Katuti did not observe her daughter’s blush, for she was looking anxiously out at the garden gate, and said: 

“Where can Nemu be!  There must be some news arrived for us from the army.”

“Mena has not written for so long,” Nefert said softly.  “Ah! here is the steward!”

Katuti turned to the officer, who had entered the veranda through a side door: 

“What do you bring,” she asked.

“The dealer Abscha,” was the answer, “presses for payment.  The new Syrian chariot and the purple cloth—­”

“Sell some corn,” ordered Katuti.

“Impossible, for the tribute to the temples is not yet paid, and already so much has been delivered to the dealers that scarcely enough remains over for the maintenance of the household and for sowing.”

“Then pay with beasts.”

“But, madam,” said the steward sorrowfully, “only yesterday, we again sold a herd to the Mohar; and the water-wheels must be turned, and the corn must be thrashed, and we need beasts for sacrifice, and milk, butter, and cheese, for the use of the house, and dung for firing.”

   [In Egypt, where there is so little wood, to this day the dried dung
   of beasts is the commonest kind of fuel.]

Katuti looked thoughtfully at the ground.

“It must be,” she said presently.  “Ride to Hermonthis, and say to the keeper of the stud that he must have ten of Mena’s golden bays driven over here.”

“I have already spoken to him,” said the steward, “but he maintains that Mena strictly forbade him to part with even one of the horses, for he is proud of the stock.  Only for the chariot of the lady Nefert.”

“I require obedience,” said Katuti decidedly and cutting short the steward’s words, “and I expect the horses to-morrow.”

“But the stud-master is a daring man, whom Mena looks upon as indispensable, and he—­”

“I command here, and not the absent,” cried Katuti enraged, “and I require the horses in spite of the former orders of my son-in-law.”

Nefert, during this conversation, pulled herself up from her indolent attitude.  On hearing the last words she rose from her couch, and said, with a decision which surprised even her mother—­

“The orders of my husband must be obeyed.  The horses that Mena loves shall stay in their stalls.  Take this armlet that the king gave me; it is worth more than twenty horses.”

The steward examined the trinket, richly set with precious stones, and looked enquiringly at Katuti.  She shrugged her shoulders, nodded consent, and said—­

“Abscha shall hold it as a pledge till Mena’s booty arrives.  For a year your husband has sent nothing of importance.”

When the steward was gone, Nefert stretched herself again on her couch and said wearily: 

“I thought we were rich.”

“We might be,” said Katuti bitterly; but as she perceived that Nefert’s cheeks again were glowing, she said amiably, “Our high rank imposes great duties on us.  Princely blood flows in our veins, and the eyes of the people are turned on the wife of the most brilliant hero in the king’s army.  They shall not say that she is neglected by her husband.  How long Mena remains away!”