That same day the worthy Hiram visited Ramses and gave him in a gold tube a parchment furnished with a number of seals of priests and signatures of Phoenician notables.
That was the decision of the spiritual court of Astaroth, which released Kama from her vows and freed her from the curse if she would renounce the name which she had borne while priestess.
The prince took this document and went after sundown to a certain lone villa in his garden. He opened the door in some unknown way and ascended one story to a room of medium dimensions, where by light from a carved lamp in which fragrant olive oil was burning, he saw Kama.
"At last!" cried he, giving her the gold tube. "Thou hast everything according to thy wishes."
The Phoenician woman was feverish; her eyes flashed. She snatched the tube, looked at it, and threw it on the floor.
"Dost think this gold?" asked she. "I will bet my necklace that that tube is copper, and only covered on both sides with thin strips of gold."
"Is that thy way of greeting me?" inquired the astonished Ramses.
"Yes, for I know my brethren," said she. "They counterfeit not only gold, but rubies and sapphires."
"Woman," said the heir, "in this tube is thy safety."
"What is safety to me? I am wearied in this place, and I am afraid. I have sat here four days as in prison."