The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 93

The dignitaries went out of the chamber. The police officer had a litter brought, and with marks of the highest respect conducted Sarah down to it. The unfortunate woman seized a blood-stained bundle from the cradle, and took a seat, without resistance, in the litter.

All the servants went after her to the chamber of justice.

When Mefres, with the nomarch, was pa.s.sing through the garden, the nomarch said,--

"I have compa.s.sion on that woman."

"She will be punished properly for lying," answered the high priest.

"Dost thou think so, worthiness?"

"I am certain that the G.o.ds will discover and punish the real murderer."

At the garden gate the steward of Kama's villa stood in the road before them.

"The Phnician woman is gone. She disappeared last night."

"A new misfortune," whispered the nomarch.

"Have no fear," said Mefres; "she followed the prince."

From these answers the worthy nomarch saw that Mefres hated the prince, and his heart sank in him. If they proved that Rameses had killed his own son, the heir would never ascend the throne of his fathers, and the heavy yoke of the priesthood would weigh down still more mightily on Egypt.

The sadness of the nomarch increased when they told him in the evening that two physicians of the temple of Hator, when looking at the corpse of the infant, had expressed the opinion that only a man could have committed the murder. Some man, said they, seized with his right hand the feet of the little boy, and broke his skull against the wall of the building. Sarah's hand could not clasp both legs, on which, moreover, were traces of large fingers.

After this explanation Mefres, in company with the high priest Sem, went to Sarah in the prison, and implored her by all the G.o.ds of Egypt and of foreign lands to declare that she was not guilty of the death of the child, and to describe the person of the murderer.

"We will believe thy word," said Mefres, "and thou wilt be free immediately."

But Sarah, instead of being moved by this proof of friendliness, fell into anger.

"Jackals," cried she, "two victims are not enough; ye want still more.

I, unfortunate woman, did this; I,--for who else would be so abject as to kill a child--a little child that had never harmed any one?"

"But dost thou know, stubborn woman, what threatens thee?" asked the holy Mefres. "Thou wilt hold the remains of thy child for three days in thy arms, and then be fifteen years in prison."

"Only three days?" repeated Sarah. "But I would never part with my little Seti; and not only to prison, but to the grave will I go with him, and my lord will command to bury us together."

When the high priest left Sarah, the most pious Sem said,--

"I have seen mothers who killed their own children, and I have judged them; but none were like her."

"For she did not kill her child," answered Mefres, angrily.

"Who, then?"

"He whom the servants saw when he rushed into Sarah's house and fled a moment later; he who, when going against the enemy, took with him the priestess Kama, who defiled the altar; he," concluded Mefres, excitedly, "who hunted Sarah out of the house, and made her a slave because her son had been made a Jew."

"Thy words are terrible," answered Sem, in alarm.

"The criminal is still worse, and, in spite of that stupid woman's stubbornness, he will be discovered."

But the holy man did not suppose that his prophecy would be accomplished so quickly.

And it was accomplished in the following manner:--Prince Rameses, when moving from Pi-Bast with the army, had not left the palace when the chief of the police learned of the murder of Sarah's child, and the flight of Kama, and this, too,--that Sarah's servants saw the prince entering her house in the night time. The chief of police was a very keen person; he pondered over this question, Who could have committed the crime? and instead of inquiring on the spot, he hastened to pursue the guilty parties outside the city, and forewarned Hiram of what had happened.

While Mefres was trying to extort a confession from Sarah, the most active agents of the Pi-Bast police, and with them every Phnician under the leadership of Hiram, were hunting the Greek Lykon and the priestess Kama.

So three nights after the prince had departed, the chief of police returned to Pi-Bast, bringing with him a large cage covered with linen, in which was some woman who screamed in heaven-piercing accents. Without lying down to sleep, the chief summoned the officer who had made the investigation, and listened to his report attentively.

At sunrise the two priests, Sem and Mefres, with the nomarch of Pi-Bast, received a most humble invitation to deign immediately, should such be their will, to come to the chief of police. In fact, all three entered at the very same moment; so the chief, bending low, implored them to tell all that they knew concerning the murder of the son of the viceroy.

The nomarch, though a great dignitary, grew pale when he heard the humble invitation, and answered that he knew nothing. The high priest Sem gave almost the same answer, adding, for himself, the reflection that Sarah seemed to him innocent.

When the turn came to the holy Mefres, he said,--

"I know not whether thou hast heard, worthiness, that during the night of the crime one of the prince's women escaped; her name was Kama."

The chief of police feigned to be greatly astonished.

"I know not," continued Mefres, "whether they have told thee that the heir did not pa.s.s the night in the palace, but was in Sarah's house.

The doorkeeper and two servants recognized him, for the night was rather clear. It is a great pity," finished the high priest, "that thou hast not been here these two days past."

The chief bowed very low to Mefres, and turned to the nomarch,--

"Wouldst thou be pleased, worthiness, to tell me, graciously, how the prince was dressed that evening?"

"He wore a white jacket, and a purple ap.r.o.n with gold fringe,"

answered the nomarch. "I remember very well, for that evening I was one of the last who spoke with him."

The chief of the police clapped his hands, and Sarah's doorkeeper entered the chamber.

"Didst thou see the prince," inquired he, "when he came in the night to the house of thy lady?"

"I opened the door to his worthiness,--may he live through eternity!"

"And dost thou remember how he was dressed?"

"He wore a jacket with yellow and black stripes, a cap of the same colors, and a blue and red ap.r.o.n," answered the doorkeeper.

Both priests and the nomarch began to wonder.

Then they brought in Sarah's servants, who repeated exactly the same description of the prince's dress. The nomarch's eyes flashed with delight, but on the face of the holy Mefres confusion was evident.

"I will swear," put in the worthy nomarch, "that the prince wore a white jacket and a purple ap.r.o.n with gold fringe."

"Now, most worthy men," said the chief of police, "be pleased to come with me to the prison. There we shall see one more witness."

They went to a subterranean hall, where under a window stood a great cage covered with linen. The chief threw back the linen with his stick, and those present saw a woman lying in a corner.