and what then? Egypt at present does not care to give offerings
to the gods, but it will take the part of priests injured without
reason. And what then? Well," added he, approaching his lips to
Tutmosis' ear, "I think it would be the end of the dynasty."

"What am I to do?"

"One thing!" exclaimed Antefa. "Find Lykon, prove that Mefres and
Herhor secreted him, and ordered him to counterfeit the pharaoh as
insane. Thou must do this, if Thou wish to keep the favor of thy
sovereign. Proofs as many proofs as possible! Egypt is not Assyria;
Thou canst not act against high priests without the court, and no court
will condemn them without tangible evidence. Where hast Thou the
certainty that some one did not give the pharaoh an intoxicating
potion? That would be simpler than to send out a man at night who knows
neither the watchword, nor the palace, nor the garden. I have heard of
Lykon from an authentic source, for I heard from Hiram. Still, I do not
understand how Lykon could perform such miracles in Thebes."

"But but" interrupted Tutmosis, "where is Hiram?"

"Immediately after the wedding he went to Memphis, and in these last
days he was in Hiten."

Tutmosis again was in trouble: "That night," thought he, "when they
took a naked man to Eunana, the pharaoh said that he was going to see
Hiram. But as Hiram was not in Thebes, then what? Well, his holiness
knew not at the moment that of which he himself was talking."

Tutmosis returned home dazed. Not only did he fail to understand what
he was to do in that unheard-of position, but even he knew not what to
think of the position itself. His conviction while conversing with
Niort's, that Lykon, the emissary of high priests, had appeared in the
garden, was equaled now by his doubts as to whether the Greek had been
there at all.

And if this was the case with Tutmosis the favorite, who saw Ramses at
all times, what must it be in the hearts of strangers. The most devoted
adherents of the pharaoh and his measures might hesitate on hearing
from all sides that their sovereign was demented.

This was the first blow which the priests gave Ramses XIII Slight in
itself, it involved results which were beyond reckoning.

Not only did Tutmosis hesitate, he suffered. Under a frivolous exterior
he had a character at once energetic and noble. So that day, when men
struck at the honor and power of his sovereign, inactivity was
devouring Tutmosis. He seemed to himself the commander of