first at the chair in which Merapi had been seated and then at
the cloth upon which his son had lain.

"I take back my words. The Prince is wiser than I thought. Magicians
know the future because at times it rushes down upon them and they must.
It is that which makes them lonely, since what they know they cannot
say. But only fools will seek it."

"Yet now and again they lift a corner of the veil, Ki. Thus I remember
certain sayings of your own as to one who would find a great treasure
in the land of Goshen and thereafter suffer some temporal loss, and--I
forget the rest. Man, cease smiling at me with your face and piercing me
through with your sword-like eyes. You can command all things, what boon
then do you seek from me?"

"To lodge here a little while, Prince, in the company of Ana and
Bakenkhonsu. Hearken, I am no more Kherheb. I have quarrelled with
Pharaoh, perhaps because a little breath from that great wind of the
future blows through my soul; perhaps because he does not reward me
according to my merits--what does it matter which? At least I have come
to be of one mind with you, O Prince, and think that Pharaoh would do
well to let the Hebrews go, and therefore no longer will I attempt to
match my magic against theirs. But he refuses, so we have parted."

"Why does he refuse, Ki?"

"Perhaps it is written that he must refuse. Or perhaps because, thinking
himself the greatest of all kings instead of but a plaything of the
gods, pride locks the doors of his heart that in a day to come the
tempest of the Future, whereof I have spoken, may wreck the house which
holds it. I do not know why he refuses, but her Highness Userti is much
with him."

"For one who does not know, you have many reasons and all of them
different, O instructed Ki," said Seti.

Then he paused, walking up and down the portico, and I who knew his mind
guessed that he was wondering whether he would do well to suffer Ki,
whom at times he feared because his objects were secret and never
changed, to abide in his house, or whether he should send him away. Ki
also shivered a little, as though he felt the shadow cold, and descended
from the portico into the bright sunshine. Here he held out his hand and
a great moth dropped from the roof and lit upon it, whereon it lifted it
to his lips, which moved as though he were talking to the insect.

"What shall I do?" muttered Seti, as he passed me.

"I do not altogether like his company, nor, I think,