"Niphrata! .. .Niphrata!" he said in a tremulous half-whisper, "I am here,--Sah-luma! ... Dost thou not know me!"
She sighed, . . a long, shivering sigh,--and smiled, . . what a strange, wistful, dying smile it was! ... but she made no answer.
"Niphrata!"--continued the Laureate, passionately pressing the little, cold fingers that lay so passively in his grasp.. "Look at me! ... I have come to save thee! ... to take thee home again, . . home to thy flowers, thy birds, thy harp, . . thy pretty chamber with its curtained nook, where thy friend Zoralin waits and weeps all day for thee! ... O ye gods!--how weak am I!".. and he fiercely dashed away the drops that glistened on his black silky lashes, . . "Come with me, sweet one! ..." he resumed tenderly-- "Come!--Why art thou thus silent? ... thou whose voice hath many a time outrivalled the music of the nightingales! Hast thou no word for me, thy lord?--Come!".. and Theos, struggling to repress his own rising tears, heard his friend's accents sink into a still lower, more caressing cadence ... "Thou shalt never again have cause for grief, my Niphrata, never! ... We will never part! ... Listen! ... am I not he whom thou lovest?"
The poor child's set mouth trembled,--her beautiful sad eyes gazed at him uncomprehendingly.
"He whom I love is not here!".. she said in tired, soft tones; "I left him, but he followed me; and now, he waits for me...yonder!".. And she turned resolutely toward the Sanctuary, as though compelled to do so by some powerful mesmeric attraction, . . "See you not how fair he is!"...and she pointed with her disengaged hand to the formidable python, through whose huge coils ran the tremors of impatient and eager breathing, . . "How tenderly his eyes behold me! ... those eyes that I have worshipped so patiently, so faithfully, and yet that never lightened into love for me till now! O thou more than beloved!--How beautiful thou art, my adored one, my heart's idol!" and a look of pale exaltation lightened her features, as she fixed her wistful gaze, like a fascinated bird, on the shadowy recess whence the Serpent had emerged--"There,--there thou dost rest on a couch of fadeless roses!--how softly the moonlight enfolds thee with a radiance as of outspread wings!--I hear thy voice charming the silence! ... thou dost call me by my name, . . O once poor name made rich by thy sweet utterance! Yes, my beloved, I am ready! ... I come! I shall die in thy embraces, . . nay, I shall not die but sleep! ... and dream a dream of love that shall last forever and ever! No more sorrow ... no more tears, . . no more heartsick longings ..."