"
"Father, my trial was very sore."
"Maiden, I know it, and because it was so sore that patient Spirit of
Bambatse bore with you, and through it all guided your feet aright. Yes,
with you has that Spirit gone, by day, by night, in the morning and in
the evening. Who was it that smote the man who lies dead yonder with
horror and with madness when he would have bent your will to his and
made you a wife to him? Who was it that told you the secret of the
treasure-pit, and what footsteps went before you down its stair? Who was
it that led you past the sentries of the Amandabele and gave you wit and
power to snatch your lord's life from Maduna's bloody hand? Yes, with
you it has gone and with you it will go. No more shall the White Witch
stand upon the pillar point at the rising of the sun, or in the shining
of the moon."
"Father, I have never understood you, and I do not understand you now,"
said Benita. "What has this spirit to do with me?"
He smiled a little, then answered slowly:
"That I may not tell you; that you shall learn one day, but never here.
When you also have entered into silence, then you shall learn. But I say
to you that this shall not be till your hair is as white as mine, and
your years are as many. Ah! you thought that I had deserted you, when
fearing for your father's life you wept and prayed in the darkness of
the cave.
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