had
rebuked me because I went out to slay the lion, his long white beard
resting on the table of stone and sacred writings in his hand. When I
came in he rose from his seat and would have knelt before me, crying
"Hail, Pharaoh!" but I caught him by the hand.

"It is not meet, my father," I said.

"It is meet," he answered, "it is meet that I should bow before my King;
but be it as thou wilt. And so thou goest, Harmachis; my blessings go
with thee, O my son! And may Those whom I serve grant to me that my
old eyes may, indeed, behold thee on the throne! I have searched long,
striving, Harmachis, to read the future that shall be; but I can learn
naught by all my wisdom. It is hid from me, and at times my heart fails.
But hear this, there is danger in thy path, and it comes in the form of
Woman. I have known it long, and therefore thou hast been called to the
worship of the heavenly Isis, who bids her votaries put away the thought
of woman till such time as she shall think well to slacken the rule.
Oh, my son, I would that thou wert not so strong and fair--stronger and
fairer, indeed, than any man in Egypt, as a King should be--for in that
strength and beauty may lie a cause of stumbling. Beware, then, of those
witches of Alexandria, lest, like a worm, some one of them creep into my
heart and eat its secret out."

"Have no fear, my father," I answered, frowning, "my thought is set on
other things than red lips and smiling eyes."

"It is good," he answered; "so may it befall. And now farewell. When
next we meet, may it be in that happy hour when, with all the priests of
the Upper Land, I move down from Abouthis to do my homage to Pharaoh on
his throne."

So I embraced him, and went. Alas! I little thought how we should meet
again.

Thus it came about that once more I passed down the Nile travelling as a
man of no estate. And to such as were curious about me it was given out
that I was the adopted son of the High Priest of Abouthis, having been
brought up to the priesthood, and that I had at the last refused the
service of the Gods, and chosen to go to Alexandria, to seek my fortune.
For, be it remembered, I was still held to be the grandson of the old
wife, Atoua, by all those who did not know the truth.

On the tenth night, sailing with the wind, we reached the mighty city
of Alexandria, the city of a thousand lights. Above them all towered the
white Pharos, that wonder of the world, from the crown of which a li