"But do they eat cats?" insisted Ramses, pressing Sarah's hand and looking into her eyes.
"And that is a fable, a vile fable!" exclaimed Tutmosis. "Thou mightst have asked me about those things instead of talking nonsense. I have had three Jewish mistresses."
"So far Thou hast told the truth, but now Thou art lying," called out
Sarah. "A Jewess would not be any man's mistress," added she, proudly.
"Even the mistress of the secretary of a lord who carries the fan for the nomarch of Memphis?" asked Tutmosis, jeeringly.
"Even."
"Even the mistress of the lord who carries the fan?"
Sarah hesitated, but answered,
"Even."
"Then perhaps she would not become the mistress of the nomarch?"
The girl's hands dropped. With astonishment she looked in turn at the young men; her lips quivered, and her eyes filled with tears.