people and the crowd of boats,
she went back into her room, called Rameri, who was angrily declaiming at
what he called Ameni's insolence, took his hands in hers, and said:

"We have both done wrong, brother; let us patiently submit to the
consequences of our faults, and conduct ourselves as if our father were
with us."

"He would tear the panther-skin from the haughty priest's shoulders,"
cried Rameri, "if he dared to humiliate you so in his presence;" and
tears of rage ran down his smooth cheeks as he spoke.

"Put anger aside," said Bent-Anat. "You were still quite little the last
time my father took part in this festival."

"Oh! I remember that morning well," exclaimed Rameri, "and shall never
forget it."

"So I should think," said the princess. "Do not leave us, Nefert--you are
now my sister. It was a glorious morning; we children were collected in
the great hall of the King, all in festival dresses; he had us called
into this room, which had been inhabited by my mother, who then had been
dead only a few months. He took each of us by the hand, and said he
forgave us everything we might have done wrong if only we were sincerely
penitent, and gave us each a kiss on our forehead. Then he beckoned us
all to him, and said, as humbly as if he were one of us instead of the
great king, 'Perhaps I may have done one of you some injustice, or have
kept you out of some right; I am not conscious of such a thing, but if it
has occurred I am very sorry'--we all rushed upon him, and wanted to kiss
him, but he put us aside smiling, and said, 'Each of you has enjoyed an
equal share of one thing, that you may be sure--I mean your father's
love; and I see now that you return what I have given you.' Then he spoke
of our mother, and said that even the tenderest father could not fill the
place of a mother. He drew a lovely picture of the unselfish devotion of
the dead mother, and desired us to pray and to sacrifice with him at her
resting-place, and to resolve to be worthy of her; not only in great
things but in trifles too, for they make up the sum of life, as hours
make the days, and the years. We elder ones clasped each other's hands,
and I never felt happier than in that moment, and afterwards by my
mother's grave." Nefert raised her eyes that were wet with tears.

"With such a father it must be easy to be good," she said.

"Did your mother never speak good words that went to your heart on the
morning of this festival?" asked B