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diff --git a/old/9thvb10h.htm b/old/9thvb10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a91759 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/9thvb10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8528 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>New File</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ninth Vibration, et. al. + +Author: L. Adams Beck + +Release Date: August, 1999 [EBook #1853] +[Most recently updated: February 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE NINTH VIBRATION, ET. AL. *** + + + + +</pre> + +<h2>THE NINTH VIBRATION AND OTHER STORIES</h2> + +<h3>BY L. ADAMS BECK</h3> + +<h3> </h3> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p>THE NINTH VIBRATION</p> + +<p>THE INTERPRETER A ROMANCE OF THE EAST</p> + +<p>THE INCOMPARABLE LADY A STORY OF CHINA WITH A MORAL</p> + +<p>THE HATRED OF THE QUEEN A STORY OF BURMA</p> + +<p>FIRE OF BEAUTY</p> + +<p>THE BUILDING OF THE TAJ MAHAL</p> + +<p>"HOW GREAT IS THE GLORY OF KWANNON!"</p> + +<p>"THE ROUND-FACED BEAUTY"</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE NINTH VIBRATION</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>There is a place uplifted nine thousand feet in purest air +where one of the most ancient tracks in the world runs from India +into Tibet. It leaves Simla of the Imperial councils by a stately +road; it passes beyond, but now narrowing, climbing higher beside +the khuds or steep drops to the precipitous valleys beneath, and +the rumor of Simla grows distant and the way is quiet, for, owing +to the danger of driving horses above the khuds, such baggage as +you own must be carried by coolies, and you yourself must either +ride on horseback or in the little horseless carriage of the +Orient, here drawn and pushed by four men. And presently the +deodars darken the way with a solemn presence, for-</p> + +<p>These are the Friars of the wood,</p> + +<p>The Brethren of the Solitude</p> + +<p>Hooded and grave-"</p> + +<p>-their breath most austerely pure in the gradually chilling +air. Their companies increase and now the way is through a great +wood where it has become a trail and no more, and still it climbs +for many miles and finally a rambling bungalow, small and low, is +sighted in the deeps of the trees, a mountain stream from unknown +heights falling beside it. And this is known as the House in the +Woods. Very few people are permitted to go there, for the owner +has no care for money and makes no provision for guests. You must +take your own servant and the khansamah will cook you such simple +food as men expect in the wilds, and that is all. You stay as +long as you please and when you leave not even a gift to the +khansamah is permitted.</p> + +<p>I had been staying in Ranipur of the plains while I considered +the question of getting to Upper Kashmir by the route from Simla +along the old way to Chinese Tibet where I would touch Shipki in +the Dalai Lama's territory and then pass on to Zanskar and so +down to Kashmir - a tremendous route through the Himalaya and a +crowning experience of the mightiest mountain scenery in the +world. I was at Ranipur for the purpose of consulting my old +friend Olesen, now an irrigation official in the Rampur district +- a man who had made this journey and nearly lost his life in +doing it. It is not now perhaps so dangerous as it was, and my +life was of no particular value to any one but myself, and the +plan interested me.</p> + +<p>I pass over the long discussions of ways and means in the +blinding heat of Ranipur. Olesen put all his knowledge at my +service and never uttered a word of the envy that must have +filled him as he looked at the distant snows cool and luminous in +blue air, and, shrugging good-natured shoulders, spoke of the +work that lay before him on the burning plains until the terrible +summer should drag itself to a close. We had vanquished the +details and were smoking in comparative silence one night on the +veranda, when he said in his slow reflective way;</p> + +<p>"You don't like the average hotel, Ormond, and you'll like it +still less up Simla way with all the Simla crowd of grass-widows +and fellows out for as good a time as they can cram into the hot +weather. I wonder if I could get you a permit for The House in +the Woods while you re waiting to fix up your men and route for +Shipki."</p> + +<p>He explained and of course I jumped at the chance. It +belonged, he said, to a man named Rup Singh, a pandit, or learned +man of Ranipur. He had always spent the summer there, but age and +failing health made this impossible now, and under certain +conditions he would occasionally allow people known to friends of +his own to put up there.</p> + +<p>"And Rup Singh and I are very good friends," Olesen said; "I +won his heart by discovering the lost Sukh Mandir, or Hall of +Pleasure, built many centuries ago by a Maharao of Ranipur for a +summer retreat in the great woods far beyond Simla. There are +lots of legends about it here in Ranipur. They call it The House +of Beauty. Rup Singh's ancestor had been a close friend of the +Maharao and was with him to the end, and that's why he himself +sets such store on the place. You have a good chance if I ask for +a permit.</p> + +<p>He told me the story and since it is the heart of my own I +give it briefly. Many centuries ago the Ranipur Kingdom was ruled +by the Maharao Rai Singh a prince of the great lunar house of the +Rajputs. Expecting a bride from some far away kingdom (the name +of this is unrecorded) he built the Hall of Pleasure as a summer +palace, a house of rare and costly beauty. A certain great +chamber he lined with carved figures of the Gods and their +stories, almost unsurpassed for truth and life. So, with the pine +trees whispering about it the secret they sigh to tell, he hoped +to create an earthly Paradise with this Queen in whom all +loveliness was perfected. And then some mysterious tragedy ended +all his hopes. It was rumoured that when the Princess came to his +court, she was, by some terrible mistake, received with insult +and offered the position only of one of his women. After that +nothing was known. Certain only is it that he fled to the hills, +to the home of his broken hope, and there ended his days in +solitude, save for the attendance of two faithful friends who +would not abandon him even in the ghostly quiet of the winter +when the pine boughs were heavy with snow and a spectral moon +stared at the panthers shuffling through the white wastes +beneath. Of these two Rup Singh's ancestor was one. And in his +thirty fifth year the Maharao died and his beauty and strength +passed into legend and his kingdom was taken by another and the +jungle crept silently over his Hall of Pleasure and the story +ended.</p> + +<p>"There was not a memory of the place up there," Olesen went +on. "Certainly I never heard anything of it when I went up to the +Shipki in 1904. But I had been able to be useful to Rup Singh and +he gave me a permit for The House in the Woods, and I stopped +there for a few days' shooting. I remember that day so well. I +was wandering in the dense woods while my men got their midday +grub, and I missed the trail somehow and found myself in a part +where the trees were dark and thick and the silence heavy as +lead. It was as if the trees were on guard - they stood shoulder +to shoulder and stopped the way. Well, I halted, and had a notion +there was something beyond that made me doubt whether to go on. I +must have stood there five minutes hesitating. Then I pushed on, +bruising the thick ferns under my shooting boots and stooping +under the knotted boughs. Suddenly I tramped out of the jungle +into a clearing, and lo and behold a ruined House, with blocks of +marble lying all about it, and carved pillars and a great roof +all being slowly smothered by the jungle. The weirdest thing you +ever saw. I climbed some fallen columns to get a better look, and +as I did I saw a face flash by at the arch of a broken window. I +sang out in Hindustani, but no answer: only the echo from the +woods. Somehow that dampened my ardour, and I didn't go in to +what seemed like a great ruined hall for the place was so eerie +and lonely, and looked mighty snaky into the bargain. So I came +ingloriously away and told Rup Singh. And his whole face changed. +'That is The House of Beauty,' he said. 'All my life have I +sought it and in vain. For, friend of my soul, a man must lose +himself that he may find himself and what lies beyond, and the +trodden path has ever been my doom. And you who have not sought +have seen. Most strange are the way of the Gods'. Later on I knew +this was why he had always gone up yearly, thinking and dreaming +God knows what. He and I tried for the place together, but in +vain and the whole thing is like a dream. Twice he has let +friends of mine stay at The House in the Woods, and I think he +won't refuse now."</p> + +<p>"Did he ever tell you the story?"</p> + +<p>"Never. I only know what I've picked up here. Some horrible +mistake about the Rani that drove the man almost mad with +remorse. I've heard bits here and there. There's nothing so vital +as tradition in India."</p> + +<p>"I wonder'. what really happened."</p> + +<p>"That we shall never know. I got a little old picture of the +Maharao - said to be painted by a Pahari artist. It's not likely +to be authentic, but you never can tell. A Brahman sold it to me +that he might complete his daughter's dowry, and hated doing +it."</p> + +<p>"May I see it?"</p> + +<p>"Why certainly. Not a very good light, but - can do, as the +Chinks say.</p> + +<p>He brought it out rolled in silk stuff and I carried it under +the hanging lamp. A beautiful young man indeed, with the air of +race these people have beyond all others;- a cold haughty face, +immovably dignified. He sat with his hands resting lightly on the +arms of his chair of State. A crescent of rubies clasped the +folds of the turban and from this sprang an aigrette scattering +splendours. The magnificent hilt of a sword was ready beside him. +The face was not only beautiful but arresting.</p> + +<p>"A strange picture," I said. "The artist has captured the man +himself. I can see him trampling on any one who opposed him, and +suffering in the same cold secret way. It ought to he authentic +if it isn't. Don't you know any more?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. Well - to bed, and tomorrow I'll see Rup Singh."</p> + +<p>I was glad when he returned with the permission. I was to be +very careful, he said, to make no allusion to the lost palace, +for two women were staying at the House in the Woods - a mother +and daughter to whom Rup Singh had granted hospitality because of +an obligation he must honor. But with true Oriental distrust of +women he had thought fit to make no confidence to them. I +promised and asked Olesen if he knew them.</p> + +<p>"Slightly. Canadians of Danish blood like my own. Their name +is Ingmar. Some people think the daughter good-looking. The +mother is supposed to be clever; keen on occult subjects which +she came back to India to study. The husband was a great +naturalist and the kindest of men. He almost lived in the jungle +and the natives had all sorts of rumours about his powers. You +know what they are. They said the birds and beasts followed him +about. Any old thing starts a legend."</p> + +<p>"What was the connection with Rup Singh?"</p> + +<p>"He was in difficulties and undeservedly, and Ingmar +generously lent him money at a critical time, trusting to his +honour for repayment. Like most Orientals he never forgets a good +turn and would do anything for any of the family - except trust +the women with any secret he valued. The father is long dead. By +the way Rup Singh gave me a queer message for you. He said; 'Tell +the Sahib these words - "Let him who finds water in the desert +share his cup with him who dies of thirst." He is certainly +getting very old. I don't suppose he knew himself what he +meant."</p> + +<p>I certainly did not. However my way was thus smoothed for me +and I took the upward road, leaving Olesen to the long ungrateful +toil of the man who devotes his life to India without sufficient +time or knowledge to make his way to the inner chambers of her +beauty. There is no harder mistress unless you hold the pass-key +to her mysteries, there is none of whom so little can be told in +words but who kindles so deep a passion. Necessity sometimes +takes me from that enchanted land, but when the latest dawns are +shining in my skies I shall make my feeble way back to her and +die at her worshipped feet. So I went up from Kalka.</p> + +<p>I have never liked Simla. It is beautiful enough - eight +thousand feet up in the grip of the great hills looking toward +the snows, the famous summer home of the Indian Government. Much +diplomacy is whispered on Observatory Hill and many are the +lighter diversions of which Mr. Kipling and lesser men have +written. But Simla is also a gateway to many things - to the +mighty deodar forests that clothe the foot-hills of the +mountains, to Kulu, to the eternal snows, to the old, old bridle +way that leads up to the Shipki Pass and the mysteries of Tibet - +and to the strange things told in this story. So I passed through +with scarcely a glance at the busy gayety of the little streets +and the tiny shops where the pretty ladies buy their rouge and +powder. I was attended by my servant Ali Khan, a Mohammedan from +Nagpur, sent up with me by Olesen with strong recommendation. He +was a stout walker, so too am I, and an inveterate dislike to the +man-drawn carriage whenever my own legs would serve me decided me +to walk the sixteen miles to the House in the Woods, sending on +the baggage. Ali Khan despatched it and prepared to follow me, +the fine cool air of the hills giving us a zest.</p> + +<p>"Subhan Alla! (Praise be to God!) the air is sweet!" he said, +stepping out behind me. "What time does the Sahib look to reach +the House?"</p> + +<p>"About five or six. Now, Ali Khan, strike out of the road. You +know the way."</p> + +<p>So we struck up into the glorious pine woods, mountains all +about us. Here and there as we climbed higher was a little bank +of forgotten snow, but spring had triumphed and everywhere was +the waving grace of maiden-hair ferns, banks of violets and +strangely beautiful little wild flowers. These woods are full of +panthers, but in day time the only precaution necessary is to +take no dog, - a dainty they cannot resist. The air was exquisite +with the sun-warm scent of pines, and here and there the trees +broke away disclosing mighty ranges of hills covered with rich +blue shadows like the bloom on a plum, - the clouds chasing the +sunshine over the mountain sides and the dark green velvet of the +robe of pines. I looked across ravines that did not seem gigantic +and yet the villages on the other side were like a handful of +peas, so tremendous was the scale. I stood now and then to see +the rhododendrons, forest trees here with great trunks and +massive boughs glowing with blood-red blossom, and time went by +and I took no count of it, so glorious was the climb.</p> + +<p>It must have been hours later when it struck me that the sun +was getting low and that by now we should be nearing The House in +the Woods. I said as much to Ali Khan. He looked perplexed and +agreed. We had reached a comparatively level place, the trail +faint but apparent, and it surprised me that we heard no sound of +life from the dense wood where our goal must be.</p> + +<p>"I know not, Presence," he said. "May his face be blackened +that directed me. I thought surely I could not miss the way, and +yet-"</p> + +<p>We cast back and could see no trail forking from the one we +were on. There was nothing for it but to trust to luck and push +on. But I began to be uneasy and so was the man. I had stupidly +forgotten to unpack my revolver, and worse, we had no food, and +the mountain air is an appetiser, and at night the woods have +their dangers, apart from being absolutely trackless. We had not +met a living being since we left the road and there seemed no +likelihood of asking for directions. I stopped no longer for +views but went steadily on, Ali Khan keeping up a running fire of +low-voiced invocations and lamentations. And now it was dusk and +the position decidely unpleasant.</p> + +<p>It was at that moment I saw a woman before us walking lightly +and steadily under the pines. She must have struck into the trail +from the side for she never could have kept before us all the +way. A native woman, but wearing the all-concealing boorka, more +like a town dweller than a woman of the hills. I put on speed and +Ali Khan, now very tired, toiled on behind me as I came up with +her and courteously asked the way. Her face was entirely hidden, +but the answering voice was clear and sweet. I made up my mind +she was young, for it had the bird-like thrill of youth.</p> + +<p>"If the Presence continues to follow this path he will arrive. +It is not far. They wait for him."</p> + +<p>That was all. It left me with a desire to see the veiled face. +We passed on and Ali Khan looked fearfully back.</p> + +<p>"Ajaib! (Wonderful!) A strange place to meet one of the +purdah-nashin (veiled women)" he muttered. "What would she be +doing up here in the heights? She walked like a Khanam (khan's +wife) and I saw the gleam of gold under the boorka."</p> + +<p>I turned with some curiosity as he spoke, and lo! there was no +human being in sight. She had disappeared from the track behind +us and it was impossible to say where. The darkening trees were +beginning to hold the dusk and it seemed unimaginable that a +woman should leave the way and take to the dangers of the +woods.</p> + +<p>"Puna-i-Khoda - God protect us!" said Ali Khan in a shuddering +whisper. "She was a devil of the wilds. Press on, Sahib. We +should not be here in the dark."</p> + +<p>There was nothing else to do. We made the best speed we could, +and the trees grew more dense and the trail fainter between the +close trunks, and so the night came bewildering with the +expectation that we must pass the night unfed and unarmed in the +cold of the heights. They might send out a search party from The +House in the Woods - that was still a hope, if there were no +other. And then, very gradually and wonderfully the moon dawned +over the tree tops and flooded the wood with mysterious silver +lights and about her rolled the majesty of the stars. We pressed +on into the heart of the night. From the dense black depths we +emerged at last. An open glade lay before us - the trees falling +back to right and left to disclose - what?</p> + +<p>A long low house of marble, unlit, silent, bathed in pale +splendour and shadow. About it stood great deodars, clothed in +clouds of the white blossoming clematis, ghostly and still. +Acacias hung motionless trails of heavily scented bloom as if +carved in ivory. It was all silent as death. A flight of nobly +sculptured steps led up to a broad veranda and a wide open door +with darkness behind it. Nothing more.</p> + +<p>I forced myself to shout in Hindustani - the cry seeming a +brutal outrage upon the night, and an echo came back numbed in +the black woods. I tried once more and in vain. We stood absorbed +also into the silence.</p> + +<p>"Ya Alla! it is a house of the dead!" whispered Ali Khan, +shuddering at my shoulder, - and even as the words left his lips +I understood where we were. "It is the Sukh Mandir." I said. "It +is the House of the Maharao of Ranipur."</p> + +<p>It was impossible to be in Ranipur and hear nothing of the +dead house of the forest and Ali Khan had heard - God only knows +what tales. In his terror all discipline, all the inborn respect +of the native forsook him, and without word or sign he turned and +fled along the track, crashing through the forest blind and mad +with fear. It would have been insanity to follow him, and in +India the first rule of life is that the Sahib shows no fear, so +I left him to his fate whatever it might be, believing at the +same time that a little reflection and dread of the lonely forest +would bring him to heel quickly.</p> + +<p>I stood there and the stillness flowed like water about me. It +was as though I floated upon it - bathed in quiet. My thoughts +adjusted themselves. Possibly it was not the Sukh Mandir. Olesen +had spoken of ruin. I could see none. At least it was shelter +from the chill which is always present at these heights when the +sun sets, - and it was beautiful as a house not made with hands. +There was a sense of awe but no fear as I went slowly up the +great steps and into the gloom beyond and so gained the hall.</p> + +<p>The moon went with me and from a carven arch filled with +marble tracery rained radiance that revealed and hid. Pillars +stood about me, wonderful with horses ramping forward as in the +Siva Temple at Vellore. They appeared to spring from the pillars +into the gloom urged by invisible riders, the effect barbarously +rich and strange - motion arrested, struck dumb in a violent +gesture, and behind them impenetrable darkness. I could not see +the end of this hall - for the moon did not reach it, but looking +up I beheld the walls fretted in great panels into the utmost +splendour of sculpture, encircling the stories of the Gods amid a +twining and under-weaving of leaves and flowers. It was more like +a temple than a dwelling. Siva, as Nataraja the Cosmic Dancer, +the Rhythm of the Universe, danced before me, flinging out his +arms in the passion of creation. Kama, the Indian Eros, bore his +bow strung with honey-sweet black bees that typify the heart's +desire. Krishna the Beloved smiled above the herd-maidens adoring +at his feet. Ganesha the Elephant-Headed, sat in massive calm, +wreathing his wise trunk about him. And many more. But all these +so far as I could see tended to one centre panel larger than any, +representing two life-size figures of a dim beauty. At first I +could scarcely distinguish one from the other in the +upward-reflected light, and then, even as I stood, the moving +moon revealed the two as if floating in vapor. At once I +recognized the subject - I had seen it already in the ruined +temple of Ranipur, though the details differed. Parvati, the +Divine Daughter of the Himalaya, the Emanation of the mighty +mountains, seated upon a throne, listening to a girl who played +on a Pan pipe before her. The goddess sat, her chin leaned upon +her hand, her shoulders slightly inclined in a pose of gentle +sweetness, looking down upon the girl at her feet, absorbed in +the music of the hills and lonely places. A band of jewels, +richly wrought, clasped the veil on her brows, and below the bare +bosom a glorious girdle clothed her with loops and strings and +tassels of jewels that fell to her knees - her only garment.</p> + +<p>The girl was a lovely image of young womanhood, the proud +swell of the breast tapering to the slim waist and long limbs +easily folded as she half reclined at the divine feet, her lips +pressed to the pipe. Its silent music mysteriously banished fear. +The sleep must be sweet indeed that would come under the +guardianship of these two fair creatures - their gracious +influence was dewy in the air. I resolved that I would spend the +night beside them. Now with the march of the moon dim vistas of +the walls beyond sprang into being. Strange mythologies - the +incarnations of Vishnu the Preserver, the Pastoral of Krishna the +Beautiful. I promised myself that next day I would sketch some of +the loveliness about me. But the moon was passing on her way - I +folded the coat I carried into a pillow and lay down at the feet +of the goddess and her nymph. Then a moonlit quiet I slept in a +dream of peace.</p> + +<p>Sleep annihilates time. Was it long or short when I woke like +a man floating up to the surface from tranquil deeps? That I +cannot tell, but once more I possessed myself and every sense was +on guard.</p> + +<p>My hearing first. Bare feet were coming, falling softly as +leaves, but unmistakable. There was a dim whispering but I could +hear no word. I rose on my elbow and looked down the long hall. +Nothing. The moonlight lay in pools of light and seas of shadow +on the floor, and the feet drew nearer. Was I afraid? I cannot +tell, but a deep expectation possessed me as the sound grew like +the rustle of grasses parted in a fluttering breeze, and now a +girl came swiftly up the steps, irradiate in the moonlight, and +passing up the hall stood beside me. I could see her robe, her +feet bare from the jungle, but her face wavered and changed and +re- united like the face of a dream woman. I could not fix it for +one moment, yet knew this was the messenger for whom I had waited +all my life - for whom one strange experience, not to be told at +present, had prepared me in early manhood. Words came, and I +said:</p> + +<p>"Is this a dream?"</p> + +<p>"No. We meet in the Ninth Vibration. All here is true."</p> + +<p>"Is a dream never true?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes it is the echo of the Ninth Vibration and therefore +a harmonic of truth. You are awake now. It is the day-time that +is the sleep of the soul. You are in the Lower Perception, +wherein the truth behind the veil of what men call Reality is +perceived."</p> + +<p>"Can I ascend?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell. That is for you, not me.</p> + +<p>"What do I perceive tonight?"</p> + +<p>"The Present as it is in the Eternal. Say no more. Come with +me."</p> + +<p>She stretched her hand and took mine with the assurance of a +goddess, and we went up the hall where the night had been deepest +between the great pillars.</p> + +<p>Now it is very clear to me that in every land men, when the +doors of perception are opened, will see what we call the +Supernatural clothed in the image in which that country has +accepted it. Blake, the mighty mystic, will see the Angels of the +Revelation, driving their terrible way above Lambeth - it is not +common nor unclean. The fisherman, plying his coracle on the +Thames will behold the consecration of the great new Abbey of +Westminster celebrated with mass and chant and awful lights in +the dead mid-noon of night by that Apostle who is the Rock of the +Church. Before him who wanders in Thessaly Pan will brush the +dewy lawns and slim-girt Artemis pursue the flying hart. In the +pale gold of Egyptian sands the heavy brows of Osiris crowned +with the pshent will brood above the seer and the veil of Isis +tremble to the lifting. For all this is the rhythm to which the +souls of men are attuned and in that vibration they will see, and +no other, since in this the very mountains and trees of the land +are rooted. So here, where our remote ancestors worshipped the +Gods of Nature, we must needs stand before the Mystic Mother of +India, the divine daughter of the Himalaya.</p> + +<p>How shall I describe the world we entered? The carvings upon +the walls had taken life - they had descended. It was a gathering +of the dreams men have dreamed here of the Gods, yet most real +and actual. They watched in a serenity that set them apart in an +atmosphere of their own - forms of indistinct majesty and august +beauty, absolute, simple, and everlasting. I saw them as one sees +reflections in rippled water - no more. But all faces turned to +the place where now a green and flowering leafage enshrined and +partly hid the living Nature Goddess, as she listened to a voice +that was not dumb to me. I saw her face only in glimpses of an +indescribable sweetness, but an influence came from her presence +like the scent of rainy pine forests, the coolness that breathes +from great rivers, the passion of Spring when she breaks on the +world with a wave of flowers. Healing and life flowed from it. +Understanding also. It seemed I could interpret the very silence +of the trees outside into the expression of their inner life, the +running of the green life-blood in their veins, the delicate +trembling of their finger-tips.</p> + +<p>My companion and I were not heeded. We stood hand in hand like +children who have innocently strayed into a palace, gazing in +wonderment. The august life went its way upon its own occasions, +and, if we would, we might watch. Then the voice, clear and cold, +proceeding, as it were, with some story begun before we had +strayed into the Presence, the whole assembly listening in +silence.</p> + +<p>"- and as it has been so it will be, for the Law will have the +blind soul carried into a body which is a record of the sins it +has committed, and will not suffer that soul to escape from +rebirth into bodies until it has seen the truth -"</p> + +<p>And even as this was said and I listened, knowing myself on +the verge of some great knowledge, I felt sleep beginning to +weigh upon my eyelids. The sound blurred, flowed unsyllabled as a +stream, the girl's hand grew light in mine; she was fading, +becoming unreal; I saw her eyes like faint stars in a mist. They +were gone. Arms seemed to receive me - to lay me to sleep and I +sank below consciousness, and the night took me.</p> + +<p>When I awoke the radiant arrows of the morning were shooting +into the long hall where I lay, but as I rose and looked about +me, strange - most strange, ruin encircled me everywhere. The +blue sky was the roof. What I had thought a palace lost in the +jungle, fit to receive its King should he enter, was now a broken +hall of State; the shattered pillars were festooned with waving +weeds, the many coloured lantana grew between the fallen blocks +of marble. Even the sculptures on the walls were difficult to +decipher. Faintly I could trace a hand, a foot, the orb of a +woman's bosom, the gracious outline of some young God, standing +above a crouching worshipper. No more. Yes, and now I saw above +me as the dawn touched it the form of the Dweller in the Windhya +Hills, Parvati the Beautiful, leaning softly over something +breathing music at her feet. Yet I knew I could trace the almost +obliterated sculpture only because I had already seen it defined +in perfect beauty. A deep crack ran across the marble; it was +weathered and stained by many rains, and little ferns grew in the +crevices, but I could reconstruct every line from my own +knowledge. And how? The Parvati of Ranipur differed in many +important details. She stood, bending forward, wheras this sweet +Lady sat. Her attendants were small satyr-like spirits of the +wilds, piping and fluting, in place of the reclining maiden. The +sweeping scrolls of a great halo encircled her whole person. Then +how could I tell what this neary obliterated carving had been? I +groped for the answer and could not find it. I doubted-</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Were such things here as we do speak about?</p> + +<p>Or have we eaten of the insane root</p> + +<p>That takes the reason captive?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Memory rushed over me like the sea over dry sands. A girl - +there had been a girl - we had stood with clasped hands to hear a +strange music, but in spite of the spiritual intimacy of those +moments I could not recall her face. I saw it cloudy against a +background of night and dream, the eyes remote as stars, and so +it eluded me. Only her presence and her words sur- vived; "We +meet in the Ninth Vibration. All here is true." But the Ninth +Vibration itself was dream-land. I had never heard the phrase - I +could not tell what was meant, nor whether my apprehension was +true or false. I knew only that the night had taken her and the +dawn denied her, and that, dream or no dream, I stood there with +a pang of loss that even now leaves me wordless.</p> + +<p>A bird sang outside in the acacias, clear and shrill for day, +and this awakened my senses and lowered me to the plane where I +became aware of cold and hunger, and was chilled with dew. I +passed down the tumbled steps that had been a stately ascent the +night before and made my way into the jungle by the trail, small +and lost in fern, by which we had come. Again I wandered, and it +was high noon before I heard mule bells at a distance, and, thus +guided, struck down through the green tangle to find myself, +wearied but safe, upon the bridle way that leads to Fagu and the +far Shipki. Two coolies then directed me to The House in the +Woods.</p> + +<p>All was anxiety there. Ali Khan had arrived in the night, +having found his way under the guidance of blind flight and fear. +He had brought the news that I was lost in the jungle and amid +the dwellings of demons. It was, of course, hopeless to search in +the dark, though the khansamah and his man had gone as far as +they dared with lanterns and shouting, and with the daylight they +tried again and were even now away. It was useless to reproach +the man even if I had cared to do so. His ready plea was that as +far as men were concerned he was as brave as any (which was true +enough as I had reason to know later) but that when it came to +devilry the Twelve Imaums themselves would think twice before +facing it.</p> + +<p>"Inshalla ta-Alla! (If the sublime God wills!) this unworthy +one will one day show the Protector of the poor, that he is a +respectable person and no coward, but it is only the Sahibs who +laugh in the face of devils."</p> + +<p>He went off to prepare me some food, consumed with curiosity +as to my adventures, and when I had eaten I found my tiny +whitewashed cell, for the room was little more, and slept for +hours.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon I waked and looked out. A, low but +glowing sunlight suffused the wild garden reclaimed from the +strangle-hold of the jungle and hemmed in with rocks and forest. +A few simple flowers had been planted here and there, but its +chief beauty was a mountain stream, brown and clear as the eyes +of a dog, that fell from a crag above into a rocky basin, +maidenhair ferns growing in such masses about it that it was +henceforward scarcely more than a woodland voice. Beside it two +great deodars spread their canopies, and there a woman sat in a +low chair, a girl beside her reading aloud. She had thrown her +hat off and the sunshine turned her massed dark hair to bronze. +That was all I could see. I went out and joined them, taking the +note of introduction which Olesen had given me.</p> + +<p>I pass over the unessentials of my story; their friendly +greetings and sympathy for my adventure. It set us at ease at +once and I knew my stay would be the happier for their presence +though it is not every woman one would choose as a companion in +the great mountain country. But what is germane to my purpose +must be told, and of this a part is the per- sonality of Brynhild +Ingmar. That she was beautiful I never doubted, though I have +heard it disputed and smiled inwardly as the disputants urged lip +and cheek and shades of rose and lily, weighing and appraising. +Let me describe her as I saw her or, rather, as I can, adding +that even without all this she must still have been beautiful +because of the deep significance to those who had eyes to see or +feel some mysterious element which mingled itself with her +presence comparable only to the delight which the power and +spiritual essence of Nature inspires in all but the dullest +minds. I know I cannot hope to convey this in words. It means +little if I say I thought of all quiet lovely solitary things +when I looked into her calm eyes, - that when she moved it was +like clear springs renewed by flowing, that she seemed the +perfect flowering of a day in June, for these are phrases. Does +Nature know her wonders when she shines in her strength? Does a +woman know the infinite meanings her beauty may have for the +beholder? I cannot tell. Nor can I tell if I saw this girl as she +may have seemed to those who read only the letter of the book and +are blind to its spirit, or in the deepest sense as she really +was in the sight of That which created her and of which she was a +part. Surely it is a proof of the divinity of love that in and +for a moment it lifts the veil of so-called reality and shows +each to the other mysteriously perfect and inspiring as the world +will never see them, but as they exist in the Eternal, and in the +sight of those who have learnt that the material is but the +dream, and the vision of love the truth.</p> + +<p>I will say then, for the alphabet of what I knew but cannot +tell, that she had the low broad brows of a Greek Nature Goddess, +the hair swept back wing-like from the temples and massed with a +noble luxuriance. It lay like rippled bronze, suggesting +something strong and serene in its essence. Her eyes were clear +and gray as water, the mouth sweetly curved above a resolute +chin. It was a face which recalled a modelling in marble rather +than the charming pastel and aquarelle of a young woman's +colouring, and somehow I thought of it less as the beauty of a +woman than as some sexless emanation of natural things, and this +impression was strengthened by her height and the long limbs, +slender and strong as those of some youth trained in the +pentathlon, subject to the severest discipline until all that was +superfluous was fined away and the perfect form expressing the +true being emerged. The body was thus more beautiful than the +face, and I may note in passing that this is often the case, +because the face is more directly the index of the restless and +unhappy soul within and can attain true beauty only when the soul +is in harmony with its source.</p> + +<p>She was a little like her pale and wearied mother. She might +resemble her still more when the sorrow of this world that +worketh death should have had its will of her. I had yet to learn +that this would never be - that she had found the open door of +escape.</p> + +<p>We three spent much time together in the days that followed. I +never tired of their company and I think they did not tire of +mine, for my wanderings through the world and my studies in the +ancient Indian literatures and faiths with the Pandit Devaswami +were of interest to them both though in entirely different ways. +Mrs. Ingmar was a woman who centred all her interests in books +and chiefly in the scientific forms of occult research. She was +no believer in anything outside the range of what she called +human experience. The evidences had convinced her of nothing but +a force as yet unclassified in the scientific categories and all +her interest lay in the undeveloped powers of brain which might +be discovered in the course of ignorant and credulous experiment. +We met therefore on the common ground of rejection of the +so-called occultism of the day, though I knew even then, and how +infinitely better now, that her constructions were wholly +misleading.</p> + +<p>Nearly all day she would lie in her chair under the deodars by +the delicate splash and ripple of the stream. Living imprisoned +in the crystal sphere of the intellect she saw the world outside, +painted in few but distinct colours, small, comprehensible, +moving on a logical orbit. I never knew her posed for an +explanation. She had the contented atheism of a certain type of +French mind and found as much ease in it as another kind of sweet +woman does in her rosary and confessional.</p> + +<p>"I cannot interest Brynhild," she said, when I knew her +better. "She has no affinity with science. She is simply a nature +worshipper, and in such places as this she seems to draw life +from the inanimate life about her. I have sometimes wondered +whether she might not be developed into a kind of bridge between +the articulate and the inarticulate, so well does she understand +trees and flowers. Her father was like that - he had all sorts of +strange power with animals and plants, and thought he had more +than he had. He could never realize that the energy of nature is +merely mechanical."</p> + +<p>"You think all energy is mechanical?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. We shall lay our finger on the mainspring one day +and the mystery will disappear. But as for Brynhild - I gave her +the best education possible and yet she has never understood the +conception of a universe moving on mathematical laws to which we +must submit in body and mind. She has the oddest ideas. I would +not willingly say of a child of mine that she is a mystic, and +yet -"</p> + +<p>She shook her head compassionately. But I scarcely heard. My +eyes were fixed on Brynhild, who stood apart, looking steadily +out over the snows. It was a glorious sunset, the west vibrating +with gorgeous colour spilt over in torrents that flooded the sky, +Terrible splendours - hues for which we have no thought - no +name. I had not thought of it as music until I saw her face but +she listened as well as saw, and her expression changed as it +changes when the pomp of a great orchestra breaks upon the +silence. It flashed to the chords of blood-red and gold that was +burning fire. It softened through the fugue of woven crimson gold +and flame, to the melancholy minor of ashes-of-roses and paling +green, and so through all the dying glories that faded slowly to +a tranquil grey and left the world to the silver melody of one +sole star that dawned above the ineffable heights of the snows. +Then she listened as a child does to a bird, entranced, with a +smile like a butterfly on her parted lips. I never saw such a +power of quiet.</p> + +<p>She and I were walking next day among the forest ways, the +pine-scented sunshine dappling the dropped frondage. We had been +speaking of her mother. "It is such a misfortune for her," she +said thoughtfully, "that I am not clever. She should have had a +daughter who could have shared her thoughts. She analyses +everything, reasons about everything, and that is quite out of my +reach."</p> + +<p>She moved beside me with her wonderful light step - the poise +and balance of a nymph in the Parthenon frieze.</p> + +<p>"How do you see things?"</p> + +<p>"See? That is the right word. I see things - I never reason +about them. They are. For her they move like figures in a sum. +For me every one of them is a window through which one may look +to what is beyond."</p> + +<p>"To where?"</p> + +<p>"To what they really are - not what they seem."</p> + +<p>I looked at her with interest.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear of the double vision?"</p> + +<p>For this is a subject on which the spiritually learned men of +India, like the great mystics of all the faiths, have much to +say. I had listened with bewilderment and doubt to the +expositions of my Pandit on this very head. Her simple words +seemed for a moment the echo of his deep and searching thought. +Yet it surely could not be. Impossible.</p> + +<p>"Never. What does it mean?" She raised clear unveiled eyes. +"You must forgive me for being so stupid, but it is my mother who +is at home with all these scientific phrases. I know none of +them."</p> + +<p>"It means that for some people the material universe - the +things we see with our eyes - is only a mirage, or say, a symbol, +which either hides or shadows forth the eternal truth. And in +that sense they see things as they really are, not as they seem +to the rest of us. And whether this is the statement of a truth +or the wildest of dreams, I cannot tell."</p> + +<p>She did not answer for a moment; then said;</p> + +<p>"Are there people who believe this - know it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. There are people who believe that thought is the +only real thing - that the whole universe is thought made +visible. That we create with our thoughts the very body by which +we shall re-act on the universe in lives to be.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Do you?"</p> + +<p>She paused; looked at me, and then went on:</p> + +<p>"You see, I don't think things out. I only feel. But this +cannot interest you."</p> + +<p>I felt she was eluding the question. She began to interest me +more than any one I had ever known. She had extraordinary power +of a sort. Once, in the woods, where I was reading in so deep a +shade that she never saw me, I had an amazing vision of her. She +stood in a glade with the sunlight and shade about her; she had +no hat and a sunbeam turned her hair to pale bronze. A small +bright April shower was falling through the sun, and she stood in +pure light that reflected itself in every leaf and grass-blade. +But it was nothing of all this that arrested me, beautiful as it +was. She stood as though life were for the moment suspended;- +then, very softly, she made a low musical sound, infinitely +wooing, from scarcely parted lips, and instantly I saw a bird of +azure plumage flutter down and settle on her shoulder, pluming +himself there in happy security. Again she called softly and +another followed the first. Two flew to her feet, two more to her +breast and hand. They caressed her, clung to her, drew some +joyous influence from her presence. She stood in the glittering +rain like Spring with her birds about her - a wonderful sight. +Then, raising one hand gently with the fingers thrown back she +uttered a different note, perfectly sweet and intimate, and the +branches parted and a young deer with full bright eyes fixed on +her advanced and pushed a soft muzzle into her hand.</p> + +<p>In my astonishment I moved, however slightly, and the picture +broke up. The deer sprang back into the trees, the birds +fluttered up in a hurry of feathers, and she turned calm eyes +upon me, as unstartled as if she had known all the time that I +was there.</p> + +<p>"You should not have breathed," she said smiling. "They must +have utter quiet."</p> + +<p>I rose up and joined her.</p> + +<p>"It is a marvel. I can scarcely believe my eyes. How do you do +it?"</p> + +<p>"My father taught me. They come. How can I tell?"</p> + +<p>She turned away and left me. I thought long over this episode. +I recalled words heard in the place of my studies - words I had +dismissed without any care at the moment. "To those who see, +nothing is alien. They move in the same vibration with all that +has life, be it in bird or flower. And in the Uttermost also, for +all things are One. For such there is no death."</p> + +<p>That was beyond me still, but I watched her with profound +interest. She recalled also words I had half forgotten-</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"There was nought above me and nought below,</p> + +<p>My childhood had not learnt to know;</p> + +<p>For what are the voices of birds,</p> + +<p>Aye, and of beasts, but words, our words, -</p> + +<p>Only so much more sweet."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>That might have been written of her. And more.</p> + +<p>She had found one day in the woods a flower of a sort I had +once seen in the warm damp forests below Darjiling - ivory white +and shaped like a dove in flight. She wore it that evening on her +bosom. A week later she wore what I took to be another.</p> + +<p>"You have had luck," I said; "I never heard of such a thing +being seen so high up, and you have found it twice."</p> + +<p>"No, it is the same."</p> + +<p>"The same? Impossible. You found it more than a week ago." "I +know. It is ten days. Flowers don't die when one understands them +- not as most people think."</p> + +<p>Her mother looked up and said fretfully:</p> + +<p>"Since she was a child Brynhild has had that odd idea. That +flower is dead and withered. Throw it away, child. It looks +hideous."</p> + +<p>Was it glamour? What was it? I saw the flower dewy fresh in +her bosom She smiled and turned away.</p> + +<p>It was that very evening she left the veranda where we were +sitting in the subdued light of a little lamp and passed beyond +where the ray cut the darkness. She went down the perspective of +trees to the edge of he clearing and I rose to follow for it +seemed absolutely unsafe that she should be on the verge of the +panther-haunted woods alone. Mrs. Ingmar turned a page of her +book serenely;</p> + +<p>"She will not like it if you go. I cannot imagine that she +should come to harm. She always goes her own way - light or +dark."</p> + +<p>I returned to my seat and watched steadfastly. At first I +could see nothing but as my sight adjusted itself I saw her a +long way down the clearing that opened the snows, and quite +certainly also I saw something like a huge dog detach itself from +the woods and bound to her feet. It mingled with her dark dress +and I lost it. Mrs. Ingmar said, seeing my anxiety but nothing +else; "Her father was just the same; - he had no fear of anything +that lives. No doubt some people have that power. I have never +seen her attract birds and beasts as he certainly did, but she is +quite as fond of them."</p> + +<p>I could not understand her blindness - what I myself had seen +raised questions I found unanswerable, and her mother saw +nothing! Which of us was right? presently she came back slowly +and I ventured no word.</p> + +<p>A woodland sorcery, innocent as the dawn, hovered about her. +What was it? Did the mere love of these creatures make a bond +between her soul and theirs, or was the ancient dream true and +could she at times move in the same vibration? I thought of her +as a wood-spirit sometimes, an expression herself of some passion +of beauty in Nature, a thought of snows and starry nights and +flowing rivers made visible in flesh. It is surely when seized +with the urge of some primeval yearning which in man is merely +sexual that Nature conceives her fair forms and manifests them, +for there is a correspondence that runs through all creation.</p> + +<p>Here I ask myself - Did I love her? In a sense, yes, deeply, +but not in the common reading of the phrase. I have trembled with +delight before the wild and terrible splendour of the Himalayan +heights-; low golden moons have steeped my soul longing, but I +did not think of these things as mine in any narrow sense, nor so +desire them. They were Angels of the Evangel of beauty. So too +was she. She had none of the "silken nets and traps of adamant," +she was no sister of the "girls of mild silver or of furious +gold"; - but fair, strong, and her own, a dweller in the House of +Quiet. I did not covet her. I loved her.</p> + +<p>Days passed. There came a night when the winds were loosed - +no moon, the stars flickering like blown tapers through driven +clouds, the trees swaying and lamenting.</p> + +<p>"There will be rain tomorrow." Mrs. Ingmar said, as we parted +for the night. I closed my door. Some great cat of the woods was +crying harshly outside my window, the sound receding towards the +bridle way. I slept in a dream of tossing seas and ships +labouring among them.</p> + +<p>With the sense of a summons I waked - I cannot tell when. +Unmistakable, as if I were called by name. I rose and dressed, +and heard distinctly bare feet passing my door. I opened it +noiselessly and looked out into the little passage way that made +for the entry, and saw nothing but pools of darkness and a dim +light from the square of the window at the end. But the wind had +swept the sky clear with its flying bosom and was sleeping now in +its high places and the air was filled with a mild moony radiance +and a great stillness.</p> + +<p>Now let me speak with restraint and exactness. I was not +afraid but felt as I imagine a dog feels in the presence of his +master, conscious of a purpose, a will entirely above his own and +incomprehensible, yet to be obeyed without question. I followed +my reading of the command, bewildered but docile, and +understanding nothing but that I was called.</p> + +<p>The lights were out. The house dead silent; the familiar +veranda ghostly in the night. And now I saw a white figure at the +head of the steps - Brynhild. She turned and looked over her +shoulder, her face pale in the moon, and made the same gesture +with which she summoned her birds. I knew her meaning, for now we +were moving in the same rhythm, and followed as she took the +lead. How shall I describe that strange night in the jungle. +There were fire-flies or dancing points of light that recalled +them. Perhaps she was only thinking them - only thinking the moon +and the quiet, for we were in the world where thought is the one +reality. But they went with us in a cloud and faintly lighted our +way. There were exquisite wafts of perfume from hidden flowers +breathing their dreams to the night. Here and there a drowsy bird +stirred and chirped from the roof of darkness, a low note of +content that greeted her passing. It was a path intricate and +winding and how long we went, and where, I cannot tell. But at +last she stooped and parting the boughs before her we stepped +into an open space, and before us - I knew it - I knew it! - The +House of Beauty.</p> + +<p>She paused at the foot of the great marble steps and looked at +me.</p> + +<p>"We have met here already."</p> + +<p>I did not wonder - I could not. In the Ninth vibration +surprise had ceased to be. Why had I not recognized her before - +O dull of heart! That was my only thought. We walk blindfold +through the profound darkness of material nature, the blinder +because we believe we see it. It is only when the doors of the +material are closed that the world appears to man as it exists in +the eternal truth.</p> + +<p>"Did you know this?" I asked, trembling before mystery.</p> + +<p>"I knew it, because I am awake. You forgot it in the dull +sleep which we call daily life. But we were here and THEY began +the story of the King who made this house. Tonight we shall hear +it. It he story of Beauty wandering through the world and the +world received her not. We hear it in this place because here he +agonized for what he knew too late."</p> + +<p>"Was that our only meeting?"</p> + +<p>"We meet every night, but you forget when the day brings the +sleep of the soul. - You do not sink deep enough into rest to +remember. You float on the surface where the little bubbles of +foolish dream are about you and I cannot reach you then."</p> + +<p>"How can I compel myself to the deeps?"</p> + +<p>"You cannot. It will come. But when you have passed up the +bridle way and beyond the Shipki, stop at Gyumur. There is the +Monastery of Tashigong, and there one will meet you-</p> + +<p>"His name?"</p> + +<p>"Stephen Clifden. He will tell you what you desire to know. +Continue on then with him to Yarkhand. There in the Ninth +Vibration we shall meet again. It is a long journey but you will +be content."</p> + +<p>"Do you certainly know that we shall meet again?"</p> + +<p>"When you have learnt, we can meet when we will. He will teach +you the Laya Yoga. You should not linger here in the woods any +longer. You should go on. In three days it will be possible."</p> + +<p>"But how have you learnt - a girl and young?"</p> + +<p>"Through a close union with Nature - that is one of the three +roads. But I know little as yet. Now take my hand and come.</p> + +<p>"One last question. Is this house ruined and abject as I have +seen it in the daylight, or royal and the house of Gods as we see +it now? Which is truth?"</p> + +<p>"In the day you saw it in the empty illusion of blind thought. +Tonight, eternally lovely as in the thought of the man who made +it. Nothing that is beautiful is lost, though in the sight of the +unwise it seems to die. Death is in the eyes we look through - +when they are cleansed we see Life only. Now take my hand and +come. Delay no more."</p> + +<p>She caught my hand and we entered the dim magnificence of the +great hall. The moon entered with us.</p> + +<p>Instantly I had the feeling of supernatural presence. Yet I +only write this in deference to common use, for it was absolutely +natural - more so than any I have met in the state called daily +life. It was a thing in which I had a part, and if this was +supernatural so also was I.</p> + +<p>Again I saw the Dark One, the Beloved, the young Krishna, +above the women who loved him. He motioned with his hand as we +passed, as though he waved us smiling on our way. Again the +dancers moved in a rhythmic tread to the feet of the mountain +Goddess - again we followed to where she bent to hear. But now, +solemn listening faces crowded in the shadows about her, grave +eyes fixed immovably upon what lay at her feet - a man, submerged +in the pure light that fell from her presence, his dark face +stark and fine, lips locked, eyes shut, arms flung out cross-wise +in utter abandonment, like a figure of grief invisibly crucified +upon his shame. I stopped a few feet from him, arrested by a +barrier I could not pass. Was it sleep or death or some +mysterious state that partook of both? Not sleep, for there was +no flutter of breath. Not death - no rigid immobility struck +chill into the air. It was the state of subjection where the +spirit set free lies tranced in the mighty influences which +surround us invisibly until we have entered, though but for a +moment, the Ninth Vibration.</p> + +<p>And now, with these Listeners about us, a clear voice began +and stirred the air with music. I have since been asked in what +tongue it spoke and could only answer that it reached my ears in +the words of my childhood, and that I know whatever that language +had been it would so have reached me.</p> + +<p>"Great Lady, hear the story of this man's fall, for it is the +story of man. Be pitiful to the blind eyes and give them +light."</p> + +<p>There was long since in Ranipur a mighty King and at his birth +the wise men declared that unless he cast aside all passions that +debase the soul, relinquishing the lower desires for the higher +until a Princess laden with great gifts should come to be his +bride, he would experience great and terrible misfortunes. And +his royal parents did what they could to possess him with this +belief, but they died before he reached manhood. Behold him then, +a young King in his palace, surrounded with splendour. How should +he withstand the passionate crying of the flesh or believe that +through pleasure comes satiety and the loss of that in the spirit +whereby alone pleasure can be enjoyed? For his gift was that he +could win all hearts. They swarmed round him like hiving bees and +hovered about him like butterflies. Sometimes he brushed them +off. Often he caressed them, and when this happened, each thought +proudly "I am the Royal Favourite. There is none other than +me."</p> + +<p>Also the Princess delayed who would be the crest-jewel of the +crown, bringing with her all good and the blessing of the High +Gods, and in consequence of all these things the King took such +pleasures as he could, and they were many, not knowing they +darken the inner eye whereby what is royal is known through +disguises.</p> + +<p>(Most pitiful to see, beneath the close-shut lids of the man +at the feet of the Dweller in the Heights, tears forced +themselves, as though a corpse dead to all else lived only to +anguish. They flowed like blood-drops upon his face as he lay +enduring, and the voice proceeded.) What was the charm of the +King? Was it his stately height and strength? Or his faithless +gayety? Or his voice, deep and soft as the sitar when it sings of +love? His women said - some one thing, some another, but none of +these ladies were of royal blood, and therefore they knew +not.</p> + +<p>Now one day, the all-privileged jester of the King, said, +laughing harshly:</p> + +<p>"Maharaj, you divert yourself. But how if, while we feast and +play, the Far Away Princess glided past and was gone, unknown and +unwelcomed?"</p> + +<p>And the King replied:</p> + +<p>"Fool, content yourself. I shall know my Princess, but she +delays so long that I weary.</p> + +<p>Now in a far away country was a Princess, daughter of the +Greatest, and her Father hesitated to give her in marriage to +such a King for all reported that he was faithless of heart, but +having seen his portrait she loved him and fled in disguise from +the palaces of her Father, and being captured she was brought +before the King in Ranipur.</p> + +<p>He sat upon a cloth of gold and about him was the game he had +killed in hunting, in great masses of ruffled fur and plumage, +and he turned the beauty of his face carelessly upon her, and as +the Princess looked upon him, her heart yearned to him, and he +said in his voice that was like the male string of the sitar:</p> + +<p>"Little slave, what is your desire?"</p> + +<p>Then she saw that the long journey had scarred her feet and +dimmed her hair with dust, and that the King's eyes, worn with +days and nights of pleasure did not pierce her disguise. Now in +her land it is a custom that the blood royal must not proclaim +itself, so she folded her hands and said gently:</p> + +<p>"A place in the household of the King." And he, hearing that +the Waiting slave of his chief favorite Jayashri was dead, gave +her that place. So the Princess attended on those ladies, +courteous and obedient to all authority as beseemed her royalty, +and she braided her bright hair so that it hid the little crowns +which the Princesses of her House must wear always in token of +their rank, and every day her patience strengthened.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the King, carelessly desiring her laughing face and +sad eyes, would send for her to wile away an hour, and he would +say; "Dance, little slave, and tell me stories of the far +countries. You quite unlike my Women, doubtless because you are a +slave."</p> + +<p>And she thought - "No, but because I am a Princess," - but +this she did not say. She laughed and told him the most +marvellous stories in the world until he laid his head upon her +warm bosom, dreaming awake.</p> + +<p>There were stories of the great Himalayan solitudes where in +the winter nights the white tiger stares at the witches' dance of +the Northern Lights dazzled by the hurtling of their myriad +spears. And she told how the King-eagle, hanging motionless over +the peaks of Gaurisankar, watches with golden eyes for his prey, +and falling like a plummet strikes its life out with his clawed +heel and, screaming with triumph, bears it to his fierce mate in +her cranny of the rocks.</p> + +<p>"A gallant story!" the King would say. "More!" Then she told +of the tropical heats and the stealthy deadly creatures of forest +and jungle, and the blue lotus of Buddha swaying on the still +lagoon,- And she spoke of loves of men and women, their passion +and pain and joy. And when she told of their fidelity and valour +and honour that death cannot quench, her voice was like the song +of a minstrel, for she had read all the stories of the ages and +the heart of a Princess told her the rest. And the King listened +unwearying though he believed this was but a slave.</p> + +<p>(The face of the man at the feet of the Dweller in the Heights +twitched in a white agony. Pearls of sweat were distilled upon +his brows, but he moved neither hand nor foot, enduring as in a +flame of fire. And the voice continued.)</p> + +<p>So one day, in the misty green of the Spring, while she rested +at his feet in the garden Pavilion, he said to her:</p> + +<p>"Little slave, why do you love me?"</p> + +<p>And she answered proudly:</p> + +<p>"Because you have the heart of a King."</p> + +<p>He replied slowly;</p> + +<p>"Of the women who have loved me none gave this reason, though +they gave many."</p> + +<p>She laid her cheek on his hand.</p> + +<p>"That is the true reason."</p> + +<p>But he drew it away and was vaguely troubled, for her words, +he knew not why, reminded him of the Far Away Princess and of +things he had long forgotten, and he said; "What does a slave +know of the hearts of Kings?" And that night he slept or waked +alone.</p> + +<p>Winter was at hand with its blue and cloudless days, and she +was commanded to meet the King where the lake lay still and +shining like an ecstasy of bliss, and she waited with her chin +dropped into the cup of her hands, looking over the water with +eyes that did not see, for her whole soul said; "How long 0 my +Sovereign Lord, how long before you know the truth and we enter +together into our Kingdom?"</p> + +<p>As she sat she heard the King's step, and the colour stole up +into her face in a flush like the earliest sunrise. "He is +coming," she said; and again; "He loves me."</p> + +<p>So he came beside the water, walking slowly. But the King was +not alone. His arm embraced the latest-come beauty from +Samarkhand, and, with his head bent, he whispered in her willing +ear.</p> + +<p>Then clasping her hands, the Princess drew a long sobbing +breath, and he turned and his eyes grew hard as blue steel.</p> + +<p>"Go, slave," he cried. "What place have you in Kings' gardens? +Go. Let me see you no more."</p> + +<p>(The man lying at the feet of the Dweller in the Heights, +raised a heavy arm and flung it above his head, despairing, and +it fell again on the cross of his torment. And the voice went +on.)</p> + +<p>And as he said this, her heart broke; and she went and her +feet were weary. So she took the wise book she loved and unrolled +it until she came to a certain passage, and this she read twice; +"If the heart of a slave be broken it may be mended with jewels +and soft words, but the heart of a Princess can be healed only by +the King who broke it, or in Yamapura, the City under the Sunset +where they make all things new. Now, Yama, the Lord of this City, +is the Lord of Death." And having thus read the Princess rolled +the book and put it from her.</p> + +<p>And next day, the King said to his women; "Send for her," for +his heart smote him and he desired to atone royally for the shame +of his speech. And they sought and came back saying;</p> + +<p>"Maharaj, she is gone. We cannot find her."</p> + +<p>Fear grew in the heart of the King - a nameless dread, and he +said, "Search." And again they sought and returned and the King +was striding up and down the great hall and none dared cross his +path. But, trembling, they told him, and he replied; "Search +again. I will not lose her, and, slave though be, she shall be my +Queen."</p> + +<p>So they ran, dispersing to the Four Quarters, and King strode +up and down the hall, and Loneliness kept step with him and +clasped his hand and looked his eyes.</p> + +<p>Then the youngest of the women entered with a tale to tell. +Majesty, we have found her. She lies beside the lake. When the +birds fled this morning she fled with them, but upon a longer +journey. Even to Yamapura, the City under the Sunset."</p> + +<p>And the King said; "Let none follow." And he strode forth +swiftly, white with thoughts he dared not think.</p> + +<p>The Princess lay among the gold of the fallen leaves. All was +gold, for her bright hair was out-spread in shining waves and in +it shone the glory of the hidden crown. On her face was no smile +- only at last was revealed the patience she had covered with +laughter so long that even the voice of the King could not now +break it into joy. The hands that had clung, the swift feet that +had run beside his, the tender body, mighty to serve and to love, +lay within touch but farther away than the uttermost star was the +Far Away Princess, known and loved too late.</p> + +<p>And he said; "My Princess - 0 my Princess!" and laid his head +on her cold bosom.</p> + +<p>"Too late!" a harsh Voice croaked beside him, and it was the +voice of the Jester who mocks at all things. "Too late! 0 +madness, to despise the blood royal because it humbled itself to +service and so was doubly royal. The Far Away Princess came laden +with great gifts, and to her the King's gift was the wage of a +slave and a broken heart. Cast your crown and sceptre in the +dust, 0 King - 0 King of Fools."</p> + +<p>(The man at the feet of the Dweller in the Heights moved. Some +dim word shaped upon his locked lips. She listened in a divine +calm. It seemed that the very Gods drew nearer. Again the man +essayed speech, the body dead, life only in the words that none +could hear. The voice went on.)</p> + +<p>But the Princess flying wearily because of the sore wound in +her heart, came at last to the City under the Sunset, where the +Lord of Death rules in the House of Quiet, and was there received +with royal honours for in that land are no disguises. And she +knelt before the Secret One and in a voice broken with agony +entreated him to heal her. And with veiled and pitying eyes he +looked upon her, for many and grievous as are the wounds he has +healed this was more grievous still. And he said;</p> + +<p>"Princess, I cannot, But this I can do - I can give a new +heart in a new birth - happy and careless as the heart of a +child. Take this escape from the anguish you endure and be at +peace."</p> + +<p>But the Princess, white with pain, asked only;</p> + +<p>"In this new heart and birth, is there room for the King?"</p> + +<p>And the Lord of Peace replied;</p> + +<p>"None. He too will be forgotten."</p> + +<p>Then she rose to her feet.</p> + +<p>"I will endure and when he comes I will serve him once more. +If he will he shall heal me, and if not I will endure for +ever."</p> + +<p>And He who is veiled replied;</p> + +<p>"In this sacred City no pain may disturb the air, therefore +you must wait outside in the chill and the dark. Think better, +Princess! Also, he must pass through many rebirths, because he +beheld the face of Beauty unveiled and knew her not. And when he +comes he will be weary and weak as a new-born child, and no more +a great King." And the Princess smiled;</p> + +<p>"Then he will need me the more," she said; "I will wait and +kiss the feet of my King."</p> + +<p>And the Lord of Death was silent. So she went outside into the +darkness of the spaces, and the souls free passed her like homing +doves, and she sat with her hands clasped over the sore wound in +her heart, watching the earthward way. And the Princess is +keeping still the day of her long patience."</p> + +<p>The voice ceased. And there was a great silence, and the +listening faces drew nearer.</p> + +<p>Then the Dweller in the Heights spoke in a voice soft as the +falling of snow in the quiet of frost and moon. I could have wept +myself blind with joy to hear that music. More I dare not +say.</p> + +<p>"He is in the Lower State of Perception. He sorrows for his +loss. Let him have one instant's light that still he may +hope."</p> + +<p>She bowed above the man, gazing upon him as a mother might +upon her sleeping child. The dead eyelids stirred, lifted, a +faint gleam showed beneath them, an unspeakable weariness. I +thought they would fall unsatisfied. Suddenly he saw What looked +upon him, and a terror of joy no tongue can tell flashed over the +dark mirror of his face. He stretched a faint hand to touch her +feet, a sobbing sigh died upon his lips, and once more the +swooning sleep took him. He lay as a dead man before the +Assembly.</p> + +<p>"The night is far spent," a voice said, from I know not where. +And I knew it was said not only for the sleeper but for all, for +though the flying feet of Beauty seem for a moment to outspeed us +she will one day wait our coming and gather us to her bosom.</p> + +<p>As before, the vision spread outward like rings in a broken +reflection in water. I saw the girl beside me, but her hand grew +light in mine. I felt it no longer. I heard the roaring wind in +the trees, or was it a great voice thundering in my ears? Sleep +took me. I waked in my little room.</p> + +<p>Strange and sad - I saw her next day and did not remember her +whom of all things I desired to know. I remembered the vision and +knew that whether in dream or waking I had heard an eternal +truth. I longed with a great longing to meet my beautiful +companion, and she stood at my side and I was blind.</p> + +<p>Now that I have climbed a little higher on the Mount of Vision +it seems even to myself that this could not be. Yet it was, and +it is true of not this only but of how much else!</p> + +<p>She knew me. I learnt that later, but she made no sign. Her +simplicities had carried her far beyond and above me, to places +where only the winged things attain- "as a bird among the +bird-droves of God."</p> + +<p>I have since known that this power of direct simplicity in her +was why among the great mountains we beheld the Divine as the +emanation of the terrible beauty about us. We cannot see it as it +is - only in some shadowing forth, gathering sufficient strength +for manifestation from the spiritual atoms that haunt the region +where that form has been for ages the accepted vehicle of +adoration. But I was now to set forth to find another knowledge - +to seek the Beauty that blinds us to all other. Next day the man +who was directing my preparations for travel sent me word from +Simla that all was ready and I could start two days later. I told +my friends the time of parting was near.</p> + +<p>"But it was no surprise to me," I added, "for I had heard +already that in a very few days I should be on my way.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ingmar was more than kind. She laid a frail hand on +mine.</p> + +<p>"We shall miss you indeed. If it is possible to send us word +of your adventures in those wild solitudes I hope you will do it. +Of course aviation will soon lay bare their secrets and leave +them no mysteries, so you don't go too soon. One may worship +science and yet feel it injures the beauty of the world. But what +is beauty compared with knowledge?"</p> + +<p>"Do you never regret it?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Never, dear Mr. Ormond. I am a worshipper of hard facts and +however hideous they may be I prefer them to the prismatic +colours of romance."</p> + +<p>Brynhild, smiling, quoted;</p> + +<p>"Their science roamed from star to star And than itself found +nothing greater. What wonder? In a Leyden jar They bottled the +Creator?"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing greater than science," said Mrs. Ingmar with +soft reverence. "The mind of man is the foot-rule of the +universe."</p> + +<p>She meditated for a moment and then added that my kind +interests in their plans decided her to tell me that she would be +returning to Europe and then to Canada in a few months with a +favourite niece as her companion while Brynhild would remain in +India with friends in Mooltan for a time. I looked eagerly at her +but she was lost in her own thoughts and it was evidently not the +time to say more.</p> + +<p>If I had hoped for a vision before I left the neighbourhood of +that strange House of Beauty where a spirit imprisoned appeared +to await the day of enlightenment I was disappointed. These +things do not happen as one expects or would choose. The wind +bloweth where it listeth until the laws which govern the inner +life are understood, and then we would not choose if we could for +we know that all is better than well. In this world, either in +the blinded sight of daily life or in the clarity of the true +sight I have not since seen it, but that has mattered little, for +having heard an authentic word within its walls I have passed on +my way elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Next day a letter from Olesen reached me.</p> + +<p>"Dear Ormond, I hope you have had a good time at the House in +the Woods. I saw Rup Singh a few days ago and he wrote the odd +message I enclose. You know what these natives are, even the most +sensible of them, and you will humour the old fellow for he ages +very fast and I think is breaking up. But this was not what I +wanted to say. I had a letter from a man I had not seen for years +- a fellow called Stephen Clifden, who lives in Kashmir. As a +matter of fact I had forgotten his existence but evidently he has +not repaid the compliment for he writes as follows - No, I had +better send you the note and you can do as you please. I am +rushed off my legs with work and the heat is hell with the lid +off. And-"</p> + +<p>But the rest was of no interest except to a friend of years' +standing. I read Rup Singh's message first. It was written in his +own tongue.</p> + +<p>"To the Honoured One who has attained to the favour of the +Favourable.</p> + +<p>"You have with open eyes seen what this humble one has dreamed +but has not known. If the thing be possible, write me this word +that I may depart in peace. 'With that one who in a former birth +you loved all is well. Fear nothing for him. The way is long but +at the end the lamps of love are lit and the Unstruck music is +sounded. He lies at the feet of Mercy and there awaits his hour.' +And if it be not possible to write these words, write nothing, 0 +Honoured, for though it be in the hells my soul shall find my +King, and again I shall serve him as once I served."</p> + +<p>I understood, and wrote those words as he had written them. +Strange mystery of life - that I who had not known should see, +and that this man whose fidelity had not deserted his broken King +in his utter downfall should have sought with passion for one +sight of the beloved face across the waters of death and sought +in vain. I thought of those Buddhist words of Seneca - "The soul +may be and is in the mass of men drugged and silenced by the +seductions of sense and the deceptions of the world. But if, in +some moment of detachment and elation, when its captors and +jailors relax their guard, it can escape their clutches, it will +seek at once the region of its birth and its true home."</p> + +<p>Well - the shell must break before the bird can fly, and the +time drew near for the faithful servant to seek his lord. My +message reached him in time and gladdened him.</p> + +<p>I turned then to Clifden's letter.</p> + +<p>"Dear Olesen, you will have forgotten me, and feeling sure of +this I should scarcely have intruded a letter into your busy life +were it not that I remember your good-nature as a thing +unforgettable though so many years have gone by. I hear of you +sometimes when Sleigh comes up the Sind valley, for I often camp +at Sonamarg and above the Zoji La and farther. I want you to give +a message to a man you know who should be expecting to hear from +me. Tell him I shall be at the Tashigong Monastery when he +reaches Gyumur beyond the Shipki. Tell him I have the information +he wants and I will willingly go on with him to Yarkhand and his +destination. He need not arrange for men beyond Gyumur. All is +fixed. So sorry to bother you, old man, but I don't know Ormond's +address, except that he was with you and has gone up Simla way. +And of course he will be keen to hear the thing is settled."</p> + +<p>Amazing. I remembered the message I had heard and this man's +words rang true and kindly, but what could it mean? I really did +not question farther than this for now I could not doubt that I +was guided. Stronger hands than mine had me in charge, and it +only remained for me to set forth in confidence and joy to an end +that as yet I could not discern. I turned my face gladly to the +wonder of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Gladly - but with a reservation. I was leaving a friend and +one whom I dimly felt might one day be more than a friend - +Brynhild Ingmar. That problem must be met before I could take my +way. I thought much of what might be said at parting. True, she +had the deepest attraction for me, but true also that I now +beheld a quest stretching out into the unknown which I must +accept in the spirit of the knight errant. Dare I then bind my +heart to any allegiance which would pledge me to a future +inconsistent with what lay before me? How could I tell what she +might think of the things which to me were now real and external +- the revelation of the only reality that underlies all the +seeming. Life can never be the same for the man who has +penetrated to this, and though it may seem a hard saying there +can be but a maimed understanding between him and those who still +walk amid the phantoms of death and decay.</p> + +<p>Her sympathy with nature was deep and wonderful but might it +not be that though the earth was eloquent to her the skies were +silent? I was but a beginner myself - I knew little indeed. Dare +I risk that little in a sweet companionship which would sink me +into the contentment of the life lived by the happily deluded +between the cradle and the grave and perhaps close to me for ever +that still sphere where my highest hope abides? I had much to +ponder, for how could I lose her out of my life - though I knew +not at all whether she who had so much to make her happiness +would give me a single thought when I was gone.</p> + +<p>If all this seem the very uttermost of selfish vanity, forgive +a man who grasped in his hand a treasure so new, so wonderful +that he walked in fear and doubt lest it should slip away and +leave him in a world darkened for ever by the torment of the +knowledge that it might have been his and he had bartered it for +the mess of pottage that has bought so many birthrights since +Jacob bargained with his weary brother in the tents of Lahai-roi. +I thought I would come back later with my prize gained and +throwing it at her feet ask her wisdom in return, for whatever I +might not know I knew well she was wiser than I except in that +one shining of the light from Eleusis. I walked alone in the +woods thinking of these things and no answer satisfied me.</p> + +<p>I did not see her alone until the day I left, for I was +compelled by the arrangements I was making to go down to Simla +for a night. And now the last morning had come with golden sun - +shot mists rolling upward to disclose the far white billows of +the sea of eternity, the mountains awaking to their enormous +joys. The trees were dripping glory to the steaming earth; it +flowed like rivers into their most secret recesses, moss and +flower, fern and leaf floated upon the waves of light revealing +their inmost soul in triumphant gladness. Far off across the +valleys a cuckoo was calling - the very voice of spring, and in +the green world above my head a bird sang, a feathered joy, so +clear, so passionate that I thought the great summer morning +listened in silence to his rapture ringing through the woods. I +waited until the Jubilate was ended and then went in to bid +good-bye to my friends.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ingmar bid me the kindest farewell and I left her serene +in the negation of all beauty, all hope save that of a world run +on the lines of a model municipality, disease a memory, sewerage, +light and air systems perfected, the charted brain sending its +costless messages to the outer parts of the habitable globe, and +at least a hundred years of life with a decent cremation at the +end of it assured to every eugenically born citizen. No more. But +I have long ceased to regret that others use their own eyes +whether clear or dim. Better the merest glimmer of light +perceived thus than the hearsay of the revelations of others. And +by the broken fragments of a bewildered hope a man shall +eventually reach the goal and rejoice in that dawn where the +morning stars sing together and the sons of God shout for joy. It +must come, for it is already here.</p> + +<p>Brynhild walked with me through the long glades in the fresh +thin air to the bridle road where my men and ponies waited, eager +to be off. We stood at last in the fringe of trees on a small +height which commanded the way; - a high uplifted path cut along +the shoulders of the hills and on the left the sheer drop of the +valleys. Perhaps seven or eight feet in width and dignified by +the name of the Great Hindustan and Tibet Road it ran winding far +away into Wonderland. Looking down into the valleys, so far +beneath that the solitudes seem to wall them in I thought of all +the strange caravans which have taken this way with tinkle of +bells and laughter now so long silenced, and as I looked I saw a +lost little monastery in a giant crevice, solitary as a planet on +the outermost ring of the system, and remembrance flashed into my +mind and I said;</p> + +<p>"I have marching orders that have countermanded my own plans. +I am to journey to the Buddhist Monastery of Tashigong, and there +meet a friend who will tell me what is necessary that I may +travel to Yarkhand and beyond. It will be long before I see +Kashmir."</p> + +<p>In those crystal clear eyes I saw a something new to me - a +faint smile, half pitying, half sad;</p> + +<p>"Who told you, and where?"</p> + +<p>"A girl in a strange place. A woman who has twice guided me +-"</p> + +<p>I broke off. Her smile perplexed me. I could not tell what to +say. She repeated in a soft undertone;</p> + +<p>"Great Lady, be pitiful to the blind eyes and give them +light."</p> + +<p>And instantly I knew. 0 blind - blind! Was the unhappy King of +the story duller of heart than I? And shame possessed me. Here +was the chrysoberyl that all day hides its secret in deeps of +lucid green but when the night comes flames with its fiery +ecstasy of crimson to the moon, and I - I had been complacently +considering whether I might not blunt my own spiritual instinct +by companionship with her, while she had been my guide, as +infinitely beyond me in insight as she was in all things +beautiful. I could have kissed her feet in my deep repentance. +True it is that the gateway of the high places is reverence and +he who cannot bow his head shall receive no crown. I saw that my +long travel in search of knowledge would have been utterly vain +if I had not learnt that lesson there and then. In those moments +of silence I learnt it once and for ever.</p> + +<p>She stood by me breathing the liquid morning air, her face +turned upon the eternal snows. I caught her hand in a recognition +that might have ended years of parting, and its warm youth +vibrated in mine, the foretaste of all understanding, all unions, +of love that asks nothing, that fears nothing, that has no +petition to make. She raised her eyes to mine and her tears were +a rainbow of hope. So we stood in silence that was more than any +words, and the golden moments went by. I knew her now for what +she was, one of whom it might have been written;</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I come from where night falls clearer</p> + +<p>Than your morning sun can rise;</p> + +<p>From an earth that to heaven draws nearer</p> + +<p>Than your visions of Paradise,-</p> + +<p>For the dreams that your dreamers dream</p> + +<p>We behold them with open eyes."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>With open eyes! Later I asked the nature of the strange bond +that had called her to my side.</p> + +<p>"I do not understand that fully myself," she said - "That is +part of the knowledge we must wait for. But you have the eyes +that see, and that is a tie nothing can break. I had waited long +in the House of Beauty for you. I guided you there. But between +you and me there is also love."</p> + +<p>I stretched an eager hand but she repelled it gently, drawing +back a little. "Not love of each other though we are friends and +in the future may be infinitely more. But - have you ever seen a +drawing of Blake's - a young man stretching his arms to a white +swan which flies from him on wings he cannot stay? That is the +story of both our lives. We long to be joined in this life, here +and now, to an unspeakable beauty and power whose true believers +we are because we have seen and known. There is no love so +binding as the same purpose. Perhaps that is the only true love. +And so we shall never be apart though we may never in this world +be together again in what is called companionship."</p> + +<p>"We shall meet," I said confidently. She smiled and was +silent.</p> + +<p>"Do we follow a will-o'-the wisp in parting? Do we give up the +substance for the shadow? Shall I stay?"</p> + +<p>She laughed joyously;</p> + +<p>"We give a single rose for a rose-tree that bears seven times +seven. Daily I see more, and you are going where you will be +instructed. As you know my mother prefers for a time to have my +cousin with her to help her with the book she means to write. So +I shall have time to myself. What do you think I shall do?"</p> + +<p>"Blow away on a great wind. Ride on the crests of tossing +waves. Catch a star to light the fireflies!"</p> + +<p>She laughed like a bird's song.</p> + +<p>"Wrong - wrong! I shall be a student. All I know as yet has +come to me by intuition, but there is Law as well as Love and I +will learn. I have drifted like a happy cloud before the wind. +Now I will learn to be the wind that blows the clouds."</p> + +<p>I looked at her in astonishment. If a flower had desired the +same thing it could scarcely have seemed more incredible, for I +had thought her whole life and nature instinctive not +intellective. She smiled as one who has a beloved secret to +keep.</p> + +<p>"When you have gained what in this country they call The +Knowledge of Regeneration, come back and ask me what I have +learnt."</p> + +<p>She would say no more of that and turned to another matter, +speaking with earnestness;</p> + +<p>"Before you came here I had a message for you, and Stephen +Clifden will tell you the same thing when you meet. Believe it +for it is true. Remember always that the psychical is not the +mystical and that what we seek is not marvel but vision. These +two things are very far apart, so let the first with all its +dangers pass you by, for our way lies to the heights, and for us +there is only one danger - that of turning back and losing what +the whole world cannot give in exchange. I have never seen +Stephen Clifden but I know much of him. He is a safe guide - a +man who has had much and strange sorrow which has brought him joy +that cannot be told. He will take you to those who know the +things that you desire. I wish I might have gone too."</p> + +<p>Something in the sweetness of her voice, its high passion, the +strong beauty of her presence woke a poignant longing in my +heart. I said;</p> + +<p>"I cannot leave you. You are the only guide I can follow. Let +us search together - you always on before."</p> + +<p>"Your way lies there," she pointed to the high mountains. "And +mine to the plains, and if we chose our own we should wander. But +we shall meet again in the way and time that will be best and +with knowledge so enlarged that what we have seen already will be +like an empty dream compared to daylight truth. If you knew what +waits for you you would not delay one moment."</p> + +<p>She stood radiant beneath the deodars, a figure of Hope, +pointing steadily to the heights. I knew her words were true +though as yet I could not tell how. I knew that whereas we had +seen the Wonderful in beautiful though local forms there is a +plane where the Formless may be apprehended in clear dream and +solemn vision-the meeting of spirit with Spirit. What that +revelation would mean I could not guess - how should I? - but I +knew the illusion we call death and decay would wither before it. +There is a music above and beyond the Ninth Vibration though I +must love those words for ever for what their hidden meaning gave +me.</p> + +<p>I took her hand and held it. Strange - beyond all strangeness +that that story of an ancient sorrow should have made us what we +were to each other - should have opened to me the gates of that +Country where she wandered content. For the first time I had +realized in its fulness the loveliness of this crystal nature, +clear as flowing water to receive and transmit the light - itself +a prophecy and fulfilment of some higher race which will one day +inhabit our world when it has learnt the true values. She drew a +flower from her breast and gave it to me. It lies before me white +and living as I write these words.</p> + +<p>I sprang down the road and mounted, giving the word to march. +The men shouted and strode on - our faces to the Shipki Pass and +what lay beyond.</p> + +<p>We had parted.</p> + +<p>Once, twice, I looked back, and standing in full sunlight, she +waved her hand.</p> + +<p>We turned the angle of the rocks.</p> + +<p>What I found - what she found is a story strange and beautiful +which I may tell one day to those who care to hear. That for me +there were pauses, hesitancies, dreads, on the way I am not +concerned to deny, for so it must always be with the roots of the +old beliefs of fear and ignorance buried in the soil of our +hearts and ready to throw out their poisonous fibres. But there +was never doubt. For myself I have long forgotten the meaning of +that word in anything that is of real value.</p> + +<p>Do not let it be thought that the treasure is reserved for the +few or those of special gifts. And it is as free to the West as +to the East though I own it lies nearer to the surface in the +Orient where the spiritual genius of the people makes it possible +and the greater and more faithful teachers are found. It is not +without meaning that all the faiths of the world have dawned in +those sunrise skies. Yet it is within reach of all and asks only +recognition, for the universe has been the mine of its +jewels-</p> + +<p>"Median gold it holds, and silver from Atropatene, Ruby and +emerald from Hindustan, and Bactrian agate, Bright with beryl and +pearl, sardonyx and sapphire."-</p> + +<p>-and more that cannot be uttered - the Lights and +Perfections.</p> + +<p>So for all seekers I pray this prayer - beautiful in its +sonorous Latin, but noble in all the tongues;</p> + +<p>"Supplico tibi, Pater et Dux - I pray Thee, Guide of our +vision, that we may remember the nobleness with which Thou hast +endowed us, and that Thou wouldest be always on our right and on +our left in the motion of our wills, that we may be purged from +the contagion of the body and the affections of the brute and +overcome and rule them. And I pray also that Thou wouldest drive +away the blinding darkness from the eyes of our souls that we may +know well what is to be held for divine and what for mortal."</p> + +<p>"The nobleness with which Thou hast endowed us-" this, and not +the cry of the miserable sinner whose very repentance is no +virtue but the consequence of failure and weakness is the strong +music to which we must march.</p> + +<p>And the way is open to the mountains.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE INTERPRETER A ROMANCE OF THE EAST</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>There are strange things in this story, but, so far as I +understand them, I tell the truth. If you measure the East with a +Western foot-rule you will say, "Impossible." I should have said +it myself.</p> + +<p>Of myself I will say as little as I can, for this story is of +Vanna Loring. I am an incident only, though I did not know that +at first.</p> + +<p>My name is Stephen Clifden, and I was eight-and-thirty; plenty +of money, sound in wind and limb. I had been by way of being a +writer before the war, the hobby of a rich man; but if I picked +up anything in the welter in France, it was that real work is the +only salvation this mad world has to offer; so I meant to begin +at the beginning, and learn my trade like a journeyman labourer. +I had come to the right place. A very wonderful city is Peshawar +- rather let us say, two cities - the compounds, the +fortifications where Europeans dwell in such peace as their +strong right arms can secure them; and the native city and bazaar +humming and buzzing like a hive of angry bees with the rumours +that come up from Lower India or down the Khyber Pass with the +camel caravans loaded with merchandise from Afghanistan, Bokhara, +and farther. And it is because of this that Peshawar is the Key +of India, and a city of Romance that stands at every corner, and +cries aloud in the market - place. For at Peshawar every +able-bodied man sleeps with his revolver under his pillow, and +the old Fort is always ready in case it should be necessary at +brief and sharp notice to hurry the women and children into it, +and possibly, to die in their defense. So enlivening is the +neighbourhood of the frontier tribes that haunt the famous Khyber +Pass and the menacing hills where danger is always lurking.</p> + +<p>But there was society here, and I was swept into it - there +was chatter, and it galled me.</p> + +<p>I was beginning to feel that I had missed my mark, and must go +farther afield, perhaps up into Central Asia, when I met Vanna +Loring. If I say that her hair was soft and dark; that she had +the deepest hazel eyes I have ever seen, and a sensitive, tender +mouth; that she moved with a flowing grace like "a wave of the +sea - it sounds like the portrait of a beauty, and she was never +that. Also, incidentally, it gives none of her charm. I never +heard any one get any further than that she was "oddly +attractive" - let us leave it at that. She was certainly +attractive to me.</p> + +<p>She was the governess of little Winifred Meryon, whose father +held the august position of General Commanding the Frontier +Forces, and her mother the more commanding position of the +reigning beauty of Northern India, generally speaking. No one +disputed that. She was as pretty as a picture, and her charming +photograph had graced as many illustrated papers as there were +illustrated papers to grace.</p> + +<p>But Vanna - I gleaned her story by bits when I came across her +with the child in the gardens. I was beginning to piece it +together now.</p> + +<p>Her love of the strange and beautiful she had inherited from a +young Italian mother, daughter of a political refugee; her +childhood had been spent in a remote little village in the West +of England; half reluctantly she told me how she had brought +herself up after her mother's death and her father's second +marriage. Little was said of that, but I gathered that it had +been a grief to her, a factor in her flight to the East.</p> + +<p>We were walking in the Circular Road then with Winifred in +front leading her Pekingese by its blue ribbon, and we had it +almost to ourselves except for a few natives passing slow and +dignified on their own occasions, for fashionable Peshawar was +finishing its last rubber of bridge, before separating to dress +for dinner, and had no time to spare for trivialities and +sunsets.</p> + +<p>"So when I came to three-and-twenty," she said slowly, "I felt +I must break away from our narrow life. I had a call to India +stronger than anything on earth. You would not understand but +that was so, and I had spent every spare moment in teaching +myself India - its history, legends, religions, everything! And I +was not wanted at home, and I had grown afraid."</p> + +<p>I could divine years of patience and repression under this +plain tale, but also a power that would be dynamic when the +authentic voice called. That was her charm - gentleness in +strength - a sweet serenity.</p> + +<p>"What were you afraid of?"</p> + +<p>"Of growing old and missing what was waiting for me out here. +But I could not get away like other people. No money, you see. So +I thought I would come out here and teach. Dare I? Would they let +me? I knew I was fighting life and chances and risks if I did it; +but it was death if I stayed there. And then- Do you really care +to hear?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Tell me how you broke your chain."</p> + +<p>"I spare you the family quarrels. I can never go back. But I +was spurred - spurred to take some wild leap; and I took it. Six +years ago I came out. First I went to a doctor and his wife at +Cawnpore. They had a wonderful knowledge of the Indian peoples, +and there I learned Hindustani and much else. Then he died. But +an aunt had left me two hundred pounds, and I could wait a little +and choose; and so I came here."</p> + +<p>It interested me. The courage that pale elastic type of woman +has!</p> + +<p>"Have you ever regretted it? Would they take you back if you +failed?"</p> + +<p>"Never, to both questions," she said, smiling. "Life is +glorious. I've drunk of a cup I never thought to taste; and if I +died tomorrow I should know I had done right. I rejoice in every +moment I live - even when Winifred and I are wrestling with +arithmetic."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have thought life was very easy with Lady +Meryon."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she is kind enough in an indifferent sort of way. I am +not the persecuted Jane Eyre sort of governess at all. But that +is all on the surface and does not matter. It is India I care for +-the people, the sun, the infinite beauty. It was coming home. +You would laugh if I told you I knew Peshawar long before I came +here. Knew it - walked here, lived. Before there were English in +India at all." She broke off. "You won't understand."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have had that feeling, too," I said patronizingly. "If +one has read very much about a place-"</p> + +<p>"That was not quite what I meant. Never mind. The people, the +place - that is the real thing to me. All this is the dream." The +sweep of her hand took in not only Winifred and myself, but the +general's stately residence, which to blaspheme in Peshawar is +rank infidelity.</p> + +<p>"By George, I would give thousands to feel that! I can't get +out of Europe here. I want to write, Miss Loring," I found myself +saying. "I'd done a bit, and then the war came and blew my life +to pieces. Now I want to get inside the skin of the East, and I +can't do it. I see it from outside, with a pane of glass between. +No life in it. If you feel as you say, for God's sake be my +interpreter!"</p> + +<p>I really meant what I said. I knew she was a harp that any +breeze would sweep into music. I divined that temperament in her +and proposed to use it for my own ends. She had and I had not, +the power to be a part of all she saw, to feel kindred blood +running in her own veins. To the average European the native life +of India is scarcely interesting, so far is it removed from all +comprehension. To me it was interesting, but I could not tell +why. I stood outside and had not the fairy gold to pay for my +entrance. Here at all events she could buy her way where I could +not. Without cruelty, which honestly was not my besetting sin - +especially where women were concerned, the egoist in me felt I +would use her, would extract the last drop of the enchantment of +her knowledge before I went on my way. What more natural than +that Vanna or any other woman should minister to my thirst for +information? Men are like that. I pretend to be no better than +the rest. She pleased my fastidiousness - that fastidiousness +which is the only austerity in men not otherwise austere.</p> + +<p>"Interpret?" she said, looking at me with clear hazel eyes; +"how could I? You were in the native city yesterday. What did you +miss?"</p> + +<p>"Everything! I saw masses of colour, light, movement. +Brilliantly picturesque people. Children like Asiatic angels. +Magnificently scowling ruffians in sheepskin coats. In fact, a +movie staged for my benefit. I was afraid they would ring down +the curtain before I had had enough. It had no meaning. When I +got back to my diggings I tried to put down what I had just seen, +and I swear there's more inspiration in the guide-book."</p> + +<p>"Did you go alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I certainly would not go sight-seeing with the Meryon +crowd. Tell me what you felt when you saw it first."</p> + +<p>"I went with Sir John's uncle. He was a great traveler. The +colour struck me dumb. It flames - it sings. Think of the grey +pinched life in the West! I saw a grave dark potter turning his +wheel, while his little girl stood by, glad at our pleasure, her +head veiled like a miniature woman, tiny baggy trousers, and a +silver nose-stud, like a star, in one delicate nostril. In her +thin arms she held a heavy baby in a gilt cap, like a monkey. And +the wheel turned and whirled until it seemed to be spinning +dreams, thick as motes in the sun. The clay rose in smooth +spirals under his hand, and the wheel sang, 'Shall the vessel +reprove him who made one to honour and one to dishonour?' And I +saw the potter thumping his wet clay, and the clay, plastic as +dream-stuff, shaped swift as light, and the three Fates stood at +his shoul- der. Dreams, dreams, and all in the spinning of the +wheel, and the rich shadows of the old broken courtyard where he +sat. And the wheel stopped and the thread broke, and the little +new shapes he had made stood all about him, and he was only a +potter in Peshawar."</p> + +<p>Her voice was like a song. She had utterly forgotten my +existence. I did not dislike it at the moment, for I wanted to +hear more, and the impersonal is the rarest gift a woman can give +a man.</p> + +<p>"Did you buy anything?"</p> + +<p>"He gave me a gift - a flawed jar of turquoise blue, faint +turquoise green round the lip. He saw I understood. And then I +bought a little gold cap and a wooden box of jade-green Kabul +grapes. About a rupee, all told. But it was Eastern merchandise, +and I was trading from Balsora and Baghdad, and Eleazar's camels +were swaying down from Damascus along the Khyber Pass, and coming +in at the great Darwazah, and friends' eyes met me everywhere. I +am profoundly happy here."</p> + +<p>The sinking sun lit an almost ecstatic face.</p> + +<p>I envied her more deeply than I had ever envied any one. She +had the secret of immortal youth, and I felt old as I looked at +her. One might be eighty and share that passionate impersonal +joy. Age could not wither nor custom stale the infinite variety +of her world's joys. She had a child's dewy youth in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>There are great sunsets at Peshawar, flaming over the plain, +dying in melancholy splendour over the dangerous hills. They too +were hers, in a sense in which they could never be mine. But what +a companion! To my astonishment a wild thought of marriage +flashed across me, to be instantly rebuffed with a shrug. +Marriage - that one's wife might talk poetry to one about the +East! Absurd! But what was it these people felt and I could not +feel? Almost, shut up in the prison of self, I knew what Vanna +had felt in her village - a maddening desire to escape, to be a +part of the loveliness that lay beyond me. So might a man love a +king's daughter in her hopeless heights.</p> + +<p>"It may be very beautiful on the surface," I said morosely; +"but there's a lot of misery below - hateful, they tell me."</p> + +<p>"Of course. We shall get to work one day. But look at the +sunset. It opens like a mysterious flower. I must take Winifred +home now."</p> + +<p>"One moment," I pleaded; "I can only see it through your eyes. +I feel it while you speak, and then the good minute goes."</p> + +<p>She laughed.</p> + +<p>"And so must I. Come, Winifred. Look, there's an owl; not like +the owls in the summer dark in England-</p> + +<p>"Lovely are the curves of the white owl sweeping, Wavy in the +dark, lit by one low star."</p> + +<p>Suddenly she turned again and looked at me half wistfully.</p> + +<p>"It is good to talk to you. You want to know. You are so near +it all. I wish I could help you; I am so exquisitely happy +myself."</p> + +<p>My writing was at a standstill. It seemed the groping of a +blind man in a radiant world. Once perhaps I had felt that life +was good in itself - when the guns came thundering toward the +Vimy Ridge in a mad gallop of horses, and men shouting and +swearing and frantically urging them on. Then, riding for more +than life, I had tasted life for an instant. Not before or since. +But this woman had the secret.</p> + +<p>Lady Meryon, with her escort of girls and subalterns, came +daintily past the hotel compound, and startled me from my +brooding with her pretty silvery voice.</p> + +<p>"Dreaming, Mr. Clifden? It isn't at all wholesome to dream in +the East. Come and dine with us tomorrow. A tiny dance +afterwards, you know; or bridge for those who like it."</p> + +<p>I had not the faintest notion whether governesses dined with +the family or came in afterward with the coffee; but it was a +sporting chance, and I took it.</p> + +<p>Then Sir John came up and joined us.</p> + +<p>"You can't well dance tomorrow, Kitty," he said to his wife. +"There's been an outpost affair in the Swat Hills, and young +Fitzgerald has been shot. Come to dinner of course, Clifden. Glad +to see you. But no dancing, I think."</p> + +<p>Kitty Meryon's mouth drooped like a pouting child's. Was it +for the lost dance, or the lost soldier lying out on the hills in +the dying sunset. Who could tell? In either case it was pretty +enough for the illustrated papers.</p> + +<p>"How sad! Such a dear boy. We shall miss him at tennis." Then +brightly; "Well, we'll have to put the dance off for a week, but +come tomorrow anyhow."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Next evening I went into Lady Meryon's flower-scented +drawing-room. The electric fans were fluttering and the evening +air was cool. Five or six pretty girls and as many men made up +the party - Kitty Meryon the prettiest of them all, fashionably +undressed in faint pink and crystal, with a charming smile in +readiness, all her gay little flags flying in the rich man's +honour. I am no vainer than other men, but I saw that. Whatever +her charm might be it was none for me. What could I say to +interest her who lived in her foolish little world as one shut in +a bright bubble? And she had said the wrong word about young +Fitzgerald - I wanted Vanna, with her deep seeing eyes, to say +the right one and adjust those cruel values.</p> + +<p>Governesses dine, it appeared, only to fill an unexpected +place, or make a decorous entry afterward, to play +accompaniments. Fortunately Kitty Meryon sang, in a pinched +little soprano, not nearly so pretty as her silver ripple of +talk.</p> + +<p>It was when the party had settled down to bridge and I was +standing out, that I ventured to go up to her as she sat knitting +by a window - not unwatched by the quick flash of Lady Meryon's +eyes as I did it.</p> + +<p>"I think you hypnotize me, Miss Loring. When I hear anything I +straightway want to know what you will say. Have you heard of +Fitzgerald's death?"</p> + +<p>"That is why we are not dancing tonight. Tomorrow the cable +will reach his home in England. He was an only child, and they +are the great people of the village where we are the little +people. I knew his mother as one knows a great lady who is kind +to all the village folk. It may kill her. It is travelling +tonight like a bullet to her heart, and she does not know."</p> + +<p>"His father?"</p> + +<p>"A brave man - a soldier himself. He will know it was a good +death and that Harry would not fail. He did not at Ypres. He +would not here. But all joy and hope will be dead in that house +tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"And what do you think?"</p> + +<p>"I am not sorry for Harry, if you mean that. He knew - we all +know - that he was on guard here holding the outposts against +blood and treachery and terrible things - playing the Great Game. +One never loses at that game if one plays it straight, and I am +sure that at the last it was joy he felt and not fear. He has not +lost. Did you notice in the church a niche before every soldier's +seat to hold his loaded gun? And the tablets on the walls; +"Killed at Kabul River, aged 22." - "Killed on outpost duty." - +"Murdered by an Afghan fanatic." This will be one memory more. +Why be sorry."</p> + +<p>Presently:-</p> + +<p>"I am going up to the hills tomorrow, to the Malakhand Fort, +with Mrs. Delany, Lady Meryon's aunt, and we shall see the +wonderful Tahkt-i-Bahi Monastery on the way. You should do that +run before you go. The fort is the last but one on the way to +Chitral, and beyond that the road is so beset that only soldiers +may go farther, and indeed the regiments escort each other up and +down. But it is an early start, for we must be back in Peshawar +at six for fear of raiding natives."</p> + +<p>"I know; they hauled me up in the dusk the other day, and told +me I should be swept off to the hills if I fooled about after +dusk. But I say - is it safe for you to go? You ought to have a +man. Could I go too?"</p> + +<p>I thought she did not look enthusiastic at the proposal.</p> + +<p>"Ask. You know I settle nothing. I go where I am sent." She +said it with the happiest smile. I knew they could send her +nowhere that she would not find joy. I thought her mere presence +must send the vibrations of happiness through the household. Yet +again - why? For where there is no receiver the current speaks in +vain; and for an instant I seemed to see the air full of messages +- of speech striving to utter its passionate truths to deaf ears +stopped for ever against the breaking waves of sound. But Vanna +heard.</p> + +<p>She left the room; and when the bridge was over, I made my +request. Lady Meryon shrugged her shoulders and declared it would +be a terribly dull run - the scenery nothing, "and only" (she +whispered) "Aunt Selina and poor Miss Loring?"</p> + +<p>Of course I saw at once that she did not like it; but Sir John +was all for my going, and that saved the situation.</p> + +<p>I certainly could have dispensed with Aunt Selina when the +automobile drew up in the golden river of the sunrise at the +hotel. There were only the driver, a personal servant, and the +two ladies; Mrs. Delany, comely, pleasant, talkative, and +Vanna-</p> + +<p>Her face in its dark motoring veil, fine and delicate as a +young moon in a cloud drift - the sensitive sweet mouth that had +quivered a little when she spoke of Fitzgerald - the pure glance +that radiated such kindness to all the world. She sat there with +the Key of Dreams pressed against her slight bosom - her eyes +dreaming above it. Already the strange airs of her unknown world +were breathing about me, and as yet I knew not the things that +belonged unto my peace.</p> + +<p>We glided along the straight military road from Peshawar to +Nowshera, the gold-bright sun dazzling in its whiteness - a +strange drive through the flat, burned country, with the ominous +Kabul River flowing through it. Military preparations everywhere, +and the hills looking watchfully down - alive, as it were, with +keen, hostile eyes. War was at present about us as behind the +lines in France; and when we crossed the Kabul River on a bridge +of boats, and I saw its haunted waters, I began to feel the +atmosphere of the place closing down upon me. It had a sinister +beauty; it breathed suspense; and I wished, as I was sure Vanna +did, for silence that was not at our command.</p> + +<p>For Mrs. Delany felt nothing of it. A bright shallow ripple of +talk was her contribution to the joys of the day; though it was, +fortunately, enough for her happiness if we listened and agreed. +I knew Vanna listened only in show. Her intent eyes were fixed on +the Tahkt-i-Bahi hills after we had swept out of Nowshera; and +when the car drew up at the rough track, she had a strange look +of suspense and pallor. I remember I wondered at the time if she +were nervous in the wild open country.</p> + +<p>"Now pray don't be shocked," said Mrs. Delany comfortably; +"but you two young people may go up to the monastery, and I shall +stay here. I am dreadfully ashamed of myself, but the sight of +that hill is enough for me. Don't hurry. I may have a little +doze, and be all the better company when you get back. No, don't +try to persuade me, Mr. Clifden. It isn't the part of a +friend."</p> + +<p>I cannot say I was sorry, though I had a moment of panic when +Vanna offered to stay with her - very much, too, as if she really +meant it. So we set out perforce, Vanna leading steadily, as if +she knew the way. She never looked up, and her wish for silence +was so evident, that I followed, lending my hand mutely when the +difficulties obliged it, she accepting absently, and as if her +thoughts were far away.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she quickened her pace. We had climbed about nine +hundred feet, and now the narrow track twisted through the rocks +- a track that looked as age-worn as no doubt it was. We threaded +it, and struggled over the ridge, and looked down victorious on +the other side.</p> + +<p>There she stopped. A very wonderful sight, of which I had +never seen the like, lay below us. Rock and waste and towering +crags, and the mighty ruin of the monastery set in the fangs of +the mountain like a robber baron's castle, looking far away to +the blue mountains of the Debatable Land - the land of mystery +and danger. It stood there - the great ruin of a vast habitation +of men. Building after building, mysterious and broken, +corridors, halls, refectories, cells; the dwelling of a faith so +alien that I could not reconstruct the life that gave it being. +And all sinking gently into ruin that in a century more would +confound it with the roots of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Grey and wonderful, it clung to the heights and looked with +eyeless windows at the past. Somehow I found it infinitely +pathetic; the very faith it expressed is dead in India, and none +left so poor to do it reverence.</p> + +<p>But Vanna knew her way. Unerringly she led me from point to +point, and she was visibly at home in the intricacies. Such +knowledge in a young woman bewildered me. Could she have studied +the plans in the Museum? How else should she know where the abbot +lived, or where the refractory brothers were punished?</p> + +<p>Once I missed her, while I stooped to examine some +scroll-work, and following, found her before one of the few +images of the Buddha that the rapacious Museum had spared - a +singularly beautiful bas-relief, the hand raised to enforce the +truth the calm lips were speaking, the drapery falling in stately +folds to the bare feet. As I came up, she had an air as if she +had just ceased from movement, and I had a distinct feeling that +she had knelt before it - I saw the look of worship! The thing +troubled me like a dream, haunting, impossible, but real.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful!" I said in spite of myself, as she pointed to +the image. "In this utter solitude it seems the very spirit of +the place."</p> + +<p>"He was. He is," said Vanna.</p> + +<p>"Explain to me. I don't understand. I know so little of him. +What is the subject?"</p> + +<p>She hesitated; then chose her words as if for a beginner;- "It +is the Blessed One preaching to the Tree-Spirits. See how eagerly +they lean from the boughs to listen. This other relief represents +him in the state of mystic vision. Here he is drowned in peace. +See how it overflows from the closed eyes; the closed lips. The +air is filled with his quiet."</p> + +<p>"What is he dreaming?"</p> + +<p>"Not dreaming - seeing. Peace. He sits at the point where time +and infinity meet. To attain that vision was the aim of the monks +who lived here."</p> + +<p>"Did they attain?" I found myself speaking as if she could +certainly answer.</p> + +<p>"A few. There was one, Vasettha, the Brahman, a young man who +had renounced all his possessions and riches, and seated here +before this image of the Blessed One, he fell often into the +mystic state. He had a strange vision at one time of the future +of India, which will surely be fulfilled. He did not forget it in +his rebirths. He remembers-"</p> + +<p>She broke off suddenly and said with forced indifference, - +"He would sit here often looking out over the mountains; the +monks sat at his feet to hear. He became abbot while still young. +But his story is a sad one."</p> + +<p>"I entreat you to tell me."</p> + +<p>She looked away over the mountains. "While he was abbot here,- +still a young man,- a famous Chinese Pilgrim came down through +Kashmir to visit the Holy Places in India. The abbot went forward +with him to Peshawar, that he might make him welcome. And there +came a dancer to Peshawar, named Lilavanti, most beautiful! I +dare not tell you her beauty. I tremble now to think-"</p> + +<p>Again she paused, and again the faint creeping sense of +mystery invaded me.</p> + +<p>She resumed;-</p> + +<p>"The abbot saw her and he loved her. He was young still, you +remember. She was a woman of the Hindu faith and hated Buddhism. +It swept him down into the lower worlds of storm and desire. He +fled with Lilavanti and never returned here. So in his rebirth he +fell-"</p> + +<p>She stopped dead; her face pale as death.</p> + +<p>"How do you know? Where have you read it? If I could only find +what you find and know what you know! The East is like an open +book to you. Tell me the rest."</p> + +<p>"How should I know any more?" she said hurriedly. "We must be +going back. You should study the plans of this place at Peshawar. +They were very learned monks who lived here. It is famous for +learning."</p> + +<p>The life had gone out of her words-out of the ruins. There was +no more to be said.</p> + +<p>We clambered down the hill in the hot sunshine, speaking only +of the view, the strange shrubs and flowers, and, once, the swift +gliding of a snake, and found Mrs. Delany blissfully asleep in +the most padded corner of the car. The spirit of the East +vanished in her comfortable presence, and luncheon seemed the +only matter of moment.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, my dears," she said, "if you would be very +disappointed and think me very dense if I proposed our giving up +the Malakhand Fort? The driver has been giving me in very poor +English such an account of the dangers of that awful road up the +hill that I feel no Fort would repay me for its terrors. Do say +what you feel, Miss Loring. Mr. Clifden can lunch with the +officers at Nowshera and come any time. I know I am an +atrocity."</p> + +<p>There could be only one answer, though Vanna and I knew +perfectly well the crafty design of the driver to spare himself +work. Mrs. Delany remained brightly awake for the run home, and +favored us with many remarkable views on India and its +shortcomings, Vanna, who had a sincere liking for her, laughing +with delight at her description of a visit of condolence with +Lady Meryon to the five widows of one of the hill Rajas.</p> + +<p>But I own I was pre-occupied. I knew those moments at the +monastery had given me a glimpse into the wonderland of her soul +that made me long for more. It was rapidly becoming clear to me +that unless my intentions developed on very different lines I +must flee Peshawar. For love is born of sympathy, and sympathy +was strengthening daily, but for love I had no courage yet.</p> + +<p>I feared it as men fear the unknown. I despised myself - but I +feared. I will confess my egregious folly and vanity - I had no +doubt as to her reception of my offer if I should make it, but +possessed by a colossal selfishness, I thought only of myself, +and from that point of view could not decide how I stood to lose +or gain. In my wildest accesses of vanity I did not suppose Vanna +loved me, but I felt she liked me, and I believe the advantages I +had to offer would be overwhelming to a woman in her position. +So, tossed on the waves of indecision, I inclined to flight.</p> + +<p>That night I resolutely began my packing, and wrote a note of +farewell to Lady Meryon. The next morning I furiously undid it, +and destroyed the note. And that afternoon I took the shortest +way to the sun-set road to lounge about and wait for Vanna and +Winifred. She never came, and I was as unreasonably angry as if I +had deserved the blessing of her presence.</p> + +<p>Next day I could see that she tried gently hut clearly to +discourage our meeting and for three days I never saw her at all. +Yet I knew that in her solitary life our talks counted for a +pleasure, and when we met again I thought I saw a new softness in +the lovely hazel deeps of her eyes.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>On the day when things became clear to me, I was walking +towards the Meryons' gates when I met her coming alone along the +sunset road, in the late gold of the afternoon. She looked pale +and a little wearied, and I remembered I wished I did not know +every change of her face as I did. It was a symptom that alarmed +my selfishness - it galled me with the sense that I was no longer +my own despot.</p> + +<p>"So you have been up the Khyber Pass," she said as I fell into +step at her side. "Tell me - was it as wonderful as you +expected?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, -you tell me! It will give me what I missed. Begin at +the beginning. Tell me what I saw."</p> + +<p>I could not miss the delight of her words, and she laughed, +knowing my whim.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that Pass! -the wonder of those old roads that have borne +the traffic and romance of the world for ages. Do you think there +is anything in the world so fascinating as they are? But did you +go on Tuesday or Friday?"</p> + +<p>For these are the only days in the week when the Khyber can be +safely entered. The British then turn out the Khyber Rifles and +man every crag, and the loaded caravans move like a tide, and go +up and down the narrow road on their occasions.</p> + +<p>Naturally mere sightseers are not welcomed, for much business +must be got through in that urgent forty eight hours in which +life is not risked in entering.</p> + +<p>"Tuesday. But make a picture for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, you gave your word not to photograph or sketch - as if +one wanted to when every bit of it is stamped on one's brain! And +you went up to Jumrood Fort at the entrance. Did they tell you it +is an old Sikh Fort and has been on duty in that turbulent place +for five hundred years And did you see the machine guns in the +court? And every one armed - even the boys with belts of +cartridges? Then you went up the narrow winding track between the +mountains, and you said to yourself, 'This is the road of pure +romance. It goes up to silken Samarkhand, and I can ride to +Bokhara of the beautiful women and to all the dreams. Am I alive +and is it real?' You felt that?"</p> + +<p>"All. Every bit. Go on!"</p> + +<p>She smiled with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on +guard all along the bills, rifles ready! You could hear the guns +rattle as they saluted. Do you know that up there men plough with +rifles loaded beside them? They have to be men indeed."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to imply that we are not men?"</p> + +<p>"Different men at least. This is life in a Border ballad. Such +a life as you knew in France but beautiful in a wild - hawk sort +of way. Don't the Khyber Rifles bewilder you? They are drawn from +these very Hill tribes, and will shoot their own fathers and +brothers in the way of duty as comfortably as if they were +jackals. Once there was a scrap here and one of the tribesmen +sniped our men unbearably. What do you suppose happened? A Khyber +Rifle came to the Colonel and said, 'Let me put an end to him, +Colonel Sahib. I know exactly where he sits. He is my +grandfather.' And he did it!"</p> + +<p>"The bond of bread and salt?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and discipline. I'm sometimes half frightened of +discipline. It moulds a man like wax. Even God doesn't do that. +Well - then you had the traders - wild shaggy men in sheepskin +and women in massive jewelry of silver and turquoise,-great +earrings, heavy bracelets loading their arms, wild, fierce, +handsome. And the camels - thousands of them, some going up, some +coming down, a mass of human and animal life. Above you, moving +figures against the keen blue sky, or deep below you in the +ravines.</p> + +<p>"The camels were swaying along with huge bales of goods, and +dark beautiful women in wicker cages perched on them. Silks and +carpets from Bokhara, and blue - eyed Persian cats, and bluer +Persian turquoises. Wonderful! And the dust, gilded by the +sunshine, makes a vaporous golden atmosphere for it all."</p> + +<p>"What was the most wonderful thing you saw there?"</p> + +<p>"The most beautiful, I think, was a man - a splendid dark +ruffian lounging along. He wanted to show off, and his swagger +was perfect. Long black onyx eyes and a tumble of black curls, +and teeth like almonds. But what do you think he carried on his +wrist - a hawk with fierce yellow eyes, ringed and chained. +Hawking is a favourite sport in the hills. Oh, why doesn't some +great painter come and paint it all before they take to trains +and cars? I long to see it all again, but I never shall."</p> + +<p>"Why not," said I. "Surely Sir John can get you up there any +day?"</p> + +<p>"Not now. The fighting makes it difficult. But it isn't that. +I am leaving."</p> + +<p>"Leaving?" My heart gave a leap. "Why? Where?"</p> + +<p>"Leaving Lady Meryon."</p> + +<p>"Why - for Heaven's sake?"</p> + +<p>"I had rather not tell you."</p> + +<p>"But I must know."</p> + +<p>"You cannot."</p> + +<p>"I shall ask Lady Meryon."</p> + +<p>"I forbid you."</p> + +<p>And then the unexpected happened, and an unbearable impulse +swept me into folly - or was it wisdom?</p> + +<p>"Listen to me. I would not have said it yet, but this settles +it. I want you to marry me. I want it atrociously!"</p> + +<p>It was a strange word. What I felt for her at that moment was +difficult to describe. I endured it like a pain that could only +be assuaged by her presence, but I endured it angrily. We were +walking on the sunset road - very deserted and quiet at the time. +The place was propitious if nothing else was.</p> + +<p>She looked at me in transparent astonishment;</p> + +<p>"Mr. Clifden, are you dreaming? You can't mean what you +say."</p> + +<p>"Why can't I? I do. I want you. You have the key of all I care +for. I think of the world without you and find it tasteless."</p> + +<p>"Surely you have all the world can give? What do you want +more?"</p> + +<p>"The power to enjoy it - to understand it. You have got that - +I haven't. I want you always with me to interpret, like a guide +to a blind fellow. I am no better."</p> + +<p>"Say like a dog, at once!" she interrupted. "At least you are +frank enough to put it on that ground. You have not said you love +me. You could not say it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I do or not. I know nothing about love. +I want you. Indescribably. Perhaps that is love - is it? I never +wanted any one before. I have tried to get away and I can't."</p> + +<p>I was brutally frank, you see. She compelled my very +thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Why have you tried?"</p> + +<p>"Because every man likes freedom. But I like you better." "I +can tell you the reason," she said in her gentle unwavering +voice. "I am Lady Meryon's governess, and an undesirable. You +have felt that?"</p> + +<p>"Don't make me out such a snob. No - yes. You force me into +honesty. I did feel it at first like the miserable fool I am, but +I could kick myself when I think of that now. It is utterly +forgotten. Take me and make me what you will, and forgive me. +Only tell me your secret of joy. How is it you understand +everything alive or dead? I want to live - to see, to know."</p> + +<p>It was a rhapsody like a boy's. Yet at the moment I was not +even ashamed of it, so sharp was my need.</p> + +<p>"I think," she said, slowly, looking straight before her, +"that I had better be quite frank. I don't love you. I don't know +what love means in the Western sense. It has a very different +meaning for me. Your voice comes to me from an immense distance +when you speak in that way. You want me - but never with a +thought of what I might want. Is that love? I like you very +deeply as a friend, but we are of different races. There is a +gulf."</p> + +<p>"A gulf? You are English."</p> + +<p>"By birth, yes. In mind, no. And there are things that go +deeper, that you could not understand. So I refuse quite +definitely, and our ways part here, for in a few days I go. I +shall not see you again, but I wish to say good-bye."</p> + +<p>The bitterest chagrin was working in my soul. I felt as if all +were deserting me-a sickening feeling of loneliness. I did not +know the man who was in me, and was a stranger to myself.</p> + +<p>"I entreat you to tell me why, and where."</p> + +<p>"Since you have made me this offer, I will tell you why. Lady +Meryon objected to my friendship with you, and objected in a way +which-"</p> + +<p>She stopped, flushing palely. I caught her hand.</p> + +<p>"That settles it!-that she should have dared! I'll go up this +minute and tell her we are engaged. Vanna-Vanna !"</p> + +<p>For she disengaged her hand, quietly but firmly.</p> + +<p>"On no account. How can I make it more plain to you? I should +have gone soon in any case. My place is in the native city - that +is the life I want. I have work there, I knew it before I came +out. My sympathies are all with them. They know what life is - +why even the beggars, poorer than poor, are perfectly happy, +basking in the great generous sun. Oh, the splendour and riot of +life and colour! That's my life - I sicken of this."</p> + +<p>"But I'll give it to you. Marry me, and we will travel till +you're tired of it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and look on as at a play - sitting in the stalls, and +applauding when we are pleased. No, I'm going to work there." +"For God's sake, how? Let me come too."</p> + +<p>"You can't. You're not in it. I am going to attach myself to +the medical mission at Lahore and learn nursing, and then I shall +go to my own people."</p> + +<p>"Missionaries? You've nothing in common with them?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. But they teach what I want. Mr. Clifden, I shall not +come this way again. If I remember - I'll write to you, and tell +you what the real world is like."</p> + +<p>She smiled, the absorbed little smile I knew and feared. I saw +pleading was useless then. I would wait, and never lose sight of +her and of hope.</p> + +<p>"Vanna, before you go, give me your gift of sight. Interpret +for me. Stay with me a little and make me see."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean exactly?" she asked in her gentlest voice, +half turning to me.</p> + +<p>"Make one journey with me, as my sister, if you will do no +more. Though I warn you that all the time I shall be trying to +win my wife. But come with me once, and after that - if you will +go, you must. Say yes."</p> + +<p>Madness! But she hesitated - a hesitation full of hope, and +looked at me with intent eyes.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you frankly," she said at last, "that I know my +knowledge of the East and kinship with it goes far beyond mere +words. In my case the doors were not shut. I believe - I know +that long ago this was my life. If I spoke for ever I could not +make you understand how much I know and why. So I shall quite +certainly go back to it. Nothing - you least of all, can hold me. +But you are my friend - that is a true bond. And if you would +wish me to give you two months before I go, I might do that if it +would in any way help you. As your friend only - you clearly +understand. You would not reproach me afterwards when I left you, +as I should most certainly do?"</p> + +<p>"I swear I would not. I swear I would protect you even from +myself. I want you for ever, but if you will only give me two +months - come! But have you thought that people will talk. It may +injure you.</p> + +<p>I'm not worth that, God knows. And you will take nothing I +could give you in return."</p> + +<p>She spoke very quietly.</p> + +<p>"That does not trouble me. - It would only trouble me if you +asked what I have not to give. For two months I would travel with +you as a friend, if, like a friend, I paid my own expenses-"</p> + +<p>I would have interrupted, but she brushed that firmly aside. +"No, I must do as I say, and I am quite able to or I should not +suggest it. I would go on no other terms. It would be hard if +because we are man and woman I might not do one act of friendship +for you before we part. For though I refuse your offer utterly, I +appreciate it, and I would make what little return I can. It +would be a sharp pain to me to distress you."</p> + +<p>Her gentleness and calm, the magnitude of the offer she was +making stunned me so that I could scarcely speak. There was such +an extraordinary simplicity and generosity in her manner that it +appeared to me more enthralling and bewildering than the most +finished coquetry I had ever known. She gave me opportunities +that the most ardent lover could in his wildest dream desire, and +with the remoteness in her eyes and her still voice she deprived +them of all hope. It kindled in me a flame that made my throat +dry when I tried to speak.</p> + +<p>"Vanna, is it a promise? You mean it?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish it, yes. But I warn you I think it will not make +it easier for you when the time is over.</p> + +<p>"Why two months?"</p> + +<p>"Partly because I can afford no more. No! I know what you +would say. Partly because I can spare no more time. But I will +give you that, if you wish, though, honestly, I had very much +rather not. I think it unwise for you. I would protect you if I +could - indeed I would!"</p> + +<p>It was my turn to hesitate now. Every moment revealed to me +some new sweetness, some charm that I saw would weave itself into +the very fibre of my I had been! Was I not now a fool? Would it +not being if the opportunity were given. Oh, fool that be better +to let her go before she had become a part of my daily +experience? I began to fear I was courting my own shipwreck. She +read my thoughts clearly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed you would be wise to decide against it. Release me +from my promise. It was a mad scheme."</p> + +<p>The superiority - or so I felt it - of her gentleness maddened +me. It might have been I who needed protection, who was running +the risk of misjudgment - not she, a lonely woman. She looked at +me, waiting - trying to be wise for me, never for one instant +thinking of herself. I felt utterly exiled from the real purpose +of her life.</p> + +<p>"I will never release you. I claim your promise. I hold to +it."</p> + +<p>"Very well then - I will write, and tell you where I shall be. +Good-bye, and if you change your mind, as I hope you will, tell +me."</p> + +<p>She extended her hand cool as a snowflake, and was gone, +walking swiftly up the road. Ah, let a man beware when his wishes +fulfilled, rain down upon him!</p> + +<p>To what had I committed myself? She knew her strength and had +no fears. I could scarcely realize that she had liking enough for +me to make the offer. That it meant no shade more than she had +said I knew well. She was safe, but what was to be the result for +me? I knew nothing - she was a beloved mystery.</p> + +<p>"Strange she is and secret, Strange her eyes; her cheeks are +cold as cold sea-shells."</p> + +<p>Yet I would risk it, for I knew there was no hope if I let her +go now, and if I saw her again, some glimmer might fall upon my +dark.</p> + +<p>Next day this reached me:- Dear Mr. Clifden,-</p> + +<p>I am going to some Indian friends for a time. On the 15th of +June I shall he at Srinagar in Kashmir. A friend has allowed me +to take her little houseboat, the "Kedarnath." If you like this +plan we will share the cost for two months. I warn you it is not +luxurious, but I think you will like it. I shall do this whether +you come or no, for I want a quiet time before I take up my +nursing in Lahore. In thinking of all this will you remember that +I am not a girl but a woman. I shall he twenty-nine my next +birthday. Sincerely yours, VANNA LORING.</p> + +<p>P.S. But I still think you would be wiser not to come. I hope +to hear you will not.</p> + +<p>I replied only this :- Dear Miss Loring,- I think I understand +the position fully. I will be there. I thank you with all my +heart. Gratefully yours, STEPHEN CLIFDEN.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>Three days later I met Lady Meryon, and was swept in to tea. +Her manner was distinctly more cordial as she mentioned casually +that Vanna had left - she understood to take up missionary work - +"which is odd," she added with a woman's acrimony, "for she had +no more in common with missionaries than I have, and that is +saying a good deal. Of course she speaks Hindustani perfectly, +and could be useful, but I haven't grasped the point of it yet" I +saw she counted on my knowing nothing of the real reason of +Vanna's going and left it, of course, at that. The talk drifted +away under my guidance. Vanna evidently puzzled her. She half +feared, and wholly misunderstood her.</p> + +<p>No message came to me, as time went by, and for the time she +had vanished completely, but I held fast to her promise and lived +on that only.</p> + +<p>I take up my life where it ceased to be a mere suspense and +became life once more.</p> + +<p>On the 15th of June, I found myself riding into Srinagar in +Kashmir, through the pure tremulous green of the mighty poplars +that hedge the road into the city. The beauty of the country had +half stunned me when I entered the mountain barrier of Baramula +and saw the snowy peaks that guard the Happy Valley, with the +Jhelum flowing through its tranquil loveliness. The flush of the +almond blossom was over, but the iris, like a blue sea of peace +had overflowed the world - the azure meadows smiled back at the +radiant sky. Such blossom! the blue shading into clear violet, +like a shoaling sea. The earth, like a cup held in the hand of a +god, brimmed with the draught of youth and summer and - love? But +no, for me the very word was sinister. Vanna's face, immutably +calm, confronted it.</p> + +<p>That night I slept in a boat at Sopor, and I remember that, +waking at midnight, I looked out and saw a mountain with a +gloriole of hazy silver about it, misty and faint as a cobweb +threaded with dew. The river, there spreading into a lake, was +dark under it, flowing in a deep smooth blackness of shadow, and +everything awaited - what? And even while I looked, the moon +floated serenely above the peak, and all was bathed in pure +light, the water rippling and shining in broken silver and pearl. +So had Vanna floated into my sky, luminous, sweet, remote. I did +not question my heart any more. I knew I loved her.</p> + +<p>Two days later I rode into Srinagar, and could scarcely see +the wild beauty of that strange Venice. of the East, my heart was +so beating in my eyes. I rode past the lovely wooden bridges +where the balconied houses totter to each other across the canals +in dim splendour of carving and age; where the many-coloured +native life crowds down to the river steps and cleanses its +flower-bright robes, its gold-bright brass vessels in the shining +stream, and my heart said only - Vanna, Vanna!</p> + +<p>One day, one thought, of her absence had taught me what she +was to me, and if humility and patient endeavor could raise me to +her feet, I was resolved that I would spend my life in labor and +think it well spent.</p> + +<p>My servant dismounted and led his horse, asking from every one +where the "Kedarnath" could be found, and eager black eyes +sparkled and two little bronze images detached themselves from +the crowd of boys, and ran, fleet as fauns, before us.</p> + +<p>Above the last bridge the Jhelum broadens out into a stately +river, controlled at one side by the banked walk known as the +Bund, with the Club House upon it and the line of houseboats +beneath. Here the visitors flutter up and down and exchange the +gossip, the bridge appointments, the little dinners that sit so +incongruously on the pure Orient that is Kashmir.</p> + +<p>She would not be here. My heart told me that, and sure enough +the boys were leading across the bridge and by a quiet shady way +to one of the many backwaters that the great river makes in the +enchanting city. There is one waterway stretching on afar to the +Dal Lake. It looks like a river - it is the very haunt of peace. +Under those mighty chenar, or plane trees, that are the glory of +Kashmir, clouding the water with deep green shadows, the sun can +scarcely pierce, save in a dipping sparkle here and there to +intensify the green gloom. The murmur of the city, the chatter of +the club, are hundreds of miles away. We rode downward under the +towering trees, and dismounting, saw a little houseboat tethered +to the bank. It was not of the richer sort that haunts the Bund, +where the native servants follow in a separate boat, and even the +electric light is turned on as part of the luxury. This was a +long low craft, very broad, thatched like a country cottage +afloat. In the forepart lived the native owner, and his family, +their crew, our cooks and servants; for they played many parts in +our service. And in the afterpart, room for a life, a dream, the +joy or curse & many days to be.</p> + +<p>But then, I saw only one thing - Vanna sat under the trees, +reading, or looking at the cool dim watery vista, with a single +boat, loaded to the river's edge with melons and scarlet +tomatoes, punting lazily down to Srinagar in the sleepy +afternoon.</p> + +<p>She was dressed in white with a shady hat, and her delicate +dark face seemed to glow in the shadow like the heart of a pale +rose. For the first time I knew she was beautiful. Beauty shone +in her like the flame in an alabaster lamp, serene, diffused in +the very air about her, so that to me she moved in a mild +radiance. She rose to meet me with both hands outstretched - the +kindest, most cordial welcome. Not an eyelash flickered, not a +trace of self- consciousness. If I could have seen her flush or +tremble - but no - her eyes were clear and calm as a forest pool. +So I remembered her. So I saw her once more.</p> + +<p>I tried, with a hopeless pretence, to follow her example and +hide what I felt, where she had nothing to hide.</p> + +<p>"What a place you have found. Why, it's like the deep heart of +a wood!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw it once when I was here with the Meryons. But we +lay at the Bund then - just under the Club. This is better. Did +you like the ride up?"</p> + +<p>I threw myself on the grass beside her with a feeling of +perfect rest.</p> + +<p>"It was like a new heaven and a new earth. What a +country!"</p> + +<p>The very spirit of Quiet seemed to be drowsing in those +branches towering up into the blue, dipping their green fingers +into the crystal of the water. What a heaven!</p> + +<p>"Now you shall have your tea and then I will show you your +rooms," she said, smiling at my delight. "We shall stay here a +few days more that you may see Srinagar, and then they tow us up +into the Dal Lake opposite the Gardens of the Mogul Emperors. And +if you think this beautiful what will you say then?"</p> + +<p>I shut my eyes and see still that first meal of my new life. +The little table that Pir Baksh, breathing full East in his +jade-green turban, set before her, with its cloth worked in a +pattern of the chenar leaves that are the symbol of Kashmir; the +brown cakes made by Ahmad Khan in a miraculous kitchen of his own +invention - a few holes burrowed in the river bank, a smoldering +fire beneath them, and a width of canvas for a roof. But it +served, and no more need be asked of luxury. And Vanna, making it +mysteriously the first home I ever had known, the central joy of +it all. Oh, wonderful days of life that breathe the spirit of +immortality and pass so quickly - surely they must be treasured +somewhere in Eternity that we may look upon their beloved light +once more.</p> + +<p>"Now you must see the boat. The Kedarnath is not a +Dreadnought, but she is broad and very comfortable. And we have +many chaperons. They all live in the bows, and exist simply to +protect the Sahiblog from all discomfort, and very well they do +it. That is Ahmad Khan by the kitchen. He cooks for us. Salama +owns the boat, and steers her and engages the men to tow us when +we move. And when I arrived he aired a little English and said +piously; The Lord help me to give you no trouble, and the Lord +help you!" That is his wife sitting on the bank. She speaks +little but Kashmiri, but I know a little of that. Look at the +hundred rat-tail plaits of her hair, lengthened with wool, and +see her silver and turquoise jewelry. She wears much of the +family fortune and is quite a walking bank. Salama, Ahmad Khan +and I talk by the hour. Ahmad comes from Fyzabad. Look at +Salama's boy - I call him the Orange Imp. Did you ever see +anything so beautiful?"</p> + +<p>I looked in sheer delight, and grasped my camera. Sitting near +us was a lovely little Kashmiri boy of about eight, in a faded +orange coat, and a turban exactly like his father's. His curled +black eyelashes were so long that they made a soft gloom over the +upper part of the little golden face. The perfect bow of the +scarlet lips, the long eyes, the shy smile, suggested an Indian +Eros. He sat dipping his feet in the water with little +pigeon-like cries of content.</p> + +<p>"He paddles at the bow of our little shikara boat with a +paddle exactly like a water-lily leaf. Do you like our friends? I +love them already, and know all their affairs. And now for the +boat."</p> + +<p>"One moment - If we are friends on a great adventure, I must +call you Vanna, and you me Stephen."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose that is part of it," she said, smiling. "Come, +Stephen."</p> + +<p>It was like music, but a cold music that chilled me. She +should have hesitated, should have flushed - it was I who +trembled. So I followed her across the broad plank into our new +home.</p> + +<p>"This is our sitting-room. Look, how charming!"</p> + +<p>It was better than charming; it was home indeed. Windows at +each side opening down almost to the water, a little table for +meals that lived mostly on the bank, with a grey pot of iris in +the middle. Another table for writing, photography, and all the +little pursuits of travel. A bookshelf with some well - worn +friends. Two long cushioned chairs. Two for meals, and a Bokhara +rug, soft and pleasant for the feet. The interior was plain +unpainted wood, but set so that the grain showed like satin in +the rippling lights from the water.</p> + +<p>That is the inventory of the place I have loved best in the +world, but what eloquence can describe what it gave me, what its +memory gives me to this day? And I have no eloquence - what I +felt leaves me dumb.</p> + +<p>"It is perfect," was all I said as she waved her hand proudly. +"It is home."</p> + +<p>"And if you had come alone to Kashmir you would have had a +great rich boat with electric light and a butler. You would never +have seen the people except at meal - times. I think you will +like this better. Well, this is your tiny bedroom, and your +bathroom, and beyond the sitting - room are mine. Do you like it +all?"</p> + +<p>But I could say no more. The charm of her own personality had +touched everything and left its fragrance like a flower - breath +in the air. I was beggared of thanks, but my whole soul was +gratitude. We dined on the bank that evening, the lamp burning +steadily in the still air and throwing broken reflections in the +water, while the moon looked in upon them through the leaves. I +felt extraordinarily young and happy.</p> + +<p>The quiet of her voice was soft as the little lap of water +against the bows of the boat, and Kahdra, the Orange Imp, was +singing a little wordless song to himself as he washed the plates +beside us. It was a simple meal, and Vanna, abstemious as a +hermit never ate anything but rice and fruit, but I could +remember no meal in all my days of luxury where I had eaten with +such zest.</p> + +<p>"It looks very grand to have so many to wait upon us, doesn't +it? But this is one of the cheapest countries in the world though +the old timers mourn over present expenses. You will laugh when I +show you your share of the cost."</p> + +<p>"The wealth of the world could not buy this," I said, and was +silent.</p> + +<p>"But you must listen to my plans. We must do a little camping +the last three weeks before we part. Up in the mountains. Are +they not marvellous? They stand like a rampart round us, but not +cold and terrible, but "Like as the hills stand round about +Jerusalem" - they are guardian presences. And running up into +them, high -very high, are the valleys and hills where we shall +camp. Tomorrow we shall row through Srinagar, by the old +Maharaja's palace."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>V</h3> + +<p>And so began a life of sheer enchantment. We knew no one. The +visitors in Kashmir change nearly every season, and no one +cared-no one asked anything of us, and as for our shipmates, a +willing affectionate service was their gift, and no more. Looking +back, I know in what a wonder-world I was privileged to live. +Vanna could talk with them all. She did not move apart, a +condescending or indifferent foreigner. Kahdra would come to her +knee and prattle to her of the great snake that lived up on +Mahadeo to devour erring boys who omitted their prayers at proper +Moslem intervals. She would sit with the baby in her lap while +the mother busied herself in the sunny bows with the mysterious +dishes that smelt so savory to a hungry man. The cuts, the +bruises of the neighbourhood all came to Vanna for treatment.</p> + +<p>"I am graduating as a nurse," she would say laughing as she +bent over the lean arm of some weirdly wrinkled old lady, +bandaging and soothing at the same moment. Her reward would be +some bit of folk-lore, some quaintness of gratitude that I noted +down in the little book I kept for remembrance - that I do not +need, for every word is in my heart.</p> + +<p>We rowed down through the city next day - Salama rowing, and +little Kahdra lazily paddling at the bow - a wonderful city, with +its narrow ways begrimed with the dirt of ages, and its balconied +houses looking as if disease and sin had soaked into them and +given them a vicious tottering beauty, horrible and yet lovely +too. We saw the swarming life of the bazaar, the white turbans +coming and going, diversified by the rose and yellow Hindu +turbans, and the caste-marks, orange and red, on the dark +brows.</p> + +<p>I saw two women - girls - painted and tired like Jezebel, +looking out of one window carved and old, and the grey burnished +doves flying about it. They leaned indolently, like all the old, +old wickedness of the East that yet is ever young - "Flowers of +Delight," with smooth black hair braided with gold and blossoms, +and covered with pale rose veils, and gold embossed disks +swinging like lamps beside the olive cheeks, the great eyes +artificially lengthened and darkened with soorma, and the curves +of the full lips emphasized with vermilion. They looked down on +us with apathy, a dull weariness that held all the old evil of +the wicked humming city.</p> + +<p>It had taken shape in those indolent bodies and heavy eyes +that could flash into life as a snake wakes into fierce darting +energy when the time comes to spring - direct inheritrixes from +Lilith, in the fittest setting in the world - the almost +exhausted vice of an Oriental city as old as time.</p> + +<p>"And look-below here," said Vanna, pointing to one of the +ghauts - long rugged steps running down to the river.</p> + +<p>"When I came yesterday, a great broken crowd was collected +here, almost shouldering each other into the water where a boat +lay rocking. In it lay the body of a man brutally murdered for +the sake of a few rupees and flung into the river. I could see +the poor brown body stark in the boat with a friend weeping +beside it. On the lovely deodar bridge people leaned over, +watching with a grim open-mouthed curiosity, and business went on +gaily where the jewelers make the silver bangles for slender +wrists, and the rows of silver chains that make the necks like +'the Tower of Damascus builded for an armory.' It was all very +wild and cruel. I went down to them-"</p> + +<p>"Vanna - you went down? Horrible!"</p> + +<p>"No, you see I heard them say the wife was almost a child and +needs help. So I went. Once long ago at Peshawar I saw the same +thing happen, and they came and took the child for the service of +the gods, for she was most lovely, and she clung to the feet of a +man in terror, and the priest stabbed her to the heart. She died +in my arms.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" I said, shuddering; "what a sight for you! Did +they never hang him?"</p> + +<p>"He was not punished. I told you it was a very long time ago. +Her expression had a brooding quiet as she looked down into the +running river, almost it might be as if she saw the picture of +that past misery in the deep water. She said no more. But in her +words and the terrible crowding of its life, Srinagar seemed to +me more of a nightmare than anything I had seen, excepting only +Benares; for the holy Benares is a memory of horror, with a sense +of blood hidden under its frantic crazy devotion, and not far +hidden either.</p> + +<p>Our own green shade, when we pulled back to it in the evening +cool, was a refuge of unspeakable quiet. She read aloud to me +that evening by the small light of our lamp beneath the trees, +and, singularly, she read of joy.</p> + +<p>"I have drunk of the Cup of the Ineffable, I have found the +key of the Mystery, Travelling by no track I have come to the +Sorrowless Land; very easily has the mercy of the great Lord come +upon me. Wonderful is that Land of rest to which no merit can +win. There have I seen joy filled to the brim, perfection of joy. +He dances in rapture and waves of form arise from His dance. He +holds all within his bliss."</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>"It is from the songs of the great Indian mystic - Kabir. Let +me read you more. It is like the singing of a lark, lost in the +infinite of light and heaven."</p> + +<p>So in the soft darkness I heard for the first time those +immortal words; and hearing, a faint glimmer of understanding +broke upon me as to the source of the peace that surrounded her. +I had accepted it as an emanation of her own heart when it was +the pulsing of the tide of the Divine. She read, choosing a verse +here and there, and I listened with absorption.</p> + +<p>Suppose I had been wrong in believing that sorrow is the +keynote of life; that pain is the road of ascent, if road there +be; that an implacable Nature and that only, presides over all +our pitiful struggles and seekings and writes a black "Finis" to +the holograph of our existence?</p> + +<p>What then? What was she teaching me? Was she the Interpreter +of a Beauty eternal in the heavens, and reflected like a broken +prism in the beauty that walked visible beside me? So I listened +like a child to an unknown language, yet ventured my protest.</p> + +<p>"In India, in this wonderful country where men have time and +will for speculation such thoughts may be natural. Can they be +found in the West?"</p> + +<p>"This is from the West - might not Kabir himself have said it? +Certainly he would have felt it. 'Happy is he who seeks not to +understand the Mystery of God, but who, merging his spirit into +Thine, sings to Thy face, 0 Lord, like a harp, understanding how +difficult it is to know - how easy to love Thee.' We debate and +argue and the Vision passes us by. We try to prove it, and kill +it in the laboratory of our minds, when on the altar of our souls +it will dwell for ever."</p> + +<p>Silence - and I pondered. Finally she laid the book aside, and +repeated from memory and in a tone of perfect music; "Kabir says, +'I shall go to the House of my Lord with my Love at my side; then +shall I sound the trumpet of triumph.'"</p> + +<p>And when she left me alone in the moonlight silence the old +doubts came back to me - the fear that I saw only through her +eyes, and began to believe in joy only because I loved her. I +remember I wrote in the little book I kept for my stray thoughts, +these words which are not mine but reflect my thought of her; +"Thine is the skill of the Fairy Woman, and the virtue of St. +Bride, and the faith of Mary the Mild, and the gracious way of +the Greek woman, and the beauty of lovely Emer, and the +tenderness of heart-sweet Deirdre, and the courage of Maev the +great Queen, and the charm of Mouth-of-Music."</p> + +<p>Yes, all that and more, but I feared lest I should see the +heaven of joy through her eyes only and find it mirage as I had +found so much else.</p> + +<p>SECOND PART Early in the pure dawn the men came and our boat +was towed up into the Dal Lake through crystal waterways and +flowery banks, the men on the path keeping step and straining at +the rope until the bronze muscles stood out on their legs and +backs, shouting strong rhythmic phrases to mark the pull.</p> + +<p>"They shout the Wondrous Names of God - as they are called," +said Vanna when I asked. "They always do that for a timid effort. +Bad shah! The Lord, the Compassionate, and so on. I don't think +there is any religion about it but it is as natural to them as +One, Two, Three, to us. It gives a tremendous lift. Watch and +see."</p> + +<p>It was part of the delightful strangeness that we should move +to that strong music. We sat on the upper deck and watched the +dream - like beauty drift slowly by until we emerged beneath a +little bridge into the fairy land of the lake which the Mogul +Emperors loved so well that they made their noble pleasance +gardens on the banks, and thought it little to travel up yearly +from far - off Delhi over the snowy Pir Panjal with their Queens +and courts for the perfect summer of Kashmir.</p> + +<p>We moored by a low bank under a great wood of chenar trees, +and saw the little table in the wilderness set in the greenest +shade with our chairs beside it, and my pipe laid reverently upon +it by Kahdra.</p> + +<p>Across the glittering water lay on one side the Shalimar +Garden known to all readers of "Lalla Ruhk" - a paradise of +roses; and beyond it again the lovelier gardens of Nour-Mahal, +the Light of the Palace, that imperial woman who ruled India +under the weak Emperor's name - she whose name he set thus upon +his coins:</p> + +<p>"By order of King Jehangir. Gold has a hundred splendours +added to it by receiving the name of Nour-Jahan the Queen."</p> + +<p>Has any woman ever had a more royal homage than this most +royal lady - known first as Mihr-u- nissa - Sun of Women, and +later, Nour-Mahal, Light of the Palace, and latest, Nour-Jahan- +Begam, Queen, Light of the World?</p> + +<p>Here in these gardens she had lived - had seen the snow +mountains change from the silver of dawn to the illimitable rose +of sunset. The life, the colour beat insistently upon my brain. +They built a world of magic where every moment was pure gold. +Surely - surely to Vanna it must be the same. I believed in my +very soul that she who gave and shared such joy could not be +utterly apart from me? Could I then feel certain that I had +gained any ground in these days we had been together? Could she +still define the cruel limits she had laid down, or were her eyes +kinder, her tones a more broken music? I did not know. Whenever I +could hazard a guess the next minute baffled me.</p> + +<p>Just then, in the sunset, she was sitting on deck, singing +under her breath and looking absently away to the Gardens across +the Lake. I could catch the words here and there, and knew +them.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar,</p> + +<p>Where are you now - who lies beneath your spell?</p> + +<p>Whom do you lead on Rapture's roadway far,</p> + +<p>Before you agonize them in farewell?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>"Don't!" I said abruptly. It stung me.</p> + +<p>"What?" she asked in surprise. "That is the song every one +remembers here. Poor Laurence Hope! How she knew and loved this +India! What are you grumbling at?"</p> + +<p>Her smile stung me.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," I said morosely. "You don't understand. You +never will."</p> + +<p>And yet I believed sometimes that she would - that time was on +my side.</p> + +<p>When Kahdra and I pulled her across to Nour-Mahal's garden +next day, how could I not believe it - her face was so full of +joy as she looked at me for sympathy?</p> + +<p>"I don't think so much beauty is crowded into any other few +miles in the world - beauty of association, history, nature, +everything!" she said with shining eyes. "The lotus flowers are +not out yet but when they come that is the last touch of +perfection. Do you remember Homer - 'But whoso ate of the +honey-sweet fruit of the lotus, was neither willing to bring me +word again, nor to depart. Nay, their desire was to remain there +for ever, feeding on the lotus with the Lotus Eaters, forgetful +of all return.' You know the people here eat the roots and seeds? +I ate them last year and perhaps that is why I cannot stay away. +But look at Nour- Mahal's garden!"</p> + +<p>We were pulling in among the reeds and the huge carven leaves +of the water plants, and the snake-headed buds lolling upon them +with the slippery half-sinister look that water-flowers have, as +though their cold secret life belonged to the hidden water world +and not to ours. But now the boat was touching the little wooden +steps.</p> + +<p>O beautiful - most beautiful the green lawns, shaded with huge +pyramids of the chenar trees, the terraced gardens where the +marble steps climbed from one to the other, and the mountain +streams flashed singing and shining down the carved marble slopes +that cunning hands had made to delight the Empress of Beauty, +between the wildernesses of roses. Her pavilion stands still +among the flowers, and the waters ripple through it to join the +lake - and she is - where? Even in the glory of sunshine the +passing of all fair things was present with me as I saw the empty +shell that had held the Pearl of Empire, and her roses that still +bloom, her waters that still sing for others.</p> + +<p>The spray of a hundred fountains was misty diamond dust in the +warm air laden with the scent of myriad flowers. Kahdra followed +us everywhere, singing his little tuneless happy song. The world +brimmed with beauty and joy. And we were together. Words broke +from me.</p> + +<p>"Vanna, let it be for ever! Let us live here. I'll give up all +the world for this and you."</p> + +<p>"But you see," she said delicately, "it would be 'giving up.' +You use the right word. It is not your life. It is a lovely +holiday, no more. You would weary of it. You would want the city +life and your own kind."</p> + +<p>I protested with all my soul.</p> + +<p>"No. Indeed I will say frankly that it would be lowering +yourself to live a lotus-eating life among my people. It is a +life with which you have no tie. A Westerner who lives like that +steps down; he loses his birthright just as an Oriental does who +Europeanizes himself. He cannot live your life nor you his. If +you had work here it would be different. No - six or eight weeks +more; then go away and forget it."</p> + +<p>I turned from her. The serpent was in Paradise. When is he +absent?</p> + +<p>On one of the terraces a man was beating a tom-tom, and veiled +women listened, grouped about him in brilliant colours.</p> + +<p>"Isn't that all India?" she said; "that dull reiterated sound? +It half stupefies, half maddens. Once at Darjiling I saw the +Lamas' Devil Dance - the soul, a white-faced child with eyes +unnaturally enlarged, fleeing among a rabble of devils - the evil +passions. It fled wildly here and there and every way was +blocked. The child fell on its knees, screaming dumbly - you +could see the despair in the staring eyes, but all was drowned in +the thunder of Tibetan drums. No mercy - no escape. +Horrible!"</p> + +<p>"Even in Europe the drum is awful," I said. "Do you remember +in the French Revolution how they Drowned the victims' voices in +a thunder roll of drums?"</p> + +<p>"I shall always see the face of the child, hunted down to +hell, falling on its knees, and screaming without a sound, when I +hear the drum. But listen - a flute! Now if that were the Flute +of Krishna you would have to follow. Let us come!"</p> + +<p>I could hear nothing of it, but she insisted and we followed +the music, inaudible to me, up the slopes of the garden that is +the foot-hill of the mighty mountain of Mahadeo, and still I +could hear nothing. And Vanna told me strange stories of the +Apollo of India whom all hearts must adore, even as the +herd-girls adored him in his golden youth by Jumna river and in +the pastures of Brindaban.</p> + +<p>Next day we were climbing the hill to the ruins where the evil +magician brought the King's daughter nightly to his will, flying +low under a golden moon. Vanna took my arm and I pulled her +laughing up the steepest flowery slopes until we reached the +height, and lo! the arched windows were eyeless and a lonely +breeze blowing through the cloisters, and the beautiful yellowish +stone arches supported nothing and were but frames for the blue +of far lake and mountain and the divine sky. We climbed the +broken stairs where the lizards went by like flashes, and had I +the tongue of men and angels I could not tell the wonder that lay +before us, - the whole wide valley of Kashmir in summer glory, +with its scented breeze singing, singing above it.</p> + +<p>We sat on the crushed aromatic herbs and among the wild roses +and looked down.</p> + +<p>"To think," she said, "that we might have died and never seen +it!"</p> + +<p>There followed a long silence. I thought she was tired, and +would not break it. Suddenly she spoke in a strange voice, low +and toneless;</p> + +<p>"The story of this place. She was the Princess Padmavati, and +her home was in Ayodhya. When she woke and found herself here by +the lake she was so terrified that she flung herself in and was +drowned. They held her back, but she died."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Because a wandering monk came to the abbey of Tahkt-i-Bahi +near Peshawar and told Vasettha the Abbot."</p> + +<p>I had nearly spoilt all by an exclamation, but I held myself +back. I saw she was dreaming awake and was unconscious of what +she said.</p> + +<p>"The Abbot said, 'Do not describe her. What talk is this for +holy men? The young monks must not hear. Some of them have never +seen a woman. Should a monk speak of such toys?' But the wanderer +disobeyed and spoke, and there was a great tumult, and the monks +threw him out at the command of the young Abbot, and he wandered +down to Peshawar, and it was he later - the evil one! - that +brought his sister, Lilavanti the Dancer, to Peshawar, and the +Abbot fell into her snare. That was his revenge!"</p> + +<p>Her face was fixed and strange, for a moment her cheek looked +hollow, her eyes dim and grief- worn. What was she seeing? - what +remembering? Was it a story - a memory? What was it?</p> + +<p>"She was beautiful?" I prompted.</p> + +<p>"Men have said so, but for it he surrendered the Peace. Do not +speak of her accursed beauty."</p> + +<p>Her voice died away to a drowsy murmur; her head dropped on my +shoulder and for the mere de- light of contact I sat still and +scarcely breathed, praying that she might speak again, but the +good minute was gone. She drew one or two deep breaths, and sat +up with a bewildered look that quickly passed.</p> + +<p>"I was quite sleepy for a minute. The climb was so strenuous. +Hark - I hear the Flute of Krishna again."</p> + +<p>And again I could hear nothing, but she said it was sounding +from the trees at the base of the hill. Later when we climbed +down I found she was right - that a peasant lad, dark and +amazingly beautiful as these Kashmiris often are, was playing on +the flute to a girl at his feet - looking up at him with rapt +eyes. He flung Vanna a flower as we passed. She caught it and put +it in her bosom. A singular blossom, three petals of purest +white, set against three leaves of purest green, and lower down +the stem the three green leaves were repeated. It was still in +her bosom after dinner, and I looked at it more closely.</p> + +<p>"That is a curious flower," I said. "Three and three and +three. Nine. That makes the mystic number. I never saw a purer +white. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it is mystic," she said seriously. "It is the +Ninefold Flower. You saw who gave it?"</p> + +<p>"That peasant lad."</p> + +<p>She smiled.</p> + +<p>"You will see more some day. Some might not even have seen +that."</p> + +<p>"Does it grow here?"</p> + +<p>"This is the first I have seen. It is said to grow only where +the gods walk. Do you know that throughout all India Kashmir is +said to be holy ground? It was called long ago the land of the +gods, and of strange, but not evil, sorceries. Great marvels were +seen here."</p> + +<p>I felt the labyrinthine enchantments of that enchanted land +were closing about me - a slender web, grey, almost impalpable, +finer than fairy silk, was winding itself about my feet. My eyes +were opening to things I had not dreamed. She saw my thought.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you could not have seen even that much of him in +Peshawar. You did not know then."</p> + +<p>"He was not there," I answered, falling half unconsciously +into her tone.</p> + +<p>"He is always there - everywhere, and when he plays, all who +hear must follow. He was the Pied Piper in Hamelin, he was Pan in +Hellas. You will hear his wild fluting in many strange places +when you know how to listen. When one has seen him the rest comes +soon. And then you will follow."</p> + +<p>"Not away from you, Vanna."</p> + +<p>"From the marriage feast, from the Table of the Lord," she +said, smiling strangely. "The man who wrote that spoke of another +call, but it is the same - Krishna or Christ. When we hear the +music we follow. And we may lose or gain heaven."</p> + +<p>It might have been her compelling personality - it might have +been the marvels of beauty about me, but I knew well I had +entered at some mystic gate. A pass word had been spoken for me - +I was vouched for and might go in. Only a little way as yet. +Enchanted forests lay beyond, and perilous seas, but there were +hints, breaths like the wafting of the garments of unspeakable +Presences. My talk with Vanna grew less personal, and more +introspective. I felt the touch of her finger-tips leading me +along the ways of Quiet - my feet brushed a shining dew. Once, in +the twilight under the chenar trees, I saw a white gleaming and +thought it a swiftly passing Being, but when in haste I gained +the tree I found there only a Ninefold flower, white as a spirit +in the evening calm. I would not gather it but told Vanna what I +had seen.</p> + +<p>"You nearly saw;' she said. "She passed so quickly. It was the +Snowy One, Uma, Parvati, the Daughter of the Himalaya. That +mountain is the mountain of her lord - Shiva. It is natural she +should be here. I saw her last night lean over the height - her +face pillowed on her folded arms, with a low star in the mists of +her hair. Her eyes were like lakes of blue darkness. Vast and +wonderful. She is the Mystic Mother of India. You will see soon. +You could not have seen the flower until now."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she added, "that in the mountains there are +poppies of clear blue - blue as turquoise. We will go up into the +heights and find them."</p> + +<p>And next moment she was planning the camping details, the men, +the ponies, with a practical zest that seemed to relegate the +occult to the absurd. Yet the very next day came a wonderful +moment.</p> + +<p>The sun was just setting and, as it were, suddenly the purple +glooms banked up heavy with thunder. The sky was black with fury, +the earth passive with dread. I never saw such lightning - it was +continuous and tore in zigzag flashes down the mountains like +rents in the substance of the world's fabric. And the thunder +roared up in the mountain gorges with shattering echoes. Then +fell the rain, and the whole lake seemed to rise to meet it, and +the noise was like the rattle of musketry. We were standing by +the cabin window and she suddenly caught my hand, and I saw in a +light of their own two dancing figures on the tormented water +before us. Wild in the tumult, embodied delight, with arms tossed +violently above their heads, and feet flung up behind them, +skimming the waves like seagulls, they passed. Their sex I could +not tell - I think they had none, but were bubble emanations of +the rejoicing rush of the rain and the wild retreating laughter +of the thunder. I saw the fierce aerial faces and their inhuman +glee as they fled by, and she dropped my hand and they were gone. +Slowly the storm lessened, and in the west the clouds tore +raggedly asunder and a flood of livid yellow light poured down +upon the lake - an awful light that struck it into an abyss of +fire. Then, as if at a word of command, two glorious rainbows +sprang across the water with the mountains for their piers, each +with its proper colours chorded. They made a Bridge of Dread that +stood out radiant against the background of storm - the Twilight +of the Gods, and the doomed gods marching forth to the last +fight. And the thunder growled sullenly away into the recesses of +the hill and the terrible rainbows faded until the stars came +quietly out and it was a still night.</p> + +<p>But I had seen that what is our dread is the joy of the +spirits of the Mighty Mother, and though the vision faded and I +doubted what I had seen, it prepared the way for what I was yet +to see. A few days later we started on what was to be the most +exquisite memory of my life. A train of ponies carried our tents +and camping necessaries and there was a pony for each of us. And +so, in the cool grey of a divine morning, with little rosy clouds +flecking the eastern sky, we set out from Islamabad for Vernag. +And this was the order of our going. She and I led the way, +attended by a sais (groom) and a coolie carrying the luncheon +basket. Half way we would stop in some green dell, or by some +rushing stream, and there rest and eat our little meal while the +rest of the cavalcade passed on to the appointed camping place, +and in the late afternoon we would follow, riding slowly, and +find the tents pitched and the kitchen department in full swing. +If the place pleased us we lingered for some days; - if not, the +camp was struck next morning, and again we wandered in search of +beauty.</p> + +<p>The people were no inconsiderable part of my joy. I cannot see +what they have to gain from such civilization as ours - a kindly +people and happy. Courtesy and friendliness met us everywhere, +and if their labor was hard, their harvest of beauty and laughter +seemed to be its reward. The little villages with their groves of +walnut and fruit trees spoke of no unfulfilled want, the +mulberries which fatten the sleek bears in their season fattened +the children too. I compared their lot with that of the toilers +in our cities and knew which I would choose. We rode by +shimmering fields of barley, with red poppies floating in the +clear transparent green as in deep sea water, through fields of +millet like the sky fallen on the earth, so innocently blue were +its blossoms, and the trees above us were trellised with the wild +roses, golden and crimson, and the ways tapestried with the +scented stars of the large white jasmine.</p> + +<p>It was strange that later much of what she said, escaped me. +Some I noted down at the time, but there were hints, shadows of +lovelier things beyond that eluded all but the fringes of memory +when I tried to piece them together and make a coherence of a +living wonder. For that reason, the best things cannot be told in +this history. It is only the cruder, grosser matters that words +will hold. The half-touchings -vanishing looks, breaths - O God, +I know them, but cannot tell.</p> + +<p>In the smaller villages, the head man came often to greet us +and make us welcome, bearing on a flat dish a little offering of +cakes and fruit, the produce of the place. One evening a man so +approached, stately in white robes and turban, attended by a +little lad who carried the patriarchal gift beside him. Our tents +were pitched under a glorious walnut tree with a run- ning stream +at our feet.</p> + +<p>Vanna of course, was the interpreter, and I called her from +her tent as the man stood salaaming before me. It was strange +that when she came, dressed in white, he stopped in his +salutation, and gazed at her in what, I thought, was silent +wonder.</p> + +<p>She spoke earnestly to him, standing before him with clasped +hands, almost, I could think, in the attitude of a suppliant. The +man listened gravely, with only an interjection, now and again, +and once he turned and looked curiously at me. Then he spoke, +evidently making some announcement which she received with bowed +head - and when he turned to go with a grave salute, she +performed a very singular ceremony, moving slowly round him three +times with clasped hands; keeping him always on the right. He +repaid it with the usual salaam and greeting of peace, which he +bestowed also on me, and then departed in deep meditation, his +eyes fixed on the ground. I ventured to ask what it all meant, +and she looked thoughtfully at me before replying.</p> + +<p>"It was a strange thing. I fear you will not altogether +understand, but I will tell you what I can. That man though +living here among Mahomedans, is a Brahman from Benares, and, +what is very rare in India, a Buddhist. And when he saw me he +believed he remembered me in a former birth. The ceremony you saw +me perform is one of honour in India. It was his due."</p> + +<p>"Did you remember him?" I knew my voice was incredulous.</p> + +<p>"Very well. He has changed little but is further on the upward +path. I saw him with dread for he holds the memory of a great +wrong I did. Yet he told me a thing that has filled my heart with +joy."</p> + +<p>"Vanna-what is it?"</p> + +<p>She had a clear uplifted look which startled me. There was +suddenly a chill air blowing between us.</p> + +<p>"I must not tell you yet but you will know soon. He was a good +man. I am glad we have met."</p> + +<p>She buried herself in writing in a small book I had noticed +and longed to look into, and no more was said.</p> + +<p>We struck camp next day and trekked on towards Vernag - a +rough march, but one of great beauty, beneath the shade of forest +trees, garlanded with pale roses that climbed from bough to bough +and tossed triumphant wreaths into the uppermost blue.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon thunder was flapping its wings far off in the +mountains and a little rain fell while we were lunching under a +big tree. I was considering anxiously how to shelter Vanna, when +a farmer invited us to his house - a scene of Biblical +hospitality that delighted us both. He led us up some break-neck +little stairs to a large bare room, open to the clean air all +round the roof, and with a kind of rough enclosure on the wooden +floor where the family slept at night. There he opened our +basket, and then, with anxious care, hung clothes and rough +draperies about us that our meal might be unwatched by one or two +friends who had followed us in with breathless interest. Still +further to entertain us a great rarity was brought out and laid +at Vanna's feet as something we might like to watch - a curious +bird in a cage, with brightly barred wings and a singular cry. +She fed it with fruit, and it fluttered to her hand. Just so +Abraham might have welcomed his guests, and when we left with +words of deepest gratitude, our host made the beautiful obeisance +of touching his forehead with joined hands as he bowed. To me the +whole incident had an extraordinary grace, and ennobled both host +and guest. But we met an ascending scale of loveliness so varied +in its aspects that I passed from one emotion to another and knew +no sameness.</p> + +<p>That afternoon the camp was pitched at the foot of a mighty +hill, under the waving pyramids of the chenars, sweeping their +green like the robes of a goddess. Near by was a half circle of +low arches falling into ruin, and as we went in among them I +beheld a wondrous sight - the huge octagonal tank or basin made +by the Mogul Emperor Jehangir to receive the waters of a mighty +Spring which wells from the hill and has been held sacred by +Hindu and Moslem. And if loveliness can sanctify surely it is +sacred indeed.</p> + +<p>The tank was more than a hundred feet in diameter and circled +by a roughly paved pathway where the little arched cells open +that the devotees may sit and contemplate the lustral waters. +There on a black stone, is sculptured the Imperial inscription +comparing this spring to the holier wells of Paradise, and I +thought no less of it, for it rushes straight from the rock with +no aiding stream, and its waters are fifty feet deep, and sweep +away from this great basin through beautiful low arches in a wild +foaming river - the crystal life-blood of the mountains for ever +welling away. The colour and perfect purity of this living jewel +were most marvellous -clear blue-green like a chalcedony, but +changing as the lights in an opal - a wonderful quivering +brilliance, flickering with the silver of shoals of sacred +fish.</p> + +<p>But the Mogul Empire is with the snows of yesteryear and the +wonder has passed from the Moslems into the keeping of the Hindus +once more, and the Lingam of Shiva, crowned with flowers, is the +symbol in the little shrine by the entrance. Surely in India, the +gods are one and have no jealousies among them - so swiftly do +their glories merge the one into the other.</p> + +<p>"How all the Mogul Emperors loved running water," said Vanna. +"I can see them leaning over it in their carved pavilions with +delicate dark faces and pensive eyes beneath their turbans, lost +in the endless reverie of the East while liquid melody passes +into their dream. It was the music they best loved."</p> + +<p>She was leading me into the royal garden below, where the +young river flows beneath the pavilion set above and across the +rush of the water.</p> + +<p>"I remember before I came to India," she went on, "there were +certain words and phrases that meant the whole East to me. It was +an enchantment. The. first flash picture I had was Milton's-</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>'Dark faces with white silken turbans wreathed.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>and it still is. I have thought ever since that every man +should wear a turban. It dignifies the un-comeliest and it is +quite curious to see how many inches a man descends in the scale +of beauty the moment he takes it off and you see only the +skull-cap about which they wind it. They wind it with wonderful +skill too. I have seen a man take eighteen yards of muslin and +throw it round his head with a few turns, and in five or six +minutes the beautiful folds were all in order and he looked like +a king. Some of the Gujars here wear black ones and they are very +effective and worth painting - the black folds and the sullen +tempestuous black brows underneath."</p> + +<p>We sat in the pavilion for awhile looking down on the rushing +water, and she spoke of Akbar, the greatest of the Moguls, and +spoke with a curious personal touch, as I thought.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would try to write a story of him - one on more +human lines than has been done yet. No one has accounted for the +passionate quest of truth that was the real secret of his life. +Strange in an Oriental despot if you think of it! It really can +only be understood from the Buddhist belief, which curiously +seems to have been the only one he neglected, that a mysterious +Karma influenced all his thoughts. If I tell you as a key-note +for your story, that in a past life he had been a Buddhist priest +- one who had fallen away, would that in any way account to you +for attempts to recover the lost way? Try to think that out, and +to write the story, not as a Western mind sees it, but pure +East."</p> + +<p>"That would be a great book to write if one could catch the +voices of the past. But how to do it?"</p> + +<p>"I will give you one day a little book that may help you. The +other story I wish you would write is the story of a Dancer of +Peshawar. There is a connection between the two - a story of ruin +and repentance."</p> + +<p>"Will you tell it to me?"</p> + +<p>"A part. In this same book you will find much more, hut not +all. All cannot be told. You must imagine much. But I think your +imagination will be true."</p> + +<p>"Why do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Because in these few days you have learnt so much. You have +seen the Ninefold Flower, and the rain spirits. You will soon +hear the Flute of Krishna which none can hear who cannot dream +true."</p> + +<p>That night I heard it. I waked, suddenly, to music, and +standing in the door of my tent, in the dead silence of the +night, lit only by a few low stars, I heard the poignant notes of +a flute. If it had called my name it could not have summoned me +more clearly, and I followed without a thought of delay, +forgetting even Vanna in the strange urgency that filled me. The +music was elusive, seeming to come first from one side, then from +the other, but finally I tracked it as a bee does a flower by the +scent, to the gate of the royal garden - the pleasure place of +the dead Emperors.</p> + +<p>The gate stood ajar - strange! for I had seen the custodian +close it that evening. Now it stood wide and I went in, walking +noiselessly over the dewy grass. I knew and could not tell how, +that I must be noiseless. Passing as if I were guided, down the +course of the strong young river, I came to the pavilion that +spanned it - the place where we had stood that afternoon - and +there to my profound amazement, I saw Vanna, leaning against a +slight wooden pillar. As if she had expected me, she laid one +finger on her lip, and stretching out her hand, took mine and +drew me beside her as a mother might a child. And instantly I +saw!</p> + +<p>On the further bank a young man in a strange diadem or miter +of jewels, bare-breasted and beautiful, stood among the flowering +oleanders, one foot lightly crossed over the other as he stood. +He was like an image of pale radiant gold, and I could have sworn +that the light came from within rather than fell upon him, for +the night was very dark. He held the flute to his lips, and as I +looked, I became aware that the noise of the rushing water was +tapering off into a murmur scarcely louder than that of a summer +bee in the heart of a rose. Therefore the music rose like a +fountain of crystal drops, cold, clear, and of an entrancing +sweetness, and the face above it was such that I had no power to +turn my eyes away. How shall I say what it was? All I had ever +desired, dreamed, hoped, prayed, looked at me from the remote +beauty of the eyes and with the most persuasive gentleness +entreated me, rather than commanded to follow fearlessly and win. +But these are words, and words shaped in the rough mould of +thought cannot convey the deep desire that would have hurled me +to his feet if Vanna had not held me with a firm restraining +hand. Looking up in adoring love to the dark face was a ring of +woodland creatures. I thought I could distinguish the white +clouded robe of a snow- leopard, the soft clumsiness of a young +bear, and many more, but these shifted and blurred like dream +creatures - I could not be sure of them nor define their numbers. +The eyes of the Player looked down upon their passionate delight +with careless kindness.</p> + +<p>Dim images passed through my mind. Orpheus - No, this was no +Greek. Pan-yet again, No. Where were the pipes, the goat hoofs? +The young Dionysos - No, there were strange jewels instead of his +vines. And then Vanna's voice said as if from a great +distance;</p> + +<p>"Krishna - the Beloved." And I said aloud, "I see!" And even +as I said it the whole picture blurred together like a dream, and +I was alone in the pavilion and the water was foaming past me. +Had I walked in my sleep, I thought, as I made my way hack? As I +gained the garden gate, before me, like a snowflake, I saw the +Ninefold Flower.</p> + +<p>When I told her next day, speaking of it as a dream, she said +simply; "They have opened the door to you. You will not need me +soon.</p> + +<p>"I shall always need you. You have taught me everything. I +could see nothing last night until you took my hand."</p> + +<p>"I was not there," she said smiling. "It was only the thought +of me, and you can have that when I am very far away. I was +sleeping in my tent. What you called in me then you can always +call, even if I am - dead."</p> + +<p>"That is a word which is beginning to have no meaning for me. +You have said things to me - no, thought them, that have made me +doubt if there is room in the universe for the thing we have +called death."</p> + +<p>She smiled her sweet wise smile.</p> + +<p>"Where we are death is not. Where death is we are not. But you +will understand better soon."</p> + +<p>Our march curving took us by the Mogul gardens of Achibal, and +the glorious ruins of the great Temple at Martund, and so down to +Bawan with its crystal waters and that loveliest camping ground +beside them. A mighty grove of chenar trees, so huge that I felt +as if we were in a great sea cave where the air is dyed with the +deep shadowy green of the inmost ocean, and the murmuring of the +myriad leaves was like a sea at rest. I looked up into the noble +height and my memory of Westminster dwindled, for this led on and +up to the infinite blue, and at night the stars hung like fruit +upon the branches. The water ran with a great joyous rush of +release from the mountain behind, but was first received in a +broad basin full of sacred fish and reflecting a little temple of +Maheshwara and one of Surya the Sun. Here in this basin the water +lay pure and still as an ecstasy, and beside it was musing the +young Brahman priest who served the temple. Since I had joined +Vanna I had begun with her help to study a little Hindustani, and +with an aptitude for language could understand here and there. I +caught a word or two as she spoke with him that startled me, when +the high-bred ascetic face turned serenely upon her, and he +addressed her as "My sister," adding a sentence beyond my +learning, but which she willingly translated later. - "May He who +sits above the Mysteries, have mercy upon thy rebirth."</p> + +<p>She said afterwards;</p> + +<p>"How beautiful some of these men are. It seems a different +type of beauty from ours, nearer to nature and the old gods. Look +at that priest - the tall figure, the clear olive skin, the dark +level brows, the long lashes that make a soft gloom about the +eyes - eyes that have the fathomless depth of a deer's, the proud +arch of the lip. I think there is no country where aristocracy is +more clearly marked than in India. The Brahmans are aristocrats +of the world. You see it is a religious aristocracy as well. It +has everything that can foster pride and exclusiveness. They +spring from the Mouth of Deity. They are His word incarnate. Not +many kings are of the Brahman caste, and the Brahmans look down +upon them from Sovereign heights. I have known men who would not +eat with their own rulers who would have drunk the water that +washed the Brahmans' feet."</p> + +<p>She took me that day, the Brahman with us, to see a cave in +the mountain. We climbed up the face of the cliff to where a +little tree grew on a ledge, and the black mouth yawned. We went +in and often it was so low we had to stoop, leaving the sunlight +behind until it was like a dim eye glimmering in the velvet +blackness. The air was dank and cold and presently obscene with +the smell of bats, and alive with their wings, as they came +sweeping about us, gibbering and squeaking. I thought of the rush +of the ghosts, blown like dead leaves in the Odyssey. And then a +small rock chamber branched off, and in this, lit by a bit of +burning wood, we saw the bones of a holy man who lived and died +there four hundred years ago. Think of it! He lived there always, +with the slow dropping of water from the dead weight of the +mountain above his head, drop by drop tolling the minutes away: +the little groping feet through the cave that would bring him +food and drink, hurrying into the warmth and sunlight again, and +his only companion the sacred Lingam which means the Creative +Energy that sets the worlds dancing for joy round the sun - that, +and the black solitude to sit down beside him. Surely his bones +can hardly be dryer and colder now than they were then! There +must be strange ecstasies in such a life - wild visions in the +dark, or it could never be endured.</p> + +<p>And so, in marches of about ten miles a day, we came to +Pahlgam on the banks of the dancing Lidar. There was now only +three weeks left of the time she had promised. After a few days +at Pahlgam the march would turn and bend its way back to +Srinagar, and to - what? I could not believe it was to separation +- in her lovely kindness she had grown so close to me that, even +for the sake of friendship, I believed our paths must run +together to the end, and there were moments when I could still +half convince myself that I had grown as necessary to her as she +was to me. No - not as necessary, for she was life and soul to +me, but a part of her daily experience that she valued and would +not easily part with. That evening we were sitting outside the +tents, near the camp fire, of pine logs and cones, the leaping +flames making the night beautiful with gold and leaping sparks, +in an attempt to reach the mellow splendours of the moon. The +men, in various attitudes of rest, were lying about, and one had +been telling a story which had just ended in excitement and loud +applause.</p> + +<p>"These are Mahomedans," said Vanna, "and it is only a story of +love and fighting like the Arabian Nights. If they had been +Hindus, it might well have been of Krishna or of Rama and Sita. +Their faith comes from an earlier time and they still see +visions. The Moslem is a hard practical faith for men - men of +the world too. It is not visionary now, though it once had its +great mysteries."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would tell me what you think of the visions or +apparitions of the gods that are seen here. Is it all illusion? +Tell me your thought."</p> + +<p>"How difficult that is to answer. I suppose if love and faith +are strong enough they will always create the vibrations to which +the greater vibrations respond, and so make God in their own +image at any time or place. But that they call up what is the +truest reality I have never doubted. There is no shadow without a +substance. The substance is beyond us but under certain +conditions the shadow is projected and we see it.</p> + +<p>"Have I seen or has it been dream?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell. It may have been the impress of my mind on +yours, for I see such things always. You say I took your +hand?"</p> + +<p>"Take it now."</p> + +<p>She obeyed, and instantly, as I felt the firm cool clasp, I +heard the rain of music through the pines - the Flute Player was +passing. She dropped it smiling and the sweet sound ceased.</p> + +<p>"You see! How can I tell what you have seen? You will know +better when I am gone. You will stand alone then."</p> + +<p>"You will not go - you cannot. I have seen how you have loved +all this wonderful time. I believe it has been as dear to you as +to me. And every day I have loved you more. I depend upon you for +everything that makes life worth living. You could not - you who +are so gentle - you could not commit the senseless cruelty of +leaving me when you have taught me to love you with every beat of +my heart. I have been patient - I have held myself in, but I must +speak now. Marry me, and teach me. I know nothing. You know all I +need to know. For pity's sake be my wife."</p> + +<p>I had not meant to say it; it broke from me in the firelight +moonlight with a power that I could not stay. She looked at me +with a disarming gentleness.</p> + +<p>"Is this fair? Do you remember how at Peshawar I told you I +thought it was a dangerous experiment, and that it would make +things harder for you. But you took the risk like a brave man +because you felt there were things to be gained - knowledge, +insight, beauty. Have you not gained them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Absolutely."</p> + +<p>"Then, is it all loss if I go?"</p> + +<p>"Not all. But loss I dare not face."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you this. I could not stay if I would. Do you +remember the old man on the way to Vernag? He told me that I must +very soon take up an entirely new life. I have no choice, though +if I had I would still do it."</p> + +<p>There was silence and down a long arcade, without any touch of +her hand I heard the music, receding with exquisite modulations +to a very great distance, and between the pillared stems, I saw a +faint light.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish to go?"</p> + +<p>"Entirely. But I shall not forget you, Stephen. I will tell +you something. For me, since I came to India, the gate that shuts +us out at birth has opened. How shall I explain? Do you remember +Kipling's 'Finest Story in the World'?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Fiction!"</p> + +<p>"Not fiction - true, whether he knew it or no. But for me the +door has opened wide. First, I remembered piecemeal, with wide +gaps, then more connectedly. Then, at the end of the first year, +I met one day at Cawnpore, an ascetic, an old man of great beauty +and wisdom, and he was able by his own knowledge to enlighten +mine. Not wholly - much has come since then. Has come, some of it +in ways you could not understand now, but much by direct sight +and hearing. Long, long ago I lived in Peshawar, and my story was +a sorrowful one. I will tell you a little before I go."</p> + +<p>"I hold you to your promise. What is there I cannot believe +when you tell me? But does that life put you altogether away from +me? Was there no place for me in any of your memories that has +drawn us together now? Give me a little hope that in the eternal +pilgrimage there is some bond between us and some rebirth where +we may met again."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you that also before we part. I have grown to +believe that you do love me - and therefore love something which +is infinitely above me."</p> + +<p>"And do you love me at all? Am I nothing, Vanna - Vanna?"</p> + +<p>"My friend," she said, and laid her hand on mine.</p> + +<p>A silence, and then she spoke, very low.</p> + +<p>"You must be prepared for very great change, Stephen, and yet +believe that it does not really change things at all. See how +even the gods pass and do not change! The early gods of India are +gone and Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna have taken their places and are +one and the same. The old Buddhist stories say that in heaven +"The flowers of the garland the God wore are withered, his robes +of majesty are waxed old and faded; he falls from his high +estate, and is re-born into a new life." But he lives still in +the young God who is born among men. The gods cannot die, nor can +we nor anything that has life. Now I must go in.</p> + +<p>I sat long in the moonlight thinking. The whole camp was sunk +in sleep and the young dawn was waking upon the peaks when I +turned in.</p> + +<p>The days that were left we spent in wandering up the Lidar +River to the hills that are the first ramp of the ascent to the +great heights. We found the damp corners where the mushrooms grow +like pearls - the mushrooms of which she said - "To me they have +always been fairy things. To see them in the silver-grey dew of +the early mornings - mysteriously there like the manna in the +desert - they are elfin plunder, and as a child I was half afraid +of them. No wonder they are the darlings of folklore, especially +in Celtic countries where the Little People move in the +starlight. Strange to think they are here too among strange +gods!"</p> + +<p>We climbed to where the wild peonies bloom in glory that few +eyes see, and the rosy beds of wild sweet strawberries ripen. +Every hour brought with it some new delight, some exquisiteness +of sight or of words that I shall remember for ever. She sat one +day on a rock, holding the sculptured leaves and massive +seed-vessels of some glorious plant that the Kashmiris believe +has magic virtues hidden in the seeds of pure rose embedded in +the white down.</p> + +<p>"If you fast for three days and eat nine of these in the Night +of No Moon, you can rise on the air light as thistledown and +stand on the peak of Haramoukh. And on Haramoukh, as you know it +is believed, the gods dwell. There was a man here who tried this +enchantment. He was a changed man for ever after, wandering and +muttering to himself and avoiding all human intercourse as far as +he could. He was no Kashmiri - A Jat from the Punjab, and they +showed him to me when I was here with the Meryons, and told me he +would speak to none. But I knew he would speak to me, and he +did."</p> + +<p>"Did he tell you anything of what he had seen in the high +world up yonder?"</p> + +<p>"He said he had seen the Dream of the God. I could not get +more than that. But there are many people here who believe that +the Universe as we know it is but an image in the dream of +Ishvara, the Universal Spirit - in whom are all the gods - and +that when He ceases to dream we pass again into the Night of +Brahm, and all is darkness until the Spirit of God moves again on +the face of the waters. There are few temples to Brahm. He is +above and beyond all direct worship."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he had seen anything?"</p> + +<p>"What do I know? Will you eat the seeds? The Night of No Moon +will soon be here."</p> + +<p>She held out the seed-vessels, laughing. I write that down but +how record the lovely light of kindliness in her eyes - the +almost submissive gentleness that yet was a defense stronger than +steel. I never knew - how should I? - whether she was sitting by +my side or heavens away from me in her own strange world. But +always she was a sweetness that I could not reach, a cup of +nectar that I might not drink, unalterably her own and never +mine, and yet - my friend.</p> + +<p>She showed me the wild track up into the mountains where the +Pilgrims go to pay their devotions at the Great God's shrine in +the awful heights, regretting that we were too early for that +most wonderful sight. Above where we were sitting the river fell +in a tormented white cascade, crashing arid feathering into +spray-dust of diamonds. An eagle was flying above it with a +mighty spread of wings that seemed almost double-jointed in the +middle - they curved and flapped so wide and free. The fierce +head was outstretched with the rake of a plundering galley as he +swept down the wind, seeking his meat from God, and passed +majestic from our sight. The valley beneath us was littered with +enormous boulders spilt from the ancient hollows of the hills. It +must have been a great sight when the giants set them trundling +down in work or play! - I said this to Vanna, who was looking +down upon it with meditative eyes. She roused herself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this really is Giant-Land up here - everything is so +huge. And when they quarrel up in the heights - in Jotunheim - +and the black storms come down the valleys it is like colossal +laughter or clumsy boisterous anger. And the Frost giants are +still at work up there with their great axes of frost and rain. +They fling down the side of a mountain or make fresh ways for the +rivers. About sixty years ago - far above here - they tore down a +mountain side and damned up the mighty Indus, so that for months +he was a lake, shut back in the hills. But the river giants are +no less strong up here in the heights of the world, and lie lay +brooding and hiding his time. And then one awful day he tore the +barrier down and roared down the valley carrying death and ruin +with him, and swept away a whole Sikh army among other +unconsidered trifles. That must have been a soul-shaking +sight."</p> + +<p>She spoke on, and as she spoke I saw. What are her words as I +record them? Stray dead leaves pressed in a book - the life and +grace dead. Yet I record, for she taught me what I believe the +world should learn, that the Buddhist philosophers are right when +they teach that all forms of what we call matter are really but +aggregates of spiritual units, and that life itself is a curtain +hiding reality as the vast veil of day conceals from our sight +the countless orbs of space. So that the purified mind even while +prisoned in the body, may enter into union with the Real and, +according to attainment, see it as it is.</p> + +<p>She was an interpreter because she believed this truth +profoundly. She saw the spiritual essence beneath the lovely +illusion of matter, and the air about her was radiant with the +motion of strange forces for which the dull world has many names +aiming indeed at the truth, but falling - O how far short of her +calm perception! She was indeed of a Household higher than the +Household of Faith. She had received enlightenment. She beheld +with open eyes.</p> + +<p>Next day our camp was struck and we turned our faces again to +Srinagar and to the day of parting. I set down but one strange +incident of our journey, of which I did not speak even to +her.</p> + +<p>We were camping at Bijbehara, awaiting our house boat, and the +site was by the Maharaja's lodge above the little town. It was +midnight and I was sleepless - the shadow of the near future was +upon me. I wandered down to the lovely old wooded bridge across +the Jhelum, where the strong young trees grow up from the piles. +Beyond it the moon was shining on the ancient Hindu remains close +to the new temple, and as I stood on the bridge I could see the +figure of a man in deepest meditation by the ruins. He was no +European. I saw the straight dignified folds of the robes. But it +was not surprising he should be there and I should have thought +no more of it, had I not heard at that instant from the further +side of the river the music of the Flute. I cannot hope to +describe that music to any who have not heard it. Suffice it to +say that where it calls he who hears must follow whether in the +body or the spirit. Nor can I now tell in which I followed. One +day it will call me across the River of Death, and I shall ford +it or sink in the immeasurable depths and either will be +well.</p> + +<p>But immediately I was at the other side of the river, standing +by the stone Bull of Shiva where he kneels before the Symbol, and +looking steadfastly upon me a few paces away was a man in the +dress of a Buddhist monk. He wore the yellow robe that leaves one +shoulder bare; his head was bare also and he held in one hand a +small bowl like a stemless chalice. I knew I was seeing a very +strange inexplicable sight - one that in Kashmir should be +incredible, but I put wonder aside for I knew now that I was +moving in the sphere where the incredible may well be the actual. +His expression was of the most unbroken calm. If I compare it to +the passionless gaze of the Sphinx I misrepresent, for the Riddle +of the Sphinx still awaits solution, but in this face was a noble +acquiescence and a content that had it vibrated must have passed +into joy.</p> + +<p>Words or their equivalent passed between us. I felt his +voice.</p> + +<p>"You have heard the music of the Flute?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard."</p> + +<p>"What has it given?"</p> + +<p>"A consuming longing."</p> + +<p>"It is the music of the Eternal. The creeds and the faiths are +the words that men have set to that melody. Listening, it will +lead you to Wisdom. Day by day you will interpret more +surely."</p> + +<p>"I cannot stand alone."</p> + +<p>"You will not need. What has led you will lead you still. +Through many births it has led you. How should it fail?"</p> + +<p>"What should I do?"</p> + +<p>"Go forward."</p> + +<p>"What should I shun?"</p> + +<p>"Sorrow and fear."</p> + +<p>"What should I seek?"</p> + +<p>"Joy."</p> + +<p>"And the end?"</p> + +<p>"Joy. Wisdom. They are the Light and Dark of the Divine." A +cold breeze passed and touched my forehead. I was still standing +in the middle of the bridge above the water gliding to the Ocean, +and there was no figure by the Bull of Shiva. I was alone. I +passed back to the tents with the shudder that is not fear but +akin to death upon me. I knew I had been profoundly withdrawn +from what we call actual life, and the return is dread.</p> + +<p>The days passed as we floated down the river to Srinagar. On +board the Kedarnath, now lying in our first berth beneath the +chenars near and yet far from the city, the last night had come. +Next morning I should begin the long ride to Baramula and beyond +that barrier of the Happy Valley down to Murree and the Punjab. +Where afterwards? I neither knew nor cared. My lesson was before +me to be learned. I must try to detach myself from all I had +prized - to say to my heart it was but a loan and no gift, and to +cling only to the imperishable. And did I as yet certainly know +more than the A B C of the hard doctrine by which I must live? +"Que vivre est difficile, 0 mon cocur fatigue!" - an immense +weariness possessed me - a passive grief.</p> + +<p>Vanna would follow later with the wife of an Indian doctor. I +believed she was bound for Lahore but on that point she had not +spoken certainly and I felt we should not meet again.</p> + +<p>And now my packing was finished, and, as far as my possessions +went, the little cabin had the soulless emptiness that comes with +departure. I was enduring as best I could. If she had held +loyally to her pact, could I do less. Was she to blame for my +wild hope that in the end she would relent and step down to the +household levels of love?</p> + +<p>She sat by the window - the last time I should see the moonlit +banks and her clear face against them. I made and won my fight +for the courage of words.</p> + +<p>"And now I've finished everything - thank goodness! and we can +talk. Vanna - you will write to me?"</p> + +<p>"Once. I promise that."</p> + +<p>"Only once? Why? I counted on your words."</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to you of something else now. I want to tell +you a memory. But look first at the pale light behind the +Takht-i-Suliman."</p> + +<p>So I had seen it with her. So I should not see it again. We +watched until a line of silver sparkled on the black water, and +then she spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Stephen, do you remember in the ruined monastery near +Peshawar, how I told you of the young Abbot, who came down to +Peshawar with a Chinese pilgrim? And he never returned."</p> + +<p>"I remember. There was a Dancer."</p> + +<p>"There was a Dancer. She was Lilavanti, and she was brought +there to trap him but when she saw him she loved him, and that +was his ruin and hers. Trickery he would have known and escaped. +Love caught him in an unbreakable net, and they fled down the +Punjab and no one knew any more. But I know. For two years they +lived together and she saw the agony in his heart - the anguish +of his broken vows, the face of the Blessed One receding into an +infinite distance. She knew that every day added a link to the +heavy Karma that was bound about the feet she loved, and her soul +said "Set him free," and her heart refused the torture. But her +soul was the stronger. She set him free."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"She took poison. He became an ascetic in the hills and died +in peace but with a long expiation upon him."</p> + +<p>"And she?"</p> + +<p>"I am she."</p> + +<p>"You!" I heard my voice as if it were another man's. Was it +possible that I - a man of the twentieth century, believed this +impossible thing? Impossible, and yet - what had I learnt if not +the unity of Time, the illusion of matter? What is the twentieth +century, what the first? Do they not lie before the Supreme as +one, and clean from our petty divisions? And I myself had seen +what, if I could trust it, asserted the marvels that are no +marvels to those who know.</p> + +<p>"You loved him?"</p> + +<p>"I love him."</p> + +<p>"Then there is nothing at all for me."</p> + +<p>She resumed as if she had heard nothing.</p> + +<p>"I have lost him for many lives. He stepped above me at once, +for he was clean gold though he fell, and though I have followed +I have not found. But that Buddhist beyond Islamabad - you shall +hear now what he said. It was this. 'The shut door opens, and +this time he awaits.' I cannot yet say all it means, but there is +no Lahore for me. I shall meet him soon."</p> + +<p>"Vanna, you would not harm yourself again?"</p> + +<p>"Never. I should not meet him. But you will see. Now I can +talk no more. I will be there tomorrow when you go, and I will +ride with you to the poplar road."</p> + +<p>She passed like a shadow into her little dark cabin, and I was +left alone. I will not dwell on that black loneliness of the +spirit, for it has passed - it was the darkness of hell, a +madness of jealousy, and could have no enduring life in any heart +that had known her. But it was death while it lasted. I had +moments of horrible belief, of horrible disbelief, but however it +might be I knew that she was out of reach for ever. Near me - +yes! but only as the silver image of the moon floated in the +water by the boat, with the moon herself cold myriads of miles +away. I will say no more of that last eclipse of what she had +wrought in me.</p> + +<p>The bright morning came, sunny as if my joys were beginning +instead of ending. Vanna mounted her horse and led the way from +the boat. I cast one long look at the little Kedarnath, the home +of those perfect weeks, of such joy and sorrow as would have +seemed impossible to me in the chrysalis of my former existence. +Little Kahdra stood crying bitterly on the bank - the kindly folk +who had served us were gathered saddened and quiet. I set my +teeth and followed her.</p> + +<p>How dear she looked, how kind, how gentle her appealing eyes, +as I drew up beside her. She knew what I felt. She knew that the +sight of little Kahdra crying as he said good - bye was the last +pull at my sore heart. Still she rode steadily on, and still I +followed. Once she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Stephen, there was a man in Peshawar, kind and true, who +loved that Lilavanti who had no heart for him. And when she died, +it was in his arms, as a sister might cling to a brother, for the +man she loved had left her. It seems that will not be in this +life, but do not think I have been so blind that I did not know +my friend."</p> + +<p>I could not answer - it was the realization of the utmost I +could hope and it came like healing to my spirit. Better that +bond between us, slight as most men might think it, than the +dearest and closest with a woman not Vanna. It was the first +thrill of a new joy in my heart - the first, I thank the +Infinite, of many and steadily growing joys and hopes that cannot +be uttered here.</p> + +<p>I bent to take the hand she stretched to me, but even as they +touched, I saw, passing behind the trees by the road, the young +man I had seen in the garden at Vernag - most beautiful, in the +strange miter of his jewelled diadem. His flute was at his lips +and the music rang out sudden and crystal clear as though a +woodland god were passing to awaken all the joys of the dawn.</p> + +<p>The horses heard too. In an instant hers had swerved wildly, +and she lay on the ground at my feet. The music had ceased.</p> + +<p>Days had gone before I could recall what had happened then. I +lifted her in my arms and carried her into the rest-house near at +hand, and the doctor came and looked grave, and a nurse was sent +from the Mission Hospital. No doubt all was done that was +possible, hut I knew from the first what it meant and how it +would be. She lay in a white stillness, and the room was quiet as +death. I remembered with unspeakable gratitude later that the +nurse had been merciful and had not sent me away.</p> + +<p>So Vanna lay all day and through the night, and when the dawn +came again she stirred and motioned with her hand, although her +eyes were closed. I understood, and kneeling, I put my hand under +her head, and rested it against my shoulder. Her faint voice +murmured at my ear.</p> + +<p>"I dreamed - I was in the pine wood at Pahlgam and it was the +Night of No Moon, and I was afraid for it was dark, but suddenly +all the trees were covered with little lights like stars, and the +greater light was beyond. Nothing to be afraid of."</p> + +<p>"Nothing, Beloved."</p> + +<p>"And I looked beyond Peshawar, further than eyes could see, +and in the ruins of the monastery where we stood, you and I - I +saw him, and he lay with his head at the feet of the Blessed One. +That is well, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Beloved."</p> + +<p>"And it is well I go? Is it not?"</p> + +<p>"It is well."</p> + +<p>A long silence. The first sun ray touched the floor. Again the +whisper.</p> + +<p>"Believe what I have told you. For we shall meet again." I +repeated-</p> + +<p>"We shall meet again."</p> + +<p>In my arms she died.</p> + +<p>Later, when all was over I asked myself if I believed this and +answered with full assurance - Yes.</p> + +<p>If the story thus told sounds incredible it was not incredible +to me. I had had a profound experience. What is a miracle? It is +simply the vision of the Divine behind nature. It will come in +different forms according to the eyes that see, but the soul will +know that its perception is authentic.</p> + +<p>I could not leave Kashmir, nor was there any need. On the +contrary I saw that there was work for me here among the people +she had loved, and my first aim was to fit myself for that and +for the writing I now felt was to be my career in life. After +much thought I bought the little Kedarnath and made it my home, +very greatly to the satisfaction of little Kahdra and all the +friendly people to whom I owed so much.</p> + +<p>Vanna's cabin I made my sleeping room, and it is the simple +truth that the first night I slept in the place that was a Temple +of Peace in my thoughts, I had a dream of wordless bliss, and +starting awake for sheer joy I saw her face in the night, human +and dear, looking down upon me with that poignant sweetness which +would seem to be the utmost revelation of love and pity. And as I +stretched my hands, another face dawned solemnly from the shadow +beside her with grave brows bent on mine - one I had known and +seen in the ruins at Bijbehara. Outside and very near I could +hear the silver weaving of the Flute that in India is the symbol +of the call of the Divine. A dream - yes, but it taught me to +live. At first, in my days of grief and loss, I did but dream - +the days were hard to endure. I will not dwell on that illusion +of sorrow, now long dead. I lived only for the night.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"When sleep comes to close each difficult day,</p> + +<p>When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,</p> + +<p>And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,</p> + +<p>Must doff my will as raiment laid away-</p> + +<p>With the first dream that comes with the first sleep,</p> + +<p>I run - I run! I am gathered to thy heart!"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>To the heart of her pity. Thus for awhile I lived. Slowly I +became conscious of her abiding presence about me, day or night +It grew clearer, closer.</p> + +<p>Like the austere Hippolytus to his unseen Goddess, I could +say;</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Who am more to thee than other mortals are,</p> + +<p>Whose is the holy lot,</p> + +<p>As friend with friend to walk and talk with thee,</p> + +<p>Hearing thy sweet mouth's music in mine ear,</p> + +<p>But thee beholding not."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>That was much, but later, the sunshine was no bar, the bond +strengthened and there have been days in the heights of the +hills, in the depths of the woods, when I saw her as in life, +passing at a distance, but real and lovely. Life? She had never +lived as she did now - a spirit, freed and rejoicing. For me the +door she had opened would never shut. The Presences were about +me, and I entered upon my heritage of joy, knowing that in +Kashmir, the holy land of Beauty, they walk very near, and lift +up the folds of the Dark that the initiate may see the light +behind.</p> + +<p>So I began my solitary life of gladness. I wrote, aided by the +little book she had left me, full of strangest stories, stranger +by far than my own brain could conceive. Some to be revealed - +some to be hidden. And thus the world will one day receive the +story of the Dancer of Peshawar in her upward lives, that it may +know, if it will, that death is nothing - for Life and Love are +all.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE INCOMPARABLE LADY</h2> + +<h3 align="center">A STORY OF CHINA WITH A MORAL</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p>It is recorded that when the Pearl Empress (his mother) asked +of the philosophic Yellow Emperor which he considered the most +beautiful of the Imperial concubines, he replied instantly: "The +Lady A-Kuei": and when the Royal Parent in profound astonishment +demanded bow this could be, having regard to the exquisite +beauties in question, the Emperor replied;</p> + +<p>"I have never seen her. It was dark when I entered the Dragon +Chamber and dusk of dawn when I rose and left her."</p> + +<p>Then said the Pearl Princess;</p> + +<p>"Possibly the harmony of her voice solaced the Son of +Heaven?"</p> + +<p>But he replied;</p> + +<p>"She spoke not."</p> + +<p>And the Pearl Empress rejoined:</p> + +<p>"Her limbs then are doubtless softer than the kingfisher's +plumage?"</p> + +<p>But the Yellow Emperor replied;</p> + +<p>"Doubtless. Yet I have not touched them. I was that night +immersed in speculations on the Yin and the Yang. How then should +I touch a woman?"</p> + +<p>And the Pearl Empress was silent from very great amazement, +not daring to question further but marveling how the thing might +be. And seeing this, the Yellow Emperor recited a poem to the +following effect:</p> + +<p>"It is said that Power rules the world And who shall gainsay +it? But Loveliness is the head-jewel upon the brow of Power."</p> + +<p>And when the Empress had listened with reverence to the +Imperial Poet, she quitted the August Presence.</p> + +<p>Immediately, having entered her own palace of the Tranquil +Motherly Virtues, she caused the Lady A-Kuei to be summoned to +her presence, who came, habited in a purple robe and with pins of +jade and coral in her hair. And the Pearl Empress considered her +attentively, recalling the perfect features of the White Jade +Concubine, the ambrosial smile of the Princess of Feminine +Propriety, and the willow-leaf eyebrows of the Lady of Chen, and +her astonishment was excessive, because the Lady A-Kuei could not +in beauty approach any one of these ladies. Reflecting further +she then placed her behind the screen, and summoned the court +artist, Lo Cheng, who had been formerly commissioned to paint the +heavenly features of the Emperor's Ladies, mirrored in still +water, though he had naturally not been permitted to view the +beauties themselves. Of him the Empress demanded:</p> + +<p>"Who is the most beautiful - which the most priceless jewel of +the dwellers in the Dragon Palace?"</p> + +<p>And, with humility, Lo Cheng replied:</p> + +<p>"What mortal man shall decide between the white Crane and the +Swan, or between the paeony flower and the lotus?" And having +thus said he remained silent, and in him was no help. Finally and +after exhortation the Pearl Empress condescended to threaten him +with the loss of a head so useless to himself and to her majesty. +Then, in great fear and haste he replied:</p> + +<p>"Of all the flowers that adorn the garden of the Sun of +Heaven, the Lady A-Kuei is the fittest to be gathered by the +Imperial Hand, and this is my deliberate opinion."</p> + +<p>Now, hearing this statement, the Pearl Empress was submerged +in bewilderment, knowing that the Lady A-Kuei had modestly +retired when the artist had depicted the reflection of the +assembled loveliness of the Inner Chambers, as not counting +herself worthy of portraiture, and her features were therefore +unknown to him. Nor could the Empress further question the +artist, for when she had done so, he replied only:</p> + +<p>"This is the secret of the Son of Heaven," and, having gained +permission, he swiftly departed.</p> + +<p>Nor could the Lady A-Kuei herself aid her Imperial Majesty, +for on being questioned she was overwhelmed with modesty and +confusion, and with stammering lips could only repeat:</p> + +<p>"This is the secret of his Divine Majesty," imploring with the +utmost humility, forgiveness from the Imperial Mother.</p> + +<p>The Pearl Empress was unable to eat her supper. In vain were +spread before her the delicacies of the Empire. She could but +trifle with a shark's fin and a "Silver Ear" fungus and a dish of +slugs entrapped upon roses, with the dew-like pearls upon them. +Her burning curiosity had wholly deprived her of appetite, nor +could the amusing exertions of the Palace mimes, or a lantern +fete upon the lake restore her to any composure. "This +circumstance will cause my flight on the Dragon (death)," she +said to herself, "unless I succeed in unveiling the mystery. What +therefore should be my next proceeding?"</p> + +<p>And so, deeply reflecting, she caused the Chief of the Eunuchs +to summon the Princess of Feminine Propriety, the White Jade +Concubine and all the other exalted beauties of the Heavenly +Palace.</p> + +<p>In due course of time these ladies arrived, paying suitable +respect and obeisance to the Mother of his Divine Majesty. They +were resplendent in king-fisher ornaments, in jewels of jade, +crystal and coral, in robes of silk and gauze, and still more +resplendent in charms that not the Celestial Empire itself could +equal, setting aside entirely all countries of the foreign +barbarians. And in grace and elegance of manners, in skill in the +arts of poetry and the lute, what could surpass them?</p> + +<p>Like a parterre of flowers they surrounded her Majesty, and +awaited her pleasure with perfect decorum, when, having saluted +them with affability she thus addressed them - "Lovely ones - +ladies distinguished by the particular attention of your +sovereign and mine, I have sent for you to resolve a doubt and a +difficulty. On questioning our sovereign as to whom he regarded +as the loveliest of his garden of beauty he benignantly replied: +"The Lady A-Kuei is incomparable," and though this may well be, +he further graciously added that he had never seen her. Nor, on +pursuing the subject, could I learn the Imperial reason. The +artist Lo Cheng follows in his Master's footsteps, he also never +having seen the favored lady, and he and she reply to me that +this is an Imperial secret. Declare to me therefore if your +perspicacity and the feminine interest which every lady property +takes in the other can unravel this mystery, for my liver is +tormented with anxiety beyond measure."</p> + +<p>As soon as the Pearl Empress had spoken she realized that she +had committed a great indiscretion. A babel of voices, of cries, +questions and contradictions instantly arose. Decorum was +abandoned. The Lady of Chen swooned, nor could she be revived for +an hour, and the Princess of Feminine Propriety and the White +Jade Concubine could be dragged apart only by the united efforts +of six of the Palace matrons, so great was their fury the one +with the other, each accusing each of encouragement to the Lady +A-Kuei's pretensions. So also with the remaining ladies. Shrieks +resounded through the Hall of Virtuous Tranquillity, and when the +Pearl Empress attempted to pour oil on the troubled waters by +speaking soothing and comfortable words, the august Voice was +entirely inaudible in the tumult.</p> + +<p>All sought at length in united indignation for the Lady +A-Kuei, but she had modestly withdrawn to the Pearl Pavilion in +the Imperial Garden and, foreseeing anxieties, had there secured +herself on hearing the opening of the Royal Speech.</p> + +<p>Finally the ladies were led away by their attendants, weeping, +lamenting, raging, according to their several dispositions, and +the Pearl Empress, left with her own maidens, beheld the floor +strewn with jade pins, kingfisher and coral jewels, and even with +fragments of silk and gauze. Nor was she any nearer the solution +of the desired secret.</p> + +<p>That night she tossed upon a bed sleepless though heaped with +down, and her mind raged like a fire up and down all possible +answers to the riddle, but none would serve. Then, at the dawn, +raising herself on one august elbow she called to her venerable +nurse and foster mother, the Lady Ma, wise and resourceful in the +affairs and difficulties of women, and, repeating the +circumstances, demanded her counsel.</p> + +<p>The Lady Ma considering the matter long and deeply, slowly +replied:</p> + +<p>"This is a great riddle and dangerous, for to intermeddle with +the divine secrets is the high road to the Yellow Springs +(death). But the child of my breasts and my exalted Mistress +shall never ask in vain, for a thwarted curiosity is dangerous as +a suppressed fever. I will conceal myself nightly in the Dragon +Bedchamber and this will certainly unveil the truth. And if I +perish I perish."</p> + +<p>It is impossible to describe how the Empress heaped Lady Ma +with costly jewels and silken brocades and taels of silver beyond +measuring - how she placed on her breast the amulet of jade that +had guarded herself from all evil influences, how she called the +ancestral spirits to witness that she would provide for the Lady +Ma's remotest descendants if she lost her life in this sublime +devotion to duty.</p> + +<p>That night Lady Ma concealed herself behind the Imperial couch +in the Dragon Chamber, to await the coming of the Son of Heaven. +Slowly dripped the water-clock as the minutes fled away; sorely +ached the venerable limbs of the Lady Ma as she crouched in the +shadows and saw the rising moon scattering silver through the +elegant traceries of carved ebony and ivory; wildly beat her +heart as delicately tripping footsteps approached the Dragon +Chamber, and the Princess of Feminine Propriety, attended by her +maidens, ascended the Imperial Couch and hastily dismissed them. +Yet no sweet repose awaited this favored lady. The Lady Ma could +hear her smothered sobs, her muttered exclamations - nay could +even feel the couch itself tremble as the Princess uttered the +hated name of the Lady A-Kuei, the poison of jealousy running in +every vein. It was impossible for Lady Ma to decide which was the +most virulent, this, or the poison of curiosity in the heart of +the Pearl Empress. Though she loved not the Princess she was +compelled to pity such suffering. But all thought was banished by +the approach of the Yellow Emperor, prepared for repose and +unattended, in simple but divine grandeur.</p> + +<p>It cannot indeed be supposed that a Celestial Emperor is +human, yet there was mortality in the start which his Augustness +gave when the Princess of Feminine Propriety flinging herself +from the Dragon couch, threw herself at his feet and with tears +that flowed like that river known as "The Sorrow of China," +demanded to know what she had done that another should be +preferred before her; reciting in frantic haste such +imperfections of the Lady A-Kuei's appearance as she could recall +(or invent) in the haste of that agitating moment.</p> + +<p>"That one of her eyes is larger than the other - no human +being can doubt" sobbed the lady -" and surely your Divine +Majesty cannot be aware that her hair reaches but to her waist, +and that there is a brown mole on the nape of her neck? When she +sings it resembles the croak of the crow. It is true that most of +the Palace ladies are chosen for anything but beauty, yet she is +the most ill-favored. And is it this - this bat-faced lady who is +preferred to me! Would I had never been born: Yet even your +Majesty's own lips have told me I am fair!"</p> + +<p>The Yellow Emperor supported the form of the Princess in his +arms. There are moments when even a Son of Heaven is but human. +"Fair as the rainbow," he murmured, and the Princess faintly +smiled; then gathering the resolution of the Philosopher he added +manfully - "But the Lady A-Kuei is incomparable. And the reason +is -"</p> + +<p>The Lady Ma eagerly stretched her head forward with a hand to +either ear. But the Princess of Feminine Propriety with one +shriek had swooned and in the hurry of summoning attendants and +causing her to be conveyed to her own apartments that precious +sentence was never completed.</p> + +<p>Still the Lady Ma groveled behind the Dragon Couch as the Son +of Heaven, left alone, approached the veranda and apostrophizing +the moon, murmured -</p> + +<p>"0 loveliest pale watcher of the destinies of men, illuminate +the beauty of the Lady A-Kuei, and grant that I who have never +seen that beauty may never see it, but remain its constant +admirer!" So saying, he sought his solitary couch and slept, +while the Lady Ma, in a torment of bewilderment, glided from the +room.</p> + +<p>The matter remained in suspense for several days. The White +Jade Concubine was the next lady commanded to the Dragon Chamber, +and again the Lady Ma was in her post of observation. Much she +heard, much she saw that was not to the point, but the scene +ended as before by the dismissal of the lady in tears, and the +departure of the Lady Ma in ignorance of the secret.</p> + +<p>The Emperor's peace was ended.</p> + +<p>The singular circumstance was that the Lady A-Kuei was never +summoned by the Yellow Emperor. Eagerly as the Empress watched, +no token of affection for her was ever visible. Nothing could be +detected. It was inexplicable. Finally, devoured by curiosity +that gave her no respite, she resolved on a stratagem that should +dispel the mystery, though it carried with it a risk on which she +trembled to reflect. It was the afternoon of a languid summer +day, and the Yellow Emperor, almost unattended, had come to pay a +visit of filial respect to the Pearl Empress. She received him +with the ceremony due to her sovereign in the porcelain pavilion +of the Eastern Gardens, with the lotos fish ponds before them, +and a faint breeze occasionally tinkling the crystal wind-bells +that decorated the shrubs on the cloud and dragon-wrought slopes +of the marble approach. A bird of brilliant plumage uttered a cry +of reverence from its gold cage as the Son of Heaven entered. As +was his occasional custom, and after suitable inquiries as to his +parent's health, the attendants were all dismissed out of earshot +and the Emperor leaned on his cushions and gazed reflectively +into the sunshine outside. So had the Court Artist represented +him as "The Incarnation of Philosophic Calm."</p> + +<p>"These gardens are fair," said the Empress after a respectful +silence, moving her fan illustrated with the emblem of +Immortality - the Ho Bird.</p> + +<p>"Fair indeed," returned the Emperor. - "It might be supposed +that all sorrow and disturbance would be shut without the +Forbidden Precincts. Yet it is not so. And though the figures of +my ladies moving among the flowers appear at this distance +instinct with joy, yet -"</p> + +<p>He was silent.</p> + +<p>"They know not," said the Empress with solemnity "that death +entered the Forbidden Precincts but last night. A disembodied +spirit has returned to its place and doubtless exists in bliss." +"Indeed?" returned the Yellow Emperor with indifference - "yet if +the spirit is absorbed into the Source whence it came, and the +bones have crumbled into nothingness, where does the Ego exist? +The dead are venerable, but no longer of interest."</p> + +<p>"Not even when they were loved in life?" said the Empress, +caressing the bird in the cage with one jewelled finger, but +attentively observing her son from the corner of her august eye. +"They were; they are not," he remarked sententiously and stifling +a yawn; it was a drowsy afternoon. "But who is it that has +abandoned us? Surely not the Lady Ma - your Majesty's faithful +foster-mother?"</p> + +<p>"A younger, a lovelier spirit has sought the Yellow Springs" +replied the trembling Empress. "I regret to inform your Majesty +that a sudden convulsion last night deprived the Lady A-Kuei of +life. I would not permit the news to reach you lest it should +break your august night's rest."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, then the Emperor turned his eyes serenely +upon his Imperial Mother. "That the statement of my august Parent +is merely - let us say - allegoric - does not detract from its +interest. But had the Lady A-Kuei in truth departed to the Yellow +Springs I should none the less have received the news without +uneasiness. What though the sun set - is not the memory of his +light all surpassing?"</p> + +<p>No longer could the Pearl Empress endure the excess of her +curiosity. Deeply kowtowing, imploring pardon, with raised hands +and tears which no son dare neglect, she besought the Emperor to +enlighten her as to this mystery, recounting his praises of the +lady and his admission that he had never beheld her, and all the +circumstances connected with this remark- able episode. She +omitted only, (from considerations of delicacy and others,) the +vigils of the Lady Ma in the Dragon Chamber. The Emperor, +sighing, looked upon the ground, and for a time was silent. Then +he replied as follows:</p> + +<p>"Willingly would I have kept silence, but what child dare +withstand the plea of a parent? Is it necessary to inform the +Heavenly Empress that beauty seen is beauty made familiar and +that familiarity is the foe of admiration? How is it possible +that I should see the Princess of Feminine Propriety, for +instance, by night and day without becoming aware of her +imperfections as well as her graces? How awake in the night +without hearing the snoring of the White Jade Concubine and +considering the mouth from which it issues as the less lovely. +How partake of the society of any woman without finding her +chattering as the crane, avid of admiration, jealous, destructive +of philosophy, fatal to composure, fevered with curiosity; a +creature, in short, a little above the gibbon, but infinitely +below the notice of the sage, save as a temporary measure of +amusement in itself unworthy the philosopher. The faces of all my +ladies are known to me. All are fair and all alike. But one +night, as I lay in the Dragon Couch, lost in speculation, +absorbed in contemplation of the Yin and the Yang, the night +passed for the solitary dreamer as a dream. In the darkness of +the dawn I rose still dreaming, and departed to the Pearl +Pavilion in the garden, and there remained an hour viewing the +sunrise and experiencing ineffable opinions on the destiny of +man. Returning then to a couch which I believed to have been that +of the solitary philosopher I observed a depression where another +form had lain, and in it a jade hairpin such as is worn by my +junior beauties. Petrified with amazement at the display of such +reserve, such continence, such august self-restraint, I perceived +that, lost in my thoughts, I had had an unimagined companion and +that this gentle reminder was from her gentle hand. But whom? I +knew not. I then observed Lo Cheng the Court Artist in attendance +and immediately despatched him to make secret enquiry and +ascertain the name and circumstances of that beauty who, unknown, +had shared my vigil. I learnt on his return that it was the Lady +A-Kuei. I had entered the Dragon Chamber in a low moonlight, and +guessed not her presence. She spoke no word. Finding her Imperial +Master thus absorbed, she invited no attention, nor in any way +obtruded her beauties upon my notice. Scarcely did she draw +breath. Yet reflect upon what she might have done! The night +passed and I remained entirely unconscious of her presence, and +out of respect she would not sleep but remained reverently and +modestly awake, assisting, if it may so be expressed, at a humble +distance, in the speculations which held me prisoner. What a +pearl was here! On learning these details by Lo Cheng from her +own roseate lips, and remembering the unexampled temptation she +had resisted (for well she knew that had she touched the Emperor +the Philosopher had vanished) I despatched an august rescript to +this favored Lady, conferring on her the degree of Incomparable +Beauty of the First Rank. On condition of secrecy."</p> + +<p>The Pearl Empress, still in deepest bewilderment, besought his +majesty to proceed. He did so, with his usual dignity.</p> + +<p>"Though my mind could not wholly restrain its admiration, yet +secrecy was necessary, for had the facts been known, every lady, +from the Princess of Feminine Propriety to the Junior Beauty of +the Bed Chamber would henceforward have observed only silence and +a frigid decorum in the Dragon Bed Chamber. And though the +Emperor be a philosopher, yet a philosopher is still a man, and +there are moments when decorum -"</p> + +<p>The Emperor paused discreetly; then resumed.</p> + +<p>"The world should not be composed entirely of A-Kueis, yet in +my mind I behold the Incomparable Lady fair beyond expression. +Like the moon she sails glorious in the heavens to be adored only +in vision as the one woman who could respect the absorption of +the Emperor, and of whose beauty as she lay beside him the +philosopher could remain unconscious and therefore untroubled in +body. To see her, to find her earthly, would be an experience for +which the Emperor might have courage, but the philosopher never. +And attached to all this is a moral:"</p> + +<p>The Pearl Empress urgently inquired its nature.</p> + +<p>"Let the wisdom of my august parent discern it," said the +Emperor sententiously.</p> + +<p>"And the future?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"The - let us call it parable -" said the Emperor politely +-"with which your Majesty was good enough to entertain me, has +suggested a precaution to my mind. I see now a lovely form moving +among the flowers. It is possible that it may be the Incomparable +Lady, or that at any moment I may come upon her and my ideal be +shattered. This must be safeguarded. I might command her +retirement to her native province, but who shall insure me +against the weakness of my own heart demanding her return? No. +Let Your Majesty's words spoken - well - in parable, be fulfilled +in truth. I shall give orders to the Chief Eunuch that the +Incomparable Lady tonight shall drink the Draught of Crushed +Pearls, and be thus restored to the sphere that alone is worthy +of her. Thus are all anxieties soothed, and the honours offered +to her virtuous spirit shall be a glorious repayment of the ideal +that will ever illuminate my soul."</p> + +<p>The Empress was speechless. She had borne the Emperor in her +womb, but the philosopher outsoared her comprehension. She +retired, leaving his Majesty in a reverie, endeavoring herself to +grasp the moral of which he had spoken, for the guidance of +herself and the ladies concerned. But whether it inculcated +reserve or the reverse in the Dragon Chamber, and what the +Imperial ladies should follow as an example she was, to the end +of her life, totally unable to say. Philosophy indeed walks on +the heights. We cannot all expect to follow it.</p> + +<p>That night the Incomparable Lady drank the Draught of Crushed +Pearls.</p> + +<p>The Princess of Feminine Propriety and the White Jade +Concubine, learning these circumstances, redoubled their charms, +their coquetries and their efforts to occupy what may be +described as the inner sanctuary of the Emperor's esteem. Both +lived to a green old age, wealthy and honored, alike firm in the +conviction that if the Incomparable Lady had not shown herself so +superior to temptation the Emperor might have been on the whole +better pleased, whatever the sufferings of the philosopher. Both +lived to be the tyrants of many generations of beauties at the +Celestial Court. Both were assiduous in their devotions before +the spirit tablet of the departed lady, and in recommending her +example of reserve and humility to every damsel whom it might +concern.</p> + +<p>It will probably occur to the reader of this unique but +veracious story that there is more in it than meets the eye, and +more than the one moral alluded to by the Emperor according to +the point of view of the different actors.</p> + +<p>To the discernment of the reader it must accordingly be +left.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE HATRED OF THE QUEEN</h2> + +<h3 align="center">A Story of Burma</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Most wonderful is the Irawadi, the mighty river of Burma. In +all the world elsewhere is no such river, bearing the melted +snows from its mysterious sources in the high places of the +mountains. The dawn rises upon its league. wide flood; the moon +walks upon it with silver feet. It is the pulsing heart of the +land, living still though so many rules and rulers have risen and +fallen beside it, their pomps and glories drifting like flotsam +dawn the river to the eternal ocean that is the end of all - and +the beginning. Dead civilizations strew its banks, dreaming in +the torrid sunshine of glories that were - of blood-stained gold, +jewels wept from woeful crowns, nightmare dreams of murder and +terror; dreaming also of heavenly beauty, for the Lord Buddha +looks down in moonlight peace upon the land that leaped to kiss +His footprints, that has laid its heart in the hand of the +Blessed One, and shares therefore in His bliss and content. The +Land of the Lord Buddha, where the myriad pagodas lift their +golden flames of worship everywhere, and no idlest wind can pass +but it ruffles the bells below the htees until they send forth +their silver ripple of music to swell the hymn of praise!</p> + +<p>There is a little bay on the bank of the flooding river - a +silent, deserted place of sand- dunes and small bills. When a +ship is in sight, some poor folk come and spread out the red +lacquer that helps their scanty subsistence, and the people from +the passing ship land and barter and in a few minutes are gone on +their busy way and silence settles down once more. They neither +know nor care that, near by, a mighty city spread its splendour +for miles along the river bank, that the king known as Lord of +the Golden Palace, The Golden Foot, Lord of the White Elephant, +held his state there with balls of magnificence, obsequious +women, fawning courtiers and all the riot and colour of an +Eastern tyranny. How should they care? Now there are ruins - +ruins, and the cobras slip in and out through the deserted holy +places. They breed their writhing young in the sleeping-chambers +of queens, the tigers mew in the moonlight, and the giant spider, +more terrible than the cobra, strikes with its black poison- claw +and, paralyzing the life of the victim, sucks its brain with +slow, lascivious pleasure.</p> + +<p>Are these foul creatures more dreadful than some of the men, +the women, who dwelt in these palaces - the more evil because of +the human brain that plotted and foresaw? That is known only to +the mysterious Law that in silence watches and decrees.</p> + +<p>But this is a story of the dead days of Pagan, by the Irawadi, +and it will be shown that, as the Lotus of the Lord Buddha grows +up a white splendour from the black mud of the depths, so also +may the soul of a woman.</p> + +<p>In the days of the Lord of the White Elephant, the King Pagan +Men, was a boy named Mindon, son of second Queen and the King. +So, at least, it was said in the Golden Palace, but those who +knew the secrets of such matters whispered that, when the King +had taken her by the hand she came to him no maid, and that the +boy was the son of an Indian trader. Furthermore it was said that +she herself was woman of the Rajputs, knowledgeable in spells, +incantations and elemental spirits such as the Beloos that +terribly haunt waste places, and all Powers that move in the +dark, and that thus she had won the King. Certainly she had been +captured by the King's war-boats off the coast from a +trading-ship bound for Ceylon, and it was her story that, because +of her beauty, she was sent thither to serve as concubine to the +King, Tissa of Ceylon. Being captured, she was brought to the +Lord of the Golden Palace. The tongue she spoke was strange to +all the fighting men, but it was wondrous to see how swiftly she +learnt theirs and spoke it with a sweet ripple such as is in the +throat of a bird.</p> + +<p>She was beautiful exceedingly, with a colour of pale gold upon +her and lengths of silk-spun hair, and eyes like those of a +jungle-deer, and water might run beneath the arch of her foot +without wetting it, and her breasts were like the cloudy pillows +where the sun couches at setting. Now, at Pagan, the name they +called her was Dwaymenau, but her true name, known only to +herself, was Sundari, and she knew not the Law of the Blessed +Buddha but was a heathen accursed. In the strong hollow of her +hand she held the heart of the King, so that on the birth of her +son she had risen from a mere concubine to be the second Queen +and a power to whom all bowed. The First Queen, Maya, languished +in her palace, her pale beauty wasting daily, deserted and +lonely, for she had been the light of the King's eyes until the +coming of the Indian woman, and she loved her lord with a great +love and was a noble woman brought up in honour and all things +becoming a queen. But sigh as she would, the King came never. All +night he lay in the arms of Dwaymenau, all day he sat beside her, +whether at the great water pageants or at the festival when the +dancing-girls swayed and postured before him in her gilded +chambers. Even when be went forth to hunt the tiger, she went +with him as far as a woman may go, and then stood back only +because he would not risk his jewel, her life. So all that was +evil in the man she fostered and all that was good she cherished +not at all, fearing lest he should return to the Queen. At her +will he had consulted the Hlwot Daw, the Council of the +Woon-gyees or Ministers, concerning a divorce of the Queen, but +this they told him could not be since she had kept all the laws +of Manu, being faithful, noble and beautiful and having borne him +a son.</p> + +<p>For, before the Indian woman had come to the King, the Queen +had borne a son, Ananda, and he was pale and slender and the King +despised him because of the wiles of Dwaymenau, saying he was fit +only to sit among the women, having the soul of a slave, and he +laughed bitterly as the pale child crouched in the corner to see +him pass. If his eyes had been clear, he would have known that +here was no slave, but a heart as much greater than his own as +the spirit is stronger than the body. But this he did not know +and he strode past with Dwaymenau's boy on his shoulder, laughing +with cruel glee.</p> + +<p>And this boy, Mindon, was beautiful and strong as his mother, +pale olive of face, with the dark and crafty eyes of the cunning +Indian traders, with black hair and a body straight, strong and +long in the leg for his years - apt at the beginnings of bow, +sword and spear - full of promise, if the promise was only words +and looks.</p> + +<p>And so matters rested in the palace until Ananda had ten years +and Mindon nine.</p> + +<p>It was the warm and sunny winter and the days were pleasant, +and on a certain day the Queen, Maya, went with her ladies to +worship the Blessed One at the Thapinyu Temple, looking down upon +the swiftly flowing river. The temple was exceedingly rich and +magnificent, so gilded with pure gold-leaf that it appeared of +solid gold. And about the upper part were golden bells beneath +the jewelled htee, which wafted very sweetly in the wind and gave +forth a crystal-clear music. The ladies bore in their hands more +gold-leaf, that they might acquire merit by offering this for the +service of the Master of the Law, and indeed this temple was the +offering of the Queen herself, who, because she bore the name of +the Mother of the Lord, excelled in good works and was the Moon +of this lower world in charity and piety.</p> + +<p>Though wan with grief and anxiety, this Queen was beautiful. +Her eyes, like mournful lakes of darkness, were lovely in the +pale ivory of her face. Her lips were nobly cut and calm, and by +the favour of the Guardian Nats, she was shaped with grace and +health, a worthy mother of kings. Also she wore her jewels like a +mighty princess, a magnificence to which all the people shikoed +as she passed, folding their hands and touching the forehead +while they bowed down, kneeling.</p> + +<p>Before the colossal image of the Holy One she made her +offering and, attended by her women, she sat in meditation, +drawing consolation from the Tranquillity above her and the +silence of the shrine. This ended, the Queen rose and did +obeisance to the Lord and, retiring, paced back beneath the White +Canopy and entered the courtyard where the palace stood - a +palace of noble teakwood, brown and golden and carved like lace +into strange fantasies of spires and pinnacles and branches where +Nats and Tree Spirits and Beloos and swaying river maidens +mingled and met amid fruits and leaves and flowers in a wild and +joyous confusion. The faces, the blowing garments, whirled into +points with the swiftness of the dance, were touched with gold, +and so glad was the building that it seemed as if a very light +wind might whirl it to the sky, and even the sad Queen stopped to +rejoice in its beauty as it blossomed in the sunlight.</p> + +<p>And even as she paused, her little son Ananda rushed to meet +her, pale and panting, and flung himself into her arms with dry +sobs like those of an overrun man. She soothed him until he could +speak, and then the grief made way in a rain of tears.</p> + +<p>"Mindon has killed my deer. He bared his knife, slit his +throat and cast him in the ditch and there he lies."</p> + +<p>"There will he not lie long!" shouted Mindon, breaking from +the palace to the group where all were silent now. "For the worms +will eat him and the dogs pick clean his bones, and he will show +his horns at his lords no more. If you loved him, White-liver, +you should have taught him better manners to his betters.</p> + +<p>With a stifled shriek Ananda caught the slender knife from his +girdle and flew at Mindon like a cat of the woods. Such things +were done daily by young and old, and this was a long sorrow come +to a head between the boys.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, lifting the hangings of the palace gateway, before +them stood the mother of Mindon, the Lady Dwaymenau, pale as +wool, having heard the shout of her boy, so that the two Queens +faced each other, each holding the shoulders of her son, and the +ladies watched, mute as fishes, for it was years since these two +had met.</p> + +<p>"What have you done to my son?" breathed Maya the Queen, dry +in the throat and all but speechless with passion. For indeed his +face, for a child, was ghastly.</p> + +<p>"Look at his knife! What would he do to my son?" Dwaymenau was +stiff with hate and spoke as to a slave.</p> + +<p>"He has killed my deer and mocks me because I loved him, He is +the devil in this place. Look at the devils in his eyes. Look +quick before he smiles, my mother."</p> + +<p>And indeed, young as the boy was, an evil thing sat in either +eye and glittered upon them. Dwaymenau passed her hand across his +brow, and he smiled and they were gone.</p> + +<p>"The beast ran at me and would have flung me with his horns," +he said, looking up brightly at his mother. "He had the madness +upon him. I struck once and he was dead. My father would have +done the same.</p> + +<p>"That would he not!" said Queen Maya bitterly. "Your father +would have crept up, fawning on the deer, and offered him the +fruits he loved, stroking him the while. And in trust the beast +would have eaten, and the poison in the fruit would have slain +him. For the people of your father meet neither man nor beast in +fair fight. With a kiss they stab!"</p> + +<p>Horror kept the women staring and silent. No one had dreamed +that the scandal had reached the Queen. Never had she spoken or +looked her knowledge but endured all in patience. Now it sprang +out like a sword among them, and they feared for Maya, whom all +loved.</p> + +<p>Mindon did not understand. It was beyond him, but he saw he +was scorned. Dwaymenau, her face rigid as a mask, looked +pitilessly at the shaking Queen, and each word dropped from her +mouth, hard and cold as the falling of diamonds. She refused the +insult.</p> + +<p>"If it is thus you speak of our lord and my love, what wonder +he forsakes you? Mother of a craven milk runs in your veins and +his for blood. Take your slinking brat away and weep together! My +son and I go forth to meet the King as he comes from hunting, and +to welcome him kingly!" She caught her boy to her with a +magnificent gesture; he flung his little arm about her, and +laughing loudly they went off together.</p> + +<p>The tension relaxed a little when they were out of sight. The +women knew that, since Dwaymenau had refused to take the Queen's +meaning, she would certainly not carry her complaint to the King. +They guessed at her reason for this forbearance, but, be that as +it might, it was Certain that no other person would dare to tell +him and risk the fate that waits the messenger of evil.</p> + +<p>The eldest lady led away the Queen, now almost tottering in +the reaction of fear and pain. Oh, that she had controlled her +speech! Not for her own sake - for she had lost all and the +beggar can lose no more - but for the boy's sake, the unloved +child that stood between the stranger and her hopes. For him she +had made a terrible enemy. Weeping, the boy followed her.</p> + +<p>"Take comfort, little son," she said, drawing him to her +tenderly. "The deer can suffer no more. For the tigers, he does +not fear them. He runs in green woods now where there is none to +hunt. He is up and away. The Blessed One was once a deer as +gentle as yours."</p> + +<p>But still the child wept, and the Queen broke down utterly. +"Oh, if life be a dream, let us wake, let us wake!" she sobbed. +"For evil things walk in it that cannot live in the light. Or let +us dream deeper and forget. Go, little son, yet stay - for who +can tell what waits us when the King comes. Let us meet him +here."</p> + +<p>For she believed that Dwaymenau would certainly carry the tale +of her speech to the King, and, if so, what hope but death +together?</p> + +<p>That night, after the feasting, when the girls were dancing +the dance of the fairies and spirits, in gold dresses, winged on +the legs and shoulders, and high, gold-spired and pinnacled caps, +the King missed the little Prince, Ananda, and asked why he was +absent.</p> + +<p>No one answered, the women looking upon each other, until +Dwaymenau, sitting beside him, glimmering with rough pearls and +rubies, spoke smoothly: "Lord, worshipped and beloved, the two +boys quarreled this day, and Ananda's deer attacked our Mindon. +He had a madness upon him and thrust with his horns. But, Mindon, +your true son, flew in upon him and in a great fight he slit the +beast's throat with the knife you gave him. Did he not well?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said the King briefly. "But is there no hurt? Have +searched? For he is mine."</p> + +<p>There was arrogance in the last sentence and her proud soul +rebelled, but smoothly as ever she spoke: "I have searched and +there is not the littlest scratch. But Ananda is weeping because +the deer is dead, and his mother is angry. What should I do?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. Ananda is worthless and worthless let him be! And +for that pale shadow that was once a woman, let her be forgotten. +And now, drink, my Queen!"</p> + +<p>And Dwaymenau drank but the drink was bitter to her, for a +ghost had risen upon her that day. She had never dreamed that +such a scandal had been spoken, and it stunned her very soul with +fear, that the Queen should know her vileness and the cheat she +had put upon the King. As pure maid he had received her, and she +knew, none better, what the doom would be if his trust were +broken and he knew the child not his. She herself had seen this +thing done to a concubine who had a little offended. She was +thrust living in a sack and this hung between two earthen jars +pierced with small holes, and thus she was set afloat on the +terrible river. And not till the slow filling and sinking of the +jars was the agony over and the cries for mercy stilled. No, the +Queen's speech was safe with her, but was it safe with the Queen? +For her silence, Dwaymenau must take measures.</p> + +<p>Then she put it all aside and laughed and jested with the King +and did indeed for a time forget, for she loved him for his +black-browed beauty and his courage and royalty and the childlike +trust and the man's passion that mingled in him for her. Daily +and nightly such prayers as she made to strange gods were that +she might bear a son, true son of his.</p> + +<p>Next day, in the noonday stillness when all slept, she led her +young son by the hand to her secret chamber, and, holding him +upon her knees in that rich and golden place, she lifted his face +to hers and stared into his eyes. And so unwavering was her gaze, +so mighty the hard, unblinking stare that his own was held +against it, and he stared back as the earth stares breathless at +the moon. Gradually the terror faded out of his eyes; they glazed +as if in a trance; his head fell stupidly against her bosom; his +spirit stood on the borderland of being and waited.</p> + +<p>Seeing this, she took his palm and, molding it like wax, into +the cup of it she dropped clear fluid from a small vessel of +pottery with the fylfot upon its side and the disks of the god +Shiva. And strange it was to see that lore of India in the palace +where the Blessed Law reigned in peace. Then, fixing her eyes +with power upon Mindon, she bade him, a pure child, see for her +in its clearness.</p> + +<p>"Only virgin-pure can see!" she muttered, staring into his +eyes. "See! See!"</p> + +<p>The eyes of Mindon were closing. He half opened them and +looked dully at his palm. His face was pinched and yellow.</p> + +<p>"A woman - a child, on a long couch. Dead! I see!"</p> + +<p>"See her face. Is her head crowned with the Queen's jewels? +See!"</p> + +<p>"Jewels. I cannot see her face. It is hidden."</p> + +<p>"Why is it hidden?"</p> + +<p>"A robe across her face. Oh, let me go!"</p> + +<p>"And the child? See!"</p> + +<p>"Let me go. Stop - my head - my head! I cannot see. The child +is hidden. Her arm holds it. A woman stoops above them."</p> + +<p>"A woman? Who? Is it like me? Speak! See!"</p> + +<p>"A woman. It is like you, mother - it is like you. I fear very +greatly. A knife - a knife! Blood! I cannot see - I cannot speak! +I - I sleep."</p> + +<p>His face was ghastly white now, his body cold and collapsed. +Terrified, she caught him to her breast and relaxed the power of +her 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What did you see in your dream, prince of my heart?" She +caught frantically at the last chance.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 was the interloper, +the witch-woman, the out-land upstart. Only the fear of the King +guarded her and her boy, but that was strong. The boys played +together sometimes, Mindon tyrannizing and cruel, Ananda fearing +and complying, broken in spirit.</p> + +<p>Maya the Queen walked daily in the long and empty Golden Hall +of Audience, where none came now that the King was gone, pacing +up and down, gazing wearily at the carved screens and all their +woodland beauty of gods that did not hear, of happy spirits that +had no pity. Like a spirit herself she passed between the red +pillars, appearing and reappearing with steps that made no sound, +consumed with hate of the evil woman that had stolen her joy. +Like a slow fire it burned in her soul, and the face of the +Blessed One was hidden from her, and she had forgotten His peace. +In that atmosphere of hate her life dwindled. Her son's dwindled +also, and there was talk among the women of some potion that +Dwaymenau had been seen to drop into his noontide drink as she +went swiftly by. That might he the gossip of malice, but he +pined. His eyes were large like a young bird's; his hands like +little claws. They thought the departing year would take him with +it. What harm? Very certainly the King would shed no tear.</p> + +<p>It was a sweet and silent afternoon and she wandered in the +great and lonely hall, sickened with the hate in her soul and her +fear for her boy. Suddenly she heard flying footsteps - a boy's, +running in mad haste in the outer hall, and, following them, bare +feet, soft, thudding.</p> + +<p>She stopped dead and every pulse cried - Danger! No time to +think or breathe when Mindon burst into sight, wild with terror +and following close beside him a man - a madman, a short bright +dah in his grasp, his jaws grinding foam, his wild eyes starting +- one passion to murder. So sometimes from the Nats comes +pitiless fury, and men run mad and kill and none knows why.</p> + +<p>Maya the Queen stiffened to meet the danger. Joy swept through +her soul; her weariness was gone. A fierce smile showed her teeth +- a smile of hate, as she stood there and drew her dagger for +defense. For defense - the man would rend the boy and turn on her +and she would not die. She would live to triumph that the mongrel +was dead, and her son, the Prince again and his father's joy - +for his heart would turn to the child most surely. Justice was +rushing on its victim. She would see it and live content, the +long years of agony wiped out in blood, as was fitting. She would +not flee; she would see it and rejoice. And as she stood in +gladness - these broken thoughts rushing through her like flashes +of lightning - Mindon saw her by the pillar and, screaming in +anguish for the first time, fled to her for refuge.</p> + +<p>She raised her knife to meet the staring eyes, the chalk white +face, and drive him back on the murderer. If the man failed, she +would not! And even as she did this a strange thing befell. +Something stronger than hate swept her away like a leaf on the +river; something primeval that lives in the lonely pangs of +childbirth, that hides in the womb and breasts of the mother. It +was stronger than she. It was not the hated Mindoin - she saw him +no more. Suddenly it was the eternal Child, lifting dying, +appealing eyes to the Woman, as he clung to her knees. She did +not think this - she felt it, and it dominated her utterly. The +Woman answered. As if it had been her own flesh and blood, she +swept the panting body behind her and faced the man with uplifted +dagger and knew her victory assured, whether in life or death. On +came the horrible rush, the flaming eyes, and, if it was chance +that set the dagger against his throat, it was cool strength that +drove it home and never wavered until the blood welling from the +throat quenched the flame in the wild eyes, and she stood +triumphing like a war-goddess, with the man at her feet. Then, +strong and flushed, Maya the Queen gathered the half-dead boy in +her arms, and, both drenched with blood, they moved slowly down +the hall and outside met the hurrying crowd, with Dwaymenau, whom +the scream had brought to find her son.</p> + +<p>"You have killed him! She has killed him!" Scarcely could the +Rajput woman speak. She was kneeling beside him - he hideous with +blood. "She hated him always. She has murdered him. Seize +her!"</p> + +<p>"Woman, what matter your hates and mine?" the Queen said +slowly. "The boy is stark with fear. Carry him in and send for +old Meh Shway Gon. Woman, be silent!"</p> + +<p>When a Queen commands, men and women obey, and a Queen +commanded then. A huddled group lifted the child and carried him +away, Dwaymenau with them, still uttering wild threats, and the +Queen was left alone.</p> + +<p>She could not realize what she had done and left undone. She +could not understand it. She had hated, sickened with loathing, +as it seemed for ages, and now, in a moment it had blown away +like a whirlwind that is gone. Hate was washed out of her soul +and had left it cool and white as the Lotus of the Blessed One. +What power had Dwaymenau to hurt her when that other Power walked +beside her? She seemed to float above her in high air and look +down upon her with compassion. Strength, virtue flowed in her +veins; weakness, fear were fantasies. She could not understand, +but knew that here was perfect enlightenment. About her echoed +the words of the Blessed One: "Never in this world doth hatred +cease by hatred, but only by love. This is an old rule."</p> + +<p>"Whereas I was blind, now I see," said Maya the Queen slowly +to her own heart. She had grasped the hems of the Mighty.</p> + +<p>Words cannot speak the still passion of strength and joy that +possessed her. Her step was light. As she walked, her soul sang +within her, for thus it is with those that have received the Law. +About them is the Peace.</p> + +<p>In the dawn she was told that the Queen, Dwaymenau, would +speak with her, and without a tremor she who had shaken like a +leaf at that name commanded that she should enter. It was +Dwaymenau that trembled as she came into that unknown place.</p> + +<p>With cloudy brows and eyes that would reveal no secret, she +stood before the high seat where the Queen sat pale and +majestic.</p> + +<p>"Is it well with the boy?" the Queen asked earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Dwaymenau, fingering the silver bosses of her +girdle.</p> + +<p>"Then - is there more to say?" The tone was that of the great +lady who courteously ends an audience. "There is more. The men +brought in the body and in its throat your dagger was sticking. +And my son has told me that your body was a shield to him. You +offered your life for his. I did not think to thank you - but I +thank you." She ended abruptly and still her eyes had never met +the Queen's.</p> + +<p>"I accept your thanks. Yet a mother could do no less."</p> + +<p>The tone was one of dismissal but still Dwaymenau +lingered.</p> + +<p>"The dagger," she said and drew it from her bosom. On the +clear, pointed blade the blood had curdled and dried. "I never +thought to ask a gift of you, but this dagger is a memorial of my +son's danger. May I keep it?"</p> + +<p>"As you will. Here is the sheath." From her girdle she drew it +- rough silver, encrusted with rubies from the mountains.</p> + +<p>The hand rejected it.</p> + +<p>"Jewels I cannot take, but bare steel is a fitting gift +between us two."</p> + +<p>"As you will."</p> + +<p>The Queen spoke compassionately, and Dwaymenau, still with +veiled eyes, was gone without fare well. The empty sheath lay on +the seat - a symbol of the sharp-edged hate that had passed out +of her life. She touched the sheath to her lips and, smiling, +laid it away.</p> + +<p>And the days went by and Dwaymenau came no more before her, +and her days were fulfilled with peace. And now again the Queen +ruled in the palace wisely and like a Queen, and this Dwaymenau +did not dispute, but what her thoughts were no man could +tell.</p> + +<p>Then came the end.</p> + +<p>One night the city awakened to a wild alarm. A terrible fleet +of war-boats came sweeping along the river thick as locusts - the +war fleet of the Lord of Prome. Battle shouts broke tile peace of +the night to horror; axes battered on the outer doors; the roofs +of the outer buildings were all aflame. It was no wonderful +incident, but a common one enough of those turbulent days - +reprisal by a powerful ruler with raids and hates to avenge on +the Lord of the Golden Palace. It was indeed a right to be +gainsaid only by the strong arm, and the strong arm was absent; +as for the men of Pagan, if the guard failed and the women's +courage sank, they would return to blackened walls, empty +chambers and desolation.</p> + +<p>At Pagan the guard was small, indeed, for the King's greed of +plunder had taken almost every able man with him. Still, those +who were left did what they could, and the women, alert and +brave, with but few exceptions, gathered the children and handed +such weapons as they could muster to the men, and themselves, +taking knives and daggers, helped to defend the inner rooms.</p> + +<p>In the farthest, the Queen, having given her commands and +encouraged all with brave words, like a wise, prudent princess, +sat with her son beside her. Her duty was now to him. Loved or +unloved, he was still the heir, the root of the House tree. If +all failed, she must make ransom and terms for him, and, if they +died, it must be together. He, with sparkling eyes, gay in the +danger, stood by her. Thus Dwaymenau found them.</p> + +<p>She entered quietly and without any display of emotion and +stood before the high seat.</p> + +<p>"Great Queen" - she used that title for the first time - "the +leader is Meng Kyinyo of Prome. There is no mercy. The end is +near. Our men fall fast, the women are fleeing. I have come to +say this thing: Save the Prince."</p> + +<p>"And how?" asked the Queen, still seated. "I have no +power."</p> + +<p>"I have sent to Maung Tin, abbot of the Golden Monastery, and +he has said this thing. In the Kyoung across the river he can +hide one child among the novices. Cut his hair swiftly and put +upon him this yellow robe. The time is measured in minutes."</p> + +<p>Then the Queen perceived, standing by the pillar, a monk of a +stern, dark presence, the creature of Dwaymenau. For an instant +she pondered. Was the woman selling the child to death? Dwaymenau +spoke no word. Her face was a mask. A minute that seemed an hour +drifted by, and the yelling and shrieks for mercy drew +nearer.</p> + +<p>"There will be pursuit," said the Queen. "They will slay him +on the river. Better here with me."</p> + +<p>"There will be no pursuit." Dwaymenau fixed her strange eyes +on the Queen for the first time.</p> + +<p>What moved in those eyes? The Queen could not tell. But +despairing, she rose and went to the silent monk, leading the +Prince by the hand. Swiftly he stripped the child of the silk +pasoh of royalty, swiftly he cut the long black tresses knotted +on the little head, and upon the slender golden body he set the +yellow robe worn by the Lord Himself on earth, and in the small +hand he placed the begging-bowl of the Lord. And now, remote and +holy, in the dress that is of all most sacred, the Prince, +standing by the monk, turned to his mother and looked with grave +eyes upon her, as the child Buddha looked upon his Mother - also +a Queen. But Dwaymenau stood by silent and lent no help as the +Queen folded the Prince in her arms and laid his hand in the hand +of the monk and saw them pass away among the pillars, she +standing still and white.</p> + +<p>She turned to her rival. "If you have meant truly, I thank +you."</p> + +<p>"I have meant truly."</p> + +<p>She turned to go, but the Queen caught her by the hand.</p> + +<p>"Why have you done this?" she asked, looking into the strange +eyes of the strange woman.</p> + +<p>Something like tears gathered in them for a moment, but she +brushed them away as she said hurriedly:</p> + +<p>"I was grateful. You saved my son. Is it not enough?"</p> + +<p>"No, not enough!" cried the Queen. "There is more. Tell me, +for death is upon us."</p> + +<p>"His footsteps are near," said the Indian. "I will speak. I +love my lord. In death I will not cheat him. What you have known +is true. My child is no child of his. I will not go down to death +with a lie upon my lips. Come and see."</p> + +<p>Dwaymenau was no more. Sundari, the Indian woman, awful and +calm, led the Queen down the long ball and into her own chamber, +where Mindon, the child, slept a drugged sleep. The Queen felt +that she had never known her; she herself seemed diminished in +stature as she followed the stately figure, with its still, dark +face. Into this room the enemy were breaking, shouldering their +way at the door - a rabble of terrible faces. Their fury was +partly checked when only a sleeping child and two women +confronted them, but their leader, a grim and evil- looking man, +strode from the huddle.</p> + +<p>"Where is the son of the King?" be shouted. "Speak, women! +Whose is this boy?"</p> + +<p>Sundari laid her hand upon her son's shoulder. Not a muscle of +her face flickered.</p> + +<p>"This is his son."</p> + +<p>"His true son - the son of Maya the Queen?"</p> + +<p>"His true son, the son of Maya the Queen."</p> + +<p>"Not the younger - the mongrel?"</p> + +<p>"The younger - the mongrel died last week of a fever."</p> + +<p>Every moment of delay was precious. Her eyes saw only a monk +and a boy fleeing across the wide river.</p> + +<p>"Which is Maya the Queen?"</p> + +<p>"This," said Sundari. "She cannot speak. It is her son - the +Prince."</p> + +<p>Maya had veiled her face with her hands. Her brain swam, but +she understood the noble lie. This woman could love. Their lord +would not be left childless. Thought beat like pulses in her - +raced along her veins. She held her breath and was dumb.</p> + +<p>His doubt was assuaged and the lust of vengeance was on him - +a madness seized the man. But even his own wild men shrank back a +moment, for to slay a sleeping child in cold blood is no man's +work.</p> + +<p>"You swear it is the Prince. But why? Why do you not lie to +save him if you are the King's woman?"</p> + +<p>"Because his mother has trampled me to the earth. I am the +Indian woman - the mother of the younger, who is dead and safe. +She jeered at me - she mocked me. It is time I should see her +suffer. Suffer now as I have suffered, Maya the Queen!"</p> + +<p>This was reasonable - this was like the women he bad known. +His doubt was gone - he laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>"Then feed full of vengeance!" he cried, and drove his knife +through the child's heart.</p> + +<p>For a moment Sundari wavered where she stood, but she held +herself and was rigid as the dead.</p> + +<p>"Tha-du! Well done!" she said with an awful smile. "The tree +is broken, the roots cut. And now for us women - our fate, 0 +master?"</p> + +<p>"Wait here," he answered. "Let not a hair of their heads be +touched. Both are fair. The two for me. For the rest draw lots +when all is done."</p> + +<p>The uproar surged away. The two stood by the dead boy. So +swift had been his death that he lay as though he still slept - +the black lashes pressed upon his cheek.</p> + +<p>With the heredity of their different races upon them, neither +wept. But silently the Queen opened her arms; wide as a woman +that entreats she opened them to the Indian Queen, and +speechlessly the two clung together. For a while neither +spoke.</p> + +<p>"My sister!" said Maya the Queen. And again, "0 great of +heart!"</p> + +<p>She laid her cheek against Sundari's, and a wave of solemn joy +seemed to break in her soul and flood it with life and light.</p> + +<p>"Had I known sooner!" she said. "For now the night draws +on."</p> + +<p>"What is time?" answered the Rajput woman. "We stand before +the Lords of Life and Death. The life you gave was yours, and I +am unworthy to kiss the feet of the Queen. Our lord will return +and his son is saved. The House can be rebuilt. My son and I were +waifs washed up from the sea. Another wave washes us back to +nothingness. Tell him my story and he will loathe me."</p> + +<p>"My lips are shut," said the Queen. "Should I betray my +sister's honour? When he speaks of the noble women of old, your +name will be among them. What matters which of us he loves and +remembers? Your soul and mine have seen the same thing, and we +are one. But I - what have I to do with life? The ship and the +bed of the conqueror await us. Should we await them, my +sister?"</p> + +<p>The bright tears glittered in the eyes of Sundari at the +tender name and the love in the face of the Queen. At last she +accepted it.</p> + +<p>"My sister, no," she said, and drew from her bosom the dagger +of Maya, with the man's blood rusted upon it. "Here is the way. I +have kept this dagger in token of my debt. Nightly have I kissed +it, swearing that, when the time came, I would repay my debt to +the great Queen. Shall I go first or follow, my sister?"</p> + +<p>Her voice lingered on the word. It was precious to her. It was +like clear water, laying away the stain of the shameful +years.</p> + +<p>"Your arm is strong," answered the Queen. "I go first. Because +the King's son is safe, I bless you. For your love of the King, I +love you. And here, standing on the verge of life, I testify that +the words of the Blessed One are truth - that love is All; that +hatred is Nothing."</p> + +<p>She bared the breast that this woman had made desolate - that, +with the love of this woman, was desolate ho longer, and, +stooping, laid her hand on the brow of Mindon. Once more they +embraced, and then, strong and true, and with the Rajput passion +behind the blow, the stroke fell and Sundari had given her sister +the crowning mercy of deliverance. She laid the body beside her +own son, composing the stately limbs, the quiet eyelids, the +black lengths of hair into majesty. So, she thought, in the great +temple of the Rajput race, the Mother Goddess shed silence and +awe upon her worshippers. The two lay like mother and son - one +slight hand of the Queen she laid across the little body as if to +guard it.</p> + +<p>Her work done, she turned to the entrance and watched the dawn +coming glorious over the river. The men shouted and quarreled in +the distance, but she heeded them no more than the chattering of +apes. Her heart was away over the distance to the King, but with +no passion now: so might a mother have thought of her son. He was +sleeping, forgetful of even her in his dreams. What matter? She +was glad at heart. The Queen was dearer to her than the King - so +strange is life; so healing is death. She remembered without +surprise that she had asked no forgiveness of the Queen for all +the cruel wrongs, for the deadly intent - had made no confession. +Again what matter? What is forgiveness when love is all?</p> + +<p>She turned from the dawn-light to the light in the face of the +Queen. It was well. Led by such a hand, she could present herself +without fear before the Lords of Life and Death - she and the +child. She smiled. Life is good, but death, which is more life, +is better. The son of the King was safe, but her own son +safer.</p> + +<p>When the conqueror reentered the chamber, he found the dead +Queen guarding the dead child, and across her feet, as not worthy +to lie beside her, was the body of the Indian woman, most +beautiful in death.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">FIRE OF BEAUTY</h2> + +<p align="center"><i>(Salutation to Ganesa the Lord of Wisdom, +and to Saraswate the Lady of Sweet Speech!)</i></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>This story was composed by the Brahmin Visravas, that dweller +on the banks of holy Kashi; and though the events it records are +long past, yet it is absolutely and immutably true because, by +the power of his yoga, he summoned up every scene before him, and +beheld the persons moving and speaking as in life. Thus he had +naught to do but to set down what befell.</p> + +<p>What follows, that hath he seen.</p> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>Wide was the plain, the morning sun shining full upon it, +drinking up the dew as the Divine drinks up the spirit of man. +Far it stretched, resembling the ocean, and riding upon it like a +stately ship was the league-long Rock of Chitor. It is certainly +by the favour of the Gods that this great fortress of the Rajput +Kings thus rises from the plain, leagues in length, noble in +height; and very strange it is to see the flat earth fall away +from it like waters from the bows of a boat, as it soars into the +sky with its burden of palaces and towers.</p> + +<p>Here dwelt the Queen Padmini and her husband Bhimsi, the Rana +of the Rajputs.</p> + +<p>The sight of the holy ascetic Visravas pierced even the +secrets of the Rani's bower, where, in the inmost chamber of +marble, carved until it appeared like lace of the foam of the +sea, she was seated upon cushions of blue Bokhariot silk, like +the lotus whose name she bore floating upon the blue depths of +the lake. She had just risen from the shallow bath of marble at +her feet.</p> + +<p>Most beautiful was this Queen, a haughty beauty such as should +be a Rajput lady; for the name "Rajput" signifies Son of a King, +and this lady was assuredly the daughter of Kings and of no +lesser persons. And since that beauty is long since ashes (all +things being transitory), it is permitted to describe the +mellowed ivory of her body, the smooth curves of her hips, and +the defiance of her glimmering bosom, half veiled by the long +silken tresses of sandal- scented hair which a maiden on either +side, bowing toward her, knotted upon her head. But even he who +with his eyes has seen it can scarce tell the beauty of her face +- the slender arched nose, the great eyes like lakes of darkness +in the reeds of her curled lashes, the mouth of roses, the +glance, deer-like but proud, that courted and repelled +admiration. This cannot be told, nor could the hand of man paint +it. Scarcely could that fair wife of the Pandava Prince, Draupadi +the Beautiful (who bore upon her perfect form every auspicious +mark) excel this lady.</p> + +<p>(Ashes - ashes! May Maheshwara have mercy upon her +rebirths!)</p> + +<p>Throughout India had run the fame of this beauty. In the +bazaar of Kashmir they told of it. It was recorded in the palaces +of Travancore, and all the lands that lay between; and in an evil +hour - may the Gods curse the mother that bore him! - it reached +the ears of Allah-u- Din, the Moslem dog, a very great fighting +man who sat in Middle India, looting and spoiling.</p> + +<p>(Ahi! for the beauty that is as a burning flame!)</p> + +<p>In the gardens beneath the windows of the Queen, the peacocks, +those maharajas of the birds, were spreading the bronze and +emerald of their tails. The sun shone on them as on heaps of +jewels, so that they dazzled the eyes. They stood about the feet +of the ancient Brahmin sage, he who had tutored the Queen in her +childhood and given her wisdom as the crest-jeweled of her +loveliness. He, the Twice-born sat under the shade of a neem +tree, hearing the gurgle of the sacred waters from the Cow's +Mouth, where the great tank shone under the custard-apple boughs; +and, at peace with all the world, he read in the Scripture which +affirms the transience of all things drifting across the thought +of the Supreme like clouds upon the surface of the Ocean.</p> + +<p>(Ahi! that loveliness is also illusion!)</p> + +<p>Her women placed about the Queen - that Lotus of Women - a +robe of silk of which none could say that it was green or blue, +the noble colours so mingled into each other under the latticed +gold work of Kashi. They set the jewels on her head, and wide +thin rings of gold heavy with great pearls in her ears. Upon the +swell of her bosom they clasped the necklace of table emeralds, +large, deep, and full of green lights, which is the token of the +Chitor queens. Upon her slender ankles they placed the chooris of +pure soft gold, set also with grass-green emeralds, and the +delicate souls of her feet they reddened with lac. Nor were her +arms forgotten, but loaded with bangles so free from alloy that +they could be bent between the hands of a child. Then with fine +paste they painted the Symbol between her dark brows, and, +rising, she shone divine as a nymph of heaven who should cause +the righteous to stumble in his austerities and arrest even the +glances of Gods.</p> + +<p>(Ahi! that the Transient should be so fair!)</p> + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Now it was the hour that the Rana should visit her; for since +the coming of the Lotus Lady, be had forgotten his other women, +and in her was all his heart. He came from the Hall of Audience +where petitions were heard, and justice done to rich and poor; +and as he came, the Queen, hearing his step on the stone, +dismissed her women, and smiling to know her loveliness, bowed +before him, even as the Goddess Uma bows before Him who is her +other half.</p> + +<p>Now he was a tall man, with the falcon look of the Hill +Rajputs, and moustaches that curled up to his eyes, lion-waisted +and lean in the flanks like Arjoon himself, a very ruler of men; +and as he came, his hand was on the hilt of the sword that showed +beneath his gold coat of khincob. On the high cushions he sat, +and the Rani a step beneath him; and she said, raising her lotus +eyes:</p> + +<p>"Speak, Aryaputra, (son of a noble father)-what hath +befallen?"</p> + +<p>And he, looking upon her beauty with fear, replied,-</p> + +<p>"It is thy beauty, 0 wife, that brings disaster."</p> + +<p>"And how is this?" she asked very earnestly.</p> + +<p>For a moment he paused, regarding her as might a stranger, as +one who considers a beauty in which he hath no part; and, drawn +by this strangeness, she rose and knelt beside him, pillowing her +head upon his heart.</p> + +<p>"Say on," she said in her voice of music.</p> + +<p>He unfurled a scroll that he had crushed in his strong right +hand, and read aloud:-</p> + +<p>"`Thus says Allah-u-Din, Shadow of God, Wonder of the Age, +Viceregent of Kings. We have heard that in the Treasury of Chitor +is a jewel, the like of which is not in the Four Seas - the work +of the hand of the Only God, to whom be praise! This jewel is thy +Queen, the Lady Padmini. Now, since the sons of the Prophet are +righteous, I desire but to look upon this jewel, and ascribing +glory to the Creator, to depart in peace. Granted requests are +the bonds of friendship; therefore lay the head of acquiescence +in the dust of opportunity and name an auspicious day.'"</p> + +<p>He crushed it again and flung it furiously from him on the +marble.</p> + +<p>"The insult is deadly. The soor! son of a debased mother! Well +he knows that to the meanest Rajput his women are sacred, and how +much more the daughters and wives of the Kings! The jackals feast +on the tongue that speaks this shame! But it is a threat, Beloved +- a threat! Give me thy counsel that never failed me yet."</p> + +<p>For the Rajputs take counsel with their women who are +wise.</p> + +<p>They were silent, each weighing the force of resistance that +could be made; and this the Rani knew even as he.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be," she said; "the very ashes of the dead would +shudder to hear. Shall the Queens of India be made the sport of +the barbarians?"</p> + +<p>Her husband looked upon her fair face. She could feel his +heart labor beneath her ear.</p> + +<p>"True, wife; but the barbarians are strong. Our men are +tigers, each one, but the red dogs of the Dekkan can pull down +the tiger, for they are many, and he alone."</p> + +<p>Then that great Lady, accepting his words, and conscious of +the danger, murmured this, clinging to her husband:-</p> + +<p>"There was a Princess of our line whose beauty made all other +women seem as waning moons in the sun's splendour. And many great +Kings sought her, and there was contention and war. And, she, +fearing that the Rajputs would be crushed to powder between the +warring Kings, sent unto each this message: `Come on such and +such a day, and thou shalt see my face and hear my choice.' And +they, coming, rejoiced exceedingly, thinking each one that he was +the Chosen. So they came into the great Hall, and there was a +table, and somewhat upon it covered with a gold cloth; and an old +veiled woman lifted the gold, and the head of the Princess lay +there with the lashes like night upon her cheek, and between her +lips was a little scroll, saying this: `I have chosen my Lover +and my Lord, and he is mightiest, for he is Death.' - So the +Kings went silently away. And there was Peace."</p> + +<p>The music of her voice ceased, and the Rana clasped her +closer.</p> + +<p>"This I cannot do. Better die together. Let us take counsel +with the ancient Brahman, thy guru [teacher], for he is very +wise."</p> + +<p>She clapped her hands, and the maidens returned, and, bowing, +brought the venerable Prabhu Narayan into the Presence, and again +those roses retired.</p> + +<p>Respectful salutation was then offered by the King and the +Queen to that saint, hoary with wisdom - he who had seen her grow +into the loveliness of the sea-born Shri, yet had never seen that +loveliness; for he had never raised his eyes above the chooris +about her ankles. To him the King related his anxieties; and he +sat rapt in musing, and the two waited in dutiful silence until +long minutes had fallen away; and at the last he lifted his head, +weighted with wisdom, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"0 King, Descendant of Rama! this outrage cannot be. Yet, +knowing the strength and desire of this obscene one and the +weakness of our power, it is plain that only with cunning can +cunning be met. Hear, therefore, the history of the Fox and the +Drum.</p> + +<p>"A certain Fox searched for food in the jungle, and so doing +beheld a tree on which hung a drum; and when the boughs knocked +upon the parchment, it sounded aloud. Considering, he believed +that so round a form and so great a voice must portend much good +feeding. Neglecting on this account a fowl that fed near by, he +ascended to the drum. The drum being rent was but air and +parchment, and meanwhile the fowl fled away. And from the eye of +folly he shed the tear of disappointment, having bartered the +substance for the shadow. So must we act with this budmash +[scoundrel]. First, receiving his oath that he will depart +without violence, hid him hither to a great feast, and say that +he shall behold the face of the Queen in a mirror. Provide that +some fair woman of the city show her face, and then let him +depart in peace, showing him friendship. He shall not know he +hath not seen the beauty he would befoul."</p> + +<p>After consultation, no better way could be found; but the +heart of the great Lady was heavy with foreboding.</p> + +<p>(A hi! that Beauty should wander a pilgrim in the ways of +sorrow!)</p> + +<p>To Allah-u-Din therefore did the King dispatch this letter by +swift riders on mares of Mewar.</p> + +<p>After salutations - "Now whereas thou hast said thou wouldest +look upon the beauty of the Treasure of Chitor, know it is not +the custom of the Rajputs that any eye should light upon their +treasure. Yet assuredly, when requests arise between friends, +there cannot fail to follow distress of mind and division of soul +if these are ungranted. So, under promises that follow, I bid +thee to a feast at my poor house of Chitor, and thou shalt see +that beauty reflected in a mirror, and so seeing, depart in peace +from the house of a friend."</p> + +<p>This being writ by the Twice-Born, the Brahman, did the Rana +sign with bitter rage in his heart. And the days passed.</p> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>On a certain day found fortunate by the astrologers - a day of +early winter, when the dawns were pure gold and the nights +radiant with a cool moon - did a mighty troop of Moslems set +their camp on the plain of Chitor. It was as if a city had +blossomed in an hour. Those who looked from the walls muttered +prayers to the Lord of the Trident; for these men seemed like the +swarms of the locust - people, warriors all, fierce fighting-men. +And in the ways of Chitor, and up the steep and winding causeway +from the plains, were warriors also, the chosen of the Rajputs, +thick as blades of corn hedging the path.</p> + +<p>(Ahi! that the blossom of beauty should have swords for +thorns!)</p> + +<p>Then, leaving his camp, attended by many Chiefs, - may the +mothers and sires that begot them be accursed! - came +Allah-u-Din, riding toward the Lower Gate, and so upward along +the causeway, between the two rows of men who neither looked nor +spoke, standing like the carvings of war in the Caves of Ajunta. +And the moon was rising through the sunset as he came beneath the +last and seventh gate. Through the towers and palaces he rode +with his following, but no woman, veiled or unveiled, - no, not +even an outcast of the city, - was there to see him come; only +the men, armed and silent. So he turned to Munim Khan that rode +at his bridle, saying,-</p> + +<p>"Let not the eye of watchfulness close this night on the +pillow of forgetfulness!"</p> + +<p>And thus he entered the palace.</p> + +<p>Very great was the feast in Chitor, and the wines that those +accursed should not drink (since the Outcast whom they call their +Prophet forbade them) ran like water, and at the right hand of +Allah-u-Din was set the great crystal Cup inlaid with gold by a +craft that is now perished; and he filled and refilled it - may +his own Prophet curse the swine!</p> + +<p>But because the sons of Kings eat not with the outcasts, the +Rana entered after, clothed in chain armor of blue steel, and +having greeted him, bid him to the sight of that Treasure. And +Allah-u-Din, his eyes swimming with wine, and yet not drunken, +followed, and the two went alone.</p> + +<p>Purdahs [curtains] of great splendour were hung in the great +Hall that is called the Raja's Hall, exceeding rich with gold, +and in front of the opening was a kneeling-cushion, and an a gold +stool before it a polished mirror.</p> + +<p>(Ahi! for gold and beauty, the scourges of the world!)</p> + +<p>And the Rana was pale to the lips.</p> + +<p>Now as the Princes stood by the purdah, a veiled woman, +shrouded in white so that no shape could he seen in her, came +forth from within, and kneeling upon the cushion, she unveiled +her face bending until the mirror, like a pool of water, held it, +and that only. And the King motioned his guest to look, and he +looked over her veiled shoulder and saw. Very great was the bowed +beauty that the mirror held, but Allah-u-Din turned to the +Rana.</p> + +<p>"By the Bread and the Salt, by the Guest-Right, by the Honour +of thy House, I ask - is this the Treasure of Chitor?"</p> + +<p>And since the Sun-Descended cannot lie, no, not though they +perish, the Rana answered, flushing darkly, - "This is not the +Treasure. Wilt thou spare?"</p> + +<p>But he would not, and the woman slipped like a shadow behind +the purdah and no word said.</p> + +<p>Then was heard the tinkling of chooris, and the little noise +fell upon the silence like a fear, and, parting the curtains, +came a woman veiled like the other. She did not kneel, but took +the mirror in her hand, and Allah-u-Din drew up behind her back. +From her face she raised the veil of gold Dakka webs, and gazed +into the mirror, holding it high, and that Accursed stumbled +back, blinded with beauty, saying this only,- "I have seen the +Treasure of Chitor."</p> + +<p>So the purdah fell about her.</p> + +<p>The next day, after the Imaum of the Accursed had called them +to prayer, they departed, and Allah-u-Din, paying thanks to the +Rana for honours given and taken, and swearing friendship, +besought him to ride to his camp, to see the marvels of gold and +steel armor brought down from the passes, swearing also +safe-conduct. And because the Rajputs trust the word even of a +foe, he went.</p> + +<p>(A hi! that honour should strike hands with traitors!)</p> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>The hours went by, heavy-footed like mourners. Padmini the +Rani knelt by the window in her tower that overlooks the plains. +Motionless she knelt there, as the Goddess Uma lost in her +penances, and she saw her Lord ride forth, and the sparkle of +steel where the sun shone on them, and the Standard of the Cold +Disk on its black ground. So the camp of the Moslem swallowed +them up, and they returned no more. Still she knelt and none +dared speak with her; and as the first shade of evening fell +across the hills of Rajasthan, she saw a horseman spurting over +the flat; and he rode like the wind, and, seeing, she implored +the Gods.</p> + +<p>Then entered the Twice-Born, that saint of clear eyes, and he +bore a scroll; and she rose and seated herself, and he stood by +her, as her ladies cowered like frightened doves before the woe +in his face as he read.</p> + +<p>"To the Rose of Beauty, The Pearl among Women, the Chosen of +the Palace. Who, having seen thy loveliness, can look on another? +Who, having tasted the wine of the Houris, but thirsts forever? +Behold, I have thy King as hostage. Come thou and deliver him. I +have sworn that he shall return in thy place."</p> + +<p>And from a smaller scroll, the Brahman read this:-</p> + +<p>"I am fallen in the snare. Act thou as becomes a +Rajputni."</p> + +<p>Then that Daughter of the Sun lifted her head, for the +thronging of armed feet was heard in the Council Hall below. From +the floor she caught her veil and veiled herself in haste, and +the Brahman with bowed head followed, while her women mourned +aloud. And, descending, between the folds of the purdah she +appeared white and veiled, and the Brahman beside her, and the +eyes of all the Princes were lowered to her shrouded feet, while +the voice they had not heard fell silvery upon the air, and the +echoes of the high roof repeated it.</p> + +<p>"Chief of the Rajputs, what is your counsel?" And he of Marwar +stepped forward, and not rais- ing his eyes above her feet, +answered,-</p> + +<p>"Queen, what is thine?"</p> + +<p>For the Rajputs have ever heard the voice of their women.</p> + +<p>And she said,-</p> + +<p>"I counsel that I die and my head be sent to him, that my +blood may quench his desire."</p> + +<p>And each talked eagerly with the other, but amid the tumult +the Twice-Born said,-</p> + +<p>"This is not good talk. In his rage he will slay the King. By +my yoga, I have seen it. Seek another way."</p> + +<p>So they sought, but could determine nothing, and they feared +to ride against the dog, for he held the life of the King; and +the tumult was great, but all were for the King's safety.</p> + +<p>Then once more she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Seeing it is determined that the King's life is more than my +honour, I go this night. In your hand I leave my little son, the +Prince Ajeysi. Prepare my litters, seven hundred of the best, for +all my women go with me. Depart now, for I have a thought from +the Gods."</p> + +<p>Then, returning to her bower, she spoke this letter to the +saint, and he wrote it, and it was sent to the camp.</p> + +<p>After salutations - "Wisdom and strength have attained their +end. Have ready for release the Rana of Chitor, for this night I +come with my ladies, the prize of the conqueror."</p> + +<p>When the sun sank, a great procession with torches descended +the steep way of Chitor - seven hundred litters, and in the first +was borne the Queen, and all her women followed.</p> + +<p>All the streets were thronged with women, weeping and beating +their breasts. Very greatly they wept, and no men were seen, for +their livers were black within them for shame as the Treasure of +Chitor departed, nor would they look upon the sight. And across +the plains went that procession; as if the stars had fallen upon +the earth, so glittered the sorrowful lights of the Queen.</p> + +<p>But in the camp was great rejoicing, for the Barbarians knew +that many fair women attended on her.</p> + +<p>Now, before the entrance to the camp they had made a great +shamiana [tent] ready, hung with shawls of Kashmir and the +plunder of Delhi; and there was set a silk divan for the Rani, +and beside it stood the Loser and the Gainer, Allah-u-Din and the +King, awaiting the Treasure.</p> + +<p>Veiled she entered, stepping proudly, and taking no heed of +the Moslem, she stood before her husband, and even through the +veil he could feel the eyes he knew.</p> + +<p>And that Accursed spoke, laughing.</p> + +<p>"I have won-I have won, 0 King! Bid farewell to the Chosen of +the Palace - the Beloved of the Viceregent of Kings!"</p> + +<p>Then she spoke softly, delicately, in her own tongue, that the +outcast should not guess the matter of her speech.</p> + +<p>"Stand by me. Stir not. And when I raise my arm, cry the cry +of the Rajputs. NOW!"</p> + +<p>And she flung her arm above her head, and instantly, like a +lion roaring, he shouted, drawing his sword, and from every +litter sprang an armed man, glittering in steel, and the bearers, +humble of mien, were Rajput knights, every one.</p> + +<p>And Allah-u-Din thrust at the breast of the Queen; but around +them surged the war, and she was hedged with swords like a rose +in the thickets.</p> + +<p>Very full of wine, dull with feasting and lust and surprised, +the Moslems fled across the plains, streaming in a broken rabble, +cursing and shouting like low-caste women; and the Rajputs, +wiping their swords, returned from the pursuit and laughed upon +each other.</p> + +<p>But what shall be said of the joy of the King and of her who +had imagined this thing, in- structed of the Goddess who is the +other half of her Lord?</p> + +<p>So the procession returned, singing, to Chitor with those Two +in the midst; but among the dogs that fled was Allah-u-Din, his +face blackened with shame and wrath, the curses choking in his +foul throat.</p> + +<p>(Aid! that the evil still walk the ways of the world!)</p> + +<h3>V</h3> + +<p>So the time went by and the beauty of the Queen grew, and her +King could see none but hers. Like the moon she obscured the +stars, and every day he remembered her wisdom, her valour, and +his soul did homage at her feet, and there was great content in +Chitor.</p> + +<p>It chanced one day that the Queen, looking from her high +window that like an eagle's nest overhung the precipice, saw, on +the plain beneath, a train of men, walking like ants, and each +carried a basket on his back, and behind them was a cloud of dust +like a great army. Already the city was astir because of this +thing, and the rumours came thick and the spies were sent +out.</p> + +<p>In the dark they returned, and the Rana entered the bower of +Padmini, his eyes burning like coal with hate and wrath, and he +flung his arm round his wife like a shield.</p> + +<p>"He is returned, and in power. Counsel me again, 0 wife, for +great is thy wisdom!"</p> + +<p>But she answered only this,-</p> + +<p>"Fight, for this time it is to the death."</p> + +<p>Then each day she watched bow the baskets of earth, emptied +upon the plain at first, made nothing, an ant heap whereat fools +might laugh. But each day as the trains of men came, spilling +their baskets, the great earthworks grew and their height +mounted. Day after day the Rajputs rode forth and slew; and as +they slew it seemed that all the teeming millions of the earth +came forth to take the places of the slain. And the Rajputs fell +also, and under the pennons the thundering forces returned daily, +thinned of their best.</p> + +<p>(A hi! that Evil rules the world as God!)</p> + +<p>And still the earth grew up to the heights, and the protection +of the hills was slowly withdrawn from Chitor, for on the heights +they made they set their engines of war.</p> + +<p>Then in a red dawn that great saint Narayan came to the Queen, +where she watched by her window, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"0 great lady, I have dreamed a fearful dream. Nay, rather +have I seen a vision."</p> + +<p>With her face set like a sword, the Queen said,-</p> + +<p>"Say on."</p> + +<p>"In a light red like blood, I waked, and beside me stood the +Mother, - Durga, - awful to see, with a girdle of heads about her +middle; and the drops fell thick and slow from That which she +held in her hand, and in the other was her sickle of Doom. Nor +did she speak, but my soul heard her words."</p> + +<p>"Narrate them."</p> + +<p>"She commanded: `Say this to the Rana: "In Chitor is My altar; +in Chitor is thy throne. If thou wouldest save either, send forth +twelve crowned Kings of Chitor to die.'"</p> + +<p>As he said this, the Rana, fore-spent with fighting, entered +and heard the Divine word.</p> + +<p>Now there were twelve princes of the Rajput blood, and the +youngest was the son of Padmini. What choice had these most +miserable but to appease the dreadful anger of the Goddess? So on +each fourth day a King of Chitor was crowned, and for three days +sat upon the throne, and on the fourth day, set in the front, +went forth and died fighting. So perished eleven Kings of Chitor, +and now there was left but the little Ajeysi, the son of the +Queen.</p> + +<p>And that day was a great Council called.</p> + +<p>Few were there. On the plains many lay dead; holding the gates +many watched; but the blood was red in their hearts and flowed +like Indus in the melting of the snows. And to them spoke the +Rana, his hand clenched on his sword, and the other laid on the +small dark head of the Prince Ajeysi, who stood between his +knees. And as he spoke his voice gathered strength till it rang +through the hall like the voice of Indra when he thunders in the +heavens.</p> + +<p>"Men of the Rajputs, this child shall not die. Are we become +jackals that we fall upon the weak and tear them? When have we +put our women and children in the forefront of the war? I - I +only am King of Chitor. Narayan shall save this child for the +time that will surely come. And for us - what shall we do? I die +for Chitor!"</p> + +<p>And like the hollow waves of a great sea they answered +him,-</p> + +<p>"We will die for Chitor."</p> + +<p>There was silence and Marwar spoke.</p> + +<p>"The women?"</p> + +<p>"Do they not know the duty of a Rajputni?" said the King. "My +household has demanded that the caves be prepared."</p> + +<p>And the men clashed stew joy with their swords, and the +council dispersed.</p> + +<p>Then that very great saint, the Twice-Born, put off the sacred +thread that is the very soul of the Brahman. In his turban he +wound it secretly, and he stained his noble Aryan body until it +resembled the Pariahs, foul for the pure to see, loathsome for +the pure to touch, and he put on him the rags of the lowest of +the earth, and taking the Prince, he removed from the body of the +child every trace of royal and Rajput birth, and he appeared like +a child of the Bhils - the vile forest wanderers that shame not +to defile their lips with carrion. And in this guise they stood +before the Queen; and when she looked on the saint, the tears +fell from her eyes like rain, not for grief for her son, nor for +death, but that for their sake the pure should be made impure and +the glory of the Brahman-hood be defiled. And she fell at the old +man's feet and laid her head on the ground before him.</p> + +<p>"Rise, daughter!" he said, "and take comfort! Are not the eyes +of the Gods clear that they should distinguish? - and this day we +stand before the God of Gods. Have not the Great Ones said, `That +which causes life causes also decay and death'? Therefore we who +go and you who stay are alike a part of the Divine. Embrace now +your child and bless him, for we depart. And it is on account of +the sacrifice of the Twelve that he is saved alive."</p> + +<p>So, controlling her tears, she rose, and clasping the child to +her bosom, she bade him be of good cheer since he went with the +Gods. And that great saint took his hand from hers, and for the +first time in the life of the Queen he raised his aged eyes to +her face, and she gazed at him; but what she read, even the +ascetic Visravas, who saw all by the power of his yoga, could not +tell, for it was beyond speech. Very certainly the peace +thereafter possessed her.</p> + +<p>So those two went out by the secret ways of the rocks, and +wandering far, were saved by the favour of Durga.</p> + +<h3>VI</h3> + +<p>And the nights went by and the days, and the time came that no +longer could they hold Chitor, and all hope was dead.</p> + +<p>On a certain day the Rana and the Rani stood for the last time +in her bower, and looked down into the city; and in the streets +were gathered in a very wonderful procession the women of Chitor; +and not one was veiled. Flowers that had bloomed in the inner +chambers, great ladies jewelled for a festival, young brides, +aged mothers, and girl children clinging to the robes of their +mothers who held their babes, crowded the ways. Even the +low-caste women walked with measured steps and proudly, decked in +what they had of best, their eyes lengthened with soorma, and +flowers in the darkness of their hair.</p> + +<p>The Queen was clothed in a gold robe of rejoicing, her bodice +latticed with diamonds and great gems, and upon her bosom the +necklace of table emeralds, alight with green fire, which is the +jewel of the Queens of Chitor. So she stood radiant as a vision +of Shri, and it appeared that rays encircled her person.</p> + +<p>And the Rana, unarmed save for his sword, had the saffron +dress of a bridegroom and the jeweled cap of the Rajput Kings, +and below in the hall were the Princes and Chiefs, clad even as +he.</p> + +<p>Then, raising her lotus eyes to her lord, the Princess +said,-</p> + +<p>"Beloved, the time is come, and we have chosen rightly, for +this is the way of honour, and it is but another link forged in +the chain of existence; for until existence itself is ended and +rebirth destroyed, still shall we meet in lives to come and still +be husband and wife. What room then for despair?"</p> + +<p>And he answered,-</p> + +<p>"This is true. Go first, wife, and I follow. Let not the door +swing to behind thee. But oh, to see thy beauty once more that is +the very speech of Gods with men! Wilt thou surely come again to +me and again be fair?"</p> + +<p>And for all answer she smiled upon him, and at his feet +performed the obeisance of the Rajput wife when she departs upon +a journey; and they went out together, the Queen unveiled.</p> + +<p>As she passed through the Princes, they lowered their eyes so +that none saw her; but when she stood on the steps of the palace, +the women all turned eagerly toward her like stars about the +moon, and lifting their arms, they began to sing the dirge of the +Rajput women.</p> + +<p>So they marched, and in great companies they marched, company +behind company, young and old, past the Queen, saluting her and +drawing courage from the loveliness and kindness of her unveiled +face.</p> + +<p>In the rocks beneath the palaces of Chitor are very great +caves - league long and terrible, with ways of darkness no eyes +have seen; and it is believed that in times past spirits have +haunted them with strange wailings. In these was prepared great +store of wood and oils and fragrant matters for burning. So to +these caves they marched and, company by company, disappeared +into the darkness; and the voice of their singing grew faint and +hollow, and died away, as the men stood watching their women +go.</p> + +<p>Now, when this was done and the last had gone, the Rani +descended the steps, and the Rana, taking a torch dipped in +fragrant oils, followed her, and the Princes walked after, clad +like bridegrooms but with no faces of bridal joy. At the entrance +of the caves, having lit the torch, he gave it into her hand, and +she, receiving it and smiling, turned once upon the threshold, +and for the first time those Princes beheld the face of the +Queen, but they hid their eyes with their hands when they had +seen. So she departed within, and the Rana shut to the door and +barred and bolted it, and the men with him flung down great rocks +before it so that none should know the way, nor indeed is it +known to this day; and with their hands on their swords they +waited there, not speaking, until a great smoke rose between the +crevices of the rocks, but no sound at all.</p> + +<p>(Ashes of roses - ashes of roses! . . Ahi! for beauty that is +but touched and remitted!)</p> + +<p>The sun was high when those men with their horses and on foot +marched down the winding causeway beneath the seven gates, and so +forth into the plains, and charging unarmed upon the Moslems, +they perished every man. After, it was asked of one who had seen +the great slaughter,-</p> + +<p>"Say how my King bore himself."</p> + +<p>And he who had seen told this:-</p> + +<p>"Reaper of the harvest of battle, on the bed of honour he has +spread a carpet of the slain! He sleeps ringed about by his +enemies. How can the world tell of his deeds? The tongue is +silent."</p> + +<p>When that Accursed, Allah-u-Din, came up the winding height of +the hills, he found only a dead city, and his heart was sick +within him.</p> + +<p>Now this is the Sack of Chitor, and by the Oath of the Sack of +Chitor do the Rajputs swear when they bind their honour.</p> + +<p>But it is only the ascetic Visravas who by the power of his +yoga has heard every word, and with his eyes beheld that Flame of +Beauty, who, for a brief space illuminating the world as a Queen, +returns to birth in many a shape of sorrowful loveliness until +the Blue-throated God shall in his favour destroy her +rebirths.</p> + +<p>Salutation to Ganesa the Elephant-Headed One, and to Shri the +Lady of Beauty!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE BUILDING OF THE TAJ MAHAL</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p>In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful- the +Smiting! A day when the soul shall know what it has sent on or +kept back. A day when no soul shall control aught for another. +And the bidding belongs to God.</p> + +<h3 align="center">THE KORAN.</h3> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p>Now the Shah-in-Shah, Shah Jahan, Emperor in India, loved his +wife with a great love. And of all the wives of the Mogul +Emperors surely this Lady Arjemand, Mumtaz-i-Mahal - the Chosen +of the Palace - was the most worthy of love. In the tresses of +her silk-soft hair his heart was bound, and for none other had he +so much as a passing thought since his soul had been submerged in +her sweetness. Of her he said, using the words of the poet Faisi, +-</p> + +<p>"How shall I understand the magic of Love the Juggler? For he +made thy beauty enter at that small gate the pupil of my eye, And +now - and now my heart cannot contain it!"</p> + +<p>But who should marvel? For those who have seen this Arjemand +crowned with the crown the Padishah set upon her sweet low brows, +with the lamps of great jewels lighting the dimples of her cheeks +as they swung beside them, have most surely seen perfection. lie +who sat upon the Peacock Throne, where the outspread tail of +massed gems is centred by that great ruby, "The Eye of the +Peacock, the Tribute of the World," valued it not so much as one +Jock of the dark and perfumed tresses that rolled to her feet. +Less to him the twelve throne columns set close with pearls than +the little pearls she showed in her sweet laughter. For if this +lady was all beauty, so too she was all goodness; and from the +Shah-in-Shah to the poorest, all hearts of the world knelt in +adoration, before the Chosen of the Palace. She was, indeed, an +extraor- dinary beauty, in that she had the soul of a child, and +she alone remained unconscious of her power; and so she walked, +crowned and clothed with humility.</p> + +<p>Cold, haughty, and silent was the Shah-in-Shah before she +blessed his arms - flattered, envied, but loved by none. But the +gift this Lady brought with her was love; and this, shining like +the sun upon ice, melted his coldness, and he became indeed the +kingly centre of a kingly court May the Peace be upon her!</p> + +<p>Now it was the dawn of a sorrowful day when the pains of the +Lady Arjemand came strong and terrible, and she travailed in +agony. The hakims (physicians) stroked their beards and reasoned +one with another; the wise women surrounded her, and remedies +many and great were tried; and still her anguish grew, and in the +hall without sat the Shah-in-Shah upon his divan, in anguish of +spirit yet greater. The sweat ran on his brows, the knotted veins +were thick on his temples, and his eyes, sunk in their caves, +showed as those of a maddened man. He crouched on his cushions +and stared at the purdah that divided him from the Lady; and all +day the people came and went about him, and there was silence +from the voice he longed to hear; for she would not moan, lest +the sound should slay the Emperor. Her women besought her, +fearing that her strong silence would break her heart; but still +she lay, her hands clenched in one another, enduring; and the +Emperor endured without. The Day of the Smiting!</p> + +<p>So, as the time of the evening prayer drew nigh, a child was +born, and the Empress, having done with pain, began to sink +slowly into that profound sleep that is the shadow cast by the +Last. May Allah the Upholder have mercy on our weakness! And the +women, white with fear and watching, looked upon her, and +whispered one to another, "It is the end."</p> + +<p>And the aged mother of Abdul Mirza, standing at her head, +said, "She heeds not the cry of the child. She cannot stay." And +the newly wed wife of Saif Khan, standing at her feet, said, "The +voice of the beloved husband is as the Call of the Angel. Let the +Padishah be summoned."</p> + +<p>So, the evening prayer being over (but the Emperor had not +prayed), the wisest of the hakims, Kazim Sharif, went before him +and spoke:-</p> + +<p>"Inhallah! May the will of the Issuer of Decrees in all things +be done! Ascribe unto the Creator glory, bowing before his +Throne."</p> + +<p>And he remained silent; but the Padishah, haggard in his +jewels, with his face hidden, answered thickly, "The truth! For +Allah has forgotten his slave."</p> + +<p>And Kazim Sharif, bowing at his feet and veiling his face with +his hands, replied:</p> + +<p>"The voice of the child cannot reach her, and the Lady of +Delight departs. He who would speak with her must speak +quickly."</p> + +<p>Then the Emperor rose to his feet unsteadily, like a man drunk +with the forbidden juice; and when Kazim Sharif would have +supported him, be flung aside his hands, and he stumbled, a man +wounded to death, as it were, to the marble chamber where she +lay.</p> + +<p>In that white chamber it was dusk, and they had lit the little +cressets so that a very faint light fell upon her face. A slender +fountain a little cooled the hot, still air with its thin music +and its sprinkled diamonds, and outside, the summer lightnings +were playing wide and blue on the river; but so still was it that +the dragging footsteps of the Emperor raised the hair on the +flesh of those who heard, So the women who should, veiled +themselves, and the others remained like pillars of stone.</p> + +<p>Now, when those steps were heard, a faint colour rose in the +cheek of the Lady Arjemand; but she did not raise the heavy +lashes, or move her hand. And he came up beside her, and the +Shadow of God, who should kneel to none, knelt, and his head fell +forward upon her breast; and in the hush the women glided out +like ghosts, leaving the husband with the wife excepting only +that her foster-nurse stood far off, with eyes averted.</p> + +<p>So the minutes drifted by, falling audibly one by one into +eternity, and at the long last she slowly opened her eyes and, as +from the depths of a dream, beheld the Emperor; and in a voice +faint as the fall of a rose-leaf she said the one word, +"Beloved!"</p> + +<p>And he from between his clenched teeth, answered, "Speak, +wife."</p> + +<p>So she, who in all things had loved and served him, - she, +Light of all hearts, dispeller of all gloom, - gathered her dying +breath for consolation, and raised one hand slowly; and it fell +across his, and so remained.</p> + +<p>Now, her beauty had been broken in the anguish like a rose in +storm; but it returned to her, doubtless that the Padishah might +take comfort in its memory; and she looked like a houri of +Paradise who, kneeling beside the Zemzem Well, beholds the Waters +of Peace. Not Fatmeh herself, the daughter of the Prophet of God, +shone more sweetly. She repeated the word, "Beloved"; and after a +pause she whispered on with lips that scarcely stirred, "King of +the Age, this is the end."</p> + +<p>But still he was like a dead man, nor lifted his face.</p> + +<p>"Surely all things pass. And though I go, in your heart I +abide, and nothing can sever us. Take comfort."</p> + +<p>But there was no answer.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but Love's own hand can slay Love. Therefore, +remember me, and I shall live."</p> + +<p>And he answered from the darkness of her bosom, "The whole +world shall remember. But when shall I be united to thee? 0 +Allah, how long wilt thou leave me to waste in this +separation?"</p> + +<p>And she: "Beloved, what is time? We sleep and the night is +gone. Now put your arms about me, for I sink into rest. What +words are needed between us? Love is enough."</p> + +<p>So, making not the Profession of Faith, - and what need, since +all her life was worship, - the Lady Arjemand turned into his +arms like a child. And the night deepened.</p> + +<p>Morning, with its arrows of golden light that struck the river +to splendour! Morning, with its pure breath, its sunshine of joy, +and the koels fluting in the Palace gardens! Morning, divine and +new from the hand of the Maker! And in the innermost chamber of +marble a white silence; and the Lady, the Mirror of Goodness, +lying in the Compassion of Allah, and a broken man stretched on +the ground beside her. For all flesh, from the camel-driver to +the Shah-in- Shah, is as one in the Day of the Smiting.</p> + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>For weeks the Emperor lay before the door of death; and had it +opened to him, he had been blessed. So the months went by, and +very slowly the strength returned to him; but his eyes were +withered and the bones stood out in his cheeks. But he resumed +his throne, and sat upon it kingly, black-bearded, eagle-eyed, +terribly apart in his grief and his royalty; and so seated among +his Usbegs, he declared his will.</p> + +<p>"For this Lady (upon whom be peace), departed to the mercy of +the Giver and Taker, shall a tomb-palace be made, the Like of +which is not found in the four corners of the world. Send forth +therefore for craftsmen like the builders of the Temple of +Solomon the Wise; for I will build."</p> + +<p>So, taking counsel, they sent in haste into Agra for Ustad +Isa, the Master-Builder, a man of Shiraz; and he, being presented +before the Padishah, received his instructions in these +words:-</p> + +<p>"I will that all the world shall remember the Flower of the +World, that all hearts shall give thanks for her beauty, which +was indeed the perfect Mirror of the Creator. And since it is +abhorrent of Islam that any image be made in the likeness of +anything that has life, make for me a palace-tomb, gracious as +she was gracious, lovely as she was lovely. Not such as the tombs +of the Kings and the Conquerors, but of a divine sweetness. Make +me a garden on the banks of Jumna, and build it there, where, +sitting in my Pavilion of Marble, I may see it rise."</p> + +<p>And Ustad Isa, having heard, said, "Upon my head and eyes!" +and went out from the Presence.</p> + +<p>So, musing upon the words of the Padishah, he went to his +house in Agra, and there pondered the matter long and deeply; and +for a whole day and night he refused all food and secluded +himself from the society of all men; for he said:-</p> + +<p>"This is a weighty thing, for this Lady (upon whom be peace) +must visibly dwell in her tomb- palace on the shore of the river; +and how shall I, who have never seen her, imagine the grace that +was in her, and restore it to the world? Oh, had I but the memory +of her face! Could I but see it as the Shah-in-Shah sees it, +remembering the past! Prophet of God, intercede for me, that I +may look through his eyes, if but for a moment!"</p> + +<p>That night he slept, wearied and weakened with fasting; and +whether it were that the body guarded no longer the gates of the +soul, I cannot say; for, when the body ails, the soul soars free +above its weakness. But a strange marvel happened.</p> + +<p>For, as it seemed to him, he awoke at the mid-noon of the +night, and he was sitting, not in his own house, but upon the +roof of the royal palace, looking down on the gliding Jumna, +where the low moon slept in silver, and the light was alone upon +the water; and there were no boats, but sleep and dream, hovering +hand-in-hand, moved upon the air, and his heart was dilated in +the great silence.</p> + +<p>Yet he knew well that he waked in some supernatural sphere: +for his eyes could see across the river as if the opposite shore +lay at his feet; and he could distinguish every leaf on every +tree, and the flowers moon-blanched and ghost-like. And there, in +the blackest shade of the pippala boughs, he beheld a faint light +like a pearl; and looking with unspeakable anxiety, he saw within +the light, slowly growing, the figure of a lady exceedingly +glorious in majesty and crowned with a rayed crown of mighty +jewels of white and golden splendour. Her gold robe fell to her +feet, and - very strange to tell - her feet touched not the +ground, but hung a span's length above it, so that she floated in +the air.</p> + +<p>But the marvel of marvels was her face - not, indeed, for its +beauty, though that transcended all, but for its singular and +compassionate sweetness, wherewith she looked toward the Palace +beyond the river as if it held the heart of her heart, while +death and its river lay between.</p> + +<p>And Ustad Isa said:- "0 dream, if this sweetness be but a +dream, let me never wake! Let me see forever this exquisite work +of Allah the Maker, before whom all the craftsmen are as +children! For my knowledge is as nothing, and I am ashamed in its +presence."</p> + +<p>And as he spoke, she turned those brimming eyes on him, and he +saw her slowly absorbed into the glory of the moonlight; but as +she faded into dream, he beheld, slowly rising, where her feet +had hung in the blessed air, a palace of whiteness, warm as +ivory, cold as chastity, domes and cupolas, slender minars, +arches of marble fretted into sea-foam, screen within screen of +purest marble, to hide the sleeping beauty of a great Queen - +silence in the heart of it, and in every line a harmony beyond +all music. Grace was about it - the grace of a Queen who prays +and does not command; who, seated in her royalty yet inclines all +hearts to love. Arid he saw that its grace was her grace, and its +soul her soul, and that she gave it for the consolation of the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>And he fell on his face and worshipped the Master-Builder of +the Universe, saying,- "Praise cannot express thy Perfection. +Thine Essence confounds thought. Surely I am but the tool in the +hand of the Builder."</p> + +<p>And when he awoke, he was lying in his own secret chamber, but +beside him was a drawing such as the craftsmen make of the work +they have imagined in their hearts. And it was the Palace of the +Tomb.</p> + +<p>Henceforward, how should he waver? He was as a slave who obeys +his master, and with haste he summoned to Agra his Army of +Beauty.</p> + +<p>Then were assembled all the master craftsmen of India and of +the outer world. From Delhi, from Shiraz, even from Baghdad and +Syria, they came. Muhammad Hanif, the wise mason, came from +Kandahar, Muhammad Sayyid from Mooltan. Amanat Khan, and other +great writers of the holy Koran, who should make the scripts of +the Book upon fine marble. Inlayers from Kanauj, with fingers +like those of the Spirits that bowed before Solomon the King, who +should make beautiful the pure stone with inlay of jewels, as did +their forefathers for the Rajah of Mewar; mighty dealers with +agate, cornelian, and lapis lazuli. Came also, from Bokhara, Ata +Muhammad and Shakri Muhammad, that they might carve the lilies of +the field, very glorious, about that Flower of the World. Men of +India, men of Persia, men of the outer lands, they came at the +bidding of Ustad Isa, that the spirit of his vision might be made +manifest.</p> + +<p>And a great council was held among these servants of beauty. +so they made a model in little of the glory that was to be, and +laid it at the feet of the Shah-in-Shah; and he allowed it, +though not as yet fully discerning their intent. And when it was +approved, Ustad Isa called to him a man of Kashmir; and the very +hand of the Creator was upon this man, for he could make gardens +second only to the Gardens of Paradise, having been born by that +Dal Lake where are those roses of the earth, the Shalimar and the +Nishat Bagh; and to him said Ustad Isa,-</p> + +<p>"Behold, Rain Lal Kashmiri, consider this design! Thus and +thus shall a white palace, exquisite in perfection, arise on the +banks of Jumna. Here, in little, in this model of sandalwood, see +what shall be. Consider these domes, rounded as the Bosom of +Beauty, recalling the mystic fruit of the lotus flower. Consider +these four minars that stand about them like Spirits about the +Throne. And remembering that all this shall stand upon a great +dais of purest marble, and that the river shall be its mirror, +repeating to everlasting its loveliness, make me a garden that +shall be the throne room to this Queen."</p> + +<p>And Ram Lal Kashmiri salaamed and said, "Obedience!" and went +forth and pondered night and day, journeying even over the snows +of the Pir Panjal to Kashmir, that he might bathe his eyes in +beauty where she walks, naked and divine, upon the earth. and he +it was who imagined the black marble and white that made the way +of approach.</p> + +<p>So grew the palace that should murmur, like a seashell, in the +ear of the world the secret of love.</p> + +<p>Veiled had that loveliness been in the shadow of the palace; +but now the sun should rise upon it and turn its ivory to gold, +should set upon it and flush its snow with rose. The moon should +lie upon it like the pearls upon her bosom, the visible grace of +her presence breathe about it, the music of her voice hover in +the birds and trees of the garden. Times there were when Ustad +Isa despaired lest even these mighty servants of beauty should +miss perfection. Yet it grew and grew, rising like the growth of +a flower.</p> + +<p>So on a certain day it stood completed, and beneath the small +tomb in the sanctuary, veiled with screens of wrought marble so +fine that they might lift in the breeze, - the veils of a Queen, +- slept the Lady Arjemand; and above her a narrow coffer of white +marble, enriched in a great script with the Ninety-Nine Wondrous +Names of God. And the Shah-in-Shah, now grey and worn, entered +and, standing by her, cried in a loud voice, - "I ascribe to the +Unity, the only Creator, the perfection of his handiwork made +visible here by the hand of mortal man. For the beauty that was +secret in my Palace is here revealed; and the Crowned Lady shall +sit forever upon the banks of the Jumna River. It was love that +commanded this Tomb."</p> + +<p>And the golden echo carried his voice up into the high dome, +and it died away in whispers of music.</p> + +<p>But Ustad Isa standing far off in the throng (for what are +craftsmen in the presence of the mighty?), said softly in his +beard, "It was Love also that built, and therefore it shall +endure."</p> + +<p>Now it is told that, on a certain night in summer, when the +moon is full, a man who lingers by the straight water, where the +cypresses stand over their own image, may see a strange marvel - +may see the Palace of the Taj dissolve like a pearl, and so rise +in a mist into the moonlight; and in its place, on her dais of +white marble, he shall see the Lady Arjemand, Mumtaz-i-Mahal, the +Chosen of the Palace, stand there in the white perfection of +beauty, smiling as one who hath attained unto the Peace. For she +is its soul.</p> + +<p>And kneeling before the dais, he shall see Ustad Isa, who made +this body of her beauty; and his face is hidden in his hands.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">"HOW GREAT IS THE GLORY OF KWANNON!"</h2> + +<h3 align="center">A JAPANESE STORY</h3> + +<h3 align="center"> </h3> + +<p>(0 Lovely One-O thou Flower! With Thy beautiful face, with Thy +beautiful eyes, pour light upon the world! Adoration to +Kwannon.)</p> + +<p>In Japan in the days of the remote Ancestors, near the little +village of Shiobara, the river ran through rocks of a very +strange blue colour, and the bed of the river was also composed +of these rocks, so that the clear water ran blue as turquoise +gems to the sea.</p> + +<p>The great forests murmured beside it, and through their +swaying boughs was breathed the song of Eternity. Those who +listen may hear if their ears are open. To others it is but the +idle sighing of the wind.</p> + +<p>Now because of all this beauty there stood in these forests a +roughly built palace of unbarked wood, and here the great Emperor +would come from City-Royal to seek rest for his doubtful thoughts +and the cares of state, turning aside often to see the moonlight +in Shiobara. He sought also the free air and the sound of falling +water, yet dearer to him than the plucked strings of sho and +biwa. For he said;</p> + +<p>"Where and how shall We find peace even for a moment, and +afford Our heart refreshment even for a single second?"</p> + +<p>And it seemed to him that he found such moments at +Shiobara.</p> + +<p>Only one of his great nobles would His Majesty bring with him +- the Dainagon, and him be chose because he was a worthy and +honorable person and very simple of heart.</p> + +<p>There was yet another reason why the Son of Heaven inclined to +the little Shiobara. It had reached the Emperor that a Recluse of +the utmost sanctity dwelt in that forest. His name was Semimaru. +He had made himself a small hut in the deep woods, much as a +decrepit silkworm might spin his last Cocoon and there had the +Peace found him.</p> + +<p>It had also reached His Majesty that, although blind, be was +exceedingly skilled in the art of playing the biwa, both in the +Flowing Fount manner and the Woodpecker manner, and that, +especially on nights when the moon was full, this aged man made +such music as transported the soul. This music His Majesty +desired very greatly to hear.</p> + +<p>Never had Semimaru left his hut save to gather wood or seek +food until the Divine Emperor commanded his attendance that he +might soothe his august heart with music.</p> + +<p>Now on this night of nights the moon was full and the snow +heavy on the pines, and the earth was white also, and when the +moon shone through the boughs it made a cold light like dawn, and +the shadows of the trees were black upon it.</p> + +<p>The attendants of His Majesty long since slept for sheer +weariness, for the night was far spent, but the Emperor and the +Dainagon still sat with their eyes fixed on the venerable +Semimaru. For many hours he had played, drawing strange music +from his biwa. Sometimes it had been like rain blowing over the +plains of Adzuma, sometimes like the winds roaring down the +passes of the Yoshino Mountains, and yet again like the voice of +far cities. For many hours they listened without weariness, and +thought that all the stories of the ancients might flow past them +in the weird music that seemed to have neither beginning nor +end.</p> + +<p>"It is as the river that changes and changes not, and is ever +and ever the same," said the Emperor in his own soul.</p> + +<p>And certainly had a voice announced to His Augustness that +centuries were drifting by as he listened, he could have felt no +surprise.</p> + +<p>Before them, as they sat upon the silken floor cushions, was a +small shrine with a Buddha shelf, and a hanging picture of the +Amida Buddha within it - the expression one of rapt peace. +Figures of Fugen and Fudo were placed before the curtain doors of +the shrine, looking up in adoration to the Blessed One. A small +and aged pine tree was in a pot of grey porcelain from Chosen - +the only ornament in the chamber.</p> + +<p>Suddenly His Majesty became aware that the Dainagon also had +fallen asleep from weariness, and that the recluse was no longer +playing, but was speaking in a still voice like a deeply flowing +stream. The Emperor had observed no change from music to speech, +nor could he recall when the music had ceased, so that it +altogether resembled a dream.</p> + +<p>"When I first came here - "the Venerable one continued-" it +was not my intention to stay long in the forest. As each day +dawned, I said; `In seven days I go.' And again - 'In seven.' Yet +have I not gone. The days glided by and here have I attained to +look on the beginnings of peace. Then wherefore should I go? - +for all life is within the soul. Shall the fish weary of his +pool? And I, who through my blind eyes feel the moon illuming my +forest by night and the sun by day, abide in peace, so that even +the wild beasts press round to hear my music. I have come by a +path overblown by autumn leaves. But I have come."</p> + +<p>Then said the Divine Emperor as if unconsciously;</p> + +<p>"Would that I also might come! But the august duties cannot +easily be laid aside. And I have no wife - no son."</p> + +<p>And Semimaru, playing very softly on the strings of his biwa +made no other answer, and His Majesty, collecting his thoughts, +which had become, as it were, frozen with the cold and the quiet +and the strange music, spoke thus, as if in a waking dream;</p> + +<p>"Why have I not wedded? Because I have desired a bride beyond +the women of earth, and of none such as I desire has the rumor +reached me. Consider that Ancestor who wedded Her Shining +Majesty! Evil and lovely was she, and the passions were loud +about her. And so it is with women. Trouble and vexation of +spirit, or instead a great weariness. But if the Blessed One +would vouchsafe to my prayers a maiden of blossom and dew, with a +heart calm as moonlight, her would I wed. 0, honorable One, whose +wisdom surveys the world, is there in any place near or far - in +heaven or in earth, such a one that I may seek and find?"</p> + +<p>And Semimaru, still making a very low music on his biwa, said +this;</p> + +<p>"Supreme Master, where the Shiobara River breaks away through +the gorges to the sea, dwelt a poor couple - the husband a +wood-cutter. They had no children to aid in their toil, and daily +the woman addressed her prayers for a son to the Bodhisattwa +Kwannon, the Lady of Pity who looketh down for ever upon the +sound of prayer. Very fervently she prayed, with such offerings +as her poverty allowed, and on a certain night she dreamed this +dream. At the shrine of the Senju Kwannon she knelt as was her +custom, and that Great Lady, sitting enthroned upon the Lotos of +Purity, opened Her eyes slowly from Her divine contemplation and +heard the prayer of the wood-cutter's wife. Then stooping like a +blown willow branch, she gathered a bud from the golden lotos +plant that stood upon her altar, and breathing upon it it became +pure white and living, and it exhaled a perfume like the flowers +of Paradise, This flower the Lady of Pity flung into the bosom of +her petitioner, and closing Her eyes returned into Her divine +dream, whilst the woman awoke, weeping for joy.</p> + +<p>But when she sought in her bosom for the Lotos it was gone. Of +all this she boasted loudly to her folk and kin, and the more so, +when in due time she perceived herself to be with child, for, +from that august favour she looked for nothing less than a son, +radiant with the Five Ornaments of riches, health, longevity, +beauty, and success. Yet, when her hour was come, a girl was +born, and blind."</p> + +<p>"Was she welcomed?" asked the dreaming voice of the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>"Augustness, but as a household drudge. For her food was +cruelty and her drink tears. And the shrine of the Senju Kwannon +was neglected by her parents because of the disappointment and +shame of the unwanted gift. And they believed that, lost in Her +divine contemplation, the Great Lady would not perceive this +neglect. The Gods however are known by their great memories."</p> + +<p>"Her name?"</p> + +<p>"Majesty, Tsuyu-Morning Dew. And like the morning dew she +shines in stillness. She has repaid good for evil to her evil +parents, serving them with unwearied service."</p> + +<p>"What distinguishes her from others?"</p> + +<p>"Augustness, a very great peace. Doubtless the shadow of the +dream of the Holy Kwannon. She works, she moves, she smiles as +one who has tasted of content."</p> + +<p>"Has she beauty?"</p> + +<p>"Supreme Master, am I not blind? But it is said that she has +no beauty that men should desire her. Her face is flat and round, +and her eyes blind."</p> + +<p>"And yet content?"</p> + +<p>"Philosophers might envy her calm. And her blindness is +without doubt a grace from the excelling Pity, for could she see +her own exceeding ugliness she must weep for shame. But she sees +not. Her sight is inward, and she is well content."</p> + +<p>"Where does she dwell?"</p> + +<p>"Supreme Majesty, far from here - where in the heart of the +woods the river breaks through the rocks."</p> + +<p>"Venerable One, why have you told me this? I asked for a royal +maiden wise and beautiful, calm as the dawn, and you have told me +of a wood-cutter's drudge, blind and ugly."</p> + +<p>And now Semimaru did not answer, but the tones of the biwa +grew louder and clearer, and they rang like a song of triumph, +and the Emperor could hear these words in the voice of the +strings.</p> + +<p>"She is beautiful as the night, crowned with moon and stars +for him who has eyes to see. Princess Splendour was dim beside +her; Prince Fireshine, gloom! Her Shining Majesty was but a +darkened glory before this maid. All beauty shines within her +hidden eyes."</p> + +<p>And having uttered this the music became wordless once more, +but it still flowed on more and more softly like a river that +flows into the far distance.</p> + +<p>The Emperor stared at the mats, musing - the light of the lamp +was burning low. His heart said within him;</p> + +<p>"This maiden, cast like a flower from the hand of Kwannon +Sama, will I see."</p> + +<p>And as he said this the music had faded away into a +thread-like smallness, and when after long thought he raised his +august head, he was alone save for the Dainagon, sleeping on the +mats behind him, and the chamber was in darkness. Semimaru had +departed in silence, and His Majesty, looking forth into the +broad moonlight, could see the track of his feet upon the shining +snow, and the music came back very thinly like spring rain in the +trees. Once more he looked at the whiteness of the night, and +then, stretching his august person on the mats, he slept amid +dreams of sweet sound.</p> + +<p>The next day, forbidding any to follow save the Dainagon, His +Majesty went forth upon the frozen snow where the sun shone in a +blinding whiteness. They followed the track of Semimaru's feet +far under the pine trees so heavy with their load of snow that +they were bowed as if with fruit. And the track led on and the +air was so still that the cracking of a bough was like the blow +of a hammer, and the sliding of a load of snow from a branch like +the fall of an avalanche. Nor did they speak as they went. They +listened, nor could they say for what.</p> + +<p>Then, when they had gone a very great way, the track ceased +suddenly, as if cut off, and at this spot, under the pines furred +with snow, His Majesty became aware of a perfume so sweet that it +was as though all the flowers of the earth haunted the place with +their presence, and a music like the biwa of Semimaru was heard +in the tree tops. This sounded far off like the whispering of +rain when it falls in very small leaves, and presently it died +away, and a voice followed after, singing, alone in the woods, so +that the silence appeared to have been created that such a music +might possess the world. So the Emperor stopped instantly, and +the Dainagon behind him and he heard these words.</p> + +<p>"In me the Heavenly Lotos grew, The fibres ran from head to +feet, And my heart was the august Blossom. Therefore the +sweetness flowed through the veins of my flesh, And I breathed +peace upon all the world, And about me was my fragrance shed That +the souls of men should desire me."</p> + +<p>Now, as he listened, there came through the wood a maiden, +bare - footed, save for grass sandals, and clad in coarse +clothing, and she came up and passed them, still singing.</p> + +<p>And when she was past, His Majesty put up his hand to his +eyes, like one dreaming, and said;</p> + +<p>"What have you seen?"</p> + +<p>And the Dainagon answered;</p> + +<p>"Augustness, a country wench, flat - faced, ugly and blind, +and with a voice like a crow. Has not your Majesty seen +this?"</p> + +<p>The Emperor, still shading his eyes, replied;</p> + +<p>"I saw a maiden so beautiful that her Shining Majesty would be +a black blot beside her. As she went, the Spring and all its +sweetness blew from her garments. Her robe was green with small +gold flowers. Her eyes were closed, but she resembled a cherry +tree, snowy with bloom and dew. Her voice was like the singing +flowers of Paradise."</p> + +<p>The Dainagon looked at him with fear and compassion;</p> + +<p>"Augustness, how should such a lady carry in her arms a bundle +of firewood?"</p> + +<p>"She bore in her hands three lotos flowers, and where each +foot fell I saw a lotos bloom and vanish."</p> + +<p>They retraced their steps through the wood; His Majesty +radiant as Prince Fireshine with the joy that filled his soul; +the Dainagon darkened as Prince Firefade with fear, believing +that the strange music of Semimaru had bewitched His Majesty, or +that the maiden herself might possibly have the power of the fox +in shape-changing and bewildering the senses.</p> + +<p>Very sorrowful and careful was his heart for he loved his +Master.</p> + +<p>That night His Majesty dreamed that he stood before the +kakemono of the Amida Buddha, and that as he raised his eyes in +adoration to the Blessed Face, he beheld the images of Fugen and +Fudo, rise up and bow down before that One Who Is. Then, gliding +in, before these Holinesses stood a figure, and it was the +wood-cutter's daughter homely and blinded. She stretched her +hands upward as though invoking the supreme Buddha, and then +turning to His Majesty she smiled upon him, her eyes closed as in +bliss unutterable. And he said aloud.</p> + +<p>"Would that I might see her eyes!" and so saying awoke in a +great stillness of snow and moonlight.</p> + +<p>Having waked, he said within himself</p> + +<p>"This marvel will I wed and she shall be my Empress were she +lower than the Eta, and whether her face be lovely or homely. For +she is certainly a flower dropped from the hand of the +Divine."</p> + +<p>So when the sun was high His Majesty, again followed by the +Dainagon, went through the forest swiftly, and like a man that +sees his goal, and when they reached the place where the maiden +went by, His Majesty straitly commanded the Dainagon that he +should draw apart, and leave him to speak with the maiden; yet +that he should watch what befell.</p> + +<p>So the Dainagon watched, and again he saw her come, very +poorly clad, and with bare feet that shrank from the snow in her +grass sandals, bowed beneath a heavy load of wood upon her +shoulders, and her face flat and homely like a girl of the +people, and her eyes blind and shut.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>And as she came she sang this.</p> + +<p>"The Eternal way lies before him,</p> + +<p>The way that is made manifest in the Wise.</p> + +<p>The Heart that loves reveals itself to man.</p> + +<p>For now he draws nigh to the Source.</p> + +<p>The night advances fast,</p> + +<p>And lo! the moon shines bright."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And to the Dainagon it seemed a harsh crying nor could he +distinguish any words at all.</p> + +<p>But what His Majesty beheld was this. The evening had come on +and the moon was rising. The snow had gone. It was the full glory +of spring, and the flowers sprang thick as stars upon the grass, +and among them lotos flowers, great as the wheel of a chariot, +white and shining with the luminance of the pearl, and upon each +one of these was seated an incarnate Holiness, looking upward +with joined hands. In the trees were the voices of the mystic +Birds that are the utterance of the Blessed One, proclaiming in +harmony the Five Virtues, The Five Powers, the Seven Steps +ascending to perfect Illumination, the Noble Eightfold Path, and +all the Law. And, bearing, in the heart of the Son of Heaven +awoke the Three Remembrances - the Remembrance of Him who is +Blessed, Remembrance of the Law, and Remembrance of the Communion +of the Assembly.</p> + +<p>So, looking upward to the heavens, he beheld the Infinite +Buddha, high and lifted up in a great raying glory. About Him +were the exalted Bodhisattwas, the mighty Disciples, great Arhats +all, and all the countless Angelhood. And these rose high into +the infinite until they could be seen but as a point of fire +against the moon. With this golden multitude beyond all numbering +was He.</p> + +<p>Then, as His Majesty had seen in the dream of the night, the +wood-cutter's daughter, moving through the flowers like one blind +that gropes his way, advanced before the Blessed Feet, and +uplifting her hands, did adoration, and her face he could not +see, but his heart went with her, adoring also the infinite +Buddha seated in the calms of boundless Light.</p> + +<p>Then enlightenment entered at his eyes, as a man that wakes +from sleep, and suddenly he beheld the Maiden crowned and robed +and terrible in beauty, and her feet were stayed upon an open +lotos, and his soul knew the Senju Kwannon Herself, myriad-armed +for the helping of mankind.</p> + +<p>And turning, she smiled as in the vision, but his eyes being +now clear her blinded eyes were opened, and that glory who shall +tell as those living founts of Wisdom rayed upon him their +ineffable light? In that ocean was his being drowned, and so, +bowed before the Infinite Buddha, he received the Greater +Illumination.</p> + +<p>How great is the Glory of Kwannon!</p> + +<p>When the radiance and the vision were withdrawn and only the +moon looked over the trees, His Majesty rose upon his feet, and +standing on the snow, surrounded with calm, he called to the +Dainagon, and asked this;</p> + +<p>"What have you seen?"</p> + +<p>"Augustness, nothing but the country wench and moon and +snow."</p> + +<p>"And heard?"</p> + +<p>"Augustness, nothing but the harsh voice of the wood-cutter's +daughter."</p> + +<p>"And felt?"</p> + +<p>"Augustness, nothing but the bone-piercing cold." So His +Majesty adored that which cannot be uttered, saying;</p> + +<p>"So Wisdom, so Glory encompass us about, and we see them not +for we are blinded with illusion. Yet every stone is a jewel and +every clod is spirit and to the hems of the Infinite Buddha all +cling. Through the compassion of the Supernal Mercy that walks +the earth as the Bodhisattwa Kwannon, am I admitted to wisdom and +given sight and hearing. And what is all the world to that happy +one who has beheld Her eyes!"</p> + +<p>And His Majesty returned through the forest.</p> + +<p>When, the next day, he sent for the venerable Semimaru that +holy recluse had departed and none knew where. But still when the +moon is full a strange music moves in the tree tops of +Shiobara.</p> + +<p>Then His sacred Majesty returned to City-Royal, having +determined to retire into the quiet life, and there, abandoning +the throne to a kinsman wise in greatness, he became a dweller in +the deserted hut of Semimaru.</p> + +<p>His life, like a descending moon approaching the hill that +should hide it, was passed in meditation on that Incarnate Love +and Compassion whose glory had augustly been made known to him, +and having cast aside all save the image of the Divine from his +soul, His Majesty became even as that man who desired +enlightenment of the Blessed One.</p> + +<p>For he, desiring instruction, gathered precious flowers, and +journeyed to present them as an offering to the Guatama Buddha. +Standing before Him, he stretched forth both his hands holding +the flowers.</p> + +<p>Then said the Holy One, looking upon his petitioner's right +hand;</p> + +<p>"Loose your hold of these."</p> + +<p>And the man dropped the flowers from his right hand. And the +Holy One looking upon his left hand, said;</p> + +<p>"Loose your hold of these."</p> + +<p>And, sorrowing, he dropped the flowers from his left hand. And +again the Master said;</p> + +<p>"Loose your hold of that which is neither in the right nor in +the left"</p> + +<p>And the disciple said very pitifully;</p> + +<p>"Lord, of what should I loose my hold for I have nothing +left?"</p> + +<p>And He looked upon him steadfastly.</p> + +<p>Therefore at last understanding he emptied his soul of all +desire, and of fear that is the shadow of desire, and being +enlightened relinquished all burdens.</p> + +<p>So was it also with His Majesty. In peace he dwelt, and +becoming a great Arhat, in peace he departed to that Uttermost +Joy where is the Blessed One made manifest in Pure Light.</p> + +<p>As for the parents of the maiden, they entered after sore +troubles into peace, having been remembered by the Infinite. For +it is certain that the enemies also of the Supreme Buddha go to +salvation by thinking on Him, even though it be against Him.</p> + +<p>And he who tells this truth makes this prayer to the Lady of +Pity;</p> + +<p>"Grant me, I pray, One dewdrop from Thy willow spray, And in +the double Lotos keep My hidden heart asleep."</p> + +<p>How great is the Glory of Kwannon!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2 align="center">THE ROUND-FACED BEAUTY</h2> + +<h3 align="center">A STORY OF THE CHINESE COURT</h3> + +<h3 align="center"> </h3> + +<p>In the city of Chang-an music filled the palaces, and the +festivities of the Emperor were measured by its beat. Night, and +the full moon swimming like a gold-fish in the garden lakes, gave +the signal for the Feather Jacket and Rainbow Skirt dances. +Morning, with the rising sun, summoned the court again to the +feast and wine-cup in the floating gardens.</p> + +<p>The Emperor Chung Tsu favored this city before all others. The +Yen Tower soaring heavenward, the Drum Towers, the Pearl Pagoda, +were the only fit surroundings of his magnificence; and in the +Pavilion of Tranquil Learning were held those discussions which +enlightened the world and spread the fame of the Jade Emperor far +and wide. In all respects he adorned the Dragon Throne - in all +but one; for Nature, bestowing so much, withheld one gift, and +the Imperial heart, as precious as jade, was also as hard, and he +eschewed utterly the company of the Hidden Palace Flowers.</p> + +<p>Yet the Inner Chambers were filled with ladies chosen from all +parts of the Celestial Empire - ladies of the most exquisite and +torturing beauty, moons of loveliness, moving coquettishly on +little feet, with all the grace of willow branches in a light +breeze. They were sprinkled with perfumes, adorned with jewels, +robed in silks woven with gold and embroidered with designs of +flowers and birds. Their faces were painted and their eyebrows +formed into slender and perfect arches whence the soul of man +might well slip to perdition, and a breath of sweet odor followed +each wherever she moved. Every one might have been the Empress of +some lesser kingdom; but though rumours reached the Son of Heaven +from time to time of their charms, - especially when some new +blossom was added to the Imperial bouquet,- he had dismissed them +from his august thoughts, and they languished in a neglect so +complete that the Great Cold Palaces of the Moon were not more +empty than their hearts. They remained under the supervision of +the Princess of Han, August Aunt of the Emperor, knowing that +their Lord considered the company of sleeve-dogs and macaws more +pleasant than their own. Nor had he as yet chosen an Empress, and +it was evident that without some miracle, such as the +intervention of the Municipal God, no heir to the throne could be +hoped for.</p> + +<p>Yet the Emperor one day remembered his imprisoned beauties, +and it crossed the Imperial thoughts that even these inferior +creatures might afford such interest as may be found in the +gambols of trained fleas or other insects of no natural +attainments.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, he commanded that the subject last discussed in +his presence should be transferred to the Inner Chambers, and it +was his Order that the ladies should also discuss it, and their +opinions be engraved on ivory, bound together with red silk and +tassels and thus presented at the Dragon feet. The subject chosen +was the following:-</p> + +<p>Describe the Qualities of the Ideal Man</p> + +<p>Now when this command was laid before the August Aunt, the +guardian of the Inner Chambers, she was much perturbed in mind, +for such a thing was unheard of in all the annals of the Empire. +Recovering herself, she ventured to say that the discussion of +such a question might raise very disquieting thoughts in the +minds of the ladies, who could not be supposed to have any +opinions at all on such a subject. Nor was it desirable that they +should have. To every woman her husband and no other is and must +be the Ideal Man. So it was always in the past; so it must ever +be. There are certain things which it is dangerous to question or +discuss, and how can ladies who have never spoken with any other +man than a parent or a brother judge such matters?</p> + +<p>"How, indeed," asked this lady of exalted merit, "can the bat +form an idea of the sunlight, or the carp of the motion of wings? +If his Celestial Majesty had commanded a discussion on the +Superior Woman and the virtues which should adorn her, some +sentiments not wholly unworthy might have been offered. But this +is a calamity. They come unexpectedly, springing up like +mushrooms, and this one is probably due to the lack of virtue of +the inelegant and unintellectual person who is now speaking."</p> + +<p>This she uttered in the presence of the principal beauties of +the Inner Chambers. They sat or reclined about her in attitudes +of perfect loveliness. Two, embroidering silver pheasants, paused +with their needles suspended above the stretched silk, to hear +the August Aunt. One, threading beads of jewel jade, permitted +them to slip from the string and so distended the rose of her +mouth in surprise that the small pearl-shells were visible +within. The Lady Tortoise, caressing a scarlet and azure macaw, +in her agitation so twitched the feathers that the bird, +shrieking, bit her finger. The Lady Golden Bells blushed deeply +at the thought of what was required of them; and the little Lady +Summer Dress, youngest of all the assembled beauties, was so +alarmed at the prospect that she began to sob aloud, until she +met the eye of the August Aunt and abruptly ceased.</p> + +<p>"It is not, however, to be supposed," said the August Aunt, +opening her snuff-bottle of painted crystal, "that the minds of +our deplorable and unattractive sex are wholly incapable of +forming opinions. But speech is a grave matter for women, +naturally slow-witted and feeble-minded as they are. This +unenlightened person recalls the Odes as saying:-</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>`A flaw in a piece of white jade</p> + +<p>May be ground away,</p> + +<p>But when a woman has spoken foolishly</p> + +<p>Nothing can be done-'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>a consideration which should make every lady here and +throughout the world think anxiously before speech." So anxiously +did the assembled beauties think, that all remained mute as fish +in a pool, and the August Aunt continued:-</p> + +<p>"Let Tsu-ssu be summoned. It is my intention to suggest to the +Dragon Emperor that the virtues of women be the subject of our +discourse, and I will myself open and conclude the +discussion."</p> + +<p>Tsu-ssu was not long in kotowing before the August Aunt, who +despatched her message with the proper ceremonial due to its +Imperial destination; and meanwhile, in much agitation, the +beauties could but twitter and whisper in each other's ears, and +await the response like condemned prisoners who yet hope for +reprieve.</p> + +<p>Scarce an hour had dripped away on the water-clock when an +Imperial Missive bound with yellow silk arrived, and the August +Aunt, rising, kotowed nine times before she received it in her +jewelled hand with its delicate and lengthy nails ensheathed in +pure gold and set with gems of the first water. She then read it +aloud, the ladies prostrating themselves.</p> + +<p>To the Princess of Han, the August Aunt, the Lady of the Nine +Superior Virtues:-</p> + +<p>"Having deeply reflected on the wisdom submitted, We thus +reply. Women should not be the judges of their own virtues, since +these exist only in relation to men. Let Our Command therefore be +executed, and tablets presented before us seven days hence, with +the name of each lady appended to her tablet."</p> + +<p>It was indeed pitiable to see the anxiety of the ladies! A +sacrifice to Kwan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, of a jewel from +each, with intercession for aid, was proposed by the Lustrous +Lady; but the majority shook their heads sadly. The August Aunt, +tossing her head, declared that, as the Son of Heaven had made no +comment on her proposal of opening and closing the discussion, +she should take no part other than safeguarding the interests of +propriety. This much increased the alarm, and, kneeling at her +feet, the swan-like beauties, Deep-Snow and Winter Moon implored +her aid and compassion. But, rising indignantly, the August Aunt +sought her own apartments, and for the first time the inmates of +the Pepper Chamber saw with regret the golden dragons embroidered +on her back.</p> + +<p>It was then that the Round-Faced Beauty ventured a remark. +This maiden, having been born in the far-off province of +Ssuch-uan, was considered a rustic by the distinguished elegance +of the Palace and, therefore, had never spoken unless decorum +required. Still, even her detractors were compelled to admit the +charms that had gained her her name. Her face had the flawless +outline of the pearl, and like the blossom of the plum was the +purity of her complexion, upon which the darkness of her eyebrows +resembled two silk-moths alighted to flutter above the brilliance +of her eyes - eyes which even the August Aunt had commended after +a banquet of unsurpassed variety. Her hair had been compared to +the crow's plumage; her waist was like a roll of silk, and her +discretion in habiting herself was such that even the Lustrous +Lady and the Lady Tortoise drew instruction from the splendours +of her robes. It created, however, a general astonishment when +she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Paragons of beauty, what is this dull and opaque. witted +person that she should speak?"</p> + +<p>"What, indeed!" said the Celestial Sister. "This entirely +undistinguished person cannot even imagine."</p> + +<p>A distressing pause followed, during which many whispered +anxiously. The Lustrous Lady broke it.</p> + +<p>"It is true that the highly ornamental Round-Faced Beauty is +but lately come, yet even the intelligent Ant may assist the +Dragon; and in the presence of alarm, what is decorum? With a +tiger behind one, who can recall the Book of Rites and act with +befitting elegance?"</p> + +<p>"The high-born will at all times remember the Rites!" retorted +the Celestial Sister. "Have we not heard the August Aunt observe: +`Those who understand do not speak. Those who speak do not +understand'?"</p> + +<p>The Round-Faced Beauty collected her courage.</p> + +<p>"Doubtless this is wisdom; yet if the wise do not speak, who +should instruct us? The August Aunt herself would be silent."</p> + +<p>All were confounded by this dilemma, and the little Lady +Summer-Dress, still weeping, entreated that the Round-Faced +Beauty might be heard. The Heavenly Blossoms then prepared to +listen and assumed attitudes of attention, which so disconcerted +the Round-Faced Beauty that she blushed like a spring tulip in +speaking.</p> + +<p>"Beautiful ladies, our Lord, who is unknown to us all, has +issued an august command. It cannot be disputed, for the whisper +of disobedience is heard as thunder in the Imperial Presence. +Should we not aid each other? If any lady has formed a dream in +her soul of the Ideal Man, might not such a picture aid us all? +Let us not be `say-nothing-do-nothing,' but act!"</p> + +<p>They hung their heads and smiled, but none would allow that +she had formed such an image. The little Lady Tortoise, laughing +behind her fan of sandalwood, said roguishly: "The Ideal Man +should be handsome, liberal in giving, and assuredly he should +appreciate the beauty of his wives. But this we cannot say to the +Divine Emperor."</p> + +<p>A sigh rustled through the Pepper Chamber. The Celestial +Sister looked angrily at the speaker.</p> + +<p>"This is the talk of children," she said. "Does no one +remember Kung-fu-tse's [Confucius] description of the Superior +Man?"</p> + +<p>Unfortunately none did - not even the Celestial Sister +herself.</p> + +<p>"Is it not probable," said the Round-Faced Beauty, "that the +Divine Emperor remembers it him- self and wishes-"</p> + +<p>But the Celestial Sister, yawning audibly, summoned the +attendants to bring rose-leaves in honey, and would hear no +more.</p> + +<p>The Round-Faced Beauty therefore wandered forth among the +mossy rocks and drooping willows of the Imperial Garden, deeply +considering the matter. She ascended the bow-curved bridge of +marble which crossed the Pool of Clear Weather, and from the top +idly observed the reflection of her rose-and-gold coat in the +water while, with her taper fingers, she crumbled cake for the +fortunate gold-fish that dwelt in it. And, so doing, she remarked +one fish, four-tailed among the six-tailed, and in no way +distinguished by elegance, which secured by far the largest share +of the crumbs dropped into the pool. Bending lower, she observed +this singular fish and its methods.</p> + +<p>The others crowded about the spot where the crumbs fell, all +herded together. In their eagerness and stupidity they remained +like a cloud of gold in one spot, slowly waving their tails. But +this fish, concealing itself behind a miniature rock, waited, +looking upward, until the crumbs were falling, and then, rushing +forth with the speed of an arrow, scattered the stupid mass of +fish, and bore off the crumbs to its shelter, where it instantly +devoured them.</p> + +<p>"This is notable," said the Round-Faced Beauty. "Observation +enlightens the mind. To be apart - to be distinguished - secures +notice!" And she plunged into thought again, wandering, herself a +flower, among the gorgeous tree peonies.</p> + +<p>On the following day the August Aunt commanded that a writer +among the palace attendants should, with brush and ink, be +summoned to transcribe the wisdom of the ladies. She requested +that each would give three days to thought, relating the +following anecdote. "There was a man who, taking a piece of +ivory, carved it into a mulberry leaf, spending three years on +the task. When finished it could not be told from the original, +and was a gift suitable for the Brother of the Sun and Moon. Do +likewise!"</p> + +<p>"But yet, 0 Augustness!" said the Celestial Sister, "if the +Lord of Heaven took as long with each leaf, there would be few +leaves on the trees, and if-"</p> + +<p>The August Aunt immediately commanded silence and retired. On +the third day she seated herself in her chair of carved ebony, +while the attendant placed himself by her feet and prepared to +record her words.</p> + +<p>"This insignificant person has decided," began her Augustness, +looking round and unscrewing the amber top of her snuff-bottle, +"to take an unintelligent part in these proceedings. An example +should be set. Attendant, write!"</p> + +<p>She then dictated as follows: "The Ideal Man is he who now +decorates the Imperial Throne, or he who in all humility ventures +to resemble the incomparable Emperor. Though he may not hope to +attain, his endeavor is his merit. No further description it +needed."</p> + +<p>With complacence she inhaled the perfumed snuff, as the writer +appended the elegant characters of her Imperial name.</p> + +<p>If it is permissible to say that the faces of the beauties +lengthened visibly, it should now be said. For it had been the +intention of every lady to make an illusion to the Celestial +Emperor and depict him as the Ideal Man. Nor had they expected +that the August Aunt would take any part in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it was the intention of this commonplace and +undignified person to say this very thing!" cried the Lustrous +Lady, with tears in the jewels of her eyes. "I thought no other +high-minded and distinguished lady would for a moment think of +it"</p> + +<p>"And it was my intention also!" fluttered the little Lady +Tortoise, wringing her hands! "What now shall this most unlucky +and unendurable person do? For three nights has sleep forsaken my +unattractive eyelids, and, tossing and turning on a couch +deprived of all comfort, I could only repeat, `The Ideal Man is +the Divine Dragon Emperor!'"</p> + +<p>"May one of entirely contemptible attainments make a +suggestion in this assemblage of scintillating wit and beauty?" +inquired the Celestial Sister. "My superficial opinion is that it +would be well to prepare a single paper to which all names should +be appended, stating that His Majesty in his Dragon Divinity +comprises all ideals in his sacred Person."</p> + +<p>"Let those words be recorded," said the August Aunt. "What +else should any lady of discretion and propriety say? In this +Palace of Virtuous Peace, where all is consecrated to the Son of +Heaven, though he deigns not to enter it, what other thought dare +be breathed? Has any lady ventured to step outside such a limit? +If so, let her declare herself!"</p> + +<p>All shook their heads, and the August Aunt proceeded: "Let the +writer record this as the opinion of every lady of the Imperial +Household, and let each name be separately appended."</p> + +<p>Had any desired to object, none dared to confront the August +Aunt; but apparently no beauty so desired, for after three +nights' sleepless meditation, no other thought than this had +occurred to any.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, the writer moved from lady to lady and, under the +supervision of the August Aunt, transcribed the following: "The +Ideal Man is the earthly likeness of the Divine Emperor. How +should it be otherwise?" And under this sentence wrote the name +of each lovely one in succession. The papers were then placed in +the hanging sleeves of the August Aunt for safety.</p> + +<p>By the decree of Fate, the father of the Round-Faced Beauty +had, before he became an ancestral spirit, been a scholar of +distinction, having graduated at the age of seventy-two with a +composition commended by the Grand Examiner. Having no gold and +silver to give his daughter, he had formed her mind, and had +presented her with the sole jewel of his family-a pearl as large +as a bean. Such was her sole dower, but the accomplished Aunt may +excel the indolent Prince.</p> + +<p>Yet, before the thought in her mind, she hesitated and +trembled, recalling the lesson of the gold-fish; and it was with +anxiety that paled her roseate lips that, on a certain day, she +had sought the Willow Bridge Pavilion. There had awaited her a +palace attendant skilled with the brush, and there in secrecy and +dire affright, hearing the footsteps of the August Aunt in every +rustle of leafage, and her voice in the call of every crow, did +the Round-Faced Beauty dictate the following composition:-</p> + +<p>"Though the sky rain pearls, it cannot equal the beneficence +of the Son of Heaven. Though the sky rain jade it cannot equal +his magnificence. He has commanded his slave to describe the +qualities of the Ideal Man. How should I, a mere woman, do this? +I, who have not seen the Divine Emperor, how should I know what +is virtue? I, who have not seen the glory of his countenance, how +should I know what is beauty? Report speaks of his excellencies, +but I who live in the dark know not. But to the Ideal Woman, the +very vices of her husband are virtues. Should he exalt another, +this is a mark of his superior taste. Should he dismiss his +slave, this is justice. To the Ideal Woman there is but one Ideal +Man - and that is her lord. From the day she crosses his +threshold, to the day when they clothe her in the garments of +Immortality, this is her sole opinion. Yet would that she might +receive instruction of what only are beauty and virtue in his +adorable presence."</p> + +<p>This being written, she presented her one pearl to the +attendant and fled, not looking behind her, as quickly as her +delicate feet would permit.</p> + +<p>On the seventh day the compositions, engraved on ivory and +bound with red silk and tassels, were presented to the Emperor, +and for seven days more he forgot their existence. On the eighth +the High Chamberlain ventured to recall them to the Imperial +memory, and the Emperor glancing slightly at one after another, +threw them aside, yawning as he did so. Finally, one arrested his +eyes, and reading it more than once he laid it before him and +meditated. An hour passed in this way while the forgotten Lord +Chamberlain continued to kneel. The Son of Heaven, then raising +his head, pronounced these words: "In the society of the Ideal +Woman, she to whom jealousy is unknown, tranquillity might +possibly be obtained. Let prayer be made before the Ancestors +with the customary offerings, for this is a matter deserving +attention."</p> + +<p>A few days passed, and an Imperial attendant, escorted by two +mandarins of the peacock- feather and crystal-button rank, +desired an audience of the August Aunt, and, speaking before the +curtain, informed her that his Imperial Majesty would pay a visit +that evening to the Hall of Tranquil Longevity. Such was her +agitation at this honour that she immediately swooned; but, +reviving, summoned all the attendants and gave orders for a +banquet and musicians.</p> + +<p>Lanterns painted with pheasants and exquisite landscapes were +hung on all the pavilions. Tap- estries of rose, decorated with +the Five-Clawed Dragons, adorned the chambers; and upon the High +Seat was placed a robe of yellow satin embroidered with pearls. +All was hurry and excitement. The Blossoms of the Palace were so +exquisitely decked that one grain more of powder would have made +them too lily-like, and one touch more of rouge, too rosecheeked. +It was indeed perfection, and, like lotuses upon a lake, or Asian +birds, gorgeous of plumage, they stood ranged in the outer +chamber while the Celestial Emperor took his seat.</p> + +<p>The Round-Faced Beauty wore no jewels, having bartered her +pearl for her opportunity; but her long coat of jade-green, +embroidered with golden willows, and her trousers of palest rose +left nothing to be desired. In her hair two golden peonies were +fastened with pins of kingfisher work. The Son of Heaven was +seated upon the throne as the ladies approached, marshaled by the +August Aunt. He was attired in the Yellow Robe with the Flying +Dragons, and upon the Imperial Head was the Cap, ornamented with +one hundred and forty-four priceless gems. From it hung the +twelve pendants of strings of pearls, partly concealing the +august eyes of the Jade Emperor. No greater splendour can strike +awe into the soul of man.</p> + +<p>At his command the August Aunt took her seat upon a lesser +chair at the Celestial Feet. Her mien was majestic, and struck +awe into the assembled beauties, whose names she spoke aloud as +each approached and prostrated herself. She then pronounced these +words:</p> + +<p>"Beautiful ones, the Emperor, having considered the opinions +submitted by you on the subject of the Superior Man, is pleased +to express his august commendation. Dismiss, therefore, anxiety +from your minds, and prepare to assist at the humble concert of +music we have prepared for his Divine pleasure."</p> + +<p>Slightly raising himself in his chair, the Son of Heaven +looked down upon that Garden of Beauty, holding in his hand an +ivory tablet bound with red silk.</p> + +<p>"Lovely ladies," he began, in a voice that assuaged fear, "who +among you was it that laid before our feet a composition +beginning thus - 'Though the sky rain pearls'?"</p> + +<p>The August Aunt immediately rose.</p> + +<p>"Imperial Majesty, none! These eyes supervised every +composition. No impropriety was permitted."</p> + +<p>The Son of Heaven resumed: "Let that lady stand forth."</p> + +<p>The words were few, but sufficient. Trembling in every limb, +the Round-Faced Beauty separated herself from her companions and +prostrated herself, amid the breathless amazement of the Blossoms +of the Palace. He looked down upon her as she knelt, pale as a +lady carved in ivory, but lovely as the lotus of Chang-Su. He +turned to the August Aunt. "Princess of Han, my Imperial Aunt, I +would speak with this lady alone."</p> + +<p>Decorum itself and the custom of Palaces could not conceal the +indignation of the August Aunt as she rose and retired, driving +the ladies before her as a shepherd drives his sheep.</p> + +<p>The Hall of Tranquil Longevity being now empty, the Jade +Emperor extended his hand and beckoned the Round-Faced Beauty to +approach. This she did, hanging her head like a flower surcharged +with dew and swaying gracefully as a wind-bell, and knelt on the +lowest step of the Seat of State.</p> + +<p>"Loveliest One," said the Emperor, "I have read your +composition. I would know the truth. Did any aid you as you spoke +it? Was it the thought of your own heart?"</p> + +<p>"None aided, Divine," said she, almost fainting with fear. "It +was indeed the thought of this illiterate slave, consumed with an +unwarranted but uncontrollable passion."</p> + +<p>"And have you in truth desired to see your Lord?"</p> + +<p>"As a prisoner in a dungeon desires the light, so was it with +this low person."</p> + +<p>"And having seen?"</p> + +<p>"Augustness, the dull eyes of this slave are blinded with +beauty."</p> + +<p>She laid her head before his feet.</p> + +<p>"Yet you have depicted, not the Ideal Man, but the Ideal +Woman. This was not the Celestial command. How was this?"</p> + +<p>"Because, 0 versatile and auspicious Emperor, the blind cannot +behold the sunlight, and it is only the Ideal Woman who is worthy +to comprehend and worship the Ideal Man. For this alone is she +created."</p> + +<p>A smile began to illuminate the Imperial Countenance. "And +how, 0 Round-Faced Beauty, did you evade the vigilance of the +August Aunt?"</p> + +<p>She hung her head lower, speaking almost in a whisper. "With +her one pearl did this person buy the secrecy of the writer; and +when the August Aunt slept, did I conceal the paper in her sleeve +with the rest, and her own Imperial hand gave it to the engraver +of ivory."</p> + +<p>She veiled her face with two jade-white hands that trembled +excessively. On hearing this statement the Celestial Emperor +broke at once into a very great laughter, and he laughed loud and +long as a tiller of wheat. The Round-Faced Beauty heard it +demurely until, catching the Imperial eye, decorum was forgotten +and she too laughed uncontrollably. So they continued, and +finally the Emperor leaned back, drying the tears in his eyes +with his august sleeve, and the lady, resuming her gravity, hid +her face in her hands, yet regarded him through her fingers.</p> + +<p>When the August Aunt returned at the end of an hour with the +ladies, surrounded by the attendants with their instruments of +music, the Round-Faced Beauty was seated in the chair that she +herself had occupied, and on the whiteness of her brow was hung +the chain of pearls, which had formed the frontal of the Cap of +the Emperor.</p> + +<p>It is recorded that, advancing from honour to honour, the +Round-Faced Beauty was eventually chosen Empress and became the +mother of the Imperial Prince. The celestial purity of her mind +and the absence of all flaws of jealousy and anger warranted this +distinction. But it is also recorded that, after her elevation, +no other lady was ever exalted in the Imperial favour or received +the slightest notice from the Emperor. For the Empress, now well +acquainted with the Ideal Man, judged it better that his +experiences of the Ideal Woman should be drawn from herself +alone. And as she decreed, so it was done. Doubtless Her Majesty +did well.</p> + +<p>It is known that the Emperor departed to the Ancestral Spirits +at an early age, seeking, as the August Aunt observed, that +repose which on earth could never more be his. But no one has +asserted that this lady's disposition was free from the ordinary +blemishes of humanity.</p> + +<p>As for the Celestial Empress (who survives in history as one +of the most astute rulers who ever adorned the Dragon Throne), +she continued to rule her son and the Empire, surrounded by the +respectful admiration of all.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<pre> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE NINTH VIBRATION, ET. 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