CHAPTER XIX.
THE VICTORY OF LOVE.
They passed in silence into the palace in which Daphne had lived since she came to the mysterious city.
The pigmies hailed their arrival with their usual satisfaction, but Thoth dismissed them for the first time sternly. They entered the garden, in which the means for their flight had been placed.
“We have no time to lose,” he said. “Very soon I must return and restore my kinsmen. Before nightfall the great king will be in full command of the resources of the city.”
“And then?” Daphne asked.
“And then,” he replied, “his vengeance will begin.”
“Dost thou not think he will be convinced as thou wert?”
“I have made an irreparable error,” said Thoth. “My ancestor is swayed by all the natural passions of man. He has slept unaffected by time. His first thought will be to give us over to the most cruel destruction. If thou still desirest to live a little longer, we must flee at once.”
“I regret,” she said, “the failure of thy plans.”
He looked at her passionately, and said, “Thou canst never now be queen of the world, but a little love is sufficient recompense for me.”