"The scribe Ana uses a shorthand of his own that is not easy to
decipher. Yet I see written on the tablets the price he obtained for
some house in a city that is not named--it is so much. Also I see the
sums he disbursed for himself, a servant, and the food of an ass at two
inns where he stopped upon a journey. They are so much and so much. Also
there is a list of papyrus rolls and the words, 'blue cloak,' and then
an erasure."

"Is that right, Ana?" asked the Prince.

"Quite right," I answered with awe, "only the words 'blue cloak,' which
it is true I wrote upon the tablet, have also been erased."

Ki chuckled and turned his eyes from the ceiling to my face.

"Would your Highness wish me to tell you anything of what is written
upon the tablets of this scribe's memory as well as upon those of wax
which he holds in his hand? They are easier to decipher than the others
and I see on them many things of interest. For instance, secret words
that seem to have been said to him by some Great One within an hour,
matters of high policy, I think. For instance, a certain saying, I think
of your Highness's, as to shivering upon the edge of water on a cold
day, which when entered produced heat, and the answer thereto. For
instance, words that were spoken in this palace when an alabaster cup
was broke. By the way, Scribe, that was a very good place you chose in
which to hide one half of the cup in the false bottom of a chest in your
chamber, a chest that is fastened with a cord and sealed with a scarab
of the time of the second Rameses. I think that the other half of the
cup is somewhat nearer at hand," and turning, he stared at the wall