And yet--and yet if her case were mine and the
fate of England hung upon my breath, what then?
"Be swift," she whispered again.
Then I spoke, or something spoke through me, saying:
"Do what honour bids you, O Daughter of the Moon, for what is love
without honour? Perchance both shall still be yours at last."
"I thank you, Lord, whose heart speaks as my heart," she whispered for
the third time, then lifting her head and looking Huaracha in the eyes,
said:
"Father, I go, but that I will wed this Urco I do not promise."
CHAPTER VII
THE RETURN OF KARI
So Quilla, seated in a golden litter and accompanied by maidens as
became her rank, soon was borne away in the train of the Inca Upanqui,
leaving me desolate. Before she went, under pretence of bidding me
farewell, none denying her, she gained private speech with me for a
little while.
"Lord and Lover," she said, "I go to what fate I know not, leaving you
to what fate I know not, and as your lips have said, it is right that I
should go. Now I have something to ask of you--that you will not follow
me as it is in your heart to do.
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