He did not remember anything that Rachel had told him concerning her life in Memphis, or that Har-hat was in Tanis, and Masanath like to be the only resident in the fan-bearer's palace. His reasoning powers abandoned their supremacy to all the fierce impulses toward revenge and bloodletting of which his nature was capable. Though it was day when he entered the great capital of the Pharaohs, the streets were almost deserted, and every doorway and window showed interiors brilliant with a multitude of lamps. Memphis was prepared against a second smothering of the lights of heaven. The few pedestrians Kenkenes met fell back and gave room to the dripping apparition which ran as if death-pursued. One told him on demand where the mansion of Har-hat stood, and after a few slow minutes he was within its porch. He flung himself against the blank portal and beat on it. He did not pause to await a response. He felt within him strength to batter down the doors if they did not open. Presently an old portress came forth from a side entry and Kenkenes seized her. Fearing that she might cry out and defeat his purpose, he put his hand over her mouth. "Your master," he demanded hoarsely. "Where is he? Answer and answer quietly!" For a moment she was dumb with terror. "Gone," she gasped at last when Kenkenes shook her. "Where? When?" he insisted. "To Tanis, eight months since!" "Was an Israelite maiden brought here? Answer and truly, by your immortal soul!" "Many months ago, aye, but she departed three days ago for Goshen," the old woman answered falteringly. "And she came not back?" "Nay." "Swear, by Osiris!" "By Osiris--" "And the Lady Masanath?" "Gone, also, to Tanis with Unas, this morning." "Thou liest! In the dark?" "Nay, I swear by Osiris," she protested wildly. "The light came in with the hour of dawn." Kenkenes released her and hurried away. He did not doubt that the old woman had told the truth. He had overslept the light. Unas could not have taken Rachel and Masanath to Tanis together. The Israelite would have been sent on before. There was yet Atsu to question, and then--on to Tanis to rescue Rachel or to avenge her. He met no one until he reached a bazaar of jewels near the temple square. An armed watchman stood before the tightly closed front of the lapidary's booth, above the portal of which a flaring torch was stuck in a sconce. "The house of Atsu?" the watchman repeated after Kenkenes. "Atsu is no longer a householder in Memphis." "When did he depart?" "Eight or nine months ago, at the persuasion of the Pharaoh." The lightness of the man's manner irritated the already vexed spirit of the young artist. "Be explicit," he demanded sharply. "What meanest thou?" "He was stripped of his insignia and reduced to the rank of ordinary soldier," the man answered, "for pampering the Israelites. He is with the legions in the north." "Hath he kin in the city?" "Nay, he is solitary."