"Art thou speaking seriously?" asked Rameses in wonder.

"I am twenty years old. Since I was six years of age adorers have surrounded me; but I measured them quickly. And to-day I would rather hear learned priests than songs and declarations from youthful exquisites."

"In that case I ought not to sit near thee, Hebron, for I am not even an exquisite, and I have no priestly wisdom whatever."

"Thou art something higher," replied she, blushing deeply. "Thou art a chief who has won victory. Thou art as impetuous as a lion, as swift as a vulture. Millions fall on their faces before thee, and kingdoms tremble. Do I not know what fear is roused by thy name in Tyre and Nineveh? G.o.ds might be jealous of thy influence."

Rameses was confused.

"O Hebron, Hebron," said he. "If thou knew what alarm thou art sowing in my heart."

"For this very reason," continued Hebron, "I marry Tutmosis. I shall be nearer thee, and shall see thee, though for a few days only."

She rose and left the hall.

Antefa noted her action and hastened in alarm to Rameses.

"O lord!" cried he, "has my daughter said anything improper? She is an untamable lioness!"

"Be at rest," said Rameses. "Thy daughter is full of wisdom and dignity. She went out because she saw that thy wine was gladdening the guests rather powerfully."

In fact a great uproar had risen in the hall, all the more since Tutmosis, abandoning the role of a.s.sistant host, had become a most animated talker.

"I will say to thee in confidence, holiness, that poor Tutmosis must guard himself greatly in presence of my daughter," remarked Antefa.

That first feast continued till morning. The pharaoh, it is true, departed immediately, but others remained, first in their chairs and then on the floor. Finally Antefa had to send them home as if they had been lifeless objects.

The marriage ceremony took place some days later.

To Antefa's palace went the high priests Herhor and Mefres, the nomarchs of the neighboring provinces, and the chief officials of Thebes. Later appeared Tutmosis on a two-wheeled chariot, attended by officers of the guard, and finally his holiness, the pharaoh.

Rameses was attended by the chief scribe, the commander of the archers, the commander of the cavalry, the chief judge, the chief treasurer, Sem the high priest, and the adjutant-generals.

When that splendid a.s.sembly was in the hall of the ancestors of the most worthy Antefa, Hebron appeared in white robes with a numerous retinue of damsels and maids in attendance. Her father, after he had burned incense before Amon and the statue of his own father, and Rameses XIII., who was sitting on a raised platform, declared that he freed his daughter Hebron from guardianship and provided her with a dowry. Then he gave her, in a gold tube, a doc.u.ment securing her dowry, and written before the court on papyrus.

After a short lunch the bride took her seat in a costly litter borne by eight officials of the province. Before her went music and singers; around the litter were dignitaries, and behind them an immense crowd of people. All this procession moved toward the temple of Amon, through the most beautiful streets of the city, amid a throng of people almost as numerous as that which had attended the funeral of the pharaoh.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Avenue of Sphinxes from the Temple of Karnak to the Nile]

At the temple the people remained outside the walls while the bride and groom, the pharaoh and dignitaries, entered the hall of columns.

There Hebron burned incense before the veiled statue of Amon, priestesses performed a sacred dance, and Tutmosis read the following act from a papyrus:

"I, Tutmosis, commander of the guard of his holiness Rameses XIII., take thee, Hebron, daughter of Antefa the nomarch of Thebes, as wife.

I give thee now the sum of ten talents because thou hast consented to marry me. For thy robes I designate to thee three talents yearly, and for household expenses one talent a month. Of the children which we may have the eldest son will be heir to the property which I possess now and which I may acquire hereafter. If I should not live with thee, but divorce myself and take another wife, I shall be obliged to pay thee forty talents, which sum I secure with my property. Our son, on receiving his estate, is to pay thee fifteen talents yearly. Children of another wife are to have no right to the property of our first-born son."[45]

[45] Authentic.

The chief judge appeared now and read an act in which the bride promised to give good food and raiment to her husband, to care for his house, family, servants, slaves, and cattle, and to entrust to that husband the management of the property which she had received or would receive from her father.

After the acts were read Herhor gave Tutmosis a goblet of wine. The bridegroom drank half, the bride moistened her lips with it, and then both burned incense before the purple curtain.

Leaving the temple of Amon the young couple and their splendid retinue pa.s.sed through the avenue of sphinxes to the pharaoh's palace. Crowds of people and warriors greeted them with shouts, scattering flowers on their pathway.

Tutmosis had dwelt up to that time in the chambers of the pharaoh, but on the day of his marriage Rameses presented him with a beautiful little villa in the depth of the gardens, surrounded by a forest of fig trees, myrtles and baobabs, where the bridegroom and bride might pa.s.s days of happiness hidden from human eye, and cut off, as it were, from the world about them.

In that quiet corner people showed themselves so rarely that even birds did not flee before them. When the young couple and the guests found themselves in this new dwelling the final ceremony of marriage followed:

Tutmosis took Hebron by the hand and led her to a fire burning before a statue of Isis; then Mefres poured a spoonful of holy water on the lady's head; Hebron touched the fire with her hand, while Tutmosis divided a morsel of bread with her and placed his own ring on her finger in sign that from that time forth she was mistress of his land, his servants, his slaves and cattle.

Meanwhile the priests sang wedding hymns and bore the statue of the divine Isis through the whole house; and priestesses performed sacred dances.

The day ended with spectacles and a great feast, during which all noticed that Hebron accompanied the pharaoh continually, and that Tutmosis kept at a distance from her, and simply entertained guests at the wedding.

When the stars had risen the holy Herhor left the feast, and soon after some of the highest dignitaries slipped out also. About midnight the following worthy persons met in a subterranean chamber of the temple of Amon: the high priests Herhor, Mefres, and Mentezufis, the chief judge of Thebes, also the chiefs of the provinces of Abs, Horti, and Emsuch.

Mentezufis looked around among the great columns, closed the door, quenched the torches, and in that lower chamber there remained only one light, that which burned before a statue of Horus. The dignitaries sat down on three stone benches.

"If I were commanded to describe the character of Rameses XIII.," said the nomarch of Abs, "I should be unable to do so."

"He is a maniac!" said Mefres.

"I do not know that he is a maniac," answered Herhor, "but he is very dangerous in every case. Already a.s.syria has reminded us twice of the last treaty, and is beginning, I hear, to be alarmed at the arming of Egypt."

"That is of less importance," said Mefres; "there is something worse, for this G.o.dless man is thinking to violate the treasure of the labyrinth."

"But I should consider," said the nomarch of Emsuch, "that his promises to the people are the worst. Our income and that of the state will be shattered if the common people are idle one day in seven. But if the pharaoh gives them land in addition?"

"He is ready to do that," said the chief judge in a whisper.

"Is he ready?" asked the nomarch of Horti. "It seems to me that he merely wants money. If we should give him something from the labyrinth--"

"Impossible," interrupted Herhor. "The state is not threatened by danger, but the pharaoh is, and that is not the same question. I repeat that as a dam is strong only while it is not penetrated by the tiniest stream of water, so the labyrinth is full till we touch the first block of gold in it. After that, all will go. Finally, whom do we strengthen by the treasures of the G.o.ds and of Egypt? This young man who despises religion, belittles priests, and disturbs the people.

Is he not worse than a.s.sar? a.s.sar is a barbarian, but he does not harm us."

"It is improper for the pharaoh to pay court to his favorite's wife so openly on the very day of the marriage," said the judge, thoughtfully.

"Hebron herself entices him," said the nomarch of Horti.

"All women entice men," answered the nomarch of Emsuch. "Sense, however, is given a man to avoid sin."

"But is not the pharaoh husband to all the women of Egypt?" whispered the nomarch of Abs. "Moreover, sin is under the judgment of the G.o.ds, while we are occupied only with Egypt."

"He is dangerous! he is dangerous!" said the nomarch of Emsuch, while his hands and head trembled. "There is no doubt that the common people have become insolent and may rise any moment. In that case no high priest or nomarch would be sure of his life, not to mention his office and property."

"Against an uprising we have means," replied Herhor.

"What means?"