(Re-enter Sumbat, through arch. He comes out to the queen)
Sem. You, Sumbat?
Where is the king?
Sum. I left him in the garden,
Giving new orders for Prince Khosrove’s honor.
Sem. Sumbat, you trust the king?
Sum. I do. You ’ve wrought
Such noble change in him that drop by drop
He ’s mated all his blood unto your virtues.
Sem. I must believe it, lest a doubt should breed
The weakness it suspects. But is ’t not strange
Khosrove should trust him too?
Sum. He knows that you
Would warn him if there lay a danger here.
Sem. I warn him? But suppose the warning false?
’T would wrong the king, whose purpose seems so pure
It might have journeyed with his soul when first
It came from Heaven! No. I ’ll answer for him!
He could not counterfeit so deep my eyes
Would find no bottom to deceit!... But now
What hast thou heard of Artavan?
Sum. No word.
Sem. I fear—