"It _is_ fortunate," I said. "I shall be envied by my race. I have just been trying to imagine something of your life and period. That is far more interesting than to-day. Tell me something about it." Rameses rested comfortably on the side of his case. "Oh, well," he said, reflectively, "of course mine was a great period--a very great period. Egypt was never so great as it was under my rule. It was my rule that made it great--my policy, of course, and my vigorous action. I was always for progress and war. The histories you have of my period are poor things. They never did me justice, but it was my own fault, of course. I did not leave enough records of my work. I was always a modest man--too modest for my own good, everybody said that. "I was religious, too, and built temples wherever there was room. It is said that I claimed temples that I did not build. Nonsense!--I built all the temples. I built Karnak; I built Luxor; I built Abou-Simbel; I built Abydos; I built the Pyramids; I built the Sphinx; I invented the sacred bulls; I was all there was to religion, in Egypt. I was all there was to _Egypt_. I was the whole thing. It is a pity I did not make a record of these things somewhere." "There _are_ a few statues of you," I suggested, "and inscriptions--they seem to imply--" "Ah yes," he said, "but not many. It was slow work carving those things. I could have had many more, if the workmen had been more industrious. But everything was slow, and very costly--very costly indeed--why, I spent a fortune on that temple of Karnak alone. You saw what I did there; those ram-headed sphinxes nearly bankrupted me. I had to cut down household expenses to finish them. "Yes, my wife objected a good deal-- I speak collectively, of course, signifying my domestic companionship--there were fourteen of her. [Illustration: GOT IT MADE CHEAP SOMEWHERE WITH HER PICTURE CARVED ON THE FRONT OF IT] "She wanted jewelry--collectively--individually, too, for that matter--and it took such a lot to go around. You saw all those things in the next room. They were for her; they were for that matrimonial collection; I could never satisfy the female craving for such things. Why, I bought one round of necklaces that cost as much as a ram-headed sphinx. Still she was not satisfied. Then she was sorry afterward--collectively--and bought me a sphinx as a present--got it made cheap somewhere with her picture carved on the front of it. You may have noticed it--third on the right as you come out. I used it--I had to--but it was a joke. When wives buy things for their husbands it is quite often so.