Part 8 (1/2)
”You should knohether my mistress is well better than any one else,”
replied Nofre; ”for she has fled fro 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 Ahenuine
”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, knohere 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 rooo; for if Tahoser had come, you could not conceal it fro better than to serve your loves You are handsoin; the Gods would have beheld your e with pleasure”
Nofre returned to the house more anxious and ht 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 s required by the ritual, he had seated hiht, paying no attention to the gambols of his wo themselves in the transparent waters of the piscina, splashi+ng 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 char picture which these beautiful women presented; in a framework of shrubs and flowers, in the centre of the court, surrounded by coluht of an azure sky, across which flew fros, their shapely bodies shone in the water like subed statues of jasper
Aed froe 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 shi+ning shoulders and their arms polished like jade Maids rubbed theirl held out the calyx of a large flower so that they ht that the artist who had carved the decorative _bassi-relievi_ of the rooroups as lance at the designs cut in the stone Perched on the back of his ar its jaws; against theits back; the deformed dwarf pulled thethe one scratch and the other chatter, a performance which usually caused His Majesty to s et off the arranite apartments
Each of those rooious size, and closed by stone gates which no hu them were known Within these halls were kept the riches of the Pharaoh, and the booty taken froots of precious old and silver, neckplates and bracelets of cloisonne enas 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 staold, serpents in enaons of wavy alabaster, and of blue glass on which wound white spirals; coffers of enae and chiums 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 plue elephant's-tusks, cups of gold, silver, gilded glass; statues ards the material and the workmanshi+p
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 hihter 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, fro at the door
At the sight of those treasures Nofre nearly fainted, half with fear, half with a should put her to death on learning that the priest's daughter was no longer there
”Tahoser has gone,” said she, treeese, 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 Aifts,--I cannot take them back Keep them until Tahoser is found You shall answer for theuarded 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 beca so fiercely with his sceptre that the slab was split
VIII
Tahoser, nevertheless, scarce bestowed a thought on Nofre, her favourite maid, or on the anxiety which her absence would necessarily cause The beloved otten her beautiful home in Thebes, her servants, and her orna in a wohter of Petamounoph had not the least suspicion of the Pharaoh's love for her; she had not observed the glance full of desire which had fallen upon her fro on earth could move Had she seen it, she would have deposited the royal love as an offering, with all the flowers of her soul, at the feet of Poeri
While driving her spindle with her toe tothe thread,--for this was the task which had been set her,--she folloith her glance everyHebrew, her looks enveloped him like a caress She silently enjoyed the happiness of reiven her access
If Poeri had turned towards her, he would no doubt have been struck by the moist brilliancy of her eyes, the sudden blushes which flushed her fair cheeks, the quick beating of her heart whichof her bosom; but seated at a table, he bent over a leaf of papyrus on which, with the help of a reed, taking ink from a hollowed slab of alabaster, he inscribed accounts in demotic numbers