When I thought of you I had no peace. I will confess to you now, that
twenty times I looked out of the door, and asked whether my preserver--
the kind, curly-headed boy--would really come again, or whether he
despised a poor girl like me? You came, and I am so happy, and I could
enjoy myself with you to my heart's content. Be kind again--or I will
pull your hair!"

"You!" cried Rameri. "You cannot hurt with your little hands, though
you can with your tongue. Pentaur is much wiser and better than I, you
owe much to him, and nevertheless I--"

"Let that rest," interrupted the girl, growing grave. "He is not a man
like other men. If he asked to kiss me, I should crumble into dust, as
ashes dried in the sun crumble if you touch them with a finger, and I
should be as much afraid of his lips as of a lion's. Though you may
laugh at it, I shall always believe that he is one of the Immortals.
His own father told me that a great wonder was shown to him the very day
after his birth. Old Hekt has often sent me to the gardener with a
message to enquire after his son, and though the man is rough he is kind.
At first he was not friendly, but when he saw how much I liked his
flowers he grew fond of me, and set me to work to tie wreaths and
bunches, and to carry them to his customers. As we sat together, laying
the flowers side by side, he constantly told me something about his son,
and his beauty and goodness and wisdom. When he was quite a little boy
he could write poems, and he learned to read before any one had shown him
how. The high-priest Ameni heard of it and took him to the House of
Seti, and there he improved, to the astonishment of the gardener; not
long ago I went through the garden with the old man. He talked of
Pentaur as usual, and then stood still before a noble shrub with broad
leaves, and said, My son is like this plant, which has grown up close to