So I went, and she watched me to the door with eyes that were full of tenderness.

Again there is a blank in my memory, or my vision.  I suppose that Magas and his daughter Heliodore arrived at the palace on the day of my interview with Irene, of which I have told.  I suppose that I welcomed them and conducted them to the guest house that had been made ready for them in the gardens.  Doubtless, I listened eagerly to the first words which Heliodore spoke to me, save that one in the cathedral, the word of greeting.  Doubtless, I asked her many things, and she gave me many answers.  But of all this nothing remains.

What comes back to me is a picture of the Egyptian prince, Magas, and myself seated at some meal in a chamber overlooking the moonlit palace garden.  We were alone, and this noble, white-bearded man, hook-nosed and hawk-eyed, was telling me of the troubles of his countrymen, the Christian Copts of Egypt.

“Look on me, sir,” he said.  “As I could prove to you, were it worth while, and as many could bear witness, for the records have been kept, I am a descendant in the true line from the ancient Pharaohs of my country.  Moreover, my daughter, through her Grecian mother, is sprung from the Ptolemies.  Our race is Christian, and has been for these three hundred years, although it was among the last to be converted.  Yet, noble as we are, we suffer every wrong at the hands of the Moslems.  Our goods and lands are doubly taxed, and, if we should go into the towns of Lower Egypt, we must wear garments on which the Cross is broidered as a badge of shame.  Yet, where I live—­near to the first cataract of the Nile, and not so very far from the city of old Thebes—­the Prophet-worshippers have no real power.  I am still the true ruler of that district, as the Bishop Barnabas will tell you, and at any moment, were my standard to be lifted, I could call three thousand Coptic spears to fight for Christ and Egypt.  Moreover, if money were forthcoming, the hosts of Nubia could be raised, and together we might sweep down on the Moslems like the Nile in flood, and drive them back to Alexandria.”

Then he went on to set out his plans, which in sum were that a Roman fleet and army should appear at the mouths of the Nile to besiege and capture Alexandria, and, with his help, massacre or drive out every Moslem in Egypt.  The scheme, which he set forth with much detail, seemed feasible enough, and when I had mastered its particulars I promised to report it to the Empress, and afterwards to speak with him further.

I left the chamber, and presently stood in the garden.  Although it was autumn time, the night in this mild climate was very warm and pleasant, and the moonlight threw black shadows of the trees across the paths.  Under one of these trees, an ancient, green-leaved oak, the largest of a little grove, I saw a woman sitting.  Perchance I knew who she was, perchance I had come thither to meet her, I cannot say.  At least, this was not our first meeting by many, for as I came she rose, lifting her flower-like face towards my own, and next moment was in my arms.