en treated with favour, friend," said David.
"I would that I might show thee kindness. Though how may a man of no
account make return to a great Prince?"

"By the beard of my father, it is easily done, if thy kindness is a
real thing, and not that which makes me poorer the more I have of it--as
though one should be given a herd of horses which must not be sold but
still must be fed."

"I have given thee truth. Is not truth cheaper than falsehood?"

"It is the most expensive thing in Egypt; so that I despair of buying
thee. Yet I would buy thee to remain here--here at my court; here by my
hand which will give thee the labour thou lovest, and will defend thee
if defence be needed. Thou hast not greed, thou hast no thirst for
honour, yet thou hast wisdom beyond thy years. Kaid has never besought
men, but he beseeches thee. Once there was in Egypt, Joseph, a wise
youth, who served a Pharaoh, and was his chief counsellor, and it was
well with the land. Thy name is a good name; well-being may follow thee.
The ages have gone, and the rest of the world has changed, but Egypt is
the same Egypt, the Nile rises and falls, and the old lean years and fat
years come and go. Though I am in truth a Turk, and those who serve
and rob me here are Turks, yet the fellah is the same as he was five
thousand years ago. What Joseph the Israelite did, thou canst do; for
I am no more unjust than was that Rameses whom Joseph served. Wilt thou
stay with me?"

David looked at Kaid as though he would read in his face the reply that
he must make, but he did not see Kaid; he saw, rather, the face of
one he had loved more than Jonathan had been loved by the young
shepherd-prince of Israel. In his ears he heard the voice that had
called him in his sleep-the voice of Benn Claridge; and, at the same
instant, there flashed into his mind a picture of himself fighting
outside the tavern beyond Hamley and bidding farewell to the girl at the
crossroads.

"Friend, I cannot answer thee now," he said, in a troubled voice.

Kaid rose. "I will give thee an hour to think upon it. Come with me." He
stepped forward. "To-morrow I will answer thee, Kaid."

"To-morrow there is work for thee to do. Come." David followed him.

The eyes that followed the Prince and the Quaker were not friendly.
What Kaid had long foreshadowed seemed at hand: the coming of a European
counsellor and confidant. They realised that in the man who had just
left the room with Kaid there we