AIDEE stole into her garden of roses and clung closely to me. There was a zephyr whispering in the myrtles, and the fragrance of a fine perfume on the gentle air; and I could not but think of it as the emanation of her divine presence. In her lissom body life ebbed and flowed in magnificent reversions as she pressed against my heart, and her lips quivered as I kissed her. She held me with her deep brown eyes, her head raised to regard me steadfastly.
'The Kadi has heard your call, my soul,' she whispered. 'He will send for you on the morrow.'
'Is it well?' I asked. 'What did he demand of me?'
'You are a Giaour,' said she; 'yet I love you; heart of mine, I love you,' she said passionately. 'What justice will the Kadi give when you meet upon the morrow? What justice?'
I bent to her slowly, 'My love,' said I, 'the Kadi shall not come between us twain. Though he put mountains betwixt I will climb them; though there be seas I will swim them; through fire and sword I will pass unscathed—to thee.'
'He will put you to some trial,' she murmured. 'Pray God it be not too hard. He will put you to some trial.'
I stooped, for I could barely catch her sweet, low voice; and the fragrance passed through my senses into my blood.
'I have sworn,' said I in that garden, 'he shall come not between you, my beloved, and me. Though his tests be fashioned in hell, I will shame the Devil by my strength. I will be God in this matter, and override the fiends themselves. Kadis and all, they are impotent against the Giaour's love. See, my Desire! To-morrow he shall give justice to the world, and thee to me.'
I could see her mouth drawn at the verges, and her olive cheeks pale in the soft moonlight. The wind rushed out of the cypress grove and whistled by us; she strained her face against mine, whispering in my ears.
'The Kadi is old, the Kadi is wise. Though Allah himself should descend. He will avail nothing against the Kadi. There is the cunning of years in this man. He has an evil eye; his face is dark, as are his thoughts. He has pleasure in the death of man; his desire is in the breaking of hearts. Hell is his jest; Paradise is his scoff; God is his scorn.'
'Star of my night,' I said to her, 'let his crafty wiles be infinite as the sands, I will be the sea to submerge them; let his purposes be of the most desperate research, I will contend with them. Have no fear for the morrow; have only joy in this night, my love.'
She drew from me a pace, her large eyes beneath a film of tears.
'I have loved you, my beloved,' she said brokenly; 'O my beloved, I have loved you. When you are come before the Kadi, think upon me. Have me in your thoughts, my heart, as you are ever in mine. And it shall haply befall that from before my image the enchantment of this devil shall flee.'
And vowing to her Prophet I would so hold her dear face in my mind, I watched her flit through the roses.
In the morning the Kadi called me into his presence about the hour of noon. He lay upon his couch, white-bearded, pulling at his long pipe, and I entered before him with his slaves.
'My son,' said he, 'you have put upon me a heavy charge. Were there not women as fair in your own land, that you would rob us of the pearl we cherish? Yet it is my place to deal justice with an even hand. May Allah guide me!'
'This woman,' said I boldly, 'is dearer to me than any pearl. Say if she shall not go whither she is held in most precious esteem?'
'The Giaour,' said the Kadi, 'has no rights in this world of ours. We give to him of our regard for justice—nothing more. It is the Kadi's part to hold the scales and judge between the good and the evil.'
'My lord,' I cried, 'place me among the good, for I would have this maid. Let nothing come between me and her, between the Faithful and the Giaour.'
The Kadi bowed his head. 'I have heard you,' he said; 'and I desire right and justice. Among the Faithful Allah decides. You shall pass some test for this girl.'
At his words I, suddenly recalling the anguished whisper of Haidee, shivered for one moment where I stood; but on the next instant, recalling also her sweet, low voice and dearest features, looked him in the eyes and bowed after his own fashion.
'I will do this thing,' said I.
The Kadi clapped his hands, and from the precincts of an inner room behind the silken hangings issued a slave, and put a table to the couch.
'What is love without faith and without discretion?' said the Kadi. 'Nay, what also is it without an imminent risk? We purchase what we value most at the peril of our lives,' said he.