“Come to me. It is a command.
“Bardya, King of Kings.”
She paused and looked inquiringly into the King’s eyes. The latter took from her hand the scroll and read it himself in silence. Then he said: “If it be true that Cambyses is dead, my course is clear. Yet am I not satisfied. It seems almost inconceivable that Bardya has come back from the dead. Yet it must be so.”
He beckoned to the messenger, who had discreetly halted a score of paces distant, and asked, “Are you in the regular messenger service?”
The man bowed low till his hands touched the earth, and then, standing in humble attitude, answered, “Yes, Master.”
“How many years?”
“Ten years, Master.”
“Then you have often seen Cyrus, the Great King? Also Cambyses and Bardya?”
“Truly have I seen them, my lord, many times. I know them well.”
“Have you seen King Bardya since he returned to Hamadan?”