"Is it? Do you really think so? Oh, dear! I suppose it is
improper,--it must be, you know; but it is most delightful and
original!"

And while the Chetwynd Lyles thus moved to depart in a cloud of
outraged propriety, followed by others who likewise thought it
well to pretend to be shocked at the proceeding, Gervase, dizzy,
breathless, and torn by such conflicting passions as he could
never express, was in a condition more mad than sane.

"My God!" he muttered under his breath. "This--this is love! This
is the beginning and end of life! To possess her,--to hold her in
my arms--heart to heart, lips to lips ... this is what all the
eternal forces of Nature meant when they made me man!"

And he watched with strained, passionate eyes the movements of the
Princess Ziska as they grew slower and slower, till she seemed
floating merely like a foam-bell on a wave, and then ... from some
unseen quarter of the room a rich throbbing voice began to sing:--

"Oh, for the passionless peace of the Lotus-Lily!
It floats in a waking dream on the waters chilly,
With its leaves unfurled
To the wondering world,
Knowing naught of the sorrow and restless pain
That burns and tortures the human brain;
Oh, for the passionless peace of the Lotus-Lily!
Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily!
Bared to the moon on the waters dark and chilly.
A star above