Now, this was the plan that had been built up.  My uncle Sepa had, for a while, left the Temple of Annu, giving out that his health had failed him.  Thence he had moved down to a house in Alexandria, to gather strength, as he said, from the breath of the sea, and also to learn for himself the wonders of the great Museum and the glory of Cleopatra’s Court.  There it was planned that I should join him, for there, at Alexandria, the egg of the plot was hatching.  Accordingly, when at last the summons came, all things being prepared, I made ready for the journey, and passed into my father’s chamber to receive his blessing before I went.  There sat the old man, as once before he sat when he had rebuked me because I went out to slay the lion, his long white beard resting on the table of stone and sacred writings in his hand.  When I came in he rose from his seat and would have knelt before me, crying “Hail, Pharaoh!” but I caught him by the hand.

“It is not meet, my father,” I said.

“It is meet,” he answered, “it is meet that I should bow before my King; but be it as thou wilt.  And so thou goest, Harmachis; my blessings go with thee, O my son!  And may Those whom I serve grant to me that my old eyes may, indeed, behold thee on the throne!  I have searched long, striving, Harmachis, to read the future that shall be; but I can learn naught by all my wisdom.  It is hid from me, and at times my heart fails.  But hear this, there is danger in thy path, and it comes in the form of Woman.  I have known it long, and therefore thou hast been called to the worship of the heavenly Isis, who bids her votaries put away the thought of woman till such time as she shall think well to slacken the rule.  Oh, my son, I would that thou wert not so strong and fair—­stronger and fairer, indeed, than any man in Egypt, as a King should be—­for in that strength and beauty may lie a cause of stumbling.  Beware, then, of those witches of Alexandria, lest, like a worm, some one of them creep into my heart and eat its secret out.”

“Have no fear, my father,” I answered, frowning, “my thought is set on other things than red lips and smiling eyes.”

“It is good,” he answered; “so may it befall.  And now farewell.  When next we meet, may it be in that happy hour when, with all the priests of the Upper Land, I move down from Abouthis to do my homage to Pharaoh on his throne.”

So I embraced him, and went.  Alas!  I little thought how we should meet again.

Thus it came about that once more I passed down the Nile travelling as a man of no estate.  And to such as were curious about me it was given out that I was the adopted son of the High Priest of Abouthis, having been brought up to the priesthood, and that I had at the last refused the service of the Gods, and chosen to go to Alexandria, to seek my fortune.  For, be it remembered, I was still held to be the grandson of the old wife, Atoua, by all those who did not know the truth.