The Equinox (Volume I, Number VI)

THE SCORPION No! I am sorry. Ι am your good friend. I will take you back to your father. He is not dead. I am sure he is not dead. THE CHILD. I do not understand you. LAYLAH. Oh, you shall understand. Yourfather will make you understand! [changing again to roughness]. What was your mother like? Had she your golden hair, and the com- plexion like a shaved sow? And the simper, and the grey eyes? I have grey eyes too; but mine are steel—grey, true as steel; and yours are chill and watery. But you have your father’s temper, and his silence, and his will. THE CHILD. What do you know of my father? LAYLAH. Nothing. I only jested ; Ι wanted to try you, to hear what you would say. Tell me about your mother. THE CHILD. She was a fair and noble lady. She died when I was born. LAYLAH. Thank Godl THE CHILD. I do not understand LAYLAH. Oh I will your father say, “ Ι do not understand ? ” What am 1? Yet I gave him my greatest gift—and I have yet a greater gift to give him—and I have a gift that he has always had and I have never lost. THE CHILD. Are you an enchantress? You do not talk sense LAYLAH. You are the child of an enchanter. THE CHILD. My father burns enchanters alive when he catches them. LEDMIYA [at window]. There is a great concourse with- out. The men are returning. They ride slowly, as in peace. 93