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374 able to obey my will. They are girt about by a throng opposed to all my will. The throng would tear them in pieces, would poison their lives, if they confessed and fulfilled my will. And I must have happiness; I desire that there should be no suffering, and I tell them, 'Don't do that which will bring torment upon you; fulfil my will only so far as it will not cause yourselves harm.

"But can I know thee perfectly?"

"Yes, thou canst. Thy position is very fortunate. Thou hast naught to fear. Thou canst do whatsoe'er thou pleasest; and if thou wishest to know all my will, from my will no harm will come to thee: thou must not desire, and thou wilt not desire, anything on account of which ignorant people may torment thee. Thou art now perfectly content with what thou hast. Thou dost not desire, and thou wilt not desire, anything or anybody else. I can declare myself to thee entirely."

"Reveal to me thy name; thou hast told me the names of the former tsaritsas, but thy own name thou hast never declared to me."

"Dost thou want me to tell thee my name? Look at me, hearken to me."

"Look at me, hearken to me! Dost thou recognize my voice? Dost thou know my face? Hast thou ever seen my face?"

No; she had never seen her face, had ne'er seen it in her life. Yet how did it seem to her as though she had seen it? It is a year since she was speaking with him, since he looked upon her, kissed her, and now she sees her so often, this radiant beauty; and the radiant one does not hide from her, neither does she hide from him; she appears to her in all her radiant beauty.

"No, I have never seen thee; I have never seen thy face: thou didst appear to me; I saw thee; but thou wert girt with brightness. I could not see thee; I only saw that thou wert more beautiful than all. Thy voice, I hear it, but I hear only that thy voice is more beautiful than all."

"Look; for thy sake at this moment, I shall diminish the brightness of my aureole, and my voice shall sound for thee at this moment without the enchanting power which I always lend to it; for one moment I cease to be a tsaritsa.