And presently, she kist me, and was herself again; and she went from me
to attend unto our food. Now, that did be truly a lovely day; for I to have gat sufficient of
strength that I did be able to have interest, and talk with Mine Own
Maid; and she now to be well rest, and to have ease in her dear heart
concerning me. And surely we oft to laugh, and did make jests utter glad and foolish. And indeed, I do mind how that I askt Mine Own an olden puzzle, that did
come out of the vagueness of my Memory-dreams. And she to be like a
person that doth hear a strange familiar thing; and lo! sudden she to
say, as that she gat knowledge from beyond Eternity, that it did be when
that he was a little hoarse. And you to know the jest, and to have
troubled it oft at school; but, in verity, it did be a strange thing to
have from our Memories out of all the deep of Time. And we, in truth,
never in that Age to have seen or to have known that ever there did be
an Horse, or to mind the likeness of one. And this to be but a little
matter; yet of strange and peculiar interest, as you to agree. And,
indeed, we did both to look one at the other, when that we had ended,
and did wonder what an horse did be; yet in the same time did have a
vague inward knowing. And so we to look ever backward through dim Ages; and surely we gat
presently from jests, unto solemnness; and the Maid to be nigh again
unto tears. And, in truth, I then to bring our thoughts and our speech
forward from the Abyss of the Years, and did cease from Memory-dreaming
for that time; and so to have the Maid again in joy; yet mayhap
something wistful odd whiles. And presently, I to tell the Maid an hundred thousand things concerning
the Mighty Pyramid, of which I had so oft said somewhat; but never to
have gat so great a chance as this unto a plenty of time and so nice an
oneness in the way that our minds did go. And surely, the Maid did be eager in a moment, and did be husht; and
again to ask constant concerning all matters. And, in verity, there went a great while this way; and the Maid to have
an utter wonder and excitement of all that I to tell; for truly, it did
be as that a man of this age should come downward from a great star in
the heavens, and to tell of wonders and new things; and you to
understand how she did feel. And of all things that did most have a happiness unto the Maid, I to
perceive that the great Life and Humanness of the Millions to dwell
within her imaginings as a cloud of warmth and quiet joy; for I did show
this thing to her, so well as I was able; and, in truth, you shall tell
me in honesty whether that I have made the same likewise clear-seen unto
you? And she, as you shall mind, did be a maid that had grown all her life in
a Refuge that did be shaken with hauntings, because that it lackt the
power of the Earth-Current to protect; and with a People that did be
weak-conceived through great thousands of years; and where love did
bloom something faded, even in youth; and youth to have lack of the
life-blood of an utter joy, such as did be ours and likewise to many
that did be of the Mighty Pyramid. Though, truly, there did go millions then, as now, that did never to
know love; though the name did be in their mouths, and they to have
belief that the sweet kernel did be in their hearts; but, in verity,
THIS to be love, that your life shall bound in you with abundance, and
joy dwell round you, and your spirit to live in a natural holiness with
the Beloved, and your bodies to be a sweet and natural delight that
shall never be lost of a lovely mystery that doth hold a perfect peace
each unto the need of the other; and all to be that there go round
about you a wonder and a splendour all the days and the nights that you
shall be--the Man with the Woman, the Woman with the Man. And Shame to
be unborn, and all things to go natural and wholesome, out of an utter
greatness of understanding; and the Man to be an Hero and a Child before
the Woman; and the Woman to be an Holy Light of the Spirit and an utter
Companion and in the same time a glad Possession unto the Man. And lo! if one to die, then the soul of the other shall fail; and that one never
to have full life again, in that bitter parting. And this doth be the
true Human Love; and all else that be not like to this with the Man and
with the Woman, doth be but a borrowing of the name of Love for that
quiet desiring, which is but an Endurance beside Love, which doth be
between they that be not mated both in their souls and in their bodies. And this telling to take no heed to those base joinings that be made for
purposes of wealth or Desire or other piteous ends; for, in verity,
these to have no more dealings with the thing that I do tell upon, than
hath the merchanting of goods, or the _need_ of a glutton. But the thing
that I do have upon my heart doth be that dear and uplifting Power of
Love, which I to set forth in this mine own story; for, in truth, I to
have known love, and to need death when that I be parted from Mine Own. Now, surely, Mine Own did come twice and thrice unto weeping, as I did
tell of this thing and that, which did set her memory backward unto the
ways of the Lesser Redoubt. And presently, I did cease from my tellings,
because that she did so be gone into pain of her memories. But, indeed,
she then to beg me that I go forward again; for, truly, she to need in
the heart that she know, and to strive to be no more in grief for the
telling. And I then to say on, and did tell upon the Might and Wonder and great
Olden Delight of the Underground Fields, that were below the Great
Redoubt, as you do know. And I told how that they went downward an
hundred strange miles, that did be dug of the labour of Millions and of
the years of Eternity. And I set out unto Mine Own concerning that there did be wondrous
villages spread through that great and hidden Country that did be in the
underground; and how that great millions of the Peoples did live there,
and made a constant labour in those deep Lands and Countries, that did
be truly so monstrous in all as an huge Continent. And I showed Mine Own how that there did be wondrous processes that did
be learned in the Ages; and how that water did be made in chemistry; and
truly she to nod to this, because that she did mind upon the powder that
we did use; but truly the powder to have to be made in the first, as you
shall think; and we but to advantage ourselves of that which did result,
and I to speak to her of the making of the powder, rather than of the
way that it afterward to make chemistry with the air, unto water. And I told the Maid how that there did be mighty underground pipes that
went across the Night Land, and did be, mayhap, oft so much as twenty
great miles deep in the world, and did come upward into the seas of the
Land; and all to have been made secret and hid from the monsters of the
Land, as I to know from much readings of the Histories.