"And this you believed?" "Aye, lord." Zud moved. He left the stool on which he was sitting. He would have knelt had not Croft stayed him: "_Hilka!_ Hold!" "Aye, lord." Zud stood erect. His knees seemed knocking together, and he swayed. Something like pity stirred in Croft's breast. The man was overwrought, keyed to a vast tension, troubled in his mind, well-nigh dismayed. His confidence, born of years of unquestioned authority, was shaken; he appeared beaten down and crushed. And Croft was minded to maintain his advantage toward his individual ends. He spoke again: "Think you that as Zitu's Mouthpiece I shall find it easy to take my place as heretofore in the Himyra or Ladhra shops, where the instruments designed for Tamarizia's use shall be brought forth? Do men work best with one such as you would name me, or with another man, O Zud?" "Lord, lord!" Zud bowed his head. "Or think you that were I the mouthpiece of Zitu, I would have pledged myself to this maid save by his will? Yet today even Zud bends the knee in my presence since his proclamation. Is this thing known to the Gayana as well as to the priests?" "Yes, it is known," Zud told him slowly. "The maid is still there?" "Yes." "She has heard the truth?" "Yes." Zud flung up his head. Croft's last word seemed to give him courage. "She knows--the truth," he said. "She requested an audience after she had heard, and I went to her. I told her those things Abbu said." "That my spirit was not Jasor's?" The words burst from Croft's lips in an instinctive exclamation. For an instant he felt his control once more slipping. Naia knew--that the body of the man to whom she was promised was the body of one who had died--that its life was due not to the presence of Jasor's spirit, but another. Zud had told her. He had told her the truth. Croft had meant to tell her before the marriage in so different a way from that in which the high priest must have explained. And--what must have been the effect of such an announcement upon her--what must she, could she think? "Yes." Zud's answer but served to accentuate and confirm the dilemma his meddling had produced. "And what said she?" Croft forced himself to ask. "She is a maiden of spirit," said Zud in the tone of one who palliates an offense. "She is unused to restraint. She refused to give credence to Abbu's story or accept its truth save from your own lips." Croft thrilled. Here was fidelity and trust--the absolute confidence which should exist between true mates. If Naia of Aphur had dared to refuse acceptance to the words of the high priest, she would dare much. Things might not turn out so badly as he had feared. There would seem to be time still for the true explanation he had meant to make to the girl herself. The purpose fired him to immediate determination. "She remains with the Gayana?" "Aye--until such time as you awaken." "I will see her. Send one to guide me to her at once." "Lord!" Zud's tone was aghast.