then waited in silence. Presently she threw off her veil, and in the light of the lamp showed that I stood before the Empress Irene.
"Olaf," she said hoarsely, "I am come here to save you from yourself, if it may be so. I was hidden in yonder Court, and heard all that passed at your trial."
"I guessed as much, Augusta," I said, "but what of it?"
"For one thing, this: The coward and fool, who now is dead—of his wounds—who gave evidence as to the killing of the three other cowards by you, has caused my name to become a mock throughout Constantinople. Aye, the vilest make songs upon me in the streets, such songs as I cannot repeat."
"I am grieved, Augusta," I said.
"It is I who should grieve, not you, who are told of as a man who grew weary of the love of an Empress, and cast her off as though she were a tavern wench. That is the first matter. The second is that under the finding of the Court of Justice"
"Oh! Augusta," I interrupted, "why stain your lips with those words 'of justice'!"
"Under the finding of the Court," she went on, "your fate is left in my hands. I may kill you or torment your body. Or I may spare you and raise your head higher than any other in the Empire, aye, and adorn it with a crown."
"Doubtless you may do any of these things, Augusta, but which of them do you wish to do?"
"Olaf, notwithstanding all that has gone, I would still do the last. I speak to you no more of love or
