of her Highness was perfect, as was all your demeanour after the first
argument."

"And so it would remain, Ana, if I were never called upon to do more
than kiss her brow, to which I have been accustomed from boyhood.
Oh! Ana, Ana," he added in a kind of cry, "already you are becoming a
courtier like the rest of them, a courtier who cannot speak the truth.
Well, nor can I, so why should I blame you? Tell me again all about your
marriage, Ana, of how it began and how it ended."



CHAPTER V

THE PROPHECY

Whether or no the Prince Seti saw Userti again before the hour of his
marriage with her I cannot say, because he never told me. Indeed I was
not present at the marriage, for the reason that I had been granted
leave to return to Memphis, there to settle my affairs and sell my house
on entering upon my appointment as private scribe to his Highness. Thus
it came about that fourteen full days went by from that of the holding
of the Court of Betrothal before I found myself standing once more at
the gate of the Prince's palace, attended by a servant who led an ass
on which were laden all my manuscripts and certain possessions that had
descended to me from my ancestors with the title-deeds of their tombs.
Different indeed was my reception on this my second coming. Even as I
reached the steps the old chamberlain Pambasa appeared, running down
them so fast that his white robes and beard streamed upon the air.