ion. But again I beg thee to
communicate henceforth with the holy Sem. He is my substitute, but
shouldst Thou read anything in the stars Thou wilt tell me of it in the
morning."

The priest left the bedchamber shaking his head.

"They have roused me from sleep!" said Ramses, dissatisfied.

"An hour ago Queen Niort's, most greatly to be revered, commanded me,
holiness, to ask of thee an interview," said an adjutant, suddenly.

"Now? At midnight?" asked the pharaoh.

"Her exact words were that at midnight Thou wouldst wake, holiness."

The pharaoh meditated, then answered the adjutant that ha would wait
for the queen in the golden hall. He thought that there no one could
overhear them.

Ramses threw a mantle over his shoulders, put on sandals unfastened and
commanded to light the golden hall brightly. Then he went out,
directing the servants not to go with him.

He found Niort's in the hall; she was wearing coarse linen garments in
sign that she was mourning. When she saw the pharaoh she wished to drop
on her knees, but her son raised the queen and embraced her.

"Has something important happened, mother, that Thou art working at
this hour?" inquired Ramses.

"I was not asleep I was praying," replied the queen. "O my son, Thou
hast divined wisely that the affair is important. I have heard the
sacred voice of thy father."

"Indeed!" said the pharaoh, feeling that anger was filling him.

"Thy ever-living father," continued the queen, "told me, full of
sadness, that Thou wert entering on a way of error. Thou refusest with
contempt the ordination of high priest, and treatest badly the servants
of divinity."

"'Who will remain with Ramses,' said thy father, 'if he angers the gods
and the priests desert him? Tell him tell him,' repeated the revered
shade, 'that in this way he will ruin Egypt, himself, and the
dynasty.'"

"Oho!" said the pharaoh, "then they threaten me thus from the first day
of my reign. My mother, a dog barks loudest when he is afraid; so
threats are of evil omen, but only for the priesthood."

"But thy father said this," repeated the anxious lady.

"My immortal father and my holy grandfather," said the pharaoh, "being
pure spirits know my heart, and see the woeful condition of Egypt. But
since my heart wishes to raise the state by stopping abuses they would
not prevent me from carrying out my measures."

"Then dost Thou not believe that the spirit of thy father gives thee
counsel?" asked