the queen, with rising terror.

"I know not. But I have the right to suppose that those voices of
spirits, which are heard in various comers of our palace, are some
trick of the priesthood. Only priests can fear me, never the gods, and
spirits. Therefore it is not spirits which are frightening us, mother."

The queen fell to thinking; it was clear that her son's words impressed
her. She had seen many miracles in her life and some of them had seemed
to her suspicious.

"In that case," said she, with a sigh, "Thou art not cautious, my son.
This afternoon Herhor visited me; he was very much dissatisfied with
the audience. He said that it was thy wish to remove the priests from
thy court."

"But of what use are priests to me? Are they to cause great outgo in my
kitchen and cellar? Or, perhaps, to hear what I say, and see what I
do?"

"The whole country will revolt," interrupted the queen, "if the priests
declare that Thou art an unbeliever."

"The country is in revolt now. But the priests are the cause of it,"
replied the pharaoh. "And touching the devotion of the Egyptian people
I begin to have another idea. If Thou knew, mother, how many lawsuits
there are in Lower Egypt for insults to the gods, and in Upper Egypt
for robbing the dead, Thou wouldst be convinced that for our people the
cause of the priests has ceased to be holy."

"This is through the influence of foreigners, especially Phoenicians,
who are flooding Egypt," cried the lady.

"All one through whose influence; enough that Egypt no longer considers
either statues or priests as superhuman. And wert thou, mother, to hear
the nobility, the officers, the warriors talk, Thou wouldst understand
that the time has come to put the power of the pharaoh in the place of
priestly power, unless all power is to fall in this country."

"Egypt is thine," sighed the queen. "Thy wisdom is uncommon, so do as
may please thee. But act Thou with caution oh, with caution! A scorpion
even when killed may still wound an unwary conqueror."

They embraced and the pharaoh returned to his bedchamber. But, in
truth, he could not sleep that time.

He understood clearly that between him and the priesthood a struggle
had begun, or rather something repulsive which did not even deserve the
name struggle, and which at the first moment he, the leader, could not
manage. For where was the enemy? Against whom was his faithful army to
show itself? Was it against the priests who fell on t