the mistress of the house, a female ass shall be his fee, etc.,
etc." We read in the same Fargard, that the physician had to pass a
kind of examination. If he had operated thrice successfully on bad
men, on whose bodies he had been permitted to try his skill, he was
pronounced "capable for ever." If, on the other hand, three evil
Daevayacna (worshippers of the Divs) died under his hands, he was
pronounced "incapable of healing for evermore."]

Kassandane was very gentle with her son; she begged him not to yield to
passionate anger, and to remember what a sad effect every such outburst
had on his health.

"Yes, mother, you are right," answered the king, smiling bitterly; "I see
that I must get rid of everything that rouses my anger. The Egyptian
must die, and my perfidious brother shall follow his mistress."

Kassandane used all her eloquence to convince him of the innocence of the
accused, and to pacify his anger, but neither prayers, tears, nor her
motherly exhortations, could in the least alter his resolution to rid
himself of these murderers of his happiness and peace.

At last he interrupted her lamentations by saying: "I feel fearfully
exhausted; I cannot bear these sobs and lamentations any longer. Nitetis
has been proved guilty. A man was seen to leave her sleeping-apartment
in the night, and that man was not a thief, but the handsomest man in
Persia, and one to whom she had dared to send a letter yesterday
evening."

"Do you know the contents of that letter?" asked Croesus, coming up to
the bed.