“I hope and believe so.”

“Perhaps I may find Tachot before the throne of Osiris, and my father...”

“Your father and mother are waiting for you there.  Now in your last hour bless those who begot you, and curse those who have robbed you of your parents, your crown and your life.”

“I do not understand you.”

“Curse those who robbed you of your parents, crown and life, girl!” cried the physician again, rising to his full height, breathing hard as he said the words, and gazing down on the dying girl.  “Curse those wretches, girl! that curse will do more in gaining mercy from the judges of the dead, than thousands of good works!” And as he said this he seized her hand and pressed it violently.

Nitetis looked up uneasily into his indignant face, and stammered in blind obedience, ’I curse.”

“Those who robbed my parents of their throne and lives!”

“Those who robbed my parents of their throne and their lives,” she repeated after him, and then crying, “Oh, my heart!” sank back exhausted on the bed.

Nebenchari bent down, and before the royal physicians could return, kissed her forehead gently, murmuring:  “She dies my confederate.  The gods hearken to the prayers of those who die innocent.  By carrying the sword into Egypt, I shall avenge king Hophra’s wrongs as well as my own.”

When Nitetis opened her eyes once more, a few hours later, Kassandane was holding her right hand, Atossa kneeling at her feet, and Croesus standing at the head of her bed, trying, with the failing strength of old age, to support the gigantic frame of the king, who was so completely overpowered by his grief, that he staggered like a drunken man.  The dying girl’s eyes lighted up as she looked round on this circle.  She was wonderfully beautiful.  Cambyses came closer and kissed her lips; they were growing cold in death.  It was the first kiss he had ever given her, and the last.  Two large tears sprang to her eyes; their light was fast growing dim; she murmured Cambyses’ name softly, fell back in Atossa’s arms, and died.

We shall not give a detailed account of the next few hours:  it would be an unpleasant task to describe how, at a signal from the principal Persian doctor, every one, except Nebenchari and Croesus, hastily left the room; how dogs were brought in and their sagacious heads turned towards the corpse in order to scare the demon of death;—­how, directly after Nitetis’ death, Kassandane, Atossa and their entire retinue moved into another house in order to avoid defilement;—­how fire was extinguished throughout the dwelling, that the pure element might be removed from the polluting spirits of death;—­how spells and exorcisms were muttered, and how every person and thing, which had approached or been brought into contact with the dead body, was subjected to numerous purifications with water and pungent fluids.