"I am not so bad a captain," said she, hanging fondly to his arm, "but that I have secured my retreat. I made Beladon guide me to this spot. I know the secret passage hence to the outer court. It is guarded by a hundred of the neophytes, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the temple. They would as soon dare question Semiramis herself as the favourite tirewoman of the Great Queen. It is of you I am thinking, Sethos. It was to find you I came here at the dead of night—to see you, to comfort you, and to consult upon some plan for your escape."
The moon shone faintly into the gallery. By its light she could observe how sad was his brow while he answered, pointing to the terrace:
"Kings on their thrones have armies at command, and hosts are left them after hosts have melted away. But this king in a prison hath but one subject to do his bidding. Shall not that servant stick closer than a brother, cherishing for his master a love surpassing the love of women?"
"It is impossible to save you both," said she despondingly.
"Then save the king," he answered simply and with a cheerful smile.
"Nay, Sethos," said she; "I would peril much for your sake, because—because—you never asked of me anything for yourself, and what you bestow on man or woman is given freely and without an afterthought. But Ninyas is one, and you are another. If I am to risk life and limb, it must be for the cup-bearer, not for the king. I am not like an armour of defence, to be put on or laid aside at will. Steel headpiece and linked habergeon ward off death from this man as from that; but, trust me, there is some difference between a harness of proof and a woman's heart."
He looked kindly in her face, and a thought seemed to strike him.
"Even here, in our imprisonment," said he, "there sometimes reaches us an echo, faint and feeble, of rumours that stir the outer world. Is it true the Great Queen has summoned an innumerable host to march forthwith on this expedition to the North?"
"It is true," said Kalmim; "and she leaves me here at home—me, without whom awhile ago she could not lay a plait nor plant a bodkin. But that you are here in captivity, Sethos, and I shall be near you, it would have angered me bitterly, and I had reproached her roundly to her face. But let her beware! A smouldering flame is not a fire extinguished; and none was ever yet the better for offending Kalmim, with or without a cause."
"In the queen's absence, there must be a governor of the city," he whispered. "Will the obedience of the people be given to such a one when their ruler is many a day's march away? O Kalmim, if Ninyas be ever righted, ever sit on the throne of Ashur in the palace of his fathers, I, even I, shall stand in a dress of honour at his right hand; and who but Kalmim will then really sway the sceptre, far and wide, over the whole land of Shinar?"