I thought you asleep," he said, presently.

"Sleep is for old people and little children, and I came out to
look at my friends, the stars in the south--those now holding the
curtains of midnight over the Nile. But confess yourself surprised!"

He took the hand which had fallen from his shoulder, and said,
"Well, was it by an enemy?"

"Oh no! To be an enemy is to hate, and hating is a sickness which
Isis will not suffer to come near me. She kissed me, you should
know, on the heart when I was a child."

"Your speech does not sound in the least like your father's.
Are you not of his faith?"

"I might have been"--and she laughed low--"I might have been had
I seen what he has. I may be when I get old like him. There should
be no religion for youth, only poetry and philosophy; and no poetry
except such as is the inspiration of wine and mirth and love, and no
philosophy that does not nod excuse for follies which cannot outlive
a season. My father's God is too awful for me. I failed to find
him in the Grove of Daphne. He was never heard of as present in
the atria of Rome. But, son of Hur, I have a wish."

"A wish! Where is he who could say it no?"

"I will try you."

"Tell it then."

"It is very simple. I wish to help you."

She drew closer as she spoke.

He laughed, and replied, lightly, "O Egypt!--I came near saying dear
Egypt!--does not the sphinx abide in your country?"

"Well?"

"You are one of its riddles. Be merciful, and give me a little
clew to help me understand you. In what do I need help? And how
can you help me?"

She took her hand from him, and, turning to the camel, spoke to
it endearingly, and patted its monstrous head as it were a thing
of beauty.

"O thou last and swiftest and stateliest of the herds of Job!
Sometimes thou, too, goest stumbling, because the way is rough
and stony and the burden grievous. How is it thou knowest the
kind intent by a word; and always makest answer gratefully,
though the help offered is from a woman? I will kiss thee,
thou royal brute!"--she stooped and touched its broad forehead
with her lips, saying immediately, "because in thy intelligence
there is no suspicion!"

And Ben-Hur, restraining himself, said calmly, "The reproach has
not failed its mark, O Egypt! I seem to say thee no; may it not
be because I am under seal of honor, and by my silence cover the
lives and fortunes of others?"

"May be!" she said, quickly. "It is so."

He shrank a step, and as