ke myself from whom I learned much
in my youth--Bakenkhonsu knew him well--who made a study of this matter.
He told me he was sure, because it had been revealed to him, that men
do not live once only and then depart hence for ever. He said that they
live many times and in many shapes, though not always on this world, and
that between each life there is a wall of darkness."

"If so, of what use are lives which we do not remember after death has
shut the door of each of them?"

"The doors may open again at last, Prince, and show us all the chambers
through which our feet have wandered from the beginning."

"Our religion teaches us, Ki, that after death we live eternally
elsewhere in our own bodies, which we find again on the day of
resurrection. Now eternity, having no end, can have no beginning; it is
a circle. Therefore if the one be true, namely that we live on, it would
seem that the other must be true, namely that we have always lived."

"That is well reasoned, Prince. In the early days, before the priests
froze the thought of man into blocks of stone and built of them shrines
to a thousand gods, many held that this reasoning was true, as then they
held that there was but one god."

"As do these Israelites whom I go to visit. What say you of their god,
Ki?"

"That _he_ is the same as our gods, Prince. To men's eyes God has many
faces, and each swears that the one he sees is the only true god. Yet
they are wrong, for all are true."

"Or perchance false, Ki, unless even falsehood is a part of truth. Well,
you have told me of two dangers, one to my body and one to my heart. Has
any other been revealed to your wisdom?"

"Yes, Prince. The third is that this journey may in the end cost you
your throne."

"If I die certainly it will cost me my throne."

"No, Prince, if you live."

"Even so, Ki, I think that I could endure life seated more humbly than
on a throne, though whether her Highness could endure it is another
matter. Then you say that if I go upon this journey another will be
Pharaoh in my place."

"We do not say that, Prince. It is true that our arts have shown us
another filling your place in a time of wizardry and wonders and of the
death of thousands. Yet when we look again we see not that other but you
once more filling your own place."

Here I, Ana, bethought me of my vision in Pharaoh's hall.

"The matter is even worse than I thought, Ki, since having once left
the crown behind me, I think t