ara hastily on his head, left the house without
taking leave of his wife, and, accompanied by a number of slaves, went
down to the Nile. There he threw himself into a boat and ordered the
rowers to take him to Sais.

.........................

A few hours after the fatal shooting-match, Bartja had followed Croesus'
advice and had gone off to Sais with his young wife. They found Rhodopis
there. She had yielded to an irresistible impulse and, instead of
returning to Naukratis, had stopped at Sais. Bartja's fall on stepping
ashore had disturbed her, and she had with her own eyes seen an owl fly
from the left side close by his head. These evil omens, to a heart which
had by no means outgrown the superstitions of the age, added to a
confused succession of distressing dreams which had disturbed her
slumbers, and her usual wish to be always near Bartja and Sappho, led her
to decide quickly on waiting for her granddaughter at Sais.

Bartja and Sappho were delighted to find such a welcome guest, and after
she had dandled and played with her great grandchild, the little Parmys,
to her heart's content, they led her to the rooms which had been prepared
for her.

[Herodotus states, that beside Atossa, &c.. Darius took a daughter
of the deceased Bartja, named Parmys, to be his wife. Herod. III.
88. She is also mentioned VII. 78.]

They were the same in which the unhappy Tachot had spent the last months
of her fading existence. Rhodopis could not see all the little trifles
which showed, not only the age and sex of the former occupant, but her
tastes and disposition, without feeling very sad. On the dressing-table
were a number of little ointment-boxes and small bottles for perfumes,
cosmetics, washes and oils. Two larger boxes, one in the form of a
Nile-goose, and another on the side of which a woman playing on a lute
had been painted, had once contained the princess's costly golden
ornaments, and the metal mirror with a handle in the form of a sleeping
maiden, had once reflected her beautiful face with its pale pink flush.
Everything in the room, from the elegant little couch resting on lions'
claws, to the delicately-carved ivory combs on the toilet-table, proved
that the outward adornments of life had possessed much charm for the
former owner of these rooms. The golden sisirum and the
delicately-wrought nabla, the strings of which had long ago been broken,
testified to her taste for music, while the broken s