She spread her slim copper hands, she bowed her sleek black head, as in homage. "It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. "Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen it, and behold the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy wisdom!" And all through the king's hall went the flutter of his subjects: "Did n't I tell you? Did n't we say so? A fine king we 've got. All the way from Abyssinia she came to prove him. And he answered her everything. A great king! A fine king! Make no mistake!" She moved toward the troubled young king with a smile. "I would now commune with you on what is in my heart, great Solomon. Let us commune alone." His eyes probed her. He saw her kindliness to him. A fleeting little smile answered her smile. He rose to meet her. The giant prophet caught him by the wrist. "My son, attend unto my wisdom," he whispered fiercely.... "The lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. "But her end is bitter as wormwood--" She caught his whispered words, and her proud head went up, her sloe-black eyes flashed. "I am Balkis, Queen of Sheba." For an instant they regarded each other with hatred in their eyes. Sheba turned. "Men," she called to her bodyguard. The slim brown Ethiopes tensed their statue-like pose. There was a _swish_ as the short Abyssinian swords came from the oxhide scabbards. "But I said nothing of you, great Balkis," Nathan suddenly fawned. "I spoke only of bad women. You are a good woman, Balkis, a virtuous woman. And a virtuous woman is like a crown, great Balkis, of gold, yea of fine gold--" "So!" IV They went out alone into the garden of the figs and pomegranates. The bright sun of early noon came down like a shower of gold. The doves made their faint thunder. The locust span his tiny wheel. From afar off, where the temple was a-building, came the clink of hammer on stone, the thud of ax on wood, the yo-hoing, the grunts, the curses of the workmen as they hoisted a beam into place.... And Solomon was shy as a girl.... "You are wondering why I came," Balkis said. "Will you sit down with me?" They sat under a great cedar-tree. The pigeons thundered. The bees droned among the apricots. The lizard flashed upon the wall. "I wonder myself.... But you can tell me, Solomon. You are so wise." "Am I?" There was a little note of bitterness in his voice. "Are n't you?" "I don't know," he said. "I--I don't know." "But all the questions that are put, you answer them. All the matters of judgment you pass on. Of course you are wise, Solomon."