hat can have come to my sister? she seems quite strange to me; and you
too are not the same as you used to be."

"We both have to find our way in new circumstances."

"What are they?"

"That I cannot explain to you!--but it appears to me that you soon may
experience something of the same kind. Rumeri, do not go again to the
paraschites."

CHAPTER XXXII.

Early on the following clay the dwarf Nemu went past the restored hut of
Uarda's father--in which he had formerly lived with his wife--with a man
in a long coarse robe, the steward of some noble family. They went
towards old Hekt's cave-dwelling.

"I would beg thee to wait down here a moment, noble lord," said the
dwarf, "while I announce thee to my mother."

"That sounds very grand," said the other. "However, so be it. But stay!
The old woman is not to call me by my name or by my title. She is to call
me 'steward'--that no one may know. But, indeed, no one would recognize
me in this dress."

Nemu hastened to the cave, but before he reached his mother she called
out: "Do not keep my lord waiting--I know him well."

Nemu laid his finger to his lips.

"You are to call him steward," said he.

"Good," muttered the old woman. "The ostrich puts his head under his
feathers when he does not want to be seen."

"Was the young prince long with Uarda yesterday?"

"No, you fool," laughed the witch, "the children play together. Rameri is
a kid without horns, but who fancies he knows where they ought to grow.
Pentaur is a more dangerous rival with the red-headed girl. Make haste,
now; these stewards must not be kept waiting!"

The old woman gave the dwarf a push, and he hurried back to Ani, while
she carried the child, tied to his board, into the cave, and threw the
sack over him.

A few minutes later the Regent stood before her. She bowed before him
with a demeanor that was more like the singer Beki than the sorceress
Hekt, and begged him to take the only seat she possessed.

When, with a wave of his hand, he declined to sit down, she said:

"Yes--yes--be seated! then thou wilt not be seen from the valley, but be
screened by the rocks close by. Why hast thou chosen this hour for thy
visit?"

"Because the matter presses of which I wish to speak," answered Ani; "and
in the evening I might easily be challenged by the watch. My disguise is
good. Under this robe I wear my usual dress. From this I shall go to the
tomb of my father, where I shall take off this c