If the Hebrews were once more settled in the land, Prince Siptah, who
regarded no punishment too severe for the race he hated, might perhaps
seize the sceptre of the cowardly king Menephtah.

But the fugitives must first be stopped, and Hosea was the right man to
do this. But in Bai's eyes no one would be more able to gain the
confidence of an unsuspicious soldier than Pharaoh and his royal consort.
The venerable high-priest Rui, though wholly unaware of the conspiracy,
shared this opinion, and thus the sovereigns had been persuaded to
interrupt the mourning for the dead and speak in person to the Hebrew.

Hosea had prostrated himself before the throne and, when he rose, the
king's weary face was bent toward him, sadly, it is true, yet graciously.

According to custom, the hair and beard of the father who had lost his
first-born son had been shaven. Formerly they had encircled his face in
a frame of glossy black, but twenty years of anxious government had made
them grey, and his figure, too, had lost its erect carriage and seemed
bent and feeble, though he had scarcely passed his fifth decade. His
regular features were still beautiful in their symmetry, and there was a
touch of pathos in their mournful gentleness, so evidently incapable of
any firm resolve, especially when a smile lent his mouth a bewitching
charm.

The languid indolence of his movements scarcely impaired the natural
dignity of his presence, yet his musical voice was wont to have a feeble,
beseeching tone. He was no born ruler; thirteen older brothers had died
ere the throne of Pharaoh had become his heritage, and up to early
manhood he had led a careless, joyous existence--as the handsomest youth
in the whole land, the darling of women, the light-hearted favorite of