"In Memphis, or near there, dwells thy first; happily she is only a Jewess! In Sochem is the second--" "I know nothing of that one," interrupted Rameses. "Oh, thou dove! Then surely thou knowest nothing of the third one in Anu." "Does she too belong to my household?" "Ungrateful!" cried the girl, striking him with a lotus flower. "Thou wouldst be ready to say the same of me a month hence. But I will not let myself be injured." "Like thy father." "Hast thou not forgotten him yet? Remember that I will go--" "Stay, stay!" Next day the viceroy was pleased to receive homage and a feast from Sofra. He praised in public the nomarch's government of the province, and to reward him for the damages caused by the drunken laborer, Rameses presented him with one-half of the furniture and vessels presented in Anu. The second half of those gifts was taken by the beautiful Abeb, daughter of the nomarch, as lady of the court. Besides, she commanded that five talents be given her from the treasury of the viceroy, for clothes, slaves, and horses. In the evening the prince, while yawning, spoke thus to Tutmosis,-- "His holiness my father gave me a great lesson when he said that women are very costly." "The position is worse when there are no women," replied the exquisite. "But I have four, and I do not even know clearly how. I might give thee two of them." "And Sarah?" "Not her, especially if she has a son." "If thou wilt assign a good dowry, husbands will be found for those charmers most easily." The prince yawned a second time. "I do not like to hear of dowries," said he. "Aaa! What luck, that I shall tear away from thee and settle among the priests!" "Wilt thou indeed?" "I must. At last I shall learn of them why the pharaohs are growing poorer. Well, I shall sleep." CHAPTER XXV That same day, in Memphis, Dagon the Phœnician, the viceroy's worthy banker, lay on a couch under the veranda of his mansion. Around him were fragrant potted bushes with needle-like leaves. Two black slaves cooled the rich man with fans, and he, while playing with a young ape, was listening to accounts read by his scribe to him. At that moment a slave with a sword, helmet, dart, and shield (the banker loved military dress), announced the worthy Rabsun, a Phœnician merchant then settled in Memphis. The guest entered, bowed profoundly, and dropped his eyelids in such fashion that Dagon commanded the scribe and the slaves to withdraw from the veranda. Then, as a man of foresight, he surveyed every corner, and said to the visitor,-- "We may talk." Rabsun began without prelude,-- "Dost thou know, worthiness, that Prince Hiram has come from Tyre?" Dagon sprang up from the couch. "May the leprosy seize him and his princeship!" shouted the banker. "He has just reminded me," continued the guest, calmly, "that there is a misunderstanding between him and thee."