The post of Fan-Bearer was an office eagerly sought by the more exalted nobles, since it gave one the ear of Pharaoh, as did perhaps no other position at Court. The one possible exception was the post held by Dedu, son of Den, through four generations at least, the coveted post of Keeper-of-the-King’s-Robes. The title of Fan-Bearer had been given Ramses by Pharaoh at Thi’s earnest solicitation. The Queen-Mother had been prompted to this step through no love she bore the youthful soldier, but as part of a plan which was intended to lull the stubborn adherents of Amen into a sense of false security. The aged Enana, grandfather to Ramses, was the subject of the Queen-Mother’s especial detestation. Indeed, detestation was by far too mild a word to express her feelings in respect to the old magician. By conferring the title of Fan-Bearer upon Enana’s grandson, Thi hoped to put Enana and the other followers of Amen off their guard. For, would not the very title imply a definite and continuous sojourn in the capital? Yet, of late, Thi felt that the attempt to keep the young soldier near the Court had been ill-advised. For various rumors, vague hints of an alarming nature, had reached the ears of Menna the Overseer. These ill-defined rumors had been promptly reported to Thi, with various embellishments, of course, on the part of Menna, son of Menna. Without a doubt, someone who knew the Court, someone who was familiar with the secret intrigues of harem life in the palace, had been quietly spreading broadcast palace secrets of a most terrifying nature. One report had it that the present Pharaoh was a Syrian, born before Thi’s parents came down into Egypt. It was hinted that Yakab the Chancellor was his true father. Had they not both the same extraordinarily attenuated figure? Did not both suffer from the same racking cough? Did not both speak with a marked lisp? Thi, the Queen-Mother, was almost stout; the late Pharaoh had been a corpulent man, in his youth possessed of unusual strength. The face was that of Thi, perhaps, but the body that of Yakab the Chancellor! Yes, it was plain that Thi had done away with Pharaoh’s former wife, the Lady Hanit; that Menna and Thi had planned the murder of the true heir to the throne, the Lady Hanit’s son, in order that Yakab’s son, by Thi, might ascend the Egyptian throne. Finally it was whispered that the murdered Prince still lived; that he had escaped from Menna, son of Menna, into whose baleful charge he had been placed. All unwittingly, Ramses had been drawn into this maelstrom of palace intrigue. His name was frequently mentioned in connection with the probable succession to the throne.