s, whom he bade remain within call, and conducted her to where I
sat. He told me afterwards that she was dressed as a nun, a white hood
half hiding her still beautiful face and a silver crucifix hanging upon
her breast.

As I heard her come I rose and bowed to her, and my first words to her
were to pray her to be seated.

"Nay," she answered in that rich, well-remembered voice of hers, "a
prisoner stands before the judge. I greet you, General Olaf, I pray your
pardon--Michael--after long years of separation. You have changed but
little, and I rejoice to see that your health is good and that the rank
and prosperity which I gave have not been taken from you."

"I greet you, Madam," (almost had I said Augusta), I answered, then
continued hurriedly: "Lady Irene, I have received certain commands
concerning you from the Emperor Nicephorus which it is best that you
should hear, so that you shall hold me quit of blame in aught that it
may be my duty to inflict upon you. Read them, Captain Jodd. Nay, I
forgot, you cannot. Give the copy of the letter to the Lady Irene; the
original she can see afterwards if she wills."

So the paper was given to her by Jodd, and she read it aloud, weighing
each word carefully.

"Oh, what a dog is this!" she said when it was finished. "Know, Olaf,
that of my free will I surrendered the throne to him, yes, and all my
private treasure, he swearing upon the Gospels that I should live in
peace and honour till my life's end. And now he sends me to you to be
blinded and then done to death, for that is what he means. Oh! may God
avenge me upon him! May he become a byword and a scorn, and may his own
end be even worse than that which he has prepared for me. May shame
wrap his memory as in a garment, may his bones be dishonoured and his
burying-place forgotten. Aye, and so it shall be."[*]

[*] The skull of this Nicephorus is said to have been used
as a drinking cup by his victorious enemy, the King Krum.--
Editor.

She paused in her fearful curse, then said in a new voice, that voice in
which she was wont to plead,

"You will not blind me, Olaf. You'll not take from me my last blessing,
the light of day. Think what it means----"

"The General Olaf should know well enough," interrupted Jodd, but I
waved him to be silent, and answered,

"Tell me, Madam, how can I do otherwise? It seems to me that my life and
that of my wife and children hang upon this deed. Moreover, why should
I