But scarcely had she discovered that her mistress had fainted, when she
heard the garden filling with people, a confused sound of men's and
eunuchs' voices, and the notes of the trumpet used to summon the
sentries. At first she was frightened and fancied her lover had been
discovered, but Boges appearing and whispering: "He has escaped safely,"
she at once ordered the other attendants, whom she had banished to the
women's apartments during her rendezvous, and who now came flocking back,
to carry their mistress into her sleeping-room, and then began using all
the remedies she knew of, to restore her to consciousness. Nitetis had
scarcely opened her eyes when Boges came in, followed by two eunuchs,
whom he ordered to load her delicate arms with fetters.

Nitetis submitted; she could not utter one word, not even when Boges
called out as he was leaving the room: "Make yourself happy in your cage,
my little imprisoned bird. They've just been telling your lord that a
royal marten has been making merry in your dove-cote. Farewell, and
think of the poor tormented Boges in this tremendous heat, when you feel
the cool damp earth. Yes, my little bird, death teaches us to know our
real friends, and so I won't have you buried in a coarse linen sack, but
in a soft silk shawl. Farewell, my darling!"

The poor, heavily-afflicted girl trembled at these words, and when the
eunuch was gone, begged Mandane to tell her what it all meant. The girl,
instructed by Boges, said that Bartja had stolen secretly into the
hanging-gardens, and had been seen by several of the Achaemenidae as he
was on the point of getting in at one of the windows. The king had been
told of his brother's treachery, and people were afraid his jealousy
might have fearful consequences. The frivolous girl shed abundant tears
of penitence while she was telling the story, and Nitetis, fancying this