daughter of my host, a lady whom I chanced to save from death, of the
customs of her country and the mysteries of worship?"

"The mysteries of worship!" answered Issachar scornfully. "Ay! the
mysteries of the worship of that fair body of hers, that ivory chalice
filled with foulness--whereof, if a man drink, his faith shall be rotted
and his soul poisoned. The mysteries of that worship was it, Prince,
that caused you but now to lean towards this woman as though to embrace
her, with words of love burning in your heart if not between your lips?
Ah! these witches of Baaltis know their trade well; they are full of
evil gifts, and of the wisdom given to them by the fiend they serve.
With touch and sigh and look they can stir the blood of youth, having
much practice in the art, till it seethes within the veins and drowns
conscience in its flood.

"Nay, Prince, hear the truth," continued Issachar. "Till moonrise you
had never seen this woman, and now your quick blood is aflame, and you
love her. Deny it if you can--deny it on your honour and I will believe
you, for you are no liar."

Aziel thought for a moment and answered:--

"Issachar, you have no right to question me on this matter, yet since
you have adjured me by my honour, I will be open with you. I do not know
if I love this woman, who, as you say, is a stranger to me, but it
is true that my heart turns towards her like flowers to the sun. Till
to-day I had never seen her, yet when my eyes first fell upon her face
yonder in that accursed grove, it seemed to me that I had been born only
that I might find her. It seemed to me even that for ages I had known
her, that for ever she was mine and that I was hers. Read me the riddle,