"Yes! Sawnie Girlie you are," I said with a laugh, "and Sawnie Girlie you have ever proved yourself—particularly lately. But now I forbid you to talk—most emphatically—and command you to go to sleep. I will not have you ill, remember. Where should I be without you?"
"Oh, I shall be all right. Don't worry about me, old chap, and I assure you that I have every intention of going to sleep, particularly if you will do ditto. But, Mark, is it not strange how the mysterious personality of Neit-akrit seems to haunt every corner of this land?"
"That old Ur-tasen seems to me, somehow, to play a double game, and I am positively shocked at so old and venerable a personage getting so enthusiastic over the beauty of a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter. I call him a regular old rip."
"She certainly seems to have the power to arouse what is basest in every woman, be she queen like my bride, or slave like poor Kesh-ta, to make fools of men and cowards of the Pharaoh and his priest."
"I think that after all your queen may have had the best idea: a woman who has so much power is best put out of harm's way. There are no nunneries in this pagan land, but you had best accede to Queen Maat-kha's wish, and command Princess Neit-akrit to become the priestess of some god."
"Then she would set to work to demoralise all the priests," said Hugh, with a laugh, "and finally upset the gravity of the high priest. I must find her a husband, Mark; the cares of maternity will sober her soon enough. I wish you would take her off my hands."
The next day, at a solemn council, at which the Queen, Ur-tasen and ourselves were present, and which was held within the precincts of the temple of Ra, the
