Men are like wind-vanes that forever swing; Men are like winds forever wavering; Men are like water; men are like the tide: Women, the rock they ebb from, do abide. ROSE-FLOWER. She will not speak. See, it is sunset now. And now the drums begin upon the housetops, And all the plain spreads out, burningly clear. JEZEBEL. What is that noise of evil that I hear? ROSE-FLOWER. The prophet speaking in the market-place. MOON-BLOSSOM. All afternoon his voice has shouted evil. JEZEBEL. It is as red as blood within this room. They have gone out to war; is it not so? I have been thinking till it all seems plain. We are amusements only In mightier life than ours. God knows, we are not amusement to ourselves. I am no Queen. I have no son; no husband; No task, no place, and yet I covet news. Look, by the rocks, beyond the spur; you see? ROSE-FLOWER. A rider. MOON-BLOSSOM. In a white cloak, with a lance. ROSE-FLOWER. One of King Ahab’s lancers, if in white. MOON-BLOSSOM. Surely a rider from the army, Madam. ROSE-FLOWER. Bringing good news, because he would not gallop Save with the news of triumph. JEZEBEL. What he brings Will not be what we look for, because life Is unexpected, whether good or ill. And at the door by which a horror enters Another comes, a muffled one, a silent. (_There is a knocking._) Enter, without there!PHARMAS
Yes? What is it, Pharmas?

PHARMAS
The Presence will forgive my interruption. There is a woman in the outer court asks that you grant her audience for a moment.

JEZEBEL
Why should I grant her audience? Who is she?

PHARMAS
She comes from Lower Egypt, as she says.

JEZEBEL
What is her traffic with me?

PHARMAS
Madam, this. She brings cosmetics and Arabian gums.

JEZEBEL
This is no time for such. I cannot see her.

PHARMAS
May the great Presence pardon if I speak. I told her that you would not buy her gear at such a time, but she implored me still to beg you to admit her to your presence.

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