induced you to judge Bartja so harshly, when only a short time ago you
believed in his innocence?"

The old man told at once what Darius desired to know--that he had seen a
letter, written in Nitetis' own hand, in which she made a direct
confession of her love to Bartja and asked him to meet her alone. The
testimony of his own eyes and of the first men in the realm, nay, even
the dagger found under Nitetis' windows, had not been able to convince
him that his favorite was guilty; but this letter had gone like a burning
flash into his heart and destroyed the last remnant of his belief in the
virtue and purity of woman.

"I left the king," he concluded, "perfectly convinced that a sinful
intimacy must subsist between your friend and the Egyptian Princess,
whose heart I had believed to be a mirror for goodness and beauty alone.
Can you find fault with me for blaming him who so shamefully stained this
clear mirror, and with it his own not less spotless soul?"

"But how can I prove my innocence?" cried Bartja, wringing his hands.
"If you loved me you would believe me; if you really cared for me....."

"My boy! in trying to save your life only a few minutes ago, I forfeited
my own. When I heard that Cambyses had really resolved on your death, I
hastened to him with a storm of entreaties; but these were of no avail,
and then I was presumptuous enough to reproach him bitterly in his
irritated state of mind. The weak thread of his patience broke, and in a
fearful passion he commanded the guards to behead me at once. I was
seized directly by Giv, one of the whip-bearers; but as the man is under
obligations to me, he granted me my life until this morning, and promised
to conceal the postponement of the execution. I am glad, my sons, that I