He was not there. I tried to read, but I could not concentrate long enough to know what I was reading about. My eyes followed the strange Amtorian characters, but my thoughts were with Duare. At last I gave it up and walked in the garden. An unreasoning terror enveloped me like a shroud, numbing my faculties.
How long I walked I do not know, but at last my sad reveries were interrupted by the approach of footsteps through the house. I knew that Ero Shan must be coming to the garden. I stood waiting, looking toward the doorway through which he must come; and the instant that I saw him my heart turned cold. I read the confirmation of my worst fears in the expression on his face.
He came and laid a hand upon my shoulder. "I have bad news for you, my friend," he said.
"I know," I replied; "I read it in your eyes. They have ordered her destroyed?"
"It is a miscarriage of justice," he said, "but there is no appeal. We must accept the decision as the board's honest conviction that they are thus serving the best interests of the city."
"Is there nothing I can do?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied.
"Won't they let me take her away from Havatoo?"
"No; they are so afraid of the contaminating influence of Skor and his creatures that they will never permit one to live that falls into their hands."
"But she is not one of Skor's creatures!" I insisted.