Sarah had dwelt ten days in this retreat, hiding herself before people from fear and shame, so that almost no one of the servants had seen her. In the curtained chamber she sewed, wove linen on a small loom, or twined garlands of living flowers for Ramses. Sometimes she went out on the terrace, pushed apart the sides of the tent with care, and looked at the Nile covered with boats in which oarsmen were singing songs joyfully. On raising her eyes she looked with fear at the gray pylons of the pharaoh's palace, which towered silent and gloomy above the other bank of the river. Then she ran again to her work and called Tafet.
"Sit here, mother," said she; "what art Thou doing down there?"
"The gardener has brought fruit, and they have sent bread, wine, and game from the city; I must take them."
"Sit here and talk, for fear seizes me."
"Thou art a foolish child," said Tafet, smiling. "Fear looked at me too the first day from every corner; but when I went out beyond the wall, there was no more of it. Whom have I to fear here? All fall on their knees before me. Before thee they would stand on their heads even! Go to the garden; it is as beautiful as paradise. Look out at the field, see the wheat harvest; sit down in the carved boat the owner of which is withering from anxiety to see thee and take thee out of the river."
"I am afraid."
"Of what?"
"Do I know? While I am sewing, I think that T am in our valley and that my father will come right away; but when the wind pushes the curtain aside from the window and I look on this great country it seems to me, knowest what? that some mighty vulture has caught and borne me to his nest on a mountain, whence I have no power to save myself."
"Ah, Thou thou! If Thou hadst seen what a bathtub the prince sent this morning, a bronze one; and what a tripod for the fire, what pots and spits! And if Thou knew that today I have put two hens to set, and before long we shall have little chicks here."
Sarah was more daring after sunset, when no one could see her. She went out on the roof and looked at the river. And when from afar a boat appeared, flaming with torches, which formed fiery and bloody lines along the dark water, she pressed with both hands her poor heart, which quivered like a bird caught that instant. Ramses was coming, and she could not tell what had seized her, delight because that beautiful youth was approaching whom she had seen in the valley, or dread because she would see again a great lord and ruler who made her timid.