Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Last Days of Pompeii

BOOK THE SECOND 9. Chapter IX (continued)

Arbaces raised his hand--the spectre seemed to drop the mantle that concealed its form--and Ione shrieked--it was Arbaces himself that thus knelt before her.

'This is, indeed, thy fate!' whispered again the Egyptian's voice in her ear. 'And thou art destined to be the bride of Arbaces.'

Ione started--the black curtain closed over the phantasmagoria: and Arbaces himself--the real, the living Arbaces--was at her feet.

'Oh, Ione!' said he, passionately gazing upon her, 'listen to one who has long struggled vainly with his love. I adore thee! The Fates do not lie--thou art destined to be mine--I have sought the world around, and found none like thee. From my youth upward, I have sighed for such as thou art. I have dreamed till I saw thee--I wake, and I behold thee. Turn not away from me, Ione; think not of me as thou hast thought; I am not that being--cold, insensate, and morose, which I have seemed to thee. Never woman had lover so devoted--so passionate as I will be to Ione. Do not struggle in my clasp: see--I release thy hand. Take it from me if thou wilt--well be it so! But do not reject me, Ione--do not rashly reject--judge of thy power over him whom thou canst thus transform. I, who never knelt to mortal being, kneel to thee. I, who have commanded fate, receive from thee my own. Ione, tremble not, thou art my queen--my goddess--be my bride! All the wishes thou canst form shall be fulfilled. The ends of the earth shall minister to thee--pomp, power, luxury, shall be thy slaves. Arbaces shall have no ambition, save the pride of obeying thee. Ione, turn upon me those eyes--shed upon me thy smile. Dark is my soul when thy face is hid from it: shine over me, my sun--my heaven--my daylight!--Ione, Ione--do not reject my love!'

Alone, and in the power of this singular and fearful man, Ione was not yet terrified; the respect of his language, the softness of his voice, reassured her; and, in her own purity, she felt protection. But she was confused--astonished: it was some moments before she could recover the power of reply.