Bar Noemi never lied, yet he did not wish to grieve his wife, so he answered—
"To Paradise!"
And he spoke the truth, for Triton's city was the Paradise of Bliss.
Byssenia walked beside her husband, kissed him once more, and asked again—
"If thou goest into Paradise, wherefore dost thou not take me with thee? Speak the truth? Whither goest thou?"
And now, too, Bar Noemi did not lie, as he answered his wife the second time—
"I go to hell!"
Triton's city was indeed a hell.
But the woman threw herself weeping on his bosom, and asked a third time—
"Oh, my husband! Oh, Bar Noemi, whither wouldst thou go?"