"May the all-knowing Amon speak through thy mouth," said the lady. "The prince, I am sure of this, has not grown wild over a favorite, as happens often to young lords in Egypt. One keen, intriguing woman may strip a man of property and health, nay, bring him to the hall of judgment. The prince is amused with her as a grown-up man might be amused with a slave girl. And Sarah is pregnant." "Is that true?" cried the queen. "How dost thou know?" "It is not known to his worthiness the heir, or even to Sarah," said Herhor, smiling. "We must know everything. This secret, however, was not difficult to get at. With Sarah is her relative Tafet, an incomparable gossip." "Have they summoned a physician already?" "Sarah knows nothing of this, I repeat, but the worthy Tafet, from fear lest the prince might grow indifferent to her foster child, would be glad to twist the neck of this secret. But we do not let her. That will be the prince's child also." "But if it is a son? Thou knowest that he may make trouble," put in the lady. "All is foreseen," replied Herhor. "If the child is a daughter, we will give her a dowry and the education proper for young ladies of high station. If a son, he will become a Jew--" "Oh, my grandson, a Jew!" "Do not take thy heart too soon from him. Our envoys declare that the people of Israel are beginning to desire a king. Before the child matures their desires will ripen, and then--we may give them a ruler, and of good blood indeed." "Thou art like an eagle which takes in East and West at a glance," said the queen, eying the minister with amazement. "I feel that my repulsion for this maiden begins to grow weaker." "The least drop of the pharaoh's blood should raise itself above nations, like a star above the earth," added Herhor. At that moment the heir's boat moved at a few tens of paces from the royal barge, and the queen, shielded by her fan, looked at Sarah through its feathers. "In truth the girl is shapely," whispered Queen Nikotris. "Thou art saying those words for the second time, worthy lady." "So thou hast noted that?" laughed her worthiness. Herhor dropped his eyes. In the boat was heard a harp, and Sarah began a hymn, with trembling voice,-- "How great is Jehovah, O Israel! how great is Jehovah, thy God." "A most beautiful voice," whispered the queen. The high priest listened with attention. "His days have no beginning," sang Sarah, "and His dwelling has no limit. The eternal heavens change beneath His eye, like a garment which a man puts on his body and then casts away from him. The stars flash up, and are quenched, like sparks from fuel, and the earth is like a brick which a traveller touches once with his foot while going ever farther.