Paaker took his hand from Katuti’s arm.  “And so—­and so—­” he muttered with pale lips.

“Nefert took your part, and I too, but in vain.  Do not take the words too hardly.  Your father was a man without an equal, and Rameses cannot forget that we are related to the old royal house.  His grandfather, his father, and himself are usurpers, and there is one now living who has a better right to the throne than he has.”

“The Regent Ani!” exclaimed Paaker decisively.  Katuti nodded, she went up to the pioneer and said in a whisper: 

“I put myself in your hands, though I know they may be raised against me.  But you are my natural ally, for that same act of Rameses that disgraced and injured you, made me a partner in the designs of Ani.  The king robbed you of your bride, me of my daughter.  He filled your soul with hatred for your arrogant rival, and mine with passionate regret for the lost happiness of my child.  I feel the blood of Hatasu in my veins, and my spirit is high enough to govern men.  It was I who roused the sleeping ambition of the Regent—­I who directed his gaze to the throne to which he was destined by the Gods.  The ministers of the Gods, the priests, are favorably disposed to us; we have—­”

At this moment there was a commotion in the garden, and a breathless slave rushed in exclaiming “The Regent is at the gate!”

Paaker stood in stupid perplexity, but he collected himself with an effort and would have gone, but Katuti detained him.

“I will go forward to meet Ani,” she said.  “He will be rejoiced to see you, for he esteems you highly and was a friend of your father’s.”

As soon as Katuti had left the hall, the dwarf Nemu crept out of his hiding-place, placed himself in front of Paaker, and asked boldly: 

“Well?  Did I give thee good advice yesterday, or no?”

Put Paaker did not answer him, he pushed him aside with his foot, and walked up and down in deep thought.

Katuti met the Regent half way down the garden.  He held a manuscript roll in his hand, and greeted her from afar with a friendly wave of his hand.

The widow looked at him with astonishment.

It seemed to her that he had grown taller and younger since the last time she had seen him.

“Hail to your highness!” she cried, half in joke half reverently, and she raised her hands in supplication, as if he already wore the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.  “Have the nine Gods met you? have the Hathors kissed you in your slumbers?  This is a white day—­a lucky day—­ I read it in your face!” “That is reading a cipher!” said Ani gaily, but with dignity.  “Read this despatch.”

Katuti took the roll from his hand, read it through, and then returned it.

“The troops you equipped have conquered the allied armies of the Ethiopians,” she said gravely, “and are bringing their prince in fetters to Thebes, with endless treasure, and ten thousand prisoners!  The Gods be praised!”