Then this marvel came to pass, for the beautiful face—­could her own ever have been so beautiful?—­the imperial face, bent forward a little, and from the red lips came a soft voice, her own rich voice, that said: 

“Speak your will, Queen, and it shall be done.  I, who stand here, am your servant to command, O Morning-Star, O Amen’s royal child.”

Tua sat up in her bed and laughed at the vision.

“My will!” she said.  “O Dream, why do you mock me?  Let me think.  What is my will?  Well, Dream, it is that of the beggar at the gate—­I desire a drink of water, and a crust of bread.”

“They are there,” answered the figure, pointing with the crystal sceptre in her hand to the table beside the couch.

Idly enough Tua looked, and so it was!  On the table stood pure water in a silver cup, and by it cakes of bread upon a golden platter.  She stretched out her hand, for surely this fantasy was pleasant, and took that ghost of a silver cup, her own cup that Pharaoh had given her as a child, and brought it to her lips and drank, and lo! water pure and cold flowed down her throat, until at length even her raging thirst was satisfied.  Then she stretched out her hand again, and took the loaves of bread, and ate them hungrily till all were gone, and as she swallowed the last of them, exclaimed in bitter shame: 

“Oh! what a selfish wretch am I who have drunk and eaten all, leaving nothing for my foster-mother, Asti, who lies asleep, and dies of want as I did.”

“Fear not,” answered the Dream.  “Look, there are more for Asti.”  And it was true, for the silver cup brimmed once more with cold water, and on the golden platter were other cakes.

Now the Dream spoke again: 

“Surely,” it said, “there were other wishes in your heart, O Morning-Star, than that for human sustenance?”

“Aye, O Dream, I wished for vengeance upon Abi, the traitor, Abi the murderer of my father, who would bring me to the last shame of womanhood.  I wished for vengeance upon Abi, and all who cling to him.”

The bright figure bowed, stretching out its jewelled hands, and answered: 

“I am your servant to obey.  It shall be worked, O Queen, such vengeance as you cannot dream of, vengeance poured drop by drop like poison in his veins, the torment of disappointed love, the torment of horrible fear, the torment of power given and snatched away, the torment of a death of shame, and the everlasting torment of the Eater-up of Souls—­this vengeance shall be worked upon Abi and all who cling to him.  Was there not another wish in your heart, O Morning-Star, O Queen divine?”

“Aye,” answered Tua, “but I may not speak it all even to myself in sleep.”

“It shall be given to you, O Morning-Star.  You shall find your love though far away beyond the horizon, and he shall return with you, and you twain shall rule in the Upper and the Lower Land, and in all the lands beyond with glory such as has not been known in Egypt.”