When day dawned, Nofre, who slept on a cot at her mistress's feet, was
surprised at not hearing Tahoser call her as usual by clapping her
hands. She rose on her elbow and saw that the bed was empty; yet the
first beams of the sun, striking the frieze of the portico, were only
now beginning to cast on the wall the shadow of the capitals and of the
upper part of the shafts of the pillars. Usually Tahoser was not an
early riser, and she rarely rose without the assistance of her women.
Neither did she ever go out until after her hair had been dressed, and
perfumed water had been poured over her lovely body, while she knelt,
her hands crossed upon her bosom.
Nofre, feeling uneasy, put on a transparent gown, slipped her feet into
sandals of palm fibre, and set out in search of her mistress. She looked
for her first under the portico of the two courts, thinking that, unable
to sleep, Tahoser had perhaps gone to enjoy the coolness of dawn in the
inner cloisters; but she was not there.
"Let me visit the garden," said Nofre to herself; "perhaps she took a
fancy to see the night dew sparkle on the leaves of the plants and to
watch for once the awakening of the flowers."
Although she traversed the garden in every direction, she found it
absolutely untenanted. Nofre looked along every walk, under every
arbour, under every arch, into every grove, but unsuccessfully. She
entered the kiosk at the end of the arbour, but she did not find
Tahoser; she hastened to the pond, in which her mistress might have
taken a fancy to bathe, as she sometimes did with her companions, upon
the granite steps which led from the edge of the basin to the bottom of
fine sand. The broad nymphoea-leaves floated on the surface, and did not
appear to have been disturbed; the ducks, plunging their blue necks into
the calm water, alone rippled it, and they saluted Nofre with joyous
cries.
The faithful maid began to feel seriously alarmed; she roused the whole
household. The slaves and the maids emerged from their cells, and
informed by Nofre of the strange disappearance of Tahoser, proceeded to
make most minute search. They ascended the terraces, rummaged every
room, every corner, every place where she might possibly be. Nofre, in
her agitation, even opened the boxes containing the dresses and the
caskets holding the jewels, as if they could possibly have held her
mistress. Unquestionably Tahoser was not within the dwelling.
An old and consummately prudent servant bethought himself of examining
the sand of the walks in search of the footprints of his young mistress.
The heavy bolts of the gate leading into the city were in place, and
this proved that Tahoser had not gone out that way. It is true that
Nofre had carelessly traversed every path, marking them with her
sandals, but by bending close to the ground, old Souhem speedily noticed
among Nofre's footprints a slight imprint made by a narrow, dainty sole
belonging to a much smaller foot than the maid's. He followed this
track, which led him, passing under the arbour, from the pylon in the
court to the water gate. The bolts, as he pointed out to Nofre, had been
drawn, and the two leaves of the door were held merely by their weight;
therefore Petamounoph's daughter had gone out that way. Farther on the
track was lost; the brick quay had preserved no trace; the boatman who
had carried Tahoser across had not returned to his station; the others
were asleep, and when questioned replied that they had seen nothing.
One, however, did report that a woman, poorly dressed and belonging
apparently to the lowest class, had been ferried over early to the other
side of the river to the Memnonia quarter, no doubt to carry out some
funeral rite. This description, which in no way tallied with the elegant
Tahoser, completely upset the suppositions of Nofre and Souhem.
They returned to the house sad and disappointed. The men and women
servants sat down on the ground in desolate attitudes, letting one of
their hands hang down, its palm turned up, and placing the other on
their head, all of them calling together in plaintive chorus, "Woe! woe!
woe! Our mistress is gone!"
"By Oms, the dog of the lower regions, I shall find her," said old
Souhem, "even if I have to walk living to the very confines of the
Western Region to which travel the dead. She was a kind mistress; she
gave us food in abundance, did not exact excessive labour, and caused us
to be beaten only when we deserved it and in moderation. Her foot was
not heavy on our bowed necks, and in her home a slave might believe
himself free."
"Woe! woe! woe!" repeated the men and women as they cast dust upon their
heads.
"Alas! dear mistress, who knows where you are now?" said her faithful
maid, whose tears were flowing. "Perchance some enchanter compelled you
to leave your palace through a spell in order to work his odious will on
you. He will lacerate your fair body, will draw your heart out through a
cut like that made by the dissectors, will throw your remains to the
ferocious crocodiles, and on the day of reunion your mutilated soul will
find shapeless remains only. You will not go to join, at the end of the
passages of which the undertaker keeps the plan, the painted and gilded
mummy of your father, the high-priest Petamounoph, in the funeral
chamber which has been cut out for you."
"Calm yourself, Nofre," said old Souhem; "let us not despair too soon.
It may be that Tahoser will soon return. She has no doubt yielded to
some fancy which we cannot guess, and presently we shall see her come
back, gay and smiling, holding aquatic flowers in her hands."
Wiping her eyes with the corner of her dress, the maid nodded assent.
Souhem crouched down, bending his knees like those of the dog-faced
figures which are roughly carved out of a square block of basalt, and
pressing his temples between his dry hands, seemed to reflect deeply.
His face of a reddish brown, his sunken eyes, his prominent jaws, the
deeply wrinkled cheeks, his straight hair framing in his face like
bristles, made him altogether like the monkey-faced gods. He was
certainly not a god, but he looked very much like a monkey.
The result of his meditations, anxiously awaited by Nofre, was thus
expressed: "The daughter of Petamounoph is in love."
"Who told you?" cried Nofre, who thought that she was the only one who
could read her mistress's heart.
"No one; but Tahoser is very beautiful; she has already beheld sixteen
times the rise and fall of the Nile. Sixteen is the number symbolical of
voluptuousness; and for some time past she has been calling at
unaccustomed hours her players on the harp, the lute, and the flute,
like one who seeks to calm the agitation of her heart by music."
"You speak sensibly, and wisdom dwells in your old bald head. But how
have you learned to know women,--you who merely dig the earth in the
garden and bear jars of water on your shoulders?"
The slave opened his lips with a silent smile and exhibited two rows of
teeth fit to crush date-stones. The grin meant, "I have not always been
old and a captive."
Enlightened by Souhem's suggestion, Nofre immediately thought of the
handsome Ahmosis, the oeris of the Pharaoh, who so often passed below
the terrace, and who had looked so splendid on his war chariot in the
triumphal procession. As she was in love with him herself, though she
was not fully aware of it, she assumed that her mistress shared her
feelings. She put on a somewhat heavier dress and repaired to the
officer's dwelling. It was there, she fancied, that Tahoser would
certainly be found.
The young officer was seated on a low seat at the end of the room. On
the walls hung trophies of different weapons: the leather tunic covered
with bronze plates on which was engraved the cartouche of the Pharaoh;
the brazen poniard, with the jade handle open-worked to allow the
fingers to pass through; the flat-edged battle-axe, the falchion with
curved blade; the helmet with its double plume of ostrich-feathers; the
triangular bow; and the red-feathered arrows. His distinctive necklaces
were placed upon pedestals, and open coffers showed booty taken from the
enemy.
When he saw Nofre, whom he knew well, standing on the threshold, he felt
quick pleasure, his brown cheeks flushed, his muscles quivered, his
heart beat high. He thought Nofre brought him a message from Tahoser,
although the priest's daughter had never taken notice of his glances;
but the man to whom the gods have imparted the gift of beauty easily
fancies that all women fall in love with him. He rose and took a few
steps towards Nofre, whose anxious glance examined the corners of the
room to make sure whether Tahoser was there or not.
"What brings you here, Nofre?" said Ahmosis, seeing that the young maid,
full of her search, did not break silence. "Your mistress is well, I
hope, for I think I saw her yesterday at the Pharaoh's entry."
"You should know whether my mistress is well better than any one else,"
replied Nofre; "for she has fled from her home without informing any one
of her intentions. I could swear by Hathor that you know the refuge
which she chose."
"She has disappeared!--what are you talking about?" cried Ahmosis, with
a surprise that was unquestionably genuine.
"I thought she loved you," said Nofre, "and sometimes the best-behaved
maidens lose their heads. So she is not here?"
"The god Phrah, who sees everything, knows where she is, but not one of
his beams, which end in hands, has fallen on her within these walls.
Look for yourself and visit every room."
"I believe you, Ahmosis, and I must go; for if Tahoser had come, you
could not conceal it from her faithful Nofre, who would have asked
nothing better than to serve your loves. You are handsome; she is very
rich and a virgin; the gods would have beheld your marriage with
pleasure."
Nofre returned to the house more anxious and more upset than before. She
feared that the servants might be suspected of having killed Tahoser in
order to seize on her riches, and that the judges would seek to make
them confess under torture what they did not actually know.
The Pharaoh, on his part, was also thinking of Tahoser. After having
made the libations and the offerings required by the ritual, he had
seated himself in the inner court of the harem, and was sunk in thought,
paying no attention to the gambols of his women, who, nude and crowned
with flowers, were disporting themselves in the transparent waters of
the piscina, splashing each other and uttering shrill, sonorous bursts
of laughter, in order to attract the attention of the master, who had
not made up his mind, contrary to his habit, which of them should be the
favourite queen that week.
It was a charming picture which these beautiful women presented; in a
framework of shrubs and flowers, in the centre of the court, surrounded
by columns painted in brilliant colours, in the clear light of an azure
sky, across which flew from time to time an ibis with outstretched neck
and trailing legs, their shapely bodies shone in the water like
submerged statues of jasper.
Amense and Twea, weary of swimming, had emerged from the water, and
kneeling on the edge of the basin, were spreading out to dry in the sun
their thick black hair, the long locks of which made their white skins
seem whiter still. A few last drops of water ran down their shining
shoulders and their arms polished like jade. Maids rubbed them with
aromatic oil and essences, while a young Ethiopian girl held out the
calyx of a large flower so that they might breathe its perfume.
It might have been thought that the artist who had carved the decorative
_bassi-relievi_ of the rooms in the harem had taken these graceful
groups as models; but the Pharaoh could not have looked with a colder
glance at the designs cut in the stone. Perched on the back of his
armchair the tame monkey was eating dates and cracking its jaws; against
the master's legs the tame cat rubbed itself, arching its back; the
deformed dwarf pulled the monkey's tail and the cat's moustaches, making
the one scratch and the other chatter, a performance which usually
caused His Majesty to smile; but His Majesty was not in a smiling mood
on that day. He put the cat aside, made the monkey get off the armchair,
smote the dwarf on the head, and walked toward the granite apartments.
Each of those rooms was formed of blocks of prodigious size, and closed
by stone gates which no human power could have forced unless the secret
of opening them were known. Within these halls were kept the riches of
the Pharaoh, and the booty taken from conquered nations. They held
ingots of precious metals, crowns of gold and silver, neckplates and
bracelets of cloisonne enamel, earrings which shone like the disc of
Moui, necklaces of seven rows of cornelian, lapis-lazuli, red jasper,
pearls, agates, sardonyx, and onyx; exquisitely chased anklets, belts,
with plates engraved with hieroglyphs, rings with scarabaei set in them;
quantities of fishes, crocodiles, and hearts stamped out of gold,
serpents in enamel twisted on themselves; bronze vases, flagons of wavy
alabaster, and of blue glass on which wound white spirals; coffers of
enamelled ware; boxes of sandal wood of strange and chimerical forms;
heaps of aromatic gums from all countries; blocks of ebony; precious
stuffs so fine that a whole piece could have been pulled through a ring;
white and black ostrich plumes, and others coloured in various ways;
monstrously huge elephant's-tusks, cups of gold, silver, gilded glass;
statues marvellous both as regards the material and the workmanship.
In every room the Pharaoh caused to be taken a litter-load borne by two
robust slaves of Kousch and Scheto, and clapping his hands, he called
Timopht, the servant who had followed Tahoser, and said to him, "Have
all these things taken to Tahoser, the daughter of the high-priest
Petamounoph, from the Pharaoh."
Timopht placed himself at the head of the procession, which crossed the
Nile on a royal barge, and soon the slaves with their load reached
Tahoser's house.
"For Tahoser, from the Pharaoh," said Timopht, knocking at the door.
At the sight of those treasures Nofre nearly fainted, half with fear,
half with amazement. She dreaded lest the King should put her to death
on learning that the priest's daughter was no longer there.
"Tahoser has gone," said she, tremulously, "and I swear by the four
sacred geese, Amset, Sis, Soumauts, and Kebhsniv, which fly to the four
quarters of the wind, that I know not where she is."
"The Pharaoh beloved of Phre, favourite of Ammon Ra, has sent these
gifts,--I cannot take them back. Keep them until Tahoser is found. You
shall answer for them on your head. Have them put away in rooms and
guarded by faithful servants," replied the envoy of the King.
When Timopht returned to the palace and, prostrate, his elbows close to
his sides, his brow in the dust, said that Tahoser had vanished, the
King became very wroth, and he struck the slab of the flooring so
fiercely with his sceptre that the slab was split.