"In the divine Oro's head was the time set.

You were the hand that executed his decree." When Bickley heard this I really thought he would have burst.

However, he controlled himself nobly, being anxious to hear the end of this mysterious fib.
"How long was the time that the lord Oro set apart for sleep ?" I asked.
She paused as though puzzled to find words to express her meaning, then held up her hands and said: "Ten," nodding at her fingers.

By second thoughts she took Bickley's hands, not mine, and counted his ten fingers.
"Ten years," said Bickley.

"Well, of course, it is impossible, but perhaps--" and he paused.
"Ten tens," she went on with a deepening smile, "one hundred." "O!" said Bickley.
"Ten hundreds, one thousand." "I say!" said Bickley.
"Ten times ten thousand, one hundred thousand." Bickley became silent.
"Twice one hundred thousand and half a hundred thousand, two hundred and fifty thousand years.