"But I have four, and I do not even know clearly how. I might give thee two of them."
"And Sarah?"
"Not her, especially if she has a son."
"If Thou wilt assign a good dowry, husbands will be found for those charmers most easily."
The prince yawned a second time.
"I do not like to hear of dowries," said he. "Aaa! What luck, that I shall tear away from thee and settle among the priests!"
"Wilt Thou indeed?"
"I must. At last I shall learn of them why the pharaohs are growing poorer. Well, I shall sleep."
CHAPTER XXV
THAT same day, in Memphis, Dagon the Phoenician, the viceroy's worthy banker, lay on a couch under the veranda of his mansion. Around him were fragrant potted bushes with needle-like leaves. Two black slaves cooled the rich man with fans, and he, while playing with a young ape, was listening to accounts read by his scribe to him.