The garments were at length finished,and,contemplating my handiwork with no small satisfaction,I proceeded to mat layers of the fibre into sandals.
One night I woke suddenly,breathless and faint,and longing after air,and had risen to crawl from the cave,when a slight rustle in the leaves of the couch set me listening motionless.
"I caught the vile thing,"said a feeble voice,in my mother-tongue;"I caught it in the very act!"
She was alive!she spoke!I dared not yield to my transport lest Ishould terrify her.
"What creature?"I breathed,rather than said.
"The creature,"she answered,"that was biting you.""What was it?"
"A great white leech."
"How big?"I pursued,forcing myself to be calm.
"Not far from six feet long,I should think,"she answered.
"You have saved my life,perhaps!--But how could you touch the horrid thing!How brave of you!"I cried.
"I did!"was all her answer,and I thought she shuddered.
"Where is it?What could you do with such a monster?""I threw it in the river."
"Then it will come again,I fear!"
"I do not think I could have killed it,even had I known how!--Iheard you moaning,and got up to see what disturbed you;saw the frightful thing at your neck,and pulled it away.But I could not hold it,and was hardly able to throw it from me.I only heard it splash in the water!""We'll kill it next time!"I said;but with that I turned faint,sought the open air,but fell.
When I came to myself the sun was up.The lady stood a little way off,looking,even in the clumsy attire I had fashioned for her,at once grand and graceful.I HAD seen those glorious eyes!Through the night they had shone!Dark as the darkness primeval,they now outshone the day!She stood erect as a column,regarding me.Her pale cheek indicated no emotion,only question.I rose.
"We must be going!"I said."The white leech----"I stopped:a strange smile had flickered over her beautiful face.
"Did you find me there?"she asked,pointing to the cave.
"No;I brought you there,"I replied.
"You brought me?"
"Yes."
"From where?"
"From the forest."
"What have you done with my clothes--and my jewels?""You had none when I found you."
"Then why did you not leave me?"
"Because I hoped you were not dead."
"Why should you have cared?"
"Because I was very lonely,and wanted you to live.""You would have kept me enchanted for my beauty!"she said,with proud scorn.
Her words and her look roused my indignation.
"There was no beauty left in you,"I said.
"Why,then,again,did you not let me alone?""Because you were of my own kind."
"Of YOUR kind?"she cried,in a tone of utter contempt.
"I thought so,but find I was mistaken!"
"Doubtless you pitied me!"
"Never had woman more claim on pity,or less on any other feeling!"With an expression of pain,mortification,and anger unutterable,she turned from me and stood silent.Starless night lay profound in the gulfs of her eyes:hate of him who brought it back had slain their splendour.The light of life was gone from them.
"Had you failed to rouse me,what would you have done?"she asked suddenly without moving.
"I would have buried it."
"It!What?--You would have buried THIS?"she exclaimed,flashing round upon me in a white fury,her arms thrown out,and her eyes darting forks of cold lightning.
"Nay;that I saw not!That,weary weeks of watching and tending have brought back to you,"I answered--for with such a woman Imust be plain!"Had I seen the smallest sign of decay,I would at once have buried you.""Dog of a fool!"she cried,"I was but in a trance--Samoil!what a fate!--Go and fetch the she-savage from whom you borrowed this hideous disguise.""I made it for you.It is hideous,but I did my best."She drew herself up to her tall height.
"How long have I been insensible?"she demanded."A woman could not have made that dress in a day!""Not in twenty days,"I rejoined,"hardly in thirty!""Ha!How long do you pretend I have lain unconscious?--Answer me at once.""I cannot tell how long you had lain when I found you,but there was nothing left of you save skin and bone:that is more than three months ago.--Your hair was beautiful,nothing else!I have done for it what I could.""My poor hair!"she said,and brought a great armful of it round from behind her;"--it will be more than a three-months'care to bring YOU to life again!--I suppose I must thank you,although Icannot say I am grateful!"
"There is no need,madam:I would have done the same for any woman--yes,or for any man either!""How is it my hair is not tangled?"she said,fondling it.
"It always drifted in the current."
"How?--What do you mean?"
"I could not have brought you to life but by bathing you in the hot river every morning."She gave a shudder of disgust,and stood for a while with her gaze fixed on the hurrying water.Then she turned to me:
"We must understand each other!"she said."--You have done me the two worst of wrongs--compelled me to live,and put me to shame:
neither of them can I pardon!"
She raised her left hand,and flung it out as if repelling me.
Something ice-cold struck me on the forehead.When I came to myself,I was on the ground,wet and shivering.