“I?  No, I am too old for such gems.  Yet, Son, it might be well to keep them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others.  Whereas if you gave them the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be to see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by one whose orders may not be disobeyed.”

Now I turned white with rage and answered,

“While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman of yonder King.”

“While you live, Son.  But those who cross the will of a great king, are apt to die.  Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa, must decide as policy dictates.  Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in the game.  Oh! my son,” she went on, “do not pin all your heart to the robe of this Amada.  She is very fair and very learned, but is she one who will love?  Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be difficult for her to wed who is sworn to Isis.  Lastly, remember this:  If Egypt were free, she would be its heiress, not her uncle, Peroa.  For hers is the true blood, not his.  Would he, therefore, be willing to give her to any man who, according to the ancient custom, through her would acquire the right to rule?”

“I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love.”

“Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes, which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your order, gave to the King of the East, or so I understand.  Here is a pretty tangle, Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and those priceless pearls than have the task of its unravelling.”

Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me this night.

So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.  Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.

“Now, Master,” said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, “I almost wish that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the story.  Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles are about to begin.  Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy Tanofir.”

“And I come with you,” I answered, “for I think it will be needed.”

CHAPTER IX

THE MESSENGERS

We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to the wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa.  Here we were received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some state although it was but small, and had about him men who bore the old, high-sounding titles of the “Officers of Pharaoh.”