could not shut them out. Mid-day came, the sun stood high and burning in
the sky, but no news came from those she loved so well; and a feverish
restlessness seized her which increased as night came on. In the
twilight Boges came to her, and told her, with bitter scorn, that her
letter to Bartja had come into the king's hands, and that the gardener's
boy who brought it had been executed. The tortured nerves of the
princess could not resist this fresh blow, and before Boges left, he
carried the poor girl senseless into her sleeping-room, the door of which
he barred carefully.

A few minutes later, two men, one old, the other young, came up through
the trap-door which Boges had examined so carefully two days before. The
old man remained outside, crouching against the palace, wall; a hand was
seen to beckon from the window: the youth obeyed the signal, swung
himself over the ledge and into the room at a bound. Then words of love
were exchanged, the names Gaumata and Mandane whispered softly, kisses
and vows given and received. At last the old man clapped his hands. The
youth obeyed, kissed and embraced Nitetis' waiting-maid once more, jumped
out of the window into the garden, hurried past the admirers of the blue
lily who were just coming up, slipped with his companion into the trap-
door which had been kept open, closed it carefully, and vanished.

Mandane hurried to the room in which her mistress generally spent the
evening. She was well acquainted with her habits and knew that every
evening, when the stars had risen, Nitetis was accustomed to go to the
window looking towards the Euphrates, and spend hours gazing into the
river and over the plain; and that at that time she never needed her
attendance. So she felt quite safe from fear of discovery in this
quarter, and knowing she was under the protection of the chief of the
eunuchs himself, could wait for her lover calmly.