this Egyptian Amenartas, this royal child of the Nile who hated me, and whom even now I hate, for in a way she did prevail against mesee, now, she herself hath been the very means to bring her lover to mine arms!
For her sake I slew him, and now, behold, through her he hath come back to me! She would have done me evil, and sowed her seeds that I might reap tares, and behold she hath given me more than all the world can give, and there is a strange square for thee to fit into thy circle of good and evil, O Holly!
"And so," she went on, after a pause"and so she bade her son destroy me if he might, because I slew his father.And thou, my Kallikrates, art the father, and in a sense thou art likewise the son; and wouldst thou avenge thy wrong, and the wrong of that far-off mother of thine upon me, O Kallikrates? See," and she slid to her knees, and drew the white corsage still farther down her ivory bosom"see, here beats my heart, and there by thy side is a knife, heavy and long and sharp, the very knife to slay an erring woman with.
Take it now, and be avenged.Strike, and strike home!so shalt thou be satisfied, Kallikrates, and go through life a happy man, because thou hast paid back the wrong, and obeyed the mandate of the past."He looked at her, and then stretched out his hand and lifted her to her feet.
"Rise, Ayesha," he said, sadly; "well thou knowest that I cannot strike thee, no, not even for the sake of her whom thou slewest but last night.I am in thy power, and a very slave to thee.How can I kill thee?sooner should I slay myself."