punishment: that she should ask for it was beyond them. Yes, even the
king's wife--it was beyond her. But the girl herself, see you, was it not
this way?--If she died by the hand of him she loved, then it would be
easy, for she could forget the pain, in the thought that his heart would
ache for her, and that at the very last he might care, and she should see
it. She was great in her way also--that girl, two hundred years ago.

"Alors, they led her a little distance off,--there is the spot, where you
see the ground heave a little, and the Great Slave was brought up. The
king told him why the girl was to die. He went like stone, looking,
looking at them. He knew that the girl's heart was like a little child's,
and the shame and cruelty of the thing froze him silent for a minute, and
the colour flew from his face to here and there on his body, as a flame
on marble. The cords began to beat and throb in his neck and on his
forehead, and his eyes gave out fire like flint on an arrow-head.

"Then he began to talk. He could not say much, for he knew so little of
their language. But it was 'No!' every other word. 'No--no--no--no!' the
words ringing from his chest. 'She is good!' he said. 'The other-no!' and
he made a motion with his hand. 'She must not die--no! Evil? It is a lie!
I will kill each man that says it, one by one, if he dares come forth.
She tried to save me--well?' Then he made them know that he was of high
place in a far country, and that a man like him would not tell a lie.
That pleased the king, for he was proud, and he saw that the Slave was of
better stuff than himself. Besides, the king was a brave man, and he had
strength, and more than once he had laid his hand on the chest of the
other, as one might on a grand animal. Perhaps, even then, they might
have spared the girl was it not for the queen. She would not hear of it.
Then they tried the Great Slave, and he was found guilty. The queen sent
him word to beg for pardon. So he stood out and spoke to the queen. She