demetrios lay on a divan within the court of stars, through which you passed from the fortress into the women's garden and the luxurious prison where he kept his wives. this court was circular in form and was paved with red and yellow slabs, laid alternately, like a chess-board. in the centre was a fountain, which cast up a tall thin jet of water. a gallery extended around the place, supported by columns that had been painted scarlet and were gilded with fantastic designs. the walls were of the colour of claret and were adorned with golden cinquefoils regularly placed. from a distance they resembled stars, and so gave the enclosure its name.
demetrios lay upon a long divan which was covered with crimson, and which encircled the court entirely, save for the apertures of the two entrances. demetrios was of burly person, which he by ordinary, as to-day, adorned resplendently; of a stature little above the common size, and disproportionately broad as to his chest and shoulders. it was rumoured that he could bore an apple through with his forefinger and had once killed a refractory horse with a blow of his naked fist; nor looking on the man, did you presume to question the report. his eyes were large and insolent, coloured like onyxes; for the rest, he had a handsome surly face which was disfigured by pimples.
he did not speak at all while jocelin explained that his errand was to ransom perion. then, "at what price?" demetrios said, without any sign of interest; and jocelin, with many encomiums, displayed his emeralds.
"ay, they are well enough," demetrios agreed. "but then i have a superfluity of jewels."
he raised himself a little among the cushions, and in this moving the figured golden stuff in which he was clothed heaved and glittered like the scales of a splendid monster. he leisurely unfastened the great chrysoberyl, big as a hen's egg, which adorned his fillet.
"look you, this is of a far more beautiful green than any of your trinkets, i think it is as valuable also, because of its huge size. moreover, it turns red by lamplight—red as blood. that is an admirable colour. and yet i do not value it. i think i do not value anything. so i will make you a gift of this big coloured pebble, if you desire it, because your ignorance amuses me. most people know demetrios is not a merchant. he does not buy and sell. that which he has he keeps, and that which he desires he takes."
the boy was all despair. he did not speak. he was very handsome as he stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and gold.
"you do not value my poor chrysoberyl? you value your friend more? it is a page out of theocritos—'when there were golden men of old, when friends gave love for love.' and yet i could have sworn—come now, a wager," purred demetrios. "show your contempt of this bauble to be as great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for the next passer-by to pick up, and i will credit your sincerity. do that and i will even name my price for perion."
the boy obeyed him without hesitation. turning, he saw the horrid change in the intent eyes of demetrios, and quailed before it. but instantly that flare of passion flickered out.
demetrios gently said:
"a bargain is a bargain. my wives are beautiful, but their caresses annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. i have long thought it would perhaps amuse me if i possessed a christian wife who had eyes like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. a man tires very soon of ebony and amber…. procure me such a wife and i will willingly release this perion and all his fellows who are yet alive."
"but, seignior,"—and the boy was shaken now,—"you demand of me an impossibility!"
"i am so hardy as to think not. and my reason is that a man throws from the elbow only, but a woman with her whole arm."
there fell a silence now.
"why, look you, i deal fairly, though. were such a woman here— demetrios of anatolia's guest—i verily believe i would not hinder her departure, as i might easily do. for there is not a person within many miles of this place who considers it wholesome to withstand me. yet were this woman purchasable, i would purchase. and—if she refused—i would not hinder her departure; but very certainly i would put perion to the torment of the waterdrops. it is so droll to see a man go mad before your eyes, i think that i would laugh and quite forget the woman."
she said, "o god, i cry to you for justice!"
he answered:
"my good girl, in nacumera the wishes of demetrios are justice. but we waste time. you desire to purchase one of my belongings? so be it. i will hear your offer."
just once her hands had gripped each other. her arms fell now as if they had been drained of life. she spoke in a dull voice.
"seignior, i offer melicent who was a princess. i cry a price, seignior, for red lips and bright eyes and a fair woman's tender body without any blemish. i cry a price for youth and happiness and honour. these you may have for playthings, seignior, with everything which i possess, except my heart, for that is dead."
demetrios asked, "is this true speech?"
she answered:
"it is as sure as love and death. i know that nothing is more sure than these, and i praise god for my sure knowledge."
he chuckled, saying, "platitudes break no bones."
so on the next day the chains were filed from perion de la forêt and all his fellows, save the nine unfortunates whom demetrios had appointed to fight with lions a month before this, when he had entertained the soldan of bacharia. these men were bathed and perfumed and richly clad.
a galley of the proconsul's fleet conveyed them toward christendom and set the twoscore slaves of yesterday ashore not far from megaris. the captain of the galley on departure left with perion a blue napkin, wherein were wrapped large emeralds and a bit of parchment.
upon this parchment was written:
"not these, but the body of melicent, who was once a princess, purchased your bodies. yet these will buy you ships and men and swords with which to storm my house where melicent now is. come if you will and fight with demetrios of anatolia for that brave girl who loved a porter as all loyal men should love their maker and customarily do not. i think it would amuse us."
then perion stood by the languid sea which severed him from melicent and cried:
"o god, that hast permitted this hard bargain, trade now with me! now barter with me, o father of us all! that which a man has i will give."
thus he waited in the clear sunlight, with no more wavering in his face than you may find in the next statue's face. both hands strained toward the blue sky, as though he made a vow. if so, he did not break it.
and now no more of perion.
* * * * *
at the same hour young melicent, wrapped all about with a flame-coloured veil and crowned with marjoram, was led by a spruce boy toward a threshold, over which demetrios lifted her, while many people sang in a strange tongue. and then she paid her ransom.
"hymen, o hymen!" they sang. "do thou of many names and many temples, golden aphrodite, be propitious to this bridal! now let him first compute the glittering stars of midnight and the grasshoppers of a summer day who would count the joys this bridal shall bring about! hymen, o hymen, rejoice thou in this bridal!"
