Leonie of the Jungle

by Joan Conquest

  CHAPTER XX

  "Working spells Upon a mind o'erwrought!"--_Thomas Hardy_.

  Secure in the solitude of her last few hours of freedom; oblivious of thefact that her aunt, enraged and alarmed at the unseemly and most untimelyabsence of the morrow's bride, was idiotically wringing her hands as sheran up and down in front of the cottage; worn out and weary with despair,Leonie, in her bathing dress, had gone to sleep with the full moonshining down upon the small, pale face, full of shadows.

  Jan Cuxson, uneasy at the girl's curt refusal to meet him during the lasttwenty-four hours, had started to walk to Woolacombe from Ilfracombewhere he had spent a wretched, restless, futile day.

  He had tramped through the sleeping village of Lee without a look at thehistoric cottage once inhabited by the Three Old Maids, and along to theother little cottage on the sea front where the absence of light inLeonie's room caused him to guess that she was abroad. He passed asquietly and quickly as possible, having determined to avoid the place forfear of meeting the aunt, or old Hickle, and losing his self-control.

  As long as you know exactly where to lay your hand on them you don'tworry overmuch about your gold cigarette case, or your favourite pipe, orthe diamond brooch you pin haphazard into your laces; but mislay them fora moment and see what a turmoil of inquietude you will be in!

  Never doubting the honesty of his beloved, tricked as it were by herhappy, care-free attitude, the man had drifted contentedly in the sun oflove, and the month of June; but to-night a bank of clouds was rising tomeet the moon half-way upon her celestial journey, and the winds of doubtand uneasiness were lifting the corners of that warm, comforting mantleof serenity which we seldom have a chance to take down from its peg inthe wardrobe of life.

  Yesterday she had left him with a flat refusal to meet him, and her eyeshad been like the eyes of the dead, and her hands had been like ice, andher voice had been most uncompromisingly final.

  All day he had argued with himself, surmised and made excuses, sunnedhimself in the cove at Rapparree, assuring himself stubbornly thateverything was quite all right; and at last, dinnerless, desperate, andafraid, had started off hot foot to find her; intending to crush theresistance out of her with the outpourings of his love, and force her torisk everything for the sake of a life-long happiness.

  It was just about one o'clock when he scrunched past the rusty old wreckand clambered up and over the rocks and through the opening to the secondcove; and his heart leapt as he steadied himself when his eyes found thatwhich they had eagerly sought; then missed a beat as, for some unknownreason, he stood stock still, and drew back into the shadows.

  Leonie was standing knee deep in a pool.

  The saw-edged rocks rose behind her, shining like steel in the moonlight;great strands of seaweed swirled about her, for all the world likesnakes, weaving in and out of the burnished hair which spread itselffanwise on the water about her knees.

  Save for the thinnest, finest silk bathing dress which clung to theperfect body, as does the soft fragrant skin to the peach, she was nude,and so unaware of eyes upon her that the man held his breath, fearing shemight spy him in the shade.

  He knew, as everyone knows, that through the criminal teaching of thegirl-child in Europe, she would have had it instilled into her mind assoon as it was capable of understanding, that the slightly draped _toutensemble_ of her glorious body was something to be thoroughly wellashamed of, though on other occasions, by means of slit skirts andexcessive decolletage, she could expose in sections just as much as sheliked to the eyes of any alien waiter who hung over her with the sauce,or any chauffeur who helped her into a car.

  Her eyes were wide and staring straight in his direction, and that shewas asleep he had not the faintest idea.

  So clearly was she outlined against the rock that every line of thelovely limbs, every exquisite curve of the beautiful bosom showed asplainly as if she had been standing in the broad light of noon as shestepped out of the pool.

  With face upturned, and arms outstretched to the moon, she stoodundulating slightly with the exquisite movements of the nautch girl,which has nothing to do with the _danse de ventre_ and other suchdisgusting muscular exhibitions.

  Watch a spider's thread floating in the air at dawn, then you will getsome idea of the gentle, supple, alluring movement.

  The wind, blowing up before the storm, blew against her hair, and itstreamed out in front of her; her arms, twining and twisting, slid in andout of the silky mass until she appeared to have at least four; herexquisite feet seemed to beat upon a human figure which was reallynothing but the shadow of the rock behind her, and Jan Cuxson, in theshadows, suddenly smote his forehead as she lifted up her voice and cried:

  "Kali! Kali! Kali!"

  The word thrice repeated rose softly on the night air, but struck like ahammer upon the ears of the man who, in studying the brain, had foundhimself often and inextricably entangled in the religions and mysteriesof the East.

  "My God!" he whispered, "My God, she is asleep and----"

  But he never moved as Leonie suddenly showed that she was aware of hispresence.

  It was not that she saw him, or that she knew him; she was simply awarethat a man was watching her.

  Not once did the eyelids close over the glaring eyes shining like twogreen phosphorescent stones; not a sign of recognition showed in her faceas she laughed the sweetest little laugh in the world and moved towardshim.

  Jan Cuxson had travelled pretty widely in the last few years, and hadseen almost every kind of dance in the various ports at which he hadcalled, and the towns he had visited in the East, but for absolutevoluptuousness, and the portrayal of physical passions, he had never seenanything to compare with this which he watched horror-stricken by the sea.

  "What have they done to her? What have they done to her? What spell hasbeen cast? What cruel thing have they done to her?"

  Over and over again the questions raced unanswered through his brain.

  For at the thrice repeated cry he had understood in a flash thatfastidious, pure, innocent Leonie was unconsciously performing thepreliminary rites customary to the worship of Kali, the goddess of death,the wife of Siva, the daughter of the Himalayas; which rights might bestbe described as a prolonged and terrible orgy of every passion known toman.

  And well was it for Leonie Hetth that Jan Cuxson was straight andthoroughbred, and that his love was pure, else might it have gone badlywith her, bringing her perchance to the door of the madhouse; for thereis but a hair's breadth between those who are wakened roughly from thesleep in which they walk, and act, and speak, and those who rave inpadded cells.

  She held out her beautiful, bare arms in invitation, and as he remainedquite motionless, glided ever so swiftly to him, so close that he feltthe sweetness of her breath upon his cheek.

  "Behold!" she cried softly in perfect Hindustani, "Behold! O my beloved!has the Sweet One! the Gentle One! the most blessed Mother looked withgraciousness upon her children! May our lips cling in worship, yea! andour bodies in worship! She looketh with soft eyes upon our love, blessedis she, O! Durga! most terrible, most fierce, most cruel!"

  Jan Cuxson hesitated.

  If he put his arms about her she might waken at any moment, and then theshame and horror of it all.

  If he did not respond might she not hurt herself in her wrath as do thosewho worship the Black One, and of whom he had heard in his travels inIndia.

  What on earth was he to do?

  And where was he to find the strength to resist the overpowering appealof the sweet passion she offered him.

  He loved her, desired her, hungered for the touch of the sweet mouth, andthere she stood in her youth, her innocence, her beauty, asking to beheld against his heart, touching his hands gently with her finger-tips,desirous of his mouth, his hands, his love.

  And even as he hesitated wild anger swept over the beautiful face, makingit terrible to behold as she raised it to the moon with a laugh that madethe man shudder to his s
oul, and gasp as she suddenly tore her bathingsuit from her and held it towards him in both hands. He unconsciouslytook it from her, whereupon she shook from head to foot with wildunseemly laughter, and her glorious hair swept about her, hiding hercompletely from the desperate eyes that watched her.

  "Behold, O Parvati! who steppeth lightly upon the mountains! Behold! hashe chosen my raiment, therefore shalt thou be pleased! Yea! and evenshall there be blood upon it!" [1]

  And swinging her arm she struck it again and again against the rocksuntil the flesh was torn and the blood streamed, causing the man to movehurriedly with intent to waken the girl he loved, even at the risk of herreason and his ultimate happiness. But he stopped.

  Leonie was standing still with uplifted arms, dripping blood upon herface whilst her sweet, clear voice rose sonorously in the _Vega_ hymnknown as the Love Spell.

  Jan Cuxson had studied Hindustani in preparation for his travels inIndia, but he frowned as he listened, for he did not understand onesyllable.

  And then his eyes opened wide in astonishment as he caught the meaning ofa word here and there, and "Sanskrit!" he muttered in amazement.

  Pulling a piece of pale green seaweed from the rock, she twined it andwhispered, "This plant is honey born; with honey we dig thee; forth fromhoney art thou engendered; do thou make us possessed of honey.

  "At the tip of my tongue, honey; at the root of my tongue, honeyedness;mayest thou be altogether in my power, mayest thou come unto my intent.

  "Honeyed is my in-stepping, honeyed my forthgoing, with my voice I speakwhat is honeyed, may I be of honey aspect.

  "Than honey am I sweeter, than the honey plant more honeyed; of me,verily shalt thou be fond, as of a honeyed branch.

  "About thee with an encompassing sugar-cane have I gone, in order toabsence of mutual hatred; that thou mayest be one loving me, that thoumayest be one not going away from me!"

  Leonie swayed slightly as the words passed faintly and yet more faintly,like a moan, from her lips; her eyes were closing slowly, very slowly;and she slipped to her knees, her bleeding arms held out towards the manbefore whom she knelt, as the breeze blew her glistening hair this wayand that, exposing for a second, then hiding the glories of the exquisitewhite figure from the eyes which could not help but see.

  Drooping lower and lower she stretched herself, face downwards, upon thesand, closed her eyes as the moon sank suddenly behind a dense mass ofclouds, and peacefully went to sleep.

  [1]In one of the rites concerning the worship of Kali, women's garmentsare thrown in a heap, from which men choose indiscriminately. Thegarment he chooses gives the man a right to the woman who owns it.