“Strong?” he echoed—­“Is it not strong to love?—­ay, the very best of strength!  For what avails the power of man if he may not bend a woman to his will?  Child, wherever love is there can be no death, but only life!  Love is as the ever-flowing torrent of eternity in my veins—­the pulse of everlasting youth and victory!  What are the foolish creeds of man compared with this one Truth of Nature—­Love!  Is not the Deity Himself the Supreme Lover?—­and wouldst thou have me a castaway from His holiest ordinance?  Ah no!—­come to me, my beloved!—­soul of my soul—­inmost core of my heart!  Come to me in the silence when no one sees and no one hears—­come when—­”

He broke off, checked by her sudden smile and look of rapture.  Some thought had evidently, like a ray of light, cleared her doubts away.

“So be it!” she said—­“I give thee all myself from henceforth!—­I will come!”

He uttered an exclamation of relief and joy, and drew her closer, till her head rested on his breast and her loosened hair fell in a shower across his arms.

“At last!” he murmured—­“At last!  Mine—­all mine this tender soul, this passionate heart!—­mine this exquisite life to do with as I will!  O crown of my best manhood!—­when wilt thou come to me?”

She answered at once without hesitation.

“To-night!” she said—­“To-night, when the moon rises, meet me here in this very place,—­this sacred grove where Memnon hears thy vows to him broken, and my vows consecrated to thee!—­and as I live I swear I will be all thine!  But now—­leave me to pray!”

She lifted her head and looked into his adoring eyes,—­then kissed him with a strange, grave tenderness as though bidding him farewell, and with a gentle gesture motioned him away.  Elated and flushed with joy, he obeyed her sign, and left her, disappearing in the same phantom-like way in which all the other figures in this weird dream-drama had made their exit.  She watched him go with a wistful yearning gaze—­then in apparent utter desperation she threw herself on her knees before the impassive Head on its rocky pedestal and prayed aloud: 

“O hidden and unknown God whom we poor earthly creatures symbolise!- -give me the strength to love unselfishly—­the patience to endure uncomplainingly!  Thou, Heart of Stone, temper with thy coldest wisdom my poor throbbing heart of flesh!  Help me to quell the tempest in my soul, and let me be even as thou art—­inflexible, immovable,—­save when the sun strikes music from thy dreaming brows and tells thee it is day!  Forgive, O great God, forgive the fault of my beloved!—­a fault which is not his, but mine, merely because I live and he hath found me fair,—­let all be well for him,—­but for me let nothing evermore be either well or ill—­and teach me—­even me—­to face the Sunrise!”