and quiet reflection
may well cause us to doubt the truth of such supposings. The woman who
as we believed adored us solely has probably in the course of her career
adored others, or at any rate other things.

To take but one instance, that of Mameena, the Zulu lady whom Hans
thought he saw in the Shades. She, I believe, did me the honour to be
very fond of me, but I am convinced that she was fonder still of her
ambition. Now Hans never cared for any living creature, or for any human
hope or object, as he cared for me. There was no man or woman whom
he would not have cheated, or even murdered for my sake. There was no
earthly advantage, down to that of life itself, that he would not, and
in the end did not forgo for my sake; witness the case of his little
fortune which he invested in my rotten gold mine and thought nothing of
losing--for my sake.

That is love _in excelsis_, and the man who has succeeded in inspiring
it in any creature, even in a low, bibulous, old Hottentot, may feel
proud indeed. At least I am proud and as the years go by the pride
increases, as the hope grows that somewhere in the quiet of that great
plain which he saw in his dream, I may find the light of Hans's love
burning like a beacon in the darkness, as he promised I should do, and
that it may guide and warm my shivering, new-born soul before I dare the
adventure of the Infinite.

Meanwhile, since the sublime and the ridiculous are so very near akin,
I often wonder how he and Mameena settled that question of her right to
the royal salute. Perhaps I shall learn one day--indeed already I have
had a hint of it. If so, even in the blaze of a new and universal Truth,
I am certain that their stories will differ wildly.

Hans was quite right about the Black Kendah. They cleared out, probably
in search of food, where I do not know and I do not care, though whether
this were a temporary or permanent move on their part remains, and so
far as I am concerned is likely to remain, veiled in obscurity. They
were great blackguards, though extraordinarily fine soldiers, and what
became of them is a matter of complete indifference to me. One thing is
certain, however, a very large percentage of them never migrated at all,
for something over three thousand of their bodies did our people have to
bury in the pass and about the temple, a purpose for which all the pits
and trenches we had dug came in very useful. Our loss, by the way, was
five hundred and thr