"It is not the marriage itself, but the time that must follow, which
causes me uneasiness," answered Croesus.

"Do you think then that Bartja . . . ?"

"From him I fear nothing. He has a pure heart, and has been so long
proof against love, that now he has once yielded, he will love long and
ardently."

"What then do you fear?"

"You must remember that, though the charming wife of their favorite will
be warmly received by all his friends of his own sex, there are thousands
of idle women in the harems of the Persian nobles, who will endeavor, by
every artifice and intrigue in their power, to injure the newly-risen
star; and whose greatest joy it will be to ruin such an inexperienced
child and make her unhappy."

"You have a very bad opinion of the Persian women."

"They are but women, and will naturally envy her, who has gained the
husband they all desired either for themselves or for their daughters.
In their monotonous life, devoid of occupation, envy easily becomes
hatred, and the gratification of these evil passions is the only
compensation which the poor creatures can obtain for the total absence of
love and loss of freedom. I repeat, the more beautiful Sappho is, the
more malicious they will feel towards her, and, even if Bartja should
love her so fervently as not to take a second wife for two or three
years, she will still have such heavy hours to encounter, that I really