after some brilliant victory. You see, there is the triumphal car
in which he rides, drawn by winged horses, and behind him are the
solar deities--Ra, Sikar, Tmu, and Osiris. He is supposed to be
approaching his palace in triumph; the gates are thrown open to
receive him, and coming out to meet him is the chief favorite of
his harem, the celebrated dancer of that period--Ziska-Charmazel."

"Whom he afterwards murdered, you say?" queried Dr. Dean
meditatively.

"Yes. He murdered her simply because she loved him too well and
was in the way of his ambition. There was nothing astonishing in
his behavior, not even if you consider it in the light of modern
times. Men always murder--morally, if not physically--the women
who love them too well."

"You truly think that?" asked Denzil Murray in a low tone.

"I not only truly think it, I truly know it!" she answered, with a
disdainful flash of her eyes. "Of course, I speak of strong men
with strong passions; they are the only kind of men women ever
worship. Of course, a weak, good-natured man is different; he
would probably not harm a woman for the world, or give her the
least cause for pain if he could help it, but that sort of man
never becomes either an adept or a master in love. Araxes was
probably both. No doubt he considered he had a perfect right to
slay what he had grown weary of; he thought no more than men of
his type think to-day, that the taking of a life demands a life in
exchange, if not in this world, then in the next."