ace surrounded by palm groves in the midst of the city,
but having studied it with her quick eyes, she said that it did not
please her. So search was made elsewhere, and in the end she chose
another smaller palace that once had been a temple of Sekhet, the
tiger-headed goddess of vengeance and of chastity, whereof the pylon
towers fronted on the Nile which at its flood washed against them.
Indeed, they were now part of the wall of Memphis, for the great unused
gateway between them had been built up with huge blocks of stone.

Surrounding this palace and outside its courts, lay the old gardens of
the temple where the priests of Sekhet used to wander, enclosed within a
lofty limestone wall. Here, saying that the air from the river would be
more healthy for him, Tua persuaded Pharaoh to establish himself and his
Court, and to encamp the guards under the command of his friend Mermes,
in the outer colonnades and gardens.

When it was pointed out to the Queen that, owing to the lack of
dwelling-rooms, none which were fitting were left for her to occupy, she
replied that this mattered nothing, since in the old pylon tower were
two small chambers hollowed in the thickness of its walls, which were
very pleasing to her, because of the prospect of the Nile and the wide
flat lands and the distant Pyramids commanded from the lofty roof
and window-places. So these chambers, in which none had dwelt for
generations, were hastily cleaned out and furnished, and in them Tua and
Asti her foster-mother, took up their abode.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MAGIC IMAGE

That night Pharaoh and Tua rested in privacy with those members of the
Court whom they had brought with them, but on the morrow began a round
of festivals such as history scarcely told of in Egypt. Indeed, the
feast with which it opened was more splendid than any Tua had seen at
Thebes even at the time of her crowning, or on that day of blood and
happiness when Amathel and his Nubian guards were slain and she and
Rames declared their love. At this feast Pharaoh and the young Queen sat
in chairs of gold, while the Prince Abi was placed on her right hand,
and not on that of Pharaoh as he should have been as host and subject.

"I am too much honoured," said Tua, looking at him sideways. "Why do you
not sit by Pharaoh, my uncle?"

"Who am I that I should take the seat of honour when my sovereigns come
to visit me?" answered Abi, bowing his great head. "Let it be reserved
for the hi