Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida' volume 2.djvu/292

Rh his hand went instinctively to the abundant falling masses of the silken hair that covered his chest, "can living, breathing men—men in their youth and their strength—exist like that?" His thoughts swept over the many varying years of bis own life, so full of colour, of peril, of adventure, of change; of wandering in divers lands, of danger in deserts and on seas, of pleasure in countless cities, of world-wide range of travel, of communion with every nation, of gay nights in western palaces, of wild rides through eastern heats;—and then men lived like this, while all the earth was free to them! He spoke to none of them; he bore them a fiery hate because they were her priestly gaolers, and even so much needful reticence as lay in breaking the bread of these men under a false semblance, while the intent to deliver their captive was hidden in his heart, savoured too much of a taint like treachery not to be bitter to him, imperative as it was in her service, and just as it was in its employ and errand.

To Erceldoune it were far easier to deal a straight swift stroke, such as that with which men of his race had felled Paynim foe or Southern invader, than to carry through anything that involved a