She started up, and beheld Thoth two or three paces distant.
CHAPTER XIII.
TRANSFORMATION.
Daphne’s first thought was, that the hour of her destruction had come at last. She clung to her dagger, and in the presence of actual danger her courage was restored to the full.
Her face was pale, but her eyes flashed.
She looked at Thoth, expecting him to utter her doom, but he stood silently with his eyes fixed on the ground, apparently in deep thought.
How long they remained thus she could never tell,—whether moments or hours. Time was effaced, and she and this man were all that was left in the universe.
At last Daphne broke the silence.
“What is my fate? Wilt thou keep to thy first promise or thy last threat?”
Then Thoth raised his eyes and filled her heart with wonder. A thrill of fearful pleasure passed through her frame as she thought she saw in his regard no trace of hatred or cruelty, but the overpowering love of a strong nature.
She was not left long in suspense, for Thoth said to her, with a trembling voice—