aken they
looked into each other's eyes.

"You have had your will, Queen," said Asti; "for if Amen did not come,
he sent a messenger, and a royal one."

"Interpret me this vision," answered Tua, "for to me, at any rate, that
Spirit said little."

"Nay, it said much. It said that love fails not of its reward, and what
more went you out to seek?"

"Then I am glad," exclaimed Tua joyfully.

"Be not too glad, Queen, for to-night we have sinned, both of us, who
dared to summon Amen from his throne, and sin also fails not of its
reward. Blood is the price of that oracle."

"Whose blood, Asti? Ours?"

"Nay, worse, that of those who are dear to us. Troubles arise in Egypt,
Queen."

"You will not leave me when they break, Asti?"

"I may not if I would. The Fates have bound us together till the end,
and that I think is far away. I am yours as once you were mine when you
lay upon my breast, but bid me no more to summon Amen from his throne."

CHAPTER V

HOW RAMES FOUGHT THE PRINCE OF KESH

Now for a whole moon there were great festivals in Thebes, and in all of
these Neter-Tua, "Glorious in Ra, Hathor Strong in Beauty, Morning
Star of Amen," must take her part as new-crowned Queen of Egypt. Feast
followed feast, and at each of them one of the suitors of her hand was
the guest of honour.

Then after it was done, Pharaoh her father and his councillors would
wait upon her and ask if this man was pleasing to her. Being wise, Tua
would give no direct answer, only of most of them she was rid in this
way.

She demanded that the writing of the dream of her mother, Ahura, should
be brought and read before her, and when it had been read she pointed
out that Amen promised to her a royal lover, and that these chiefs and
generals were not royal, therefore it was not of them that Amen spoke,
nor did she dare to turn her eyes on one whom the god had forbidden to
her.

Of others who declared that they were kings, but who, being unable to
leave their countries, were represented by ambassadors, she said that
not having seen them she could say nothing. When they appeared at the
Court of Egypt, she would consider them.

So at length only one suitor was left, the man whom she knew well
Pharaoh and his councillors desired that she should take as husband.
This was Amathel, the Prince of Kesh, whose father, an aged king, ruled
at Napata, a great city far to the south, situated in a land that was
called an island because the riv