at all women fall in love with him. He rose and took a few
steps towards Nofre, whose anxious glance examined the corners of the
room to make sure whether Tahoser was there or not.

"What brings you here, Nofre?" said Ahmosis, seeing that the young maid,
full of her search, did not break silence. "Your mistress is well, I
hope, for I think I saw her yesterday at the Pharaoh's entry."

"You should know whether my mistress is well better than any one else,"
replied Nofre; "for she has fled from her home without informing any one
of her intentions. I could swear by Hathor that you know the refuge
which she chose."

"She has disappeared!--what are you talking about?" cried Ahmosis, with
a surprise that was unquestionably genuine.

"I thought she loved you," said Nofre, "and sometimes the best-behaved
maidens lose their heads. So she is not here?"

"The god Phrah, who sees everything, knows where she is, but not one of
his beams, which end in hands, has fallen on her within these walls.
Look for yourself and visit every room."

"I believe you, Ahmosis, and I must go; for if Tahoser had come, you
could not conceal it from her faithful Nofre, who would have asked
nothing better than to serve your loves. You are handsome; she is very
rich and a virgin; the gods would have beheld your marriage with
pleasure."

Nofre returned to the house more anxious and more upset than before. She
feared that the servants might be suspected of having killed Tahoser in
order to seize on her riches, and that the judges would seek to make
them confess under torture what they did not actually know.

The Pharaoh, on his part, was also thinking of Tahoser. After having
made the libations and the offerings required by the ritual, he had
seated himself in the inner court of the harem, and was sunk in thought,
paying no attention to the gambols of his women, who, nude and crowned
with flowers, were disporting themselves in the transparent waters of
the piscina, splashing each other and uttering shrill, sonorous bursts
of laughter, in order to attract the attention of the master, who had
not made up his mind, contrary to his habit, which of them should be the
favourite queen that week.

It was a charming picture which these beautiful women presented; in a
framework of shrubs and flowers, in the centre of the court, surrounded
by columns painted in brilliant colours, in the clear light of an azure
sky, across which flew from time to time an ibis