CHAPTER XI - A COUNTRY DRIVE.
Like all Martialists, I had been accustomed since my landing to wakewith the first light of dawn; but the draught, though its earliereffects were anything but narcotic or stupifying, deepened andprolonged my sleep. It was not till the rays of sunlight came clearand full through the crystal roof of the peristyle, and the window ofour bridal chamber, that my eyes unclosed. The first object on whichthey opened startled me into full waking recollection. Exactly wherethe sunbeams fell, just within reach of my hand, Eveena stood; theloveliest creature I ever beheld, a miniature type of faultlessfeminine grace and beauty. By the standard of Terrestrial humanity shewas tiny rather than small: so light, so perfect in proportion, form,and features, so absolutely beautiful, so exquisitely delicate, as tosuggest the ideal Fairy Queen realised in flesh and blood, rather thanany properly human loveliness. In the transparent delicacy of acomplexion resembling that of an infant child of the fairest and mosttenderly nurtured among the finest races of Europe, in the ideallyperfect outline of face and features--the noble but even forehead--thesmooth, straight, clearly pencilled eyebrows--the large almond-shapedeyes and drooping lids, with their long, dark, soft fringe--the littlemouth and small, white, even regular teeth--the rosy lips, slightlycompressed, save when parted in speech, smile, or eager attention--sheexhibited in their most perfect but by no means fullest developmentthe characteristics of Martial physiognomy; or rather thecharacteristic beauty of a family in which the finest traits of thatphysiognomy are unmixed with any of its meaner or harsherpeculiarities. The hands, long, slight, and soft, the unsandalledfeet, not less perfectly shaped, could only have belonged to the childof ancestors who for more than a hundred generations have never knownhard manual toil, rough exposure, or deforming, cramping costume; evenas every detail of her beauty bore witness to an immemorialinheritance of health unbroken by physical infirmity, undisturbed byviolent passions, and developed by an admirable system of physical andmental discipline and culture. The absence of veil and sleeves leftvisible the soft rounded arms and shoulders, in whose complexion atinge of pale rose seemed to shine through a skin itself oftranslucent white; the small head, and the perfection of the slenderneck, with the smooth unbroken curve from the ear to the arm. Her longhair, fastened only by a silver band woven in and out behind the smallrounded ears, fell almost to her knee; and, as it caught the brightrays of the morning sun, I discerned for the first time the fullbeauty of that tinge of gold which varied the colour of the rich,soft, brown tresses. As her sex are seldom exposed to the cold of thenight or the mists, their underclothing is slight and close fitting.Eveena's thin robe, of the simplest possible form--two wide straightpieces of a material lustrous as satin but rivalling the finestcambric in texture (lined with the same fabric reversed), sewntogether from the hem of the skirt to the arm, and fastened again bythe shoulder clasps--fell perfectly loose save where compressed by thezone or by the movements of the wearer; and where so compressed,defined the outlines of the form as distinctly as the lightest wetdrapery of the studio. Her dress, in short, achieved in its puresimplicity all at which the artistic skill of matrons, milliners, andmaidens aims in a Parisian ball costume, without a shadow of thatsuggestive immodesty from which ball costumes are seldom wholly free.Exactly reversing Terrestrial practice, a Martial wife reserves forstrictest domestic privacy that undressed full-dress, that frankrevelation of her beauty, which the matrons of London, Paris, or NewYork think exclusively appropriate to the most public occasions. Tillnow, while still enjoying the liberty allowed to maidens in thisrespect, Eveena, by the arrangement of her veil, had always given toher costume a reserve wholly unexceptionable, even according to therules enforced by the customs of Western Europe on young girls not yetpresented in the marriage market of society. A new expression, or one,at least, which I had never before seen there, gave to her face astrange and novel beauty; the beauty, I wish to think, of shy, buttrue happiness; felt, it may be, for the first time, and softened, Ifear, by a doubt of its possible endurance which rendered it astouching as attractive. Never was the sleep even of the poet of the_Midsummer Night's Dream_ visited by a lovelier vision--especiallylovely as the soft rose blush suffused her cheeks under my gaze ofadmiration and delight. Springing up, I caught her with both hands anddrew her on my knee. Some minutes passed before either of us cared tospeak. Probably as she rested her head on my arm and looked into myeyes, each read the other's character more truly and clearly thanwords the most frank and open could ever enable us to do. I had taughther last night a few substitutes in the softest tongue I knew forthose words of natural tenderness in which her language is signallydeficient: taught her to understand them, certainly not to use them,for it was long before I could even induce her to address me by name.
"My father bade me yesterday," she said at last, "ask you in future towear the dress of our people. Not that you will be the less an objectof attention and wonder, but that in retaining a distinction whichdepends entirely on your own choice, you will seem intentionally toprefer your own habits to ours."
"I comply of course," I observed. "Naturally the dress of everycountry is best suited to its own conditions. Yet I should havethought that a preference for my own world, even were it whollyirrational, might seem at least natural and pardonable."
"People don't," she answered simply, "like any sign of individualfancy or opinion. They don't like any one to show that he thinks themwrong even on a matter of taste."
"I fear, then, _carissima_, that I must be content with unpopularity.I may wear the costume of your people; but their thought, theirconduct, their inner and outer life, as your father reports them, andas thus far I have seen them, are to me so unnatural, that the more Iresemble them externally the more my unlikeness in all else is likelyto attract notice. I am sorry for this, because women are by natureprone to judge even their nearest and dearest by the standard offashion, and to exact from men almost as close a conformity to thatstandard as they themselves display. I fear you will have to forgivemany heresies in my conduct as well as in my thoughts."
"You cannot suppose," she answered earnestly--she seemed incapable ofapprehending irony or jest,--"that I should wish you more like othersthan you are. Whatever may happen hereafter, I shall always feelmyself the happiest of women in having belonged to one who cares forsomething beside himself, and holds even life cheaper than love.""I hope so, _carissima_. But in that matter there was scarcely more oflove than of choice. What I did for you I must have done no less forZevle [her sister]. If I had feared death as much as the Regent does,I could not have returned alive and alone. My venture into infinitespace involved possibilities of horror more appalling than the mereterrors of death. You asked of me as my one bridal gift leave to shareits perils. How unworthy of you should I be, if I did not hold thepossession of Eveena, even for the two years of her promise, wellworth dying for!"
The moral gulf between the two worlds is wider than the material.Utterly unselfish and trustful, Eveena was almost pained to bereminded that the service she so extravagantly overprized was renderedto her sex rather than herself; while yet more deeply gratified,though still half incredulous, by the commonplace that preferred loveto life. I had yet to learn, however, that Eveena's nature was asutterly strange in her own world as the ideas in which she waseducated would seem in mine.
I left her for a few minutes to dress for the first time in thecostume which Esmo's care had provided. The single under-vestment ofsoftest hide, closely fitting from neck to knees, is of all garmentsthe best adapted to preserve natural warmth under the rapid andextreme changes of the external atmosphere. The outer garb consistedof blouse and trousers, woven of a fabric in which a fine warp ofmetallic lustre was crossed by a strong silken weft, giving the effectof a diapered scarlet and silver; both fastened by the belt, a broadgreen strap of some species of leather, clasped with gold. Masculinedress is seldom brilliant, as is that of the women, but convenient andcomfortable beyond any other, and generally handsome and elegant. Theone part of the cos
tume which I could never approve is the sandal,which leaves the feet exposed to dust and cold. Rejoining my bride, Isaid--
"I have had no opportunity of seeing much of this country, and I fancyfrom what I have seen of feminine seclusion that an excursion would beas much a holiday treat to you as to myself. If your father will lendus his carriage, would you like to accompany me to one or two placesKevima has described not far from this, and which I am anxious tovisit?"
She bent her head, but did not answer; and fancying that the proposalwas not agreeable to her, I added--
"If you prefer to spend our little remaining time here with yourmother and sister, I will ask your brother to accompany me, though Iam selfishly unwilling to part with you to-day."
She looked up for a moment with an air of pain and perplexity, and asshe turned away I saw the tears gather in her eyes.
"What _is_ the matter?" I asked, surprised and puzzled as one on Earthwho tries to please a woman by offering her her own way, and findsthat, so offered, it is the last thing she cares to have. It did notoccur to me that, even in trifles, a Martial wife never dreams thather taste or wish can signify, or be consulted where her lord has apreference of his own. To invite instead of commanding hercompanionship was unusual; to withdraw the expression of my own wish,and bid her decide for herself, was in Eveena's eyes to mark formallyand deliberately that I did not care for her society.
"What have I done," she faltered, "to be so punished? I have not, savethe day before yesterday, left the house this year; and you offer methe greatest of pleasures only to snatch it away the next moment."
"Nay, Eveena!" I answered. "If I had not told you, you must know thatI cannot but wish for your company; but by your silence I fancied youdisliked my proposal, yet did not like to decline it."
The expression of surprise and perplexity in her face, though halfpathetic, seemed so comical that I with difficulty suppressed a laugh,because for her it was evidently no laughing matter. After giving hertime, as I thought, to recover herself, I said--
"Well, I suppose we may now join them at the morningmeal?"
Something was still wrong, the clue to which I gathered by observingher shy glance at her head-dress and veil.
"Must you wear those?" I asked--a question which gave her some suchimperfect clue to my thoughts as I had found to hers.
"How foolish of me," she said, smiling, "to forget how little you canknow of our customs! Of course I must wear my veil and sleeves; butto-day you must put on the veil, as you removed it last night."
The awkwardness with which I performed this duty had its effect inamusing and cheering her; and the look of happiness and trust had comeback to her countenance before the veil concealed it.
I made my request to Esmo, who answered, with some amusement--
"Every house like ours has from six to a dozen larger or lightercarriages. Of course they cost nothing save the original purchase.They last for half a lifetime, and are not costly at the outset. But Ihave news for you which, I venture to think, will be as littleagreeable to you as to ourselves. Your journey must begin tomorrow,and this, therefore, is the only opportunity you will have for such anexcursion as you propose."
"Then," I said, "will Eveena still wish to share it?"
Even her mother's face seemed to ask what in the world that couldmatter; but a movement of the daughter's veiled head reminded me thatI was blundering; and pressing her little hand as she lay beside me, Itook her compliance for granted.
The morning mist had given place to hot bright sunshine when westarted. At first our road lay between enclosures like that whichsurrounded Esmo's dwelling.
Presently the lines were broken here and there by such fields as I hadseen in descending from Asnyca; some filled with crops of human food,some with artificial pastures, in which Unicorns or other creatureswere feeding. I saw also more than one field wherein the _carvee_ wereweeding or gathering fruit, piling their burdens in either case assoon as their beaks were full into bags or baskets. Pointing out toEveena the striking difference of colour between the cultivated fieldsand gardens and the woods or natural meadows on the mountain sides, Ilearned from her that this distinction is everywhere perceptible inMars. Natural objects, plants or animals, rocks and soil, are for themost part of dimmer, fainter, or darker tints than on Earth; probablyowing to the much less intense light of the Sun; partly, perhaps, tothat absorption of the blue rays by the atmosphere, which diminishes,I suppose, even that light which actually reaches the planet. Butuncultivated ground, except on the mountains above the ordinary rangeof crops or pastures, scarcely exists in the belt of Equatorialcontinents; the turf itself, like the herbage or fruit shrubs in thefields, is artificial, consisting of plants developed through longages into forms utterly unlike the native original by the skill andingenuity of man. Even the great fruit trees have undergone materialchange, not only in the size, flavour, and appearance of the fruitsthemselves, which have been the immediate object of care, but,probably through some natural correlation between, the differentorgans, in the form and colour of the foliage, the arrangement of thebranches, and the growth of the trunk, all of which are much moreregular, and, so to speak, more perfect, than is the case either hereor on Earth with those left to the control of Nature and locality, orthe effects of the natural competition, which is in its way perhaps askeen among plants and animals as among men. Martialists have the samedelight in bright colours as Orientals, with far greater taste inselection and combination; and the favourite hues not only of theirflowers, tame birds, fishes, and quadrupeds, but of plants in whosecultivation utility has been the primary object, contrast signally, asI have said, with the dull tints of the undomesticated flora andfauna, of which comparatively scanty remnants were visible here andthere in this rich country.
Presently we came within sight of the river, over which was a singlebridge, formed by what might be called a tube of metal built intostrong walls on either bank. In fact, however, the sides were of openwork, and only the roof and floor were solid. The river at this, itsnarrowest point, was perhaps a furlong in breadth, and it was notwithout instinctive uneasiness that I trusted to the security of asingle piece of metal spanning, without even the strength afforded bythe form of the arch, so great a space.
The first object we were to visit lay at some distance down thestream. As we approached the point, we passed a place where the riverwidened considerably. The main channel in the centre was kept clearand deep to afford an uninterrupted course for navigation; but oneither side were rocks that broke the river into pools and shallows,such as here, no less than on Earth, form the favourite haunts orspawning places of the fish. In some of the lesser pools birds largerthan the stork, bearing under the throat an expansible bag like thatof the pelican, were seeking for prey. They were watched and directedby a master on the shore, and carried to a square tank, fixed on awheeled frame not unlike that of the ordinary carriage, whichaccompanied him, each fish they took. I observed that the latter werecarefully seized, with the least possible violence or injury, placedby a jerk head-downmost in the throat-bag, which, though when empty itwas scarcely perceptible, would contain prey of very considerable sizeand weight, and as carefully disgorged into the tank. In one of themost extensive pools, too deep for these birds, a couple of men hadspread a sort of net, not unlike those used on Earth, but formed oftwisted metal threads with very narrow meshes, enclosing the wholepool, a space of perhaps some 400 square yards. In the centre of thisan electric lamp was let down into the water, some feet below thesurface. The fish crowded towards it, and a sudden shock ofelectricity transmitted through the meshes of the net, as well as fromthe wires of the lamp circuit, stunned for a few minutes all lifewithin the enclosure. The fish then floated on the surface, the netwas drawn together, and they were collected and sorted; some which, asI afterwards learned, were required for breeding, being carefully andseparately preserved in a smaller tank, those fit for food cast intothe larger one, those too small for the one purpose and not needed forthe other being thro
wn back into the water. I noted, however, thatmany fish apparently valuable were among those thus rejected. I spoketo one of the fishermen, who, regarding me with great surprise andcuriosity, at last answered briefly that a stringent law forbids thecatching of spawning fish except for breeding purposes. Those,therefore, for which the season was close-time were invariably spared.
In sea-fishing a much larger net, sometimes enclosing more than 10,000square yards, is employed. This fishing is conducted chiefly at night,the electric lamp being then much more effective in attracting theprey, and lowered only a few inches below the surface. Many largedestructive creatures, unfit for food, generally of a natureintermediate between fish and reptiles, haunt the seas. It is heldunwise to exterminate them, since they do their part in keeping downan immense variety of smaller creatures, noxious for one reason oranother, and also in clearing the water from carrion and masses ofseaweed which might otherwise taint the air of the sea-coasts,especially near the mouths of large tropical rivers. But thesesea-monsters devour enormous quantities of fish, and the huntersappointed to deal with them are instructed to limit their numbers tothe minimum required. Their average increase is to be destroyed eachyear. If at any time it appear that, for whatever cause, the totalnumber left alive is falling off, the chief of this service suspendsit partially or wholly at his discretion.
We now came to the entrance of a vast enclosure bordering on theriver, the greatest fish-breeding establishment on this continent, orindeed in this world. One of its managers courteously showed me overit. It is not necessary minutely to describe its arrangements, fromthe spawning ponds and the hatching tanks--the latter contained in ahuge building, whose temperature is preserved with the utmost care atthe rate found best suited to the ova--to the multitude of streams,ponds, and lakes in which the different kinds of fish are kept duringthe several stages of their existence. The task of the breeders ismuch facilitated by the fact that the seas of Mars are not, like ours,salt; and though sea and river fish are almost as distinct as onEarth, each kind having its own habitat, whose conditions arecarefully reproduced in the breeding or feeding reservoirs, the samekind of water suits all alike. It is necessary, however, to keep thefishes of tropical seas and streams in water of a very differenttemperature from that suited to others brought from arctic orsub-arctic climates; and this, like every other point affecting thenatural peculiarities and habits of the fish, is attended to withminute and accurate care. The skill and science brought to bear on thetask of breeding accomplish this and much more difficult operationswith marvellous ease and certainty.
On one of the buildings I observed one of the most remarkable,largest, and most complete timepieces I had yet seen; and I had onthis occasion an opportunity of examining it closely. The dial wasoblong, enclosed in a case of clear transparent crystal, somewhatresembling in form the open portion of a mercurial barometer. At thetop were three circles of different colours, divided by twelveequidistant lines radiating from the centres and subdivided again andagain by the same number. Exactly at the uppermost point of each was agolden indicator. One of these circles marked the temperature,graduated from the lowest to the highest degree ever known in thatlatitude. Another indicated the direction of the wind, while the depthof colour in the circle itself, graduated in a manner carefullyexplained to me, but my notes of which are lost, showed the exactforce of the atmospheric current. The third served the purpose of abarometer. A coloured band immediately below indicated by thevariations of tint the character of the coming weather. This bandstretched right across the face; below it were figures indicating theday of the year. The central portion of the face was occupied by alarger circle, half-green and half-black; the former portionrepresenting the colour of the daylight sky, the latter emblematic ofnight. On this circle the Sun and the planets were represented byfigures whose movement showed exactly the actual place of each in thecelestial sphere. The two Moons were also figured, their phases andposition at each moment being accurately presented to the eye. Aroundthis circle was a narrow band divided into strips of different lengthof various colours, each representing one of the peculiar divisions ofthe Martial day; that point which came under the golden indicatorshowing the _zyda_ and the exact moment of the _zyda_, while themovement of the inner circle fixed with equal accuracy the period ofday or night. Below were other circles from which the observer couldlearn the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, the intensity of thesunlight, and the electric tension at the moment. Each of the sixsmaller circles registered on a moving ribbon the indications of everysuccessive moment, these ribbons when unrolled forming a perfectrecord of temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, and so forth, inthe form of a curve--a register kept for more than 8000 Martial years.
Four times during the revolution of the great circle each large clockemits for a couple of minutes a species of chime, the nature of whichmy ignorance of music renders me unable to describe:--viz., when theline dividing the green and black semicircles is horizontal at noonand midnight, and an hour before, at average sunrise and sunset, itbecomes perpendicular. The individual character of the several chimes,tunes, or peals, whatever they should be called, is so distinct thateven I appreciated it. Further, as the first point of the colouredstrip distinguishing each several _zyda_ reaches the golden indicator,a single slightly prolonged sound--I fancy what is known on Earth as asingle chord--is emitted. Of these again each is peculiar, so that noone with an ear for music can doubt what is the period of the dayannounced. The sound is never, even in the immediate vicinity of theclock, unpleasantly loud; while it penetrates to an amazing distance.It would be perfectly easy, if needful, to regulate all clocks bymechanical control through the electric network extended all over theface of the planet; but the perfect accuracy of each individualtimepiece renders any such check needless. In those latitudes whereday and night during the greater part of the year are not evenapproximately equal, the black and green semicircles are so enlargedor diminished by mechanical means, that the hour of the day or nightis represented as accurately as on the Equator itself.
The examination of this establishment occupied us for two or threehours, and when we remounted our carriage it seemed to me onlyreasonable that Eveena should be weary both in mind and body. Iproposed, therefore, to return at once, but against this she earnestlyprotested.
"Well," I said, "we will finish our excursion, then. Only rememberthat whenever you do feel tired you must tell me at once. I do notknow what exertion you can bear, and of course it would be mostinconsiderate to measure your endurance by my own."
She promised, and we drove on for another hour in the direction of arange of hills to the north-eastward. The lower and nearer portion ofthis range might he 400 feet above the general level of the plain;beyond, the highest peaks rose to perhaps 1500 feet, the averagesummit being about half that height. Where our road brought us to thefoot of the first slope, large groves of the _calmyra_, whose fruitcontains a sort of floury pulp like roasted potato, were planted onground belonging to the State, and tenanted by young men belonging tothat minority which, as Esmo had told me not being fortunate enough tofind private employment, is thus provided for. Encountering one ofthese, he pointed out to us the narrow road which, winding up theslope, afforded means of bringing down in waggons during the twoharvest seasons, each of which lasts for about fifty days, the fruitof these groves, which furnishes a principal article of food. Thetrees do not reach to a higher level than about 400 feet; and abovethis we had to ascend on foot by a path winding through meadows, whichI at first supposed to be natural. Eveena, however, quickly undeceivedme, pointing out the prevalence of certain plants peculiar to thecultivated pastures we had seen in the plain. These were sopredominant as to leave no reasonable doubt that they had beenoriginally sown by the hand of man, though the irregularity of theirarrangement, and the encroachment of one species upon the ground ofanother, enabled my companion to prove to me with equal clearness thatsince its first planting the pasture had been entirely neglected. Itwas, she thought, worth planting onc
e for all with the most nutritiousherbage, but not worth the labour of subsequent close cultivation. Anylady belonging to a civilised people, and accustomed to a countrylife, upon Earth might easily have perceived all that Eveenadiscovered; but considering how seldom the latter had left her home,how few opportunities she had to see anything of practicalagriculture, the quickness of her perception and the correctness ofher inferences not a little surprised me. The path we pursued leddirectly to the object of our visit. The waters of the higher hillswere collected in a vast tank excavated in an extensive plateau at themid-level. At the summit of the first ascent we met and were escortedby one of the officials entrusted with the charge of these works,which supply water of extraordinary purity to a population of perhapsa quarter of a million, inhabiting a district of some 10,000 squaremiles in extent. The tank was about sixty feet in depth, and perhaps amile in length, with half that breadth. Its sides and bottom-werelined with the usual concrete. Our guide informed me that in manycases tanks were covered with the crystal employed for doors andwindows; but in the-pure air of these hills such a precaution wasthought unnecessary, as it would have been exceedingly costly. Thewater itself was of wonderful purity, so clear that the smallestobject at the bottom was visible where the Sun, still high in theheavens, shone directly upon the surface. But this purity would by nomeans satisfy the standard of Martial sanitary science. In the firstplace, it is passed into a second division of the tank, where it issubjected to some violent electric action till every kind of organicgerm it may contain is supposed to be completely destroyed. It is thenpassed through several covered channels and mechanically or chemicallycleansed from every kind of inorganic impurity, and finally oxygenatedor aerated with air which has undergone a yet more elaboratepurification. At every stage in this process, a phial of water istaken out and examined in a dark chamber by means of a beam of lightemanating from a powerful electric lamp and concentrated by a hugecrystal lens. If this beam detect any perceptible dust or mattercapable of scattering the light, the water is pronounced impure andpassed through further processes. Only when the contents of the bottleremain absolutely dark, in the midst of an atmosphere whose floatingdust renders the beam visible on either side, so that the phial, whileperfectly transparent to the light, nevertheless interrupts the beamwith a block of absolute darkness, is it considered fit for humanconsumption. It is then distributed through pipes of concrete, intowhich no air can possibly enter, to cisterns equally, air-tight inevery house. The water in these is periodically examined by officersfrom the waterworks, who ascertain that it has contracted no impurityeither in the course of its passage through hundreds of miles ofpiping or in the cisterns themselves. The Martialists consider that tothis careful purification of their water they owe in great measuretheir exemption from the epidemic diseases which were formerly notinfrequent. They maintain that all such diseases are caused by organicself-multiplying germs, and laugh to scorn the doctrine of spontaneousgeneration, either of disease, or of even such low organic life as canpropagate it. I suggested that the atmosphere itself must, if theirtheory were true, convey the microscopic seeds of disease even morefreely and universally than the water.
"Doubtless," replied our guide, "it would scatter them more widely;but it does not enable them to penetrate and germinate in the bodyhalf so easily as when conveyed by water. You must be aware that thelining of the upper air-passages arrests most of the impuritiescontained in the inhaled air before it comes into contact with theblood in the lungs themselves. Moreover, the extirpation of onedisease after another, the careful isolation of all infectious cases,and the destruction of every article that could preserve or convey thepoisonous germs, has in the course of ages enabled us utterly todestroy them."
This did not seem to me consistent with the confession that disordersof one kind or another still not infrequently decimate theirhighly-bred domestic animals, however the human race itself may havebeen secured against contagion. I did not, however, feel competent toargue the question with one who had evidently studied physiology muchmore deeply than myself; and had mastered the records of an experienceinfinitely longer, guided by knowledge far more accurate, than ispossessed by the most accomplished of Terrestrial physiologists.
The examination of these works of course occupied us for a long time,and obliged us to traverse several miles of ground. More than once Ihad suggested to Eveena that we should leave our work unfinished, andon every opportunity had insisted that she should rest. I had been tookeenly interested in the latter part of the explanation given me, todetect the fatigue she anxiously sought to conceal; but when we leftthe works, I was more annoyed than surprised to find that the walkdown-hill to our carriage was too much for her. The vexation I feltwith myself gave, after the manner of men, some sharpness to the toneof my remonstrance with her.
"I bade you, and you promised, to tell me as soon as you felt tired;and you have let me almost tire you to death! Your obedience, howeverstrict in theory, reminds me in practice of that promised by women onEarth in their marriage-vow--and never paid or remembered afterwards."
She did not answer; and finding that her strength was utterlyexhausted, I carried her down the remainder of the hill and placed herin the carriage. During our return neither of us spoke. Ascribing hersilence to habit or fatigue, perhaps to displeasure, and busied inrecalling what I had seen and heard, I did not care to "makeconversation," as I certainly should have done had I guessed whatimpression my taciturnity made on my companion's mind. I was heartilyglad for her sake when we regained the gate of her father's garden.Committing the carriage to the charge of an amba, I half led, halfcarried Eveena along the avenue, overhung with the grand conicalbells--gold, crimson, scarlet, green, white, or striped or variegatedwith some or all these colours--of the glorious _leveloo_, the Martialconvolvulus. Its light clinging stems and foliage hid the _astyra's_arched branches overhead, and formed a screen on either side. From itsbells flew at our approach a whole flock of the tiny and beautifulcaree, which take the chief part in rendering to the flora of Marssuch services as the flowers of Earth receive from bees andbutterflies. They feed on the nectar, farina, syrup, and othersecretions, sweet or bitter, in which the artificial flowers of Marsare peculiarly abundant, and make their nests in the calyx or amongthe petals. These lovely little birds--about the size of a hornet, butperfect birds in miniature, with wings as large as those of thelargest Levantine _papilio_, and feathery down equally fine andsoft--are perhaps the most shy and timid of all creatures familiarwith the presence of Martial humanity. The varied colours of theirplumage, combined and intermingled in marvellously minute patterns,are all of those subdued or dead tints agreeable to the taste ofJapanese artists, and perhaps to no other. They signally contrast thevivid and splendid colouring of objects created or developed by humangenius and patience, from the exquisite decorations and jewel-likemasses of domestic and public architecture to the magnificent flowersand fruit produced, by the labour of countless generations, fromoriginals so dissimilar that only the records of past ages can traceor the searching comparisons of science recognise them. I am told thatthe present race of flower-birds themselves are a sort of indirectcreation of art. They certainly vary in size, shape, and colouraccording to the flower each exclusively frequents; and those whichhaunt the cultivated bells of the _leveloo_ present an amazingcontrast to the far tinier and far less beautiful _caree_ which havenot yet abandoned the wildflowers for those of the garden. Above twohundred varieties distinguished by ornithologists frequent only thedomesticated flowers.
The flight of this swarm of various beauty recalled the conversationof last night; and breaking off unobserved a long fine tendril of theleveloo, I said lightly--
"Flower-birds are not so well-trained as _esvee_, bambina."
Never forgetting a word of mine, and never failing to catch with quickintelligence the sense of the most epigrammatic or delicate metaphor,Eveena started and looked up, as if stung by a serious reproach.Fancying that overpowering fatigue had so shaken her nerves, I woul
dnot allow her to speak. But I did not understand how much she had beendistressed, till in her own chamber, cloak and veil thrown aside, shestood beside my seat, her sleeveless arms folded behind her, droopinglike a lily beaten down by a thunderstorm. Then she murmured sadly--
"I did not think of offending. But you are quite right; disobedienceshould never pass."
"Certainly not," I replied, with a smile she did not see. Taking boththe little hands in my left, I laid the tendril on her soft whiteshoulders, but so gently that in her real distress she did not feelthe touch. "You see I can keep my word; but never let me tire youagain. My flower-bird cannot take wing if she anger me in earnest."
"Are you not angered now?" she asked, glancing up in utter surprise.
My eyes, or the sight of the leveloo, answered her; and a sweet brightsmile broke through her look of frightened, penitent submission, asshe snatched the tendril and snapped it in my hand.
"Cruel!" she said, with a pretty assumption of ill-usage, "to visit afirst fault with the whip."
"You are hard to please, bambina! I knew no better. Seriously, until Ican measure your strength more truly, never again let me feel that ininviting your company I have turned my pleasure into your pain."
"No, indeed," she urged, once more in earnest. "Girls so seldom passthe gate, and men never walk where a carriage will go, or I should nothave been so stupid. But if I had blistered my feet, and the leveloohad been a nut-vine, the fruit was worth the scratches."
"What do you know, my child, either of blisters or stripes?"
"You will teach me----No, you know I don't mean that! But you willtake me with you sometimes till I learn better! If you are going toleave me at home in future "----
"My child, can you not trust me to take you for my own pleasure?"
The silvery tone of her low sweet laugh was truly perfectly musical.
"Forgive me," she said, nestling in the cushions at my knee, andseeking with upturned eyes, like a child better assured of pardon thanof full reconciliation, to read my face, "it is very naughty to laugh,and very ungrateful, when you speak to please me; but is it realkindness to say what I should be very silly to believe?"
"You will believe whatever I tell you, child. If you wish to anger aman, even with you, tell him that he is lying."
"I do nothing but misbehave," she said, in earnest despondency."I----" But I sealed her lips effectually for the moment.
"Why did you not speak as we came home?"
"You were tired, and I was thinking over all I had seen. Besides, whotalks air?" [makes conversation].
"You always talk when you are pleased. The lip-sting (scolding) andsilence frightened me so, you nearly heard me crying."
"Crying for fear? You did well to break the leveloo!... And so youthink I must be tired of my bride, before the colours have gone roundon the dial?"
"Not tired of her. You will like a little longer to find her in thecushions when you are vexed or idle; but you don't want her where herignorance wearies and her weakness hampers you."
"Are you an _esve_, to be caged at home, and played with for lack ofbetter employment? We shall never understand each other, child."
"What more can I be? But don't say we shall never understand eachother," she pleaded earnestly. "It took time and trouble to make mypet understand and obey each word and sign. Zevle gave hers more slapsand fewer sweets, and it learned sooner. But, like me, you want youresve to be happy, not only to fly straight and play prettily. She willtry hard to learn if you will teach her, and not be so afraid ofhurting her, as if she expected sweets from both hands. It is easy foryou to see through her empty head: do not give her up till she has hadtime to look a little way into your eyes."
"Eveena," I answered, almost as much pained as touched by theunaffected humility which had so accepted and carried out my ironicalcomparison, "one simple magnet-key would unlock the breast whosesecrets seem so puzzling; but it has hardly a name in your tongue, andcannot yet be in your hands."
"Ah, yes!" she said softly, "you gave it me; do you think I have lostit in two nights? But the esve cannot be loved as she loves hermaster. I could half understand the prodigal heart that would buy agirl's life with yours, and all that is bound up in yours. No other_man_ would have done it--in our world," she added, answering mygesture of dissent; "but they say that the terrible _kargynda_ willstand by his dying mate till he is shot down. You bought my heart, mylove, all I am, when you bought my life, and never asked the cost."She continued almost in a whisper, her rose-suffused cheeks and moisteyes hidden from my sight as the lips murmured their loving words intomy ear,--"Though the nestling never looked from under the wing, do youthink she knows not what to expect when she is bought from the nest?She dares not struggle in the hand that snatches her; much more didshe deserve to be rated and rapped for fluttering in that which savedher life. Bought twice over, caged by right as by might--was herthought midnight to your eyes, when she wondered at the look thatwatched her so quietly, the hand that would not try to touch lest itshould scare her, the patience that soothed and coaxed her to perch onthe outstretched finger, like a flower-bird tamed at last? Do youthink that name, given her by lips which softened even their words offondness for her ear, did not go to her heart straight as the esveflies home, or that it could ever be forgotten? There is a chant younggirls are fond of, which tells more than I can say."
Her tones fell so low that I should have lost them, had her lips notactually touched my ear while she chanted the strange words in thesweetest notes of her sweet voice:--
"Never yet hath single sun Seen a flower-bird tamed and won; Sun and stars shall quit the sky Ere a bird so tamed shall fly.
"Never human lips have kissed Flower-bird tamed 'twixt mist and mist; Bird so tamed from tamer's heart Night of death shall hardly part."