“I saw it.”

Nebenchari looked anxiously into the girl’s shining eyes.  She went on:  “A great many dogs have been brought into the court behind this house.”

“Probably the king has ordered a hunt, in order to deaden the pain which he feels at seeing you suffer.”

“Oh, no.  I know better what it means.  Oropastes taught me, that whenever a Persian dies dogs’ are brought in, that the Divs may enter into them.”

“But you are living, my mistress, and . . .”

“Oh, I know very well that I shall die.  I knew that I had not many hours more to live, even if I had not seen how you and the other physicians shrugged your shoulders whenever you looked at me.  That poison is deadly.”

“You are speaking too much, my mistress, it will hurt you.”

“Oh let me speak, Nebenchari!  I must ask you to do something for me before I die.”

“I am your servant.”

“No, Nebenchari, you must be my friend and priest.  You are not angry with me for having prayed to the Persian gods?  Our own Hathor was always my best friend still.  Yes, I see by your face that you forgiven me.  Then you must promise not to allow my corpse to be torn in pieces by dogs and vultures.  The thought is so very dreadful.  You will promise to embalm my body and ornament it with amulets?”

“If the king allows.”

“Of course he will.  How could Cambyses possibly refuse my last request?”

“Then my skill is at your service.”

“Thank you; but I have still something else to ask.”

“You must be brief.  My Persian colleagues are already making signs to me, to enjoin silence on you.”

“Can’t you send them away for a moment?”

“I will try to do so.”

Nebenchari then went up and spoke to the Magi for a few minutes, and they left the room.  An important incantation, at which no one but the two concerned might be present, and the application of a new and secret antidotal poison were the pretexts which he had used in order to get rid of them.

When they were alone, Nitetis drew a breath of relief and said:  “Give me your priestly blessing on my long journey into the nether world, and prepare me for my pilgrimage to Osiris.”

Nebenchari knelt down by her bed and in a low voice repeated hymns,
Nitetis making devotional responses.

The physician represented Osiris, the lord of the nether world—­Nitetis the soul, justifying itself before him.

When these ceremonies were ended the sick girl breathed more freely.  Nebenchari could not but feel moved in looking at this young suicide.  He felt confident that he had saved a soul for the gods of his native land, had cheered the last sad and painful hours of one of God’s good creatures.  During these last moments, compassion and benevolence had excluded every bitter feeling; but when he remembered that this lovely creature owed all her misery to Amasis too, the old black cloud of thought darkened his mind again.—­Nitetis, after lying silent for some time, turned to her new friend with a pleasant smile, and said:  “I shall find mercy with the judges of the dead now, shall not I?”