Shalukhe, preoccupied with her own musings, ignored the remark. "At the Court of the East-Rising Moon I was Paragon, the Best of the Best! Gentlemen of rank came eagerly to touch my hand; when I passed, my perfume evoked sighs of wistful passion and sometimes, after I passed, I heard muffled exclamations, which I took to signify admiration. Here I am shunned as if I were the Worst of the Worst; no one cares whether I leave a perfume in my wake or the odor of a pig-sty. I have become gloomy and full of doubts. Am I so bland, dull and tiresome that I instill apathy everywhere I go?"

Rhialto leaned back in his seat and stared toward the sky. "Absurdity! Mirage! Dream-madness!"

Shalukhe smiled a tremulous bitter-sweet smile. "If you had treated me shamefully, and ravished me to your desires, at least I would have been left with my pride. Your courteous detachment leaves me with nothing."

Rhialto at last found his voice. "You are the most perverse of all maidens! How often my hands have tingled and twitched to seize you; always I have held back so that you might feel secure and easy! And now you accuse me of cold blood and call me a crocodile! My graceful and poetic restraint you choose to regard as senile disability. It is I who should feel the pangs!"

Jumping to his feet, Rhialto went to sit beside her; he took her hands. "The most beautiful maidens are also the most cruel! Even now you use a subtle means to rack my emotions!"

"Oh? Tell me, so that I may do it again."

"You are troubled because I seemed to ignore your presence. But, by this reasoning, you would feel equally diminished in your pride had the man been Dulce-Lolo with his expressive feet, or Zilifant, or even Byzant the Necrope. That it was I, Rhialto, who treated you so shabbily seems to be incidental! My own vanity now torments me; am I then so unappealing? Do you feel not the slightest regard for me?"

Shalukhe the Swimmer at last smiled. "Rhialto, I will say this: were you Dulce-Lolo, or Zilifant, or Byzant, or any other than Rhialto, I would not be sitting here holding your hands so tightly in my own."

Rhialto sighed in relief. He drew her close; their faces met. "Confusions and cross-purposes: they are now resolved; perhaps the 21st Aeon now seems a less dismal time."

Shalukhe looked sidelong toward the sun where it hung low over the River Ts. "To a certain extent. Still, what if the sun goes out even while we sit here: what then?"

Rhialto rose to his feet and pulled her up after him; he kissed the upturned face. ' 'Who knows? The sun may totter and lurch still another hundred years!"

The maiden sighed and pointed. "Ah! Notice how it blinks! It seems tired and troubled! But perhaps it will enjoy a restful night."

Rhialto whispered a comment into her ear, to the effect that she should not expect the same. She gave his arm a tug, and the two, close together, walked slowly back to Falu.