?"

"May he live for ever! He marries whom he pleases. But I pray you, do
not begin by hating the queen overmuch."

"Why not? What have I to gain from the queen?" asked the princess. "Am I
not of royal blood as well as she?"

"That is true," returned Zoroaster. "Nevertheless there is a prudence
for princesses as well as for other people."

"I would not be afraid of the Great King himself with you beside me,"
said Nehushta proudly. "But I will be prudent to please you. Only--I am
sure I shall hate her."

Zoroaster smiled to himself in the dusk, but he would not have had the
princess see he was amused.

"It shall be as you please," he said; "we shall soon know how it will
end, for we must begin our journey to-morrow."

"It will need three weeks, will it not?" asked Nehushta.

"Yes--it is at least one hundred and fifty farsangs. It would weary you
to travel more than seven or eight farsangs in a day's journey--indeed,
that is a long distance for any one."

"We shall always be together, shall we not?" asked the princess.

"I will ride beside your litter, my beloved," said Zoroaster. "But it
will be very tedious for you, and you will often be tired. The country
is very wild in some parts, and we must trust to what we can take with
us for our comfort. Do not spare the mules, therefore, but take
everything you need."

"Besides, we may not return," said Nehushta thoughtfully.

Her companion was silent. "Do you think we shall ever come back?" she
asked presently.

"I have dreamed of coming back," answered Zoroaster; "but I fear it is
to be even as you say."

"Why say you that you fear it! Is it not better to live at the court
than here in this distant fortress, so shut off from the world that we
might almost as well be among the Scythians? Oh, I long for the palace
at Shushan! I am sure it will seem tenfold more beautiful now than it
did when I was a child."

Zoroaster sighed. In his heart he knew there was to be no returning to
Media, and yet he had dreamed of marrying the princess and being made
governor of the province, and bringing his wife home to this beautiful
land to live out a long life of quiet happiness. But he knew it was not
to be; and though he tried hard to shake off the impression, he felt in
his inmost self that the words of the dying prophet foretold truly what
would happen to him. Only he hoped that there was an escape, and the
passion in his heart scorned the idea that in loving Nehushta he