"You have no need to tell me that, madam," I said.
"I have eyes. I desire to know why you were there at all, and why
you married me."
She turned from me, until I could see nothing but the coiled wealth
of her hair and the bit of white neck between it and the ruff. We
stood so in silence, she with bent head and fingers clasping and
unclasping, I leaning against the wall and staring at her, for what
seemed a long time. At least I had time to grow impatient, when
she faced me again, and all my irritation vanished in a gasp of
admiration.
Oh, she was beautiful, and of a sweetness most alluring and fatal!
Had Medea worn such a look, sure Jason had quite forgot the
fleece, and with those eyes Circe had needed no other charm to
make men what she would. Her voice, when she spoke, was no
longer imperious; it was low pleading music. And she held out
entreating hands.
"Have pity on me," she said. "Listen kindly, and have pity on me.
You are a strong man and wear a sword. You can cut your way
through trouble and peril. I am a woman, weak, friendless,
helpless. I was in distress and peril, and I had no arm to save, no
knight to fight my battle. I do not love deceit. Ah, do not think that
I have not hated myself for the lie I have been. But these forest
creatures that you take, - will they not bite against springe and
snare? Are they scrupulous as to how they free themselves? I too
was in the toils of the hunter, and I too was not scrupulous.
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