into his heart. But if he said nothing
of them, Tua, who rode in the chariot with him, was not so silent.

"My father," she said in a low voice while the crowds shouted their
welcome, for they were alone in the chariot, the horses of which were
led, "this uncle of mine keeps a great state in Memphis."

"Yes, Daughter, why should he not? He is its governor."

"A stranger who did not know the truth might think he was its king,
my father, and to be plain, if I were Pharaoh, and had chosen to enter
here, it would have been with a larger force."

"We can go away when we like, Tua," said Pharaoh uneasily.

"You mean, my father, that we can go away when it pleases the Prince
your brother to open those great bronze gates that I heard clash behind
us--then and not before."

At this moment their talk came to an end, for the chariot was stayed
at the steps of the great hall where Abi waited to receive his royal
guests. He stood at the head of the steps, a huge, coarse, vigorous man
of about sixty years of age, on whose fat, swarthy face there was
still, oddly enough, some resemblance to the delicate, refined-featured
Pharaoh.

Tua summed him up in a single glance, and instantly hated him even more
than she had hated Amathel, Prince of Kesh. Also she who had not feared
the empty-headed, drunken Amathel, was penetrated with a strange terror
of this man whom she felt to be strong and intelligent, and whose
great, greedy eyes rested on her beauty as though they could not tear
themselves away.

Now they were ascending the steps, and now Prince Abi was welcoming them
to his "humble house," giving them their throne names, and saying
how rejoiced he was to see them, his sovereigns, within the walls of
Memphis, while all the time he stared at Tua.

Pharaoh, who was tired, made no reply, but the young Queen, staring back
at him, answered:

"We thank you for your greeting, but then, my uncle Abi, why did you
not meet us outside the gates of Memphis where we expected to find
its governor waiting to deliver up the keys of Pharaoh's city to the
officers of Pharaoh?"

Now Abi, who had thought to see some shrinking child clothed in the
emblems of a queen, looked astonished at this tall and royal maiden who
had so sharp a tongue, and found no words to answer her. So she swept
past him and commanded to be shown where she should lodge in Memphis.

They led her to its greatest palace that had been prepared for Pharaoh
and herself, a pl