"
And he remained silent; but the Padishah, haggard in his jewels,
with his face hidden, answered thickly, "The truth! For Allah has
forgotten his slave."
And Kazim Sharif, bowing at his feet and veiling his face with
his hands, replied:
"The voice of the child cannot reach her, and the Lady of Delight
departs. He who would speak with her must speak quickly."
Then the Emperor rose to his feet unsteadily, like a man drunk
with the forbidden juice; and when Kazim Sharif would have
supported him, be flung aside his hands, and he stumbled, a man
wounded to death, as it were, to the marble chamber where she
lay.
In that white chamber it was dusk, and they had lit the little
cressets so that a very faint light fell upon her face. A slender
fountain a little cooled the hot, still air with its thin music
and its sprinkled diamonds, and outside, the summer lightnings
were playing wide and blue on the river; but so still was it that
the dragging footsteps of the Emperor raised the hair on the
flesh of those who heard, So the women who should, veiled
themselves, and the others remained like pillars of stone.
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