e tomb of her Majesty and stole what the old thieves had
left. Her Majesty says also--and he does not deny it--that he dared to
kiss her hand, and for a man to kiss the hand of a wedded Queen of Egypt
the punishment is death. I claim that this man should die to the World
before his time, that in a day to come again he may live and suffer in
the World. Judge, O Menes."

Menes lifted his head and spoke, saying:--

"Repeat to me the law, O Pharaoh, under which a living man must die
for the kissing of a dead hand. In my day and in that of those who went
before me there was no such law in Egypt. If a living man, who was not
her husband, or of her kin, kissed the living hand of a wedded Queen of
Egypt, save in ceremony, then perchance he might be called upon to die.
Perchance for such a reason a certain Horu once was called upon to die.
But in the grave there is no marriage, and therefore even if he had
found her alive within the tomb and kissed her hand, or even her lips,
why should he die for the crime of love?

"Hear me, all; this is my judgment in the matter. Let the soul of that
priest who first violated the tomb of the royal Ma-Mee be hunted down
and given to the jaws of the Destroyer, that he may know the last depths
of Death, if so the gods declare. But let this man go from among us
unharmed, since what he did he did in reverent ignorance and because
Hathor, Goddess of Love, guided him from of old. Love rules this world
wherein we meet to-night, with all the worlds whence we have gathered
or whither we still must go. Who can defy its power? Who can refuse its
rites? Now hence to Thebes!"

There was a rushing sound as of a thousand wings, and all were gone.

No, not all, since Smith yet stood before the draped colossi and the
empty steps, and beside him, glorious, unearthly, gleamed the vision of
Ma-Mee.

"I, too, must away," she whispered; "yet ere I go a word with you who
once were a sculptor in Egypt. You loved me then, and that love cost you
your life, you who once dared to kiss this hand of mine that again you
kissed in yonder tomb. For I was Pharaoh's wife in name only; understand
me well, in name only; since that title of Royal Mother which they gave
me is but a graven lie. Horu, I never was a wife, and when you died,
swiftly I followed you to the grave. Oh, you forget, but I remember!
I remember many things. You think that the priestly thief broke this
figure of me which you found in the sand outside