A number of times the barge bearing the worthy lady Nikotris and the vice-pharaoh Herhor appeared near Sarah's dwelling. Each time the prince saw his mother conversing with the minister joyously, and convinced himself that they refrained ostentatiously from looking toward him, as if to show indifference. "Wait!" whispered he, in anger, "I will show you that life does not annoy me, either." So when one day, shortly before sunset, the queen's gilded barge appeared with a purple tent having ostrich plumes on each of its four comers, Ramses gave command to prepare a boat for two persons, and told Sarah that he would sail with her. "O Jehovah!" cried she, clasping her hands. "But thy mother is there, and the viceroy!" "But in this boat will be the heir to the throne. Take thy harp, Sarah." "And the harp, too?" cried Sarah. "But if her worthiness were to speak to thee! I should throw myself into the river." "Be not a child," replied Ramses, laughing. "My mother and his worthiness love songs immensely. Thou mayest even win their favor if Thou sing some splendid song of the Hebrews. Let there be love in it." "I know no song of that kind," answered Sarah, in whom the prince's words had roused hope of some sort. Her song might please those powerful rulers, and then what? On the royal barge they saw that the heir to the throne was sitting in a simple boat and rowing. "Dost Thou see, worthiness," whispered the queen to the minister, "that he is rowing toward us with his Jewess?" "The heir has borne himself with such correctness toward his warriors and his people, and has shown so much compunction in withdrawing from the limits of the palace, that his mother may forgive small errors," answered Herhor. "Oh, if he were not sitting in that boat, I would give command to break it!" said the worthy lady. "For what reason?" asked the minister. "The prince would be no descendant of high priests and pharaohs if he did not break through restraints which the law, alas, puts on him, or perhaps our mistaken customs. He has given proof in every case that in serious junctures he is able to command himself. He is even able to recognize his errors, a rare power and priceless in an heir to the throne of Egypt. The very fact that the prince wishes to rouse our curiosity with his favorite shows that the position in which he finds himself pains him; besides, his reasons are among the noblest." "But the Jewess!" whispered the lady, crushing her feather fan between her fingers. "At present I am quite at rest regarding her," continued Herhor. "She is shapely, but dull; she never thinks of using influence on the prince, nor could she do so. Shut up in a cage which is not over- costly, she takes no gifts, and will not even see any one. In time, perhaps, she might learn to make use of her position even to the extent of decreasing the heir's treasury by some talents. Before that day comes, however, Ramses will be tired of her."