"She bears away from the city the burden of your sins, O ye people, and by her death the gods are satisfied!
"Rejoice greatly, for ye are absolved,--and by the Silver Veil and the Eye of Raphon we pronounce upon all here present the blessing of pardon and peace!"
As he spoke the girl turned round as though in obedience to some mechanical impulse, and fully confronted the multitude, . . her pale, pure face, framed in a shining aureole of rippling fair hair, floated before Theos's bewildered eyes like a vision seen indistinctly in a magic crystal, and he was for a moment uncertain of her identity; but quick as a flash Sah-luma's glance lighted upon her, and, with a cry of horror that sent desolate echoes through and through the arches of the Temple, he started from his seat, his arms outstretched, his whole frame convulsed and quivering.
"Niphrata! ... Niphrata! ..." and his rich voice shook with a passion of appeal, "O ye gods! ... what mad, blind, murderous cruelty! Zephoranim!" ... and he turned impetuously on the astonished monarch: "As thou livest crowned King I say this maid is MINE! ... and in the very presence of Nagaya, I swear she shall NOT die!"