would she consent to do what might bring trouble
on Seti's head, even if to refuse him should sink her soul in sorrow.
Nor would she return to the Hebrews there to fall into the hands of one
she hated. Then perhaps I----. Should I tell her? If Jabez had not meant
that the matter must be brought to her ears, would he have spoken of
it at all? In short was it not my duty to her, and perhaps also to the
Prince who thereby might be saved from miseries to come, that is if this
talk of future troubles were anything more than an idle story.

Such was the evil reasoning with which Set assailed my spirit. How I
beat it down I do not know. Not by my own goodness, I am sure, since at
the moment I was aflame with love for the sweet and beautiful lady who
sat before me and in my foolishness would, I think, have given my life
to kiss her hand. Not altogether for her sake either, since passion
is very selfish. No, I believe it was because the love that I bore
the Prince was more deep and real than that which I could feel for any
woman, and I knew well that were she not in my sight no such treachery
would have overcome my heart. For I was sure, although he had never said
so to me, that Seti loved Merapi and above all earthly things desired
her as his companion, while if once I spoke those words, whatever my own
gain or loss and whatever her secret wish, that she would never be.

So I conquered, though the victory left me trembling like a child, and
wishing that I had not been born to know the pangs of love denied. My
reward was very swift, for just then Merapi unfastened a gem from the
breast of her white robe and held it towards the moon, as though to
study it. In an instant I knew it again. It was that royal scarab of
lapis-lazuli with which in Goshen the Prince had made fast the bandage
on her wounded food, which also had been snatched from her breast by
some power on that night when the statue of Amon was shattered in the
temple.

Long and earnestly she looked at it, then having glanced round to make
sure she was alone, she pressed it to her lips and kissed it thrice with
passion, muttering I know not what between the kisses. Now the scales
fell from my eyes and I knew that she loved Seti, and oh! how I thanked
my guardian god who had saved me from such useless shame.

I wiped the cold damp from my brow and was about to flee away,
discovering myself with as few words as might be, when, looking up, I
saw standing behind Merapi th