“For of the bread of bitterness we shall not always eat, of the water of tears we shall not always drink.  Beyond the night the royal suns ride on; ever the rainbow shines around the rain.  Though they slip from our clutching hands like melted snow, the lives we lose shall yet be found immortal, and from the burnt-out fires of our human hopes will spring a heavenly star.”

She paused and waved her hand as though to dismiss them, then added by an after-thought, pointing to myself—­“This man is my beloved friend and guest.  Let him be yours also.  It is my will that you tend and guard him here, and when the snows have melted and summer is at hand, that you fashion a way for him through the gulf and bring him across the mountains by which he came, till you leave him in safety.  Hear and forget not, for be sure that to me you shall give account of him.”

The night drew towards the dawn, and we stood upon the peak above the gulf of fire, four of us only—­Ayesha and I, and Oros and Papave.  For the bearers had laid down the body of Leo upon its edge and gone their way.  The curtain of flame flared in front of us, its crest bent over like a billow in the gale, and to leeward, one by one, floated the torn-off clouds and pinnacles of fire.  By the dead Leo knelt Ayesha, gazing at that icy, smiling face, but speaking no single word.  At length she rose, and said,—­“Darkness draws near, my Holly, that deep darkness which foreruns the glory of the dawn.  Now fare thee well for one little hour.  When thou art about to die, but not before, call me, and I will come to thee.  Stir not and speak not till all be done, lest when I am no longer here to be thy guard some Presence should pass on and slay thee.

“Think not that I am conquered, for now my name is Victory!  Think not that Ayesha’s strength is spent or her tale is done, for of it thou readest but a single page.  Think not even that I am today that thing of sin and pride, the Ayesha thou didst adore and fear, I who in my lord’s love and sacrifice have again conceived my soul.  For know that now once more as at the beginning, his soul and mine are one.”

She thought awhile and added,

“Friend take this sceptre in memory of me, but beware how thou usest it save at the last to summon me, for it has virtues,” and she gave me the jewelled Sistrum that she bore—­then said,

“So kiss his brow, stand back, and be still.”

Now as once before the darkness gathered on the pit, and presently, although I heard no prayer, though now no mighty music broke upon the silence, through that darkness, beating up the gale, came the two-winged flame and hovered where Ayesha stood.

It appeared, it vanished, and one by one the long minutes crept away until the first spear of dawn lit upon the point of rock.

Lo! it was empty, utterly empty and lonesome.  Gone was the corpse of Leo, and gone too was Ayesha the imperial, the divine.