Delphi Works of Ford Madox Ford (Illustrated) (23 page)

‘But I can’t go. I’ve got nowhere to go to; and besides, you promised to take me back to the earth,’ said Ernalie.

‘I suppose I did,’ said the Goddess. ‘Besides, I don’t want to have you always here. Well, the moon will begin to rise in half an hour, and then I’ll take you in my chariot, that’s the only thing to do; so you can help me to harness the stags.’

This was soon done, and the Goddess went into the house to put away the remains of the food on which she had been dining. When she came out again Ernalie noticed that she had made a considerable change in her costume. What the change was I don’t exactly know, but she said to Ernalie:

‘You see I have to dress lightly to follow the chase easily. However, if you’re ready, I am.’

So saying, she slung her quiver full of arrows over her back, and taking the silver bow in her hand, got into the chariot.

‘Get up,’ she said to Ernalie, for the stags were already pawing the ground in their eagerness to be off. Ernalie jumped in quickly, and the stags darted off at an immense pace. They went so smoothly, however, that the Princess was not at all shaken or jolted. On over hills and through valleys, until it almost made her head swim at the way in which the scenery shot past. However, in a few minutes the roar of the waves sounded in her ears, and they came over the hill-top to the sea-beach. Just then the Goddess drew the reins in, and the stags stopped short.

‘What on earth is that?’ she said.

Now that the chariot had stopped, the Princess too could hear the sound that came faintly borne on the breeze:

‘When moonlight o’er the azure seas.’

‘Why, it’s the Man,’ she said.

‘So it is,’ said Diana angrily. ‘I recognise his voice. He calls it “mezzo-soprano.” It’s dreadful. I told him never to sing unless he had somebody to sing to. Of course I thought no one would ever come to the moon. I wonder whom he’s singing to?’

‘I rather imagine he thinks he’s singing to me,’ said the Princess hesitatingly. ‘I begged him not to sing; but he insisted. So I ran away, and I suppose he thinks I’m still there, for, you see, he can’t see me.’

‘Oh, he thinks you’re still there, does he?’ said Diana. ‘Just make yourself invisible, and I’ll do the same, and we’ll go a little closer.’

The Princess did as she was told, and Diana urged the stags in the direction of the voice.

The rattling of the wheels was quite drowned in the noise of the Man’s voice, as he sang:

‘And you’ll remember me.. e.. e, And you’ll remember me.’

‘You’ve improved a good deal in that last line,’ said the Goddess. ‘I wish you’d sing it over again.’

‘You
are
there then?’ said the Man. ‘I thought you had gone away. I couldn’t get you to answer when I spoke to you.’

‘Ah! that was because I was too enchanted for words to express. Now,
do
sing the last line again. Only the last line; it
is
so fine,’ said Diana.

The Man drew in a long breath:

‘And you’ll remember, re. member me. e. e.’

At the sound of his voice the Princess put her hands to her ears, and Diana had the greatest difficulty in keeping the stags from turning tail and bolting right away. However, she managed to quieten them, and took a good grip of her whip handle, and the consequence was that the last line came out:

‘And you’ll remember me.. e.. ow — ow!’ for the whip stung a good deal.

‘I hope you’ll remember me — ow — ow,’ said the Goddess calmly, as she suddenly appeared to him, turning the chariot towards the sea.

‘You don’t mind getting a little wet?’ she continued, turning to the Princess. ‘We’re going over the water.’

And she gave the reins to the stags, who sprang wildly down the steep slope into the sea. For a moment the Princess thought that there might be rather too much of a good thing, even if that good thing were riding in a chariot along with a goddess; for the chariot plunged deep into a high wave, and it seemed to the Princess as if it never did intend to come to the surface again. However, it did come up, and that was some comfort, although the Princess was dripping all over with the sea-water.

But the stags were once more darting onwards, for the chariot ran as lightly over the waves as over the land, and they went at such a rate that although the great breakers chased them, and even curled right over them, they were never so much as touched by the spray that the wind blew from off the crests of the waves.

So they dashed on through the blue water that coiled up over the front of the chariot but fell back when it saw the Goddess. On and on they went, and as they got farther out the waves became steeper and steeper, until it seemed as if they were going over very mountainous land indeed, for they rose over every wave.

Suddenly the Goddess said:

‘This is a little too much,’ and drew the stags in.

The great waves rolled on like angry hounds hungering for their prey; but the Goddess motioned with her hand: ‘Down, down!’ she cried. ‘Know ye me?’

And the waves sank, like hounds to whom their master shows his whip, and instantly it fell a deep calm over the whole sea. Then the Goddess lashed on the deer again, and once more they sped on over the sea, and the chariot wheels cut two deep white furrows in the deep blue, and in the moonlight Ernalie could see the two straight white lines glistening right away to the horizon — for they went so quickly that there was no time for the foam to die away, before it was out of sight. So they kept on for a long while, and gradually the moon rose in the sky, and then fell lower and lower, and still they journeyed on. Then the moon set, the stars gradually faded from sight, and the hot rays of the morning sun began to turn the eastern sky yellow.

Suddenly the Goddess pulled up the stags.

‘There’s the land,’ she said, pointing to a low blue line on the horizon. ‘We must rise into the air now, for we are getting near the place where ships ply to and fro on the sea, and if the sailors saw the two white trails of the chariot wheels they would say it was the sea-serpent, and I don’t want to be called a snake — it’s most insulting. So if you’re inclined to be giddy you’d better sit in the bottom of the car.’

But the Princess said:

‘Oh no. I’m never giddy, however great the height may be.’

So Diana gave the word to the stags, and they began to rise from the water in a spiral line upwards as an eagle soars in chase of a swan.

When they had reached a sufficiently great height, the Goddess once more let loose the reins, and the deer bounded forward again like an arrow released from a bow.

Swiftly they neared the land; but from where they were nothing could be seen of the things on it. Everything was blurred into one mass, as if it had been a map spread out below them.

So they sped on again for a time, and the fresh morning air blew cool on Ernalie’s face, and almost made her shiver, though by this time her garments were dry again, and blew out like a cloud behind her, as if they had been of thin gauze, though they were really of far thicker and heavier material.

Suddenly a thought struck Ernalie.

‘Where are you going to take me?’ she asked as well as she could, for the wind blew her words down her throat.

The Goddess smiled somewhat maliciously, Ernalie thought, and checked the course of the stags that she might speak with greater ease.

‘You shall see,’ she said.

‘But I should like to know beforehand.’

‘I only promised to take you back to the earth,’ said Diana.

‘But you promised to do me no harm,’ said Ernalie dismally, ‘and if you leave me in the middle of a desert you’ll do me a lot of harm.’

‘But I’m not going to put you down into the middle of a desert,’ said Diana. ‘Look, we are descending. Now, see if you recognise the country you pass over.’

The Princess looked over the edge of the chariot, and she saw that the stags were descending in great spiral curves, and at each curve the earth flew up nearer and nearer to meet them. As they got lower down Ernalie could see what was below more clearly, as if she had been looking through an opera glass, and was only just commencing to get the right focus. When they were quite close the Goddess stopped the descent of the chariot.

‘Now, do you recognise where you are?’ she asked.

But Ernalie shook her head.

‘I only see that we are over the tops of a range of mountains that have snow on their peaks,’ she said. ‘But I was never here before — that I am quite certain of.’

The Goddess shook the reins, and again the stags flew forward; but this time not so fast as they had gone before.

‘You have been here before,’ she said. ‘And at just this height, and at just this speed, only you were going in the opposite direction.’

‘Why,’ said Ernalie, ‘I must be in my own country. Oh, how cruel of you to take me away from my Prince, and you promised to do me no harm.’

‘I am doing you no harm,’ said the Goddess. ‘To prevent you marrying is not harm — it is good.’

But the Princess said:

‘No! no! it is harm. I would give anything to be back with him.’

‘Would you give your feather?’ said the Goddess eagerly.

‘No, not that,’ said the Princess.

‘I
will give you anything you like for it,’ said the Goddess. ‘Anything—’

But the Princess said scornfully:

‘Not so, Goddess. I will get back to my love in spite of you. If I can do nothing better I will pray to Venus and offer her the feather.’

The Goddess looked angrily at her, and it almost seemed as if her eyes shot fire.

‘If it were not for my promise,’ she said, ‘I would hurl you from the car; but as it is, I will put you safely down.’

But the Princess smiled in spite of herself.

‘Do you, then, hate Venus so much, great Goddess?’ she asked.

‘Well, you have really done me much good, and therefore I promise never to give the feather to any other goddess save you alone.’

Diana looked very much relieved; for, to tell the truth, the goddesses in those days were very jealous of one another, and Diana could not bear the thought that any one else should have the feather if she could not get it.

So for a few minutes she was silent; and then suddenly she drew in the stags.

‘I am going to set you down here,’ she said, and they plunged into the darkness below. For you must know that though they were high up, and the rays of the sun, still below the horizon, fell on them, yet, beneath them, everything was dark in the shadow of the mountains.

The chariot sank slowly until it rested on the ground, but it was still so dark that the Princess could see nothing.

‘Get out,’ said Diana; ‘you are quite safe here.’ And the Princess obeyed. ‘Now remember,’ the Goddess went on, ‘I have kept my promises. Remember to keep yours. Give the feather to no one except to me, unless I send Iris for it. To her alone give it, for she is the messenger of the goddesses.’

The Princess once more promised, and Diana shook the reins, and the chariot once more darted up through the air and out of the lower darkness into the sunlight, until it was so high that it vanished altogether from her sight.

So the Princess looked wearily down again, and the earth around her seemed doubly dark by contrast.

‘I wonder where on earth I am,’ she said, and then she took two or three steps forward, but she came against a stone parapet or wall, or something. ‘I wonder what this is,’ she said to herself. ‘I think I shall stop where I am till daylight; it won’t be very long now, and I’m safe here at any rate.’