household matters.

As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding
that I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada's
name to the king, but that I intended to do so ere long.

Bes rolled his eyes and answered,

"If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to
forget, for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in
another. Why speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain
to a woman, however wise and royal? I have already said that /I/ spoke
the name to the King and that you were brought from the boat to say
whether I was noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?"

While I considered, Bes went on,

"You may remember, Master, that when I told, well--the truth about
this story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged,
even to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will
make mine dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my
bones, for I shall be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am
sure I do not know. And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in
Egypt, to say nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for
scourgings, who may not kiss the hand that smites me as you can."

"But, Bes," I said, "what is, is and may always be learned in this way
or in that."

"Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall