done, to help me in my work. May these hours be blest to you!"




CHAPTER XXII.

At the time of this conversation the leech Nebsecht still lingered in
front of the hovel of the paraschites, and waited with growing impatience
for the old man's return.

At first he trembled for him; then he entirely forgot the danger into
which he had thrown him, and only hoped for the fulfilment of his
desires, and for wonderful revelations through his investigations of the
human heart.

For some minutes he gave himself up to scientific considerations; but he
became more and more agitated by anxiety for the paraschites, and by the
exciting vicinity of Uarda.

For hours he had been alone with her, for her father and grandmother
could no longer stop away from their occupations. The former must go to
escort prisoners of war to Hermonthis, and the old woman, since her
granddaughter had been old enough to undertake the small duties of the
household, had been one of the wailing-women, who, with hair all
dishevelled, accompanied the corpse on its way to the grave, weeping,
and lamenting, and casting Nile-mud on their forehead and breast. Uarda
still lay, when the sun was sinking, in front of the hut.

She looked weary and pale. Her long hair had come undone, and once more