Across the Zodiac (51 page)

"'Thieving time is woman's crime,'" I said, quoting a domestic
proverb. "In another household you would; be left behind."

"Of course," she replied, such summary discipline seeming to her as
appropriate as to an European child. "I don't like always to deserve
the vine and receive the nuts."

"You must take which
I
like," I retorted, laughing. Satisfied or
silenced, she hastened to dress, and enjoyed with unalloyed delight
the unusual pleasure of inspecting dresses and jewellery, and making
more purchases in a day than she had expected to be able to do in two
years. But she and her companions acted with more consideration than
ladies permitted to visit the shops of Europe show for their masculine
escort. Eivé alone, on this as on other occasions, availed herself
thoroughly of those privileges of childhood which I had always
extended to her.

So quick are the proceedings and so excellent the arrangements of
Martial commerce, even where ladies are concerned, that a couple of
hours saw us on our way homeward, after having passed through the
apartments of half the merchants in Altasfe. Purposely for my own
pleasure, as well as for that of my companions, I took a circuitous
route homeward, and in so doing came within sight of a principal
feminine Nursery or girls' school. Recognising it, Eunané spoke with
some eagerness—

"Ah! I spent nine years there, and not always unhappily."

Eveena, who sat beside me, pressed my hand, with an intention easily
understood.

"And you would like to see it again?" I inquired in compliance with
her silent hint.

"Not to go back," said Eunané. "But I should like to pay it a visit,
if it were possible."

"Can we?" I asked Eveena.

"I think so," she answered. "I observe half a dozen people have gone
in since we came in sight, and I fancy it is inspection day there."

"Inspection?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied in a tone of some little annoyance and discomfort.
"The girls who have completed their tenth year, and who are thought to
have as good a chance now as they would have later, are dressed for
the first time in the white robe and veil of maidenhood, and presented
in the public chamber to attract the choice of those who are looking
for brides."

"Not a pleasant spectacle," I said, "to you or to myself; but it will
hardly annoy the others, and Eunané shall have her wish."

We descended from our carriage at the gate, and entered the grounds of
the Nursery. Studiously as the health, the diet, and the exercise of
the inmates are cared for, nothing is done to render the appearance of
the home where they pass so large and critical a portion of their
lives cheerful or attractive in appearance. Utility alone is studied;
how much beauty conduces to utility where the happiness and health of
children are concerned, Martial science has yet to learn. The grounds
contained no flowers and but few trees; the latter ruined in point of
form and natural grace to render them convenient supports for
gymnastic apparatus. A number of the younger girls, unveiled, but
dressed in a dark plain garment reaching from the throat to the knees,
with trousers giving free play to the limbs, were exercising on the
different swings and bars, flinging the light weights and balls, or
handling the substitutes for dumb-bells, the use of which forms an
important branch of their education. Others, relieved from this
essential part of their tasks, were engaged in various sports. One of
these I noticed especially. Perhaps a hundred young ladies on either
side formed a sort of battalion, contending for the ground they
occupied with light shields of closely woven wire and masks of the
same material, and with spears consisting of a reed or grass about
five feet in length, and exceedingly light. When perfectly ripened,
these spears are exceeding formidable, their points being sharp enough
to pierce the skin of any but a pachydermatous animal. Those employed
in these games, however, are gathered while yet covered by a sheath,
which, as they ripen, bursts and leaves the keen, hard point exposed.
Considerable care is taken in their selection, since, if nearly ripe,
or if they should ripen prematurely under the heat of the sun when
severed from the stem, the sheath bursting in the middle of a game,
very grave accidents might occur. The movements of the girls were so
ordered that the game appeared almost as much a dance as a conflict;
but though there was nothing of unseemly violence, the victory was
evidently contested with real earnestness, and with a skill superior
to that displayed in the movements of the actual soldiers who have
long since exchanged the tasks of warfare for the duties of policemen,
escorts, and sentries. I held Eveena's hand, the others followed us
closely, venturing neither to break from our party without leave nor
to ask permission, till, at Eveena's suggestion, it was spontaneously
given. They then quitted us, hastening, Eunané to seek out her
favourite companions of a former season, the others to mingle with the
younger girls and share in their play. We walked on slowly, stopping
from time to time to watch the exercises and sports of the younger
portion of a community numbering some fifteen hundred girls. When we
entered the hall we were rejoined by Eunané, with one of her friends
who still wore the ordinary school costume. Conversation with or
notice of a young lady so dressed was not only not expected but
disallowed, and the pair seated themselves behind us and studiously
out of hearing of any conversation conducted in a low tone.

The spectacle, as I had anticipated, was to me anything but pleasant.
It reminded me of a slave-market of the East, however, rather than of
the more revolting features of a slave auction in the United States.
The maidens, most of them very graceful and more than pretty, their
robes arranged and ornamented with an evident care to set off their
persons to the best advantage, and with a skill much greater than they
themselves could yet have acquired, were seated alone or by twos and
threes in different parts of the hall, grouped so as to produce the
most attractive general as well as individual effect. The picture,
therefore, was a pretty one; and since the intending purchasers
addressed the objects of their curiosity or admiration with courtesy
and fairly decorous reserve, it was the known character rather than
any visible incident of the scene that rendered it repugnant or
revolting in my eyes. I need not say that, except Eveena, there was no
one of either sex in the hall who shared my feeling. After all, the
purpose was but frankly avowed, and certainly carried out more safely
and decorously than in the ball-rooms and drawing-rooms of London or
Paris. Of the maidens, some seemed shy and backward, and most were
silent save when addressed. But the majority received their suitors
with a thoroughly business-like air, and listened to the terms offered
them, or endeavoured to exact a higher price or a briefer period of
assured slavery, with a self-possession more reasonable than agreeable
to witness. One maiden seated in our immediate vicinity was, I
perceived, the object of Eveena's especial interest, and, at first on
this account alone, attracted my observation. Dressed with somewhat
less ostentatious care and elegance than her companions, her veil and
the skirt of her robe were so arranged as to show less of her personal
attractions than they generally displayed. A first glance hardly did
justice to a countenance which, if not signally pretty, and certainly
marked by a beauty less striking than that of most of the others, was
modest and pleasing; a figure slight and graceful, with hands and feet
yet smaller than usual, even among a race the shape of whose limbs is,
with few exceptions, admirable. Very few had addressed her, or even
looked at her; and a certain resigned mortification was visible in her
countenance.

"You are sorry for that child?" I said to Eveena.

"Yes," she answered. "It must be distressing to feel herself the least
attractive, the least noticed among her companions, and on such an
occasion. I cannot conceive how I could bear to form part of such a
spectacle; but if I were in her place, I suppose I should be hurt and
humbled at finding that nobody cared to look at me in the presence of
others prettier and better dressed than myself."

"Well," I said, "of all the faces I see I like that the best. I
suppose I must not speak to her?"

"Why not?" said Eveena in surprise. "You are not bound to purchase
her, any more than we bought all we looked at to-day."

"It did not occur to me," I replied, "that I could be regarded as a
possible suitor, nor do I think I could find courage to present myself
to that young lady in a manner which must cause her to look upon me in
that light. Ask Eunané if she knows her."

Here Eivé and the others joined us and took their places on my right.
Eveena, leaving her seat for a moment, spoke apart with Eunané.

"Will you speak to her?" she said, returning. "She is Eunané's friend
and correspondent, Velna; and I think they are really fond of each
other. It is a pity that if she is to undergo the mortification of
remaining unchosen and going back to her tasks, at least till the next
inspection, she will also be separated finally from the only person
for whom she seems to have had anything like home affection."

"Well, if I am to talk to her," I replied, "you must be good enough to
accompany me. I do not feel that I could venture on such an enterprise
by myself."

Eveena's eyes, even through her veil, expressed at once amusement and
surprise; but as she rose to accompany me this expression faded and a
look of graver interest replaced it. Many turned to observe us as we
crossed the short space that separated us from the isolated and
neglected maiden. I had seen, if I had not noticed, that in no case
were the men, as they made the tour of the room or went up to any lady
who might have attracted their special notice, accompanied by the
women of their households. A few of these, however, sat watching the
scene, their mortification, curiosity, jealousy, or whatever feeling
it might excite, being of course concealed by the veils that hid every
feature but the eyes, which now and then followed very closely the
footsteps of their lords. The object of our attention showed marked
surprise as we approached her, and yet more when, seeing that I was at
a loss for words, Eveena herself spoke a kindly and gracious sentence.
The girl's voice was soft and low, and her tone and words, as we
gradually fell into a hesitating and broken conversation, confirmed
the impression made by her appearance. When, after a few minutes, I
moved to depart, there was in Eveena's reluctant steps and expressive
upturned eyes a meaning I could not understand. As soon as we were out
of hearing, moving so as partly to hide my countenance and entirely to
conceal her own gesture from the object of her compassion, she checked
my steps by a gentle pressure on my arm and looked up earnestly into
my face.

"What is it?" I asked. "You seem to have some wish that I cannot
conjecture; and you can trust by this time my anxiety to gratify every
desire of yours, reasonable or not—if indeed you ever were
unreasonable."

"She is so sad, so lonely," Eveena answered, "and she is so fond of
Eunané."

"You don't mean that you want me to make her an offer!" I exclaimed in
extreme amazement.

"Do not be angry," pleaded Eveena. "She would be glad to accept any
offer you would be likely to make; and the money you gave me yesterday
would have paid all she would cost you for many years. Besides, it
would please Eunané, and it would make Velna so happy."

"You must know far better than I can what is likely to make her
happy," I replied. "Strange to the ideas and customs of your world, I
cannot conceive that a woman can wish to take the last place in a
household like ours rather than the first or only one with the poorest
of her people."

"She will hardly have the choice," Eveena answered. "Those whom you
can call poor mostly wait till they can have their choice before they
marry; and if taken by some one who could not afford a more expensive
choice, she would only be neglected, or dismissed ill provided for, as
soon as he could purchase one more to his taste."

"If," I rejoined at last, "you think it a kindness to her, and are
sure she will so think it; if you wish it, and will avouch her
contentment with a place in the household of one who does not desire
her, I will comply with this as with any wish of yours. But it is not
to my: mind to take a wife out of mere compassion, as I might readily
adopt a child."

Once more, with all our mutual affection and appreciation of each
other's character, Eveena and I were fat as the Poles apart in thought
if not in feeling. It was as impossible for her to emancipate herself
utterly from the ideas and habits of her own world, as for me to
reconcile myself to them. I led her back at last to her seat, and
beckoned Eunané to my side.

"Eveena," I said, "has been urging me to offer your friend yonder a
place in our household."

Though I could not see her face, the instant change in her attitude,
the eager movement of her hands, and the elastic spring that suddenly
braced her form, expressed her feeling plainly enough.

"It must be done, I suppose," I murmured rather to myself than to
them, as Eunané timidly put out her hand and gratefully clasped
Eveena's. "Well, it is to be done for you, and you must do it."

"How can I?" exclaimed Eunané in astonishment; and Eveena added, "It
is for you; you only can name your terms, and it would be a strange
slight to her to do so through us."

"I cannot help that. I will not 'act the lie' by affecting any
personal desire to win her, and I could not tell her the truth. Offer
her the same terms that contented the rest; nay, if she enters my
household, she shall not feel herself in a secondary or inferior
position."