After the steward's departure, the prince yawned and looking around with a tired glance, he said to himself,-- "I have done all I could, but now, if I can, I will do nothing." At that moment, from the direction of the outhouses, low groans and the sound of frequent blows reached the prince. Rameses turned his head, and saw that the overseer of the workmen, Ezechiel, son of Reuben, was beating some subordinate with a cane, pacifying him meanwhile,-- "Be quiet! be silent, low beast!" The beaten workman, lying on the ground, closed his mouth with his hand so as not to cry. At first the prince rushed like a panther toward the outhouses. Suddenly he halted. "What am I to do?" whispered he. "This is Sarah's place, and the Jew is her relative." He bit his lips, and disappeared among the trees, the more readily since the flogging was finished. "Is this the management of the humble Jews?" thought Rameses. "Is this the way? That man looks at me as a frightened dog might, but he beats the workmen. Are the Hebrews all like him?" And for the first time the thought was roused in the prince's soul, that under the guise of kindness Sarah, too, might conceal falsehood. Certain changes had indeed taken place in Sarah; above all, moral changes. From the moment when she met Rameses in the valley of the desert he had pleased her, but that feeling grew silent immediately beneath the influence of the stunning news that the shapely youth was a son of the pharaoh and heir to the throne of Egypt. When Tutmosis bargained with Gideon to take her to the prince's house, Sarah fell into a state of bewilderment. She would not renounce Rameses for any treasure, nor at the cost of life, but one could not say that she loved him at that time. Love demands freedom and time to give forth its most beautiful blossoms; neither freedom nor time had been left to her. She made the acquaintance of the prince on a certain day; the following day they took her away almost without consulting her wishes, and bore her to that villa opposite Memphis. In a couple of days she became the prince's favorite, astonished, frightened, not understanding what had taken place with her. Moreover, before she could make herself used to the new impressions, the Jewess was disturbed by ill-will from surrounding people; then the visit of unknown ladies; finally, that attack on the villa. Then, because Rameses took her part and wished to rush on the rioters, she was still more terrified. She lost presence of mind at the thought that she was in the hands of a man of such power and so violent, who, if it suited him, had the right to shed blood, to slay people. Sarah fell into despair for the moment: it seemed to her that she would go mad. She heard the terrible commands of the prince who summoned the servants to arms. But at that very moment a slight thing took place, one little word was heard which sobered Sarah, and gave a new turn to her feelings.