"Yes, Umbezi; but other things besides the sun break out from clouds

sometimes--lightning, for instance; lightning which kills."

"You speak ill-omened words, Macumazahn; words that take away my

appetite, which is generally excellent at this hour. Well, if Mameena is

bad it is not my fault, for I brought her up to be good. After all,"

he added with an outburst of petulance, "why do you scold me when it is

your fault? If you had run away with the girl when you might have done

so, there would have been none of this trouble."

"Perhaps not," I answered; "only then I am sure I should have been dead

to-day, as I think that all who have to do with her will be ere long.

And now, Umbezi, I wish you a good breakfast."

On the following morning, Saduko returned and was told the news by

Nandie, whom I had carefully avoided. On this occasion, however, I was

forced to be present, as the person to whom the sinful Mameena had sent

her farewell message. It was a very painful experience, of which I do

not remember all the details. For a while after he learned the truth

Saduko sat still as a stone, staring in front of him, with a face that

seemed to have become suddenly old. Then he turned upon Umbezi, and in a

few terrible words accused him of having arranged the matter in order to

advance his own fortunes at the price of his daughter's dishonour. Next,

without listening to his ex-father-in-law's voluble explanations, he

rose and said that he was going away to kill Umbelazi, the evil-doer who

had robbed him of the wife he loved, with the connivance of all three of

us, and by a sweep of his hand he indicated Umbezi, the Princess Nandie

and myself.

This was more than I could stand, so I, too, rose and asked him what he

meant, adding in the irritation of the moment that if I had wished to

rob him of his beautiful Mameena, I thought I could have done so long

ago--a remark that staggered him a little.

Then Nandie rose also, and spoke in her quiet voice.

"Saduko, my husband," she said, "I, a Princess of the Zulu House,

married you who are not of royal blood because I loved you, and although

Panda the King and Umbelazi the Prince wished it, for no other reason

whatsoever. Well, I have been faithful to you through some trials, even

when you set the widow of a wizard--if, indeed, as I have reason to

suspect, she was not herself the wizard--before me, and although that

wizard had killed our son, lived in her hut rather than in mine. Now

this woman of whom you thought so much has deserted you for your

friend and my brother, the Prince Umbelazi--Umbelazi who is called the

Handsome, and who, if the fortune of war goes with him, as it may or

may not, will succeed to Panda, my father. This she has done because she

alleges that I, your Inkosikazi and the King's daughter, treated her as

a servant, which is a lie. I kept her in her place, no more, who, if

she could have had her will, would have ousted me from mine, perhaps by

death, for the wives of wizards learn their arts. On this pretext she

has left you; but that is not her real reason. She has left you because

the Prince, my brother, whom she has befooled with her tricks and

beauty, as she has befooled others, or tried to"--and she glanced at

me--"is a bigger man than you are. You, Saduko, may become great, as my

heart prays that you will, but my brother may become a king. She does

not love him any more than she loved you, but she does love the place

that may be his, and therefore hers--she who would be the first doe of

the herd. My husband, I think that you are well rid of Mameena, for I

think also that if she had stayed with us there would have been more

deaths in our House; perhaps mine, which would not matter, and perhaps

yours, which would matter much. All this I say to you, not from jealousy

of one who is fairer than I, but because it is the truth. Therefore my

counsel to you is to let this business pass over and keep silent. Above

all, seek not to avenge yourself upon Umbelazi, since I am sure that he

has taken vengeance to dwell with him in his own hut. I have spoken."




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024