"I say, worthiness, that no evil will happen to any one. I heard not the hymn, and I know nothing. The prince must be separated from that Jewess." "But separated mildly; is that not the way?" asked the mother. "In the mildest way possible and the simplest, but separation is imperative. It seemed to me," continued the high priest, as if to himself, "that I foresaw everything. Everything save an action for blasphemy, which threatens the heir while he is with that strange woman." Herhor thought awhile, and added,-- "Yes, worthy lady! It is possible to laugh at many of our prejudices; still the son of a pharaoh should not be connected with a Jewess." CHAPTER XVII Since the evening when Sarah sang in the boat, the royal barge had not appeared on the Nile, and Prince Rameses was annoyed in real earnest. The month Mechir (December) was approaching. The waters decreased, the land extended more widely each day, the grass became higher and thicker, and in the grass flashed up flowers of the most varied hues and of incomparable odor. Like islands in a green sea appeared, in the course of a single day, flowery places, as it were white, azure, yellow, rosy, or many-colored carpets from which rose an intoxicating odor. Still the prince was wearied, and even feared something. From the day of his father's departure he had not been in the palace, and no one from the palace had come to him, save Tutmosis, who since the last conversation had vanished like a snake in the grass. Whether they respected the prince's seclusion, or desired to annoy him, or simply feared to pay him a visit because he had been touched by disfavor, Rameses had no means of knowing. "My father may exclude me from the throne, as he has my elder brothers," thought the heir sometimes; and sweat came out on his forehead, while his feet became cold. "What would he do in that case?" Moreover Sarah was ill, thin, pale, her great eyes sank; at times she complained of faintness which attacked her in the morning. "Surely some one has bewitched the poor thing," groaned the cunning Tafet, whom the prince could not endure for her chattering and very bad management. A couple of times, for instance, the heir noticed that in the evening Tafet sent off to Memphis immense baskets with food, linen, even vessels. Next day she complained in heaven-piercing accents that flour, wine, and even vessels were lacking. Since the heir had come to the villa ten times more of various products had been used there than formerly. "I am certain," thought Rameses, "that that chattering termagant robs me for her Jews, who vanish in the daytime but are prowling around in the night, like rats in the nastiest corners!"