“Do I sit here to answer riddles, Fool?” answered Janees angrily.  “Turn the fellow out.  I have business.”

Now guards sprang forward to do the King’s bidding, but again Kepher waved his staff, and again they fell back.  Certainly it seemed as though there were power in that staff.

“Business, King,” he said.  “Not of the State, I think, but with one who lodges yonder,” and he nodded towards the shuttered room whence Tua watched him.  “Well, that is three hours hence after the sun has set, so you still have time to listen to my prayer, which you will do, as it is of this same lady with whom you have business.”

“What do you know of the lady, you old knave, and of my dealings with her?” asked Janees angrily.

“Much of both, O King, for I am her father, and—­shall I tell the rest?”

“Her father, you hoary liar!” broke in Janees.

“Aye, her father, and I have come to tell you that as our blood is more ancient than yours, I will not have you for a son-in-law, any more than that daughter of mine will have you for a husband.”

Now some of the courtiers who heard these words laughed outright, but Janees did not laugh, his dark face turned white with rage, and he gasped for breath.

“Drag this madman forth,” he shouted at length, “and cut out his insolent tongue.”

Again the guards sprang forward, but before ever they reached him Kepher was speaking in a new voice, a voice so terrible that at the sound of it they stopped, leaving him untouched.

“Beware how you lay a finger on me, you men of Tat,” he cried, “for how know you who dwells within these rags?  Janees, you who call yourself a King, listen to the commands of a greater king, whose throne is yonder above the sun.  Ere night falls upon the earth, set that maiden upon whom you would force yourself and her companion and all her goods without your southern gate, and leave them there unharmed.  Such is the command of the King of kings, who dwells on high.”

“And what if I mock at the command of this King?” asked Janees.

“Mock not,” replied Kepher.  “Bethink you of a certain picture that the lady Asti showed you in the water, and mock not.”

“It was but an Egyptian trick, Wizard, and one in which I see you had a hand.  Begone, I defy you and your sorceries, and your King.  To-night that maid shall be my wife.”

“Then, Janees, Lord of Tat, listen to the doom that I am sent to decree upon you.  To-night you shall have another bride, and her name is Death.  Moreover, for their sins, and because their eyes are evil, and they have rejected the worship of the gods, many of your people shall accompany you to darkness, and to-morrow another King, who is not of your House, shall rule in Tat.”

Kepher ceased speaking, then turned and walked slowly down the court of judgment and through its gates, nor did any so much as lift a finger to stay him, for now about this old man there seemed to be a majesty which made them strengthless.