joys. And if perchance the gods declare against us,
and we pass from the world together, then I think, oh! then I think that
I shall give you finer gifts than these, though what they are I know not
yet, since to the power of love there is no end--here on earth or yonder
in the skies."

I stared at her face in the starlight, and oh! it had grown splendid.
No longer was it that of a woman, since through it, like light through
pearl, shone a soul divine. It might have been a goddess who stood
beside me, for those eyes were holy and her embrace that wrapped me
close was not that of the flesh alone.

"I must be gone," she whispered, "but now I go without fear. Perchance
we may not speak again for long, but trust me always. Play your part and
I will play mine. Follow me wherever I am taken and keep near to me,
if you may, as ever my spirit shall be near to you. Then what matters
anything, even if we are slain? Farewell, beloved, kiss me and
farewell."

Another moment and she had glided away and was lost in the shadows.

She was gone, and I stood amazed and overcome. Oh! what a love it was
that this alien woman had given to me and how could I be worthy of it?
Now I forgot my griefs; now I no longer mourned because I was an outcast
who nevermore might look upon the land where I was born, nor see the
face of one my own race or blood. All my loss was paid back to me again
and yet again, in the coin of the glory of this woman whom I had won.
Dangers rose about us, but I feared them no more, because I knew that
her love's conquering feet would stamp them flat and lead me safe to a
joyful treasure-house of splendour of spirit and of body where we should
dwell side by side, triumphant and unafraid.

Whilst I thought thus, lost in a rapture such as I had not felt since
Blanche kissed me at the mouth of the Hastings cave after I had killed
the three Frenchmen with as many arrows from my black bow, I heard a
sound and looked up to see a man standing before me.

"Who is it?" I asked, grasping my sword, for his face was hidden in the
shadows.

"I," answered a voice which I knew to be that of Kari.

"Then how did you come here? I saw no one pass the open ground."

"Master, you are not the only one who loves to walk in gardens in the
quiet of the night. I was here before yourself, behind yonder tree," and
he pointed to a palm not three paces distant.

"Then, Kari, you must have seen----"

"Yes, Master, I saw and heard, not