"Vile reptile!" replied the Greek, in his resonant voice. "A month has not passed since thy oath, declaring thy love, and that Thou wouldst flee to Greece with me, and now Thou art falling on the neck of another. Are the gods dead? Has justice deserted them?"
"Thou art mad with thy jealousy," interrupted the priestess; "Thou wilt kill me."
"It is sure that I, and not thy stone goddess, will kill thee. With these two hands," cried he, stretching out his fingers, like talons, "I will choke thee if Thou hast become the mistress."
"Of whom?"
"Do I know? Of course, of both, of that old Assyrian and this princeling, whose head I will split with a stone should he prowl about this place any longer. The prince! he has all the women of Egypt, and still he wants foreign priestesses. The priestesses are for priests, not for foreigners."
Kama recovered her coolness.
"But for us art Thou not a foreigner?" asked she, haughtily.
"Reptile!" burst out the Greek, a second time. "I cannot be a foreigner for you Asiatics, since that gift of voice with which the gods have endowed me is turned to the use of your divinities. But how often, by means of my figure, have ye deceived dull Asiatics by telling them that the heir to the throne of Egypt belongs to your faith in secret?"
"Silence! silence!" hissed the priestess, closing his mouth with her hand.
There must have been something enchanting in her touch, for the Greek grew calm, and spoke lower.