Angels and Women (1924)

GREATER CHANGE 157
of Hesperus. There was a rustle, a slight
upward motion, and the form vanished. My
heart beat thick with alarm, and my cheeks
grew hot with shame. Hesperus, wishing to
say farewell before his perilous undertaking,
had come to the tower. He had seen me disrobed,
had heard my prayer! The sigh-was
it from wounded love or penitent
sorrow?
Far too anxious and agitated for sleep, I
wrapped myself in a mantle and went out
upon the balcony. Presently I heard voices
below in earnest conversation. I could not
see the speakers, but I recognized the now
familiar voice of Hesperus. "I can serve
thee no longer; though this decision is made
at a moment when peril stimulates courage,
thou wilt not accuse me of cowardice."
"Can a Deva know madness ?" asked Satanas,
in a tone of incredulity. "I but return
to sanity and duty," answered the
other. "The Almighty Law is eternal fitness:
it cannot be broken. We are not