Growing tired, apparently, of his scrutiny, she pushed him a little way and allowed her arm to drop, at the same time curving her mouth into a long, bowlike smile.  “Whom have I to thank for this gift of life?”

Her voice was rich, slow, and odd.  Maskull felt himself in a dream.

“My name is Maskull.”

She motioned to him to come a step nearer.  “Listen, Maskull.  Man after man has drawn me into the world, but they could not keep me there, for I did not wish it.  But now you have drawn me into it for all time, for good or evil.”

Maskull stretched a hand toward the now invisible corpse, and said quietly, “What have you to say about him?”

“Who was it?”

“Haunte.”

“So that was Haunte.  The news will travel far and wide.  He was a famous man.”

“It’s a horrible affair.  I can’t think that you killed him deliberately.”

“We women are endowed with terrible power, but it is our only protection.  We do not want these visits; we loathe them.”

“I might have died, too.”

“You came together?”

“There were three of us.  Corpang still stands over there.”

“I see a faintly glimmering form.  What do you want of me, Corpang?”

“Nothing.”

“Then go away, and leave me with Maskull.”

“No need, Corpang.  I am coming with you.”

“This is not that pleasure, then?” demanded the low, earnest voice, out of the darkness.

“No, that pleasure has not returned.”

Sullenbode gripped his arm hard.  “What pleasure are you speaking of?”

“A presentiment of love, which I felt not long ago.”

“But what do you feel now?”

“Calm and free.”

Sullenbode’s face seemed like a pallid mask, hiding a slow, swelling sea of elemental passions.  “I do not know how it will end, Maskull, but we will still keep together a little.  Where are you going?”

“To Adage,” said Corpang, stepping forward.

“But why?”

“We are following the steps of Lodd, who went there years ago, to find Muspel-light.”

“It’s the light of another world.”

“The quest is grand.  But cannot women see that light?”

“On one condition,” said Corpang.  “They must forget their sex.  Womanhood and love belong to life, while Muspel is above life.”

“I give you all other men,” said Sullenbode.  “Maskull is mine.”

“No.  I am not here to help Maskull to a lover but to remind him of the existence of nobler things.”

“You are a good man.  But you two alone will never strike the road to Adage.”

“Are you acquainted with it?”

Again the woman gripped Maskull’s arm.  “What is love—­which Corpang despises?”

Maskull looked at her attentively.  Sullenbode went on, “Love is that which is perfectly willing to disappear and become nothing, for the sake of the beloved.”