I swear--nay, I will swear no more, for what
are words? Yet shalt thou learn that Ayesha hath no false tongue.
"So I have sworn, and thou, my Holly, at witness to my oath. Here, too,
are we wed, my husband, with the gloom for bridal canopy--wed till the
end of all things; here do we write our marriage vows upon the rushing
winds which shall bear them up to heaven, and round and continually
round this rolling world.
"And for a bridal gift I crown thee with my beauty's starry crown, and
enduring life, and wisdom without measure, and wealth that none can
count. Behold! the great ones of the earth shall creep about thy feet,
and its fair women shall cover up their eyes because of the shining
glory of thy countenance, and its wise ones shall be abased before thee.
Thou shalt read the hearts of men as an open writing, and hither and
thither shalt thou lead them as thy pleasure listeth. Like that old
Sphinx of Egypt shalt thou sit aloft from age to age, and ever shall
they cry to thee to solve the riddle of thy greatness that doth not pass
away, and ever shalt thou mock them with thy silence!
"Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion
over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in
his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe
therein.
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