The Hebrew woman, whose appearance was so remarkable for dignity and a certain air of command, that I could not but regard her with interest, then rolled up the book, and moved quietly, but with a stately step, from the room. As she went out, attracted by my close scrutiny, she fixed upon me a large pair of splendid eyes, dark and beautiful, and lighted up by the inward fire of an earnest spirit. Her age was about eight or nine and forty. I do not know why, in looking at her, I thought of Remeses, now at Thebes, waiting to assemble his vast army; perhaps there was a style of face and shape of the eye that recalled him. "Who is this Hebrew woman?" I asked; for though I have been several days a guest of the high-priest, I had not before seen her. "My assistant and copier of the scrolls and papyrus leaves, in the Hall of the Sacred Books," answered Osiria; "for know, O prince, that I am my father's scribe, and have the care of all the rolls of the temple." "Nor can any temple," interposed the hierarch, "boast so orderly a chamber of books as mine; neither do I see any copies of prayers and rites so beautifully done as those by Osiria." "I do not deserve all the praise, my father," answered the maiden; "for the rich coloring of the heading cartouches of chapters, as well as the graceful form of the characters, is due to Miriam." "What the servant does the master is praised for," answered the priest, smilingly. "But you have not told the prince the whole of the tradition." "It is true. I must now state how the pyramid was opened by one of the Phœnician conqueror kings. This Philistine warrior, whose barbaric name I have forgotten, and do not wish to remember, on seeing the pyramids, demanded to know what was within them. He was answered by the priest of the sphinx, who is the guardian of the two pyramids, that 'they contained the embalmed bodies of the ancient gods, and first kings of men, the emerald and golden tablets, and all the treasures of gold, silver, and works of art, and every thing which appertained to the world before the deluge,--all of which had been preserved by them from the waters, and were now therein.' "Hearing this, this king told them he would have them opened. All the priests assured him that it could not be done; but he replied, 'I will have it certainly done.' So the engineers of his army opened a place in the great pyramid by means of fire and vinegar; smiths aided the work with sharpened iron and copper wedges, and huge engines to remove the stones. It was a vast work, as the thickness of the wall was twenty cubits. They were many months reaching an apartment within, where they found a ewer made of bright-green emerald, containing a thousand dinars, very weighty, one hundred chœnixes of gold-dust, twenty blocks of ebony, a hundred tusks of ivory, and a thousand ounces of rings of Arabic gold.