ood nearer to me;
but Rameses will not part with you, although--although--In point of fact
your office has two aspects; it requires the daring of a soldier, and the
dexterity of a scribe. No one denies that you have the first, but the
second--the sword and the reed-pen are very different weapons, one
requires supple fingers, the other a sturdy fist. The king used to
complain of your reports--is he better satisfied with them now?"

"I hope so," replied the Mohar; "my brother Horus is a practised writer,
and accompanies me in my journeys."

"That is well," said Ani. "If I had the management of affairs I should
treble your staff, and give you four--five--six scribes under you, who
should be entirely at your command, and to whom you could give the
materials for the reports to be sent out. Your office demands that you
should be both brave and circumspect; these characteristics are rarely
united; but there are scriveners by hundreds in the temples."

"So it seems to me," said Paaker.

Ani looked down meditatively, and continued--Rameses is fond of comparing
you with your father. That is unfair, for he--who is now with the
justified--was without an equal; at once the bravest of heroes and the
most skilful of scribes. You are judged unjustly; and it grieves me all
the more that you belong, through your mother, to my poor but royal
house. We will see whether I cannot succeed in putting you in the right
place. For the present you are required in Syria almost as soon as you
have got home. You have shown that you are a man who does not fear death,
and who can render good service, and you might now enjoy your wealth in
peace with your wife."

"I am alone," said Paaker.

"Then, if you come home again, let Katuti seek you out the prettiest wife
in Egypt," said the Regent smiling. "She sees herself every day in her
mirror, and must be a connoisseur in the charms of women."

Ani rose with these words, bowed to Paaker with studied friendliness,
gave his hand to Katuti, and said as he left the hall:

"Send me to-day the--the handkerchief--by the dwarf Nemu."

When he was already in the garden, he turned once more and said to Paaker

"Some friends are supping with me to-day; pray let me see you too."

The pioneer bowed; he dimly perceived that he was entangled in invisible
toils. Up to the present moment he had been proud of his devotion to his
calling, of his duties as Mohar; and now he had discovered that the king,
whose chai