, as far
as the eye could reach, Oph stretched out with its palaces, its priests'
colleges, its houses, and in the dimmest distance the crests of its
walls and the summits of its gates showed as faint blue lines.

Tahoser gazed upon the prospect which was so familiar to her, but her
glance expressed no admiration; however, as she passed a house almost
buried amid luxuriant vegetation, she lost her apathy, and seemed to
seek on the terraces and on the outer gallery some well-known form.

A handsome young man, carelessly leaning against one of the slender
pillars of the building, appeared to be watching the crowd, but his dark
eyes, with their dreamy look, did not rest on the chariot which bore
Tahoser and Nofre.

Meanwhile the hand of the daughter of Petamounoph clung nervously to
the edge of the car; her cheeks turned pale under the light touch of
rouge which Nofre had put on, and as if she felt herself fainting, she
breathed in rapidly and often the scent of her nosegay of lotus.

III

In spite of her usual perspicacity, Nofre had not noticed the effect
produced on her mistress by the sight of the careless stranger. She had
observed neither her pallor, followed by a deep blush, nor the brighter
gleam of her glance nor the rustling of the enamels and pearls of her
necklace rising and falling with her bosom. It is true that her whole
attention was given to the management of the equipage, which presented a
good deal of difficulty in view of the ever denser masses of sight-seers
crowding to be present at the triumphal entrance of the Pharaoh.

At last the car reached the parade ground, a vast enclosure carefully
levelled for military displays. Great banks, which must have cost thirty
enslaved nations the labour of years, formed a bold framework for the
immense parallelogram. Sloping revetment walls of unbaked bricks covered
the banks, and the crests were lined many files deep by hundreds of
thousands of Egyptians, whose white or brightly striped costumes
fluttered in the sun with that constant motion characteristic of a
multitude even when it seems to be motionless. Behind this ring of
spectators the cars, chariots, and litters watched by the coachmen,
drivers, and slaves, seemed to be the camp of a migrating nation, so
great was their number; for Thebes, the wonder of the ancient world,
reckoned more inhabitants than do certain kingdoms. The fine, smooth
sand of the vast arena lined with a million people, sp