told him it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians
again, to do which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the
mind of that Cup of his--having first settled that she should procure
a younger sister of her own to fill her place--in such fashion that
when at length I spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no."

"No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
not marry even to please the holy Tanofir."

"Oh! Master," he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, "I would
that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed
from birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his
own sake?"

"Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir," I
said hurriedly.

"Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is
awake, remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I
wooed her as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the
Ethiopians, or any more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir
told her nothing, for he swore as much to me and he does not lie."

"And what did she say to you, Bes?" I asked, for I was curious.

"She lied fast enough, Master. She said--well, what she said when
first we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that
she who had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather
than to the flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired
nothing better than to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and