n but a goddess for she would then
have not to obey, but rather to guide, the Pharaoh, who indeed himself
was related to the Immortals.

Katuti did not observe her daughter's blush, for she was looking
anxiously out at the garden gate, and said:

"Where can Nemu be! There must be some news arrived for us from the
army."

"Mena has not written for so long," Nefert said softly. "Ah! here is the
steward!"

Katuti turned to the officer, who had entered the veranda through a side
door:

"What do you bring," she asked.

"The dealer Abscha," was the answer, "presses for payment. The new
Syrian chariot and the purple cloth--"

"Sell some corn," ordered Katuti.

"Impossible, for the tribute to the temples is not yet paid, and already
so much has been delivered to the dealers that scarcely enough remains
over for the maintenance of the household and for sowing."

"Then pay with beasts."

"But, madam," said the steward sorrowfully, "only yesterday, we again
sold a herd to the Mohar; and the water-wheels must be turned, and
the corn must be thrashed, and we need beasts for sacrifice, and milk,
butter, and cheese, for the use of the house, and dung for firing."

[In Egypt, where there is so little wood, to this day the dried dung
of beasts is the commonest kind of fuel.]

Katuti looked thoughtfully at the ground.

"It must be," she said presently. "Ride to Hermonthis, and say to the
keeper of the stud that he must have ten of Mena's golden bays driven
over here."

"I have already spoken to him," said the steward, "but he maintains that
Mena strictly forbade him to part with even one of the horses, for he is
proud of the stock. Only for the chariot of the lady Nefert."

"I require obedience," said Katuti decidedly and cutting short the
steward's words, "and I expect the horses to-morrow."

"But the stud-master is a daring man, whom Mena looks upon as
indispensable, and he--"

"I command here, and not the absent," cried Katuti enraged, "and I
require the horses in spite of the former orders of my son-in-law."

Nefert, during this conversation, pulled herself up from her indolent
attitude. On hearing the last words she rose from her couch, and said,
with a decision which surprised even her mother--

"The orders of my husband must be obeyed. The horses that Mena loves
shall stay in their stalls. Take this armlet that the king gave me; it
is worth more than twenty horses."

The steward examined the trinke