Cleopatra on this night, then the plot
should hang in the scale till the morrow, when the deed must be done
upon occasion. For the death of Cleopatra was the signal. These matters
being finished, once more we stood and, our hands upon the sacred
symbol, swore the oath that may not be written. And then my uncle
kissed me with tears of hope and joy standing in his keen black eyes. He
blessed me, saying that he would gladly give his life, ay, and a hundred
lives, if they were his, if he might but live to see Egypt once more
a nation, and me, Harmachis, the descendant of its royal and ancient
blood, seated on the throne. For he was a patriot indeed, asking nothing
for himself, and giving all things to his cause. And I kissed him in
turn, and thus we parted. Nor did I ever see him more in the flesh who
has earned the rest that as yet is denied to me.

So I went, and, there being yet time, walked swiftly from place to place
in the great city, taking note of the positions of the gates and of the
places where our forces must be gathered. At length I came to that quay
where I had landed, and saw a vessel sailing for the open sea. I looked,
and in my heaviness of heart longed that I were aboard of her, to be
borne by her white wings to some far shore where I might live obscure
and die forgotten. Also I saw another vessel that had dropped down the
Nile, from whose deck the passengers were streaming. For a moment I
stood watching them, idly wondering if they were from Abouthis, when
suddenly I heard a familiar voice beside me.

"_La! la!_" said the voice. "Why, what a city is this for an old woman
to seek her fortune in! And how shall I find those to whom I am known?
As well look for the rush in the papyrus-roll.[*] Begone! thou knave!
and let my basket of simples lie; or, by the Gods, I'll doctor thee with
them!"

[*] Papyrus was manufactured from the pith of rushes. Hence
Atoua's saying.--Editor.

I turned, wondering, and found myself face to face with my foster-nurse,
Atoua. She knew me instantly, for I saw her start, but in the presence
of the people she checked her surprise.

"Good Sir," she whined, lifting her withered countenance towards me, and
at the same time making the secret sign. "By thy dress thou shouldst be
an astronomer, and I was specially told to avoid astronomers as a pack
of lying tricksters who worship their own star only; and, therefore, I
speak to thee, acting on the principle of contraries,