"'Tis an ill augur to my suit," he muttered, hastily. "Destiny!" Starting up at the word, which he spoke aloud, he clenched his hand.
"The inexorable gods may decree, but would it not be worthy of my purpose to brave them; to render even fate itself subservient to me!"
He hurried to and fro across the chamber with an agitated step. Suddenly he stood still in the attitude of listening. He drew the folds of his mantle closer about his head, when, by another entrance, there approached a tall majestic figure, clad in dark vestments, who, without speaking, came near and stood before him. A veil of rich net-work fell gracefully below his mantle, being in that era the distinctive garb of soothsayers and diviners. His hair, for he was an Asiatic, was twisted in the shape of a mitre, investing his form with every advantage from outward appearances.
"I would know," said he, "by what right thou art at this untimely hour an intruder on my privacy?"
"By a will which even thou darest not disobey," was the answer.
"It is past midnight. Knowest thou of my long watching, and the dark portents of the stars?"
"Nay. But passing, I saw the door of the vestibule partly open. The fates are propitious. I crossed the court, intending to consult the most famous soothsayer in the emperor's dominions."
"Peradventure 'tis no accidental meeting. To-night I have read the stars, the book of heaven. Comest thou not, blind mortal, at their bidding?"
"I have neither skill nor knowledge in the art"——
The stranger hesitated, as though he had as lief the conversation was resumed by the diviner himself.