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The maidens of his household waited near him, some of them held flowers, one, kneeling at a small lyre, seemed just about to strike a few chords, when Sah-luma silenced her by a light gesture: "Peace, Zoralin!" he said softly.. "I cannot listen: thou hast not my Niphrata's tenderness!"
"And dost thou plead for thine absent friend, Zoralin?" ... he asked with just sufficient satire in his utterance to render it almost cruel.. "Am I to blame for the foolish fancies of all the amorous maidens in Al-Kyris? ... Many there be who love me, . . well, what then? Must I love many in return? Nay!
"Can anything equal the perverseness of these frivolous feminine toys!" he murmured pettishly, turning his head round toward Theos as he spoke "Was ever a more foolish child than Zoralin? ... Just as I would fain have consoled her for her pricking heartache, she must needs pour out a torrent of tear-drops to change my humor and quench her own delight! 'Tis the most irksome inconsistency!"
"Niphrata!" continued the Laureate, passionately pressing the little, cold fingers that lay so passively in his grasp.. "Look at me! ... I have come to save thee! ... to take thee home again, . . home to thy flowers, thy birds, thy harp, . . thy pretty chamber with its curtained nook, where thy friend Zoralin waits and weeps all day for thee! ... O ye gods! how weak am I!".. and he fiercely dashed away the drops that glistened on his black silky lashes, . . "Come with me, sweet one! ..." he resumed tenderly "Come!
Zoralin, a beautiful, dark girl, with hair as black as night, and eyes that looked as though they held suppressed yet ever burning fire, let her hands instantly drop from the instrument, and sighing, shrank back a little in abashed silence.
Theos smiled involuntarily.. how, charming, after all was Sah-luma's sublime egotism! how almost child-like was his confidence in himself and his own ability to engender joy! All at once the young girl Zoralin spoke, her accents were low and timorous: "May it please my lord Sah-luma to hear me..." she said and paused.
"Thy lord Sah-luma hears thee with pleasure, Zoralin," replied the Laureate gently. "Thou dost speak more sweetly than many a bird doth sing!" A rich, warm blush crimsoned the maiden's cheeks at these dulcet words, she drew a quick, uneasy breath, and then went on,
With this injunction he signed to them all to depart, whereupon the awed and trembling girls noiselessly surrounded the still convulsively sobbing Zoralin, and gently leading her away, they quickly withdrew, each one making a profound obeisance to their imperious master ere leaving his presence. When they had finally disappeared Sah-luma heaved a sigh of relief.
Ye butterflies ye little fluttering souls!" and beginning to laugh as readily as he had frowned, he addressed the other maidens, who, though they did not dare to move or speak, were evidently affected by the grief of their companion "Go hence all!-and take this sensitive baby, Zoralin, into your charge, and console her for her fancied troubles 'tis a mere frenzy of feminine weakness, and will pass like an April shower.
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