pot where
he had heard these words. The man was ambitious, but neither mean nor
bad, and he felt crushed by the awful task allotted to him. He knew that
his refusal to execute it would bring death or disgrace on himself
and on his family; but he loved Bartja, and besides, his whole nature
revolted at the thought of becoming a common, hired murderer. A fearful
struggle began in his mind, and raged long after he left the palace. On
the way home he met Croesus and Darius. He fancied they would see from
his looks that he was already on the way to a great crime, and hid
himself behind the projecting gate of a large Egyptian house. As they
passed, he heard Croesus say: "I reproached him bitterly, little as he
deserves reproach in general, for having given such an inopportune proof
of his great strength. We may really thank the gods, that Cambyses did
not lay violent hands on him in a fit of passion. He has followed my
advice now and gone with his wife to Sais. For the next few days Bartja
must not come near the king; the mere sight of him might rouse his anger
again, and a monarch can always find unprincipled servants..."

The rest of the sentence died away in the distance, but the words he had
heard were enough to make Prexaspes start, as if Croesus had accused him
of the shameful deed. He resolved in that moment that, come what
would, his hands should not be stained with the blood of a friend. This
resolution restored him his old erect bearing and firm gait for the
time, but when he reached the dwelling which had been assigned as his
abode in Sais his two boys ran to the door to meet him. They had stolen
away from the play-ground of the sons of the Achaemenidae, (who, as was
always the case, had accompanied the king and the army), to see their
father for a moment. He felt a strange tenderness, which he could not
explain to himself, on taking them in his arms, and kissed the beautiful
boys once more on their telling him that they must go back to their
play-ground again, or they should be punished. Within, he found his
favorite wife playing with their youngest child, a sweet little girl.
Again the same strange, inexplicable feeling of tenderness. He overcame
it this time for fear of betraying his secret to his young wife, and
retired to his own apartment early.

Night had come on.

The sorely-tried man could not sleep; he turned restlessly from side to
side. The fearful thought, that his refusal to do the king's will would