left us a message of farewell. It
was not thought at all necessary to communicate the reason to us; but
we know more than the masters think. He did not reprove you strongly
enough, Bent-Anat, and therefore he is driven out of the House of
Seti. We have agreed to combine to ask for him to be recalled; Anana is
drawing up a letter to the chief priest, which we shall all subscribe.
It would turn out badly for one alone, but they cannot be at all of us
at once. Very likely they will have the sense to recall him. If not, we
shall all complain to our fathers, and they are not the meanest in the
land."

"It is a complete rebellion," cried Katuti. "Take care, you lordlings;
Ameni and the other prophets are not to be trifled with."

"Nor we either," said Rameri laughing, "If Pentaur is kept in
banishment, I shall appeal to my father to place me at the school at
Heliopolis or Chennu, and the others will follow me. Come, Bent-Anat,
I must be back in the trap before sunset. Excuse me, Katuti, so we call
the school. Here comes your little Nemu."

The brother and sister left the garden.

As soon as the ladies, who accompanied them, had turned their backs,
Bent-Anat grasped her brother's hand with unaccustomed warmth, and said:

"Avoid all imprudence; but your demand is just, and I will help you with
all my heart."

CHAPTER XI.

As soon as Bent-Anat had quitted Mena's domain, the dwarf Nemu entered
the garden with a letter, and briefly related his adventures; but in
such a comical fashion that both the ladies laughed, and Katuti, with a
lively gaiety, which was usually foreign to her, while she warned him,
at the same time praised his acuteness. She looked at the seal of the
letter and said:

"This is a lucky day; it has brought us great things, and the promise
of greater things in the future." Nefert came close up to her and said
imploringly: "Open the letter, and see if there is nothing in it from
him."

Katuti unfastened the wax, looked through the letter with a hasty
glance, stroked the cheek of her child, and said:

"Perhaps your brother has written for him; I see no line in his
handwriting."

Nefert on her side glanced at the letter, but not to read it, only to
seek some trace of the well-known handwriting of her husband.

Like all the Egyptian women of good family she could read, and during
the first two years of her married life she had often--very often--had
the opportunity of puzzling, and yet rejoicing