his youth, and
the girl felt no fear; nor did she shrink when he pressed his lips to
her forehead, for she felt that this man's blood ran in her own veins.
At last the king signed to the interpreter; Uarda was asked to tell all
she knew of her mother, and when she said that she had come a captive
to Thebes with an infant that had soon after died, that her father had
bought her and had loved her in spite of her being dumb, the prince's
conviction became certainty; he acknowledged Uarda as his grandchild,
and Praxilla clasped her in her arms.

Then he told Mena that it was now twenty years since his son-in-law had
been killed, and his daughter Xanthe, whom Uarda exactly resembled, had
been carried into captivity. Praxilla was then only just born, and his
wife died of the shock of such terrible news. All his enquiries for
Xanthe and her child had been fruitless, but he now remembered that
once, when he had offered a large ransom for his daughter if she could
be found, the Egyptians had enquired whether she were dumb, and that he
had answered "no." No doubt Xanthe had lost the power of speech through
grief, terror, and suffering.

The joy of the king was unspeakable, and Uarda was never tired of gazing
at his daughter and holding her hand.

Then she turned to the interpreter.

"Tell me," she said. "How do I say 'I am so very happy?'"

He told her, and she smilingly repeated his words. "Now 'Uarda will love
you with all her heart?'" and she said it after him in broken accents
that sounded so sweet and so heart-felt, that the old man clasped her to
his breast.

Tears of emotion stood in Nefert's eyes, and when Uarda flung herself
into her arms she said:

"The forlorn swan has found its kindred, the floating leaf has reached
the shore, and must be happy now!" Thus passed an hour of the purest
happiness; at last the Greek king prepared to leave, and the wished to
take Uarda with him; but Mena begged his permission to communicate all
that had occurred to the Pharaoh and Bent-Anat, for Uarda was attached
to the princess's train, and had been left in his charge, and he dared
not trust her in any other hands without Bent-Anat's permission.
Without waiting for the king's reply he left the tent, hastened to the
banqueting tent, and, as we know, Rameses and the princess had at once
attended to his summons.

On the way Mena gave them a vivid description of the exciting events
that had taken place, and Rameses, with a side gla