breathless, amazed, watched through
the crack of the wall; but soon memory returned, and with it the feeling
of her situation.

The light fell full on Ra'hel's face. Tahoser studied it silently,
grieved to find her so perfectly beautiful. In vain, with all the
fierceness of feminine jealousy, she tried to note defects in her; she
felt herself not vanquished, but equalled; Ra'hel was the Hebrew ideal,
as Tahoser was the Egyptian. Hard though it was to her loving heart, she
was compelled to admit that Poeri's love was justified and well
bestowed. The eyes with their full black eyelashes, the beautiful nose,
the red mouth with its dazzling smile, the long, elegant oval face, the
arms, full near the shoulders and ending in childish hands, the round,
plump neck which, as it turned, formed folds more beautiful than
necklaces of gems,--all this, set off by a quaint, exotic dress, was
sure to please.

"I made a great mistake," said Tahoser to herself, "when I presented
myself to Poeri in the humble attitude of a suppliant, trusting to my
charms overpraised by flatterers. Fool that I was! I acted as a soldier
who should go to war without breastplate or weapons. If I had appeared
in all my splendour, covered with jewels and enamels, standing on my
golden car followed by my numerous slaves, I might perhaps have touched
his fancy, if not his heart."

"How do you feel now?" said Ra'hel in Egyptian to Tahoser; for by the
outline of the face and the dressing of the hair, she had perceived that
the maiden did not belong to the Israelitish race. The sound of her
voice was sympathetic and sweet, and the foreign accent added greater
grace to it.

Tahoser was touched in spite of herself, and replied, "I feel better.
Your kind care will soon have restored me."

"Do not tire yourself with speaking," answered the Israelite, placing
her hand on Tahoser's lips. "Try to sleep, to regain your strength.
Thamar and I will watch over you."

Her agitation, the swim across the Nile, the long walk through the poor
quarters of Thebes, had wearied out Petamounoph's daughter; her delicate
frame was exhausted, and soon her long lashes closed, forming a dark
semicircle upon her cheeks flushed with fever. Sleep came to her, but
broken, restless, distorted by strange dreams, troubled by threatening
hallucinations; nervous shivers made the sleeper start, and broken
words, replying to the dream dialogue, were spoken by the half-opened
lips.

Seated a