“Say only the truth, and I cannot be offended; or, could I be so, it would not be for me, but for you to pardon.”

“Well, then, assist me to quit you, and, much as I should have like to witness more of the wonders, and enjoy more of the felicity, which belong to your people, let me return to my own.”

“I fear there are reasons why I cannot do that; at all events, not without permission of the Tur, and he, probably, would not grant it.  You are not destitute of intelligence; you may (though I do not think so) have concealed the degree of destructive powers possessed by your people; you might, in short, bring upon us some danger; and if the Tur entertains that idea, it would clearly be his duty, either to put an end to you, or enclose you in a cage for the rest of your existence.  But why should you wish to leave a state of society which you so politely allow to be more felicitous than your own?”

“Oh, Aph-Lin!  My answer is plain.  Lest in naught, and unwittingly, I should betray your hospitality; lest, in the caprice of will which in our world is proverbial among the other sex, and from which even a Gy is not free, your adorable daughter should deign to regard me, though a Tish, as if I were a civilised An, and—­and—­and—–­” “Court you as her spouse,” put in Aph-Lin, gravely, and without any visible sign of surprise or displeasure.

“You have said it.”

“That would be a misfortune,” resumed my host, after a pause, “and I feel you have acted as you ought in warning me.  It is, as you imply, not uncommon for an unwedded Gy to conceive tastes as to the object she covets which appear whimsical to others; but there is no power to compel a young Gy to any course opposed to that which she chooses to pursue.  All we can to is to reason with her, and experience tells us that the whole College of Sages would find it vain to reason with a Gy in a matter that concerns her choice in love.  I grieve for you, because such a marriage would be against the A-glauran, or good of the community, for the children of such a marriage would adulterate the race:  they might even come into the world with the teeth of carnivorous animals; this could not be allowed:  Zee, as a Gy, cannot be controlled; but you, as a Tish, can be destroyed.  I advise you, then, to resist her addresses; to tell her plainly that you can never return her love.  This happens constantly.  Many an An, however, ardently wooed by one Gy, rejects her, and puts an end to her persecution by wedding another.  The same course is open to you.”

“No; for I cannot wed another Gy without equally injuring the community, and exposing it to the chance of rearing carnivorous children.”

“That is true.  All I can say, and I say it with the tenderness due to a Tish, and the respect due to a guest, is frankly this—­if you yield, you will become a cinder.  I must leave it to you to take the best way you can to defend yourself.  Perhaps you had better tell Zee that she is ugly.  That assurance on the lips of him she woos generally suffices to chill the most ardent Gy.  Here we are at my country-house.”