o hell
by the wiles of yonder witch."

Then before Aziel could answer he turned and left him.

*****

As Issachar went to his own chamber full of bitterness and indignation,
he passed the door of Elissa's apartments, and came face to face with
Metem issuing from them.

"Will the woman live?" he asked of him.

"Be comforted, worthy Issachar. I think so; that is, if the bandage does
not slip. I go to tell the prince."

"Gladly would I give a hundred golden shekels to him who brought me
tidings that it had slipped and the woman with it, down to the arms of
her father Beelzebub," broke in the Levite passionately.

"Pretty words for a holy man," said Metem, feigning amazement. "Well,
Issachar, I will do most things for good money, but to shift that
bandage would be but murder, and this I cannot work even for the gold
and to win your favour."

"Fool," answered Issachar, "did I ask you to do murder? I do not fight
with such weapons; let the woman live or die as it is decreed. Nay,
enter my chamber, for I would speak with you, who are a cunning man
versed in the craft of courts. Listen now: I love this prince Aziel, for
I have reared him from his childhood, and he has been a son to me who
have none. More, I am sent hither to this hateful land to watch him and
hold him from harm, and for all that chances to him I must account. And
now, what has chanced? This woman, Elissa, by her witcheries----"

"Softly, Issachar; what witcheries does she need beyond those lips and
form and eyes?"

"By her witcheries, I tell you, has ensnared him so that now he swears
that he will wed her."

"What of it, Issachar? He might travel far to find a lovelier woman."

"What of it, do you ask, remembering who he is? What of it, when you
know his faith, and that this fair idolater will sap it, and cause him
to cast away his soul? What of it, when with your own ears you heard him
swear to love her through all the deeps of life and death? Man, are you
mad?"

"No, but some might say that you are, holy father, who forget that I
am also of this religion which you revile. But for good or ill, so the
matter stands; and now what is it that you wish of me?"

"I wish that you should make it impossible that the prince Aziel should
take this woman to wife. Not by murder, indeed, for 'thou shalt not
kill,' saith the law, but by bringing it about that she should marry the
king Ithobal, or if that fail, in any other fashion which seems good to
you."