"And what dost thou seek of me now?"

"Nothing, save the joy of removing an enemy out of my path."

"I am no man's enemy."

"Yes, thou art mine, and always hast been. Didst thou not plot
against me with that old hag, Mother Madge, whom I have sent to her
master in a chariot of fire?"

"I heard her confession of that particular crime."

"So did I, through eavesdroppers. Well, thou knowest too much; and
shalt never see the sun again. It is pleasant is it not--the fresh
air of the green woods, the sheen of the sun, the songs of the
birds, the murmur of the streams, the scent of the flowers.

"Ah, ah!--thou feelest it--well, it shall never again fall to thy
lot to see, hear, and smell all these. Here shalt thou linger out
thy remaining days; thy companions the toad, the eft, the spider,
the beetle; and when thou diest of hunger and thirst, which will
eventually be thy lot, this cell shall be thy coffin. Here shalt
thou rot."

"And hence shall I rise, in that case, at the day of resurrection.
Nay, Drogo, thou canst not frighten me. I am not in thy power. Thou
canst not tame the spirit. Do thy worst, I wait God's hour."

Drogo was beside himself by rage at this language on the part of a
captive, and he would have struck him down on the spot but for