er the servant, but the sister--the equal of
Arbaces--how much brighter is woman's wit, even in vengeance, than ours!
how much more exquisite than death is such a doom!'

'And,' continued the hag, gloating over her fell scheme, 'in this is but
little danger; for by ten thousand methods, which men forbear to seek,
can our victim become mad. He may have been among the vines and seen a
nymph--or the vine itself may have had the same effect--ha, ha! they
never inquire too scrupulously into these matters in which the gods may
be agents. And let the worst arrive--let it be known that it is a
love-charm--why, madness is a common effect of philtres; and even the
fair she that gave it finds indulgence in the excuse. Mighty Hermes,
have I ministered to thee cunningly?'

'Thou shalt have twenty years' longer date for this,' returned Arbaces.
'I will write anew the epoch of thy fate on the face of the pale
stars--thou shalt not serve in vain the Master of the Flaming Belt. And
here, Saga, carve thee out, by these golden tools, a warmer cell in this
dreary cavern--one service to me shall countervail a thousand
divinations by sieve and shears to the gaping rustics.' So saying, he
cast upon the floor a heavy purse, which clinked not unmusically to the
ear of the hag, who loved the consciousness of possessing the means to
purchase comforts she disdained. 'Farewell,' said Arbaces, 'fail
not--outwatch the stars in concocting thy beverage--thou shalt lord it
over thy sisters at the Walnut-tree,' when thou tellest them that thy
patron and thy friend is Hermes the Egyptian. To-morrow night we meet
again.'

He stayed not to hear the valediction or the thanks of the witch; with a
quick step he passed into the moonlit air, and hastened down the
mountain.

The witch, who followed his steps to the threshold, stood at the
entrance of the cavern, gazing fixedly on his receding form; and as the
sad moonlight streamed over her shadowy form and deathlike face,
emerging from the dismal rocks, it seemed as if one gifted, indeed, by
supernatural magic had escaped from the dreary Orcus; and, the foremost
of its ghostly throng, stood at its black portals--vainly summoning his
return, or vainly sighing to rejoin him. The hag, then slowly
re-entering the cave, groaningly picked up the heavy purse, took the
lamp from its stand, and, passing to the remotest depth of her cell, a
black and abrupt passage, which was not visible, save at a near
approach, c