"A beautiful dream," said Katuti; "that reminds me of your girlhood, when
you would he awake half the night inventing all sorts of tales. What
interpretation did the priest give you?"

"He promised me many things," said Nefert, "and he gave me the assurance
that the happiness to which I am predestined shall revive in fresh beauty
after many interruptions."

"And Paaker's father gave you the Neha-tree?" asked Katuti, leaving the
veranda as she spoke and walking out into the garden.

"My father brought it to Thebes from the far cast," said Paaker, in
confirmation of the widow's parting words.

"And that is exactly what makes me so happy," said Nefert. "For your
father was as kind, and as dear to me as if he had been my own. Do you
remember when we were sailing round the pond, and the boat upset, and you
pulled me senseless out of the water? Never shall I forget the
expression with which the great man looked at me when I woke up in its
arms; such wise true eyes no one ever had but he."

"He was good, and he loved you very much," said Paaker, recalling, for
his part, the moment when he had dared to press a kiss on the lips of the
sweet unconscious child.

"And I am so glad," Nefert went on, "that the day has come at last when
we can talk of him together again, and when the old grudge that lay so
heavy in my heart is all forgotten. How good you are to us, I have
already learned; my heart overflows with gratitude to you, when I