A moment Fo-Hi
stood so. Then passion swept him from his feet and he seized her
fiercely.
"Your eyes drive me mad!" he hissed. "Your lips taunt me, and I know
all earthly greatness to be a mirage, its conquests visions, and its
fairness dust. I would rather be a captive in your white arms than
the emperor of heaven! Your sweetness intoxicates me, Miska. A fever
burns me up!"
Helpless, enmeshed in the toils of that mighty will, Miska raised her
head; and gradually her expression changed. Fear was smoothed away
from her lovely face as by some magic brush. She grew placid; and
finally she smiled--the luresome, caressing smile of the East. Nearer
and nearer drew the green veil. Then, uttering a sudden fierce
exclamation, Fo-Hi thrust her from him.
"That smile is not for _me,_ the man!" he cried gutterally. "Ah! I
could curse the power that I coveted and set above all earthly joys!
I who boasted that he could control his will--I read in your eyes that
I am _willing_ you to love me! I seek a gift and can obtain but a
tribute!"
Miska, with a sobbing moan, sank upon the _diwan._ Fo-Hi stood
motionless, looking straight before him. His terrible calm was
restored.
"It is the bitter truth," he said--"that to win the world I have
bartered the birthright of men; the art of winning a woman's heart.
There is much in our Chinese wisdom. I erred in breaking the whip.
I erred in doubting my own prescience, which told me that the smiles
I could not woo were given freely to another .
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