"Pardon me," he said again. "Let me be near thee again as before, and
drive thy chariot. I live only through thee, I am of no worth but
through thee, and by thy favor, my king, my lord, my father!"

Rameses signed to his favorite to rise. "Your request was granted," said
he, "before you made it. I am still in your debt on your fair wife's
account. Thank Nefert--not me, and let us give thanks to the Immortals
this day with especial fervor. What has it not brought forth for us! It
has restored to me you two friends, whom I regarded as lost to me, and
has given me in Pentaur another son."

A low whistle sounded through the night air; it was Katuti's last signal.

Paaker blew up the tinder, laid it in the bole under the parapet, and
then, unmindful of his own danger, raised himself to listen for any
further words.

"I entreat thee," said the Regent, approaching Rameses, "to excuse me.
I fully appreciate thy favors, but the labors of the last few days have
been too much for me; I can hardly stand on my feet, and the guard of
honor--"

"Mena will watch," said the king. "Sleep in all security, cousin. I
will have it known to all men that I have put away from me all distrust
of you. Give the my night-robe, Mena. Nay-one thing more I must tell
you. Youth smiles on the young, Ani. Bent-Anat has chosen a worthy
husband, my preserver, the poet Pentaur. He was said to be a man of
humble origin, the son of a gardener of the House of Seti; and now what
do I learn through Ameni? He is the true son of the dead Mohar, and the