nd in
my bleeding wound?"

"I expect a quite different result from your frequent meeting," said the
other. "You will get accustomed to see her under the aspect which alone
she can hence forth bear to you: that of a handsome girl--there are
thousands such in Egypt,--and the betrothed of another."

"Certainly, if my heart were like a hunting-dog that lies down the
moment it is bid," said Philippus with a scornful laugh. "The end of
it is that I must go away, away from Memphis--away from this miserable
world for all I care! I?--Recover my peace of mind within reach of her?
Alas, for my blissful, lost peace!"

"And why not? To every man a thing is only as he conceives of it. Only
listen to me: I had finished a treatise on the old and new Calendars,
and my master desired me to deliver a lecture on it in the Museum--if
the school of pedants in Alexandria now deserves the name; but I did
not wish to do so because I knew that the presence of such a large and
learned audience would embarrass me. But my master advised me to imagine
that my hearers were not men, but mere cabbages. This gave me new light;
I took his advice, got over my shyness, and my speech flowed like oil."

"A very good story," said Philippus, "but I do not see...."

"The moral of it for you," interrupted the old man, "is that you must
regard the supremely adorable lady of your love as one among a dozen
others--I will not say as a cabbage--as one with whom your heart has
no more concern. Put a little strength of will into it, and you will
succeed."

"If a heart were a cipher, and if passion were calendar-making!..."
retorted Philippus. "You are a very wise man, and your manuscripts and
tables have stood like walls between you and passion."

"Who can tell?" said Horapollo. "But at any rate, it never should have
had such power over me as to make me embitter the few remaining days
under the sun yet granted to my father and friend for the sake of a
woman who scorned my devotion. Will you promise me to talk no more
nonsense about flying from Memphis, or anything of the kind?"

"Teach me first to measure my strength of will."

"Will you try, at any rate?"

"Yes, for your sake."

"Will you promise to continue your treatment of that poor little girl,
whom I love dearly in spite of her forbears?"

"As long as I can endure the daily meeting with her--you know..."

"That, then, is a bargain.--Now, come and let us translate a few more
chapters."

The frien