Who, then, was the thief and the violator? He who robbed and burnt my
bones, or he who buried them with reverence? Again, he found the jewels
that the priest of your brotherhood had dropped in his flight, when the
smoke of the burning flesh and spices overpowered him, and with them the
hand which that wicked one had broken off from the body of my Majesty.
What did this man then? He took the jewels. Would you have had him leave
them to be stolen by some peasant? And the hand? I tell you that he
kissed that poor dead hand which once had been part of the body of my
Majesty, and that now he treasures it as a holy relic. My spirit saw
him do these things and made report thereof to me. I ask you, therefore,
Prince, I ask you all, Royalties of Egypt--whether for such deeds this
man should die?"

Now Khaemuas, the advocate of vengeance, shrugged his shoulders and
smiled meaningly, but the congregation of kings and queens thundered an
answer, and it was:--

"_No!_"

Ma-Mee looked to Menes to give judgment. Before he could speak the
dark-browed Pharaoh who had named her wife strode forward and addressed
them.

"Her Majesty, Heiress of Egypt, Royal Wife, Lady of the Two Lands, has
spoken," he cried. "Now let me speak who was the husband of her Majesty.
Whether this man was once Horu the sculptor I know not. If so he was
also an evil-doer who, by my decree, died in banishment in the land
of Kush. Whatever be the truth as to that matter, he admits that he
violated the tomb of her Majesty and stole what the old thieves had
left. Her Majesty says also--and he does not deny it--that he dared to