"Nitetis, daughter of Amasis of Egypt, to Bartja, son of the great Cyrus.
"I have something important to tell you; I can tell it to no one but yourself. To-morrow I hope to meet you in your mother's rooms. It lies in your power to comfort a sad and loving heart, and to give it one happy moment before death. I repeat that I must see you soon."
Croesus, who tried to intercede on behalf of the condemned, was sentenced to share their fate. In his heart even he was now convinced of Bartja's guilt, and of the perjury of his own son and of Darius.
IV.--The Unexpected Witness
Nitetis had passed many a wretched hour since the great banquet. All day long she was kept in strict seclusion, and in the twilight Boges came to her to tell her jeeringly that her letter had fallen into the king's hand, and that its bearer had been executed. The princess swooned away, and Boges carried her to her sleeping-room, the door of which he barred carefully. When, later, Mandane left her lover Gaumata, the maid hurried into her mistress's room, found her in a faint, and used every remedy to restore her to consciousness.
Then Boges came with two eunuchs, loaded the princess's arms with fetters, and gave vent to his long-nourished spite, telling her of the awful fate that was in store for her. Nitetis resolved to swallow a poisonous ointment for the complexion directly the executioner should draw near her. Then, in spite of her fetters, she managed to write to Cambyses, to assure him once more of her love and to explain her innocence. "I commit this crime against myself, Cambyses, to save you from doing a disgraceful deed."
Meanwhile, Boges, after exciting Phædime's curiosity by many vague hints, divulged to her the nature of his infamous scheme. When Gaumata had come to Babylon for the New Year's festival, Boges had discovered his remarkable likeness to Bartja. He knew of his love for Mandane, gained his confidence, and arranged the nocturnal meeting under Nitetis' bedroom window. In return he exacted the promise of the lover's immediate departure after the meeting. He helped him to escape through a trap-door. To get Bartja out of the way, he had induced a Greek merchant to dispatch a letter to the prince, asking him, in the name of her he loved best, to come alone in the evening to the first station outside the Euphrates gate. Unfortunately, the messenger managed the matter clumsily, and apparently gave the letter to Gaumata. But to counteract Bartja's proof of innocence, Boges had managed to get hold of his dagger, which was conclusive evidence. And now Nitetis was sentenced to be set astride upon an ass and led through the streets of Babylon. As for Gaumata, three men were lying in wait for him to throw him into the Euphrates before he could get back to Rhagae. Phædime joined in Boges' laughter, and hung a heavy jewel-studded chain round his neck.
A few hours only were wanted for the time fixed for Nitetis' disgrace, and the streets of Babylon were thronged with a dense crowd of sightseers, when a small caravan approached the Bel gate. In the first carriage was a fine, handsome man of about fifty, of commanding aspect, and dressed as a Persian courtier. With difficulty the driver cleared a passage through the crowd. "Make way for us! The royal post has no time to lose, and I am driving some one who will make you repent every minute's delay." They arrived at the palace, and the stranger's insistence succeeded in gaining admission to the king. The Greek--for such the stranger had declared himself--affirmed that he could prove the condemned men's innocence.
"Call him in!" exclaimed Cambyses. "But if he wants to deceive me, let him remember that where the head of a son of Cyrus is about to fall, a Greek head has but very little chance." The Greek's calm and noble manner impressed Cambyses favourably, and his hostility was entirely overcome when the stranger revealed to him that he was Phanes, the famous commander of the Greek mercenaries in Egypt, and that he had come to offer his service to Cambyses.