When Keawe came to himself a little,he was aware it was the night when the band played at the hotel.Thither he went,because he feared to be alone;and there,among happy faces,walked to and fro,and heard the tunes go up and down,and saw Berger beat the measure,and all the while he heard the flames crackle,and saw the red fire burning in the bottomless pit.Of a sudden the band played HIKI-AO-AO;that was a song that he had sung with Kokua,and at the strain courage returned to him.
"It is done now,"he thought,"and once more let me take the good along with the evil."So it befell that he returned to Hawaii by the first steamer,and as soon as it could be managed he was wedded to Kokua,and carried her up the mountain side to the Bright House.
Now it was so with these two,that when they were together,Keawe's heart was stilled;but so soon as he was alone he fell into a brooding horror,and heard the flames crackle,and saw the red fire bum in the bottomless pit.The girl,indeed,had come to him wholly;her heart leapt in her side at sight of him,her hand clung to his;and she was so fashioned from the hair upon her head to the nails upon her toes that none could see her without joy.She was pleasant in her nature.She had the good word always.Full of song she was,and went to and fro in the Bright House,the brightest thing in its three storeys,carolling like the birds.
And Keawe beheld and heard her with delight,and then must shrink upon one side,and weep and groan to think upon the price that he had paid for her;and then he must dry his eyes,and wash his face,and go and sit with her on the broad balconies,joining in her songs,and,with a sick spirit,answering her smiles.