nt to communicate
to you."

"Well?" asked Setchem.

"To-day for the first time since--you know when, I have spoken to Nefert.
The past may be forgotten. You long for your sister; go to her, I have
nothing more to say against it."

Setchem looked at her son with undisguised astonishment; her eyes which
easily filled with tears, now overflowed, and she hesitatingly asked:
"Can I believe my ears; child, have you?--"

"I have a wish," said Paaker firmly, "that you should knit once more the
old ties of affection with your relations; the estrangement has lasted
long enough."

"Much too long!" cried Setchem.

The pioneer looked in silence at the ground, and obeyed his mother's sign
to sit down beside her.

"I knew," she said, taking his hand, "that this day would bring us joy;
for I dreamt of your father in Osiris, and when I was being carried to
the temple, I was met, first by a white cow, and then by a wedding
procession. The white ram of Anion, too, touched the wheat-cakes that I
offered him."--[It boded death to Germanicus when the Apis refused to eat
out of his hand.]

"Those are lucky presages," said Paaker in a tone of conviction.

"And let us hasten to seize with gratitude that which the Gods set before
us," cried Setchem with joyful emotion. "I will go to-morrow to my sister
and tell her that we shall live together in our old affection, and share
both good and evil; we are both of the same race, and I know that, as
order and cleanliness preserve a house from ruin and rejoice the
stranger, so nothing but unity can keep up the happiness of the family
and its appearance before people. What is bygone is bygone, and let it be
forgotten. There are many women in Thebes besides Nefert, and a hundred
nobles in the land would esteem themselves happy to win you for a
son-in-law."

Paaker rose, and began thoughtfully pacing the broad space, while Setchem
went on speaking.

"I know," she said, that I have touched a wound in thy heart; but it is
already closing, and it will heal when you are happier even than the
charioteer Mena, and need no longer hate him. Nefert is good, but she is
delicate and not clever, and scarcely equal to the management of so large
a household as ours. Ere long I too shall be wrapped in mummy-cloths, and
then if duty calls you into Syria some prudent housewife must take my
place. It is no small matter. Your grandfather Assa often would say that
a house well-conducted in every detail was a ma