“‘Nay,’ I answered, ‘I cannot tell.’
“‘I go to her,’ said he. ‘She lies embalmed in the further tomb by the double palm-tree beyond the city wall.’
“‘Why do you go there?’ I asked.
“‘To die!’ he shrieked, ‘to die! I am not bound by earthen fetters.’
“‘But the elixir is in your blood,’ I cried.
“‘I can defy it,’ said he; ‘I have found a stronger principle which will destroy it. It is working in my veins at this moment, and in an hour I shall be a dead man. I shall join her, and you shall remain behind.’
“As I looked upon him I could see that he spoke words of truth. The light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the elixir.
“‘You will teach me!’ I cried.
“‘Never!’ he answered.
“‘I implore you, by the wisdom of Thoth, by the majesty of Anubis!’