his
breast and answered,
"I cannot die. I would stay to look upon the sun, not for my own sake,
but because of our child that will be born. Nor can I fly with you,
since then your boat will be stopped. But if you go alone, the guards
will let it pass. They have their commands."
After this for a while they wept in each other's arms, for their hearts
were broken.
"Give me some token," he murmured; "let me wear something that you have
worn until my death."
She opened her cloak, and there upon her breast hung that necklace which
had lain upon the breast of the Wanderer in his tomb, the necklace of
gold and inlaid shells and emerald beetles, only there were two rows of
shells and emeralds, not one. One row she unclasped and clasped it again
round his neck, breaking the little gold threads that bound the two
strands together.
"Take this," she said, "and I will wear the half which is left of it
even in my grave, as you also shall wear your half in life and death.
Now something comes upon me. It is that when the severed parts of this
necklace are once more joined together, then we two shall meet again
upon the earth."
"What chance is there that I shall return from my northern home, if ever
I win so far, back to this southern land?"
"None," she answered. "In this life we shall kiss no more. Yet there are
other lives to come, or so I think and have learned through the wisdom
of my people. Begone, begone, ere my heart breaks on yours; but never
let this necklace of mine, which was that of those who were long before
me, lie upon another woman's breast, for if so it wi
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