This done, she began to talk to Alan about many matters, however little
he might answer her. Indeed it seemed almost as though she feared to let
him leave her side; as though some presentiment of loss oppressed her.
At length, to Alan's great relief, the time came when they must
part, since it was necessary for her to attend a secret ceremony of
preparation or purification that was called "Putting-off-the-Past."
Although she had been thrice summoned, still she would not let him go.
"They call you, Asika," said Alan.
"Yes, yes, they call me," she replied, springing up. "Leave me, Vernoon,
till we meet to-morrow to part no more. Oh! why is my heart so heavy in
me? That black dog of yours read the visions that I summoned but might
not look on, and they were good visions. They showed that the woman
who loved you is dead; they showed us wedded, and other deeper things.
Surely he would not dare to lie to me, knowing that if he did I would
flay him living and throw him to the vultures. Why, then, is my heart
so heavy in me? Would you escape me, Vernoon? Nay, you are not so cruel,
nor could you do it except by death. Moreover, man, know that even in
death you cannot escape me, for there be sure I shall follow you and
claim you, to whose side my spirit has toiled for ages, and what is
there so strong that it can snatch you from my hand?"
She looked at him a moment, and seizing his hand burst into a flood of
tears, and seizing his hand threw herself upon her knees and kissed it
again and again.
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