t
custody."

The Athenian bowed deferentially; as if he would say: "Here no one has a
right to command but the king."

Cambyses looked well pleased, seated himself again on the purple divan,
and resting his forehead on his hand, bent his eyes on the ground and
sank into deep thought. The picture of the woman he loved so dearly
refused to be banished; it came again and again, more and more vividly,
and the thought that these features could not have deceived him--that
Nitetis must be innocent--took a firmer root in his mind; he had already
begun to hope. If Bartja could be cleared, there was no error that might
not be conceivable; in that case he would go to the hanging-gardens,
take her hand and listen to her defence. When love has once taken firm
hold of a man in riper years, it runs and winds through his whole nature
like one of his veins, and can only be destroyed with his life.

The entrance of Croesus roused Cambyses from his dream; he raised the
old man kindly from the prostrate position at his feet, into which he
had thrown himself on entering, and said: "You offended me, but I will
be merciful; I have not forgotten that my father, on his dying bed, told
me to make you my friend and adviser. Take your life back as a gift from
me, and forget my anger as I wish to forget your want of reverence.
This man says he knows you; I should like to hear your opinion of his
conjectures."

Croesus turned away much affected, and after having heartily welcomed
the Athenian, asked him to relate his suppositions and the grounds on
which they were founded.

The old man grew more and more attentive as the Greek went on, and when
he had finished raised his hands to heaven, crying: "Pardon me, oh ye
eternal gods, if I have ever questioned the justice of your decrees.
Is not this marvellous, Cambyses? My son once placed himself in great
danger to save the life of this noble Athenian, whom the gods have
brought hither to repay the deed tenfold. Had Phanes been murdered in
Egypt, this hour might have seen our sons executed."

And as he said this he embraced Hystaspes; both shared one feeling;
their sons had been as dead and were now alive.

The king, Phanes, and all the Persian dignitaries watched the old men
with deep sympathy, and though the proofs of Bartja's innocence were as
yet only founded on conjecture, not one of those present doubted it one
moment longer. Wherever the belief in a man's guilt is but slight, his
defender