ps some low wretch
has whispered to him about the foundries?"

And the nomarch's heart was anxious.

Suddenly the prince turned toward the escort and called Tutmosis, who
was bound to be at all times near his person.

Tutmosis ran up. The heir went to one side with him.

"Hear me," said he, pointing toward the desert. "Dost Thou see those
hills?"

"We were there last year," sighed the courtier.

"I remember Sarah."

"I will burn incense to the gods at once," cried Tutmosis, "for I
thought that your worthiness had forgotten faithful servants since
becoming viceroy."

The prince looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.

"Select," said he, "from the gifts brought me, some of the most
beautiful vessels, utensils, stuffs, and, above all, chains and
bracelets, and take them to Sarah."

"Live through eternity, O Ramses!" exclaimed the exquisite, "for Thou
art high-minded."

"Tell her," continued the prince, "that for her my heart is always full
of favor. Say that I wish her to care for her health. Tell Sarah that
when the time of freedom comes and I have carried out the commands of
my father, she will come to me and live in my house. I cannot endure
that the mother of my child should be grieving in loneliness. Go, do as
I have said, and return with pleasant tidings."

Tutmosis prostrated himself before the noble ruler, and took the road
straightway. The retinue of Ramses, unable to divine the conversation,
envied Tutmosis the favor of the viceroy, while the worthy Ranuzer felt
alarm rising in his soul.

"Oh," said he, anxiously, "may I not need to raise hands on myself and
leave my house in the bloom of my years! Why did I, the unfortunate,
when taking the pharaoh's goods, not think of the hour of trial?"

His face became yellow, and his legs tottered under him. But the
prince, mastered by a wave of reminiscences, took no note of this
change in the nomarch.

CHAPTER XXIII

IN the city of Anu a series of feasts and amusements now followed. The
worthy nomarch brought the choicest wines from his cellars; from the
three neighboring provinces came the most beautiful dancers, the most
famous musicians, the adroitest of jugglers. The prince's time was
occupied thoroughly, every morning reviews of troops and receptions;
later feasts, spectacles, hunting, and feasts again.

But just when Ranuzer felt certain that the viceroy was tired of
questions of administration and economy, the latter summoned him, and