CHAPTER XVI - GLARCES AND TASHA

The sensitive heart of Glarces was so delicately poised that in the gentle correction of Teresh all signs of his mild vivacity was lost. In touching the feelings of another he always dealt himself a heavy blow, and yet his stern sense of honour allowed him no alternative.

One ray of relief, however, broke through the cloud of his regret. Teresh had remembered their relationship of tutor and pupil, and that the stand he (Glarces) had taken was a practical application of his own instruction.

Still the Prince felt the smart of his self-inflicted wound; but a good physician was at hand.

“Oh! my dear Tasha, do we meet at last; and just when I most sorely needed you?”

She nestled to him in his usual filial embrace, her head lying with eloquent affection upon his breast. In his surprise he had forgotten they had not met since his visit to Meshrac; nor in her happiness did she wait to criticise his appearance. Vedrona had told her of the change in him, but the picture still upon the wall of her memory was the same as ever. When, however, she turned her eyes upon him she started and exclaimed at the haggard, drawn, and almost unknown face. Then he remembered, and drawing her head a little closer in a lingering caress, waited for her to break the silence.

“My poor boy! And I was not with him!”

“Why am I deserving of pity?” he asked with consoling solicitude. “Have I paid too much for the privilege of speaking with the gods and Neocles? Now that I know the way is really open I would pay it often to speak with Tasha if she were in the world of shades.”

Her heart was pure and true as his. She knew those words were not idly spoken, and felt that indescribable satisfaction only known to a woman in hearing them. He was her own boy, more completely, in a sense, than even Vedrona or his mother could claim, so she dropped her face, to forget the change, and crept still closer to him.

“Did you know that I was vexed and needed your comfort?” he asked. “No, dear, not vexed. I can never believe that.”

“Well, then, disturbed; and like the good angel you have always been you are here at the opportune moment.” “ Am I really your good angel?” and she raised her eyes, full of sweet, soft, devoted confidence.

“You are more than that, dear - are you not my mother?” He stooped to kiss the smiling upturned lips.

She ran her fingers through his golden gleaming hair in a lingering caress, then breathed an almost inaudible sigh.” I would that every boy had such a mother as you have been to me, Tasha. He would needs grow into a happy man. But what is the matter, dear - does anything ail you?”

“No! I am only too happy now that I have you back again! It overpowers me. There is nothing more.”

“Yes! Something is troubling you. I can feel it; tell me what it is.”

“Your eyes and ears are too sharp, my boy; but can you not understand how I should worry about you when I have heard so many things, and you would not see me?”

“Yes, I can understand all that; but you have me now, and that trouble is over. What else remains?”

“I dare not tell you,” she added sorrowfully.

“It will be a sad day for me, Tasha, when you are afraid to tell me of your troubles. Have I in any way pained or offended you?”

“No, dear; but there is something I would save you from.”

“What is the danger?”

“There is a conspiracy at work to separate you from Vedrona, and then..”

He lifted the head still resting upon his breast; she saw his eyes brimming over with confident good humour, and speech failed her. His reply had no apparent connection with what she was saying.

“How long have you been in Sahama, dear?”

“Thirty years! But will you not hear what I wish to say?”

“Do you think our summers are very hot?” he asked, oblivious to her enquiry.

She looked at him with doubtful incredulity.

“What is the matter with you, Glarces? Did you hear what I was saying?”

“Perfectly!” Still as quiet and calm as ever.“Do you not think our summers are very hot sometimes?”

“Of course I do! But why do you talk so strangely - don't you know how you alarm me?”

“Tasha, can you see the very end of the valley?”

“Yes, but that has nothing to do with what is troubling me.” “Do you see the mountain with its crown of snow?”

“Yes!” It was no use attempting to resist him further. “Did you ever see it without that diadem even in the hottest summer days?”

“No!”

“If any man told you he would climb that mountain and remove that snow cap, what would you say?”

“I should think he was mad.”

“So would he be mad who attempted to come between Vedrona and myself. The gods, who put that crown of snow upon yonder mountain, gave us to each other. I thank you for your watchful care, but you need not be alarmed.”

“All my life is bound up in you and your sister, Glarces; your mother is slipping away - I cannot keep her, and you are all the gods have left for me to love. Do you not understand how precious you are - how I take alarm at every fanciful shadow I see? Don't be impatient dear, but let me tell you of the sorrow that will not let me sleep.”

She was so tenderly-eloquently pathetic in her appeal as to compel him to grant her request.

“Do you think I can ever be unmindful of your devotion, Tasha? Ah, no! If so you do not know me yet! Whatever disturbs your rest is no matter of indifference to me. Tell me, who are these conspirators, and I will at once unmask their plot, or assure you of your mistake.”

“Some demon has taken possession of Lais, and with the aid of Casca and Zillah she is plotting against your welfare.”

Glarces smiled indulgently.

“It is as I thought. Teresh has only just gone away pained that I would not hear him tell me the same thing.” “ Does he know?”

“Certainly! Why all Velia knows - everybody is talking of it, so that had the thing been true its very publicity has already made it impossible. Did not Teresh tell you?”

“No! I heard it from Maphir, and he assured me that no one but he knew

“It is always so with secrets, Tasha; their privacy assures the widest circulation - how wide in this case you may judge when even the unsociable Maphir has heard it. But I think I can clear up all the mystery and restore your peace of mind.”

He gave her a seat, and then told her his story as we already know it. When he had finished she still shook her head, refusing to accept his assurance.

You may believe the magicians and the gods, Glarces, if you choose, but I do not.”

“Nor Neocles?”

“How do you know the shade was that of your father - could you see and recognise him, or did the arch-priestess only tell you so?”

She had grown rebelliously indignant in her incredulity of the reliability of the oracle, and her unusually pointed vehemence surprised the Prince considerably. Such a doubt had never crossed his mind.

“Tasha! Do you think it possible for a woman like Rhea, in whom the spirits of the holy gods reside, to tell a lie in the presence of the holy altar on the threshold of the under-world?”

She made an exclamation of contempt.

“Phew! What are gods and altars, oaths and underworlds, princes or thrones to a woman with an object to gain? In the days gone by I have thanked the gods for the purity of your heart, but now I almost curse them for the trust and confidence you place in others, thinking they are as guileless as yourself! Oh, Glarces, you are too good to understand the common vileness of humanity. Why will you not listen to Teresh? let him be your adviser and confidant in an enquiry into this matter, and if our suspicion prove to be wrong, you will not injure anyone, but only strengthen your own safety.”

“Teresh has already a prejudice against Casca, at least,” he replied.

“Is he not in the habit of weighing evidence, and may not his opinion be well founded?”

He was thoughtfully – doubtfully - silent. A splendid tribute is here unconsciously paid to the moral rectitude of the man in the influence this artless woman - only a slave is able to wield over him, and the struggle it occasions with all the governing principles of his life. A short fierce contest raged between love and duty, but as must needs be in all such natures the tender self had to bow to inexorable habit, and he replied with nervous apology:

“You cannot understand the almost irresistible power of your slightest wish, but I know you would not have me be untrue to that which I feel to be right, even to please yourself. If I did consent to go to Teresh, as you advise, I must at once to accept his prejudice - or at least subject myself to its influence - at the opening of our enquiry; in that I should start with an injustice to Lais, Casca, and Zillah, and I cannot do that without some evidence that they are in the wrong.”

“But why not ask Teresh upon what ground he bases his opinion, and hear what he has to say?”

“Even that implies suspicion, for which at present I have no cause.”

“See Maphir, then, and let him tell you what he knows.” “That has precisely the same objection. No, dear, I cannot do it.But there is a way - so far as I can see, one only way - and I will take it. Between the holy gods and the soul of an upright man there must exist a means of communication apart from priest or magician. I will purify myself, and find that channel through which I can learn the truth, and trust myself to the protection of the gods till I discover it.”

“Don't say that, Glarces,” she pleaded; “for myself I have no more confidence in the gods than I have in Casca.”

“Then in whom shall we trust? If we can neither place confidence in gods nor men, what shall we do? You would not have me do you the wrong to doubt you - I could not, dear, and so the love I bear you compels me to deny your wish.”