Aissa

“ Ourïeda always won the love of every one—the teachers, the scholars; and at home it was the same. The servants, all but Nouna, who liked Laila's briberies, preferred to wait upon Ourïeda. Aunt Aïssa loved the younger girl better, even while she scolded her for longings that could never be gratified—longings for a wider life than Arab girls should even desire. ”

“ The recollections of his triumphs, of his wrongs and of his ambition vanished in that warmth, which seemed to melt all regrets, all hope, all anger, all strength out of his heart. And he lay there, dreamily contented, in the tepid and perfumed shelter, thinking of Aissa's eyes; recalling the sound of her voice, the quiver of her lips—her frowns and her smile.
She came, of course. To her he was something new, unknown and strange. He was bigger, stronger than any man she had seen before, and altogether different from all those she knew. He was of the victorious race. ”

“ Instead of going back to her own house, to pick up the girl, and take her home with Ourïeda, the old woman ordered her negro to tell Miloud that he must drive at once to his master's. There, she explained to Lella Aïssa the plot which she believed Laila to have conceived and carried out; and Aunt Aïssa passed on to El Khadra as much of the story as the two women thought a man should know. ”

“ He fought his way up the courtyard like a man pushing through a crowd, his head down, one shoulder forward, stopping often, and sometimes carried back a pace or two in the rush of water which his heart was not stout enough to face. Aissa followed him step by step, stopping when he stopped, recoiling with him, moving forward with him in his toilsome way up the slippery declivity of the courtyard, of that courtyard, from which everything seemed to have been swept away by the first rush of the mighty downpour. ”

“ Arab men adore their women, and—distrust them.
To-night, however, might well be an exception to his rule. Laila was away, banished to the country. So far as El Khadra knew, the bride was submissive, after her brief, childish rebellion. Lella Aïssa was delighted with the marriage, contented in every way with her own lot and Ourïeda's. The women servants were ecstatically interested in the feastings, and had no wish to leave the scene of attraction; besides, the door was guarded by two of the stolid, fat negroes upon whom El Khadra, like other Arabs of his class, almost implicitly relied. ”

“ Invitations had been sent out to half aristocratic Tunis, for the last feastings at the home of El Khadra, and to see the bride in her wedding finery before her departure; on the part of Lella Aïssa, who would entertain the women splendidly in the harem; on the part of El Khadra, who would entertain the bridegroom and a large company of men in his own part of the house. Four cooks were busy, preparing every sort of fantastic dainty; dancers and musicians were engaged to amuse the guests. No one talked of anything but the wedding, and Ourïeda's future happiness. ”

“ Didst thou not wish, when it first happened, to scream and run away and hide thyself, or at least to cover thy face with thy two hands?”
“Why, it began to happen when I was so young that it was all quite natural,” smiled Norah. “I've been more with men than with women, I think, ever since I was a baby, because I have a dear twin brother, and I was always with him and his friends, as we had no sister. And my mother died when I was a little girl.”
“So did ours,” said Ourïeda eagerly. “And we have only each other, because our father never married again. Our Aunt Aïssa lives with us. ”

“ We saw a party of women leave the valley for a deserted village, of which the ruins showed waste and grim on the mountain-top. They were taking food up to the shepherds in charge of the sheep and goats there, and would take advantage of the cooler air of the heights to have a midday nap in the shade of the ruins. In olden days the Beni Aissa dwelt on these heights, but it was very trying, especially for the women who had every day to descend to the plain to fetch water; so, when more peaceful times came, they moved down to the caves at the base of the valley. ”

“ Then she took out a photograph of Si Mohammed, which had been made for the bey his cousin. Aunt Aïssa admired it a great deal, and passed it on to us. He is handsome in a way, but not a way that could interest me. He could never be a 'dream man' for any girl, I think! He is tall and big, more like a Turk than an Arab, one would imagine, with a large mustache, and a chin that begins to grow double, because he is fat. ”

“ I have read in French novels of the way Europeans arrange their bathing; but we like our things brought in newly each time, though we bathe a good deal, for it is in our religion. And every week we go out to the Moorish Bath, as we have told thee already. Thou shalt go, too, if thou wilt, with Nouna to take care of us, as always; but, perhaps, now we have thee, Aunt Aïssa will sometimes stop at home. She is too weak for the hottest room now she is old ”

“ When you, Tenes, are king not only of Sidon but of Egypt, Cyprus, Persia, and the East, as I can make you, if you obey me in all things, then I, Ayesha, vow myself to you as your sole wife and queen. But if, ere this dignity is mine and yours, you dare even to touch my robe, then in the name of Isis and speaking with the voice of Isis, I, Ayesha, vow to you shame and death in the world and after it all the torments of hell and the jaws of the Devourer that await the judgment of Thoth on perjured souls beyond the Sun. ”

“ When all had gone, leaving us alone, save for the priest Oros and the priestess Papave, who remained in attendance on their mistress, Ayesha, who sat gazing before her with dreaming, empty eyes, seemed to awake, for she rose and said—“A noble chant, is it not, and an ancient? It was the wedding song of the feast of Isis and Osiris at Behbit in Egypt, and there I heard it before ever I saw the darksome Caves of Kôr. Often have I observed, my Holly, that music lingers longer than aught else in this changeful world, though it is rare that the very words should remain unvaried. ”

“ It is right, therefore, that you should be the first to learn also of Ayesha, Hesea and Spirit of the Mountain, the priestess of that Oracle which since the time of Alexander the Great has reigned between the flaming pillars in the Sanctuary, the last holder of the sceptre of Hes or Isis upon the earth. It is right also that to you first among men I should reveal the mystic consummation of the wondrous tragedy which began at Kôr, or perchance far earlier in Egypt and elsewhere. ”

“ Why art thou less in stature? Oh! in the name of whatever god thou dost worship, tell me art thou Ayesha?”
“I am Ayesha” she answered solemnly, “that very Ayesha to whom thou didst pledge thyself eternally.”
“She lies, she lies,” broke in Atene. “I tell thee, husband—for such with her own lips she declares thou art to me—that yonder woman who says that she parted from thee young and beautiful, less than twenty years ago, is none other than the aged priestess who for a century at least has borne rule in these halls of Hes. Let her deny it if she can.” ”

“ Say, dost thou believe these things, as I do?”
“Aye, Ayesha, but Hes or Isis is thy goddess, for hast thou not told us tales of thy dealings with her in the past, and did we not hear thee make thy prayer to her? Who, then, is this goddess Hes?”
“Know, Leo, that she is what I named her—Nature’s soul, no divinity, but the secret spirit of the world; that universal Motherhood, whose symbol thou hast seen yonder, and in whose mysteries lie hid all earthly life and knowledge.” ”

“ O Ayesha, she said in her slow and solemn voice, Ayesha, whom I, Isis, had come to look upon rather as a daughter than a servant, since in none other of my priestesses was such wisdom to be found, and whom in a day to be I had purposed to raise to the very steps of my heavenly throne, thou hast broken thine oath and here in my shrine itself hast worshipped Aphrodite of the Greeks who is mine enemy. Yea, in the eternal war between the spirit and the flesh, thou hast chosen the part of flesh. ”

“ Resting her arm upon the table, Ayesha looked at him with sombre eyes and answered—“In that Faith of thine of which thou speakest are there perchance two gods, each having many ministers: a god of good and a god of evil, an Osiris and a Set?”
He nodded.
“I thought it. And the god of ill is strong, is he not, and can put on the shape of good? Tell me, then, Leo, in the world that is to-day, whereof I know so little, hast thou ever heard of frail souls who for some earthly bribe have sold themselves to that evil one, or to his minister, and been paid their price in bitterness and anguish?” ”

“ Oros restored the sceptre to her, and lifting it she said—“O love and lord, take thou the place prepared for thee, where thou shalt sit for ever at my side, for with myself I give thee more than thou canst know or than I will tell thee now. Mount thy throne, O Affianced of Hes, and receive the worship of thy priests.”
“Nay,” he answered with a start as that word fell upon his ears. “Here and now I say it once and for all. I am but a man who know nothing of strange gods, their attributes and ceremonials. None shall bow the knee to me and on earth, Ayesha, I bow mine to thee alone.” ”

“ I asked of Noot in my dream.
“Aye, Ayesha, when the world is redeemed, then perchance you may find your part in that great forgiveness. Hearken. There is a vision which throughout your life has haunted you. In that vision Aphrodite and the evil gods, those gods that she had led into Egypt to destroy its higher faith, were summoned before the throne of Isis. In it also a fate and a command were laid upon you—that you should war against those gods and bring its punishment on Egypt that received and welcomed them.” ”

“ Thou, Atene, wast that Amenartas.
“Lastly there lived a certain Arabian, named Ayesha, a wise and lovely woman, who, in the emptiness of her heart, and the sorrow of much knowledge, had sought refuge in the service of the universal Mother, thinking there to win the true wisdom which ever fled from her. That Ayesha, as thou sawest also, the goddess visited in a dream, bidding her to follow those faithless ones, and work Heaven’s vengeance on them, and promising her in reward victory over death upon the earth and beauty such as had not been known in woman. ”

“ Ere now the stranger lord, thy darling, is prisoner in her palace. Advance, and we destroy thee and thy little band; but if by any miracle thou shouldst conquer, then he dies. Get thee gone to thy Mountain fastness and the Khania gives thee peace, and thy people their lives. What answer to the words of the Khania?”
Ayesha whispered to Oros, who called aloud—“There is no answer. Go, if ye love life, for death draws near to you.” ”

“ Is it a small thing to be Queen of Sidon?”
“For Ayesha, daughter of Yarab, high-priestess and prophetess of Isis, the wisest and most beauteous woman in the world, one who has never turned to look on man, it is a very small thing indeed, King Tenes. ”

“ That is the tale to which hundreds can bear witness.”
“Thou hearest, Atene,” said the Hesea. “Dost thou still doubt?”
“Aye,” answered the Khania, “for I hold that Oros also lies, or if he lies not, then he dreams, or perchance that voice he heard was thine own. Now if thou art this undying woman, this Ayesha, let proof be made of it to these two men who knew thee in the past. Tear away those wrappings that guard thy loveliness thus jealously. Let thy shape divine, thy beauty incomparable, shine out upon our dazzled sight. Surely thy lover will not forget such charms ”

“ Isaias Chapter 7
The prophet assures king Achaz that the two kings his enemies shall not take Jerusalem. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
7:1. And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, that Rasin king of Syria and Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it: but they could not prevail over it.
7:2. And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath rested upon Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. ”

“ However the reminiscence might affect Ayesha, it clearly had few charms for him.
"I brought you," went on Ayesha presently, "that ye might look upon the most wonderful sight that ever the eye of man beheld—the full moon shining over ruined Kôr. When ye have done your eating—I would that I could teach you to eat naught but fruit, Kallikrates, but that will come after thou hast laved in the fire. Once I, too, ate flesh like a brute beast. When ye have done we will go out, and I will show you this great temple and the God whom men once worshipped therein." ”

“ 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. ”