he king waits below."

"I heard his voice--and then I fled," she whispered hurriedly; and they
began to descend again. "I hate her--I knew I should," she whispered, as
she leaned upon his arm. So they emerged into the corridor, and met
Darius waiting for them. The queen was nowhere to be seen, and the door
at the farther extremity of the narrow way was wide open.

The king was as calm as though nothing had occurred; he still held the
open letter in his hand as Nehushta entered the passage, and bowed
herself before him. He took her hand for a moment, and then dropped it;
but his eyes flashed suddenly and his arm trembled at her touch.

"Thou hadst almost lost thy way," he said. "The palace is large and the
passages are many and devious. Come now, I will lead thee to the
gardens. There thou canst find friends among the queen's noble women,
and amusements of many kinds. Let thy heart delight in the beauty of
Shushan, and if there is anything that thou desirest, ask and I will
give it thee."

Nehushta bent her head in thanks. The only thing she desired was to be
alone for half an hour with Zoroaster; and that seemed difficult.

"Thy servant desireth what is pleasant in thy sight," she answered. And
so they left the passage by the open door, and the king himself
conducted Nehushta to the entrance of the garden, and bade the
slave-woman who met them to lead her to the pavilion where the ladies of
the palace spent the day in the warm summer weather. Zoroaster knew that
whatever liberty his singular position allowed him in the quarter of the
building where the king himself lived, he was not privileged to enter
that place which was set apart for the noble ladies. Darius hated to be
always surrounded by guards and slaves, and the terraces and staircases
of his dwelling were generally totally deserted,--only small detachments
of spearmen guarding jealously the main entrances. But the remainder of
the palace swarmed with the gorgeously dressed retinue of the court,
with slaves of every colour and degree, from the mute smooth-faced
Ethiopian to the accomplished Hebrew scribes of the great nobles; from
the black and scantily-clad fan-girls to the dainty Greek tirewomen of
the queen's toilet, who loitered near the carved marble fountain at the
entrance to the gardens; and in the outer courts, detachments of the
horsemen of the guard rubbed their weapons, or reddened their broad
leather bridles and trappings with red chalk, or groo