“What, Daughter?” asked the old man in an astonished voice, “what?  Can I believe that you gave all you had to a beggar of the wilderness, and sat still while he devoured it?  And is it for this reason that you weep?”

“Forgive me, Father, but it is so,” answered Tua.  “I am ashamed of such weakness, but recently my friend here and I have known hunger, very sore hunger, and the dread of it moves me.  Come, Asti, let us be going while our strength remains in us.”

Kepher looked up at the name, then turned to Tua and said: 

“Daughter, your face is fair, and your heart is perfect, since otherwise you would not have dealt with me as you have done.  Still, it seems that you lack one thing—­undoubting faith in the goodness of the gods.  Though, surely,” he added in a slow voice, “those who have passed yonder lion-haunted forest without hurt should not lack faith.  Say, now, how came you there?”

“We are ladies of Egypt,” interrupted Asti, “or at least this maiden is, for I am but her old nurse.  Man-stealing pirates of Phoenicia seized us while we wandered on the shores of the Nile, and brought us hither in their ship, by what way we do not know.  At length they put into yonder river for water, and we fled at night.  We are escaped slaves, no more.”

“Ah!” said Kepher, “those pirates must mourn their loss.  I almost wonder that they did not follow you.  Indeed, I thought that you might be other folk, for, strangely enough, as I slept in the sand last night, a certain spirit from the Under-world visited me in my dreams, and told me to search for one Asti and another lady who was with her—­I cannot remember the name of that lady.  But I do remember the name of the spirit, for he told it to me; it was Mermes.”

Now Asti gave a little cry, and, springing up, searched Kepher’s face with her eyes, nor did he shrink from her gaze.

“I perceive,” she said slowly, “that you who seem to be a beggar are also a seer.”

“Mayhap, Asti,” he answered.  “In my long life I have often noted that sometimes men are more than they seem—­and women also.  Perhaps you have learned the same, for nurses in great houses may note many things if they choose.  But let us say no more.  I think it is better that we should say no more.  You and your companion—­how is she named?”

“Neferte,” answered Asti promptly.

“Neferte, ah!  Certainly that was not the name which the spirit used, though it is true that other name began with the same sound, or so I think.  Well, you and your companion, Neferte, escaped from those wicked pirates, and managed to bring certain things with you, for instance, that beautiful harp, wreathed with the royal uraei, and—­but what is in that second basket?”

“Pearls,” broke in Tua quickly.

“And a large basket of pearls.  Might I see them?  Oh! do not be afraid, I shall not rob those whose food I have eaten, it is against the custom of the desert.”