If I had feared death as much as the Regent does,
I could not have returned alive and alone. My venture into infinite
space involved possibilities of horror more appalling than the mere
terrors of death. You asked of me as my one bridal gift leave to share
its perils. How unworthy of you should I be, if I did not hold the
possession of Eveena, even for the two years of her promise, well
worth dying for!"
The moral gulf between the two worlds is wider than the material.
Utterly unselfish and trustful, Eveena was almost pained to be
reminded that the service she so extravagantly overprized was rendered
to her sex rather than herself; while yet more deeply gratified,
though still half incredulous, by the commonplace that preferred love
to life. I had yet to learn, however, that Eveena's nature was as
utterly strange in her own world as the ideas in which she was
educated would seem in mine.
I left her for a few minutes to dress for the first time in the
costume which Esmo's care had provided. The single under-vestment of
softest hide, closely fitting from neck to knees, is of all garments
the best adapted to preserve natural warmth under the rapid and
extreme changes of the external atmosphere.
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