dly:

"Yes, it is true, Nitocris, true that thou art now Queen in the land by
the will of the great Rameses; and true also it is that the shade of
Nefer is now waiting in the halls of Amenti till his murderers shall be
sent by the hand of a just vengeance into the presence of the Divine
Assessors."

"Ah yes, vengeance," she replied, turning towards him with a gasp in her
voice, "that must come; but whose hand shall cast the spear or draw the
bow? We claim kinship with the gods, but we are not the gods, and what
mortal hand could avenge a crime like this?"

"A woman's hand is soft and a woman's lips are sweet, yet what so cruel
or so merciless in all the world as a woman? As there is nothing liker
Heaven than a woman's love, so there is nothing liker Hell than a
woman's hate. So saith the Ancient Wisdom, O Nitocris; and therefore, as
thou hast loved Nefer the Prince, so shalt thou also hate Menkau-Ra and
Anemen-Ha, his murderers and the destroyers of his promised happiness."

She shivered as he spoke, not with cold, for the breath of that perfect
night was well nigh as soft as her touch and as warm as her own breath.
She turned swiftly and laid her hand on his shoulder. Her touch was as
light as the falling of the rose-leaves in the gardens of Sais, yet he
trembled under it, and his face, which had been as pale as her own
before, flushed darkly red as she looked into his eyes.

"You--yes, you, Ma-Rim[=o]n, you too love me, do you not--truly? The
stars are the eyes of the gods: they are looking on you. Tell me, do you
love me? Does your blood throb in your veins when I touch you? Does your
heart beat quicker when you come near me? Are your ears keener for my
voice than for that of any other woman--tell me?"

His hands went up and clasped hers as they lay on his shoulders. He took
her right hand and pressed it to his heart, and laid her left hand on
his cheek. Then he let them fall. He stepped back, bowed his head, and
said:

"The Queen is answered!"

"Not the Queen, but the woman, Ma-Rim[=o]n, and as a woman loves to be
answered. And now the woman shall speak. Nefer is dead, yet is not Nefer
re-incarnated in another form, another man of another build, but yet
Nefer that was--and is beside me now?"

She whispered these words very softly and very distinctly, and as the
words came rippling out from between her half-smiling lips, she took
half a pace forward and looked up into his face.

"Not dead--Nefer--I!" he e