e of his most gallant efforts to win. Masanath,
against whom he had played, finally thrust the pawns away and refused
to play further with him.

"Thou dost make sport for the Hathors, O Prince," she said. "Have
respect for thyself and indulge their caprice no more."

"Hast thou not heard that we may compel the gods?" he asked. "Perhaps
I do but indulge them, of a truth. But let me set mine own will
against fate and there shall be no more losing for me."

"It is a precarious game. Perchance there is as strong a will as
thine, compelling the Hathors contrarily to thine own desires. What,
then, O Rameses?"

"By the gambling god, Toth, I shall try it!" he exclaimed. "The
opportunity is before me even now."

He took her hand.

"I catch thy meaning. Beloved of Isis! Thou didst challenge me long
ago, and long ago I took it up. Thus far have we fenced behind
shields. Down with the bull-hide, now, and bare the heart!"

"Thou dost forget thyself," she retorted, wrenching her hand from him.
"The eyes of thy guests are upon thee."

He laughed. "The prince's doings become the fashion. Let me be seen
and there shall be no woman's hand unpossessed in this chamber."

"Thou shalt set no fashion by me. Neither shalt thou rend the Hathors
between thy wishes and mine. Furthermore, if thou dost forget thy
princely dignity, thy power will not prevent me if I would remind thee
of thy lapse."

"War!" he exclaimed. "Now, by the battling hosts of Set, never have I
met a foe so worthy the overcoming. Listen! Dost thou know that I
have sorrows? Dost thou remember that I may have sleepless nights and
unhappy days--discontents, heartaches and oppressions? I am not less
human because I am royal, but because I am royal I am more unhappy.
Sorry indeed is a prince's lot! Wherefore? Because he is sated with
submission; because he hath drunk satiety to its very dregs; because he
hath been denied the healing hunger of appetite, ambition, conquest.
How hath my miserable heart longed to aspire--to conquer! I have
starved for something beyond my reach. But lo! in thee I have found
what I sought. Thou hast defied me, rebuffed me, thwarted me till the
surfeited soul in me hath grown fat upon resistance. Now shall the
longing to conquer that racketh me be fed! Go on in thy rebellion,
Masanath! Gods! but thou art a foe worthy the subduing! I would not
have thee give up to me now. I would earn thee by defeats, losses and