Tua looked at him and loved him more than ever, for now that he was
troubled some new likeness to Rames appeared upon his face which she had
never seen before.

"Take heart, noble Mermes," she said gently, "they say that Pharaoh
stays with us yet a while."

"I thank Amen," he answered, "for had he died, his blood would have been
upon the hands of my House."

"Not so, Mermes; it would have been upon the hands of the gods. You
spring from a royal line; say, what would you have thought of your son
if after being struck by that fat Nubian, he had cowered at his feet and
prayed for his life like any slave?"

Mermes flushed and smiled a little, then said:

"The question is rather---What would you have thought, O Queen?"

"I?" answered Tua. "Well, as a queen I should have praised him much,
since then Egypt would have been spared great trouble, but as a woman
and a friend I should never have spoken to him again. Honour is more
than life, Mermes."

"Certainly honour is more than life," replied Mermes, staring at the
ceiling, perhaps to hide the look upon his face, "and for a little while
Rames seems to be in the way of it. But those who are set high have far
to fall, O Queen, and--forgive me--he is my only child. Now when Pharaoh
recovers----"