r the foot of his sister touched the parched soil,
graceful terebinths sprang up, changing, as they grew, into cypresses
whose tops reached unto heaven. As he was going to speak to Atossa, he
awoke.

The Mobeds and Chaldaeans consulted together and interpreted the dream
thus? 'Atossa would be successful in all she undertook.'

"Cambyses seemed satisfied with this answer, but, as the next night the
vision appeared again, he threatened the wise men with death, unless they
could give him another and a different interpretation. They pondered
long, and at last answered, 'that Atossa would become a queen and the
mother of mighty princes.'

"This answer really contented the king, and he smiled strangely to
himself as he told us his dream. 'The same day Kassandane sent for me and
told me to give up all thoughts of her daughter, as I valued my life.

"'Just as I was leaving the queen's garden I saw Atossa behind a
pomegranate-bush. She beckoned. I went to her; and in that hour we forgot
danger and sorrow, but said farewell to each other for ever. Now you know
all; and now that I have given her up--now that I know it would be
madness even to think of her again--I am obliged to be very stern with
myself, lest, like the king, I should fall into deep melancholy for the
sake of a woman. And this is the end of the story, the close of which we
were all expecting, when Atossa, as I lay under sentence of death, sent
me a rose, and made me the happiest of mortals. If I had not betrayed my
secret then, when we thought our last hour was near, it would have gone
with me to my grave. But what am I talking about? I know I can trust to
your secrecy, but pray don't look at me so deplorably. I think I am still
to be envied, for I have had one hour of enjoyment that would outweigh a
century of misery. Thank you,--thank you: now let me finish my story as
quickly as I can.

"Three days after I had taken leave of Atossa I had to marry Artystone,
the daughter of Gobryas. She is beautiful, and would make any other man
happy. The day after the wedding the Angare reached Babylon with the news
of your illness. My mind was made up at once; I begged the king to let me
go to you, nurse you, and warn you of the danger which threatens your
life in Egypt--took leave of my bride, in spite of all my father-in-law's
protestations, and went off at full speed with Prexaspes, never resting
till I reached your side, my dear Bartja. Now I shall go with you and
Zop