Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida' volume 3.djvu/147

136 through all the hours of that night-ride to the sea; there was silence still; he stood beside her with the darkness of her thoughts flung back on his. "You are certain,?" she said, suddenly, at last.

"Do you think men forget their murderers!" She laughed slightly—a laugh that sent a shudder through his blood.

"Well—your murderer was the man that had the hewing and the shapíng of my life. Do you wonder now that it was evil?"

"Of yours? Oh God!"

"A fair comrade!—a noble tutor! What think you? A lofty close for my imperial ambitions, is it not? A priest's cell my prison-house, a criminal's flight my safety, a thief and an assassin my associate, my" Her teeth closed once more, shutting in the word that would have escaped them; a shiver of agony shook him as he heard.

"Twice you have checked my vengeance, and bidden me 'spare!'" he muttered. "If these brutes be your foes, why call me off their throats?"

"A lion shall not choke snakes."

The brevity gave the deeper meaning to the words.