ll
have your own way."

Half an hour later the surgeon made his visit and assured them all that
there was no serious injury, nor any further danger to be feared. The
patient had been very badly stunned, that was all. Marzio remained by
his brother's side.

"You see, Tista," said Lucia when they were in the sitting-room, "I was
quite right about the crucifix and the rest."

"Of course," assented the Signora Pandolfi, though she did not
understand the allusion in the least. "Of course you are all of you
right. But what a day this has been, _cari miei_! What a day! Dear,
dear!" She spread out her fat hands upon her knees, looking the picture
of solid contentment.

THE END

* * * * *

ZOROASTER

TO

My Beloved Wife

I DEDICATE THIS DRAMA

CHAPTER I.

The hall of the banquets was made ready for the feast in the palace of
Babylon. That night Belshazzar the king would drink wine with a thousand
of his lords, and be merry before them; and everything was made ready.

From end to end of the mighty nave, the tables of wood, overlaid with
gold and silver, stood spread with those things which the heart of man
can desire; with cups of gold and of glass and of jade; with great
dishes heaped high with rare fruits and rarer flowers; and over all, the
last purple rays of the great southern sun came floating through the
open colonnades of the porch, glancing on the polished marbles, tingeing
with a softer hue the smooth red plaster of the walls, and lingering
lovingly on the golden features and the red-gold draperies of the vast
statue that sat on high and overlooked the scene.

On his head the head-dress of thrice royal supremacy, in his right hand
and his left the sceptre of power and the winged wheel of immortality
and life, beneath his feet the bowed necks of prostrate captives;--so
sat the kingly presence of great Nebuchadnezzar, as waiting to see what
should come to pass upon his son; and the perfume of the flowers and the
fruits and the rich wine came up to his mighty nostrils, and he seemed
to smile there in the evening sunlight, half in satisfaction, half in
scorn.

On each side of the great building, in the aisles and wings, among the
polished pillars of marble thronged the serving-men, bearing ever fresh
spices and flowers and fruits, wherewith to deck the feast, whispering
together in a dozen Indian, Persian and Egyptian dialects, or in the
rich speech of th