“I thought you might possibly like to go a little further up the Nile?” suggested the Doctor.
“Oh, no, I’ve had enough of it! You see, when a man proposes to a woman and gets refused, he can’t keep on dangling round that woman as if he thought it possible she might change her mind.” And he forced a smile. “I’ve got an appointment with Gervase to-morrow morning, and I must come back to-night in order to keep it — but after that I’m off.”
“An appointment with Gervase?” repeated the Doctor, slowly. “What sort of an appointment?”
Denzil avoided his keen look.
“Really, Doctor, you are getting awfully inquisitive!” he exclaimed with a hard laugh. “You want to know altogether too much!”
“Yes, I always do; it is a habit of mine,” responded Dr. Dean, calmly. “But in the present case, it doesn’t need much perspicuity to fathom your mystery. The dullest clod-hopper will tell you he can see through a millstone when there’s a hole in it. And I was always a good hand at putting two and two together and making four out of them. You and Gervase are in love with the same woman; the woman has rejected you and is encouraging Gervase; Gervase, you think, will on this very night be in the position of the accepted lover, for which successful fortune, attending him, you, the rejected one, propose to kill him to-morrow morning if you can, unless he kills you. And you are going to Cairo to get your pistols or whatever weapons you have arranged to fight with, and also to say good-bye to your sister.”
Denzil kept his eyes fixed studiously on the table-cloth and made no answer.
“However,” continued the Doctor complacently, “you can have it all your own way as far as I am concerned. I never interfere in these sort of matters. I should do no good if I attempted it. Besides, I haven’t the slightest anxiety on your behalf — not the slightest. Waiter, some more coffee, please?”
“Upon my word!” exclaimed Denzil, with a fretful laugh, “you are a most extraordinary man, Doctor!”
“I hope I am!” retorted the Doctor. “To be merely ordinary would not suit my line of ambition. This is very excellent coffee” — here he peered into the fresh pot of the fragrant beverage just set before him. “They make it better here than at the Gezireh Palace. Well, Denzil, my boy, when you get into Cairo, give my love to Helen and tell her we’ll all go home to the old country together; I, myself, have got quite enough out of Egypt this time to satisfy my fondness for new experiences. And let me assure you, my good fellow, that your proposed duel with Gervase will not come off!”
“It will come off!” said Denzil, with sudden fierceness. “By Heaven, it shall! — it must!”
“More wills than one have the working out of our destinies,” answered Dr. Dean with some gravity. “Man is not by any means supreme. He imagines he is, but that is only one of his many little delusions. You think you will have your way; Gervase thinks he will have his way; I think I will have my way; but as a matter of fact there is only one person in this affair whose ‘way’ will be absolute, and that person is the Princess Ziska. Ce que femme veut Dieu veut.”
“She has nothing whatever to do with the matter,” declared Denzil.
“Pardon! She has everything to do with it. She is the cause of it and she knows it. And as I have already told you, your proposed fight will not come off.” And the little Doctor smiled serenely. “There is your carriage at the door, I suppose. Off with you, my boy! — be off like a whirlwind, and return here armed to the teeth if you like! You have heard the expression ‘fighting the air’? That is what you will do tomorrow morning!”
And apparently in the best of all possible humors, Dr. Dean accompanied his young friend to the portico of the hotel and watched him drive off down the stately avenue of palm-trees which now cast their refreshing shade on the entire route from the Pyramids to Cairo. When he had fairly gone, the thoughtful savant surveyed the different tourists who were preparing to ascend the Pyramids under the escort of their Arab guides, regardless of the risks they ran of dislocated arms and broken shoulder-bones, — and in the study of the various odd types thus presented to him, he found himself fairly well amused.
“Protoplasm — mere protoplasm!” he murmured. “The germ of soul has not yet attained to individual consciousness in any one of these strange bipeds. Their thoughts are as jelly, — their reasoning powers in embryo, — their intellectual faculties barely perceptible. Yet they are interesting, viewed in the same light and considered on the same scale as fish or insects merely. As men and women of course they are misnomers, — laughable impossibilities. Well, well! — in the space of two or three thousand years, the protoplasm may start into form out of the void, and the fibres of a conscious Intellectuality may sprout, — but it will have to be in some other phase of existence — certainly not in this one. And now to shut myself up and write my memoranda — for I must not lose a single detail of this singular Egyptian psychic problem. The whole thing I perceive is rounding itself towards completion and catastrophe — but in what way? How will it — how CAN it end?”
And with a meditative frown puckering his brows, Dr. Dean folded his hands behind his back and retired to his own room, from whence he did not emerge all day.
Armand Gervase in the meanwhile was making himself the life and soul of everything at the Mena House Hotel. He struck up an easy acquaintance with several of the visitors staying there, — said pretty things to young women and pleasant things to old, — and in the course of a few hours succeeded in becoming the most popular personage in the place. He accepted invitations to parties, and agreed to share in various’ excursions, till he engaged himself for every day in the coming week, and was so gay and gallant and fascinating in manner and bearing that fair ladies lost their hearts to him at a glance, and what amusement or pleasure there was at the Mena House seemed to be doubly enhanced by the mere fact of his presence. In truth Gervase was in a singular mood of elation and excitation; a strong inward triumph possessed him and filled his soul with an imperious pride and sense of conquest which, for the time being, made him feel as though he were a very king of men. There was nothing in his nature of the noble tenderness which makes the lover mentally exalt his beloved as a queen before whom he is content to submit his whole soul in worship; what he realized was merely this: that here was one of the most beautiful and seductive women ever created, in the person of the Princess Ziska, and that he, Gervase, meant to possess that loveliest of women, whatever happened in the near or distant future. Of her, and of the influence of his passion on her personally, he did not stop to think, except with the curiously blind egotism which is the heritage of most men, and which led him to judge that her happiness would in some way or other be enhanced by his brief and fickle love. For, as a rule, men do not understand love. They understand desire, amounting sometimes to merciless covetousness for what they cannot get, — this is a leading natural characteristic of the masculine nature — but Love — love that endures silently and faithfully through the stress of trouble and the passing of years — love which sacrifices everything to the beloved and never changes or falters, — this is a divine passion which seldom or never sanctifies and inspires the life of a man. Women are not made of such base material; their love invariably springs first from the Ideal, not the Sensual, and if afterwards it develops into the sensual, it is through the rough and coarsening touch of man alone.
Throughout the entire day the Princess Ziska herself never left her private apartments, and towards late afternoon Gervase began to feel the hours drag along with unconscionable slowness and monotony. Never did the sun seem so slow in sinking; never did the night appear so far off. When at last dinner was served in the hotel, both Denzil Murray and Dr. Dean sat next to him at table, and, judging from outward appearances, the most friendly relations existed between all three of them. At the close of the meal, however, Denzil made a sign to Gervase to follow him, and when they had reached a quiet corner, said:
“I am aware of your victory; you have won where I have lost. But you k
now my intention?”
“Perfectly!” responded Gervase, with a cool smile.
“By Heaven!” went on the younger man, in accents of suppressed fury, “if I yielded to the temptation which besets me when I see you standing there facing me, with your easy and self-satisfied demeanor, — when I know that you mean dishonor where I meant honor, — when you have had the effrontery to confess to me that you only intend to make the Princess Ziska your mistress when I would have made her my wife, — God! I could shoot you dead at this moment!”
Gervase looked at him steadily, still smiling slightly; then gradually the smile died away, leaving his countenance shadowed by an intense melancholy.
“I can quite enter into your feelings, my dear boy!” he said. “And do you know, I’m not sure that it would not be a good thing if you were to shoot me dead! My life is of no particular value to anybody, — certainly not to myself; and I begin to think I’ve been always more or less of a failure. I have won fame, but I have missed — something — but upon my word, I don’t quite know what!”
He sighed heavily, then suddenly held out his hand.
“Denzil, the bitterest foes shake hands before fighting each other to the death, as we propose to do to-morrow; it is a civil custom and hurts no one, I should like to part kindly from you to-night!”
Denzil hesitated; then something stronger than himself made him yield to the impulsive note of strong emotion in his former friend’s voice, and the two men’s hands met in a momentary silent grasp. Then Denzil turned quickly away.
“To-morrow morning at six,” he said, briefly; “close to the Sphinx.”
“Good!” responded Gervase. “The Sphinx shall second us both and see fair play. Good-night, Denzil!”
“Good-night!” responded Denzil, coldly, as he moved on and disappeared.
A slight shiver ran through Gervase’s blood as he watched him depart.
“Odd that I should imagine I have seen the last of him!” he murmured. “There are strange portents in the air of the desert, I suppose! Is he going to his death? Or am I going to mine?”
Again the cold tremor shook him, and combating with his uneasy sensations, he went to his own apartment, there to await the expected summons of the Princess. No triumph filled him now; no sense of joy elated him; a vague fear and dull foreboding were all the emotions he was conscious of. Even his impatient desire of love had cooled, and he watched the darkening of night over the desert, and the stars shining out one by one in the black azure of the heavens, with a gradually deepening depression. A dreamy sense stole over him of remoteness or detachment from all visible things, as though he were suddenly and mysteriously separated from the rest of humankind by an invisible force which he was powerless to resist. He was still lost in this vague half-torpor or semi-conscious reverie, when a light tap startled him back to the realization of earth and his earthly surroundings. In response to his “Entrez!” the tall Nubian, whom he had seen in Cairo as the guardian of the Princess’s household, appeared, his repulsive features looking, if anything, more ghastly and hideous than ever.
“Madame la Princesse demande votre presence!” said this unlovely attendant of one of the fairest of women. “Suivez-moi!”
Without a moment’s hesitation or loss of time, Gervase obeyed, and allowing his guide to precede him at a little distance, followed him through the corridors of the hotel, out at the hall door and beyond, through the garden. A clock struck ten as they passed into the warm evening air, and the mellow rays of the moon were beginning to whiten the sides of the Great Pyramid. A few of the people staying in the hotel were lounging about, but these paid no particular heed to Gervase or his companion. At about two hundred yards from the entrance of the Mena House, the Nubian stopped and waited till Gervase came up with him.
“Madame la Princesse vous aime, Monsieur Gervase!” he said, with a sarcastic grin. “Mais, — elle veut que l’Amour soit toujours aveugle! oui, toujours! C’est le destin qui vous appelle, — il faut soumettre! L’Amour sans yeux! oui! — en fin, — comme ca!”
And before Gervase could utter a word of protest, or demand the meaning of this strange proceeding, his arms was suddenly seized and pinioned behind his back, his mouth gagged, and his eyes blindfolded.
“Maintenant,” continued the Nubian. “Nous irons ensemble!”
Choked and mad with rage, Gervase for a few moments struggled furiously as well as he was able with his powerful captor. All sorts of ideas surged in his brain: the Princess Ziska might, with all her beauty and fascination, be nothing but the ruler of a band of robbers and murderers — who could tell? Yet reason did not wholly desert him in extremity, for even while he tried to fight for his liberty he remembered that there was no good to be gained out of taking him prisoner; he had neither money nor valuables — nothing which could excite the cupidity of even a starving Bedouin. As this thought crossed his brain, he ceased his struggles abruptly, and stood still, panting for breath, when suddenly a sound of singing floated towards him:
“Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily!
A star above
Is its only love,
And one brief sigh of its scented breath
Is all it will ever know of Death!
Oh, for the passionless heart of the Lotus-Lily!”
He listened, and all power of resistance ebbed slowly away from him; he became perfectly passive — almost apathetic — and yielding to the somewhat rough handling of his guide, allowed himself to be urged with silent rapidity onward over the thick sand, till he presently became conscious that he was leaving the fresh open air and entering a building of some sort, for his feet pressed hard earth and stone instead of sand. All at once he was forcibly brought to a standstill, and a heavy rolling noise and clang, like distant muttered thunder, resounded in his ears, followed by dead silence. Then his arm was closely grasped again, and he was led on, on and on, along what seemed to be an interminable distance, for not a glimmer of light could be seen under the tight folds of the bandage across his eyes. Presently the earth shook under him, — some heavy substance was moved, and there was another booming thunderous noise, accompanied by the falling of chains.
“C’est l’escalier de Madame la Princesse!” said the Nubian. “Pres de la chambre nuptiale! Descendez! Vite!”
Down — down! Resistance was useless, even had he cared to resist, for he felt as though twenty pairs of hands instead of one were pushing him violently on all sides; down, still down he went, dumb, blind and helpless, till at last he was allowed to stop and breathe. His arms were released, the bandage was taken from his eyes, the gag from his mouth — he was free! Free — yes! but where? Thick darkness encompassed him; he stretched out his hands in the murky atmosphere and felt nothing.
“Ziska!” he cried.
The name sprang up against the silence and struck out numberless echoes, and with the echoes came a shuddering sigh, that was not of them, whispering:
“Charmazel!”
Gervase heard it, and a deadly fear, born of the supernatural, possessed him.
“Ziska! Ziska!” he called again wildly.
“Charmazel!” answered the penetrating unknown voice; and as it thrilled upon the air like a sob of pain, a dim light began to shine through the gloom, waveringly at first, then more steadily, till it gradually spread wide, illuminating with a pale and spectral light the place in which he found himself, — a place more weird and wondrous than any mystic scene in dream-land. He stumbled forward giddily, utterly bewildered, staring about him like a man in delirium, and speechless with mingled horror and amazement. He was alone — utterly alone in a vast square chamber, the walls and roof of which were thickly patterned and glistening with gold. Squares of gold were set in the very pavement on which he trod, and at the furthest end of the chamber, a magnificent sarcophagus of solid gold, encrusted with thousands upon thousands of jewels, which were set upon it in marvellous and fantastic devices, glittered and flashed with the hues of living fire. Golden c
ups, golden vases, a golden suit of armor, bracelets and chains of gold intermixed with gems, were heaped up against the walls and scattered on the floor; and a round shield of ivory inlaid with gold, together with a sword in a jewelled sheath, were placed in an upright position against the head of the sarcophagus, from whence all the spectral and mysterious light seemed to emerge. With thickly beating heart and faltering pulses Gervase still advanced, gazing half entranced, half terrified at the extraordinary and sumptuous splendor surrounding him, muttering almost unconsciously as he moved along:
“A king’s sepulchre, — a warrior’s tomb! How came I here? — and why? Is this a trysting-place for love as well as death? — and will she come to me? …”
He recoiled suddenly with a violent start, for there, like a strange Spirit of Evil risen from the ground, leaning against the great gold sarcophagus, her exquisite form scarcely concealed by the misty white of her draperies, her dark hair hanging like a cloud over her shoulders, and her black eyes aflame with wrath, menace and passion, stood the mysterious Ziska!
CHAPTER XVI.
Stricken dumb with a ghastly supernatural terror which far exceeded any ordinary sense of fear, he gazed at her, spellbound, his blood freezing, his very limbs stiffening, for now — now she looked like the picture he had painted of her; and Death — Death, livid, tortured and horrible, stared at him skull-wise from the transparent covering of her exquisitely tinted seeming-human flesh. Larger and brighter and wilder grew her eyes as she fixed them on him, and her voice rang through the silence with an unearthly resonance as she spoke and said:
“Welcome, my lover, to this abode of love! Welcome to these arms, for whose embraces your covetous soul has thirsted unappeased! Take all of me, for I am yours! — aye, so truly yours that you can never escape me! — never separate from me — no! not through a thousand thousand centuries! Life of my life! Soul of my soul! Possess me, as I possess you! — for our two unrepenting spirits form a dual flame in Hell which must burn on and on to all eternity! Leap to my arms, master and lord, — king and conqueror! Here, here!” and she smote her white arms against her whiter bosom. “Take all your fill of burning wickedness — of cursed joy! and then — sleep! as you have slept before, these many thousand years!”
Delphi Collected Works of Marie Corelli (Illustrated) (Delphi Series Eight Book 22) Page 427