"Is it a sign between you, and did he send it to vouch for the truth of the messenger?"
"Not so," answered Ishtar. "They took it from his neck by stealth, and the good trader gave it into my hand, because I desired it from him as a gift. When I look on it, I seem to see the noble face of my beloved. O Kalmim, we must deliver him, and bring him back."
"We must deliver him, and bring him back," repeated Kalmim, pondering deeply. In a few seconds she ran through the main points and bearings of the case.
So long as Sarchedon remained a captive in Armenia, it was obvious that he could be of little service to her designs, but if she could by any means recall him to Babylon, a path seemed open that should lead to her own aggrandisement and paramount influence in the palace. She was sufficiently persuaded that the seclusion of Semiramis would last but for a short time; that her masculine intellect would soon weary of inactivity; and that her energies would again rule the nation through the son, as heretofore through the sire. She was shrewd enough to have observed that Ninyas did nothing without the counsel of Assarac; and she had not forgotten Assarac's implicit and slavish devotion to the queen. She was also satisfied that her royal lady had contracted one of those infatuated passions for Sarchedon to which she was occasionally subject, and which her tire-woman's experience reminded her would be gratified at any cost of danger or shame. If, then, she could go to the queen when the days of mourning had expired, and say to her, "I have got your treasure safe in Babylon, under lock and key; I brought him back from Armenia by my own exertions, and you need but lift up your finger to behold him here at your feet," would she not become one of the greatest personages in Assyria, herself the fount of honour, wealth, influence, and promotion? Sethos, she decided, should obtain the leadership of the royal guard, and her other lovers be rewarded, more or less, in proportion to their attractions. Meantime Sarchedon must be brought back.
"You love him dearly then," said she, "and would shrink from no sacrifice to insure his safety?"
There was more than devotion in Ishtar's simple answer,
"I would give my life for the life of him."
"There is but one power under that of Ashtaroth to help you at your need," pursued Kalmim. "If the king will send an embassy to Armenia, as to Egypt, for the recovery of Sarchedon, the youth may yet return, fast as camels can travel. But you must make your petition at once, and in person. You are young and comely, though a little too pale. Such faces as yours seldom plead with Ninyas in vain."
Ishtar clasped her hands and trembled.
"Is there no other way?" said she. "There is none in all the land of Shinar before whom I would not rather bow down my face than the prince."