no objection on the part of his subjects can be entertained.
The history of Iran too offers a sufficient number of examples, in which
even slaves became the mothers of kings. The queen mother, whose
position, in the eyes of the people, is nearly as high as that of the
monarch himself, will do nothing to thwart the happiness of her youngest
and favorite son. When she sees that he will not give up Sappho,--that
his smiling face, in which she adores the image of her great husband
Cyrus, becomes clouded, I verily believe she would be ready to sanction
his taking even a Scythian woman to wife, if it could restore him to
cheerfulness. Neither will Cambyses himself refuse his consent if his
mother press the point at a right moment."

"In that case every difficulty is set aside," cried Rhodopis joyfully.

"It is not the marriage itself, but the time that must follow, which
causes me uneasiness," answered Croesus.

"Do you think then that Bartja . . .?"

"From him I fear nothing. He has a pure heart, and has been so long proof
against love, that now he has once yielded, he will love long and
ardently."

"What then do you fear?"

"You must remember that, though the charming wife of their favorite will
be warmly received by all his friends of his own sex, there are thousands
of idle women in the harems of the Persian nobles, who will endeavor, by
every artifice and intrigue in their power, to injure the newly-risen
star; and whose greatest joy it will be to ruin such an inexperienced
child and make her unhappy."

"You have a very bad opinion of the Persian women."

"They are but women, and will naturally envy her, who has gained the
husband they all desired either for themselves or for their daughters. In
their monotonous life, devoid of occupation, envy easily becomes hatred,
and the gratification of these evil passions is the only compensation
which the poor creatures can obtain for the total absence of love and
loss of freedom. I repeat, the more beautiful Sappho is, the more
malicious they will feel towards her, and, even if Bartja should love her
so fervently as not to take a second wife for two or three years, she
will still have such heavy hours to encounter, that I really do not know
whether I dare congratulate you on her apparently brilliant future."

"That is quite my own feeling. A simple Greek would be more welcome to me
than this son of a mighty monarch."

In this moment Knakias brought Bartja into the room