"Stand there," he said, and did not move at all, "that I may see my purchase."
"Of my own will I purchased misery6. Yea, and death also. It is amusing…. Two days ago, in a brief skirmish, a league north of Calonak, the Prankish7 leader met me hand to hand. He has endeavoured to do this for a long while. I also wished it. Nothing could be sweeter than to feel the horse beneath me wading8 in his blood, I thought.. Ey, well, he dismounted me at the first encounter, though I am no weakling. I cannot understand quite how it happened. Pious9 people will say some deity10 was offended, but, for my part, I think my horse stumbled. It does not seem to matter now. What really matters, more or less, is that it would appear the man broke my backbone11 as one snaps a straw, since I cannot move a limb of me."
"Seignior," said Melicent, "you mean that you are dying!"
He answered, "Yes; but it is a trivial discomfort12, now I see that it grieves you a little."
She spoke13 his name some three times, sobbing14. It was in her mind even then how strange the happening was that she should grieve for Demetrios.
"O Melicent," he harshly said, "let us have done with lies! That Frankish captain who has brought about my death is Perion de la Forêt. He has not ever faltered15 in the duel16 between us since your paltry17 emeralds paid for his first armament.—Why, yes, I lied. I always hoped the man would do as in his place I would have done. I hoped in vain. For many long and hard-fought years this handsome maniac19 has been assailing20 Nacumera, tirelessly. Then the water-demon's daughter, that strange and wayward woman of Brunbelois, attempted to ensnare him. And that too was in vain. She failed, my spies reported—even Dame Mélusine, who had not ever failed before in such endeavours."
"But certainly the foul21 witch failed!" cried Melicent. A glorious change had come into her face, and she continued, quite untruthfully, "Nor did I ever believe that this vile22 woman had made Perion prove faithless."
"No, the fool's lunacy is rock, like yours. En cor gentil domnei per mort no passa, as they sing in your native country…. Ey, how indomitably I lied, what pains I took, lest you should ever know of this! And now it does not seem to matter any more…. The love this man bears for you," snarled23 Demetrios, "is sprung of the High God whom we diversely worship. The love I bear you is human, since I, too, am only human." And Demetrios chuckled24. "Talk, and talk, and talk! There is no bird in any last year's nest."
She laid her hand upon his unmoved hand, and found it cold and swollen25. She wept to see the broken tyrant26, who to her at least had been not all unkind.
He said, with a great hunger in his eyes:
"So likewise ends the duel which was fought between us two. I would salute27 the victor if I could. … Ey, Melicent, I still consider you and Perion are fools. We have a not intolerable world to live in, and common-sense demands we make the most of every tidbit this world affords. Yet you can find in it only an exercising-ground for infatuation, and in all its contents—pleasures and pains alike—only so many obstacles for rapt insanity28 to override29. I do not understand this mania18; I would I might have known it, none the less. Always I envied you more than I loved you. Always my desire was less to win the love of Melicent than to love Melicent as Melicent loved Perion. I was incapable30 of this. Yet I have loved you. That was the reason, I believe, I put aside my purchased toy." It seemed to puzzle him.
"Fair friend, it is the most honourable31 of reasons. You have done chivalrously32. In this, at least, you have done that which would be not unworthy of Perion de la Forêt." A woman never avid33 for strained subtleties34, it may be that she never understood, quite, why Demetrios laughed.
He said:
"I mean to serve you now, as I had always meant to serve you some day. Ey, yes, I think I always meant to give you back to Perion as a free gift. Meanwhile to see, and to writhe35 in seeing your perfection, has meant so much to me that daily I have delayed such a transfiguration of myself until to-morrow." The man grimaced36. "My son Orestes, who will presently succeed me, has been summoned. I will order that he conduct you at once into Perion's camp—yonder by Quesiton. I think I shall not live three days."
"I would not leave you, friend, until—"
His grin was commentary and completion equally. Demetrios observed:
"A dead dog has no teeth wherewith to serve even virtue37. Oh, no, my women hate you far too greatly. You must go straightway to this Perion, while Demetrios of Anatolia is alive, or else not ever go."
She had no words. She wept, and less for joy of winning home to Perion at last than for her grief that Demetrios was dying. Woman-like, she could remember only that the man had loved her in his fashion. And, woman-like, she could but wonder at the strength of Perion.
Then Demetrios said:
"I must depart into a doubtful exile. I have been powerful and valiant38, I have laughed loud, I have drunk deep, but heaven no longer wishes Demetrios to exist. I am unable to support my sadness, so near am I to my departure from all I have loved. I cry farewell to all diversions and sports, to well-fought battles, to furred robes of vair and of silk, to noisy merriment, to music, to vain-gloriously coloured gems39, and to brave deeds in open sunlight; for I desire—and I entreat40 of every person—only compassion41 and pardon.
"Chiefly I grieve because I must leave Melicent behind me, unfriended in a perilous42 land, and abandoned, it may be, to the malice43 of those who wish her ill. I was a noted44 warrior45, I was mighty46 of muscle, and I could have defended her stoutly47. But I lie broken in the hand of Destiny. It is necessary I depart into the place where sinners, whether crowned or ragged48, must seek for unearned mercy. I cry farewell to all that I have loved, to all that I have injured; and so in chief to you, dear Melicent, I cry farewell, and of you in chief I crave49 compassion and pardon.
"O eyes and hair and lips of Melicent, that I have loved so long, I do not hunger for you now. Yet, as a dying man, I cry to the clean soul of Melicent—the only adversary50 that in all my lifetime I who was once Demetrios could never conquer. A ravening51 beast was I, and as a beast I raged to see you so unlike me. And now, a dying beast, I cry to you, but not for love, since that is overpast. I cry for pity that I have not earned, for pardon which I have not merited. Conquered and impotent, I cry to you, O soul of Melicent, for compassion and pardon.
"Melicent, it may be that when I am dead, when nothing remains52 of Demetrios except his tomb, you will comprehend I loved, even while I hated, what is divine in you. Then since you are a woman, you will lift your lover's face between your hands, as you have never lifted my face, Melicent, and you will tell him of my folly53 merrily; yet since you are a woman, you will sigh afterward54, and you will not deny me compassion and pardon."
She gave him both—she who was prodigal55 of charity. Orestes came, with Ahasuerus at his heels, and Demetrios sent Melicent into the Women's Garden, so that father and son might talk together. She waited in this place for a half-hour, just as the proconsul had commanded her, obeying him for the last time. It was strange to think of that.
* * * * *
It was not gladness which Melicent knew for a brief while. Rather, it was a strange new comprehension of the world. To Melicent the world seemed very lovely.
Indeed, the Women's Garden on this morning lacked nothing to delight each sense. Its hedges were of flowering jessamine; its walkways were spread with new sawdust tinged56 with crocus and vermilion and with mica57 beaten into a powder; and the place was rich in fruit-bearing trees and welling waters. The sun shone, and birds chaunted merrily to the right hand and to the left. Dog-headed apes, sacred to the moon, were chattering58 in the trees. There was a statue in this place, carved out of black stone, in the likeness59 of a woman, having enamelled eyes and three rows of breasts, with the lower part of her body confined in a sheath; and upon the glistening60 pedestal of this statue chameleons61 sunned themselves with distended62 throats. Round about Melicent were nodding armaments of roses and gillyflowers and narcissi and amaranths, and many violets and white lilies, and other flowers of all kinds and colours.
To Melicent the world seemed very lovely. Here was a world created by Eternal Love that people might serve love in it not all unworthily. Here were anguishes63 to be endured, and time and human frailty64 and temporal hardship—all for love to mock at; a sea or two for love to sever65, a man-made law or so for love to override, a shallow wisdom for love to deny, in exultance that these ills at most were only corporal hindrances66. This done, you have earned the right to come—come hand-in-hand—to heaven whose liege-lord was Eternal Love.
Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her.
She sat on a stone bench. She combed her golden hair, not heeding67 the more coarse gray hairs which here and there were apparent nowadays. A peacock came and watched her with bright, hard, small eyes; and he craned his glistening neck this way and that way, as though he were wondering at this other shining and gaily68 coloured creature, who seemed so happy.
She did not dare to think of seeing Perion again. Instead, she made because of him a little song, which had not any words, so that it is not possible here to retail69 this song.
Thus Melicent, who knew that Perion loved her.
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1
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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comeliness
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| n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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wryly
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| adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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prankish
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| adj.爱开玩笑的，恶作剧的；开玩笑性质的 | |
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wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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9
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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14
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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15
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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20
assailing
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| v.攻击( assail的现在分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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21
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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23
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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24
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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26
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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28
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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29
override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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30
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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32
chivalrously
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| adv.象骑士一样地 | |
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avid
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| adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的 | |
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34
subtleties
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| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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35
writhe
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| vt.挣扎，痛苦地扭曲；vi.扭曲，翻腾，受苦；n.翻腾，苦恼 | |
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36
grimaced
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| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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38
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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39
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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40
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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41
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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42
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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43
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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44
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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45
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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46
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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47
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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48
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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49
crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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50
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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51
ravening
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| a.贪婪而饥饿的 | |
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52
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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53
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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54
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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55
prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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56
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
mica
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| n.云母 | |
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58
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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59
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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60
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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chameleons
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| n.变色蜥蜴，变色龙( chameleon的名词复数 ) | |
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62
distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
anguishes
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| v.（尤指心理上的）极度的痛苦( anguish的第三人称单数 ) | |
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64
frailty
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| n.脆弱；意志薄弱 | |
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65
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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66
hindrances
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| 阻碍者( hindrance的名词复数 )； 障碍物； 受到妨碍的状态 | |
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67
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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