He desired, however, that her mistake should
be made by no one else. He would give no more warnings.
Tragic it was for him, in Merton Street, to see among the crowd
converging to the meadows so many women, young and old, all
imprescient, troubled by nothing but the thunder that was in the
air, that was on the brows of their escorts. He knew not whether it
was for their escorts or for them that he felt the greater pity;
and an added load for his heart was the sense of his partial
responsibility for what impended. But his lips were sealed now.
Why should he not enjoy the effect he was creating?
It was with a measured tread, as yesterday with Zuleika, that he
entered the avenue of elms. The throng streamed past from behind him,
parting wide, and marvelling as it streamed. Under the pall of this
evil evening his splendour was the more inspiring. And, just as
yesterday no man had questioned his right to be with Zuleika, so
to-day there was none to deem him caparisoned too much. All the men
felt at a glance that he, coming to meet death thus, did no more than
the right homage to Zuleika--aye, and that he made them all partakers
in his own glory, casting his great mantle over all commorients.
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