sire sent his little
treasure into Arabia and bought lands with it. After many trials he
caused to grow thereon a rose-shrub which had no period of
rest--blooming freshly with every moon. And there he had the Puntish
scentmaker on the hip, for the Arabic rose rested often. The attar he
distilled from his untiring flower, had another odor, wild and sweet
and of a daintier strength. When he was ready to trade he sent in a
vial of crystal to Neferari Thermuthis and to Moses, then a young man
and a prince of the realm, a few drops of this wondrous perfume. Doubt
not, the Hebrew prince knew that the gift came from a son of Israel.
The queen and Moses used the attar. Therefore all purple-wearing Egypt
must have it or die, since the fashion had been set within the
boundaries of the throne. Then did Elihu name a price for his sweet
odor that might have been small had each drop been a jewel. But Egypt
opened her coffers and bought as though her idols had broken their
silence and commanded her."

The old woman paused and reflected with grim satisfaction on the remote
days of an Israelitish triumph.

"Meanwhile," she continued finally, "thy grandsire lived humbly in
Goshen. None dreamed that this keeper of a little flock, lord over a
little tent and tiller of a few acres, was the great Syrian merchant
who was despoiling Mizraim.

"Next he became a money-lender, through his steward, to the Egyptians,
and wrested from them what they had saved in putting Israel to toil
without hire. So his riches increased a hundredfold and the half of
noble Egypt was beholden to him. Then he turned to aid his oppressed
brethren.

"He bribed the taskmasters or kept watch over them and discovered
wherein they were false to the Pharaoh, and held their own sin over
their heads till they submitted through fear of him. He filled
Israel's fields with cattle, the hills with Hebrew flocks, the valleys
with corn. Alas! Had it not been--but, nay, Jehovah was not yet
ready. He had chosen Moses to lead Israel."

The old woman paused and sighed. After a silence she continued:

"Thy father fell heir to the most of his wealth, but not to his
immunity. With a heart as great as his sire's he continued the good
work. He wedded thy mother, the daughter of another free Israelite,
and in his love for her, never was man more happy. In the midst of his
hope and his peace an enemy betrayed him to Rameses, the Incomparable
Pharaoh. And Rameses rem