pon the chair where Atossa had rested, and folded his
hands over his sword-hilt,--resigning himself to the situation with the
philosophy of a trained soldier.

Sitting thus alone, he fell to dreaming. As he gazed out at the bright
sky, he forgot his life and his love, and all things of the present; and
his mind wandered away among the thoughts most natural and most
congenial to his profound intellect. His attention became fixed in the
contemplation of a larger dimension of intelligences,--the veil of
darkness parted a little, and for a time he saw clearly in the light of
a Greater Universe.

CHAPTER VII.

Atossa quitted the terrace where she had been talking with Zoroaster, in
the full intention of returning speedily, but as she descended the
steps, a plan formed itself in her mind, which she determined to put
into immediate execution. Instead, therefore, of pursuing her way into
the portico of the inner court, when she reached the foot of the
staircase, she turned into a narrow passage that led into a long
corridor, lighted only by occasional small openings in the wall. A
little door gave access to this covered way, and when she entered, she
closed it behind her, and tried to fasten it. But the bolt was rusty,
and in order to draw it, she laid down the scroll she carried, upon a
narrow stone seat by the side of the door; and then, with a strong
effort of both her small white hands, she succeeded in moving the lock
into its place. Then she turned quickly and hastened down the dusky
corridor. At the opposite end a small winding stair led upwards into
darkness. There were stains upon the lowest steps, just visible in the
half light. Atossa gathered up her mantle and her under tunic, and trod
daintily, with a look of repugnance on her beautiful face. The stains
were made by the blood of the false Smerdis, her last husband, slain in
that dark stairway by Darius, scarcely three months before.

Cautiously the queen felt her way upward till she reached a landing,
where a narrow aperture admitted a little light. Higher up there were
windows, and she looked carefully to her dress, and brushed away a
little dust that her mantle had swept from the wall in passing; and once
or twice, she looked back at the dark staircase with an expression of
something akin to disgust. At last she reached a door which opened upon
a terrace, much like the one where she had left Zoroaster a few moments
before, saving that the floor was le