"So marvellous, Prince, that you do not believe me," Elissa answered.
"I know well what you think. You think that a woman to whom this
very morning you spoke such words as women cannot well forgive, being
revengeful laid a plot to murder you, and then, being a woman, changed
her mind. Well, it is not so; Metem can prove it to you!"
"Lady, I believe you," he said, "without needing the testimony of Metem.
But now the story grows still more strange, for if you had done me no
wrong, how comes it that to preserve me from harm you set your tender
flesh between the arrow and one who had reviled you?"
"It was by chance," she answered faintly. "I learnt the truth and ran
to warn you. Then I saw the arrow fly towards your heart, and strove to
grasp it, and it pierced me. It was by chance, by such a chance as made
me dream your danger." And she fainted.
CHAPTER VIII
AZIEL PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
At first Aziel feared that the poison had done its work, and that
Elissa was dead, till placing his hand upon her heart he felt it beating
faintly, and knew that she did but swoon. To leave her to seek water
or assistance was impossible, since he dared not loose his hold of the
bandage about her wrist. So, patiently as he might, he knelt at her side
awaiting the return of Metem.
How beautiful her pale face seemed there in the moonlight, set in its
frame of dusky hair.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98