“I am ashamed to speak of it. They received moneys from the sale of their wine, and sent me to the city to buy bread and goat-cheese. But I ...”

“And thou didst lose the money?”

“Nay, still worse....”

She bends her head low and whispers:

“Besides bread and cheese I bought a little of attar of roses,—oh, so little!—from the Ægyptians in the old city.”

“And thou didst keep this from thy brethren?”

“Yea....”

And she utters in a barely audible voice:

“Attar of roses hath so goodly a smell!”

The king caressingly strokes her little rough hand.