me, yet enfolding him and me, writhed that Thing thou wottest
of. And he whom I loved turned to look upon the fair woman, wondering,
and she smiled and stretched out her arm towards him as one who would
take that which is her own, and Rei, in that hour, though it was but in
a dream, I knew the mortal pain of jealousy, and awoke trembling.
And now read thou this vision, Rei, thou who art learned in the
interpretation of dreams and in the ways of sleep.'

"'Oh, Lady,' I made answer, 'this thing is too high for me, I cannot
interpret it; but where thou art, there may I be to help thee.'

"'I know thy love,' she said, 'but in thy words is little light.
So--so--let it pass! It was but a dream, and if indeed it came from the
Under World, why, it was from no helpful God, but rather from Set, the
Tormentor; or from Pasht, the Terrible, who throws the creeping shadow
of her doom upon the mirror of my sleep. For that which is decreed will
surely come to pass! I am blown like the dust by the breath of Fate; now
to rest upon the Temple's loftiest tops, now to be trodden underfoot of
slaves, and now to be swallowed by the bitter deep, and in season thence
rolled forth again. I love not this lord of mine, who shall be Pharaoh,
and never may _he_ come whom I shall love. 'Tis well that I love him
not, for to love is to be a slave. When the heart is cold then the hand
is strong, and I am fain to be the Queen leading Pharaoh by the beard,
the first of all the ancient land of Khem; for I was not born to serve.
Nay, while I may, I rule, awaiting the end of rule. Look forth, Rei, and
see how the rays from Mother Isis' throne flood all the courts and all
the city's streets and break in light upon the water's breast. So shall
the Moon-child's flame flood all this land of Khem. What matters it, if
ere the morn Isis must pass to her dominion of the Dead, and the voice
of Meriamun be hushed within a sepulchre?'

"So she spoke and went thence, and on her face was no bride's smile, but
rather such a gaze as that with which the great sphinx, Horemku, looks
out across the desert sands."

"A strange Queen, Rei," said the Wanderer, as he paused, "but what have
I to make in this tale of a bride and her mad dreams?"

"More than thou shalt desire," said Rei; "but let us come to the end,
and thou shalt hear thy part in the Fate."

VIII

THE KA, THE BAI, AND THE KHOU

"The Divine Pharaoh Rameses died and was gathered to Osiris. With these
han