As to these matters, Daughter, I bid you also to be silent, since Bickley mocks at us.

Yes, with all this around him, he who saw us rise from the coffins, still mocks at us in his heart.

Therefore let him, this little man of a little day, when his few years are done go to the tomb in ignorance, and his companions with him, they who might have been as wise as I am." Thus Oro spoke in a voice of icy rage, his deep eyes glowing like coals.

Hearing him I cursed Bickley in my heart for I was sure that once spoken, his decree was like to that of the Medes and Persians and could not be altered.

Bickley, however, was not in the least dismayed.