d to an outbreak of popular fury. But the respect due
to the high priest of Osiris, his position, his well-known learning
and benevolence rendered it impossible for the supposition to be
entertained for a moment that the cat could have come to an untimely
end within the limits of his house or garden, but it was now generally
believed that, after wandering away, as even the best conducted of
cats will do at times, it had fallen a victim to some savage beast or
had been devoured by a crocodile.

So heavy was the penalty for the offense, so tremendous the sacrilege
in killing a cat, that such an act was almost unknown in Egypt, and
but few instances are recorded of its having taken place. As in the
present case the enormity of the act would be vastly increased by the
size and beauty of the cat, and the fact that it had been chosen for
the temple of Bubastes seemed to put it altogether beyond the range of
possibility that the creature had fallen by the hands of man. When a
week passed without tidings it was generally accepted as a fact that
the cat must be dead, and Ameres and his household, in accordance with
the custom, shaved their eyebrows in token of mourning.

Although not suspected of having had anything to do with the loss
of the cat, the event nevertheless threw a sort of cloud over the
household of Ameres. It was considered to be such a terrible stroke of
ill-luck that a cat, and above all such a cat, should have been lost
upon the very eve of her being installed as the most sacred animal in
the temple of Bubastes, that it seemed as if it must be a direct proof
of the anger of the gods, and there was a general shrinking on the
part of their friends and acquaintances from intercourse with people
upon whom such a misfortune had fallen. Ameres cared little for public
opinion, and continued on his way with placid calmness, ministering in
the temple and passing the rest of his time in study.

The example of Ameres, however, was wholly lost upon his wife. The
deference paid to her as the wife of the high priest, and also to
herself as the principal figure in the services in which women took
part, was very dear to her, and she felt the change greatly. Her
slaves had a very bad time of it, and she worried Ameres with constant
complaints as to the changed demeanor of her acquaintances and his
indifference to the fact that they were no longer asked to
entertainments; nor was she in any way pacified by his quiet
assurance