From these answers the worthy nomarch saw that Mefres hated the prince, and his heart sank in him. If they proved that Ramses had killed his own son, the heir would never ascend the throne of his fathers, and the heavy yoke of the priesthood would weigh down still more mightily on Egypt.
The sadness of the nomarch increased when they told him in the evening that two physicians of the temple of Hator, when looking at the corpse of the infant, had expressed the opinion that only a man could have committed the murder. Some man, said they, seized with his right hand the feet of the little boy, and broke his skull against the wall of the building. Sarah's hand could not clasp both legs, on which, moreover, were traces of large fingers.
After this explanation Mefres, in company with the high priest Sem, went to Sarah in the prison, and implored her by all the gods of Egypt and of foreign lands to declare that she was not guilty of the death of the child, and to describe the person of the murderer.
"We will believe thy word," said Mefres, "and Thou wilt be free immediately."
But Sarah, instead of being moved by this proof of friendliness, fell into anger.
"Jackals," cried she, "two victims are not enough; ye want still more. I, unfortunate woman, did this; I, for who else would be so abject as to kill a child a little child that had never harmed any one?"
"But dost Thou know, stubborn woman, what threatens thee?" asked the holy Mefres. "Thou wilt hold the remains of thy child for three days in thy arms, and then be fifteen years in prison."
"Only three days?" repeated Sarah. "But I would never part with my little Seti; and not only to prison, but to the grave will I go with him, and my lord will command to bury us together."
When the high priest left Sarah, the most pious Sem said,
"I have seen mothers who killed their own children, and I have judged them; but none were like her."