r will upon him.
For that moment, she was only the passionate mother and quaked to think
she might have hurt him. An hour passed and he slept heavily in her
arms, and in agony she watched to see the colour steal back into the
olive cheek and white lips. In the second hour he waked and stretched
himself indolently, yawning like a cat. Her tears dropped like rain upon
him as she clasped him violently to her.

He writhed himself free, petulant and spoilt. "Let me be. I hate kisses
and women's tricks. I want to go forth and play. I have had a devil's
dream.

"What did you see in your dream, prince of my heart?" She caught
frantically at the last chance.

"A deer--a tiger. I have forgotten. Let me go." He ran off and she sat
alone with her doubts and fears. Yet triumph coloured them too. She saw
a dead woman, a dead child, and herself bending above them. She hid the
vessel in her bosom and went out among her women.

Weeks passed, and never a word that she dreaded from Maya the Queen. The
women of Dwaymenau, questioning the Queen's women, heard that she seemed
to have heavy sorrow upon her. Her eyes were like dying lamps and she
faded as they. The King never entered her palace. Drowned in Dwaymenau's
wiles and beauty, her slave, her thrall, he forgot all else but his
fighting, his hunting and his long war-boats, and whether the Queen
lived or died, he cared nothing. Better indeed she should die and
her place be emptied for the beloved, without offence to her powerful
kindred.

And now he was to sail upon a raid against the Shan Tsaubwa, who had
denied him tribute of gold and jewels and slaves. Glorious were the
boats prepared for war, of brown teak and gilded until they shone like
gold. Seventy men rowed them, sword and lance beside each. Warriors
crowded them, flags and banners fluttered about them; the shining water
reflected the pomp like a mirror and the air rang with song. Dwaymenau
stood beside the water with her women, bidding the King farewell, and so
he saw her, radiant in the dawn, with her boy beside her, and waved his
hand to the last.

The ships were gone and the days languished a little at Pagan. They
missed the laughter and royalty of the King, and few men, and those old
and weak, were left in the city. The pulse of life beat slower.

And Dwaymenau took rule in the Golden Palace. Queen Maya sat like one in
a dream and questioned nothing, and Dwaymenau ruled with wisdom but none
loved her. To all she wa