“No, Master, I am tying them about my throat.  See, such is the way of the world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which.  For years I have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited strange countries and have gathered learning, till I think I am the wisest man upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and holding nothing at risk, except my own life which mattered no more than that of a gnat dancing in the sun.  Now all is changed.  I have a wife whom I love also, more than I can tell you,” and he sighed, “but who still must be looked after and obeyed—­yes, obeyed.  Further, soon I shall have a people and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs of state, and an ancient religion to support and the Grasshopper itself knows what besides.  The burden has rolled from your back to mine, Master, making my heart which was so light, heavy, and oh!  I wish it had stopped where it was.”

Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of Bes.

“Master,” he went on in a changed voice, “I have been a fool and my folly has worked you ill.  Forgive me since I acted for the best, only until the end no one ever knows what is the best.  Now here is the house and I go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements.  By dawn perhaps you will be ready to start to Ethiopia.”

“Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?”

“Certainly, Master.  That is unless you should desire that I accompany you somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance.  If so, I do not know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there is much of the world that I should still like to visit.  Only then there is Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all, soon will expect, to be a queen,” he added doubtfully.

“No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would like to try a sceptre.”

“I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks it wisest, and he is the voice of Fate.  Oh! why do we trouble who after all, every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate.”

Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my mother sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits.  She looked at my face, then asked what troubled me.  I sat down on a stool at her feet and told her everything.

“Much as I thought,” she said when I had finished.  “These over-learned women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like too much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the Nile.  Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already anxious for his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess than your wife, or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for her votaries.  Let us rather blame the Power that is behind the veil, or to it bow our heads, seeing that we know nothing of the end for which it works.  So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my Son, and whither away?  Not to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon grow shorter by a head.”