y and stricken with fear.

"'Nay,' she said, gazing after him, 'no more am I Meneptah's wife, but
still am I Khem's dreaded Queen. Oh, thou old priest, I am aweary. See
what a lot is mine, who have all things but love, and yet am sick of
all! I longed for power, and power is mine, and what is power? It is
a rod wherewith we beat the air that straightway closes on the stroke.
Yes, I tire of my loveless days and of this dull round of common things.
Oh, for one hour of love and in that hour to die! Oh that the future
would lift its veil and disclose the face of time to be! Say, Rei! Wilt
thou be bold and dare a deed?' And she clasped me by the sleeve and
whispered in my ear, in the dead tongue known to her and me--'Her I
slew--thou sawest----'

"'Ay, Queen, I saw--what of her? 'Twas ill done.'

"'Nay, 'twas rightly done and well done. But thou knowest she is not
yet cold, nor for a while will be, and I have the art to drag her spirit
back ere she be cold, from where she is, and to force knowledge from her
lips--for being an Osiris all the future is open to her in this hour.'

"'Nay, nay,' I cried. 'It is unholy--not lightly may we disturb the
dead, lest the Guardian Gods be moved to anger.'

"'Yet will I do it, Rei. If thou dost fear, come not. But I go. I am
fain for knowledge, and thus only may I win it. If I die in the dread
endeavour, write this of Meriamun the Queen: That in seeking the
to-be--she found it!'

"'Nay, Royal Lady,' I answered, 'thou shalt not go alone. I too have
some skill in magic, and perchance can ward evil from thee. So, if
indeed thou wilt dare this dreadful thing, behold now, as ever, I am thy
servant.'

"'It is well. See, now, the body will this night be laid in the
sanctuary of the Temple of Osiris that is near the great gates, as is
the custom, to await the coming of the embalmers. Come ere she be colder
than my heart, come with me, Rei, to the house of the Lord of the Dead!'

"She passed to her chamber, wrapped herself about in a dark robe, and
hurried with me to the Temple doors, where we were challenged by the
guards.

"'Who passes? In the name of the Holy Osiris speak.'

"'Rei, the Master Builder and the anointed Priest, and with him
another,' I made answer. 'Open.'

"'Nay, I open not. There is one within who may not be wakened.'

"'Who, then, is within?'

"'She whom the Queen slew.'

"'The Queen sends one who would look on her she slew.'

"Then the priest gazed on the ho