A lovely woman, truly; and yet there was something not quite pleasing
about that beautiful face; something, notwithstanding its childlike
outline, which reminded me of a flower breaking into bloom, that one
does not associate with youth and innocence. I tried to analyse what
this might be, and came to the conclusion that without being hard, it
was too clever and, in a sense, too reflective. I felt even then that
the brain within the shapely head was keen and bright as polished steel;
that this woman was one made to rule, not to be man's toy, or even his
loving companion, but to use him for her ends.
She dropped her chin till it hid the little, dimple-like depression
below her throat, which was one of her charms, and began not to look at,
but to study me, seeing which I shut my eyes tight and waited. Evidently
she thought that I was still in my swoon, for now she spoke to herself
in a low voice that was soft and sweet as honey.
"A small man," she said; "Saduko would make two of him, and the
other"--who was he, I wondered--"three. His hair, too, is ugly; he cuts
it short and it sticks up like that on a cat's back. Iya!" (i.e.
Piff!), and she moved her hand contemptuously, "a feather of a man. But
white--white, one of those who rule. Why, they all of them know that he
is their master. They call him 'He-who-never-Sleeps.' They say that he
has the courage of a lioness with young--he who got away when Dingaan
killed Piti [Retief] and the Boers; they say that he is quick and
cunning as a snake, and that Panda and his great indunas think more of
him than of any white man they know. He is unmarried also, though they
say, too, that twice he had a wife, who died, and now he does not turn
to look at women, which is strange in any man, and shows that he will
escape trouble and succeed. Still, it must be remembered that they are
all ugly down here in Zululand, cows, or heifers who will be cows. Piff!
no more."
She paused for a little while, then went on in her dreamy, reflective
voice: "Now, if he met a woman who is not merely a cow or a heifer, a woman
cleverer than himself, even if she were not white, I wonder--"
At this point I thought it well to wake up. Turning my head I yawned,
opened my eyes and looked at her vaguely, seeing which her expression
changed in a flash from that of brooding power to one of moved and
anxious girlhood; in short, it became most sweetly feminine.
"You are Mameena?" I said; "is it not so?"