at her noble features and grey hair, then, uttering a great cry of
"Mother, my Mother, who they swore to me was dead in Memphis," he flung
himself upon her breast, and there burst into weeping.

"Aye, Rames," said Asti presently, "your Mother, she who bore you, and
no other woman, and with her one who because her royal heart loves you
now as from the first, from moon to moon for two whole years has braved
the dangers of the desert, and of wicked men, till at last Amen her
father brings her safely to your side. Now do you believe?"

"Aye," answered Rames, "I believe."

"Then, O faithful Captain," said Tua, "take this gift from Egypt's
Queen, which a while ago you thrust aside, and be its Lord and mine,"
and lifting the diadem of pearls crested with the royal _uraei_ she set
it on his brow, as once before she had done in that hour of dawn when
she vowed herself to him in Thebes.

It was night, and all their wonderful story had been told.

"Such is our tale, Rames my Son," said Asti, "and long may you search
before you find another that will match it. Now tell us yours."

"It is short, Mother," he answered. "Obeying the commands of her Majesty
yonder," and he bowed towards Tua, who sat at the further side of the
table at which they ate, "I travelled up the Nile to this city. As
the old king, the father of the Prince of Kesh, would have slain me I
attacked him first by the help of my Egyptians and his own subjects,
and--well, he died. Moreover, none regretted him, for he was a bad
king, and I stepped into his place, and ever since have been engaged in
righting matters which they needed. Long ago I would have returned
to Egypt and reported myself, only my spies told me of all that had
happened there. They told me, for instance, of the murder of Pharaoh,
by the witchcraft of Abi and his companions; and they told me that
Pharaoh's daughter, the Star of Amen, forgetting all things and the oath
she swore to me, had married her old uncle Abi that she might save her
life and power."

"And you believed them, Rames?" asked Tua reproachfully.

"What else could I do but believe, Lady, seeing that those same spies
swore that they had seen your Majesty seated upon your throne at
Memphis, and elsewhere, and causing Abi to run to and fro like a little
dog, and do your bidding in all things? How could I know that it was
your Double, and not yourself that married Abi?"

"I think that Abi knows to-day," answered Tua, "since it