“Oh my father, how often hast thou thus admonished me! how often have I been convinced of the evil consequences of my rough words and angry gestures! but I cannot change my nature, I cannot . . .”

“Say rather:  I will not; for he that is indeed a man, dare never again commit those sins of which he has once repented.  But I have admonished sufficiently.  Tell me now how thou didst calm the wrath of Amasis.”

“Thou knowest my father.  When he saw that he had wounded me in the depths of my soul by his awful words, he repented him of his anger.  He felt he had been too hard, and desired to make amends at any price.”

“He hath a kindly heart, but his mind is blinded, and his senses taken captive,” cried the priest.  “What might not Amasis do for Egypt, would he but hearken to our counsel, and to the commandments of the gods!”

“But hear me, my father! in his emotion he granted me the life of Phanes!”

“Thine eyes flash, Psamtik! that pleaseth me not.  The Athenian must die, for he has offended the gods; but though he that condemns must let justice have her way, he should have no pleasure in the death of the condemned; rather should he mourn.  Now speak; didst thou obtain aught further?”

“The king declared unto me to what house Nitetis belongs.”

“And further naught?”

“No, my father; but art thou not eager to learn ... ?”

“Curiosity is a woman’s vice; moreover, I have long known all that thou canst tell me.”

“But didst thou not charge me but yesterday to ask my father this question?”

“I did do so to prove thee, and know whether thou wert resigned to the Divine will, and wert walking in those ways wherein alone thou canst become worthy of initiation into the highest grade of knowledge.  Thou hast told us faithfully all that thou hast heard, and thereby proved that thou canst obey—­the first virtue of a priest.”

“Thou knewest then the father of Nitetis?”

“I myself pronounced the prayer over king Hophra’s tomb.”

“But who imparted the secret to thee?”

“The eternal stars, my son, and my skill in reading them.”

“And do these stars never deceive?”

“Never him that truly understands them.”

Psamtik turned pale.  His father’s dream and his own fearful horoscope passed like awful visions through his mind.  The priest detected at once the change in his features and said gently:  “Thou deem’st thyself a lost man because the heavens prognosticated evil at thy birth; but take comfort, Psamtik; I observed another sign in the heavens at that moment, which escaped the notice of the astrologers.  Thy horoscope was a threatening, a very threatening one, but its omens may be averted, they may . . .”

“O tell me, father, tell me how!”

“They must turn to good, if thou, forgetful of all else, canst live alone to the gods, paying a ready obedience to the Divine voice audible to us their priests alone in the innermost and holiest sanctuary.”