with all your heart and then be so sorely tempted of her,' and

he turned to go.
'Look here, old fellow,' said Sir Henry, 'just stop a minute.

I have a little tale to tell you too.' And he went on to narrate
what had taken place on the previous day between Sorais and himself.

This was a finishing stroke to poor Good. It is not pleasant
to any man to learn that he has been made a tool of, but when

the circumstances are as peculiarly atrocious as in the present
case, it is about as bitter a pill as anybody can be called on

to swallow.
'Do you know,' he said, 'I think that between you, you fellows

have about worked a cure,' and he turned and walked away, and
I for one felt very sorry for him. Ah, if the moths would always

carefully avoid the candle, how few burnt wings there would be!
That day was a Court day, when the Queens sat in the great hall

and received petitions, discussed laws, money grants, and so
forth, and thither we adjourned shortly afterwards. On our way

we were joined by Good, who was looking exceedingly depressed.
When we got into the hall Nyleptha was already on her throne

and proceeding with business as usual, surrounded by councillors,
courtiers, lawyers, priests, and an unusually" target="_blank" title="ad.异常地；非常">unusually strong guard.

It was, however, easy to see from the air of excitement and expectation
on the faces of everybody present that nobody was paying much

attention to ordinary affairs, the fact being that the knowledge
that civil war was imminent had now got abroad. We saluted Nyleptha

and took our accustomed places, and for a little while things
went on as usual, when suddenly the trumpets began to call outside

the palace, and from the great crowd that was gathered there
in anticipation of some unusual event there rose a roar of 'Sorais!

Sorais!'
Then came the roll of many chariot wheels, and presently the

great curtains at the end of the hall were drawn wide and through
them entered the 'Lady of the Night' herself. Nor did she come

alone. Preceding her was Agon, the High Priest, arrayed in his
most gorgeous vestments, and on either side were other priests.

The reason for their presence was obvious -- coming with them
it would have been sacrilege to attempt to detain her. Behind

her were a number of the great lords, and behind them a small
body of picked guards. A glance at Sorais herself was enough

to show that her mission was of no peaceful kind, for in place
of her gold embroidered 'kaf' she wore a shining tunic formed

of golden scales, and on her head a little golden helmet. In
her hand, too, she bore a toy spear, beautifully made and fashioned

of solid silver. Up the hall she came, looking like a lioness
in her conscious pride and beauty, and as she came the spectators

fell back bowing and made a path for her. By the sacred stone
she halted, and laying her hand on it, she cried out with a loud

voice to Nyleptha on the throne, 'Hail, oh Queen!'
'All hail, my royal sister!' answered Nyleptha. 'Draw thou near.

Fear not, I give thee safe conduct.'
Sorais answered with a haughty look, and swept on up the hall

till she stood right before the thrones.
'A boon, oh Queen!' she cried again.

'Speak on, my sister; what is there that I can give thee who
hath half our kingdom?'

'Thou canst tell me a true word -- me and the people of Zu-Vendis.
Art thou, or art thou not, about to take this foreign wolf,'

and she pointed to Sir Henry with her toy spear, 'to be a husband
to thee, and share thy bed and throne?'

Curtis winced at this, and turning towards Sorais, said to her
in a low voice, 'Methinks that yesterday thou hadst other names

than wolf to call me by, oh Queen!' and I saw her bite her lips
as, like a danger flag, the blood flamed red upon her face.

As for Nyleptha, who is nothing if not original, she, seeing
that the thing was out, and that there was nothing further to

be gained by concealment, answered the question in a novel and
effectual manner, inspired thereto, as I firmly believe, by coquetry

and a desire to triumph over her rival.
Up she rose and, descending from the throne, swept in all the

glory of her royal grace on to where her lover stood. There
she stopped and untwined the golden snake that was wound around

her arm. Then she bade him kneel, and he dropped on one knee
on the marble before her, and next, taking the golden snake with

both her hands, she bent the pure soft metal round his neck,
and when it was fast, deliberately kissed him on the brow and

called him her 'dear lord'.
'Thou seest,' she said, when the excited murmur of the spectators

had died away, addressing her sister as Sir Henry rose to his
feet, 'I have put my collar round the "wolf's" neck, and behold!

he shall be my watchdog, and that is my answer to thee, Queen
Sorais, my sister, and to those with thee. Fear not,' she went

on, smiling sweetly on her lover, and pointing to the golden
snake she had twined round his massivethroat, 'if my yoke be

heavy, yet is it of pure gold, and it shall not gall thee.'
Then, turning to the audience, she continued in a clear proud

tone, 'Ay, Lady of the Night, Lords, Priests, and People here
gathered together, by this sign do I take the foreigner to husband,

even here in the face of you all. What, am I a Queen, and yet
not free to choose the man whom I will love? Then should I be

lower than the meanest girl in all my provinces. Nay, he hath
won my heart, and with it goes my hand, and throne, and all I

have -- ay, had he been a beggar instead of a great lord fairer
and stronger than any here, and having more wisdom and knowledge

of strange things, I had given him all, how much more so being
what he is!' And she took his hand and gazed proudly on him,

and holding it, stood there boldly facing the people. And such
was her sweetness and the power and dignity of her person, and

so beautiful she looked standing hand in hand there at her lover's
side, so sure of him and of herself, and so ready to risk all

things and endure all things for him, that most of those who
saw the sight, which I am sure no one of them will ever forget,

caught the fire from her eyes and the happy colour from her blushing
face, and cheered her like wild things. It was a bold stroke

for her to make, and it appealed to the imagination; but human
nature in Zu-Vendis, as elsewhere, loves that which is bold and

not afraid to break a rule, and is moreoverpeculiarly susceptible
to appeals to its poetical side.

And so the people cheered till the roof rang; but Sorais of the
Night stood there with downcast eyes, for she could not bear

to see her sister's triumph, which robbed her of the man whom
she had hoped to win, and in the awfulness of her jealous anger

she trembled and turned white like an aspen in the wind. I think
I have said somewhere of her that she reminded me of the sea

on a calm day, having the same aspect of sleeping power about
her. Well, it was all awake now, and like the face of the furious

ocean it awed and yet fascinated me. A really handsome woman
in a royal rage is always a beautiful sight, but such beauty

and such a rage I never saw combined before, and I can only say
that the effect produced was well worthy of the two.

She lifted her white face, the teeth set, and there were purple
rings beneath her glowing eyes. Thrice she tried to speak and

thrice she failed, but at last her voice came. Raising her silver
spear, she shook it, and the light gleamed from it and from the

golden scales of her cuirass.
'And thinkest thou, Nyleptha,' she said in notes which pealed

through the great hall like a clarion, 'thinkest thou that I,
Sorais, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, will brook that this base outlander

shall sit upon my father's throne and rear up half-breeds to
fill the place of the great House of the Stairway? Never! never!

while there is life in my bosom and a man to follow me and a
spear to strike with. Who is on my side? Who?