e feet. Again
terror mastered Ramses more than in the cell. He fled distracted,
knocking against columns which seemed to bar the way to him, and
darkness closed around the man on all sides.

"Oh, save, holy goddess, save me!" whispered he.

At this moment he stopped: some yards in front of him was the great
door of a temple through which the starry sky was visible. He turned
his head. Amid the forest of gigantic columns lamps were burning, and
the gleam of them was reflected faintly from the bronze knees of the
holy Hator.

The prince returned to his cell, crushed and excited; his heart
throbbed like that of a bird caught in a net. For the first time in
many years he fell with his face to the earth and prayed ardently for
favor and forgiveness.

"Thou wilt be heard," answered a sweet voice above him.

Ramses raised his head quickly, but there was no one in the cell: the
door was closed, the walls were thick. He prayed on therefore more
ardently, and fell asleep in that position, with his face on the stones
and his arms extended.

When he woke next morning, he was another man: he had experienced the
might of the gods, and favor had been promised.

From that time through a long series of days he gave himself to
devotional exercises with faith and alacrity. In his cell he spent long
hours over prayers, he had his head shaven, and put on priestly
garments, and four times in twenty-four hours he took part in a chorus
of the youngest priests.

His past life, taken up with amusements, roused in him aversion, and
the disbelief which he had acquired amid foreigners and dissolute youth
filled him with dread in that interval. And if that day the choice had
been given him to take either the throne or the priestly office, he
would have hesitated.

A certain day the great prophet of the temple summoned the prince, and
reminded him that he had not entered for prayers exclusively, but to
learn wisdom. The prophet praised his devotion, declared that he was
purified then from worldly foulness, and commanded him to become
acquainted with the schools connected with that temple.

Rather through obedience than curiosity, the prince went directly from
him to the interior court, where the department of reading and writing
was situated.

That was a great hall, lighted through an opening in the roof. On mats
some tens of naked pupils were seated holding wax tablets in their
hands. One wall was of smooth alabaster; before it stood