Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1890 — ALLAN QUATERMAIN. [ARTICLE]

ALLAN QUATERMAIN.

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.

CHAPTER XXlll—Continued. “Listen," she went on, raising her voioe. *T have naught to say, save '.hat I would that I had won instead of lost Do thou with me even as thou wilt, oh, queea, and let my lord the king, there, ” i(pointing to Sir Henry), • for now will he be king, let him earry out the sentence, as it is meet lie should, for as he is the beginning of the evil, let him also be the end!” \nd she drew herself up and shot one +ngry glance at him fsom her deep ■'ringed eyes, and then began to toy with her spear. Sir Henry bent toward Nyleptha and whispered something that I could not •ateh. and then the queen spoke. “Sorsis. ever have I been a good sister to thee. When our-father died, ind there was much talk in the land as to whether thou shouldst sit upon the throne with me, I being the elder, I gave my voice for thee and said, ‘Nay, let her sit. She is twin with me; we were bora at a birth; wherefore should the one be preferred before the otherP’ And so has it ever been ’twixt thee and me, my sister. But now thou knowest in what hort thou hast repaid me, but I have prevailed, and thy life is forfeit, Sorais. And yet art thou my sister, born at a birth with me, and we played together when we were littie and loved each other much, and at night we slept in the same Cot with our arms each around the other’s neck, and therefore even now does my heart go out to thee, Sorais. “But not for that would I spare thy life, for thy offense has been too heavy; it doth drag down the wide wings of my mercy even to the ground. Also, whilst thou dost live the land will never be at peace. “Yet shalt thou not die, Sorais, because my dear lord here hath begged thy life of me as a boon; therefore as a boon and as a marriage gift give l it to him, to do with even as he wills, knowing that, though thou dost love him, he loves thee not, Sorais, for all thy beauty. Nay, though thou art lovely as the night in all her stars, oh, Lady of the Night, yet is it me his wife whom he loves, and not thee, and therefore do I give thy life to him." Sorais flushed up to her eyes and said nothing, and I do not think that I ever saw a man look more miserable than did Sir Henry at that moment. Somehow, Nyleptha’s way of putting the thing, though true and forcible enough, was not altogether pleasant. “I understood,” stammered Curtis, looking at Good, ‘*l understood that you were attached—eh—attached to to the Queen Sorais. I am—eh—not aware what the—in short, the state of your feelings may be just now; but if they happened to be that way inclined, it has struck me that—in short, it might put a satisfactory end to an unpleasant business. The lady also has ample private estates, where I am sure she would be at liberty to live unmolested so far as we are concerned, eh, Nyleptha? Of course, I only suggest.” 1 ‘So far as I am concerned, ” said Good, coloring up. “I am quite willing to forget the past; and if the Lady of the Night thinks me worth having, I will marry her tomorrow, or when she likes, and try to make her a good husband. " All eyes were now turned to Sorais, who stood with that same slow smile upon her beautiful face that I had noticed the first time I ever saw her. She paused a little while, and oleared her throat, and then thrice she courtesied low, once to N yleptha, once to Curtis, and once to Good, and began to speak in measured tones. •*I thank thee, most gracious queen and sister, for the loving kindness thou hast shown me from my youth up, and especially in that thou ha st been pleased to give my person and ray fate as a gift to the Lord Incubu—the king that is to be. May prosperity, peace and plenty deck the life path of one so merciful and so tender, even as flowers do. Long mayst thou reign, oh, great and glorious queen, and hold thy husband’s love in both thy hands, and many be the sons and the daughters of thy beauty. And I thank thee, my Lord Incubu —the king that is to be— I thank thee a thousand times in that thou hast been pleased to accept that gracious gift, and to pass it on to thy comrade in arms and in adventure, the Lord Bougwan. Surely the act is worthy of tfiy greatness, my Lord Incubu. And now, lastly, I thank thee also, my Lord Bougwan, who in thy turn has deigned to accept me and my poor beauty. I thank thee a thousand times, and i will add that thou art a good and honest man, and I put my hand upon my heart and swear that I would that I could say thee ‘yea.’ And now that I have rendered thanks to all in turn”—and again she smiled— “l will add one short word. “Little can ye understand of me, Nyleptha and my lords, if yo know not for me there la no middle path; that I scorn your pity and hate ye for it; that I cast off your forgiveness as though it were a serpent’s sting; and that standing here, betrayed, deserted, insulted, and alone, I yet triumph over ye, mock ye. and defy ye, one and all, and thus I answer ye!” —— And then of a sudden, before anybody guessed what she intended to do, she drove the little silver spear she carried in her hand into her side with such a strong and steady aim that the keen point projected through her back, said she fell prone upon the pavement. Nyleptha shrieked, apd poor Good almost fainted at the sight, while the nest of us rushed toward her. But Sorais of the Night raised herself upon her hand, and for a moment Used her glorious eyes intently on Curtis's face, as though there were soma message la

the glance, then dropped her ho&d and sighed, and with a sob her dark yet splendid spirit passed. Well, they gave her a splendid funeral, ahd there was an end of her. • * * • * • It was a month after the last act of the Sorais’s tragedy that there was a great ceremony in the Flower Temple, and Curtis was formerly declared king-consort of Zu-Vendis. I was too ill to go myself; and, indeed, I hate all that sort of thing, with the crowds and the trumpet-blowing and banner waving; but Good, who was there (in his full dress uniform) came back much impressed, and told me that Nyleptha had looked lovely, and Curtis had borne himself in a right royal fashion, and had been received with acclamations that left no doubt as to his popularity. Also he told me that when the horse Daylight was led along in the procession, the populace had shouted, ‘ ‘Macumazahn, Macumazahn!" till they were hoarse, and would only be appeased when he, Good, rose in his chariot and told them that I was too ill to be present. Afterward, too, Sir Henry, or rather the king, came to see me, looking very tired, and vowing that he had never been so bored in his life; but I dare say that was a slight exaggeration. It is not in human nature that a man should be altogether bored on such an extraordinary occasion; and, indeed, as I pointed out to him, it was a marvelous thing that a man, who but little more than one short year before had entered a great country as an unknown should to-day be married to its beautiful and beloved queen, and lifted, amidst public rejoicings, to its throne; and I oven went the length to, exhort him in the future not to be carried away by the pride and pomp of absolute power; but always to strive to remember that he was first a Christian gentleman, and next a public servant, called by Providence to a great and almost unprecedented trust. These remarks, which he might fairly have resented, he was so good as to receive with patience, and even to thank me for making them. It was immediately after this ceremony that I caused myself to be moved to the house where I am now writing. It is a very pleasant country seat, situated about two miles from the Frowning City, on to which it looks. That was five months ago, during the whole of which time I have, being confined to a sort of couch, employed my leisure in compiling this history of our wanderings from my journal and our joint memories. It is probable that it will never be read, but it does not much matter whether it is or not; at any rate, it has served to while away many hours of suffering, for I have suffered a deal of pain lately. Thank God. however, ther" ‘"Ml 1 not be much more of it. * + * » i It is a week since I wrote above, a id now I take up my pen forVhe last time, for I know that the end is at hand. My brain is still clear and I can manage to write, though with difficulty. The pain in my lung, which has been very bad during the last week, has suddenly quite left me and been succeeded by a feeling of numbness of which I can not mistake the meaning. And just as the pain has, gone, so with it all fear of that end! has departed, and I feel only as though I were gJ>ihg to sink into the arms of an unutterable rest. Happily, contentedly, and with the same sense of security with which an infant lays itself to sleep in its mother’s arms, do I lay myself down in the arms of the Angel Death. All the tremors, all the heart-shaking fears which have haunted me through a life that seems long as I look back upon it, have left me ..now; the storms have passed, and the Star of our Eternal Hope shines clear and steady on the horizon that seeftraso far from man, and yet it is so very near to me to-night. ~ TO BE CONTINUED. r * BABY'S MEMORY. A One-Year-Old Boy Hides and Finds a King. A curious instance of dormant memory in infancy took place in our family. My mother went on a visit to my grandfather, who lived in London. She took With her a little brother of miiie, who was 11 months old, and hi*, nurse, who waited on her as her maid, On< day the nurse brought this baby boy into my mother’s room and put him on the floor, which was carpeted ail over. There he crept about and amused himself according to his lights. When my mother was dressed a cex tain ring that she generally wore wax not to be found. Great search was made, but it was never produced, and, the visit over, they all went away, and H was almost forgotten. Exactly a year after they again went to visit the grandfather. The baby was now a year and eleven months old. The same nurse took him into the same room, and my mother saw him after looking about him, deliberately walk up to a certain corner, turn a bit of the carpet back, and produce the ring. He never gave any account of the matter; nor did he, so far as I know, remember it afterward. It seems most likely that he found the ring on the floor and hid it, as in a safe-place; under a corner of the Brussels carpet where it was not nailed. He probably forgot all about it till he saw the place again, and he was far too Infantile at the time it was missed to understand what the talk that weat on was about, or to know what the search, which, perhaps, he did not notice, was far.