torment thee, till such time as thy sin is purged, and the Gods of
Egypt, called by strange names, are once more worshipped in the Temples
of Egypt, and the staff of the Oppressor is broken, and the footsteps of
the Foreigner are swept clean, and the thing is accomplished as thou in
thy weakness shalt cause it to be done."

When she had spoken thus, the Spirit of Prophecy went out of her, and
she fell dead across the cradle where I slept, so that I awoke with a
cry.

But my father, Amenemhat, the High Priest, trembled, and was very
fearful, both because of the words which had been said by the Spirit of
the Hathors through the mouth of my mother, and because what had been
uttered was treason against Ptolemy. For he knew that, if the matter
should come to the ears of Ptolemy, Pharaoh would send his guards
to destroy the life of the child concerning whom such things were
prophesied. Therefore, my father shut the doors, and caused all those
who stood by to swear upon the holy symbol of his office, and by the
name of the Divine Three, and by the Soul of her who lay dead upon the
stones beside them, that nothing of what they had seen and heard should
pass their lips.

Now among the company was the old wife, Atoua, who had been the nurse of
my mother, and loved her well; and in these days, though I know not how
it had been in the past, nor how it shall be in the future, there is
no oath that can bind a woman's tongue. And so it came about that
by-and-by, when the matter had become homely in her mind, and her fear
had fallen from her, she spoke of the prophecy to her daughter, who
nursed me at the breast now that my mother was dead. She did this as
they walked together in the desert carrying food to the husband of the