As she heard the queen pronounce her name, however, she judged it prudent to seem to have been out of earshot, and with quick, soft steps, she went up till she came to the lighted part, and there she waited.
"Let the Great King go himself and find her," said Atossa proudly, "if he doubts me any further." She stood aside to let him pass.

But Darius beckoned to Zoroaster to go.

He had remained standing at some distance, an unwilling witness to the royal altercation that had taken place before him; but as he passed the queen, she gave him a glance of imploring sadness, as though beseeching his sympathy in what she was made to suffer.

He ran quickly up the steps in spite of the darkness, and found Nehushta waiting by the window higher up.

She started as he appeared, for he was the person she least expected.