“Rames?  Merytra here can tell you of him, Prince.  He is the madcap young Count who killed the Prince of Kesh, and was sent by Neter-Tua far to the South-lands, that the barbarians there might make an end of him without scandal.  If ever he should come back with the Beggar-man and his message, which is not likely, you can answer him with the halter he deserves.”

“Aye, Kaku, but how will the Queen answer him?  There are stories afloat——­”

“Lies, every one of them, Prince.  She would have executed him at once had it not been for the influence of Mermes, and her foster-mother, Asti.  This Rames has in him the royal blood of the last dynasty, and the Star of Amen is not one who will share her sky with a rival star, unless he be her lawful Lord, which is your part.  If Rames or the foul Beggar brings you any message it will be that you are King of Kesh as well as of Egypt, and then you can kill him and take the heritage.  A fig for Rames and its stalk for the Beggar!”

“Perhaps,” replied Abi more cheerfully, “at any rate I do not fear that risk; but how about all Pharaoh’s talk of tombs?”

“Being dead, Prince, it is natural that the mind of his Ka should run on tombs, and his own royal burial, which as a matter of policy we must give to him.  Besides there the prophesy was safe, since to these same tombs all must come, especially those of us who have seen the Nile rise over sixty times—­as I have,” he added hastily.  “When we reach the tomb it will be time to deal with its affairs; till then let us be content with life, and the good things it offers, such as thrones, and find the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, and the rest.  Harvest your corn when it is ripe, Prince, and do not trouble about next year’s crop or whether in his grave Pharaoh’s Double eats white bread or brown.  Pharaoh’s daughter—­or Amen’s—­is your business, not his ghost.”

“Yes, good soothsayer,” said Abi, “she is my business.  But one more question.  Why did that accursed mummy speak of her as ’It’—­in my dream I mean—­as though she were no woman, but something beyond woman?”

For a moment Kaku hesitated, for the point was hard to answer, then he replied boldly: 

“Because as I believe, Prince, this Queen with whom the gods are rewarding your deserts is in truth more than woman, being Amen’s very daughter, and therefore in those realms whence the dream came, she is known not as woman, but by her title of Royal Loveliness.  Oh!” went on Kaku, simulating an enthusiasm that in truth did not glow within his breast, “great and glorious is your lot, King of the world, and splendid the path which I have opened to your triumphant feet.  It was I who showed you how Pharaoh might be trapped in Memphis, being but a poor fool easy to deceive, and it was I—­or rather Merytra yonder—­who rid you of him.  And now it is I, the Master whom you threatened with rods, that alone can interpret to you the happy omen of a dream which you thought fearsome.  Think of the end of it, Prince, and banish every doubt.  Who bore away the shape of Pharaoh?  Why the spirits of your sons, thus symbolising the triumph of your House.”