a proof of sincere love and sympathy, felt cheered.

When it was over, however, she looked down at her fetters in despair, and
it was long before she could think of her dreadful position quietly.
Then she read her letter from home again, wrote the words, "I am
innocent," and told the sobbing girl to give the little note containing
them to the king's mother after her own death, together with her letter
from home. After doing this she passed a wakeful night which seemed as
if it would never end. She remembered that in her box of ointments there
was a specific for improving the complexion, which, if swallowed in a
sufficiently large quantity, would cause death. She had this poison
brought to her, and resolved calmly and deliberately, to take her own
life directly the executioner should draw near. From that moment she
took pleasure in thinking of her last hour, and said to herself: "It is
true he causes my death; but he does it out of love." Then she thought
she would write to him, and confess all her love. He should not receive
the letter until she was dead, that he might not think she had written it
to save her life. The hope that this strong, inflexible man might
perhaps shed tears over her last words of love filled her with intense
pleasure.

In spite of her heavy fetters, she managed to write the following words:
"Cambyses will not receive this letter until I am dead. It is to tell
him that I love him more than the gods, the world, yes, more than my own
young life. Kassandane and Atossa must think of me kindly. They will
see from my mother's letter that I am innocent, and that it was only for
my poor sister's sake that I asked to see Bartja. Boges has told me that
my death has been resolved upon. When the executioner approaches, I
shall kill myself. I commit this crime against myself, Cambyses, to save
you from doing a disgraceful deed."