e it now, and be avenged. Strike,
and strike home!--so shalt thou be satisfied, Kallikrates, and go
through life a happy man, because thou hast paid back the wrong, and
obeyed the mandate of the past."

He looked at her, and then stretched out his hand and lifted her to her
feet.

"Rise, Ayesha," he said sadly; "well thou knowest that I cannot strike
thee, no, not even for the sake of her whom thou slewest but last
night. I am in thy power, and a very slave to thee. How can I kill
thee?--sooner should I slay myself."

"Almost dost thou begin to love me, Kallikrates," she answered, smiling.
"And now tell me of thy country--'tis a great people, is it not? with an
empire like that of Rome! Surely thou wouldst return thither, and it is
well, for I mean not that thou shouldst dwell in these caves of Kor.
Nay, when once thou art even as I am, we will go hence--fear not but
that I shall find a path--and then shall we journey to this England of
thine, and live as it becometh us to live. Two thousand years have I
waited for the day when I should see the last of these hateful caves and
this gloomy-visaged folk, and now it is at hand, and my heart bounds up
to meet it like a child's towards its holiday. For thou shalt rule this
England----"

"But we have a queen already," broke in Leo, hastily.

"It is naught, it is naught," said Ayesha; "she can be overthrown."

At this we both broke out into an exclamation of dismay, and explained
that we should as soon think of overthrowing ourselves.

"But here is a strange thing," said Ayesha, in astonishment; "a queen
whom her people love! Surely the world must have changed since I dwelt
in Kor."

Again we explained that it was the character of monarchs that had
changed, and that the one under whom we lived was venerated and beloved
by all right-thinking people in her vast realms. Also, we told her that
real power in our country rested in the hands of the people, and that we
were in fact ruled by the votes of the lower and least educated classes
of the community.

"Ah," she said, "a democracy--then surely there is a tyrant, for I have
long since seen that democracies, having no clear will of their own, in
the end set up a tyrant, and worship him."

"Yes," I said, "we have our tyrants."

"Well," she answered resignedly, "we can at any rate destroy these
tyrants, and Kallikrates shall rule the land."

I instantly informed Ayesha that in England "blasting" was not an
amusement t