Her quick wits reflected, that as a communication existed between the lawn and the cedar gallery, Sethos would be there in attendance on his lord.
The young priest pondered in some perplexity. It was his turn to watch all night over the seclusion of this important prisoner, and he had counted on the society of Kalmim to beguile the tedious hours till daybreak; but the risk of discovery by his comrades was too great, the penalty they would surely exact too hideous, and, for her sake, he thought better of his enterprise, even at the last.
"You do with me what you will," he said, after a pause, in which she almost believed she could hear her heart beat. "If I let you go free now, you will promise to steal softly out, silent as the dead. Whatsoever you see you will forget; whomsoever you meet you will pass unnoticed. All that takes place here must be as a vision of the night, to vanish with dawn of day. Swear it, by the Serpent of Ashtaroth!"
"By the Serpent of Ashtaroth!" she repeated, glad to escape on such good terms; and, true to her easy careless nature, added in a whisper that sent Beladon well-pleased to his watch, "I am not ungrateful, as you know; when shall I see you again?—to-morrow, by the temple of Dagon, at noon?"
Nevertheless, her cheek paled and her breath came quick while she stole through the cedar gallery, because, light and fickle as she was, she did entertain for the cup-bearer something of that mysterious preference which makes a woman instinctively conscious of his presence whom she thus distinguishes from the rest of mankind; and, though she could not see five paces before her, she felt that Sethos was there, and would accost her as she passed.
He could be vigilant enough for the safety of his lord, and, if he was indeed slumbering, her light step brought him to his feet at a bound. The next moment she was in his arms, with her head on his shoulder.
"I have risked everything to see you!" she sobbed wildly; "life, and more than life. O, Sethos, you are a prisoner to those who know not mercy, suffering none to escape. Do they use you well?"
His composure was sadly disturbed. It was startling enough to be accosted in the dead of night by this beautiful vision, glowing and panting in his embrace; but yet more surprising, surely, to find himself an object of such interest to the queen's tirewoman.
It is but justice to say that his first thought was for the safety of his unexpected visitor.
"How came you here, Kalmim?" he exclaimed, "and how are you to get away again? Know you not that we are closely guarded by the priests of Baal? If they found you in their precincts, all the wings of Nisroch would scarcely save you from their wrath."