第103章

At last she lay still, or only feebly moving._i_ She _i_ , who but two minutes before had gazed upon us the loveliest, noblest, most splendid woman the world has ever seen, she lay still before us, near the masses of her own dark hair, no larger than a big monkey, and hideousah, too hideous for words.And yet, think of thisat that very moment I thought of itit was the same woman!

_i_ She _i_ was dying: we saw it, and thanked Godfor while she lived she could feel, and what must she have felt? _i_ She _i_ raised herself upon her bony hands, and blindly gazed around her, swaying her head slowly from side to side, as a tortoise does._i_ She _i_ could not see, for her whitish eyes were covered with a horny film.Oh, the horrible pathos of the sight! But she could still speak.

"Kallikrates," she said, in husky, trembling notes.

"Forget me not, Kallikrates.Have pity on my shame; Ishall come again, and shall once more be beautiful, Iswear itit is true! _i_ Ohhh _i_ " and she fell upon her face, and was still.

On the very spot where more than twenty centuries before she had slain Kallikrates the priest, she herself fell down and died.

Overcome with the extremity of horror, we too fell on the sandy floor of that dread place, and swooned away.

I know not how long we remained thus.Many hours, Isuppose.When at last I opened my eyes, the other two were still outstretched upon the floor.The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn, and the thunder-wheels of the Spirit of Life yet rolled upon their accustomed track, for as I awoke the great pillar was passing away.There, too, lay the hideous little monkey frame, covered with crinkled yellow parchment, that once had been the glorious _i_ She _i_.Alas! it was no hideous dreamit was an awful and unparalleled fact!

What had happened to bring this shocking change about?

Had the nature of the life-giving Fire changed! Did it, perhaps, from time to time send forth an essence of Death instead of an essence of Life? Or was it that the frame once charged with its marvellous virtue could bear no more, so that were the process repeatedit mattered not at what lapse of timethe two impregnations neutralized each other, and left the body on which they acted as it was before it ever came into contact with the very essence of life? This, and this alone, would account for the sudden and terrible aging of Ayesha, as the whole length of her two thousand years took effect upon her.I have not the slightest doubt myself but that the frame now lying before me was just what the frame of a woman would be by any extraordinary means life could preserved in her till at length she died at the age of two-and-twenty centuries.

But who can tell what had happened? There was the fact.Often since that awful hour I have reflected that it requires no great stretch of imagination to see the finger of Providence in the matter.

Ayesha locked up in her living tomb, waiting from age to age for the coming of her lover, worked but a small change in the order of the World.But Ayesha strong and happy in her love, clothed in immortal youth and godlike beauty, and the wisdom of the centuries, would have revolutionized society, and even perchance have changed the destiny of mankind.Thus she opposed herself against the eternal Law, and, strong though she was, by it was swept back to nothingnessswept back with shame and hideous mockery!

For some minutes I lay faintly turning these terrors over in my mind, while my physical strength came back to me, which it quickly did in that buoyant atmosphere.Then I bethought me of the others, and staggered to my feet, to see if I could arouse them.

But first I took up Ayesha's kirtle and the gauzy scarf with which she had been wont to hide her dazzling loveliness from the eyes of men, and, averting my head so that I might not look upon it, covered up that dreadful relic of the glorious dead, that shocking epitome of human beauty and human life.

I did this hurriedly, fearing lest Leo should recover, and see it again.

Then, stepping over the perfumed masses of dark hair that lay I upon the sand, I stooped down by Job, who was lying upon his face, and turned him over.As I did so his arm fell back in a way that I did not like, and which sent a chill through me, and I glanced sharply at him.One look was enough.Our old and faithful servant was dead.His nerves, already shattered by all he had seen and undergone, had utterly broken down beneath this last dire sight, and he had died of terror, or in a fit brought on by terror.One had only to look at his face to see it.

It was another blow; but perhaps it may help people to understand how overwhelmingly awful was the experience through which we had passedwe didn't feel it much at the time.It seemed quite natural that the poor old fellow should be dead.When Leo came to himself, which he did with a groan and trembling of the limbs about ten minutes afterwards, and I told him that job was dead, he merely said, "Oh!" And, mind you, this was from no heartlessness, for he and Job were much attached to each other; and he often talks of him now with the deepest regret and affection.It was only that his nerves would bear no more.A harp can give out but a certain quantity of sound, however heavily it is smitten.

Well, I set myself to recovering Leo, who, to my infinite relief, I found was not dead, but only fainting, and in the end I succeeded, as I have said, and he sat up; and then I saw another dreadful thing.

When we entered that awful place his curling hair had been of the ruddiest gold, now it was turning gray, and by the time we gained the outer air it was snow white.Besides, he looked twenty years older.

"What is to be done, old fellow?" he said, in a hollow, dead sort of voice, when his mind had cleared a little, and a recollection of what had happened forced itself upon it.

"Try and get out, I suppose," I answered; "that is, unless you would like to go in there," and I pointed to the column of fire that was once more rolling by.