She stared at him again.

“All this is strange to me,” she said.  “I was taught otherwise.  Gods are devils and must be appeased, lest they bring misfortune on us; men must be ruled by terror, or they would rebel and pull down the great House; doctors must learn magic, or how could they avert spells? wizards must be killed, or the people would perish in their net.  May not we who live in a hell, strive to beat back its flame with the wisdom our forefathers have handed on to us?  Tell me, Vernoon, for I would know.”

“You make your own hell,” answered Alan when with the help of Jeekie he understood her talk.

She pondered over his words for a while, then said: 

“I must think.  The thing is big.  I wander in blackness; I will speak with you again.  Say now, what else is wrong with me?”

Now Alan thought that he saw opportunity for a word in season and made a great mistake.

“I think that you treat your husband, that man whom you call Mungana, very badly.  Why should you drive him to his death?”

At these words the Asika leapt up in a rage, and seeking something to vent her temper on, violently boxed Jeekie’s ears and kicked him with her sandalled foot.

“The Mungana!” she exclaimed, “that beast!  What have I to do with him?  I hate him, as I hated the others.  The priests thrust him on me.  He has had his day, let him go.  In your country do they make women live with men whom they loathe?  I love you, Bonsa himself knows why?  Perhaps because you have a white skin and white thoughts.  But I hate that man.  What is the use of being Asika if I cannot take what I love and reject what I hate?  Go away, Vernoon, go away, you have angered me, and if it were not for what you have said about that new law of mercy, I think that I would cut your throat,” and again she boxed Jeekie’s ears and kicked him in the shins.

Alan rose and bowed himself towards the door while she stood with her back towards him, sobbing.  As he was about to pass it she wheeled round, wiping the tears from her eyes with her hand, and said: 

“I forgot, I sent for you to thank you for your presents; that,” and she pointed to the lion skin, “which they tell me you killed with some kind of thunder to save the life of that old cannibal, and this,” and she pulled off the necklace of claws, then added, “as I am too bad to wear it, you had better take it back again,” and she threw it with all her strength straight into Jeekie’s face.

Fearing worse things, the much maltreated Jeekie uttered a howl and bolted through the door, while Alan, picking up the necklace, returned it to her with a bow.  She took it.

“Stop,” she said.  “You are leaving the room without your mask and my women are outside.  Come here,” and she tied the thing upon his head, setting it all awry, then pushed him from the place.