Hillah and Lilith Essay

Therefore before I give you instructions, swear to heed nothing that you may see or hear concerning me, but perform your journey with speed and learn the truth before you seek any explanation."
"I swear I will obey you unswervingly. I will act upon your commands as blindly and devotedly as I have tonight."
"Then know," she said, regaining her feet slowly and standing erect, "there is but one spot on earth where the truth may be imparted, now that it has been withheld even at the portal of the Land of Shadows. Before you may again enter my presence, you must have gained the power and the riches that it can bestow. While you are in the distant desert I shall not forget you. It is even possible that secret communications may pass between us. Do not forget that in future a fatal affinity exists between our souls, and that irrespective of distance, we may have a dream-like consciousness of each other's well-being."
Her blue eyes fixed upon the Norlain, holding him with a strange magnetism.
Even in the brief space that had elapsed, she had now entirely reassumed her beauty. Stretching forth her hand, she poured water from a pitcher of chased silver into two drinking-cups. Over them both she passed her fingers swiftly and then sipped one of them. The sweet odors that hung about the chamber had caused a dryness in his throat. Raising the other cup to his lips, Hillah took several gulps, while she watched him keenly.
"Shall I always know your whereabouts?" Hillah asked eagerly.
"No. There will be a certain affinity between our thoughts, but I shall remain hidden from you until you have returned."
For a few moments they were silent. She was no longer manic and obsessed as she had been while the poison coursed through her veins. Her beauty had recovered its freshness. Her delicate limbs and bust glowed with natural warmth and yielding softness of flesh and blood. Her great lustrous eyes, standing well apart under her arched brows, the broad white forehead, the perfect nose, the small, well-formed mouth, the pearly teeth, the rounded chin, each added grace to grace. Her beauty was perfect.
"Will you remain here?" Hillah asked, gazing at her enraptured.
Lilith gazed back enigmatically.
"I will be in your heart as will you be in mine."
She spoke so earnestly that Hillah felt convinced there was in her life some hideous mystery, and that those who held power over her she regarded with abject terror. Besides, her frequent allusions to the uncertainty of her life made it plain that she was apprehensive of a swift and terrible doom.
Some of her words and actions were strange and incomprehensible. Hillah decided that what he witnessed at the Shrine of Darkness was probably produced by some kind of illusion. That she was well versed in mystic rites was certain, but whether she had actually produced the results Hillah had witnessed without some ingenious trickery he doubted.