be unrestrained by any responsibility to God or man. She was as we might
well imagine a fallen angel to be, if indeed, as she herself once hinted
and as Atene and the old Shaman believed, this were not her true place
in creation. By only two things that I was able to discover could she be
moved--her love for Leo and, in a very small degree, her friendship for
myself.

Yet her devouring passion for this one man, inexplicable in its
endurance and intensity, would, I felt sure even then, in the future as
in the past, prove to be her heel of Achilles. When Ayesha was dipped in
the waters of Dominion and Deathlessness, this human love left her heart
mortal, that through it she might be rendered harmless as a child, who
otherwise would have devastated the universe.

I was right.

Whilst I was still indulging myself in these reflections and hoping
that Ayesha would not take the trouble to read them in my mind, I became
aware that Oros was bowing to the earth before her.

"Thy business, priest?" she asked sharply; for when she was with Leo
Ayesha did not like to be disturbed.

"Hes, the spies are returned."

"Why didst thou send them out?" she asked indifferently. "What need have
I of thy spies?"

"Hes, thou didst command me."