"That is the very reason."
"Although I enjoy the favour of the Pharaoh, although I am the steward
of his domains and wear gilded horns in the festivals of agriculture, I
cannot rise to you. In the eyes of the Egyptians I am but a slave, and
you belong to the priestly caste, the highest and most venerated. If you
love me--and I cannot doubt that you do--you must give up your rank."
"Have I not already become your servant? Hora kept nothing of Tahoser,
not even the enamelled collars and the transparent gauze calasiris; that
is why you thought me ugly."
"You will have to give up your country and follow me to unknown regions,
through the desert where burns the sun, where blows the fire-wind, where
the moving sand tangles and effaces the paths, where no tree grows,
where no well springs, through the lost valleys of death strewn with
whitened bones that mark the way."
"I shall go," said Tahoser, quietly.
"That is not all," continued Poeri. "Your gods are not mine,--your gods
of brass, basalt, and granite, fashioned by the hand of man, your
monstrous idols with heads of eagle, monkey, ibis, cow, jackal, and
lion, which assume the faces of beasts as if they were troubled by the
human face on which rests the reflection of Jehovah. It is said, 'Thou
shalt worship neither stone nor wood nor metal.' Within these temples
cemented with the blood of oppressed races grin and crouch the hideous,
foul demons which usurp the libations, the offerings, and the
sacrifices. One only God, infinite, eternal, formless, colourless, fills
the immensity of the heavens which you people with a multitude of
phantoms. Our God has created us; you have created your gods."
Although Tahoser was deeply in love with Poeri, his words affected her
strangely, and she drew back in terror. The daughter of the high-priest
had been brought up to venerate the gods whom the young Hebrew was
boldly blaspheming; she had offered up on their altars bouquets of
flowers, and she had burned perfumes before their impassible images;
amazed and delighted, she had walked through their temples splendid with
brilliant paintings. She had seen her father performing the mysterious
rites; she had followed the procession of priests who bore the symbolic
bari through the enormous pylons and the endless sphinx avenues; she had
admired tremblingly the psychostasis where the trembling soul appears
before Osiris armed with the whip and the pedum, and she had noted with
a dreamy glance the frescoes representing the emblematic figures
travelling towards the regions of the West. She could not thus yield up
all her beliefs. She was silent for a few moments, hesitating between
religion and love. Love won the day, and she said:
"You shall tell me of your God; I will try to understand him."
"It is well," said Poeri; "you shall be my wife. Meanwhile remain here,
for the Pharaoh, no doubt in love with you, is having you sought
everywhere by his emissaries. He will never discover you under this
humble roof, and in a few days we shall be out of his power. But the
night is waning and I must depart."
Poeri went off, and the two young women, lying side by side on the soft
bed, soon fell asleep, holding each other's hands like two sisters.
Thamar, who during the foregoing scene had remained crouched in her
corner of the room, looking like a bat hanging from a corner by its
talons, and had been muttering broken words and frowning, now unfolded
her bony limbs, rose to her feet, and bending over the bed, listened to
the breathing of the two sleepers. When the regularity of their
breathing convinced her that they were sound asleep, she went towards
the door, walking with infinite precaution. Once outside, she sprang
with swift steps in the direction of the Nile, shaking off the dogs who
hung on with their teeth at the edge of her tunic, or dragging them
through the dust until they let go; or she glared at them with such
fierce eyes that they drew back with frightened yelps and let her pass
by.
She had soon passed the dangerous and deserted places inhabited at night
by the members of the thieves' association, and entered the wealthy
quarter of Thebes. Three or four streets bordered with tall buildings,
the shadows of which fell in great angles, led her to the outer wall of
the palace, which was the object of her trip. The difficulty was to
enter,--no easy matter at that time of the night for an old Hebrew
servant with dusty feet and shabby garments.
[Illustration: Copyright 1901, by George D. Sproul