hand to him, to help him to ascend the steps of the royal
throne. All this had caused him to forget that Candaules was his master
and his benefactor; for none can flee from Fate, and Necessity walks on
with nails in one hand and whip in the other, to stop your advance or to
urge you forward.

'It is well,' replied Nyssia; 'here is the means of execution.' And she
drew from her bosom a Bactrian poniard, with a jade handle enriched with
inlaid circles of white gold. 'This blade is not made of brass, but with
iron difficult to work, tempered in flame and water, so that Hephaistos
himself could not forge one more keenly pointed or finely edged.
It would pierce, like thin papyrus, metal cuirasses and bucklers of
dragon's skin.

'The time,' she continued, with the same icy coolness, 'shall be while
he slumbers. Let him sleep and wake no more!'

Her accomplice, Gyges, hearkened to her words with stupefaction, for he
had never thought he could find such resolution in a woman who could not
bring herself to lift her veil.

'The ambuscade shall be laid in the very same place where the infamous
one concealed you in order to expose me to your gaze. At the approach
of night I shall turn back one of the folding-doors upon you, undress
myself, lie down, and when he shall be asleep I will give you a signal.
Above all things, let there be no hesitancy, no feebleness; and take
heed that your hand does not tremble when the moment shall have come!
And now, for fear lest you might change your mind, I propose to make
sure of your person until the fatal hour. You might attempt to escape,
to forewarn your master. Do not think to do so.'

Nyssia whistled in a peculiar way, and immediately from behind a
Persian tapestry embroidered with flowers, there appeared four monsters,
swarthy, clad in robes diagonally striped, which left visible arms
muscled and gnarled as trunks of oaks. Their thick pouting lips, the
gold rings which they wore through the partition of their nostrils,
their great teeth sharp as the fangs of wolves, the expression of stupid
servility on their faces, rendered them hideous to behold.

The queen pronounced some words in a language unknown to Gyges,
doubtless in Bactrian, and the four slaves rushed upon the young man,
seized him, and carried him away, even as a nurse might carry off a
child in the fold of her robe.

Now, what were Nyssia's real thoughts? Had she, indeed, noticed Gyges at
the time of her meeting with him