The priest left the bedchamber shaking his head.
"They have roused me from sleep!" said Ramses, dissatisfied.
"An hour ago Queen Niort's, most greatly to be revered, commanded me, holiness, to ask of thee an interview," said an adjutant, suddenly.
"Now? At midnight?" asked the pharaoh.
"Her exact words were that at midnight Thou wouldst wake, holiness."
The pharaoh meditated, then answered the adjutant that ha would wait for the queen in the golden hall. He thought that there no one could overhear them.
Ramses threw a mantle over his shoulders, put on sandals unfastened and commanded to light the golden hall brightly. Then he went out, directing the servants not to go with him.
He found Niort's in the hall; she was wearing coarse linen garments in sign that she was mourning. When she saw the pharaoh she wished to drop on her knees, but her son raised the queen and embraced her.
"Has something important happened, mother, that Thou art working at this hour?" inquired Ramses.
"I was not asleep I was praying," replied the queen. "O my son, Thou hast divined wisely that the affair is important. I have heard the sacred voice of thy father."