table, and Atossa was
opposite to him. The air was dry and intensely hot, and on each side two
black fan-girls plied their palm-leaves silently with all their might.
The king lay back upon his cushions, his head uncovered, and all his
shaggy curls of black hair tossed behind him, his broad, strong hand
circling a plain goblet of gold that stood beside him on the table. For
once, he had laid aside his breastplate, and a vest of white and purple
fell loosely over his tunic; but his sword of keen Indian steel lay
within reach upon the floor.

Atossa had raised herself upon her elbow, and her clear blue eyes were
fixed upon the king's face, thoughtfully, as though expecting that he
would say something. Contrary to all custom, she wore a Greek tunic
with short sleeves caught at the shoulders by golden buckles, and her
fair hair was gathered into a heavy knot, low down, behind her head. Her
dazzling arms and throat were bare, but above her right elbow she wore a
thick twisted snake of gold, her only ornament.

"The king is not athirst to-night," said Atossa at last, watching the
full goblet that he grasped, but did not raise.

"I am not always thirsty," answered Darius moodily. "Would you have me
always drunk, like a Babylonian dog?"

"No; nor always sober, like a Persian captain."

"What Persian captain?" asked the king, suddenly looking at her and
knitting his brows.

"Why, like him, whom, for his sobriety you have sent to-day on the way
to Nineveh," answered Atossa.

"I have sent no one to Nineveh to-day."

"To Ecbatana then, to inquire whether I told you the truth about my poor
servant Phraortes--Fravartish, as you call him," said the queen, with a
flash of spite in her blue eyes.

"I assure you," answered the king, laughing, "that it is solely on
account of your remarkable beauty that I have not had you strangled. So
soon as you grow ugly you shall surely die. It is very unwise of me, as
it is!"

The queen, too, laughed, a low, silvery laugh.

"I am greatly indebted for my life," said she. "I am very beautiful, I
am aware, but I am no longer the most beautiful woman in the world." She
spoke without a trace of annoyance in her voice or face, as though it
were a good jest.

"No," said Darius, thoughtfully. "I used to think that you were. It is
in the nature of man to change his opinion. You are, nevertheless, very
beautiful--I admire your Greek dress."

"Shall I send my tirewoman with one like it to Nehus