“But,” she said, anxious to save him, “but she knew what your beliefs were--and accepted them. You told me so.”
“Queen Mab,” he said gravely, “she was a woman, not a fairy. And please to observe the difference. She, poor dear, felt as if she was stripped until she married. You will feel stripped when you do. Yet you both do it for the same reason. She obeys the law because she dare not break it; you because you choose to keep it. Despoina! Despoina!”
She laughed, a little awry. “You used to call me Artemis. I'm not she any more.”
“You are all the goddesses. You do what you please. Your mind is of Artemis; you have the form of Demeter, the grave-eyed spirit of the corn--and your gown, I observe, is blue, as hers was. I see Hera in you, too, the peering, proud lady of intolerant eyelids; and Kore, the pale, sad wife--which makes you your own daughter, my dear; and Gaia, by whom the Athenians swore when they were serious,--Gaia, the Heart of the Earth. All these you are in turns; but to me Despoina, the Lady of the Country, whose secrets no man knows but me.”
She was now by his side, very pale and pure in her distress. She put her hand on his shoulder as she leaned to him. “Dearest, there is one of my secrets you have not learned. May I tell it you?”
He listened sideways, not able to look at her. She felt him tremble. “I think not--I think not. You will tell Ingram first--then do as you please. Don't ask me to listen. Haven't I told you that I see you every night?”
“You don't speak to me. You never speak. You look. Fairies don't speak with the tongue. They have better ways.”
“I don't know. You are Despoina. You go at dawn.”
A power was upon her, and within her. She put both hands on his shoulders. “One night I shall come--and not leave you. And after that you will not follow me any more. I shall follow you.” Perfectly master of himself, his eyes met hers and held them.
She smiled confidently. “I shall come. I know that. But I shan't speak.”
“What need of speech between you and me?”
She saw Chevenix upon the high ground above. He stood on the grass dykes of Hirlebury, and waved his hat.
“I must go now,” she said. “Good-bye, my dear one.”
“Good-bye, Despoina. In seven hours you will be here again....”