mind, confessed that he had been to blame in failing to foresee his
pupil's change of thought.

Education and precept had made Mesu an Egyptian priest according to his
own heart and that of the divinity; but after having once raised his hand
in the defence of his own people against those to whom he had been bound
only by human craft and human will, he was lost to the Egyptians and
became once more a true son of his race. And where this man of the
strong will and lofty soul led the way, others could not fail to follow.

Rui knew likewise full well what the renegade meant to give to his race;
he had confessed it himself to the priest-faith in the one God. Mesu had
rejected the accusation of perjury, declaring that he would never betray
the mysteries to the Hebrews, his sole desire was to lead them back to
the God whom they had worshipped ere Joseph and his family came to Egypt.
True, the "One" of the initiated resembled the God of the Hebrews in many
things, but this very fact had soothed the old sage; for experience had
taught him that the masses are not content with a single invisible God,
an idea which many, even among the more advanced of his own pupils found
difficult to comprehend. The men and women of the lower classes needed
visible symbols of every important thing whose influence they perceived
in and around them, and the Egyptian religion supplied these images.
What could an invisible creative power guiding the course of the universe
be to a love-sick girl? She sought the friendly Hathor, whose gentle
hands held the cords that bound heart to heart, the beautiful mighty
representative of her sex--to her she could trustingly pour forth all the
sorrows that burdened her bosom. What was the petty grief of a mother
who sought to snatch her darling child from death, to the mighty and
incomprehensible Deity who governed the entire universe? But the good
Isis, who herself had wept her eyes red in bitter anguish, could