"Doth she mean this?" I exclaimed. "What then is the chief aim of women in Kem? What is the highest state to which they may aspire?" "'Tis a strange, simple question!" he answered. "There is no greater blessing for a woman than to belong to the household of the Pharaoh. Here they are delighted with constant music and dancing; their beauty is cultivated and heightened by rich and tasteful clothing; and their charms and graces may win for them a selection as one of the one-and-twenty favourites of the Pharaoh. What they fear most is being chosen and carried away by guests whose palaces and ways of life are less luxurious than the Pharaoh's." "Why then, as we have no palaces and wish no slaves, it were best to return these maidens to the Pharaoh if they will be happier and better cared for here than anywhere else in all the land of Kem," I said to Zaphnath. "This age is not ripe for the grand idea of freedom which dominates our own," remarked the doctor, as we returned the grateful maidens to the constant delights of an ornate and sensuous slavery. CHAPTER VII Parallel Planetary Life I was sleeping soundly on my deliciously soft heap of downy pillows, when in the early morning I was awakened by a pounding on the door of the ante-chamber. As one always wakens from a sound sleep with his most familiar language upon his tongue, I cried out in English, "Who's there?" The doctor answered, wishing to be let in. I fumbled about in the darkness sleepily, and opened the door, and he lighted two of my gas-lamps with the one he carried. He looked rather tired and worn. "I am possessed by a tyrant idea, which will not let me sleep," he said. "I must get rid of it before morning. Come, get your senses about you, and listen to me," he commanded, as I yawned and rubbed my fists into my eyes, blinded by the sudden strong light. "If you think I can sleep with it any better than you can, out with it," I answered. "How does it happen that a young Hebrew is ruler over all these people?" he demanded. "Do you lie awake thinking up conundrums?" I ejaculated. "On Earth, what notable Jews have been rulers over a great people not of their own race?" he continued. "Disraeli in England, Joseph in Egypt, and--well, that is all I can think of just now." "Perhaps that is enough. Egypt was the greatest grain-raising country in Joseph's time, wasn't it?" "Yes, of course," I answered. "And Joseph's rule began with seven years of most wonderful crops." "Zaphnath told us this morning that the seventh great crop, and the most plenteous of all, is now growing," he interrupted.