Of all the Carthaginians she was perhaps
the only one who would have spoken to him without fear.
Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the
cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found
some rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned
her about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her
whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she
answered, No,--so proud was Salammbo of having saved the zaimph.
But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making
military inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had
spent in the tent had been employed. Salammbo, in fact, said nothing
about Gisco; for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses,
if reported to any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent
about her wish to assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having
yielded to it. She said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he
had shouted a great deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbo
told no more, through shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her
extreme ingenuousness to attach but little importance to the soldier's
kisses. Moreover, it all floated through her head in a melancholy and
misty fashion, like the recollection of a depressing dream; and she
would not have known in what way or in what words to express it.
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