the Pharaoh's hands! For my
life's sake let it not come into the possession of any other.

"I shall write no more. My scant eloquence must be saved for the king.

"Gods! but it is good to have faith in a friend. I salute thee.

"KENKENES."

The letter to Hotep complete, Kenkenes took up another roll and wrote
thus to Meneptah:

"To Meneptah, Beloved of Ptah, Ambassador of Amen, Vicar of Ra, Lord
over Upper and Lower Egypt, greeting:"

At this point he paused. His power of expression, aghast at the
magnitude of the stake laid on its successful use, became
panic-stricken and fled from him. He feared that words could not be
chosen which would justify his sacrilege or prove his claims to Rachel
greater than Har-hat's. Meneptah would be hedged about with prejudice
against his first cause, and deterred by the prior right of Har-hat, in
the second. The last man that talked with the king molded him.
Flattery alone might prevail against coercion. It was the one hope.

Kenkenes seized his pen and wrote:

"This from thy subject, Kenkenes, the son of Mentu, thy murket.

"I give thee a true story, O Defender of Women.

"There is a maiden whose kinsmen died of hard labor in the service of
Egypt. Not one was left to care for her. Of all her house, she alone
remains. They died in ignominy. Shall the last remnant of the unhappy
family be stamped out in dishonor?

"If one came before thee seeking to insult innocence, and another
begging leave to protect it, thou wouldst choose for him who would keep
pure the undefiled. Have I not said, O my King?

"Before thee, even now is such a choice.

"Already thou hast given over the mastership of Rachel, daughter of
Maai the Israelite, to thy fan-bearer, Har-hat. By the lips of his own
servants, I am informed that he would have put her in his harem.

"She fled from him and I hid her away, for I could not bear to deliver
her up to the despoiler.

"I love her--she loveth me. Wilt thou not give her to me to wife?

"Thine illustrious sire bespeaketh thy favor, out of Amenti. Behold
his signet and its injunction.

"Furthermore, I confess to sacrilege against Athor, in carving a statue
which ignored the sculptor's ritual. For this, and for hiding the
Israelite, am I imprisoned in the city stronghold of Tape.

"I would be free to return to my love and comfort her, but if it shall
overtax thy generosity to release me, I pray thee announce my sentence
and let