the conqueror and the conquered sat together upon the prow of perion's ship. it was a warm, clear night, so brilliant that the stars were invisible. perion sighed. demetrios inquired the reason. perion said:
"it is the memory of a fair and noble lady, messire demetrios, that causes me to heave a sigh from my inmost heart. i cannot forget that loveliness which had no parallel. pardieu, her eyes were amethysts, her lips were red as the berries of a holly tree. her hair blazed in the light, bright as the sunflower glows; her skin was whiter than milk; the down of a fledgling bird was not more grateful to the touch than were her hands. there was never any person more delightful to gaze upon, and whosoever beheld her forthwith desired to render love and service to dame melicent."
demetrios gave his customary lazy shrug. demetrios said:
"she is still a brightly-coloured creature, moves gracefully, has a sweet, drowsy voice, and is as soft to the touch as rabbit's fur. therefore, it is imperative that one of us must cut the other's throat. the deduction is perfectly logical. yet i do not know that my love for her is any greater than my hatred. i rage against her patient tolerance of me, and i am often tempted to disfigure, mutilate, even to destroy this colourful, stupid woman, who makes me wofully ridiculous in my own eyes. i shall be happier when death has taken the woman who ventures to deal in this fashion with demetrios."
said perion:
"when i first saw dame melicent the sea was languid, as if outworn by vain endeavours to rival the purple of her eyes. sea-birds were adrift in the air, very close to her and their movements were less graceful than hers. she was attired in a robe of white silk, and about her wrists were heavy bands of silver. a tiny wind played truant in order to caress her unplaited hair, because the wind was more hardy than i, and dared to love her. i did not think of love, i thought only of the noble deeds i might have done and had not done. i thought of my unworthiness, and it seemed to me that my soul writhed like an eel in sunlight, a naked, despicable thing, that was unworthy to render any love and service to dame melicent."
demetrios said:
"when i first saw the girl she knew herself entrapped, her body mine, her life dependent on my whim. she waved aside such petty inconveniences, bade them await an hour when she had leisure to consider them, because nothing else was of any importance so long as my porter went in chains. i was an obstacle to her plans and nothing more; a pebble in her shoe would have perturbed her about as much as i did. here at last, i thought, is genuine common-sense—a clear-headed decision as to your actual desire, apart from man-taught ethics, and fearless purchase of your desire at any cost. there is something not unakin to me, i reflected, in the girl who ventures to deal in this fashion with demetrios."
said perion:
"since she permits me to serve her, i may not serve unworthily. to-morrow i shall set new armies afield. to-morrow it will delight me to see their tents rise in your meadows, messire demetrios, and to see our followers meet in clashing combat, by hundreds and thousands, so mightily that men will sing of it when we are gone. to-morrow one of us must kill the other. to-night we drink our wine in amity. i have not time to hate you, i have not time to like or dislike any living person, i must devote all faculties that heaven gave me to the love and service of dame melicent."
demetrios said:
"to-night we babble to the stars and dream vain dreams as other fools have done before us. to-morrow rests—perhaps—with heaven; but, depend upon it, messire de la forêt, whatever we may do to-morrow will be foolishly performed, because we are both besotted by bright eyes and lips and hair. i trust to find our antics laughable. yet there is that in me which is murderous when i reflect that you and she do not dislike me. it is the distasteful truth that neither of you considers me to be worth the trouble. i find such conduct irritating, because no other persons have ever ventured to deal in this fashion with demetrios."
"demetrios, already your antics are laughable, for you pass blindly by the revelation of heaven's splendour in heaven's masterwork; you ignore the miracle; and so do you find only the stings of the flesh where i find joy in rendering love and service to dame melicent."
"perion, it is you that play the fool, in not recognising that heaven is inaccessible and doubtful. but clearer eyes perceive the not at all doubtful dullness of wit, and the gratifying accessibility of every woman when properly handled,—yes, even of her who dares to deal in this fashion with demetrios."
thus they would sit together, nightly, upon the prow of perion's ship and speak against each other in the manner of a tenson, as these two rhapsodised of melicent until the stars grew lustreless before the sun.
