would have said to his deed. Fever had already begun, and his mind was
wandering as he took the beautiful wax bust out of the box. He stared in
horror at the dull, immovable eyes. The likeness was so perfect, and his
judgment so weakened by wine and fever, that he fancied himself the
victim of some spell, and yet could not turn his eyes from those dear
features. Suddenly the eyes seemed to move. He was seized with terror,
and, in a kind of convulsion, hurled what he thought had become a living
head against the wall. The hollow, brittle wax broke into a thousand
fragments, and Cambyses sank back on to his bed with a groan.

From that moment the fever increased. In his delirium the banished
Phanes appeared, singing a scornful Greek song and deriding him in such
infamous words, that his fists clenched with rage. Then he saw his
friend and adviser, Croesus, threatening him in the very same words of
warning, which he had used when Bartja had been sentenced to death by his
command on account of Nitetis: "Beware of shedding a brother's blood; the
smoke thereof will rise to heaven and become a cloud, that must darken
the days of the murderer, and at last cast down the lightnings of heaven
upon his head."

And in his delirious fancy this figure of speech became a reality. A
rain of blood streamed down upon him from dark clouds; his clothes and
hands were wet with the loathsome moisture. He went down to the Nile to
cleanse himself, and suddenly saw Nitetis coming towards him. She had
the same sweet smile with which Theodorus had modelled her. Enchanted
with this lovely vision, he fell down before her and took her hand, but
he had scarcely touched it, when drops of blood appeared at the tips of
her delicate fingers, and she turned away from him with every sign of
horror. He humbly implored her to forgive him and come back; she
remained inexorable. He grew angry, and threatened her, first with his