He paused.. then went on slowly with a meditative air..  “I love her, ... yes!—­as a man must always love the woman that baffles him, ... the woman whose moods are complex and fluctuating as the winds on the sea,—­and whose humor sways between the softness of the dove and the fierceness of the tiger.  Nothing is more fatally fascinating to the masculine sense than such a creature,—­more especially if to this temperament is united rare physical grace, combined with keen intellectual power.  ’Tis vain to struggle against the irresistible witchery exercised over us by the commingling of beauty and ferocity,—­we see it in the wild animals of the forest and the high-soaring birds of the air,—­and we like nothing better than to hunt it, capture it, tame it.. or.. kill it—­as suits our pleasure!”

He paused again,—­and again smiled, . . a grave, reluctant, doubting smile such as seemed to Theos oddly familiar, suggesting to his bewildered fancy that he must have seen it before, on his own face, reflected in a mirror!

“Even thus do I love Lysia!” continued Sah-luma—­“She perplexes me, . . she opposes her will to mine, ... the very irritation and ferment into which I am thrown by her presence adds fire to my genius, . . and but for the spur of this never-satiated passion, who knows whether I should sing so well!”

He was silent for a little space—­then he resumed in a more ordinary tone: 

“The wretched Nir-jalis, whose fate thou dost so persistently deplore, deserved his end for his presumption, ... didst thou not hear his insolent insinuation concerning the King?”

“I heard it—­yes!” replied Theos—­“And I saw no harm in the manner of his utterance.”

“No harm!” exclaimed Sah-luma excitedly—­“No harm!  Nay, but I forget! ... thou art a stranger in Al-Kyris, and therefore thou art ignorant of the last words spoken by the Sacred Oracle some hundred years or more ago.  They are these: 

     “’When the High Priestess
      Is the King’s mistress
      Then fall Al-Kyris!’

’Tis absolute doggerel, and senseless withal,—­nevertheless, it has caused the enactment of a Law, which is to the effect that the reigning monarch of Al-Kyris shall never, under any sort of pretext, confer with the High Priestess of the Temple on any business whatsoever,—­and that, furthermore, he shall never be permitted to look upon her face except at times of public service and state ceremonials.  Now dost thou not at once perceive how vile were the suggestions of Nir-jalis, . . and also how foolish was thy fancy last night with regard to the armed masquerader thou didst see in Lysia’s garden?”