Damietta

“ The king went back to Damayanti and said in his grief, "O Queen, it is useless any longer to stay with one who is the victim of ill fortune. The dice in the guise of birds have spoiled me of my loin cloth, my sole possession. Do you, therefore, go back to Vidarbha and live with King Bhima and leave me to suffer alone." But the queen smiled bravely at him. "Nay, O King," she said, "it is because you have fallen on evil days that I cannot leave you. For, in times of trouble, there is no such remedy as a wife's love. ”

“ How can I imagine that I am alone, and without Damie? I am not alone—I belong to Damie, and he belongs to me. And for Damie it would be better if he had a fatherly hand to guide him—it would help him up. But why do you want anybody else, Amrei?—can you not take care of him yourself, if it be necessary? If he once starts out in that way, I can see that he'll be nothing but a servant all his life, a drudge for other people. And who knows how uncle's children will behave toward us? Because they're poor people themselves, they'll play the masters with us. ”

“ And I tell you truly that your grief shall pass away and that you shall once more be joined to your noble husband Nala King of the Nishadas." Damayanti rose and was about to thank the sage from the bottom of her heart. When lo! before her eyes, the gardens smiling with blossoms and the orchards laden with fruit, the laughing stream and the huts shaded by leafy trees vanished. And she stood once more alone in the heart of the forest. The queen rubbed her eyes, for she could scarcely believe them. "Where are those kind old men?" she asked herself. ”

“ So Damayanti bowed her fair head in reverence, hearing the gods named, and having done obeisance, she raised her head and spoke: “Yet, O Prince, is my heart set on you and I am faithful. The white swan was my messenger and to you he bore my love. It is for your sake only that the kings are bidden to my swayamvara, but I have already chosen. Even now the maidens make ready the garland that I would hang about your neck. O Prince of Men, O Flame of Strength and Knightliness, what says your heart? For me, I choose your arms or death. There is no other way.” ”

“ For Damayanti, daughter of King Bhima is once more about to hold a Swayamwara. And all the Aryan heroes are thronging to it. For her husband King Nala has fled away and no one knows whether he is alive or dead.'"
Sudeva bowed and departed. Soon he reached the city of Ayodhya and there gave Damayanti's message to King Rituparna. The king at once decided to go to Vidarbha, for the fame of Damayanti's beauty had spread over all the earth. Immediately he bade Vahuka harness the fastest horses in his stables that he might hurry with all speed to the Swayamwara of Queen Damayanti. ”

“ As a boy he had lived with Damien in Honolulu, and had been a servant to him, and so I heard first hand from Raeltoa little incidents of Damien’s life and character, the man who has since those days become famous the world over for his devotion to the lepers and who sacrificed his own life so that he could minister to their needs and brighten their lives of living death with the hope of another life beyond their own loathsome existence. ”

“ Both to break my promise, and to suffer me to see thee die,
Whom so dearly I love: this small request grant me,
I shall never ask thee more, my desire is but friendly.
Do me this honour, that fame may report triumphantly,
That Pithias for his friend Damon was contented to die.
Damon. That you were contented for me to die, fame cannot deny;
Yet fame shall never touch me with such a villainy,
To report that Damon did suffer his friend Pithias for him guiltless to die;
Therefore content thyself, the gods requite thy constant faith,
None but Damon’s blood can appease Dionysius’ wrath. ”

“ For a moment Glavour staggered and then his hand fell on Damis' shoulder. Exerting all of his huge strength, he pulled his opponent toward him and threw his massive arms about him. Damis made no attempt to wriggle out of the bone-crushing grip, but, instead, threw his arms about the Jovian and matched muscle against muscle. The Jovian guards, who had witnessed the feats of strength which were the Viceroy's boast, expected only one outcome, but to Havenner, who recalled that Hortan, the father of Damis, had been one of the mightiest men of Jupiter, the issue was not a foregone conclusion. ”

“ Are you a mortal woman or are you, as we think, a spirit from the forest come to do us harm?" "No," said Damayanti sadly smiling, "I am no evil spirit but the daughter of a king. I seek my husband Nala King of the Nishadas. Tell me, fair sir, whether by any chance you have seen him," "O Queen," said the leader of the merchants, "I have met neither King Nala nor any other man in this forest; for only wild elephants and lions and other beasts of prey live here." ”

“ Travers his arm ready to lead her away, but at the last moment did not move.
With an authoritative gesture Daman had parted the ranks of Belarab's young followers with the red skullcaps and was seen advancing toward the whites striking into an astonished silence all the scattered groups in the courtyard. But the broken ranks had closed behind him. The Illanun chiefs, for all their truculent aspect, were much too prudent to attempt to move. They had not needed for that the faint warning murmur from Daman. He advanced alone. The plain hilt of a sword protruded from the open edges of his cloak. ”

“ Lucius Ælius Lamia she looked upon as formed in her father’s school, upon his model. He was modest, honorable, true; a good man to whom she could give her whole heart with full assurance that he would treasure the gift, and that she could trust him to be as true to her as she would be true to him.
Since her father’s death, Domitia had felt more than previously the incompatibility of her mind with that of her mother. ”

“ Damis caught his sound arm in a powerful grip and twisted slowly on his wrist. Gradually Glavour's fingers relaxed and Damis' arm was free. His hands shot up and gripped Glavour about the throat just in time to shut off the cry for help which was forming on his thick lips. The two giants strove silently for mastery in the struggle which meant life for the victor and death for the vanquished. The expression in Damis' eyes was one of confident mastery, but the face of the Jovian showed something that was strangely akin to fear. ”

“ One night, with Raeltoa, she came out into the forest, almost resigned to her fate—for it had come to her ears that her lover was paying attention to the woman who had put the leper-hunters on her track, and now she felt that she had 222nothing much to live for—and the poor forsaken leper girl took the risk and appeared in the doorway of Damien’s room at midnight with her one true friend by her side. In her childish native language, she told Damien the truth as he sat in his hut, gazing steadily in front of him, for it was his duty to give her up to the authorities. ”

“ I have now come far enough to meet you on a common ground of fact; and I tell you that, to a mind not prejudiced by jealousy, all the reforms of the lazaretto, and even those which he most vigorously opposed, are properly the work of Damien. They are the evidence of his success; they are what his heroism provoked from the reluctant and the careless. Many were before him in the field; Mr. Meyer, for instance, of whose faithful work we hear too little: there have been many since; and some had more worldly wisdom, though none had more devotion, than our saint. ”

“ A pledge you did require, when Damon his suit did meve,
For which with heart and stretched hands most humble thanks I give:
And that you may not say but Damon hath a friend,
That loves him better than his own life, and will do to his end,
Take me, O mighty king: my life I pawn [75] for his:
Strike off my head, if Damon hap at his day to miss.
Dionysius. What art thou, that chargest me with my word so boldly here?
Pithias. I am Pithias, a Greek born, which hold Damon my friend full dear.
Dionysius. Too dear perhaps, to hazard thy life for him: what fondness [76] moveth thee? ”

“ A Roman captain of a company that wintered in Chæronea became passionately fond of this youth, who was now pretty nearly grown a man. And finding all his approaches, his gifts, and his entreaties alike repulsed, he showed violent inclinations to assault Damon. Our native Chæronea was then in a distressed condition, too small and too poor to meet with any thing but neglect, Damon, being sensible of this, and looking upon himself as injured already, resolved to inflict punishment. ”

“ Yet, in those hills that hung o'er Arcady,
Some roving inebriate Daimon
Begat him fair children
On nymphs of the vineyard,
On nymphs of the rock: —
And in the heart of the forest
Lay bound in white arms,
In action creative a father
Without a thought for his child: —
A purposeless god,
The forbear of men
To corrupt, ape, inherit and spoil
That fine race beforehand with doom!
No, Damon, what's an answer worth to one
Whose mind has been flung open? ”

“ Damis opened his arms and in an instant the Earth-girl was folded in them.
"Is my father safe?" was her first question.
"Safer by far than we are," exclaimed Damis with a sudden pang of anxiety. He glanced at the time-recording device on the wall. Three-quarters of an hour had passed since he had first entered the Viceregal palace. If the estimates of Tubain's arrival which he had heard were correct, the Jovian fleet should be almost most overhead. "Come," he cried to Lura, "we have no time to lose if we escape before the palace and all in it are destroyed. Where did Havenner land his ship?" ”

“ And to fight your way through is a thousand times better than to beg your way through. And now, Damie, come with me—come home."
Damie did not want to show himself in the village at all; he dreaded the jeering that would be vented upon him from all sides, and preferred to remain concealed for the present. But Barefoot said:
"You go with me now—on this bright Sunday; and you must walk right through the village, and let the people mock at you, let them have their say, let them point and laugh. ”

“ Hereupon, as I walked, I began to recall much that I had read in the old romances of the gratitude of rescued ladies.
"Truly," said I to myself, "in olden days a lady well knew how to reward her rescuer!"
"Woman is woman—the same to-day as then—try her, try her!" chuckled the Daemon. And now, as I looked more fully at this Daemon, he seemed no daemon at all, but rather, a jovial companion who nodded, and winked, and nudged me slyly with his elbow. "What are pretty faces for but to be admired?" said he in my ear; "what are slender waists for but to be pressed ”

“ Are the desires of a half-breed bastard to stand above the [369] wishes of the ruler of the planet?"
"It is true that the mother of Damis was a Daughter of Man," said the equerry quietly, "yet Hortan married her in honor. Damis is a man of great influence and it would be well to reflect before you rob him of his chosen bride. There is wide discontent with our rule which needs only a leader to flare up. Remember that we are few and Jupiter is far away."
"Havenner, you talk like a frightened woman," sneered the Viceroy. "Let him join the ranks of the malcontents. For my part, I hope they revolt. ”

“ You have made a golden work out of your 'golden-hearted Luria'—as once you called him to me, and I hold it in the highest admiration—should, if you were precisely nothing to me. And still, the fifth act rises! That is certain. Nevertheless I seem to agree with you that your hand has vacillated in your Domizia. We do not know her with as full a light on her face, as the other persons—we do not see the panther,—no, certainly we do not—but you will do a very little for her which will be everything, after a time ... ”

“ His feelings towards her were a mixture of passionate admiration and savage resentment. From every one else he met with adulation, or at least respect, from her neither. His will was a law to a legion of sycophants, to her it was something she seemed to find a pleasure in defying.
Domitia nursed her resentment, and this soured her nature and reflected itself in her features.
In the long Chiaramonte Gallery of the Vatican Museum is an exquisite and uninjured bust of Domitia Longina as a girl; the face is one that holds the passer-by, it is so sweet, so beautiful, so full of a glorious soul. ”

“ There, by the wild pear-tree, she said,—
“Here we will take leave. God protect thee—and fear no devil.”
They shook hands heartily. Then Dami went on to Hirlingen, and Barefoot turned back to the village. Not till she got to the foot of the hill, where Dami could not see her, did she venture to raise her apron to her eyes, to dry the tears that rolled down her cheeks. Then she cried aloud, “God forgive me for saying what I did, about being alone. I thank thee, O God! that thou hast given me a brother. Leave him only to me as long as I live!” ”

“ Wig pinned or not, I must dance.”
“Let us go down,” said Domitia in a hard tone.
“Come down, by all means,” acquiesced her mother. “I must see that the Gods be properly thanked. I stepped this morning out of bed left leg foremost.9 I knew some happiness would come to me to-day. As the Gods love me! I’ll give a little supper. Domitia! whom shall I invite? None of your second-class men now. There!—I thought as much; my wig has come off. Never mind! no men can see me, and women don’t count.”
On reaching the private apartment of the lady, Domitia said:—
“Mother—a word.” ”

“ Her charm was like that of her aunt, Cæsonia, in grace of form, in changefulness and sweetness of expression, and in the brimming intellect that flashed out of her violet eyes. And now as she played with the kid, her every movement formed an artist’s study, and the simple joy that shone out of her face, and the affection wherewith she glanced at intervals at her father, invested her with a spiritual charm, impossible to be achieved by sculptor with his chisel or by painter with his brush.
The eyes of Domitius Corbulo followed his child, wherever she went, whatever she did. ”