en Twea touched his breast with
the slender, pink finger of her little hand, shaking with emotion, as if
to recall the remembrance of former familiarities; when Hont-Reche
placed before him the draught-board supported by two lions back to back,
in order to play a game; when Amense presented him with a lotus-flower
with respectful, supplicating grace, he could scarcely refrain from
striking them with his sceptre, and his royal eyes flashed with such
disdain that the poor women who had ventured on such boldness, withdrew
abashed, their eyes wet with tears, and leaned silently against the
painted wall, trying by their motionlessness to appear to be part of the
paintings on the frescoes.

To avoid these scenes of tears and violence, he had withdrawn to the
palace of Thebes, alone, taciturn, and sombre; and there, instead of
remaining seated on his throne in the solemn attitude of the gods and of
kings, who, being almighty, neither move nor make a gesture, he walked
feverishly up and down through the vast halls. Strange was it to see
that tall Pharaoh with imposing mien, as formidable as the granite
colossi, his like, making the stone floors resound under his curved
sandals. When he passed, the terrified guards seemed to be petrified and
to turn to stone. They remained breathless, and not even the double
ostrich-feather in their headgear dared tremble. When he had passed,
they scarce ventured to whisper, "What is the matter to-day with the
Pharaoh?"

Had he returned from his expedition a beaten man, he could not have been
more morose and sombre. If, instead of having won ten victories, slain
twenty thousand enemies, brought back two thousand virgins chosen from
among the fairest, a hundred loads of gold-dust, a thousand loads of
ebony and elephants' tusks, without counting the rare products and the
strange animals,--if, instead of all this, Pharaoh had seen his army cut
to pieces, his war chariots overthrown and broken, if he had escaped
alone from the rout under a shower of arrows, dusty, blood-covered,
taking the reins from the hands of his driver dead by his side,--he
certainly could not have appeared more gloomy and more desperate. After
all, the land of Egypt produces soldiers in abundance; innumerable
horses neigh and paw the ground in the palace stables; and workmen could
soon bend wood, melt copper, sharpen brass. The fortune of war is
changeable, but a disaster may be atoned for. To have, however, wished
for a thi