looked on me more favourably than she had ever done on any other man,
and that if it had not been for what my mother called her soul and its
longings, she would have given herself to me before I journeyed to the
East. Indeed, once she had said as much, and there was something in
her eyes last night which told me that in her heart she loved me,
though with what passion at the time I did not know. So very swiftly I
made up my mind and answered,

"I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end."

"Good!" he exclaimed. "Then let the matter be reduced to writing and
at once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of
the other."

So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but
clearly, the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and
nothing taken away. This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied
twice, Peroa taking one copy, I another, and a third being deposited
according to custom, in the library of the temple of Ptah.

When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other's breasts and
given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we
had dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled.
Altogether there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis,
or landowners from without who had been called together in the night.
Some of these men were very old and could remember when Egypt had a
Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel upon her neck, of
noble blood also.