mine own--nay, hers."

"Hast thou--did the Israelite--" the scribe began in amazement, and
paused, ashamed of his unbecoming curiosity.

"Aye; and let us speak of it no more. Thou hast my story, my
confidence and my love. Keep the first and the rest shall be thine for
ever."

"And this?" questioned Hotep, nodding toward the statue, though he
resolutely kept the face of Kenkenes turned from it.

"Let it be," Kenkenes replied. Hotep hesitated, dissatisfied, but
feared to insist on its destruction, so he went arm in arm with his
friend down to the river, without a word of protest. "I will at him
again when he is better," he told himself, "and we will bury the
exquisite sacrilege."

There was an animated group of Hebrew children at the Nile drawing
water, and among them was a golden-haired maiden. Hotep had but to
glance at her to know that he looked on the glorious model of the pale
divinity on the hill above. At the sound of their approach through the
grain, she looked up. As she caught sight of Kenkenes, she started and
flushed quickly and as quickly the color fled.

Since she was near the boat, Kenkenes stood close beside her for a
moment while he pushed the bari into the water.

"Gods! What a noble pair!" Hotep ejaculated under his breath. But he
saw Kenkenes bend near the Israelite, as if to make his final plea; a
spasm of anguish contracted her white face, and she turned her head
away. The incident, so eloquent to Rachel and Kenkenes, had been so
swift and subtile in its enactment, that only the quick eye of Hotep
detected it. Again he called on the gods in exclamation:

"She is saner than he!"

On the way back to Memphis he maintained a thoughtful silence. Since
he had seen Rachel, he began to understand the love of Kenkenes for her.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SON OF THE MURKET

March and April had passed and now it was the first of May. Five days
before, the ceremony of installation had been held for the murket and
the cup-bearer and for four days thereafter the new officers passed
through initiatory formalities. But on the fifth day the rites of
investiture had been brought to an end, and Mentu and Nechutes entered
on the routine of service.

To Mentu fell the dignified congratulations of his own world of sedate
old nobles and stately women. But Nechutes was younger and well
beloved by youthful Memphis, so on the night of the fifth day, the
house of Senci was aglow and in her banquet-