Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour

"'Take that; and may it teach you better manners,' I said, as I delivered the blow straight from my shoulder. 'And, hark you,' I continued, as he lay half-stunned upon the mosaic floor, 'if you ever dare to speak one more insulting word in my hearing, about the woman I love, may your worthless blood be upon your own head, for I will slay you as I would a brute beast.'

"The Prince by this time had recovered his feet, and stood mad with pain and rage, half blinded by the blow I had dealt him, and unsheathing the long knife that dangled in a jewelled scabbard from his waist. What the end would have been it is difficult to conjecture, but at that moment our good friend Himos came along with a posse of troops, at sight of whom Perodii sheathed his weapon and walked away, saying as he did so:

"'The hour of my revenge is yet again delayed; but I will wait, aye, wait for centuries yet to come, if need be, and wipe out all thy insults in thy blood.'

"Nodding to Himos, I sped through the doorway into the garden, and hurried along between the rows of curious shrubs and flowers towards the arbour where Volinè had promised to meet me. Already the sun was dipping behind the distant hills, and I feared that my darling might have come, and not finding me there, had gone away again.

"The arbour was empty, and just as I saw it on that fateful night that seemed already sunless ages gone. I sat me down on the seat where we had embraced; then I walked to and fro along the path that her dear feet had trod, scarcely able to control my impatience as the day fell slowly into night and Volinè came not. Had harm befallen her? Then terrible thoughts of Perodii's mad vengeance floated through my brain, and I cursed myself for not killing him outright, and thus preventing him from working her evil. At last my ear caught footsteps sounding on the pathway, clearer and clearer in the still evening air. Then she for whom I waited came from out of the shadows towards me, and in another moment my sorrow was changed to joy as I folded her in my arms.

"'I fear I have kept thee waiting, but a disturbance in the Palace has caused me delay. Perodii hath lodged complaint against thee for striking him without cause, and my father is annoyed and angry that such a vulgar fray should have taken place under his roof. Perodii now hath no business within our royal house, and my father refused to hear more of his words. Harry, why didst thou not keep thy promise to me, and leave this man alone?'

"'Volinè, he is a coward and a liar. He alone is in the wrong, and thrust himself upon me as I came hither. He insulted you, and I struck him to the ground in my passion; but I am sorry now, for I have offended you. But pardon and forgive me, dear one, and let nothing come to mar our happiness. I will see the King anon, and tell him the simple truth. Come! kiss me, and make me happy again.'

"'Thou dost not deserve it, Harry; but there – ' and as she kissed me she continued, 'And now heed my wishes better in future, or my forgiveness will be more slowly given, I promise thee.'

"And so this little cloud above our happiness drifted away, and we enjoyed all the sweets of each other's company to the full. I was determined now, to-night, to ask Volinè to be my wife. In spite of our differences of race, and inequality of rank and station, I resolved to tell her of my passion, and to hear my fate.

"'Volinè,' I whispered, as I drew her gently and yet closer to me – 'Volinè, do you not know that I love you more passionately than ever mortal man has loved before? Do you not know that you have brought brightness into my life, and have taken that place in my heart which only one woman can ever fill?'

"'But wilt thou always love me so?'

"'Always, darling; always – until the race of my life is run, and all power of loving is stayed by the hand of death. Here, in this arbour, I swear it. By my home world yonder, and all that I hold dear thereon – see you, glimmering as a star above the tree-crests in the southern sky – I pledge to love and to worship you, Volinè, so long as I have life to love, and breath to speak it. Volinè, you are all in all to me; my first love and my last. Without you, life is but another name for pain; with you, bright and radiant joy for ever. I am yours, and you are mine. Volinè, be my wife. Crown my happiness to-night by saying "Yes."'

"'Stay, Harry; thy last words have brought a strange and unknown pain to my heart, and revealed the misery that is now before me whichever way I answer thee. Harry, the sweets of wifehood with thee are a joy which I may never hope to reach. There is one barrier that must ever stand between us, which maketh impossible a union between a son of thy world and a daughter of mine. It hath been so ordained, and therefore we cannot alter it to meet our will. This barrier of which I speak is the span of life. Here, as thou knowest there are old men amongst us who have seen five hundred summers whiten into winter. Four hundred years are the men of Gathma's usual span, even as thou hast told me but seventy are the limit of the men of Earth and thine. I am but five and twenty summers – comparatively in childhood, yet – and for fifty summers more I shall enjoy the sweets of youth. Thou art in the middle of thy tiny course, and in a few more years will reach the close of thy allotted span. Think then of my time of endless widowhood, sadly mourning for thee; yearning for the love I tasted, only to lose. Were I to wife with thee, my short happiness would ever be clouded by its early end! It must not, cannot be!'

"'Volinè, your words blot out all brightness from my heart, which now feels turned to stone. All now is dismal woe again – woe without a ray of hope, and there is naught but death before me to free me from my pain. Without you I cannot, will not, live, for life would be but a living death of dark despair. Is there no hope for me? No hope, Volinè dearest? Am I but to review this promised land of happiness from afar off, only to turn my face away from its green pastures for ever? Ah, no, it is too horrible!'

"'My poor Harry, it is as hard for me as for thee; for I love thee as a woman only loves when she doth love, that is with all her soul. No hope can lighten our darkness or leaven our sorrow. Yet, stay! There is one way – one only; but, alas! it is all too terrible – too terrible to speak.' And here she burst into a passionate fit of sobbing, and clung tightly to me, stricken down with grief.

"I soothed her as best I could, and dried her hot tears with my own parched lips, sighs of agony meanwhile breaking unbidden from my own heart, and big beads of sweat rolling off my forehead like drops of molten pain.

"'Speak, my darling, speak unto me,' I implored. 'Give words unto your thoughts, and let me know and share them. Volinè, speak? or my heart will burst with its heavy weight of woe.'

"Then, mingled with her sobs and moans of anguish, she spoke to me thus:

"'Harry, thou canst purchase happiness, but the price thou wilt have to pay is as costly as it is terrible! I have heard that Holy Echri hath the power of prolonging life, of endowing mortal man with forces that rejuvenate. The ordeal is awful. It is one of fire! To him who would so prolong or purchase life, the penalty is that he shall suffer all the horrors of death by fire. I know not the secrets of the mystic rite; but I will question Echri on the morrow. Doth it not seem unholy? And yet; and – yet – love – is – sweet – '

"'Volinè, your words bring new hope to my heart. If Echri possesses this wondrous power, then will I prove my love for you in his fires. His furnace shall but burn the dross of my love away, but refine it into a yet purer passion!'

"'Oh, Harry; how brave and how noble thou art! Thy calmness gives me confidence. If thou hast will and courage to pass through this fire for me, then surely shalt thou be rewarded by calling me thine own – that is, provided my father hath no obstacle to urge against our union. But, brave one, the hour is already late, and we must return. Meet me here to-morrow even, at setting sun, and I will bring thee news from Echri. Until then, adieu.'

"'Courage, courage, Volinè, my darling. All shall yet be well,' I whispered to her, as we walked along the garden-paths towards the Palace; and then planting kiss after kiss upon her willing, desire-athirsted lips, and snowy brow, I released her from my arms, and she went away.

"Love runs no smoother here, in Gathma, than on Earth, I mused, as I walked along the brilliantly-lighted corridors, thinking over the events of the past hour. A great and indefinable awe seemed creeping through every fibre of my body, as I thought and thought over the ghastly pledge I had just given, tempted by the vision of beauty in my arms. Did I regret my hasty, passionate vow? I now asked myself in cooler moments. No, no, a thousand times no, I mentally answered my own question; for if the way to my own happiness lies through fire, through fire I am thoroughly prepared to go."

[Here in the original MS. follows a long account of a scientific nature, which, though of the greatest importance to philosophers, might not be of sufficient interest to the general reading public. I have therefore deemed it expedient to omit this portion of the narrative, and keep as closely as possible to the fortunes of Harry and Volinè. – ED.]

CHAPTER XVII.

AT THE TEMPLE ON THE HILL VEROSI

"Already my comrades had retired to rest, and I did not see any of them until the morrow. Each one of us had now a separate chamber, fitted up with every convenience and every luxury; and after I had lightly supped a Martial showed me to my own apartment. Sleep I could not. The couch was soft; the surroundings all that might woo sleep for any man; but my eyes refused to close in slumber. Hour after hour I lay there awake, busy with thoughts of the woman I was about to espouse, and of the awful conditions under which our union was to be made. All night I tossed in feverish excitement, until the sickly light of the yellow dawn crept between the window draperies. Then I rose and dressed, and threw wide the casement, to let the refreshing morning air cool my burning temples. My tongue was dry and parched, and the cruel grip of a deadly fever seemed to have seized me. Then a terrible dread came over me that I was becoming mad. Was I still on Earth, and my visit to this strange world, and all that had befallen me thereon, but the wild delusion of a madman's dream? I would seek out Doctor Hermann, if all was an absolute reality, tell him my symptoms, and let him prescribe some remedy.

"Early as it was, I left my room and sought the Doctor's; for to stay there any longer I felt to be impossible.

"'Good morning, Doctor – '

"'Why, Graham,' said he, in a voice mingled with alarm and sympathy, rising from his couch as he spoke – 'why, whatever ails you?'

"'That is just what I came here to know, Doctor. I feel all to pieces; generally out of sorts; and thought you might have some simple remedy at hand to brace me up a bit.'

"'Simple remedy! Why, man, you look half dead. Come, let me have a look at you. Your pulse! Ah! I thought so. You are exciting yourself too much over something or other. You don't want medicine. Absolute rest is all I can prescribe. Have you been to bed at all? You have! Then go back to bed again, man – '

"'But, Doctor, I cannot sleep, try as I will. All night I have not closed my eyes.'

"'Then swallow a couple of those,' answered the Doctor, taking two tiny, silver-coated pills from a phial in his pocket-case as he spoke. 'Twelve hours' sleep should put you to rights. And just one word of advice, Graham – don't worry yourself so much, whatever may be the cause, or you will be downright ill. There, be off to bed again, and I will look in later on.'

"I took the pills, and went back to my bed; but it seemed hours and hours before the opiate acted, and I sank into a deep and dreamless slumber. The sun was low down in the western sky before I woke again; but the fever had left me, and I felt refreshed. By my bedside I found various meats, and a tall, slender flagon of 'wine'; but far more welcome to my opening eyes was a small nosegay of flowers, with a scroll of paper fastened to them, on which was written the two magic words 'Ra Volinè' – From Volinè! Heaven guard her from all evil!

"I dressed in haste, eating as I did so, for the hour appointed for my meeting with her was nigh, and my heart was filled with anxiety for the news that she might bring. But ere I had time to leave my chamber a servant came, leaving a message from my darling, saying that she would see me in her apartments. At the foot of the stairway Cyni and her sister waited my coming, and conducted me into the same room I had entered before.

"Volinè was waiting for me, and as the two handmaidens bowed and left, she came quickly to my side, a frightened, anxious look clouding her peerless face.

"'What is the matter, dear one?' I asked, as I saw her troubled look, although I guessed the cause.

"'Thy sickness hath grieved me sorely, dear. Art thou better now?'

"'The sight of you makes illness flee. But my malady is more of the spirit than the body. Darling, I cannot sleep for thoughts of you. That is all my ailment. And now let me thank you and kiss you for the pretty flowers. See; I wear them near my heart, and prize them much. But why do I see you here?'

"'For two reasons. First, thou art not well enough to risk the chilly air of evening; and second, I have prevailed upon Echri to meet thee here at a later hour. Already have I seen him when he came to Edos this morning, as is his daily custom, and by great good fortune persuaded him to grant my prayer. Oh! Harry, Harry, canst thou bear this pain for me?'

"'Dear one, my word is given, and I am ready, even now, to-night, to pass through this mystic ceremony, if it but hastens the day of our happiness. Have you yet made known our secret to the King?'

"'Alas! no; for I fear his refusal. But methinks I hadst better tell him before Echri comes. He may ask if my father hath given his consent to our betrothal, and even refuse his aid if such hath not been given.'

"'Then, darling, tell your father of our love to-night,' and I took her in my arms as I spoke, and kissed her upturned face in boundless pride.

"'As thou sayest, so will I do. Yea, even now shall the King hear of my love for thee, and my desire to be thy wife.'

"So speaking, Volinè withdrew herself from my arms, and placing the whistle to her lips, called her faithful Cyni into the room.

"'Is thy royal master engaged with business of State? Learn, and tell me.'

"'His Majesty, O mistress, is in the Hall of Song.'

"'Alone?'

"'Even so, O mistress.'