e learned; perhaps
they intend some day that you shall be their instrument for bringing
the guilty to justice. As to the conspiracy, no doubt, as you say, the
plot, against whomsoever it was directed, will be abandoned, for they
will never be sure as to how much is known of what passed between
them, and whether those who overheard them may not be waiting for the
commission of the crown to denounce them. In the meantime you will on
no account renew your visit to the temple or enter it at any time,
except when called upon to do so by your duties."

The very day after Neco's funeral Mysa and her mother were thrown into
a flutter of excitement by a message which arrived from Bubastes. Some
months before the sacred cat of the great temple there--a cat held in
as high honor in Lower Egypt as the bull Apis in the Thebaid--had
fallen sick, and, in spite of the care and attendance lavished upon
it, had died. The task of finding its successor was an important and
arduous one, and, like the bull of Apis, it was necessary not only
that the cat should be distinguished for its size and beauty, but that
it should bear certain markings. Without these particular markings no
cat could be elevated to the sacred post, even if it remained vacant
for years; therefore as soon as the cat was dead a party of priests
set out from Bubastes to visit all the cities of Egypt in search of
its successor.

The whole country was agitated with the question of the sacred cat,
and at each town they visited lists were brought to the priests of all
the cats which, from size, shape, and color, could be considered as
candidates for the office. As soon as one of the parties of the
priests had reached Thebes Amense had sent to them a description of
Mysa's great cat Paucis. Hitherto Amense had evinced no interest
whatever in her daughter's pets, seldom going out into the garden,
except to sit under the shade of the trees near the fountain for a
short time in the afternoon when the sun had lost its power.

In Paucis, indeed, she had taken some slight interest; because, in
the first place, it was only becoming that the mistress of the house
should busy herself as to the welfare of animals deemed so sacred;
and in the second, because all who saw Paucis agreed that it was
remarkable alike in size and beauty, and the presence of such a
creature in the house was in itself a source of pride and dignity.
Thus, then, she lost no time in sending a message to the priests