She grew silent and brooded a while, resting her chin upon her hand andstaring down the hall. Thus the aspect of her face was different fromany that I had seen it wear. No longer had it the allure of Aphrodite orthe majesty of Hera; rather might it have been that of Athene herself.So wise it seemed, so calm, so full of experience and of foresight, thatalmost it frightened me.
What was this woman's true story, I wondered, what her real self, andwhat the sum of her gathered knowledge? Perhaps it was accident, orperhaps, again, she guessed my mind. At any rate her next words seemedin some sense an answer to these speculations. Lifting her eyes shecontemplated me a while, then said,
"My friend, we part to meet no more in thy life's day. Often thou wiltwonder concerning me, as to what in truth I am, and mayhap in the endthy judgment will be to write me down some false and beauteous wandererwho, rejected of the world or driven from it by her crimes, madechoice to rule among savages, playing the part of Oracle to that littleaudience and telling strange tales to such few travellers as come herway. Perhaps, indeed, I do play this part among many others, and if so,thou wilt not judge me wrongly.
"Allan, in the old days, mariners who had sailed the northern seas, toldme that therein amidst mist and storm float mountains of ice, shed fromdizzy cliffs which are hid in darkness where no sun shines. They toldme also that whereas above the ocean's breast appears but a blue anddazzling point, sunk beneath it is oft a whole frozen isle, invisible toman.
"Such am I, Allan. Of my being thou seest but one little peak glitteringin light or crowned with storm, as heaven's moods sweep over it. But inthe depths beneath are hid its white and broad foundations, hollowed bythe seas of time to caverns and to palaces which my spirit doth inhabit.So picture me, therefore, as wise and fair, but with a soul unknown, andpray that in time to come thou mayest see it in its splendour.
"Hadst thou been other than thou art, I might have shown thee secrets,making clear to thee the parable of much that I have told thee inmetaphor and varying fable, aye, and given thee great gifts of powerand enduring days of which thou knowest nothing. But of those who visitshrines, O Allan, two things are required, worship and faith, sincewithout these the oracles are dumb and the healing waters will not flow.
"Now I, Ayesha, am a shrine; yet to me thou broughtest no worship untilI won it by a woman's trick, and in me thou hast no faith. Therefore forthee the oracle will not speak and the waters of deliverance will notflow. Yet I blame thee not, who art as thou wast made and the hard worldhas shaped thee.
"And so we part: Think not I am far from thee because thou seest me notin the days to come, since like that Isis whose majesty alone I stillexercise on earth, I, whom men name Ayesha, am in all things. I tellthee that I am not One but Many and, being many, am both Here andEverywhere. When thou standest beneath the sky at night and lookest onthe stars, remember that in them mine eyes behold thee; when the softwinds of evening blow, that my breath is on thy brow and when thethunder rolls, that there am I riding on the lightnings and rushing withthe gale."
"Do you mean that you are the goddess Isis?" I asked, bewildered."Because if so why did you tell me that you were but her priestess?"
"Have it as thou wilt, Allan. All sounds do not reach thine ears; allsights are not open to thy eyes and therefore thou art both half deafand blind. Perchance now that her shrines are dust and her worship isforgot, some spark of the spirit of that immortal Lady whose chariot wasthe moon, lingers on the earth in this woman's shape of mine, though heressence dwells afar, and perchance her other name is Nature, my motherand thine, O Allan. At the least hath not the World a soul--and of thatsoul am I not mayhap a part, aye, and thou also? For the rest are notthe priest and the Divine he bows to, oft the same?"
It was on my lips to answer, Yes, if the priest is a knave or aself-deceiver, but I did not.
"Farewell, Allan, and let Ayesha's benison go with thee. Safe shaltthou reach thy home, for all is prepared to take thee hence, and thycompanions with thee. Safe shalt thou live for many a year, till thytime comes, and then, perchance, thou wilt find those whom thou hastlost more kind than they seemed to be to-night."
She paused awhile, then added,
"Hearken unto my last word! As I have said, much that I have told theemay bear a double meaning, as is the way of parables, to be interpretedas thou wilt. Yet one thing is true. I love a certain man, in the olddays named Kallikrates, to whom alone I am appointed by a divine decree,and I await him here. Oh, shouldest thou find him in the world without,tell him that Ayesha awaits him and grows weary in the waiting. Nay,thou wilt never find him, since even if he be born again, by what tokenwould he be known to thee? Therefore I charge thee, keep my secretswell, lest Ayesha's curse should fall on thee. While thou livest tellnaught of me to the world thou knowest. Dost thou swear to keep mysecrets, Allan?"
"I swear, Ayesha."
"I thank thee, Allan," she answered, and grew silent for a while.
At length Ayesha rose and drawing herself up to the full of her height,stood there majestic. Next she beckoned to me to come near, for I toohad risen and left the dais.
I obeyed, and bending down she held her hands over me as though inblessing, then pointed towards the curtains which at this moment weredrawn asunder, by whom I do not know.
I went and when I reached them, turned to look my last on her.
There she stood as I had left her, but now her eyes were fixed upon theground and her face once more was brooding absently as though no sucha man as I had ever been. It came into my mind that already she hadforgotten me, the plaything of an hour, who had served her turn and beencast aside.