azing 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.

The same evening Cambyses was seized by one of his old epileptic
attacks. Two days later he gave Nebe