"Thou hast said. I come to thee to crave thy permission to search again for the signet."
"Nay, but I give it freely. Yet I do not understand."
"The signet was lost in the tomb of the Incomparable Pharaoh. May I not visit the crypt?"
The old man thought a moment. "Aye, thou canst search. If thou wilt come for me to-morrow—"
"Nay, I would go this very night."
The keeper's face sobered and he shook his head.
"Deny me not, I pray thee," Kenkenes entreated earnestly. "Thou, who hast lived so many years, hast at some time weighed the value of a single moment. In the waste or use of the scant space between two breaths have lives been lost, souls smirched, the unlimited history of the future turned. And never was a greater stake upon the saving of time than in this strait—which is the peril of spotless womanhood."
The old man rubbed his head. "Aye, I know, I know. Thy haste is justifiable, but—"
"I can go alone. There is no need that thou shouldst waste an hour of thy needed sleep for me. I pledge thee I shall conduct myself without thee as I should beneath thine eye. Most reverently will I enter, most reverently search, most reverently depart, and none need ever know I went alone."
The ancient keeper weakened at the earnestness of the young man.