“Fool, knave, villain! I foul my lips by speaking to his accursed ears!”
The tongue in which he uttered this was the purest “Royal Persian,” such as one might hear in the king’s court. The beautiful “mute,” mute no longer, glided across the chamber and laid both hands upon his shoulder with a gracious caress.
“And yet you bear with these treacherous creatures, you [pg 102]speak them fair?” was the remark in the same musical tongue.
“Yes, because there is sore need. Because, with all their faithlessness, covetousness, and guile, these Hellenes are the keenest, subtlest race beneath Mithra’s glorious light. And we Persians must play with them, master them, and use them to make us lords of all the world.”
Hiram had disappeared behind a curtain. The Prince lifted her silver embroidered red cap. Over the graceful shoulders fell a mass of clear gold hair, so golden one might have hidden shining darics within it. The shining head pressed against the Persian’s breast. In this attitude, with the loose dress parting to show the tender lines, there could be no doubt of the other’s sex. The Prince laid his hand upon her neck and drew her bright face nearer.
“This is a mad adventure on which we two have come,” he spoke; “how nearly you were betrayed at the Isthmus, when the Athenian saved you! A blunder by Hiram, an ill-turn of Fate, will ruin us yet. It is far, Rose of Eran, from Athens to the pleasant groves of Susa and the sparkling Choaspes.”
“But the adventure is ending,” answered she, with smiling confidence; “Mazda has guarded us. As you have said—we are in his hand, alike here and in my brother’s palace. And we have seen Greece and Athens—the country and city which you will conquer, which you will rule.”
“Yes,” he said, letting his eyes pass from her face to the vista of the Acropolis, which lay in fair view under the moonlight. “How noble a city this! Xerxes has promised that I shall be satrap of Hellas, Athens shall be my capital, and you, O best beloved, you shall be mistress of Athens.”
“I shall be mistress of Athens,” echoed she, “but you, husband and lord, would that men might give you a higher name than satrap, chief of the Great King’s slaves!”
“Xerxes is king,” he answered her.