"And smilingly he answered me: ’Nay, Brother Am-nem-hat. No man attaineth to the high-priesthood in Egypt without having learned that the things of which thou speakest are for the people--not for the higher priests--part of the system which we administer, not final truths for us. For I know, as thou also knowest, that above and beyond the grand Egyptian triads, there must be some supreme God over all whom we ignorantly worship; who is patient because he is eternal, and merciful because he is all-wise; and having all these years discharged, as faithfully as human frailties might permit, every duty that came under my hand, I look away above the gods of Kem, and trust myself unshrinkingly in the hands of the unknown God, in whom we both believe.’ And, almost in the same moment, the old man quietly departed.--Daughter, for thee and for thy great sorrow there is no consolation in the religion of Egypt. All of the consolation I can offer is to tell thee plainly that the things which the high-priest Raph-nath declared unto me upon his bed of death are true; and, as the sum of all my learning and priestly life, I say unto thee that thou canst do nothing else for thyself, nor for thy husband, nor for any human soul, except to cast thyself and him upon the mercy of the unknown God, hoping and believing that all is for the best." The old man’s voice was tremulous, and his grand, pure face was full of compassion as he uttered these words in tones of inexpressible and uncomplaining sadness, and with impressive earnestness. "And this is all?" she cried--"all that the old religion of Kem, stripped of its outward, ornate forms and ceremonies, has to offer to the broken-hearted?" "Yea," answered Am-nem-hat. "This is all, indeed. And it is little; and the prevailing sadness of all wise men grows out of this; yet the heart that loves and trusts may find that even this is enough to reconcile it to the grand and pitiless course of nature. So saith the philosopher Seneca: ’We shall adore all that ignoble crowd of gods which ancient superstition hath gathered together in a long course of years, only so as to remember that their worship is rather in accordance with custom than with reality or truth.’ And again he saith, ’The God is near you, is with you, is within you’; and again, ’There is no good man without God.’