"Where is that veil?" inquired the prince, now alarmed. "I burned it, but I showed it first to my servants." "If not thine even, what harm could come of it?" "Nothing yet. But had I kept that rag in the house two days longer, I should have been poisoned, or caught some incurable disorder. I know Asiatics and their methods." Wearied and irritated, the prince left her at the earliest, in spite of entreaties to stay. When he asked the servants about that veil, the tirewoman declared that it was not one of Kama's; some person had thrown it into the chamber. The prince commanded to double the watch at the villa and around it, and returned in desperation to his dwelling. "Never should I have believed," said he, "that a single weak woman could bring so much trouble. Four freshly caught hyenas are not so restless as that Kama!" At his palace the prince found Tutmosis, who had just returned from Memphis and had barely taken time to bathe and dress after the journey. "What hast thou to say?" inquired the prince of his favorite, divining that he had not brought pleasant tidings. "Hast thou seen his holiness?" "I saw the sun-god of Egypt, and this is what he said to me--" "Speak," hurried Rameses. "Thus spoke our lord," answered Tutmosis, crossing his arms on his breast: "'For four and thirty years have I directed the weighty car of Egypt, and I am so wearied that I yearn to join my mighty forefathers who dwell now in the western kingdom. Soon I shall leave this earth, and then my son, Rameses, will sit on the throne, and do with the state what wisdom points out to him.'" "Did my holy father speak thus?" "Those are his words repeated faithfully. A number of times the lord spoke explicitly, saying that he would leave no command to thee, so that thou mightst govern Egypt as thy wishes indicate." "Oh, holy one! Is his illness really serious? Why did he not summon me?" asked the prince, in sorrow. "Thou must be here, for thou mayst be of service in this part of Egypt." "But the treaty with Assyria?" "It is concluded in this sense, that Assyria may wage war on the east and north without hindrance from Egypt. But the question of Phœnicia remains in abeyance till thou art the pharaoh." "O blessed! O holy ruler! From what a dreadful heritage thou hast saved me." "So Phœnicia remains in abeyance," continued Tutmosis. "But still there is one bad thing. His holiness, to show Assyria that he will not hinder her in the war against northern peoples, has commanded to decrease our army by twenty thousand mercenaries." "What dost thou tell me!" cried the heir, astounded. Tutmosis shook his head in sign of sorrow. "I speak the truth, and four Libyan regiments are now disbanded." "But this is madness!" almost howled the heir, wringing his hands. "Why have we so weakened ourselves, and whither will those disbanded men go?"