touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.

"I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka," he said
as he took it. "But here in my own house which once was the palace of
our forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit
them. Amen be my witness," he added bitterly, "I cannot bear to lay
the letter of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country's
vassalage."

Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
grew black with rage.

"What!" he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. "What!
Does this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the
Royal Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First
I will choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you
care to bring me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life
would pay the price."

"As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince,
I brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I
believe, to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the
truth, Prince, and I think that I may be of more service to you alive
than dead. If you do not wish to send the lady Amada to the King,
marry her to someone else, after which he will seek her no more."

He looked at me shrewdly and said,

"To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already
married. Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?"