Abroad among
them--elusive as that by which we know that a given moment belongs
to dawn, not dusk--was the sense of questioning, of unrest, of
expectancy that belongs to the dawn itself. Especially the youths
and maidens--who, besides wisdom, knew something of spells--waited
with a certain wistfulness for what might be, for Change is a kind
of god even to the immortals. But there were also those who weighed
the departures incident to the coming of the strange people from
over-seas; and there were not lacking conservatives of the old
regime to shake wise heads and declare that a barbarian is a
barbarian, the world over.
All that rainbow multitude, clad for festival, rose with the first
light music that stole, winged and silken, from hidden cedar
alcoves, and some minutes past the sounding of the hour of noon the
chamfered doors set high in the south wall of the Hall of Kings were
swung open, and at the head of the stair appeared Olivia.
She was alone, for the custom of Yaque required that the island
princesses should on the day of their recognition first appear alone
before their people in token of their mutual faith.
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